Recently, I went on a mission trip to Guatemala. It involved forty eight people and was a medical-based mission group. On Sunday, February 10, we travelled to Guatemala City by school bus to the camp where we would set up. We arrived at the camp on Monday and set up our stations that evening. For the next two days, we stayed there and saw many patients. We broke down our camp on Tuesday evening and were blessed with the day off on Wednesday. After our day off, we set up at the second camp on Wednesday evening. We stayed there and saw patients on Thursday and Friday. Over the course of four very full days, we saw 1,844 patients.
There was one patient who especially stands out in my mind: She had one leg and no shoes and was carried in by her family. She was seen in the medical area and then sent to learn to use crutches. After a while she figured it out but was still barefoot. We searched for a while for a shoe that fit, but we couldn't find any. After searching around, I took a look at her foot and wondered if my sneaker would fit. Taking off my shoe, I gave it to her to try. Lo and behold, the shoe fit! We were so happy that we cried and prayed and thanked God for providing a solution to her problem. Now I was stuck with one shoe, but I was too full of joy to care. The mayor of Taxisco of Santa Rosa municipality and his family came to our camp and enjoyed chiropractic care and massages. His aunt, who was visiting at the time, heard about how I had given my shoe to this woman with one leg. She went back home and when she returned, she had brought two pairs of shoes with her--ones that were my size. What a blessing! It just goes to show how God provides, even when we're not expecting anything.
Everyone present was blessed abundantly. It was a privilege to serve on this mission trip, to practice my Spanish and be a part of the mission: "One More For Christ/Uno Mas Por Christo." And it was an honor to be the hands and feet for Christ. On top of it all, we found out at the end of our trip that over 400 people made decisions to accept Jesus into their lives.
- Patricia Antoine-Norton