Day 1

Day 1 was hot. Super hot - according to the locals one of the hottest days of the year so far. We had a great breakfast and an orientation with the Frontline staff. It was great to hear from the individual ministry leaders and see their passion for what they do. We toured the facilities such as the school, Blue Box, and FTC home. The students who had been here before were so excited to get back to the FTC and see the children. What they are doing there blew me away - a feeling I think I am going to have to get used too on this trip. To be honest as I walked through the buildings, which in some cases are barely that, I felt sad. These kids are so happy to have this but compared to all that my kids have it is so very little. I kept thinking as I saw their living conditions that we can do better than this. The kids are very happy though and so obviously crave affection, as they just come right up and start touching you and crawling all over you. They have an innocence that is remarkable considering their past. The leaders Mike and Lauren I believe, I have met a lot of new people, live in the most incredible modest accommodations, face nearly insurmountable odds, and constant crisis yet seem to have a joy that goes beyond anything I know. It really hit me when I met Lalo (I am sure that is misspelled). He is the boy they rescued from a shed, naked and starving, sitting in his own waste. He is blind, cannot speak, cannot walk. He has more health problems than they even know. It is so sad yet so incredible inspirational all at the same time.

Later we went to the hospital. Let me just say that I have no intentions of needing medical treatment while I am here. Wow! It was deplorable. We went to the 3rd floor - the surgical wing. It was all people who had either had surgery or were waiting for surgery. I never saw a doctor and saw only 1 nurse, yet there were patients everywhere - 3 or 4 in every room. We went with a woman who goes every week along with some of the older FTC kids and pray for the sick. The second room we went in had 3 patients in 12 x 12 room. It was so hot because before our arrival there were at least 15 people in the room, maybe more. Debbie and I had prayed for people in the first room so it was Billy MacKenzie's turn when we entered the room. The first person was a woman with an obvious chest wound. Our interpreter told us she had attempted to commit suicide by stabbing herself in the chest. Billy prayed, nervously yet sincerely. Our interpreter started talking to her and her husband for several minutes. She then explained that they both wanted to pray to receive Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. We all gathered in the sweaty room holding hands in a place with little hope and prayed with 2 brand new believers. It was one of the most memorable moments of my life. To see the look on Billy's face was priceless. I am sure it was incredible intimidating for him because it was for me! But somehow in God's infinite wisdom and plan we traveled half way around the world to go into some woman's hospital room who felt her life was without hope and we got to deliver the good news to hear and see her eternity changed. Wow! Afterwards we spoke to our interpreter and found that the hospital was for people who had no way to pay for their medical expense and when this woman was discharged in a week or so she had no way to pay for the prescriptions she would need to recover from the surgery. On top of everything else they discovered she had appendicitis and had removed her appendix as well as treat the stab wound. We took some of the money from the StuCo offerings and walked to the pharmacy and bought our new sister's prescriptions. Some of the family members went with us and tearfully accepted them. It was a good day.

We finished the day out back at the FTC playing with the kids. I played more rounds of Uno, with ever changing rules, then I probable have ever played. It was a hard day because of the heat and the fact that I may have had 5 hours of sleep since I left on Monday. We returned home to the Frontline headquarters and I think everyone was asleep by 8:30pm. If this is 1 day I almost fearful of 14 more, but at the same time incredible expectant to see what else God has in store. Watch for students to update our team blog at www.clinkert.com. I look forward to Billy's post especially.