"To love is to serve"

The past two days have been both amazing and tiring....

Yesterday we had the medical clinic. It was the coolest thing.... With four nurses in a tiny "room" (wooden planks formed the walls and ceiling, cement floor) in the middle of a trash dump saw over 200 families.... God was at work. It reminded me of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with only 2 fish and 5 loaves. God was at work in me specifically with one family.... a mother of 5 sat waiting with her 5 children. The two oldest of the five were both deaf and mute. They were gorgeous children and I was immediately drawn to them. Whenever I began to communicate with them someone would immediately tell me that they couldn't talk. No one had ever worked with these children or given them the opportunity to learn to communicate. I ignored the words of the others and felt led to be with these 2 kids. This is the same little girl from the first day who prayed in her heart while the other children bowed their heads.

One amazing and different thing about this medical clinic is that is was advertised in the dump (by word of mouth) mainly for women to attend with their children; most of the men are never with their families. However, we were shocked to see how many children came alone. There were many instances where a young child of only 7 or 8 years old would bring their younger siblings to be seen by the nurses. There were little girls who were babies themselves carrying younger siblings strapped to their backs. The children listened very closely as I translated the directions for the medication. The power of the Spirit filled the room and equipped us all with "spiritual" gift; gifts which we personally can not claim but that were given to us at that time by the Holy Spirit in order to do God's work and for His glory alone.... I assumed that I would be working with the children while the medical clinic took place. However, as I sat handing out dresses I felt led by the Spirit to help the girls at the "medicine" table who were giving the prescriptions. I know nothing about medicine... but God led me there. To my surprise they desperately needed someone who spoke Spanish who could explain to the people how to use the medicine. It worked like clock work and it was ONLY by the enabling and equipping power of God. I love how he uses us for His glory by giving us gifts at the time they are needed to do his work; gifts that we can claim no credit of.

People accepted Christ in that medical clinic as we prayed with each one after they saw the nurses.... it was beautiful and words are far from sufficient to describe this experience....


Today we took 200 children to the zoo... whew! None of them had ever been to a zoo before.
We gave the girls the dresses that I talked about earlier. They LOVED them!!!!!!!! They were SO thankful to have a dress made out of a pillow case.... I wonder what some of the children I know would say if I gave them a dress made out of a pillow case, AND didn't let them pick their favorite color!

One lady who was helping at the zoo told me a story that I feel compelled to tell. We hear stories that shock us and break our hearts all day. This was one of the many from today. This lady has 3 children who are beautiful that she is raising alone. Her husband was killed a year ago in a drive by shooting while he was at work.... trying to earn money to feed his family. He was a hard worker and a good husband. He was killed while working.... he wasn't at the bar when he was shot, he wasn't out playing tennis and enjoying himself, he was working. He was killed by a 10 year old boy.
In the afternoon we had a women's clinic. We pampered the women for hours; washing feet, painting nails, giving massages, and giving goody bags. We prayed with them individually after a worship service. The Lakewood women's team crouched on the floor for at least 5 hours washing and rubbing dirty feet.

This morning Janet gave me these bible verses that God had placed on her heart to share with me.....
Here are mine:

Psalm 37:3-6, 23
"Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteous shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm."

Romans 15:13
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Philippians 2:13
"for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose."


** I'm putting up pictures on facebook of today and yesterday.... go look! :)


God bless!
Peace and love,
Sidney