From June 20-25, the volunteer Evangelistic Medical Mission Crusade team was blessed with the opportunity to visit the mountains of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Following is the translation of the blog written by Vero: full-time staff member at Refuge Ranch and a key organizer of the crusades.
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, may you receive a loving greeting from our team. You may be asking: "Why call this crusade a 'crusade of visions'?" In this particular crusade we were able to see visions fulfilled - visions that we have had and were able to see become reality during the week, as well as visions of things to come.
For some time now, we had had the vision to improve our equipment. Even though our doctors are willing to work under extreme conditions, we had wanted to provide better equipment for the well-being of both the doctors and the patients. God gave us the wonderful blessing of being able to do so! He provided new dental seats that are very comfortable for the patients, practical for the trips and, besides all that, pretty! The Lord also sent the blessing of a dry sterilizer for the dentists and surgery, two new Robotines (these are portable dental air compressors), and a gynecology exam table. We glorify the Lord for his provision for this ministry! These items were all provided through private designated donations.
In order to arrive in Verapaz, Chiapas, we had to travel 15 hours the first day and 5 and a half hours the second day! We thank Brother Lazcares and his family for housing us overnight with such love both going and coming from the crusade. When we finally arrived at the church, we were so blessed to be received by the brothers and sisters there with much love. They had homemade tortillas ready and piping hot, as well as a delicious chicken soup. The members of the congregation were ready to serve alongside us, and there were plenty of people waiting to be served! Within just an hour and a half of our arrival, we were set up and ready to see patients!
The first day we attended to a lot of people, despite the heavy rain that was falling. People came around curious to see if it was really true that there were doctors and that the appointment and medication were totally free. They had the impression that such attention free of charge was basically too good to be true! But, they received a pleasant surprise to find out that is was for real!
The following days were very long work days. A free medical crusade in that region was unheard of and hundreds of people came looking for medical care. We worked from 9:30 in the morning until 10 or 11:00 at night!There were so many people gathered around the registration table that they crowded out Dolores who was trying to give free haircuts!
We thank the Lord that on this crusade we were able to enjoy the return of Dr. Bill, a surgeon from Iowa and a member of the Fishers of Men Board of Directors. He performed 16 operations with the help of Dr. Paty! We were also blessed by the help of Kayla Wyntheim from Iowa and Brighton Ballmer from Ohio, as well as Joanna Marshall from Refuge Ranch. We also thank the Lord for bringing us a new nurse, Ivonne, who specializes in emergency room nursing and a new dentist, Delia.
One of the most impacting testimonies of the crusade was that of a vision had by one of the ladies in town, Alma. Alma suffers from terminal uterine cancer and one week before the team arrived in Verapaz she dreamed that some very tall doctors came to town and cured her. Her husband showed up at the crusade to see what was going on, but when he saw Dr. Bill, Mark Marshall and Brighton, all very tall men, especially compared to your average Mexican man, he went running home to tell his wife that her dream had come true and that doctors had come to their town from far away. She went to see the doctors and was shocked herself! When Alma told Dr. Ariel, one of our dentists, about her dream he called much of the team together. They joined together in prayer, calling out to God for Alma's healing. Alma gave her life to the Lord that day and trusted in Him as her Lord and Savior, as well as her husband. We do not know if the Lord has healed Alma physically, but we do know that He has healed her spiritually and that her soul (Her name "Alma" in Spanish means "soul"), the most important thing, belongs to Him.
The people could not believe what was happening. They would ask the local pastor: "What did you do to bring these doctors here? How much did you pay them?" The local people were surprised by the love and professionalism of the team. We would simply respond to the pastor: "Tell them that it wasn't you or us, that that is simply how important they are to God and that He does surprising things for those whom He loves. It doesn't matter if he has to bring somebody from another country."
We suffered quite a bit of opposition from the Jehova's Witnesses, which is quite rare, since any opposition we experience usually comes from the traditional Mexican church, but this time was different. They tried to destroy our reputation while we were there, but the local people responded: "You have never done something like this for us, so leave the evangelicals alone."Despite all of this, people's hearts were hard! Their hardness did not seem to come from ties to idolatry, as on many occasions, they simply did not want to believe in God. However, 55 individuals received the Lord. The clown ministry had the wonderful result of ministering to 50 children the first day and over 100 children the second day, without counting their parents and grandparents.
The last day we were about ready to start back to our homes when we had the opportunity to visit the country of Guatemala, since we were only about an hour and a half from the border. While we were visiting in Guatemala, we met some Christian women who began to ask who we were and what we were doing. They told us that they hoped that we could one day visit their communities also. So, one more time, God have us the vision and desire to go to Central and South America with the EMMC's. (We have had previous trips scheduled to Nicaragua and Belize, but they were changed to Mexican crusades for different reasons.) For now we must pray, trust and wait on God's perfect timing!
We give ALL THE HONOR AND GLORY TO OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST for all that was accomplished and we trust in Him that He will give the spiritual growth needed in Verapaz, Chiapas. We thank all of the doctors, dentists, nurses and support personnel for their huge effort and work. Despite the fact that the days were long and tiring, you pushed forward with the same love and effort shown to the last patient as to the first. Verapaz and our entire team could see the love and mercy of Jesus in your faces. Thank you for giving yourselves fully to the work of the Lord!Attended to:
General Physician 327
Gynecology 84
Dental 171
Hair Cuts 83
Surgery 16
Specialist Appointments 55
Children's Ministry 157
Accepted Christ as Lord and Savior 53
Total attended to (without children) 736
Team Members
*Dr. Escamilla *Dr. Bill *Dra. Leslie *Esmirna *Víctor
*Dra. Elizabeth *Ivonne *Adrián *Vero *Kayla
*Dra. Gisela *Dra. Delia *Gaby *Mark *Brighton
*Dra. Paty *Dra. Caro *Martita *Joanna *Rosa
*Dr.Ariel *Dulce *Helen *Becky *Dolores
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