Labor of love...Thursday, October 22

Luciérnagas. Lu-see-AIR-nuh-gus.That’s how you say “fireflies” in Spanish. It’s my favorite new word I’ve learned on this trip. There are thousands of the tiny things around here, especially in the fields outside town.

Octavio is amazing to watch. Always busy, yet never hurried. He comes to me each morning and lets me know how many people he will be bringing in from other towns and villages. This morning he brought in two more patients. One older lady, Lupita, who had come on the first day was so happy with her filling, she came again. Lupita is a typical Latina grandmother type, always grabbing our hands and blessing us whenever we passed her. “Que bonita, que amable!” she would repeat.

We heard so many good reports about Octavio and his family this week. He is from a large family, and all of his brothers and sisters are either in ministry, or are married to ministers. Octavio felt called to ministry also, but worked to pay for his siblings to attend Bible school. By the time his last sibling graduated, Octavio already had a family, his hopes of becoming a pastor quickly fading.

With all the poverty and needs in El Salvador, the little neighbor town, Octavio and his wife decided to start a mission there under the church in El Pachon. They began serving and meeting what needs they could. He was encouraged to find that Alfredo, with the same heart for meeting needs, pastors his little flock in Hualahuises without a seminary degree. With renewed excitement, Octavio is continuing to follow the vision God has put in his heart for serving El Salvador. Alfredo even says we may go to that little town on one of our future trips! =)

One repeat patient we didn’t have xrays for because she had come before we had the developer, and possibly needed a more extensive treatment that would be difficult without an xray. Jamie took a beautiful xray, which revealed that not one, but BOTH of her front teeth needed this treatment.

Tough decisions like this are common. We try to help the most possible people by limiting to one procedure per person, but sometimes, you just have to go with your gut. For instance, a teacher from the town where Octavio runs the mission, El Salvador, brought a group of 10 children with him. Jamie was up to the challenge, and managed to finish all the cleanings before lunch. We even got Zelina in on some kid cleanings! Some had bombed out baby teeth, and Paula opted to do some little fillings, to keep the teeth from getting infected. This took her away from the other list of adult cleanings, but with situations like these you just pray for wisdom and make a decision.

Praise the Lord, we finished everyone on the morning list, except for one lady with Dad who needed TWO root canals. The problem? There were just as many people NOT on the list who waited all morning to get an appointment. Not only that, but we knew that even more would be coming after lunch. Especially children, who were in school all morning. Dad stayed with Isaac, his assistant, while the rest of us left for lunch. By the time we returned, Dad was just finishing up with his patient, and a crowd was accumulating outside.

The afternoon on the last day is always the most difficult, because if you run out of time, you can’t say, “Come back tomorrow.” There’s no dentist in town, and I doubt if most of these people could afford it even if there was one. However, in these little towns, people are so gracious and understanding. Most of all, they saw us working hard, but with joy. We must also remember that Jesus himself did not heal every sick person at the pool at Siloam or beside the road. He only did what the Father told him to do. In the same way, we need to be obedient to the Father, and not worry about the rest. God will take care of El Pachon. He cares about those people even more than we do, and knows exactly what they need.

We had mixed feelings as we packed up the clinic after finishing the last patient. Our tired bodies were glad the work was done, but with the clinic gone, we realized our time with these amazing people was drawing quickly to a close. It was a short trip, only 3 days, but we had enjoyed the camaraderie of investing alongside one another toward a common goal.

What, after all, is the purpose of missions? Why do we remove ourselves from our culture, spend hundreds of dollars and travel hundreds of miles to a place where we can barely communicate? I don’t know if we will understand it all this side of heaven, but I can see the fruit that has resulted over time. Our family has been challenged and blessed, and I know we’ve been an encouragement to the DeHoyos and the believers in Mexico. Who knows but perhaps someday we’ll be able to see the “big picture” and have even more of a reason to praise God.

Now, the challenge is to bring home the lessons we learn in the “classroom” of our Mexico experience. Who around us are we praying for? What lost souls in Vancouver, Battle Ground, or Centralia need to hear of the hope Christ freely offers to all? Not that we weren’t needed in Mexico, we definitely were, but in the States also, where we know the culture and are fluent in the language, we need to be vigilant to heed the prompting of the Spirit.