If Ever I Loved Thee, My Jesus Tis Now

I arrived safely in Burundi and the next morning we left on a 4(ish) hour bus ride up the mountain to a small town called Masenga in Gitega province. We are staying at an orphanage and have set up one of the school classrooms as our clinic for the week. We will be here for another day and a half and then we will leave for Busiga in Ngozi province.

The needs are far greater than we could ever hope to meet. Please pray that God would give us wisdom to know who to bring in for treatment. The peoples' teeth are so worn down that sometime their teeth do not need to be extracted but they are sensitive because they are worn flat. Since those particular people (definitely the minority) do not need treatment I have thought perhaps the Lord has brought them to us simply so that we can pray for them. What a blessing to pray with and for these people.

I want to share with you a very typical patient here at the clinic. Please forgive me I'm writing off the top of my head and only have a few minutes:
A mother comes in the door with a baby strapped to her back and one at each side. The mother sits in one chair with a child in her lap and the oldest of the three in the chair just beside. When the mzungu (white person) comes over the child in the lap begins to scream. The older keeps a stoic face with wide eyes. I will lower my mask to give a smile but it is obvious it does not help the children relax. Now we will try to treat the child as his mother holds him in her lap. The child is screaming so I will kneel and lay on the mother's lap restraining the child as Dr. Bill gives the anesthetic. The child can not understand that there is an infection in his mouth and that if we do not take out the teeth this infection could cause many problems and in some instances even become fatal. The child's face may be swollen because of the infection. Dr Bill comes back ready to extract teeth from the child who is doing everything possible to get away. The mother holds her child, tries to restrain him, speaks calming words to him and instructs him to open his mouth. As Dr. Bill comes to pull the teeth the mother will look away. After a moment the bad teeth are out, the child is bleeding. With a tissue I will look up from the floor where I have been kneeling to hold the child and wipe the child's tears away and ask the interpreter to let them know I want to pray for them. We pray, the other family members are treated and we send the mother on her two hour walk home barefooted with a baby on her back, two bleeding children and also bleeding herself.

I am reminded that my heart was sick with sin before I even knew it. Sometime's I've wondered why God has allowed pain in my life. I think treating these children has shown me a bit of what my sin was like. God may hold us in a painful place but it is because He knows what is best for us. He does not enjoy seeing His children in pain. But there's no pain we experience that He has not. In fact the very pain that causes my tears ends up being a great blessing. I pray the Lord will help me to view my circumstances, even the most painful ones, in light of His great love!