Yesterday clinic in Xepol

Juan and I went to Xepol for clinic. Gaspar had a meeting today that he needed to attend. The clinic in Xepol has been on the smaller side so I thought the two of us could handle it.

We were encouraged as the roads seemed dryer than last time we had clinic there. We were the first to arrive but within a few minutes, we had a couple of patients.

This young man always comes with his family. He does not speak but seems to hear and understand his mother. She has not asked for a consult but maybe she will in time. As you can see, he is a happy young man.......always grinning.

Today there were two families with scabies. It is a difficult problem and the solution is not easy. When we told the mothers they would need to wash all of the clothes and sheets in hot water the look in their eyes let us know they were not excited about it.

One family came and they are costumbre, meaning they do not attend church anywhere. This is always a great opportunity for the members of the church that we work with to teach and reach out. We talked for quite a while with this gentleman and his family. He seemed responsive to what Tomas was saying and said that he might visit the church on Sunday.

The last patient was really in turmoil. He did not feel good, he was nervous and he could not sit still. He was really confused spiritually and did not know what to believe. He told us about different teachings that others had told him about and he had even visited a prophetess to help him with his confusion.

This is a crucial point when trying to help someone. You have someone that is reaching out for help and you have to be careful how you respond. I really liked the way Tomas responded. He did not talk negative about any religious group but he talked about The Bible. I do not feel it is our place to talk bad or negative about another group or person but to teach only from The Bible. We shared some scripture with the patient and then encouraged him to pray about it during the week and visit the church in Xepol one Sunday.

If we use different teachings than that of the Bible, we will get confused. There are many teachings in the world but many of them are not consistent with the Bible. This is not a new problem.

Mark talks about Isaiah from the Old Testament. This passage is talking about hypocrisy and teachings other than from God.

Mark 7:6-8

He responded, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. You have let go of the commandments of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

So my question would be, "What we teach, is it from The Bible?" Do we slip in some of what our parents taught us, unsure if it is really in The Bible? Do we practice something because we have always done it that way? These can be difficult questions sometimes but ones that we need to think about.

I pray that these two families return to Xepol and learn more teachings from The Bible.