Mountain of Myrhh: March 2012

It was a beautiful sunny day in our small town of Canilla'. The sky was clear, and a cool breeze swept across the trees in the early afternoon. I was standing my post, watching baby Rubidia as she took a nap beside her mother. As I stepped outside, I heard the ministry's airplane fly over head. Duane and Leslie were taking a young girl to the city for surgery on her hand. I was ready for my shift watching baby Rubidia, yet exhausted from nights of staying up late with her, as she continuously struggled to breathe and keep her sats (oxygen level) up, despite all the medical treatments we were giving. I looked around the clinic making sure everything was in order when I heard someone call my name, "Raquel," they yelled and told me that someone was at the clinic gate. I poked my head out to see who it was, and saw our neighbors. They asked me if I would come check on their mother, specifically if I would take her blood pressure. They also mentioned something about her falling on the way back from her pila (an outdoor sink used to wash clothes and dishes). I grabbed the blood pressure cuff and stethoscope and scurried over to their house to see what had happened.
"Con permiso," I whispered as I made my way into the dark small hut, and then waited for my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. This little home had two rooms, one for the kitchen, and one for the bedroom. Making my way into the bedroom, my eyes fell upon a limp body on the bed. I swooped in to take her blood pressure and assess the situation. She was breathing, conscious, but couldn't speak, and her body was limp. It didn't take long to realize that she had had a stroke.
The next hour was a bit of a blur. I rushed back & forth between our house & her house, looking up how to say stroke, calling Katie, and trying to figure out what I could do. The part that is still so clear to me, though, is that I got to pray for her, and as I prayed I felt the fire of the Holy Spirit. After some thought, and my suggestion that it was a stroke, the family decided to take her to the health post in town. Unfortunately, I didn't have much hope, though, because I have learned how little the health post in town has, or is able to do. For example, there has been several times since I have been here that the health post has come to us to ask for insulin, or other things because they have so little resources.
But, she stayed there overnight. A day later, when we went to check on her she was again in bed & her family described to us that she had right-sided weakness. At that moment my heart sunk...I had seen lots of people while working as a nurse in the States that never quite recovered after a stroke. I imagined her weak, frail & in bed for the rest of her life. But we prayed again for her, that she would recover. A few more days past, Leslie had found a wheelchair for her, & we had studied physical therapy exercises for her to do when we went to visit. We decided to go visit & see how she was again. But this time, to our surprise, we found her sitting up using her right hand as if nothing had happened! I couldn't help but smile! It was a miracle, and she was recovering! This was not medicine's doing, this was the power of prayer! Our weak little prayers were heard by our heavenly Father. Heaven had touched earth, even in the midst of the lack of faith. He had come to show this elderly woman how much he loved & cared for her. He came to prove his word that in Mark 16:18, that, " ...they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover..."
Praise be to the Lord! Even, today we heard reports that she is up walking, and doing great! God is so good! Es un Milagro!