Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Tuesday's clinic

Our day began with a 6am breakfast and a devotion based on the separating the sheep and the goats section of Matthew by Tom in which he focused on how we needed to treat even the least of our brothers as if they were Jesus himself. We had a good discussion mentioning others who had done so, such as Mother Teresa. We were on the road at 7am in plenty of time to arrive at the church and get the clinic opened by 8am. The evangelists started the day seeing only 8 people at a time in 3 tents and really spent a good amount of time with eah group. This is important, because on the first day, they were seeing far more people at a time and anyone with questions would have been hesitant to speak up, especially Muslims. It is also important because it meant we had a full 100 person waiting tent full at all times on Monday, disrupting the flow that we would have liked to have had. Tuesday was much different and people we waiting to be evangelized rather than for the clinic. It seemed as if the clinic was very quiet all day long,but with the more sane beginning mentioned above, there was a steady drip, drip, drip of activity and we wound the day up with nearly 500 patients having been seen. The steady, more orderly approach is much better and less tiring. While we worked hard on Monday, we were flailing and wasted a lot of time and energy. The second day is always much better than the first and we have high hopes of seeing between 2,500 and 3,000 people at the clinic before we close Friday. That could change if we get any appreciable rain. We have been praying for rain in central Texas for so long that it seems odd to ask the Lord for dry weather until the clinic is over. When it rains, people stat home due to muddy streets everywhere and the need to make sure their shanties and possessions don't wash away. There were many wonderful spiritual stories throughout the day, which we will share with each other after dinner and during breakfast tomorrow. More to follow as the clinic continues. God bless everyone who has been praying for our safety and an effective witness in an area that needs the hope that only our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can bring.

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