Monday at the clinic

We had an early breakfast at 6:30 at Rosa Mystica, loaded up the van and were at the church by 8 am. As usual, there was already a tent full of people waiting to use the clinic.  The preparation we made Sunday after church made setting up the clinic much easier.  All we really had to do was hang eye charts and station numbers on the walls and get each station ready for business.  We were overjoyed to see our old friend John Karanja, who is our evangelist for this mission.  He led us in prayer to start the clinic and we opened for business.

It was also good to see many of our old friends from the church, like Jane and Elizabeth, Frank, Mosa, Barrack and Immanuel, the evangelist at the church.  And of course, Pastor James.  Our longtime Kenyan eye doctors were a joy to greet, as Milliam, Lillian, Chris and Gideon arrived to examine our patient's eyes, dispense drugs and refer those in need of cataract surgeries.  For Pastor Kevin and I, we felt right at home again and I'm sure our newer team members felt the love as well.

It was a pretty steady day until we had threats of rain and a few sprinkles late in the afternoon.  By the time we were done for the day, we had seen 293 people, which is a decent number, since from this initial group word of mouth will begin to spread.

We came directly back to Rosa Mystica from the clinic, arriving around 5:30 pm.  Dinner is served there at 7 pm every night, so we had an hour and a half to shower and relax before meeting for a buffet dinner.  We discussed how the day had gone, a few areas that could use improvement and our overall satisfaction with a first day's effort.  We were all dog tired and ready for an early night.

I went back to my room and finished tallying the registration cards and entering clinic stats into a spreadsheet before I began writing this.  There is a heavy rain continuing to pour outside, the lights flickered several times during dinner as there was thunder and lightning.  I figured I would dash off something quick for the blog in case we do lose power and Internet soon.  There is a very high chance of rain every day for the rest of the week and if the slum turns into mud, it may seriously impact our clinic.  My attitude is we will serve whomever God sends us.  It's really all we can do anyway.

Pastor Kevin and I have the high honor of being invited to the home of our East Africa LCMS Missionary Shauen Trump and his wife Krista for dinner tomorrow night.  We are looking forward to an evening of good food and fellowship as we share stories of our different ministries.  The rest of the team will either eat at Rosa Mystica or grab a bite at the Junction.  More to follow as time, electricity, Internet access and my energy permit.  Blessings everybody!