Stories that impact me

1. Meet 'Abuelita' - I met her while I was installing water filters one morning. She is 92. She had 9 children in her lifetime and has so far outlived 7 of them. Her husband died over 25 years ago and since then she has been living alone until her granddaughter moved in a month ago because her eye sight was so bad that she was falling in the fire and getting burned while she was cooking. When I asked to take her picture - she made me wait while she fixed up her dress to look good for the picture. Her community has taken her on to protect and care for - they take turns bringing her food, caring for her health, home, etc. We provided transportation to and from our clinic for consults, and she said she felt like we were treating her as a queen - my brother-in-law gave her a rain jacket and carried her to the car in the rainstorm. Abuelita - you should feel like a queen.  She made me so happy.











2. Meet Carol (11months old). I met Carol a few weeks after she was born - most of her clothes and Ali and Maddy's hand-me-downs. She was born healthy and is one of our neighbors. Carol got a weird bacterial infection in her brain - causing seizures. Her parents (ages 14 & 17) took her to the hospital thinking she was dead. They sent her to the giant public hospital where they fought for her life for over 60 days. They would call us with updates ("I think we're losing her" / "The Dr's don't know how to help her"). She came home 2 weeks ago with 9 diagnosis's - the worst being severe brain damage. She breaks my heart. The parents are fighting for her, now also learning how to deal with this new curveball of raising a severely handicapped baby on NO money. Dad started working for us. Again, the community has banned together - supporting them, collecting money for baby formula, etc. The good part: the parents have found Jesus.





3. Day one of opening the clinic when great. We saw 18 patients. We turned away 70.













I can easily get overwhelmed by the need. By the hurt. And how hard life is. And I have to choose to take it to the cross. To not do it on my own or allow the helpless feeling to come. My God knows what He's doing even when I don't. God is teaching me that I need to rely on Him and do what I can do- the never ending need is draining.