Gratitude

A patient's children...one of the kids didn't make the picture!

                                                 Our makeshift pharmacy - but it worked!

We have just finished sharing and laughing about our day over dinner. Although we worked together, attended to the same patients, worked in the same room...we all have different stories.  I am amazed by this team, by the unceasing love that they display to these people they are tending to! It reminds me of the saying, "nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care". All of the servants on this team are here because they were led here, because they answered a call from their Heavenly Father. And so watching this team, working with them shoulder to shoulder, developing relationships with both members of the team and these local brothers and sisters in Christ is humbling and so much more rewarding than I can ever describe. I am reminded that just because you're not materially rich, does not mean you're spiritually poor.

Gratitude...it is the language of unlimited grace. I am grateful to be here, in this place, with these people. And I know that when I get home and try to tell of my experience here, it will not be adequate. So I will leave you with some pictures and a few observations...

You know you're a nurse in a developing world when:

1.  You call your patients by the name listed on their chart...and they laugh.
2.  When you commute to work, you see more donkeys on the road than cars.
3.  You're doing a job where you make no money, work longer works than you ever have, and still find it the most rewarding job you've ever had.
4.  Your patient kisses your hand at the end of the exam because they are just so grateful to have actually seen a medical professional.
5.  You can't pronounce the items on a menu and when it's brought to the table, you can't identify it.
6.  No HIPPA laws, no charting implants lot numbers, much of the medical equipment is outdated, but the medical team always takes the time to pray with the patients.
7.  A patient gets stitches to sew up a wound, but doesn't get them removed because she can't afford it.
8.  You can't wait to get home...but you also never want to leave.
9. The water stops running as often as the electricity goes out.
10. You see the poorest of the poor and they still act with more dignity than both of our US presidential candidates.

Jan McClintock