Keeping up with Beth

Miruro. I had a lovely late start that day at 10:30am. But it did mean, as half of our team had left a couple of hours earlier, and the hour long boat ride there, by the time I arrived at 11:30 they had already passed the rush. Obviously that gives a little more freedom to get involved with the community and find other things to do, however it does take a while to get them to open up enough to play with you and have conversations. We had a few more people and groups of women with sight problems and it was really cool to see the impact that previous outreaches had had as several patients had already been through surgery last year with YWAM, so just needed glasses to help with one eye. It’s amazing to see the story of YWAM MS in play, and how they impact communities over time rather than just one visit. We build up relationships and associations with these communities and its awesome to know there is a lasting impact- beyond the medical factor.

Our last day on our optometrist team we went to Sogere. It was a lovely village, and we managed to get really involved with CE as most of the people living there were busy working and didn’t need to stop, so we only had about 15 patients, whizzed through those and then managed to do a couple of teachings on eye health and how to look after eyes so that they work. It’s amazing having to point out such simple things to people, like the fact that they shouldn’t be able to se 100 miles ahead, and people the other side of that river will be small and unclear, and how you shouldn’t look at the sun as it will hurt your eyes. These things that are so natural to us, its our duty to help these people learn and understand the boundaries of our bodies.

I was sat chatting to one of the girls who was joining our team for that day, and it was truly amazing to hear her and how she carried herself, how she communicated and the stories she had- how she’s grown in herself and as a Christian, all these awesome stories of her family and just her aspirations. She communicated such positivity and love and I find it so inspiring to hear people carry themselves with such integrity and appreciation for life. She was truly amazing.

And that was my first week. I’m sad to say that I won’t Have as many exciting stories for the next week as I am on the galley crew, but I still believe amazing things are going to happen there and it will be a massive learning experience in myself, and with these people. It’s already taking a toll on my thought process as I understand the purpose and the heart I need to have behind all my actions. It’s exciting though to still be here, in such a beautiful country with amazing people and have such humbling and incredible conversations, about the culture, about God and just about lives with such awesome people