Hello Again!

I wrote this update during the second half of the trip, and did not have a chance to send it out - so here it is! Thank you for being gracious :) 

We ended up hosting 5 very full clinic days. I was blessed to be at three locations, instead of just one like originally planned. Because of this was able to meet a lot of different people, and cultures/nations. Each clinic site seemed to have a slightly different demographic. The first one had more arabic speakers, the second one a large variety, including needy Greek people, and the third many farsi speakers. Our running total on people groups we've interacted with is over 20! There is no way we could've visited and touched all those countries in person in such a short amount of time otherwise. This was an unexpected blessing!

Many of the patients I saw had medical problems typical to what we see in the US - which is different than a lot of other medical mission trips that go to un-reached communities. When I was in Cambodia, most of the people there had never seen a doctor, or saw one once in their life. The refugee population, on the other hand, have lead lives similar to us, many are professionals, highly educated, and have owned homes and had regular medical care for their entire life. Therefore their medical needs were similar to what we would see here. With ONE exception.... many of the orthopedic problems I encountered were a direct result of being beaten or imprisoned along their journey out of their country, or having bombs dropped on them, etc. 

Lastly, I will leave you with a simple encounter that seemed to be the culmination of the trip. Since I started this journey, my heart's desire has been to share God's love and kindness with those who are so hurting. While I was there, in most of my interactions with the refugees and needy, I felt this goal was accomplished. Now, as I return home, I pray I can continue to work with this population. Here is the story....

On my last day of clinic, I was meeting with a Kurdish man. I cannot recall his physical ailment, but it probably was some combination of low back pain, acid reflux and hypertension, as we have seen so commonly. After we finished our visit, I asked if I could pray for him, and he said yes, as nearly everyone has done. We prayed and he was so appreciative of this act of kindness and love. He asked our translator where we were from, and she said, America. He then went on, and although I could not understand him, I could see the emotion rising in his face and tears began to fall. In turn, I also started to tear up without even knowing his thoughts. She translated that he said how thankful he was for us to come here for him, and that he hoped the whole world would see the situation and show kindness and that the world would be at peace. It is so simple to show kindness wherever we go and to remember we are all humans and in this together. I am thankful for this encounter and reminder of the most basic, yet most powerful gift of God, love.

Have a blessed day,

Ariel