UIMA's Medical/Dental Clinic

Have you ever made plans, hoping all will go well? In ministry, it’s easy to believe that because we are planning the work of God, everything should go smoothly. After all, this is all for God’s glory and to serve people. But plans rarely go as expected. Many times in ministry, plans can fall apart at the last minute. Prov 16:9 “The mind of a person plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

There were continually last-minute changes for the medical clinic. Several weeks before the clinic, we found out that our original dentist couldn’t come because of a conflict of schedules. We searched high and low for another dentist to take his place but found no one. When almost all hope was lost, just a few days before the clinic we found a lady in Tepic who could come. Praise the Lord! The day before the clinic one of our doctors was going to fly in, but he ran into unforeseeable issues with his plane and had to cancel his trip. Then at 9:30 the night before the clinic, the dentist texted informing us that she could not come. Oh, no, now what do we do? We would have to run the clinic with only a nurse practitioner! A dentist is the number one need for these people. They would be so disappointed. Thankfully, we were able to convince her to come for just a day instead of two nights. The people were so glad for the care that they received!

God knew what He was doing planning the clinic at this time. It just so happened the first day of the clinic an older Cora woman was cooking in the kitchen when she fell. The nurse practitioner and her helper were just a short hike away at the clinic. The woman’s son trekked to the clinic to ask for help. They were able to immediately go to this woman’s house. They found her lying in the dirt in excruciating pain. After an examination, it was quickly determined that her hip was most likely broken and that she would need to be flown to the hospital in Tepic. The nurse gave the woman medication for the pain, and she was immediately carried on a cot to the airstrip. They carefully loaded her to the plane and took off. We were so amazed that the Lord planned to have us there at the right time!

Despite all the unforeseen events, God was still working. What we have planned many times is not what God has planned. We are only called to be faithful servants and obey the Lord. He is the one that brings in the harvest. The nurse saw over 40 patients and the dentist helped almost 25 people. They were so thankful to receive some medical and dental care, and it was a privilege for us to be involved in serving them.

After the clinic was over for the day, we held a church service for anyone in the community who wanted to come. Each evening one person from our team shared from the Word. We pray that we were an encouragement to the small group of believers there and that maybe some of the unsaved heard the Gospel clearly.