Day 118 or Screening Day

In the past we've done one or two big screening. Because of the elections, we've changed that this time, with many smaller screenings with any where from one to six hundred people.

I signed up for this past Thurday. My time began on Wensday night, when I managed to fall alseep at one, only to wake up at two. Why, I have no idea. All I know is that I layed in bed till four, when I decided that was rediculal. I headed upstairs and talked to Heather, the receptionist and friend, till six. Got ready and at seven, left for my screening!

We drove for about twenty minutes till we reached Ba, the location for our screening. At seven, there was a line as long as the gate. We entered the compartment to find about twenty or so people inside who had been waiting to be seen since the night previous. Despite the fact that they couldn't have been comfertible on the cement ground, I still recived many smiles.

We were all assigned jobs, with mine being one of the three people who excorted the people either to the Data room when they were expected or the exit gate, when we couldn't help them. It amazed me how something as simple as the direction in which I walked affected how I felt. To walk with someone towards Data Entry was wonderful, and I hoped the best. But to walk towards the gate was hard and unfortanty common. It amazed me time and time again how these people would take the news that couldn't be helped. Was it bravery and courage that let them stand tall, or had they just become numb to the pain?

The people stood outside the gate where they were let in, fifteen potental paitents at a time, with fifteen more next to the gate waiting to be seen. In total we screened somewhere around two to three hundred people, with around five hundred people in lines, counting the caregivers.

To see all these people, each dealing with their own struggle. Bow legs, tumors, burns, anything, they wished for help. All dressed in their best, hoping that the doctors from a ship could help them.

People waited on the side of the gate, and as I walked those who were unable to be helped, Dulce would sweep in, like a giver of mercy, asking if they would like prayer. Many excepted, a few did not.

But there were those who's lives might be changed, who we can make a difference for, by the grace of God. And it is those for whom we are here for. The reason this ship is here is for those people who stand outside the gate, who wait all night, for the chance to be healed.