Interesting because in addition to translating for the dentists we also assisted them by holding flashlights, handing them gauze or tools and that kind of stuff. So we got pretty close to the action, and I believe I have seen way more teeth and gums that I need to for the rest of my life. I've seen some very infected ones, and I've seen some just real dirty ones caused by cigarette smoke, or from drinking way too much tea, some from chewing too many cola nuts, and some from just bad hygiene.
It was encouraging because we got to share with so many people that we were there because of Jesus. That it is the power in His name that heals them. The first two villages we held the clinics at where our own villages that we're working at (Archenland, and The Goonies). We've tried to explain before that we're there to tell others about Jesus, and many just didn't get it, and just weren't interested. But during the clinic we got to show them the love of Jesus by helping them with their teeth, and also got to tell them about Jesus. From Archenland we worked on at least two of the people who do the prayer calls at the mosques, and we also worked on the lady who previously said she didn't want to listen to any of our Jesus stories. Then up in The Goonies, Andrew's village, we got to share stories with groups of people as they waited their turn. Some of those people weren't even there to see the dentist they just came to watch. So as they watched and waited they heard a story from God's words. People like chiefs and influential men and leaders and many others heard about Jesus the day they came to our clinic.
This experience also put our faith into practice. As we tell the patients, that Jesus is the one to heal them and not the work we do, we have to truly believe what we're saying. We saw some patients who had really bad infections and problems with their teeth or mouths that with our limited tools there didn't seem much we can do for them, which makes it easy to doubt and wonder if God will really heal them. But by faith we pray in the name of Jesus that he heals them.
There was one particular situation in one of the towns we were staying at. Now we weren't originally planning to do a dental clinic in this town, we had gone in the morning to one of the villages where one of our teams previously worked at, but not that many people showed up for the clinic and we were finished by the afternoon. So to use our time and resources wisely we got in touch with the leaders of the town we were staying at and arranged to have a dental clinic that evening. Since it was a last minute thing not too many people showed up also, but the ones that did really needed the help.
The first person we saw seemed to need it more than the rest. Her name was Badialla. She came in and she couldn't open her mouth at all. She could barely get a tiny pill in. For three months it's been like that, she hasn't really been able to eat anything, all she could do was drink. She had a tooth that grew sideways causing her cheek to swell and locking up her mouth. That night we looked at her we really couldn't do much, we couldn't even get the tiny mirror to look in her mouth, or one of the needles in to numb her up. We gave her some medicine to help reduce the swelling and pain and asked her to come back the next day and go with us to the village nearby where we're having the next dental clinic. Before she left though, we prayed for her. Then Pastor went with her to explain to her husband what we want to do.
Later that evening Badially and her husband came back. Her husband wanted to come by to greet and thank us for wanting to help his wife. They said they have tried everything the can to help her, from traditional medicine to witch doctors and other traditional healers. But they didn't have much money left and even the husband was not well at that time. The husband also told us that if Jesus heals his wife then he would let her become one of his followers. Before they left we looked at Badialla again and was able to give her an injection in her mouth to numb up the pain. We gave her some more medicine to take with her, and told her about some exercises she can do to hopefully loosen up her mouth. But most of all we prayed for her and her husband in Jesus name that he would heal both of them, and that they will choose to become followers of Jesus.
The next morning we picked up Badialla and headed to our last village in that area. By that morning she was able to open her mouth a little bit more than she could the night before. She still couldn't open it all the way, but she did say that it was feeling better than before. We gave her some more medicine and numbed up her mouth again and had her rest while we looked at other patients. That afternoon she was able to eat rice and sauce, instead of just drink. By the end of the clinic we looked at her again and this time was able to get the tooth out that seemed to be bothering her. We still couldn't see inside her mouth well enough to know if there were other teeth bothering her and causing her this pain. But we were able to get what looked liked the worse one out. We continue to pray for complete healing for her, and that one day she will be able to open her mouth completely, and when that happens we hope that she will be able to proclaim that it is Jesus who healed her, and that she wants to follow Him.
If I were asked to do this again, I would definitely say yes. Though some parts of the clinic grossed me out, getting to share about Jesus overrules the gross part by so much. Just don't expect me to be signing up for dental school anytime soon. I'll stick to being an assistant or translator.
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