1st Ministry Day

Above: "Doctor" Jake taking blood pressure.

Hello! What a day, what a wonderful day! Before the sun had even come up, we had already left for our clinic location and began setting up. Brrrr....it was freezing, the grass was even covered in white frost. We set up our clinic in a church, which was simply a large tent, and the patients began coming through our system. In the end, we had about 70 people come through, and prescribed many medications na dprovided vitamins for every person. The ministry aspect of our day was amazing!!! As Mary Ann shares below, 5 women accepted the Lord, 5 children accepted the Lord, and 6 guys came up to recieve prayer for becoming missionaries themselves. The team absolutley loved the day and God truly blessed us in many ways. These are just a few photos we´d like to share...

Here are the friendly faces of today´s Pharmacy girls: Kellinee, Angel, and Becca. They did a wonderful job (along with Ricky) filling prescriptions for patients.Here is Teresa, working hard in the triage.
One of the cute little girls who visited our clinic and had a blast palying with our children´s ministry team. The kids are just so precious.

The team did several dramas today for the people in the clinic. It was wonderful to incorporate this ministry into the clinic routine.

Some of the team played a game of soccer out in the nearby field. They had such a great time and it really was a moment of bonding between our youth and some of the youth from the local church. It was so cool to see them connect through something as simple as a ball game. From that moment on, they were all such great friends, as if they had know each other for years, and there was no language barrier.

Here is our team in front of the one and only Foursquare church in Uruguay!!! This church has 16 menbers already and it has not even officially opened up yet! We may have a service here this Sunday.

Mary Ann is going to be todays guest blogger, and share something from today´s clinic:

"When we first opened the clinic today, I was not sure how the day would unfold. At the prayer station we attempted to write out and learn a few phrases in Spanish to greet the people and to pray for them. The language barrier was difficult, but we were able to connect with the people. Tayler and Laura did a wonderful job and then Emerson (a missionary to Uruguay from Brazil) joined us to help with the translation. We prayed for for the patient´s physical and spiritual needs, but as the day progressed, God granted us more boldness. We asked specifically if individuals wanted to receive Jesus into their hearts. Five women chose to accpet Christ into their lives as their Savior. With Emerson´s assistance we led them in prayer. One precious lady, Mary Castro, who came walking with a cane and had trouble with her digiestive system received Christ. After Emerson payed with her in Spanish, we prayed for her in English. She placed her head on my shoulder as we prayed together. Tears were running down her face and mine. It was truly a gloriously blessed day, and we saw God more greatly."

Here we have Kellinee enjoying a flavor of a favorite local cultural pastime. She´s sipping on a hot herbal tea they traditionally serve in a hollowed out gourd and a special tea filtering straw. This tea is called Yerba Mate, and it was hospitable of them to share this tradition with us. One of the brothers from the church actually gave this Mate tea set to Richard as a gift! What a nice demonstration of the friendly people here.

Paul wants to wish his Mom a very happy birthday!!!¨ "I Love you and happy 51st birthday, I wish I could be with you!"

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Tomorrow we are taking a road trip to Brazil! We hope to stop along the way and enjoy some of the beautiful surroundings of these two countries. Check back tomorrow, hopefully we´ll get to blog in the evening and fill you in on the latest adventures! God bless.