God's Good Works

Today was our last day in our clinic in Choacorral, and it didn't hit me how fast this trip has gone until I started saying goodbye to all of my patients. The experiences I have had these past few days will forever be ingrained into my heart. I have grown more as a person and learned so much more in this week in Guatemala than I have in the two years I've lived here. That's how impactful this trip has been for me.

Today was special because patients I had met earlier on in the week returned again and again and I began to see familiar faces. Specifically with one family, in which I developed a relationship with. I sat down with this family and learned who they were and what their story was. It was two sisters, their mother, and all of their children. In the thirty minutes I talked with them I found out that they walked over an hour and a half to get to the clinic, both sisters married young, at 15 years, and both sisters had kids at a very young age. I was astonished at the stark differences we had in that sense, I mean I'm 21 and barely am able to take care of myself, how could I ever take care of children, especially when I'm still a child myself?

It definitely left me pondering the whole day, but it also showed me how wonderful these women are and how strong they are to take care of not only themselves, but their families as well. The fact that they walked over an hour and a half just so their kids could be vaccinated is just astonishing, and by luck they were able to come on a day when we were here. However, I wouldn't call it luck, things happen for a reason in life. There was a purpose and reason for why I met that family and developed a relationship with them. In a way, it was God's way of showing himself to me, of demonstrating his good works. It was his way of showing that even in the toughest times and I don't think He's there, He really is, in moments like these.

So where do we go from here? That's the question we're always left pondering because we're only here for a limited amount of time. How will we know if the patients we attended to will be able to continue on without us? How will we know if they're able to buy their medication again after they've run out of what we've given them? Will it be too expensive? These questions have been circling in my head this week, and now that our journey is soon coming to an end, they've become more pertinent. Even though we offer care and medical attention to these people, I wish we could give more. I wish I could give more of myself to them, but in reality I can't, as much as I would like to.

Moreover, it breaks my heart that I won't be able to come back next year to see these wonderful people. It truly saddens me because it's through these people that I was able to see what I have to offer and what my calling is in life. As much as I've done for them, they have done way more for me, more than I could have ever imagined. I hope to see this relationship of our medical team with this town develop more profoundly, in a way in which the livelihood of the people are changed for the better; in a way that builds up the community to the extent that in future they will be sustainable and be able to thrive on their own, much like at our old clinic in Patanatic. I can only imagine the wondrous strides this town and this clinic will do for the people of the community, I can't wait to see what's to come in the near future for them.

Angela Ellis