Dr. Jim from St. Monica

Here is a report from Jim.

"We have had an excellent week with VERY cool weather and a wonderful team.

"I am going on a home visit this morning to see a very debilitated patient with multiple ulcers and then spend time at the Hospice.

"I intend to make a presentation next month to the Mercy at Home Team (Home Health and Hospice) about what these services can really mean."

What does a medical mission do?

Here is one example.

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church from Edmond, OK has a medical mission in Peru. One of the members is Dr. Rick Booth from Christ the King Church in Oklahoma City. Rick is also a deacon candidate for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Here is a note about Rick.

"Dr. Rick Boothe cares for a rare case of Cutaneous Mastocytosis in a two year old girl. As he described the experience later in the evening, we all felt the effect of his care. In children, C.M. is generally a fairly benign condition in which it expresses itself with spots all over the body that cause itching, but it can be scary for a mother if one doesn't know its origins and potential long-term effects. As Dr. Boothe reassured the mother the condition would more than likely run itself out and go away on its own. Though she had been to numerous doctors, no one had ever told her that her child would be able to get better. Upon receiving that news, the mother was so overwhelmed with happiness, she broke down into tears. This moment highlighted our presence here not just in treating the physical symptom, but we are also here to provide mental and spiritual support."

Fiesta at St. Monica Parish

St. Monica in Edmond is planning to celebrate a visit from our brothers and sister from Santisimo Sacramento the weekend of August 29-31.

Fr. Joe Uhen will celebrate and preach all the Masses that weekend. Coming with him is Ginet who leads the Family-to-Family program and Freddy who is an ambassador for his community.

Saturday evening, after the 5:30 Mass, all parishioners are invited for a fiesta (party) in the Parish Hall. You will get a chance to meet of Peruvian visitors, eat, dance, and participate in an auction.

We are in the planning stage, so watch for more details.

Connecting with Church

Families being sponsored are asked to do their part and get connected with the Church, if need be. I have seen evidence of this happening in the last couple weeks.

Many translated and e-mailed letters have been arriving. I have noticed that many sponsored families are proudly informing their sponsors of upcoming marriage, baptisms, and First Communions.

Sponsors are providing their Peruvian families not only food for their journey but also a closer relationship with our God.

Epilogue 3 to St. Monica Mission Trip

On our last day in Piura, I did a Communion Service at St. Monica Chapel. I had asked the staff how many consecrated hosts I should bring and they guessed about 50.

When I returned to the church and was putting the remaining Eucharist back into the tabernacle, I had about 25 left. Since our mission team was present plus an over-flowing crowd of villagers, it became apparent that many villagers had not gone to Communion.

Although at first this might seem as bad news, in reflection it is really good news because the villagers now have a place in their village where they can worship and draw closer in their relationship with God. An they do this they will get married in the Church and have their children baptized. We have given them a much higher opportunity to do this.

We have seen this happen in the village of La Piedra and it will happen also in the village of Los Polvorines.

Good News

This is a good-news story from the medical mission.

A first-time pediatrician from St. Louis was examining hundreds of children from the villages near Piura and she commented that she could tell the difference between children who were in the Family-to-Family program and those who were not. The children in the program are much better nourished than the other children.

Sponsors are definitely making a positive difference in the lives of their sponsored Peruvian families!