Vern’s Eye Clinic Story
Feb 17th, 2008 by Vern Posted in Bluefields 2007 | 1 Comment
Vern writes about his experience from the Eye Clinic during the 2007 Mission to Bluefields.
This was my third trip to Nicaragua, and my second to Bluefields. For me there’s nothing quite like the experience of a mission trip. Its the only time when you really serve God 24/7. Of course, I consider suffering through roosters crowing at 2am as part of worship to God, because after all, everything you do on a mission is for God.
Even though it was my third trip, I still grew and learned a lot from it. Initially I expected it to be like the 2nd trip - I came down ready to mix concrete, dig holes, do welding…
On Monday and Tuesday, I worked hard with Francine, Devika, Jon and Paul to pave the front of the Sunday school behind the church. But on Wednesday, our eye clinic leader Laura told me I had to be on duty.
What?!? I came here to dig holes, do manly man stuff, not sit around fitting glasses!
Ian reminded me that on a mission trip, we’re there to serve God, not ourselves. His words rang true and I realigned my heart to do what I had to do.
I got paired up with Devika. She was asking the questions, I was pointing at eye charts. Around the 4th person in, we were testing for near vision and I was pointing at the chart. “Next symbol…next symbol…next symbol…ZZZZZ”. I fell asleep right in the middle of the exam! Devika noticed and told me I should go take a nap.
In my defense, I was pretty tired from leading a 7am devotional at Verbo…but that was the first time I fell asleep on anyone.
The next day I got to do some more eye clinic and I got into it more. We got this one patient who was a seamstress. She couldn’t see well enough to thread her needle. In a town of 80% unemployment, getting the chance to help this woman regain her livelihood was a real blessing. I had to make sure she could really thread a needle though. Since we didn’t have a needle and thread, I asked Shirly for one of her long hairs to see if the lady could touch the ends together. Shirly yanked a bunch out…enduring the pain for God and the team. Sure enough, the lady was able to touch the two ends together with amazing accuracy. Score!
When we took the eye clinic to the prison, things got really interesting. We got to examine the prisoners, as well as the guards and their family. We had to set up in the prison courtyard under the hot sun. Guards brought the prisoners out one by one and stood around for security. They carried billy-clubs or AK47 assault rifles.
One guard with an AK47 sat down to get his eyes checked. When our team inspected him, they were shocked to find out that he couldn’t see near…and he couldn’t see far. Everything was a blur! I wonder if his coworkers know that when he’s shooting, its all hazy. Our team made sure he got fitted with the right glasses and who knows what kind of impact that’s going to have in the future!
So in the end it was a great trip. Missions are about serving God by serving His people. We did so much serving that week. Missions are one of those things where once you do one, you’ll just want to keep going again and again.
On the flight home from Bluefields to Managua, I met a couple that was going home from a mission trip to the Corn Islands. This couple had 20+ mission trips under their belt even though they were seniors. I was impressed and in awe at their faith and passion for which I wanted to match with equal vigor when I get to be their age someday.
Vern
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
[...] visited the prison in Bluefields, Nicaragua. We administered to the inmates - provided an eye glasses clinic for some the men, and care packages to the few women. The impression the team had was that the prison was hot and [...]