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"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no
deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without
clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well;
keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what
good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by
action, is dead."April 13, 2004 The Word of the Lord... - - - - - James 2:14-17
"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the
good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the
people."
...Faith and Works; the Gospel and Deeds of Mercy...
I know that salvation is from God alone, that good works will save no one.
Jesus paid the price for our sins, and there is not a person in all of
existence who was, is, or will be capable of being the perfect sacrifice as
Jesus was. Salvation is from God, a pure gift and grace of God. I also know
that Salvation involves a heart changed by the Holy Spirit. And that heart,
changed by the Holy Spirit, will produce good deeds! You can't have faith
without having an overflow of good deeds! It's not the good deeds that
save, it's the good deeds that result from a changed heart and the
gratitude for our Salvation.
On the same note, I know that we need to spread the gospel. As I once quoted earlier, "We didn't come to Peru in order to help the people here go to hell more comfortably." We came here to do mercy ministries, with the goal of sharing the gospel. You can't share the gospel of words without the gospel in your life, and you can't have the gospel in your life if you have never heard the gospel of the words! So, just as faith and works go hand in hand, so do the gospel and mercy ministries. Sometimes I look at my own life and all of my failings and it makes me a bit discouraged... but then I remember the gospel, that I am saved and washed clean by the blood of Jesus.... and I realize that with all of my shortcomings, I am not an example of what it is to be perfect (far from it!); I am a GREAT example of what it is to be a sinner who needs a savior!! :)
...Short Term Teams and Long Term Goals...
I remember coming to Peru on short term missions' teams, and how we would
blow in for one week and then blow out. Sometimes I think there is a
delicate balance between having a true desire to help people (I really did)
and filling our own emotional needs (I'm afraid I did that too).
The physician on our team, Dr. Brian Riedel, has a long term vision for sharing the gospel AND for promoting Health Ministries. Brian sees that the health needs in this country are desperate, but he also sees beyond the shots, band aids, and antibiotics. By observing Brian and how he works, always incorporating the spiritual and emotional with the physical, I am starting to learn how to have the gospel and mercy ministries go hand in hand. We had a short term medical group come down this past week, and we traveled to some remote villages and areas in order to give medical care. I believe this group was rightly focused on sharing how to have salvation as well as meeting the physical needs. I was working as an interpreter, and it is such a joy to work with doctors who can diagnose and heal! At times I almost find myself getting caught up in how a doctor is going to "fix" someone, and can forget the very important part of this person's spiritual and emotional life. I remember being sick one time (well, MANY times!), and Brian came over to the house to check up on me with one of his national health workers. He went through his check up in a very professional manner, made a diagnosis, and prescribed the drugs that led to my physical healing. But then, he addressed my spiritual and emotional state ...tired of being sick, depressed from feeling bad .... And they prayed for me the sweetest prayer of spiritual, emotional, and physical healing. I remember the warmth the came over me during this prayer, and also the tears that welled up in my eyes and slid down my face, just from having been so tired, and so sick, and having someone care about ME, even if it was just for a few minutes. I've always had good doctors, but never anything like this. That experience made me appreciate so much more what it means to care for a PERSON, even if it's just for a few minutes, rather than scooting everyone through so we can see another bazillion nameless faceless people. As we traveled last week through these fairly remote areas, I was able to see the doctors AND the Holy Spirit at work. The days were long and exhausting, but rewarding. We worked through local churches in order to help build them up and give the pastors credibility and exposure in the community. The people we saw were very poor with little access to good medical care. Some examples of common problems: ** Men and women, from age 60-90, complaining that their backs hurt & only to find out that they worked in the fields seven days a week, carrying heaving loads for long distances, with no pain relievers. ** Many women and young girls with kidney pain - Urinary Tract Infections - and no access to antibiotics. ** Almost every person with stomach pains and symptoms of parasites or worms, so each person we saw was given treatment for this. ** Men and women (and two young girls) complaining of vision problems ... cataracts, that can only be cured with surgery - generally not accessible to people of this class in these areas. ** Every other person with acid stomach, and no access to antacids. ** Two people with head cysts that were drained in our clinic. ** One 60+ year old man, who's nose was completely eaten away on the right side by cancer, edged by black. I could see the hole in the skull for his sinus cavity. His son asked if we had anything to cure this infection, and when I interpreted that this was cancer, I felt like I had just pronounced his death sentence. His son stared at me in disbelief, but had nothing to say. There was nothing we do out there, but leave an antibiotic for infection and some pain killers, and pray with them. The sweetest times, even in the hardest times, were both in watching the people receive physical help that they otherwise would not have, AND our times of prayer about salvation being a gift from God. Most people were moved to tears as they clutched their Ziploc bags full of medicines, clung to our shoulders after our prayers and repeated "Thank you, thank you". I repeated over and over again that these doctors had come from the United States because they knew the saving love of God and wanted to share it in this country. One last comment about our medical trip: Wednesday the pastor of that local area asked if one of the doctors would make a house call since the patient couldn't walk. I went with this doctor in order to interpret. Thinking it was just up the road, I went without hat, sunscreen, or water. HAHA! Just up the road to a Peruvian and just up the road to a North American are two very different concepts! After hauling up the side of the mountain a mile or so and seeing this patient (still around 11,000 ft mind you!), they asked if we would go "just around the corner" to see another patient that couldn't make the descent to the clinic. So off we went ... another mile and a half? And me with some type of exercise induced asthma, stopping at times to bend over and try to get some oxygen... This was one of the sweetest trips I've made! At the second house we saw every one in the household, and because we had only brought medicines for the first patient, started a list with the names, diagnosis, medicines, and instructions in Spanish for each person encountered so we could send them back. In their appreciation, they brought us each two hard-boiled eggs with salt for lunch, and then ran down to the field to bring us a bag of freshly dug potatoes and corn. Then they walked back the entire way with us, various ones with their heavy loads on their backs, but smiles on their faces! On the way back, a young man stopped us on the trail and said his family was coming up the mountainside to meet us (we could see them in the distance) and asked if we would treat them, so in the middle of the trail we had 5 more patients (one of whom was the man with cancer). Please join me in praising God for our time of ministry last week!
...Putting the Spanish Books to Work...
Tomorrow (Wednesday 4-14-04) we will start our "Tiempo de Tareas", or our
time of homework. On Wednesdays and Fridays we will have a time for
children around 8 years old and up to come to my apartment to work on
homework, get help if needed, and read the wonderful Spanish teaching books
I just received from many of my supporters in Atlanta! Please pray for this
time. The kids seem really excited. I think it will be a good time also of
the older kids helping the younger kids. I hope that God will bless this
time and give all of these kids a hunger for education! Always keep in mind
our ultimate goal, to share God and his gospel, and please pray that our
time would be fruitful in this way as well! I will keep you posted on our
successes and/or failures!
Thank you again for all that each of you do! I wish I had pictures of our week but didn't have a second to take any. Maybe next letter!!! (Why do I always think I am going to have a short letter????) God Bless,
Laura Deadwyler
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