Tales from Jayacayan... an Intern's Perspective

Two weeks ago I was blessed with the opportunity to translate for cute, spunky, red headed nurse practitioner named Dani. This medical brigade was put on by Crosspoint Community from Nashville, TN. They saw 901 medical patients and 831 eye patients in 4 days. Duyure (the town) that consists of about 1200 people, so this is a HUGE blessing for this community. 

            All of the patients that came into our “consult room #5” not only affirmed my love for medicine, but it also resonated how immensely blessed I am. I’ve chosen to share just a couple of cases that pricked my heart..
            The first is of an 11 year old little boy and his mother. They came in with the regular issues (cold, cough, stomach ache, etc.), but the mother was particularly concerned about her son’s lack of attention in the classroom. Dani and I spent a decent amount of time comforting this mother and explaining that this condition is known as ADD and that it’s something that is very common among children his age. She was concerned that since he was hanging out with other children who didn’t care much about school, he wasn’t going to make something of himself in the future. We advised her not to get onto him for not focusing on his homework for long periods of time, but to take it in 15-minute intervals (studying, taking a break, studying, etc.) It’s amazing how advice so minimal can make such a huge difference in a family’s life simply because they are unaware. We also spent time encouraging the little boy. We asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and he said a pilot.  We told him we believed that he could do anything he put his mind to if he just believed in himself and studied hard. As we got ready to tell them good-bye, the little boy gave Dani and I a huge hug. Sometimes it’s taking time to comfort families in the midst of hundreds of patients that makes some of the biggest differences in the their lives.

An older woman came into our consult room telling us that her joints were hurting her and that she had a headache. A lot of people come in with headaches, and the cause is usually because of lack of hydration. So then I proceeded to ask her if she drank enough water. She said no, she didn’t, and that she also didn’t eat very much. I asked her what she normally ate. She said that her family is very poor and that they usually only eat tortillas filled with salt. – Salt fills their bellies and curves their hunger. I talked with another one of the translators about this (Rafael-he lives in the Choluteca region but attends school at Harding). He told me that a lot of people think that beans are the food for those who are poor, but the poorest of the poor eat tortillas filled with salt. 

            It’s consults like these that make me so thankful that God has blessed me with the opportunity to be his hands and feet in the medical field. But it also serves as a wonderful reminder of how much I take for granted. Next time you put salt on your food to make it taste just the way you like it, let this serve as a reminder that this is all some families have to fill their stomachs. 

I’ve heard it said that stories in the Bible can touch you in different ways depending on where you are in life’s journey. Last night, as I read through 1 Chronicles, I was struck by a passage that I had never before taken the time to really stop and think about. In the story, David has sinned before God. An angel of the Lord orders Gad to tell David to go and build an altar to God on Araunah the Jebusite’s threshing floor. When David arrives, Araunah offers to give oxen for the burnt offering and wheat for the grain offering. The part that struck me was what David said in response to this. 1 Chronicles 21:24 says, “No, I insist on paying full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.” For me, life in the U.S. is more often than not a life of convenience. Even when I give of my money and time, I do so in a way that is planned. I make sure the comforts of my life won’t be compromised by the few hours I give up or the few dollars I give in. After making sure my life will continue in the luxury I have come to expect, I allow myself to feel good about the “sacrifice” I have made. But is this even sacrifice? David’s response says that he would never even consider giving a sacrifice to God if it costs him nothing. What a huge lesson. What a slap in the face. Living in such a way that God is praised means living a life that costs you the comforts of apathy. Being in Honduras for 7 weeks has taught me that what I gave up to be here has truly been a small price. Furthermore, I have been repaid over and over again through the smiles and hugs of the kids I meet. Through the cute little way that they cannot say my name but persevere in their efforts to do so. In the love of Christ that pours out of so many poor Honduran men and women who are rich because of their zeal for the Lord. My presence here has truly been a blessing of God in more ways than one. Most recently, He has given me a taste of what He longs to give to those who try to give to Him. How much more does he desire to give me if only I will sacrifice everything and make my life a praise to Him?

—Courtney