On the Road with God

Hi once again! It has been a world wind 2 days. We held the medical clinics at the Phnom Penh Friends Church yesterday and today. We (the doctors and nurses) saw about 137 patients yesterday. There were probably close to the same today. Everything ran fairly smooth until this afternoon. Pat was gone so others had to fill in in triage. We got backed up and did not see the last patient until about 7:15 tonight. the clinic was supposed to end at 5:00-5:30pm. Then we packed everything up as quickly as we could. But when we got back to the house just after 8:00pm, Carolyn had a wonderful spaghetti dinner ready for us. The clinic has been very successful. A lot of people have been receptive to hearing about Christ; just about everyone wanted to be prayed for; and several asked about coming to church on Sunday. We can only wait and see what fruit will be harvested. I think the real harvest will come when the health promoters do the follow-up checks on the patients. That is when the people will really know that someone cares about them. Medically wise, of course, it was a success. Lots of people were helped but mostly what we heard was they really hadn't known what they had been treated for previously. They really appreciated hearing explanations for their diagnosis. I guess a lot of treatment here is write and prescription and move to the next patient. Not much bedside manner. The reason Pat was out today was to take a 10month old boy to a local lab for heart tests. He diagnosised him yesterday with a heart defect. If he doesn't get care, he will most likely die soon. I haven't heard the test results or if Pat was able to find any medical help for him here or in the States. Please pray for this little guy. Who knows what God will do through him one day if he survives. Tomorrow morning we head off to Battambang. A 20 passenger bus has been rented. Many of the people from the health seminar are coming with us. Gary Colfax has been here helping to translate at the clinic. He'll be driving his car back is all is well. It started making a "funny noise" he said driving back to the mission house tonight. Our sick list is rising. My cough is not any better. After a roundtable discussion of this troublesome medical case (haha), they have opted for more drug for me! I'm not sure if that is good or not but I'll follow doctor's orders. I'm really tiried of coughing. God was insistant though that I preach on Sunday because my cough did ease for that! Kacie Van Winkle came up sick this morning with some sort of stomach disorder. She spent the day in the bathroom of their hotel room! Peter got news today his sister died. She was terminal with cancer but was expected to live a couple more months. His 15 year old son who is autistic has been sick for a couple of days. Peter got word of that soon after arriving here. He was relieved to hear he was doing better but still has a fever, but his sister is now taking care of him. That has eased his mind. So this has been a really tough trip for him. They have tried to get an earlier flight home for him on Friday or Saturday but so far no luck. It is Chinese New Year and people are going to the States to visit family. They are going to contact the travel agent who booked our flights to see if he will have any better luck. Please keep these things in your prayers. We aren't leaving until 10:00am tomorrow, so we will get a little more relaxing morning. We've had to be at the church at 7:00am the past 2 mornings. I'm not sure what the internet access will be in Battambang. I'll post if I can. Otherwise you may not hear from me again until Saturday or Sunday. Our itinerary has changed. We are coming back from Battambang on Saturday rather than Sunday. Gaylyn just came in to inform me that Pat wants to have a team meeting at 8:00 am tomorrow morning! So I guess I better get to bed.