Before I continue writing, I just want to apologize for not writing a blog for the longest time. I hope no one is upset. With that being said, I'm doing great! Earlier this week I didn't feel to good. I had a bad headache that continued onto the next day. After a good, long nap and a huge intake of water, I'm up and running again. Thank you for all the prayers!!
This week we had two groups from Iowa State University and Wake forest University (North Carolina) come down for a mission trip. Wake forest was involved with the medical clinic and Iowa state was involved with the colleges and soccer. This week I participated in the clinics with wake forest. Lets say, this was my first time going hands on in the dental clinic. The past month in a half, I was dispensing old, expired medications and helping the Dr.'s move the clinic into the Mission House. Oh did it feel good to help out in the dental clinic, the last time I touched any instruments was probably back when I did my extern. This time I was able to perform some illegal treatments (something I'm not allowed to do back in the US as a dental assistant). Here, I was allowed to scale away a patients tarter and pull out a tooth. Oh did I have fun! If it wasn't for El Salvador, never would I have gotten the chance to do this.
Overall, this week was busy and filled with a lot of on going activities. Praise the Lord for rest. Rest in Him. Today we fed the homeless again. This time was different than last time. Last time we had roughly 120 bags of food and made 6 stops. This time we had roughly 120 bags and we made 2 stops. The first stop, we gave away about 10 bags, the second stop we gave all the bags away. When we made it to the second stop, we first saw one man lying on the ground reading something and then 10 feet ahead of us we saw about 10-15 people. Right after we gave the 3rd bag, the man who received it informed all the homeless people and literally about 50-100 people started running over to our truck. To get a picture in your head, imagine a crowed of people ready to run a 5k or marathon just ready to hear the word "GO". Yeah, it was just like that, people running towards our car and surrounding it. The team that was out handing the food had to get back onto the truck because it was getting out of control. My heart usually breaks when I see girls and older ladies out on the streets, here we saw a few girls and older ladies asking for food. Not just them but mens, fathers, grandpas etc. It was crazy how many people were homeless and staying in one area.
All of our food was handed out within 5-10 minutes. We had to turn some people away because we couldn't feed anymore people. The amazing part was, when we had to turn some people away they replied back by in Spanish saying, "That's okay, thank you for coming though." That's amazing how grateful they were just to see the presence of another human being giving their time to serve them.
I was doing my devotions this morning and the Lord reminded me of Matthew 20:28 "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." It was a reminder to me that I'm here in El Salvador to serve. I've gotten to the point where I was actually getting comfortable. Here, I have someone cooking me lunch and dinner. Someone doing my laundry and cleaning my mess. I was getting comfortable and God was reminding me this morning that it's not about me, it's about those out there who needs Him. It's about serving others, not your self. So when we were serving the homeless tonight, I was just thanking Him for the opportunity. How often will I get the chance to feed the homeless in El Salvador?! Rarely, because we can't afford to feed them every day or every week. It takes someone to donate that money to say, "Hey, this amount of money is for you to help feed the homeless." If you have a passion to feed the homeless here in El Salvador, please let me know. I'll help get you connected!
All in all, I'm trying my best to enjoy my time here. I can't believe I come back home in 3 weeks, right before Easter Sunday. Please continue to pray for my health and everyone here at the El Salvador base. Thank you for just taking your time to read my blog, you're awesome! Buenos noche y Dios te bendiga. :)
This week we had two groups from Iowa State University and Wake forest University (North Carolina) come down for a mission trip. Wake forest was involved with the medical clinic and Iowa state was involved with the colleges and soccer. This week I participated in the clinics with wake forest. Lets say, this was my first time going hands on in the dental clinic. The past month in a half, I was dispensing old, expired medications and helping the Dr.'s move the clinic into the Mission House. Oh did it feel good to help out in the dental clinic, the last time I touched any instruments was probably back when I did my extern. This time I was able to perform some illegal treatments (something I'm not allowed to do back in the US as a dental assistant). Here, I was allowed to scale away a patients tarter and pull out a tooth. Oh did I have fun! If it wasn't for El Salvador, never would I have gotten the chance to do this.
Overall, this week was busy and filled with a lot of on going activities. Praise the Lord for rest. Rest in Him. Today we fed the homeless again. This time was different than last time. Last time we had roughly 120 bags of food and made 6 stops. This time we had roughly 120 bags and we made 2 stops. The first stop, we gave away about 10 bags, the second stop we gave all the bags away. When we made it to the second stop, we first saw one man lying on the ground reading something and then 10 feet ahead of us we saw about 10-15 people. Right after we gave the 3rd bag, the man who received it informed all the homeless people and literally about 50-100 people started running over to our truck. To get a picture in your head, imagine a crowed of people ready to run a 5k or marathon just ready to hear the word "GO". Yeah, it was just like that, people running towards our car and surrounding it. The team that was out handing the food had to get back onto the truck because it was getting out of control. My heart usually breaks when I see girls and older ladies out on the streets, here we saw a few girls and older ladies asking for food. Not just them but mens, fathers, grandpas etc. It was crazy how many people were homeless and staying in one area.
All of our food was handed out within 5-10 minutes. We had to turn some people away because we couldn't feed anymore people. The amazing part was, when we had to turn some people away they replied back by in Spanish saying, "That's okay, thank you for coming though." That's amazing how grateful they were just to see the presence of another human being giving their time to serve them.
I was doing my devotions this morning and the Lord reminded me of Matthew 20:28 "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." It was a reminder to me that I'm here in El Salvador to serve. I've gotten to the point where I was actually getting comfortable. Here, I have someone cooking me lunch and dinner. Someone doing my laundry and cleaning my mess. I was getting comfortable and God was reminding me this morning that it's not about me, it's about those out there who needs Him. It's about serving others, not your self. So when we were serving the homeless tonight, I was just thanking Him for the opportunity. How often will I get the chance to feed the homeless in El Salvador?! Rarely, because we can't afford to feed them every day or every week. It takes someone to donate that money to say, "Hey, this amount of money is for you to help feed the homeless." If you have a passion to feed the homeless here in El Salvador, please let me know. I'll help get you connected!
All in all, I'm trying my best to enjoy my time here. I can't believe I come back home in 3 weeks, right before Easter Sunday. Please continue to pray for my health and everyone here at the El Salvador base. Thank you for just taking your time to read my blog, you're awesome! Buenos noche y Dios te bendiga. :)
Awhhh, what a deep reminder! Praise God for His unending comfort and reminder. (= Glad to see you posted! Miss you and hope to see you soon!
ReplyDelete3 weeks until I see everyone. I miss you and everyone else.
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