The day started with devotionals (as each morning has) and a doctor asked the question she says she has been struggling with ever since she started coming to Guatemala: Why does God allow such suffering and poverty?
The conditions in which the poor of Guatemala live would never be acceptable in our country – the US health department, surely, would be all over the situation in a nano-second. Those of you who have visits developing countries have seen the difference: pickup trucks packed with a dozen people standing in the bed (how else would they get from place to place? One vehicle for a half-dozen families), babies teething on dirty rags, families sleeping on the dirt breathing in dust and mud and animal feces – it is no wonder healthcare is such a dire need. The hygiene is poor and clean water is not available.
Today I returned to my pee-in-a-cup duties, and I commented to one of the physicians that every person tested positive for leucocytes. What is that? I asked him. “Ah, white blood cells – it means they are not cleaning themselves properly after they go to the bathroom. It’s very common here.”
I don’t know why God allows such poverty, but I do know that poverty and suffering have been a part of life while Jesus walked on earth, and even centuries before then. “The poor you will always have with you,” Jesus said. I wonder if we’re asking the wrong question then. Perhaps the question is “What can I do in response to the poverty and suffering that is in the world? How will I allow God to use me?”
The clinic day ended with a presentation by the leaders of the San Marcos village. They played a song, a marimba, in honor of the volcano that overlooks their village, and then 3 community leaders spoke at length to us, thanking us over and over and over for being here, and offering prayers for us and for all the people in their community that we attended, and prayers of thanksgiving for the over 40 village volunteers. Again and again they said thank you, until we were tired of it, but it was important to acknowledge their earnest thanksgivings. Once a year the people of San Marcos receive health care. They anticipate the arrival of Faith in Practice all year, for the two days we are here. It felt small to me, the work I did this week, especially not being a medical person, but I am remembering the closing ceremony at that village, and acknowledging that the time I spent with the young women today holding their hand as they awaited the results of a pregnancy test, or the patience I tried to have listening to the elderly gentleman tell me his story even though I did not understand all of his words, and the peekaboo games I played with the children – my prayer is that God used that, and all the other many things we offered to bring some healing this week. I know that God has used the hospitality of the Guatemalan people to mold my heart, and many others on our team have said the same, and for that we are thankful.
