One of the big tasks we have in preparation for our trip is to try and figure out what drugs we will need to stock our "farmacia" for our patients. Last year, we saw nearly 500 patients in three different locations. Each location seemed to have needs different than the others. So, you can imagine the difficult situation. Fortunately, we all understand God is in control. So, while I believe He expects us to work hard, plan ahead, and be good stewards of our resources, I always thinks He expects us to have faith that if we are doing this for His glory, He will take care of the little details. How do I know? Let me tell you about last year's trip!
About March of last year, our fearless leader, Kyle Ray; our resident nurse, Geertje de Jong; and myself, gathered together in the Holy confines of the Pine Street Baptist Church conference room. Our mission - to make a list of the meds we would need to treat an unknown number of people for unknown diseases that we may or may not see in a land to which we had not worked. No problem. We diligently scrolled through pages of discount drugs that we could order through Blessings International for just such a purpose. Several hours and a few thousand dollars later we completed the task. The drugs were ordered, received, and forwarded to Lima, Peru a couple of months early to be sure they would clear customs in PLENTY of time for our arrival.
I'll spare you the details, but as I'm sure many of you have already surmised, by the time we arrived in Peru, our drugs were still in customs. Great! We're having a free medical clinic to treat people who cannot afford to go to the doctor... only to tell them that we don't have the medicines that can help them get well and they have no money to buy. Are you catching all this?
But, wait! We're not in control, God is, remember? No sooner had we landed when a gentleman heard about our group and why we were there. He contacted the local missionary, John Pham, and asked if we could possibly use the suitcase full of medicines he just happened to have left over (not sure from what)? Miracle number one! Next, we learned we were able to stop by any local farmacia and purchase whatever other medicines we needed - no prescription necessary - at a cost much lower than what we purchased beforehand. Miracle number two! So, each day we were able to treat our patients and give them the medicines they needed. And, each day we would go to the farmacia and purchase the additional drugs we felt were necessary to have on hand.
After our trip back home, Kyle decided he would calculate the cost of the drugs we purchased. I thought he approached this very well. He knew how much money we had to start with, and he knew how much we ended up with. So, he took the total amount of money we had to start with, deducted the cost of our hotel bill, deducted the cost of our transportation for the week, deducted the cost of our translators, deducted the cost of our meals.... and the difference between that figure and the money left over would be the cost of the drugs. Still with me? He did this several times to confirm his findings and then sent the figures to me to double-check. Sure enough we both came up with the same figure. The drugs for the week - that we purchased with cash each morning before clinic - cost us a -$6.00! For those of you who are not math oriented, that means that we had $6.00 MORE than we should have even if we didn't spend a penny (or in this case, a sol) on drugs. Miracle number three and God saved the best for last! Is it any wonder why I am so excited to get back to Peru!
But, the planning continues. Geertje and I spent about an hour yesterday doing our due diligence with our medicines once again. We're still planning and trying to be efficient, but we're not fretting over the details! More to come.....
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