Number of Clinic Visitors: 406
Pairs of Eyeglasses Given Away: 411
Total Patient Follow-ups (want a Pastor to follow up with them): 75
A lot of prayer and planning goes into a mission trip, but there’s always an element of excitement and surprise associated with going to a new place, meeting new people, and not knowing exactly what to expect. As the bus pulled up to Iglesia Bethel, church members were waiting to help set up the clinic. You will see from the photos that they literally rearranged the pews to make room for us. There was a flurry of activity as eye charts were posted to the wall, a triage table was set up, and eyeglasses were arranged onto tables. Our missionaries met their translators — students and church members who make it possible to communicate with each other — and described to them what their duties would be.
Two familiar and wonderful ladies joined the group again this year: Dr. Sonya and Rosie, who use their medical expertise to help with more difficult cases and also train new volunteers. A new vision specialist joined the team, and she will be introduced tomorrow (I don’t know her name yet).
A typical visit goes something like this: visitors arrive early, before opening time, and form a line. Pastors will bring in groups of people and give a welcome talk/devotion. Next stop is the Triage table. After a preliminary vision test, a visitor, whom we now think of as a patient, will meet with one of our volunteers, who will ask them questions to determine what their vision problem is and what kind of eyeglasses (distance or reading) will help them. At this time our volunteer will respectfully ask their patient if they know about the free gift of Heaven. This opens the door to a more personal conversation about their faith. If they don’t wish to discuss this, we’ll thank them, then direct them to the next station. If they want to know more, a more private discussion will follow. This is a critical time. The triage worker is listening carefully and guiding the conversation, while remaining sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the patient will be ready to pray and accept Jesus into their heart. Other times they want to know more about Jesus and we will arrange for them to follow up with a pastor. They will receive literature in Spanish which describes the path to God’s free gift of Heaven. And of course we will pray with them and for them.
The next station is the auto refractor, which measures the amount of light passing behind the retina and provides a precise eyeglass prescription. From there, they’ll go to either the reading glasses or the distance vision glasses station, where we will help them find the right glasses to fit their face and the right strength to help them see better.
Praises!
A man came to the clinic with vision problems. He was fitted with glasses and was able to see clearly for the first time in seven years. He was so moved that he shed tears of joy.
Daniel, a young translator working at the Triage table, paid very close attention to the conversations about the free gift of heaven. He wanted to know more about how to tell people about Jesus. After some coaching, he asked if he could speak directly to a patient about their faith. With prayer, supervision, and guidance from the Holy Spirit, Daniel led three people to faith today.
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