Day Seven

I'm a little behind posting because I haven't had internet access for a couple of days.

Day Seven

I got up early and went across the street to Starbucks to get a decaf and croissant with egg and ham. It’s great to be able to drink good decaf coffee again! I returned to the apartment to get ready to go to the clinic. The rest of the team was taking a well deserved day off. Maureen and I were going back to the clinic that I went to on Thursday. They had several people lined up for me to see. We had a cab scheduled for 9:30 to pick us up.

While waiting at the curb for our cab, Maureen heard a voice call out her name. It was Jazmin, a parent of two of her students! Maureen knew she was in Lima visiting family. She had hoped to meet up with her and see the kids. Here she was on a bicycle riding down our street. What a coincidence!! We talked briefly and arranged to meet later. Our cab arrived and we headed off to the clinic.

At the clinic I saw the last lady that I tested on Thursday. It was too late to fit her with aids and I told her that I would return. She works there and smiled when

she saw me. I fit her with two aids. She was very appreciative. The next lady also worked at the clinic. She told me that she hadn’t heard from her right ear since childhood. Her left ear was having difficulties also. I tested her hearing confirming no usable hearing in her right ear and a moderate to severe loss in her left. I programmed a hearing aid for the left ear. I took her out to the lobby to see how traffic noise sounded to her. She started to tear up. She said that this was the first time that she was able to hear sounds so clearly in a long time. I told her that it must have been hard working in the office and not being able to hear well. She told me that she tried to read lips the best she could. I told her that she wouldn’t have to worry about that any longer. She gave me a hug. It moments like this that makes me glad I went on this mission.

The next person I saw was a Sister that works there. She had sat outside the exam room the previous day I worked here. She took notes on everyone I saw and made arrangements to have people seen that I had wanted referred to doctors. Now it was her turn! After testing her I fit her with a pair of hearing aids. She said that she was very grateful and gave me scaplets for Maureen and I.The last person was an old man who had been sitting there with his granddaughter since I had arrived. It had been several hours. I thanked them both for their patience. I tested him and fit him with an aid for his left ear. The right ear was okay. The clinic was already closed.  They were waiting for me to finish so that they could leave. I showed the granddaughter how to use the aid so that she could teach him. Maureen and I hurriedly packed up. They called us a cab and we headed back to the apartment.

Maureen called the Jazmin on the phone and arranged to meet when we got back to the apartment. She took us a few blocks from our apartment to a small mall on the beach. Maureen and I were very hungry. We hadn’t stopped for lunch at the clinic. Maureen hadn’t eaten anything yet today and I had the croissant. We were going out to dinner tonight with the team, so we decided to eat something light to hold us over until dinner.

We met back up with the team and went out for an end of team ones mission dinner. We met some of the people from team two that were joining Mike, Aileen and some of the team one members. They are going to travel down the Amazon to a remote site. First they're taking a plane and then a 90 mile boat ride. They'll be sleeping on elevated  beds to avoid snakes. Boy I'm sorry I'm not going on this leg of the trip. We all said good night. We have one more day of our mission left.
I don't have any pictures to share of today's clinic so I thought that I would share pictures of the church I talked about in one of my first blogs. I had been requested.

We just keep on truckin'