Today's story comes from Gaby Escobar, serving in Guatemala at our Special Education Site! Working with Special Needs children during this season has been challenging, but we have seen God's provision throughout. One challenge faced by our students and their families has been a lack of food. Many families have lost work due to the pandemic, and we have been blessed to have been able to provide food for our families on three different occasions.
One of the challenges of PT ministry is the short time period to build deep relationships with patients. The goal of outpatient PT is to work with the patient until they are independent, which ideally occurs in a few weeks before discharge. In this pediatric setting, I will have the opportunity for long term ministry with each patient. Most of these children will benefit from physical therapy for years, not weeks. And I not only get to build relationships with the children, but also with their parents and siblings.
When I close my eyes, I can still see his smiling wrinkled face. And it is his face that comes to mind when I envision the meaning of "long-term ministry." God reunites with his children in many different ways; sometimes, it is instant, through a sermon or street evangelism, but a lot of the time it's through long term investment.
Mother’s day in Costa Rica is celebrated on August 15th and is a day of thankfulness, celebration, and usually a big fiesta. But with COVID-19 cases rising by 800 - 1,500 a day, this Mother’s Day looked a little different.... Many of our site participants are mothers, and we wanted to make sure we did our part to make the day memorable for them. Even though we can not be close to the mothers, we figured out a few ways to make the day unique.
