A letter to the staff

This is the abridged version of a email that I sent to the back to the Amor Project staff in the states. I took the parts that outlined the progress that we are making down here and thought I would share it with all of you because it pretty well sums up my last month here.

Gentlemen,

I just wanted to take a minute to keep you guys updated with what has been happening down here at Amor. I will touch first talk about our work with the public health and the clinic. I will also talk about the orphanage and dental clinics as well. Finally I will mention the logistics’ of how things are running down here. I am sorry that I have not gotten to this sooner, however, I am just starting to feel like I am getting caught up in my work.

I am excited to tell you that the public health and clinic is going great this year. I am sure that God had a plan in this the whole time. I would just like to walk you through our schedule for a month. That should give you a good Idea of what we are doing. The first week of every month the Doctora is here and we do clinic. We spend two days in a different community every month. And then do one day in the orphanage, and then do clinic in our clinic on Friday. During clinic we normally give a quick presentation that we have prepared on proper dental care and the importance of drinking lots of water and how to clean their water. This is by fare what I think is the biggest health problem here. They do not clean their water and they don’t even know that they are supposed to drink much water. After clinic week the next two weeks we spend going back to the same community where we did our mobile clinic and we go door to door giving little short presentations on water, dental, proper trash disposal, diet, and so on. We also put on a thirty to forty minute presentation every Tuesday night. The first week is on diet, the second is on exercise, and the third is on stress. Then the third week we go back to the houses that we have gotten to know the best over the last couple weeks and we offer to do bible studies. Last month we did all of this in Los Angles and we had amazing results. We ended up with as many bible study contacts as we could handle. It was between six and eight, but it has been really exciting. Then the following month we keep doing those bible studies in the afternoons, and if they are still interested after the end of the month we will then transition to letting the local church members study with the families.

For our orphanage program we have also been quite busy. We have been going to the orphanage four times a week. Unfortunately, the way it works out with the orphanage two of those times are in the mornings and it conflicts with the public health visits. However, we had groups of three that go for three of the visits and then we all go on Thursday afternoons. Mondays and Fridays the group that goes to the orphanage helps out with Physical Therapy. This has been by far the area where they have worked the most with us and have really seemed to need our help. On Tuesday afternoons they go and help with the student’s homework, and on Thursdays we go and sing songs, play games, do a bible skit, and just spend time with the kids.

The dental situation here at Amor is only getting better. We have had a couple campaigns with the students from UAP. The patience that come seem to be very grateful. Another opertunity that has started the last two weeks is one of the younger Dentists that teaches at the university has really taken a liking to our program. Joy and I have made good friends with him, and he has offered his Wednesdays to come and help us do little dental clinics where Joy and I get to do the work. He has personally taught us a lot and as told us that this week we can bring a patient to the university clinic to get some experience in a different setting. It has been really great too, because he has had many questions about Adventism and I can see God working on his heart. I gave him a great controversy this last week and he was really excited about it. I can see God working through this who situation.

Last but not least, Kainan and Natalie (the teachers) have been really busy in the schools. They are teaching a lot of English classes and on Thursdays I believe they teach nine different classes in one day. They have been working hard and have really started to get involved with their schools.

Over all we have been really busy here at Amor. This last month we have really started to get our feet on the ground and God had been leading every step of the way. It was a slow start, but I am really happy with the progress that has been made.

Thanks for all you gentlemen do. The sacrifices it really is noticed, and there will be many jewels in your crowns in heaven! Thanks again from the team down here.

 Blessings,

 Jeremy Holt

The Ultimate Game of Chess

               After spending the morning working around Amor helping get stuff ready for our community health visits, getting things cleaned up from our dental campaign the day before, and collecting receipts and trying to track receipts for Amor, I was quite tired. Then right as I was about to start my lunch I found out that we had to make a sudden trip to Km 38, a two hour round trip form km 8. After returning from this voyage I was not overly excited about the thought of going to the orphanage. However, I tried to keep my mission spirits high as we loaded up in the combi.

               Once we arrived to the orphanage we soon had a small crowed of kids flocking around us. Their excitement helped me to forget my tiredness and to enjoy interacting with them. For the first part of our time there we sang songs with them and acted out a Bible story. After that we began to play little games with them. I was truly enjoying myself and having fun. Soon we moved outside to play diversify our games more so that we could incorporate the different energy levels and abilities of the different kids. Many of the kids had lots of energy and were very excited about playing a game of soccer will others who were unable to play soccer, were happy play figure games and sit around and talk.

             I found myself playing soccer where I was learning that I was not very agile on my feet. However, it was fun just the same. It was not long before the ninety five degree weather got to me and I really needed a drink of water. At this point I went back into the building to look for my water bottle. I soon realized that one of the many kids had decided to hide it from me. I turned to one of the SM’s who was playing with a couple of the younger kids and asked if they had seen my water bottle. In English I might add. They replied that they had not, and after standing there a little bewildered for a moment I heard a voice from the corner of the room. In Spanish I heard someone say, your green water bottle is behind the door over there. I turned to look who had spoken and there was a young man in a wheelchair that who was sitting there just watching everything. I could tell that he had some mental as well as physical handicaps, but somehow he seemed to know that it was my water bottle that had been moved. I went and looked behind the door and there was my water bottle. I was a little shocked to be completely honest. How did he know that that was my water bottle? That is still something that I still do not know the answer, but I did go and talk with him afterward.

Photo taken by Jordan Samuel

His name is Leider, and although I had a very hard time understanding his sleard Spanish, I could understand his excitement to have someone pay attention to him. Pretty quickly I notice the chess game his lap, and as soon as he saw me look at it, he asked if I wanted to play with him. I told him I had never played chess before, but that I would be happy to learn. We then sat down at one of the tables and began to play. I can tell you that we didn’t play chess, I think we played something between checkers and chess, but it did not matter. The excitement in Leiders eyes, and the smile on his face made every move worth it. He was so excited when he won and I was just excited to have played with him.

I’m still not sure what the rules where to the game we played, but I know that for me the game was only a means of communication and a tool to build a friendship. It became so evident to me that so often I take the little things in life for granted. Here was a boy who couldn’t run or walk. He was the last person to get attention in the room because his speech was slow and he was not the coolest person out there. But he really just wanted someone to notice him. He just wanted someone to care. The day that I felt that it was inconvenient for me to go to the orphanage, was the day that someone there really just needed a friend. How often are we so focused on self that we do not see the need right in front of us?