Long Days, Short Week

(Vicki Griffin with a Peruvian gal. What a blessing it is to have Vicki on the team with us!)

Wednesday. The last day of clinic. The last day in Chincha. The last day working so closely intertwined with our Peruvian family. It was incredible.

As we packed up our bags and brought them downstairs, it was hard to believe our time in Chincha was coming to an end. Scot led us in devotions and Tamara in song. What a sweet time for our team to be together and begin to process what God was doing in our lives. What a joy it’s been to use our personal stories to connect on such a deep level and have rich fellowship with the Peruvians. It will be incredibly hard to leave them on Saturday.

When we arrived at clinic, lines of people had formed for each care provider. As is typical, the last day was the busiest and we saw more patients than the previous two days. Running like a well oiled machine, we finished the clinic strong. Then it was time to eat…

We returned to the same restaurant as the day before and were treated to another classic Peruvian meal: lomo secado. Think stir fried beef(?) or some other meat with spices served with rice and papa fritas (French fries). We drank our favorite limonada, which is made from Peruvian limes and lots of sugar.

Picture this: after the clinic the bus was buzzing with English, Spanish and Spanglish. Our teams had truly become one and we celebrating what God had accomplished through us. The logistics were crazy, but the clinic was an incredible success.

Chalo, the host missionary in Chincha, was excited about the potential growth of the church. The home visits, the long days of clinic and jam-packed bus rides were worth it. They were worth it to see the lives of the Chinchanos eternally impacted with the message of the Gospel.

After our appetites were satisfied by this rico Peruvian food, we returned to the school to set up for a celebration service. Members of the community were invited to return for worship, a message and an opportunity to win prizes playing Jeopardy.

(Twin girls who came through the Well Child Clinic)

A highlight of the service was a skit performed by the Peruvians. They had taken the song “I Can Only Imagine” and played out what it might look like to see Jesus face to face. The skit began with 3 people dreaming about their arrival in Heaven and what that day will be like. Jesus, also known as Matt Sanger, our pharmacist, embraced each one and welcomed them into His heaven. The skit ended with the 3 people waking up to their current reality. This skit was incredibly powerful and moved many people to tears.

After some worship and brief message, it was time to play Jeopardy. Keeping in mind that this is not a common game in Peru, it was entertaining to watch 5 Chincanos battle it out…all for the grand prize of a rice cooker. One of the categories was “charades Biblicas” or Bible Charades which were acted out by the gringos. Talk about funny! Picture Scot Dykstra as Jonah being eaten by a whale, Chris Russell as a hysterical pharaoh not ing Moses’ people to go, Matt Sanger as Jesus ascending into Heaven and Terry Schott as the angel Gabriel. Wow, were we laughing!

As the evening wore on and the stars came out, we realized our time with the Chinchanos was coming to an end. They realized it too. Kids picked a team member and clung on tight, many falling asleep on our arms.

One of the tenderest moments was watching Jocelyn, a little girl that spent all her time at the clinic the past three days, cling to Scot and fall asleep in his arms. She woke up an hour into the service and was cold, so she went home to get her sweater and returned with her mom. Mind you, she’s 4 years old. She crawled back into Scot’s lap and stayed there until the service was over. This little girl grabbed the hearts of our team and it was hard to say goodbye to this precious nina.

(Dani and Jocelyn shared a special bond over the past 3 days. Jocelyn was our little Dora the Explorer in more ways than one!)

After many goodbyes, we loaded the bus back to Condevilla. You know you’re exhausted when it takes you 10 minutes to fall asleep on a bus full of smelly bodies, the stench of body odor and bags squeezed into every nook and cranny. Incredibly, with thousands of pounds of weight, we made it back to Hotel La Hacienda in a record 2 ½ hours! You better believe we slept well!