An Olympic Team in Belize

 Thursday and Friday, August 1-2, 2024

Thursday morning’s devotions, presented by Bre, used the analogy of the Olympics being held in Paris this week to explore the features of a good team. Bre related about “The Dream Team” of U.S. basketball players that won the gold medal in 1992, something this “Oldtimer” blogger remembers well. She then asked us to consider what features and character traits other than athletic ability we might want represented on our “team.” 

Bre’s devotion explored the qualities of the team Jesus put together when he began his ministry on earth: 12 ordinary men, plus other men and women who “gravitated toward Jesus because of his wisdom, compassion and miracle-working power and believed He was the Messiah.”

This week our “Dream Team” of senior student nurses together has put their extensive training to practical application by establishing a quick trust with patients (of various languages and different cultures); thorough questioning and listening, even coaxing,\ to uncover their health issues; careful encouragement through procedures (probes, tests, ECGs, swabs and more) to confirm their issues; consultation with one of our practitioners; and the gift of appropriate medications and supplements. 

They have followed a schedule established by Dr. Z that rotates them around our five stations each morning and afternoon, shifting assignments and co-workers, so that Friday’s (August 2) schedule arrived back at the original schedule for our first clinic last Saturday. It’s been a remarkable time of growth and progress. Each evening is a time of debrief, to see what the students discerned about their own performance, what rotation they felt drawn to professionally, and what they learned from the patients. To a student, they express gratitude for their increased confidence, efficiency and enjoyment of primary care. 

All five days of our clinics this week (Monday-Friday) have been held in churches, where community residents are invited in by pastors and church leaders to receive health care, but mostly, to hear how to become a part of Christ’s team on earth. 

Bre’s devotion continued: “But Jesus’ team was never meant to be limited to just a handful of people. When Jesus went back to Heaven, around 120 followers were ready to take on the challenge of building the Church.” There’s no limit to the number of followers that can join Jesus’ team,.

“There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female, since you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28.







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