On Sunday, Team Panajachel had the opportunity to visit a hospital in a neighboring town; our objective was to pray for the patients there and ask that the Lord’s powerful hand would heal their bodies and transform their hearts. After a curvy and slightly nauseating “chicken bus” ride up the mountain, we arrived at the hospital in Solola. I didn’t really know what to expect, just that it would be different than the state-of-the-art hospital where my mom works back home; what we saw was far worse than anything my imagination could have conjured.
In addition to the overlaying smell of feces, there were six beds to a room, the mattresses were worn and torn, medicine lay askew on bedside tables, and patients wore stained hospital clothing. My lexicon is far too insufficient to accurately describe the devastating scene. I say these things not to dishonor or disrespect the Guatemalan hospital system, government, or people, but to demonstrate how incredibly blessed we are in the United States.
While the conditions of the hospital itself were discouraging, and the patients that inhabited the torn mattresses were sick, injured, and uncomfortable, their gratitude inspired me. Each person that we offered to pray with accepted our prayers with absolute appreciation and many trusted that the Great Physician could heal them of their ailments. Not one person complained that their bed wasn’t comfortable enough or that there were other people sharing the same room; instead, they were grateful that they were receiving the little treatment that they were.
The gratitude of the people that we prayed for made me examine my own life: am I grateful that I have clean drinking water, that at any moment I can go to a hospital and receive top-of-the-line care, or that I have money to afford all of life’s necessities in abundance? Probably not, but witnessing these beautiful Guatemalans has unquestionably increased my gratitude to all that God has given me. And I am so grateful for YOU!
Full of gratitude for you and your support, Mariah
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