Friday - the conclusion of the clinic

We had an incredible last day at the clinic.  We saw around 350 more patients.  Pastor Kevin had Linda helping in the triage station, particularly with the women.  She needed a break after about an hour and a half because of the many heart-breaking stories that people had and what they asked her to pray for.   All of us who have ever done this job have had to walk away for some quiet time or to cry for a little while.  This is completely normal, you wouldn’t have a heart nor the compassion of Jesus if it didn’t affect you deeply.  She did some other tasks like helping with the eye chart and then came back to triage on and off.  We’re glad she did.  She prayed a beautiful prayer over a young Muslim woman who then got some reading glasses.  Pastor James, from the local diocese, talked with her and prayed over her and before you knew it, she was a convert.  Thank you Jesus for all of the broken people your Holy Spirit brought to us this week at exactly the right time for them to start a new life in you.

We closed up the clinic around 4pm, got all of our gear stowed in the footlockers and then had a nice closing ceremony in which Pastor Kevin and I handed out certificates to our volunteers.  As each came forward to claim their certificate of appreciation, Linda snapped their picture with us.  Some of these will surely make it onto this blog.  We have had very spotty Internet access this week and have not been trying to worry anyone, since we had daily reports earlier.  I will probably have to wait until Heathrow, where they have 45 minutes of free wifi, to post Thursday, Friday and Saturday happenings. 

We had dinner at Rosa Mystica and the staff brought us fruit, hard boiled eggs and bread for breakfast, since we will be leaving at 6am for a safari and need to be out there early for the nocturnal animals as they come in from their hunting.  Pastor Kevin has been called into meetings with our project leadership and the ELCK authorities, so he won’t be joining us.  We’ll do the safari, maybe the elephant orphanage and then some lunch and shopping at the Veranda complex.  After that, we’ll go back to St. Joseph’s where we stayed earlier in the week to wait for the other teams coming in from the field before leaving for the airport.