1/19/05 (Wednesday)

7:00 AM. I didn’t sleep well – different bed, different pillow and headache. I think the headache is from the altitude. Breakfast will soon be served and then Jane will pick me up around 8:00. We will go to her office to do some things and then head to San Lorenzo. I’ll be able to email the family this morning.

9:00 AM. After breakfast Jane picked me up and we went to her office. There I met Damarys Reyes, her supervisor, and the rest of her team. Jane busied herself with some last minute details including trying to find an anesthesiologist. I was able to send an email and even get replys from Matt and Shelly.

Jane and Damarys

11:30 AM. We were on our way to San Lorenzo. The trip takes close to 5 hours but the mountain scenery is beautiful and makes it all worthwhile. We went through a couple recent landslides that had been cleared. One was 20 feet deep at the road with a path cut through it for traffic. We arrived at the clinic finding all sorts of activity. The construction crew was working on the wall and there were people all around the clinic. An orthopedic surgeon was there seeing 85 patients and many women were coming to see the gynecologist. We did not see any patients today but gave out numbers, 80 in all, with 35 to be seen tomorrow, 35 on Friday and then more on Saturday and Sunday.

The right side of the road used to drop off at the road

After my last trip I talked to my Adult Bible Fellowship class at church about my experience and showed pictures of the clinic. The class immediately wanted to participate in this ministry and took up an offering to replace the roof on the post-op building so the patients didn’t have to deal with dripping water from the leaky roof. The roof materials were purchased and now it is installed. This was such a blessing to Jane and the team as well as the patients. I plan to get some pictures for the class.

10:30 PM. I am finally in bed, hot and tired. I don’t have a mirror in my room so combing hair and shaving will be a new adventure. O well, this is a minor inconvenience. I am here and we will proceed with our project and do surgery if we can obtain an anesthesiologist. This is God’s project. He called Jane here, He called her team here and He called me here. I don’t believe He would allow this problem to derail everything. We are waiting to see Him deliver and He will at the right time with the right person specifically to address our needs.