Four Lessons From the Field

This summer I got the opportunity to be an intern in the Dominican Republic and work specifically in the medical clinic there. Working in the clinic was an amazing experience, and I learned a lot of valuable lessons:

A Cure vs. Care

One of the themes we studied this summer was about care and what true care really means. All of the doctors and nurses there were such great examples to follow—we could see that they truly had endured their patients’ suffering right along with them. In our American society today, we seem to be more and more focused on cure instead of care as Henri Noumen comments, “And often it seems that not to care has become more acceptable than to care and a carefree lifestyle more attractive than a careful one.” As Americans we want to find the quick fix—the cure—but we aren’t as interested in spending the time to really give a person our care. If we follow Jesus’ example, then we must be ready to give true care: the participation in the pain, the solidarity in suffering, and the sharing in the experience of brokenness. It was amazing this summer to see the care of Jesus through the nurses and doctors that serve with COTN.

A Hard Day in the Clinic

Another amazing lesson that I learned in the clinic came on a day when everything seemed to be going wrong. Firstly, we had missed our ride out to the villages to do vaccinations, which was not good because the vaccines were hard to keep cold with the on-and-off electricity, then for some reason one of the doctors just hadn’t come in and there was an entire line of waiting patients waiting. Then the power went out. This frequently happens, but when it happens during procedures such as dental work, it means the dentist cannot work since his drill requires power. It was at that point that I thought things couldn’t get much worse. As we were sitting there trying to figure out what to do with all these problems, I looked over at Yaneth, one of the head nurses there, and she had this look of ease on her face. She then said, “This is the day that the Lord made, we may not be able to understand why everything is going this way, but it is still the Lord’s day, we can only trust in Him and be glad.” It was a great reminder to me that we should praise God at all times, the good and the bad. And we need to trust Him—and know that He knows what He is doing even when we can’t directly see His purposes.

A Future

God also taught me to trust in Him for my future. Before coming on this trip, I couldn’t figure out why God seemed to have me going to the DR again for the third time. I may not have been able to understand it then, but now I can see that this summer was an invaluable experience in my life. Since I’m graduating from college this spring, lately I have had lots questions about what I will do in my future. Through my work with COTN this summer, God just really gave me peace about whatever it is that I do end up doing. I decided this summer that I want to work in some area of medical missions using some form of health care to serve other people. I feel like God really made that clear to me one day when I was just walking through the villages giving shots. Currently, I’m still trying to figure out exactly what area I will work in, but I gained a reassurance from God that whatever direction I do take, God will have His hand in that pathway.

The Intern Softball Ministry

One of the programs I got to lead this summer in the DR was the girls’ softball ministry. In the DR there is a huge emphasis on baseball for the boys, but rarely any attention for girls’ sports. Last summer we got two groups of girls together from Algodon and Los Robles to form two teams, and this summer we were able to continue working with those two teams. Coaching softball in the DR is one of the most challenging things I have ever done. Between keeping the little kids and the animals off the field and trying to explain American softball drills in Spanish, things were never easy—especially since most of the girls had never been on any form of sports team before. The most important part of our softball ministry, besides teaching the girls how to play softball, was helping them deepen their relationship with Christ—before each practice even started we had a devotion. In preparation for rivalry that we anticipated might develop between the two teams, we talked a lot about having good sportsmanship.

The final game was a very exciting day, and everyone was anxious to see the outcome. We were also a little nervous that a fight would break out between the two teams since it had happened in the past. Our truck broke down as we had picked up the second team, which seemed like a very bad thing at first, but turned out to be a blessings since both teams had to get out and work together to get the truck going again. (We realized later that it must have been God working to make the teams to get along.) At the start of the game, we had a devotional and again encouraged the girls to display good sportsmanship. The first few innings went smoothly, but shortly thereafter both teams began bickering and fighting amongst themselves. It was so frustrating, because the interns and I had spent so much time trying to teach them about good sportsmanship, and here they had seemingly already forgot all that we had taught them. As the game ended, the teams still continued arguing back and forth—one team was left discouraged while the other was overly excited. As we drove our team back to their bateye I told them how I had hoped they would have acted with better sportsmanship, and that even though they had lost they had still given it a good shot.

As I looked back on that day, I was still a little discouraged about how the day had turned out, but I began to realize that the way I felt was the same way that I make God feel all the time. Just as we had put so much effort and care into our relationships with those girls, and had just wanted the best for them, God cares about us that same way—putting so much effort into caring for us and trying to teach us things. Then, like in the game, we forget about all the things He has taught us after only “two innings.” I wondered how many times in my life I had completely ignored or forgotten about all the things God had just taught me. It’s with God’s help that I can hopefully make it through the entire game next time.

by Jessica Wise, 2008 Summer Intern from Boise Idaho