DAY 4

We began the day as every other, hearing Alex yell “Ten more minutes” and then shortly later “Vamonos!!” (which means, let’s go). The women cooked another lovely breakfast, one of the best of the trip. They served a dish called Chilaquiles made from dried out tortillas – everyone loved it.

Then we were surprised by a visit from Eligio, one of the people from the village who had lived in a city before and who knew much better Spanish than most people there. He had been to the movie the night before and came to get information and see what we were about. After serving a plate full of breakfast to Eligio and the man who accompanied him, we were privileged to witness an awesome conversation. You almost never get to hear that first conversation. It was amazing the wisdom with which Alex shared. It was truly a no pressure situation filled with grace. He explained that we were Christians, that the Bible was our ultimate authority, and that we are called to help our neighbors. He made it clear we were not coming in to conquer or force people to our religion – this is an important part of being accepted into the community and culture. Alex would share a little, Eligio would continue to express interest, and Alex would share a little more. The Holy Spirit was definitely at work in this conversation. Eligio is more educated and an influential person in the community. He is also fluent in Spanish and Mite. I cannot even imagine the wonderful things that God could do through him in this community. Please petition the Father for Eligio.

After breakfast we headed to the clinic to finish our painting (which we thought we would never be able to accomplish). It was such a fun surprise to see that so many more people showed up to help paint that day. It seemed this must be a good sign since we had showed the video the night before.

At one point we all took a break and passed Pepsi’s all around to have a community moment. The authority for the village was also there, which was an important event in gaining the approval of the community and furthering the work of the worker that lives there. After a brief break, we all got back to work again.

We painted all day. God is good, and with the help of the Mite people we were able to basically finish all the painting before we left.

Eligio came by to bring us lunch, which was a huge blessing as we were trying to put the finishing touches on the paint job. He brought us a chicken and tortillas, and we had some more Pepsi’s. This was a great kindness on his part. Everyone did a good job of eating the food that was offered, which is very important in Mite culture.

As we were eating, a man came up to the clinic with his boy cuddled in his arms. He explained that the little boy had been throwing up. The difficulty in this situation was that there is no doctor most of the time at the clinic and the nurse who might usually be there was on vacation (as were many people since it was Holy week). Thankfully, through the gracious provision of the Lord, Amanda had had some nursing training and made herself available to consult with the family a little. She was then gracious enough to grab some Pepto Bismol from her own bag and explain to them how to give it to the boy. One of the guys talked to the Fathered over the boy and they departed.

A short while later, a mother came through the gate (she hung back from the processional that had been going by, probably so that no one would ask her what she was doing or see her come into the gate). Her smallest girl who couldn’t have been more than three had eyes that were pink and streaming with tears. The poor thing was quite miserable. Our team determined that she most likely had pink eye. A few people went scavenging in the clinic and found some eye drops to give her. Unfortunately, the only instructions on the bottle were to ask the doctor about dosages. Fortunately, with Amanda’s nursing background, Brent’s knowledge of pharmaceuticals, and Alex’s common sense, they were able to come up with a plan to try and help her. Krista then talked to the Fathered over the girl in Spanish and they took the medicine and departed.

It then occurred to us that because of our conversations with the Father and because, at least with the little girl, they would have understood that we asked to our God for healing, we realized that it was very important for these children to receive the healing for which we asked in order to make God’s name great and show the villagers that he is real. Many members of our team spent some serious time in conversation with the Father as we completed the detailing in the paint, asking God to show himself in healing these children. Later that day when we left, we passed the father and son on our way out of the village. The son was walking on his own and the dad had a huge smile and was waving profusely at us as we drove by. We thought this to be a sign that God had indeed honored our requests.

Before saying goodbye to Mario, our team gathered in his small home. We had a sweet time of conversation with the Father for him and for Peter (who is a Christian brother we met at the movie the night before)