Tuesday...Ayutuxtepeque...

Another busy day! Today we set up clinic in the grade school at Ayutuxtepeque, a very impoverished area built on the steep sides of the mountains on the outskirts of San Salvador. The church we were at yesterday is planting a mission church in Ayutuxtepeque. We went to Ayutuxtepeque two years ago when I was on the medical mission trip. At that time, we were warned that it was a very dangerous area because it is heavily controlled by gangs. When we arrived, we found that there armed soldiers sent by the government to protect us. That time, the soldiers met us there and did not follow us out when we left later that day. They were very uncommunicative...all business. This time, I was surprised when five soldiers showed up at our hotel, automatic machine guns strapped across their shoulders. We invited them to eat breakfast with us after we were informed that the government had sent them to ESCORT us all the way to Ayutuxtepeque and back. This time, the soldiers were very approachable. It was only after we got back to the hotel tonight that one of the translators explained to us that 16 Americans were killed in tiny, isolated Ayutuxtepeque just a few weeks ago. They were tourists. One of the gangs blew their bus up. The translator that was with us in the pharmacy confided in us that HE did not feel safe in Ayutuxtepeque and was really glad the soldiers had accompanied us.

It is a very different setting in Ayutuxtepeque. The people are so much poorer and the needs are so much greater. One seven year old girl seen by one of the physical therapist had a racing heart. She told them that she was still frightened from the gunfire that broke out beside her house last night. The poverty there is so intense. What few medications we are able to provide those people, likely is the only medication they ever have access to.

We saw 454 people today...checked out by the physicians and the physical therapists, fitted for glasses, wounds attended to, medication provided for...and told about Christ who brought us. Again, every person that was seen by a doctor at the clinic also had the gospel shared with them. I had so much fun with the children today. The lines were very long and the kids were so approachable and loved having their photo taken. They were eager to show me the game of marbles they were playing or take me to see their brother, sister, or mother! Some of our team played "Simon Says" with a crowd of waiting children later this afternoon! There was so much laughing. And there was crying...Claudine, one the doctor extenders, told me this evening that the last person she saw was a 40 year old woman who looked far older than her years who broke down in tears as she talked to Claudine and told her that she wished she could just go to sleep and never wake up again. Claudine spoke with her a very long time through the translator and told her about Jesus and gave her a Spanish Bible. Please pray for her.