Amazing Day in Prison

What an amazing day we had in the prison! And as exhausted as I am, I just had to let you guys know about it. It's a special day when you can say you had an amazing day in prison! :) In addition to the 5 day clinic in a favela and the construction team at the leper colony, today we took a small group into a mens' prison. I actually wasn't even supposed to go with the group because Sharon was going to take them but yesterday she decided that it would be better for her to stay at clinic and for me to take the team. So I took the team, 9 Americans and 4 Brazilians, and we set up a medical clinic in the middle of the prison, complete with general medicine, pharmacy, dentistry and ophthalmology. I had visited a couple of prisons during my time in Rio but this was the first time I had ever done a medical clinic in one! And it's nothing like you would imagine... the men were so nice and the way they thanked us and talked to us, you would never think that we were inside of a prison! God worked everything out in a perfect way. Camila, a Brazilian that I worked with in South Africa, just happens to be a pharmacist and came to Rio this week to help us in clinic... since we needed our American pharmacists at the other clinic, Camila came with us and filled the prescriptions. What a blessing she was! And then God provided interpreters as well. We were limited in the number of people we could take in and I was planning on being the interpreter for both Kevin & Raja, our doctor and nurse. We got there and there were so many patients... but there were also 2 guys that spoke decent English and wanted to help. So I put them to work and let them help interpret so I could see patients as well. They were great... so great in fact that Raja had no idea that her interpreter was one of the inmates until the end of the day when she asked if Anderson could come back on Thursday and help us. We told her that he would be there because he couldn't leave! All day she had thought he was one of the church helpers! She even tried to get him to come upstairs and eat lunch with us! :)

It was a busy day! Our small group treated 128 patients and there were 30 people who gave their lives to Christ. One of those was my patient, Rodrigo. He sat down and began to tell me of all his problems. The health situation for these inmates is really tough and they have little access to medical care. As Rodrigo began telling me of his symptoms, I became convinced that he had HIV that had probably progressed to AIDS. He's been in prison for 4 years and his health is only getting worse. After talking with him for a few minutes I asked if he was a Christian. He told me that although he went to church when he was younger, he later stopped going and went down the wrong path. He shared that he was trying to get close to God but it was so hard because he had committed so many sins. I began to tell Him about God's love for him, even after everything he had done and how God would change his life, but that he was the one that had to make that first step and invite Jesus to take control of his life. Rodrigo prayed with me a few minutes later and asked Jesus Christ to forgive his sins, save him and change his life! I told him that he was a new man in Christ and that his new story started today. I am so thankful that even when I don't have the medicine to cure people of their sickness, I can share with them about the Great Healer who can heal the body and soul!

Thank you for all your prayers for us this week!! Continue to pray for us, for strength, endurance and boldness and that God would be glorified through each of us. Tomorrow we are all back at the church clinic and then on Thursday the small group will return to the prison. God has already done great things but there is still more yet to be done!!