“beautifully efficient and care-full”
Good afternoon from Chiapas!
My name is Max, a newcomer to the MDP crowd, and one of the two volunteers this trip who have the pleasure of working the pharmacy. I also have been commissioned as the “Captain of the Blog”; making sure blogs are going out from our crew (a role I’ve admittedly been slow at thus far!)
Working at the pharmacy is a unique gift. Without a singular patient requiring your focus, you are able to watch the whole MDP team at work; a beautifully efficient and care-full machine. Understanding the gift it is to simply observe, I hope to share glimpses of what catches my eye this trip.
From our morning at the hotel, a seat at the convent dinner table, and my pharmacy seat in the back of the clinic, here’s some moments of beauty from this rainy Sunday in Coapilla:
• The nuns made a massive (and incredibly delicious) breakfast for us. We foreigners have nowhere else to choose from for breakfast and would happily eat whatever we are served. The sisters know this yet still take their role seriously and don’t take any shortcuts in preparing our meals. A table full of chilaquiles, black beans, sweet breads, coffee, and FRESH SQUEEZED orange juice meets us in the morning.
• When arriving in the Trinidad community where we will have clinic, the community members are in full swing preparing a space for our clinic The mission of MDP is a powerful one and everyone wants to be involved in some way.
• Along the same line of community buy-in; When looking for a place to designate as our bathroom for the day, a man graciously opens his house to us. Saying he will leave the front door unlocked and we should enter whenever necessary. I realized just how much we were present in his families space when I walked past people watching TV in the living room to use their bathroom. Incredibly generous!
• Lia holding the hand of a women who was under considerate distress while receiving an injection Thank you Lia for reminding us what it looks like to serve with Christ’s compassion!
• A considerably gentle old woman who was delighted when I told her she could pick the color and style of her reading glasses and she saw her favorite color amorado (purple). She looked great in them!
• The priest, Father Rocky, asking the group to stand at Mass and introduce ourselves. This was promptly followed by Fr. Rocky leading the entire church in a round of applause for their “amigos de Minnesota!”
• My younger brother, Adrian, closing out the night with singing accompanied by his guitar playing in the convent. A guitar that Nicolas (a man from town) had hunted down for us after hearing from Lia that there was a member of our group who could play.
This list doesn’t even contain all the moments of beauty from today, and it’s only my point of view captured! In short, Chiapas has already been a blessing and wonderful adventure for all of us here. Thank you for your support and prayers.
Peace,
Max
