My Heart Is So Full!

(Here’s a little trip down memory lane of a foreign mission trip my family and I took, I hope you enjoy it and that it inspires you.)

by Patsy Norwood © 2001 - 2016 All Rights Reserved

(written in 2001)

This is the entry I made in my prayer journal two days before our trip.

“You’ll never get me on a plane over an ocean”. These are the words I said to my husband some twenty years ago. I was and still am terrified of the idea of flying and of deep water. It is now twenty years later and in two days time I will board a plane and fly over an ocean to go to Panama. I have never been on a plane. I am about to face one of my greatest fears. The phrase “For this I have Jesus” keeps going through my mind followed by “For this I need Jesus!"

Why am I getting on a plane and flying over an ocean if I am afraid? No one is forcing me, I am going of my own free will. I am going for Jesus, because he said “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). My job on this trip is to teach the children. For this I have Jesus!  For this I need Jesus!

Fast forward to 12 days later.

As I sit here and search for words to describe our trip I find that mere words are inadequate. They do not begin to convey what is in my heart, the emotions that I have experienced, the love that I feel for our team members and for the people of Cerro Vaca (Cow Hill). I hope in some small way you can get a glimpse of what I was blessed to experience by reading this article.

Let’s start with the numbers. Eleven people made the decision to become Christians and were baptized. One was restored. There were 155 Bible studies conducted not including the worship services we had every night. Several men from our team went out faithfully every day in search of homes to visit and for people who were willing to do a Bible study. A lot of effort went into this area of our work and it paid off. The doctor saw 1,385 patients, 5,685 prescriptions were written, filled and given out. The dentist saw 66 patients with 120 extractions. Benevolence had 606 people to come through their station. They gave out tooth brushes, tooth paste, soap, toys for the children, and every piece of clothing that we brought. Several of our team even gave some of their own clothes and shoes for these people. We had a crew who did nothing but scrub heads for lice all day long. They scrubbed 370 heads. Hats off to you! As far as I’m concerned you had one of the worst jobs.

The cooks did a fabulous job of feeding us. Imagine cooking for 60+ people with no electricity or running water. On top of these conditions all of the water they used had to be purified. They did it and the food was quite good!

Then there were those people who brought us cold soft drinks at just the right moments. With temperatures nearing and often times exceeding 100 degrees each day these guys quickly became our “favorite” people to see and received much thanks from us. I can’t forget the construction team. They worked in the heat faithfully each day in order to make a church building reality for these people. They had one of the hottest jobs. Thanks to their efforts we were able to have our devotion in the building on the morning we left. Thanks guys!

Our maintenance crew kept things running smoothly. Have you ever tried to “keep things running smoothly” for 60+ people who just happen to be in a very out of the way place? These guys did it! They even cleaned the outhouses for us and rigged up a makeshift shower. A round of applause is definitely in order for them.

We even had a crew who demonstrated how to brush your teeth, when to wash your hands, and just good personal hygiene. I did hear that they received several odd looks though.

The people who worked in the “pharmacy” had to have dreamed of little pills and of children spitting out their worm medicine. I never saw so much medication in one small room. The look on the children’s faces after they swallowed their worm medicine was comical … until they spit it back out. I wonder how many times our workers were sprayed with “rejected” worm medicine?

Last of all, but certainly not the least, were our nurses. Anyone who saw the doctor, dentist, had their heads scrubbed, went through our benevolence line, or any way received any other help, had to first see our nurses. I never saw so many people getting their blood pressure taken and their heads checked for lice. Nurses, you did a great job!

Next, I want to tell you about the people who stood in line all day in order to be seen by our medical team, and about the ones who spent the night in order to be seen. These people all walked. They all came, husbands, wives, children, and grandparents and stood in long lines waiting for their turn. One lady came on Tuesday. She realized that because of the long lines she would not be seen that day. She left home at 4 a.m. the next morning walking in order to arrive at 7 a.m. She stood in line and waited all day. It was late in the afternoon when she finally saw the dentist. She very politely asked if there was any way they could pull two teeth. Our dentist graciously accommodated her. This is just an example of how desperate these people are. Think about the hottest day you have ever endured and add to that the fact that there is very little shade and you are on the top of a very high mountain. These were the conditions that the people endured, yet they did not complain. There is no doctor in Cerro Vaca. The nearest one is 1 ½ to 2 hours down the mountain. A doctor visit cost $2.00, very few have it. They have no transportation except an occasional horse and no money. They live in grass huts, open tin houses, and open stick houses all with dirt floors. They cook over open fires outside their homes. They have no electricity or running water. School tuition is another area of need. Each student has to pay $2.00 a year in tuition to go to school. This amount is very difficult for the parents to pay. One night a young boy asked my husband for $2.00. When we asked him what he wanted it for he told us it was needed to pay his school tuition. After confirming his story, arrangements were made with the proper people for his tuition to be paid. I don’t think that I shall ever look at $2.00 the same again.

I had one of the best jobs there. I was given the privilege of teaching the children. We had an average of 200 - 300 children each day. At the scheduled times we would take our teaching materials and head for the designated spot. The children would immediately flock to us. They came running from every direction. It is a scene that I will never forget. We sang songs (in Spanish), did skits, and handed out coloring pages and crayons. We blew bubbles for them and the joy and excitement on their faces as they tried to catch the bubbles was something you would have to see to believe. I shall always remember the intenseness in which they listened to the stories from the Bible, and their laughter as they watched our skits. (Have you ever seen teenagers wallowing around on the ground playing the part of pigs and the fatted calf for the story of the prodigal son, how about sheep for the story of the lost sheep?) Our teenagers and young adults really gave their all in these skits and I am so proud of them. I shall never forget the children’s young voices as they sang Alabaré which translated means “I will praise Him”. Their smiles and hugs are implanted in my mind forever. There are no words to describe the mark these children left on my heart.

As I mentioned above, we sang the children’s songs in Spanish. This was no small feat since the only word I knew in Spanish was “agua”. We are thankful to those who took the time to get us the words to the songs in Spanish before we left. It was a big help to us once we were there. Imagine trying to carry on a conversation with someone who doesn’t understand what you are saying and you don’t understand what they are saying. Many times we were reduced to laughter as we tried to figure out what each was trying to say. We thank God for our translators who always came to our rescue.

What can I say about our team except that they were absolutely great! You really get to know someone when you are hot, sweaty, dirty, and yes, even smelly. All pretenses are gone and the real person is shown. We developed a comradeship that cannot be put in to words. When my husband had to be taken to the emergency room our team members rallied around us. When my feet were swollen to twice their normal size and it hurt to walk, I was politely told to get off of them and was provided a place to do just that. I have fond memories of standing in a circle each morning at the close of our devotional time, holding hands and singing Bind Us Together Lord, and God’s Family. It put tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. Then there was the late night when several of the team members were standing around gazing at the clear sky feeling so close to the stars that it was a temptation not to try and reach out and touch them that one of the team members broke out singing How Great Thou Art. It was such a moving moment and one by one all who were standing around soon joined in for what was one of the most beautiful times of singing unto the Lord that has ever been. Any time there was a need of any sort there was always a team member that could figure out a way to meet that need. We shared hand sanitizers, wet wipes, sun blocks and anything else we had that was needed by someone else. We had true “team spirit” and I am so thankful to have been a part of it.

Our trip had its humorous moments also. Our fearless leader went through camp each morning at 6 a.m. singing a wake up song for us. He is lucky he didn’t have a few things thrown at him. I did hear of an attempt though by some of our younger team members to serenade him with his own song late one night. There was the lady who refused to leave because she wanted to watch us. In fact, she wasn’t the only one who watched us. Everywhere you turned there were little eyes peering at you, through doors, windows, and around corners. A group of young ladies from our team took a trip “down the mountain” on foot in order to go and watch someone be baptized. Their trip gave new meaning to the word “rugged”. The trip down the mountain to the pavement on the last day was quite an experience. There were nine of us in the back of a four wheel drive truck. The bed of the truck was one of those short ones, approximately 4′ by 5′. We were packed in like sardines, yet we laughed all the way down the mountain.

A scene that will forever stay in my mind is one of the children running down the mountain behind the truck we were in as we were leaving. We watched them as they became smaller and smaller the further we got from them. There were also people at different places along the side of the road on our way down the mountain. All were there to wave us on our way.

I do not want to end this article without giving thanks to all who made this trip possible. My life has forever been changed because of it. What I feared would be a terrifying experience turned out to be one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I pray that the seeds we planted will continue to grow and that God has been glorified in all that we did.

patsy
she hath done what she could