Nicaragua - The Last Day

I'm Home!

I'm so thrilled to be able to write to you again from the United States. I just created http://www.flickr.com/groups/hti_nicaragua_2008/pool to hold the best of our photos. Be sure to check back every few days as members add their photos to the pool.

The total number of patients we ended up seeing was 1085. Saturday and Monday were our busiest days. That's probably because the clinic at Rene Polanco is open on those days and word got around.

Let me tell you about the patient you probably know best: Ruben Davila. Monday night he was chatting with our doctors while we were cleaning up. Turns out, his family has a history of diabetes. After a simple blood test, Ruben found out he that he too has diabetes. After he found out, there was a line of doctors waiting to lecture him on his diet and medication.

I wish I had the time to tell you about all the special people I met. Let me just focus on a few:

• Carlos & Sylvia: A couple that work at the hospital in Guatemala. I ate lunch with them Monday. What sweet hearts and hard workers for the Lord! Carlos went to Harding under the HTI scholarship. For every year in school funded by HTI, students must spend that long working for HTI in Guatemala. Carlos now runs the hospital there. I think this type of financial giving is a key to success.
  
• Jose: The engine of Rene Polanco. He organizes the kids program, the clinic, the deaf program, etc. Basically, everything. Oh, he has a full time job outside the church too.
  
• Carlos Rugama (from Momotombo): He's the preacher at a town outside of Managua. He came to help us even though his church far away was not affected by our presence. He road a bus 2 hours (each way) just to see us.
  

Let me close these set of blogs about Nicaragua by describing our last Devo Monday night. Pete asked us to talk about what the trip meant to us. Here are some common responses:

• This is my Christmas.
• Its a compulsion. I have to go.
  
• It rejuvenates my spirit.
• It makes me aware of what the other 98% of the world is like.
• This is my family.
  
• To give hope to those that have none.
  

Aye! That last one was a bit controversial. It's actually at the heart of my sentiment. You see, while materially Nicaraguans are greatly lacking, that doesn't translate into someone who is poor in spirit. I've met many Nicaraguans and Latinos in general whose faith is deeper and has been proven by fire. Who of us can say the same?

I also think hope flows both ways. HTI's mission is to show Christ's love to those in need (paraphrased). We certainly do that. What we don't do is anything that will last more than a few weeks or months. Hope that Nicaragua will turn around economically is slim. Hope that Nicaragua will have a spiritual revolution is a certainty. This hope is my great gift given to me by the Nicaraguans.


Finally, I want to say thank you to all the fantastic spiritual giants on this trip. If anything, just being with them and listening to their life of service inspires me to imitate their good works.

Adios!