Healing

As we have mentioned previously, we have a nurse on our team, Ann. She has been working this week to do clinics both for the community around Maison de Lumiere and in a nearby neighborhood along with two doctors and three other nurses who are also in Haiti this week.

Ann taking vitals at the clinic at the Maison de Lumiere School.

A mom and daughter wait for their turn in the clinic - everyone comes dressed in their Sunday best to see the docs.

Over the past few days the medical team has seen well over 200 patients for all kinds of illnesses, some of which they can treat, some of which they cannot because of the constraints imposed by being in a third world country without access to even routine medicines many Americans take. For example, hypertension is a common problem in Haiti, but since treating this disease effectively necessitates the consistent and long-term access to medication and medical attention, the doctors are not able to do much for the patients that suffer from it.

As part of the clinic team, the doctors and nurses have been taking a couple of people from our team to pray for their patients as they come and go from the clinic. Jim and Pam have been the two members of our team to do this over the past couple of days. Prayer really takes on a whole new meaning when these patients cannot be treated for their aliment. Jim took some time to journal about this experience and wanted to share an excerpt of his thoughts and feelings about this experience.

From Jim:

There has been so incredibly much I could write about. It is hard to keep it to a short blurb for the the blog. So, I just thought I would share a short portion from my journal from Wednesday.

"In the afternoon I went to the medical clinic with Ann, our nurse, to pray for sick people. Every one else chose to do other things, but I felt strongly that the Lord wanted me to do this. I was there until they closed at 5:00pm. I would pray generally for the clinic and people as people were going in. When people came out I would approach them and say 'Mue vele prie po ou' which means 'I would like to pray for you'. All but one person said wi (yes). So, I had a wonderful time holding hands or laying them on people and praying. We saw over 90 people. Near the end of the day Anderson, one of the older boys came down after cleaning the school and started talking to me. I invited him to pray with me, and he interpreted what I was saying. It was incredibly powerful. I can't even describe it. To God be the glory!"

Jim, Semy (translator & Maison de Lumiere "kid"), Pastor of the church that hosted the clinic, and Pam.