We had a great week of brigades this week working with a wonderful team from the Chicago area. A physical therapist named Jane had also joined the team and she was a wonderful blessing to the mission this week! I was able to refer many of my patients to Jane to get further soft-tissue work on their necks if they were experiencing headaches or there shoulders for strains there. I had over 200 patient visits from Monday-Thursday and our team saw around 100 souls come to know the Lord. Our working conditions were a little warm as we were in smaller churches and we were packed in. This week I seemed to get a couple dozen extra patients with shoulder pain and motion restrictions.
On Wednesday, a patient came to me with severe loss of motion in his right shoulder, the motion he did have caused him significant pain. He had been in a motorcycle accident a couple of years ago and has been having problems since then. I did a lot of soft tissue work on his shoulder as well as adjusting his clavicle, humeral head, upper back and neck. He was near tears during some of my work as he was in significant pain. After I had finished working on him, he had doubled his shoulder range of motion as well as almost pain free motion. I gave him some at home exercises, stretches, and muscle work to do on his own at home. He then went to the evangelism station to talk with one of our team members on salvation!
The next day he showed up again! He was so thrilled with his results he was wondering if I could treat him again. I treated him again and he regained almost 100% of normal range of motion. One of our team members took a photo of him and I will post it later.
This week we also visited a lady named Magda. We met her at the end of June and were drawn to help because of her story. She was 8 months pregnant with her sixth child and has no husband or boyfriend. She is on her own. She had asked us for some money (equivalent to $1) to buy food for her family.
With the help of Jamie's parents, Dan and Kim, we purchased groceries for her on Sunday. It was a true blessing for this family. It was the most food they had ever had and the largest gift they had received. The only food that had in their house was black beans. We are conscious of the fact that we have to be careful of giving gifts to needy families here, for concern of dependency. But we felt and Dan and Kim felt the Holy Spirit had directed us to her, not to turn away from Magda. I explained to her that this help is only temporary, the food will run out, the toys will break, and the clothes we brought will wear out. But if she accepts Christ into her heart that she will never lose salvation. That is eternal! She has a lot of sadness on her face, but I believe that the Holy Spirit wants us in her life to plant the seed of Christ and help lead her to salvation.
Below are some pictures from last Sunday.
This is her stove to cook on. Not only is it not easy to cook with, but it uses the wood very inefficiently. This causes her to have to buy more wood than her family would need if they had better stove.
We returned to her home on Friday and there was more joy in her face and heart. We brought her a New Testament bible, some multivitamins for herself and her children and some more water.
She is somebody who we feel we need to help at this point in her life. We are not sure where the Lord will direct us in that task, but we will keep our hearts open to his will.
We were inquiring about the kids going to school and Magda told us that Darwin could not go to school because he had no shoes. His shoes had been left outside and had been stolen. Before we had left our house Reed had decided to bring an extra pair of Crocs in case his got dirty. (He knows that things are usually much dirtier in these homes that we visit) I went to the car to compare sizes so we could buy a pair for Darwin. What do you know... they fit! We felt that this boy needs shoes and it just so happens that Reed brought an extra pair. There of course was no decision to be made! Reed was quite distraught that we gave Darwin his favorite pair of shoes. We know that Reed enjoys giving things, because at our house he often times is looking for things to give a child we has met who has little. But just like all of us, we prefer to give our extra and not something that is difficult to us. Reed's shoes, zapatos in Spanish, were close to his heart and difficult to part with. I believe a new question for us would be, "What are my zapatos?".
Magda's 82 year old father. He says that he came to know the Lord 20 years ago at the age of 62!
Lord,
I pray that we will all open our hearts to your will. That we will listen to You when You deliver your answer. That we will see the needs right if front of us and direct us on how to change this world for You. We know that your great commission You have called us is to find the lost and bring them home to you. As Christians You also call us to help the least among us and clothe and feed the needy. Help us to do your will.
Amen
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