Last night I had this horrible nightmare that I slept outside and was awoken by an Amazonic thunderstorm. Than I realized that it was reality. Due to our large team that is assembling here in Santa Cruz, Bolivia we are running out of bed space. So a couple of the other men and I decided to sleep outside on the patio. We woke up at 4:28am completely soaked by a thunderstorm like none other. Take Tulsa sized raindrops and multiply them by 900x and that is the size of Bolivian raindrops. We drug our soaked sleeping bags inside to attempt to sleep some more despite our conditions. We've learned very early that we can't come into a country like this complaining. They need to hear us speak life. So all we could do at four in the morning is laugh. It really is hilarious when you think about it. A bunch of gringos sleeping outside in a third world country, getting poured on. There is no time to be vain. I'm learning to grow and adapt.
I love Bolivia.
I'm currently listening to our incredibly talented team sing praise and worship. Something truly beautiful happens when people from many backgrounds, cultures, and countries come together for one purpose. We have Bolivians, Peruvians, Paraguayans, Tulsans, Georgians, and a South African working together to spread a simple, yet life changing message: Jesus loves you more than you can comprehend. We went to two different churches today to spread the word about out clinic this week. We got to pray for healing with many people. Their desire and faith is unbelievable. They walk to the alter with expectation. It's really been challenging me. Do I have similar faith? Man, I couldn't be more perfectly in God's will for my life.
Our lead doctor, Dr. Carey, informed me today that tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday I will be shadowing him with patients. He gave me 20 pages worth of common tropical diseases to study in all my free time. He told me, to my surprise, that by Wednesday I will be seeing my own patients. How crazy is that? From Chemistry lab rat to doctor... I'm only 20 years old! I'm so excited. I've got a sheet of a lot of common medical phrases in Spanish that I must learn. He told me I have two days to significantly grow up. I've never been so excited about a challenge. This is my destiny. God is so good. Dr. Carey also told me that I could shadow him when we are back in Tulsa when we return. I'm excited about the connections I'm making. I respect the spiritual emphasis Dr. Carey puts on his practice. He instructed me to spend at least five minutes with every patient to share the gospel with them. He told me that there is a level of trust and openness to share the gospel with patients because they share their physical secrets with you. I've been absorbing as much as I can from the many experiences people on our team have had. We have one lady who has been to over 188 countries. How incredible.
In other news, I ate a chicken heart today for lunch. No, I'm not kidding, a chicken heart! And it actually tasted... good! Go figure. I washed it down with a cup of passionfruit juice and pineapple juice. I love this place. I was born for this. It's past one in the morning now and I must wake up in a few hours to prepare for clinic. Good night America. I miss you Depot. More than you know. My family as well : ) Be in prayer.
Sincerely,
Stephen
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