On Fire for the Lord

Early this morning the rest of the volunteers flew in from Lima (yay for safe travels!) and after breakfast we had our first experience at a Peruvian church. It was an amazing time of worship! We recognized a couple of the songs from the US, which was helpful when we were trying to figure out what the heck we were saying (at least we felt like we knew a little bit of what was going on!). There was also a slight misunderstanding at the beginning of the service when I was wearing my MMI polo and one of the worship leaders asked if I could help translate the service… he quickly learned that I don’t really speak Spanish and moved on to our group leader, Jodee. She was much better equipped for the job J The message that the pastor taught encouraged us to all be on fire for the Lord, and not to be lukewarm in our faith. We jumped around in the Bible a lot, but one of the passages that stuck out was from Revelation 3: 15- 16, which states: "15.  I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish you were either one or the other! 16.  So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth." This sermon was so relevant, and such an encouragement to be on fire for the Lord!  It was an amazing experience hearing God’s word in another language and worshipping with people from another country. It’s crazy because at first glance, we seem completely different from the Peruvian natives; different foods, different customs, different language. And yet, they are seeking God’s will and trying to learn as much as they can about Him, just as we are. God is so good!

After church we traveled to the hospital where the PT clinic is located. We spent the afternoon cleaning and sorting equipment, and preparing for the rest of the week. Some patients will be returning this week for equipment that they were fitted for (wheelchairs, orthotics, crutches, etc.) while others will be new patients that we are evaluating. It was amazing to see how many donations the clinic had collected, and to try to match them with patients we would be seeing in the coming days! There are a lot of crutches, wheelchairs, canes, etc. (thank you all so much for your donations!!!), as well as many various odds and ends that didn’t quite have a home yet (random wheelchair footrests, crutches without their match, etc.). All the while we searched through the warehouse and prepared the items, we kept praying that God would provide the appropriate equipment for the people that needed it, and that each person’s needs would be met. It is amazing to see how God provides! As we were preparing for an outreach (that will take place Wednesday and Thursday) we had certain dimensions we were looking for to fit wheelchairs to these patients, and were blessed to find that we had (pretty much) the right equipment for each person! It was awesome.

We came back to the hotel for dinner, and have all been hanging out ever since. Tonight we’ve been getting to know the other team members by playing some crazy games and trying our hands at drawing… let’s just say that some of us are not very artistic and should keep to PT. J

So far we have been having an absolute blast on this trip!! We’re excited to continue to learn about each other and hone our PT skills, as well as learn more about God and his amazing faithfulness! We are so grateful that everyone made it to the project safely, and eagerly anticipate beginning our “PT work” tomorrow. There’s a pretty full schedule at the clinic, and we should be working with patients from 8am to about 4:30pm. This week there are 3 PTs on staff for us to pair up and learn from in the clinic, so we will rotate between working with each of them. There are many other jobs for us to do in the clinic as well, so there will never be a dull moment! Jodee told us that patients were very excited to come in and receive PT while we are here, so we are all praying that we will be able to communicate with them effectively and give them the care that they need. We would appreciate your continued prayers as well! We feel so blessed to have so many people that care for us back home, and could not have come here without the support of our friends and families. Your prayers and donations are greatly appreciated, and will definitely impact the lives of the folks receiving care here. So thanks again!

Allie