Reynosa

Mexico. A good friend called me in the middle of September to see if I would be interested in going there on a medical mission trip. He said the dates were October 9th through the 11th. Ah....LSU Florida. Clearly this was a God ordained choice placed in front of me. I chose the mission. That friend was Bronson (pictured below). I worked with him in Baton Rouge and have seen him grow in Christ so much in the last two years. So much so that he went on this same trip in March. We were working together then and could not both be off. He was invited by a friend, Stephen, who is a pastor in the Methodist church. He was going with a group from Shreveport. Bronson returned motivated more than ever to serve Christ. Its all he could talk about. I could not miss that opportunity.
So I made arrangements to go. Our group is pictured below. Tom, pastor of Haughton United Methodist, coordinated the trip. He heads up this group twice a year. He is a great guy and has a real heart for missions. His wife Susan is a nurse practitioner. Sue is the translator, Hal is the pharmacist, and Bronson and I just do what they say. The gentleman in the yellow shirt is Dr. Elias. He coordinates our clinics. It was awesome to meet these people and to know that we share the same Father.

We crossed the border into Rio Bravo, where Dr. Elias has a clinic. We went there because Bronson arranged to have an ultrasound machine donated to him and wanted to help him set it up. After getting it going he did a quick tutorial with the doctor. Very quick because we were hungry.

Doc took us to a great restaurant in Reynosa. By the way, Mexico.... not the place for diets. Dinner for 7, $39. I love Mexico.
After dinner I snapped this picture of two boys there. The one on the left had been selling flowers. All of the children in Mexico had a real humble spirit. There was a peace about them. They would not look you in the eyes, but once you showed them some love (a smile or taking their picture) they would just light up.

Once at the compound we chose our bunks. I don't have twin sheets. But Landry does.


On Friday we set up clinic in the church below. Interestingly all of the windows had the star of David. That is big in Mexico. We saw 69 patients. We mostly provided Tylenol, ibuprofen, blood pressure medicine, antibiotics, and vitamins. The people were wonderful. Though we would probably consider them poor, I don't think they feel that way. They just live. In many ways

I think they are richer than us. They don't have all the distractions that we have. They are much more at peace.






Group picture at the end of day 1.


Our second church clinic.


On the second day we saw 83 patients and it was much like the first. Brothers and sisters in Christ, great people, and a HUGE GOD!!!!!



This is Bartolo Escobedo. He is the former pastor of this church. He actually pastored three churches and traveled between them on bicycle. He is now a missionary to Puebla. It is an area of Mexico where they speak no Spanish. He said witchcraft is rampant in the area. Wonderful soul.


This little boy was shy at first. Once I snapped his picture, he really opened up. He did so by taking my camera and snapping about 15 pictures. He kept speaking to me and laughing. I just nodded. He was very sweet.

He took this picture.


Below is the reason diets don't work in Mexico. Her name is Gloria, surprisingly an LSU fan, and a great cook. One night I ate 9 tacos. Before supper. She is a very sweet soul.



I am so thankful to God for the chance to be a part of something so meaningful. It is so awesome to know that you are God's hands. He is working through you. I would certainly recommend missions to anyone, whether you feel called or not. God can use you.