Our God is in charge, alive and on the move

I have been meaning to post this when we got back from Mexico but the time has just gotten away from me. TBL is napping so I'm trying to get caught up on some things. All of our efforts for our last Mexico trip was made worth it by one of the last patients we saw. The whole trip would have been worth it just for helping his lady and her son. It is evidence that the God I serve is alive and on the move.

In the fall of 2006 we took our second trip to Mazatlan. Our friends, Amber, Toni and Lance were with us on that trip. One of the clinics we ran was at a colonia called Tres Palmas. The church built a school in this colonia as the city did not feel it needed a school to educate the children of the 'dump scroungers'. The church stepped in and built the school for them. One of the patients we saw that day was a young woman whose chief complaint was 'my arm won't move'. Well I am always a bit cynical and in my head thought, 'of course it moves, it may hurt but it moves. everyone's arm moves'. Turns out I was wrong. This gal is unable to move her arm. She was hit by a car crossing the major highway in front of the colonia and must have injured her brachial plexus (the nerves that run basically through your armpit and control your arm). There is nothing that could be done for her. Even with the best physical therapy in the States she probably wouldn't have regained much if any movement.

Two years ago or so the government in the form of trucks of armed policeman showed up at Tres Palmas and told everyone they had to leave. No one actually owned the land they were living on and apparently someone bought it so the government was going to relocate the 'squatters' to another place. The people were given very little time to pack up their entire lives and move (I think less than an hour). The church quickly found out about it from a teacher at the school and took action. They went out with vehicles and manpower to help people move. The people were told they were being relocated to land that had been developed with power and sewage and divided into lots. When the people were taken to their new colonia called Loma Bonita (pretty hills) they were essentially dropped off in a field with nothing the government had promised. The church ran the mobile kitchen for months to help feed the people and they continued the school under plastic tarps. The residents of the new Loma Bonita are a resilent bunch and just started building their houses all over again. We now run clinics at Loma Bonita.

Back to the lady who can't move her arm, so now she lives at Loma Bonita. Last January we were there and she and I were both pregnant. We discussed when our babies were due and were excited to see each other again in the fall so our children could meet. So on our last day of clinic, here she comes pushing a baby carriage with her son in it. She came right over to me and was so excited to see Lucas. Her son was sick and needed to be seen. Apparently he was seen the day before at the hospital but she cannot afford the medicine and the breathing machine they recommended he use. He was having trouble breathing and had a bad cough. He saw our pediatrician, Dr Cara, and she knew exactly what he needed. If God wasn't with us before, here is where He showed up.
--we had the exact right inhaler to give him; we never buy inhalers as they are too expensive but take down some donated ones from time to time so our supply is always questionable.
--an infant needs a spacer which is an air chamber device to help deliver the medication from the inhaler. for the three clinics before this our pharmacist, Angie, was making spacers out small cardboard neosporin boxes that she rigged with tape. earlier this morning our nurse Roxie was cleaning out the triage box and found a spacer. we have had it in there for a few years and never remember we have it until after we actually need it. not today. Roxie had probably 30 minutes before this lady came found the spacer and gave it to Angie. they laughed about how helpful this would have been yesterday when Angie was making spacers like MacGyver. but if we had found it earlier, we would have surely given it away and not had it for this little boy
--the child also needed some steriod which we didn't have in liquid form but also quite randomly had in pill form. Angie had asked Bill before we left if she should bring her mortar and pestle with her. Bill kind of laughed knowing what a slip shot pharmacy we actually have and that Angie would not be compounding medications. well Angie didn't listen to Bill and brought it anyway. so now she was able to crush the medication safely for mom to give to the baby

as all this was going on I was watching it unfold and had this innate sense of this being the reason we had come. sure, we had seen 100s of other patients but it seemed like it all came down to this lady and her ill son. maybe it is because i have a son now the same age and can't imagine how helpless you must feel to have him be sick and without resources to help him. maybe it is because i remember her from that clinic long ago and have seen how she has coped with her disability. God knew exactly what we needed to treat this little boy. it is just the way He works ... how everything came together from the inhaler to the discovery of the lost spacer to the mortar and pestle.

this encounter gave our whole tired, weary, hot team the much needed boost. it reconfirmed our mission in Mexico and reenergized my faith. this i know...

God is in charge, his Son, Jesus, is alive risen from the dead and the Holy Spirit is on the move. sure the mystery of the Trinity is theologically confusing, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work.