Members of First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, Pennsylvania, partner with clinic staff
November 1, 2018
Comfort and happiness in dad’s homemade contraption.
Photo credit: John Deisinger
She was taken to the clinic with a sore on her heel so deep that bone was exposed. The Achilles tendon had broken away a disintegrated portion of her heel bone. Brought to our makeshift surgical suite at the Manos Amigos clinic in La Entrada, Honduras, the patient was touched by people in our medical mission team who used their God-given gifts in the most compassionate, flexible and ingenious ways, despite lacking the technology they would have had in the United States. Used in the surgery were some samples of a new skin-growing material that just happened to have been donated to a podiatrist on our team.
A local Honduras physician — a niece of the patient — witnessed this procedure that brought healing to her aunt, while the mother of one of the surgeons witnessed her daughter using her surgical skills as a family was made whole. Praise to our healing God!
This was just one of several surgeries performed during the five intense days of our medical mission, during which our 20-member team partnered with the caring and gifted Honduran clinic staff to triage and treat hundreds of patients at the Manos Amigos clinic, as well as at makeshift clinics set up in schools and churches out in the surrounding, less accessible areas.
On the final day of our medical mission, one of our team members held a class for midwives (both female and male) on breastfeeding and child care.
That same day, a teenage girl who was born with deformed feet and was unable to walk was brought to the clinic. She came in a three-wheeled contraption her father had cobbled together from discarded parts by which she could propel herself around using hand power. She was there not so we could fix her feet, but because sitting in this contraption had caused sores on her buttocks. After our wound specialists treated her sores and provided a cushion, she went away happy. In addition, her father was encouraged to start a business making these contraptions for others.
Our mission was more than one of healing; it was a mission of hope.
Rev. John Deisinger, Retired Pastor
Today’s Focus: Honduras Medical Mission Team
Let us join in prayer for:
First Presbyterian Church Staff
Rev. Jack Haberer, Head Pastor
Rev. Stephen Emick, Associate Pastor
Donna Barnwell, Mission Director
PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Andrew Browne, BOP
Vernon Broyles, OGA
Let us pray:
Gracious God, you who bring healing and hope to this hurting world, thank you for the privilege of being your hands and feet, your eyes and ears, your very body among our neighbors in Honduras. Thank you for compassion and skill shared in your name throughout the year by the staff of the Manos Amigos clinic. Bless providers and patients with your strength and peace and a deep sense of your abiding presence and power among them, in the name of Christ, the great physician of us all. Amen.
Daily Readings
Morning Psalms 116; 147:12-20
First Reading Nahum 1:15-2:12
Second Reading Revelation 12:7-17
Gospel Reading Luke 11:53-12:12
Evening Psalms 26; 130
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