There’s a first time for everything

I am so excited because I just had my first moment of “usefulness”. I have only been here for about three weeks and so far I have pretty much been meeting people, speaking Spanish and working on things that I need in order to get settled and get my official residence here in La Paz.

But I just have to praise God because He has given me my first opportunity to really feel useful. In the “I am missionary here and I am here to help people” sense.

One of the Anglican churches that I am helping has a dental office in the church. Ok. It is more like a dental room. They employ a doctor who provides dental services to people who need it and who can pay but the really cool thing is that this is the church that has the Saturday morning outreach program to the kids and they provide the dental service free to the kids. These are kids who cannot afford dental service otherwise. Pretty cool, huh?

Well, the problem is that the equipment is very very very old. I mean OLD. Did I say old? And it is broken most of the time and that it is hindering our ability to provide the dental services like we need to. The church has received funding from the Bishop to replace the X-Ray machine but they are still in need of replacing the dental chair and a lot of the materials. (Somewhere in the $3,000-$4,000 range)

There is a foundation in the US who is interested in funding the purchase of a new dental chair and the purchase of new materials and they have requested that the church submit a grant application for the funding.

Here’s where I come in. They are asking us to submit the grant in ENGLISH so I get to work on the grant with pastor Willy in Spanish and then translate it to English and then submit it to the foundation in the US. I will communicate with the foundation in the US on behalf of the church.

I know it sounds simple but you don’t know how much I needed to feel useful. Until know I feel like I have been worrying about myself (ie my health, my living situation, etc…) and I know that all of those things are important but it feels great to actually be able to help the church meet a need.

I am excited that I get to play a role in hopefully securing this new dental equipment for the church. Please pray that our grant gets accepted and please pray that we are able to, in the name of Jesus, continue to offer free dental care to kids who can’t afford it.