When I was in middle school (and high school, let’s be real) I watched the TV show 7th Heaven. Not only was this the show that inspired me to desire a big family, but there were other inspirational moments as well. There was one episode where the oldest brother Matt visits a little boy in the hospital and spends time with him, takes him outside, etc. I remember thinking to myself it would be cool to do hospital ministry; it would be neat to simply visit people, spend time with those who do not get many visitors, love on them.
Our last month on the World Race in La Paz, Bolivia our team gets to do just that.
We are working with MedFund, a Christian based non-profit organization. Their main goal is to raise money for patients in need of medical treatment/attention, but do not have the means to pay for it themselves. The health care system in Bolivia is terrible. In Bolivia if you have the money you get the medical attention; if you don’t, you are overlooked. It does not matter your situation. MedFund takes on specific cases where they know the patient cannot pay; it may be a matter of life and death for them.
My team is here to build relationships, to spend time with patients that are current MedFund cases and search out others that could be potential cases in the future. This may not sound draining, but any of you who have worked in the medical field know how draining this kind of work can be. Not only am I mentally drained at the end of each day from translating Spanish for my teammates, there is a certain depression that sets in from seeing this kind of trauma all day long. Maybe you get used to it, maybe you don’t. I’m not really sure. We go from visiting cancer patients to the paralyzed to rape victims to recovering surgery patients to amputees. It can be a lot to take in as you hear their individual stories. We have the freedom to go anywhere, walk into any room. The whole hospital is our playing field (we are definitely not in America!). Sometimes we get asked to help with a patient. This is something I am not usually comfortable with, but thankfully we have people on our team who have worked in the medical field and do feel comfortable.
Out of any month on this trip, this would be the one to witness the healing of the Lord; the space is wide open for it! We pray for every patient we encounter in the name of Jesus, so they know whose name we come in. Please join us in praying for physical healing and revelations of our God as we roam these hospital halls and rooms. If you would like to help further in donating to MedFund’s general fund or for a specific patient I have included the link here.
MedFund’s Donation Site:
www.ccwm.org/donation.html
*Please specify on your donation “MedFund La Paz” or “MedFund La Paz: Patient Name”
