Today we woke up to a light fog and the sun slowly burning through. 9am worship actually began at 10am. Fr Noe asked me to lead worship - all i can offer is English. Anxious I was:  I was then reminded by an elder that “in the country - no need to worry about not speaking French - most adults don’t speak French here!” Needless to say, worship has been forecast to be two hours was only one hour. 

Immediately following worship, Dr. Mike led us in setting up the worship space for the clinic. Stations were assigned:
Intake/Welcome/basic info: Mary Ann and Fr. Mark(*)
Personal Photo for file: Allen
Blood pressure: Wayne
Height/weight/eye chart: Kelli
Scribe for Dr. Mike: David
Dr. Mike: 87 exams in five hours 
Fr. Mark: (*) floater and assisting. 

Most common issues seen: 
High Blood pressure: adults 
Dental issues
Malnutrition
Fevers
Illiteracy (could not take eye test could read letters)
Sight problems  

Other diagnosis:
Worms
Several heart complications
Pregnancy diagnosed
Rashes
Tonsillitis
Strep Throat

The past relationships and rapport gave us the gift of trust so we could offer our clinic.  We charted every interaction: family, daily nutrition, school behaviors, social skills, etc. We quickly could see correlations between between nutrition and stomach/school performance, eye sight and illiteracy/headaches, attention in school with fever, stomach and eye sight. As the afternoon progressed the reality of the lives of the people who live here. Overwhelming yes. Gratitude we could offer what we could, wonderful. Sad we could not do more. Trying to comprehend God’s hand that weaved our lives together - magical. And power for prayer turned into action by the people of St Bart’s awe inspiring. 

As I write, we setup movie in the worship area ... hung a sheet and turned on children’s movie (in French). A small moment of forgetting the challenges of life here has brought peace. 

Tomorrow will be another day. Wondering how Jesus Christ will be revealed to us.