Guest Post by MedSend-supported RN, Caitlin Lawrence, serving in Bolivia
“Can you hear me now?” I felt like the old Verizon commercial where the guy keeps asking if the person on the other end of the line can hear him. The little boy sitting in front of me quickly whipped his head around and started laughing, so I took that as the sign that he did in fact hear me. Adalid is 9 and he quickly became my little buddy, but his story broke my heart. His mother brought him for a hearing test because he wasn’t hearing well and had a hard time speaking. She cried as she told us how other kids were bullying him and how his teachers were severely disciplining him saying that he wasn’t paying attention or following instructions. He was called dumb and told he was a bad kid. Come to find out, he just couldn’t hear.
“You are loved. You are intelligent. And you are a good little boy.”
His hearing test showed that he had some ability to hear with a much higher level of volume, so we decided to try some of the hearing aids that had been donated the previous year. I couldn’t help but laugh with him as he tried to repeat words that I was saying. After we made sure that the hearing aids were a good fit for him, I knelt down in front of him and told him, “Now that you can hear me, I want you to hear this: you were made perfectly by the God who loves you. Have you ever heard about this God? (he shook his head “no”). There is a God who is the One, True God and He has known you and loved you from before you were even born. You are loved. You are intelligent. And you are a good little boy.” As the tears streamed down his little face he jumped out of his chair and into my arms to give me a big hug. We gave him some books about Jesus that were appropriate for his age and sent them home with big smiles.
I couldn’t help but think of Romans 10:13-15:
“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?”
The deaf and hard of hearing are one of the least reached people groups in Bolivia. They are the largest unseen people group as people can pass them by every day not knowing if they hear or not. Many assume that they can read which isn’t always the case, especially in Potosí. How will they believe if they have never “heard” – heard physically or otherwise in sign language or pictures? How will they “hear” without someone preaching? There are so many who have never heard about Jesus.
Adalid and his mom came back several weeks ago for us to adjust how his hearing aids were fitting. He’s doing well in school now. His whole demeanor was completely different at the start of this visit versus the start of the previous one. He joked with me the whole time and showed me how he’s been working on his pronunciation. His mom asked more questions about who we are and why we are here which provided even more opportunity to share the Gospel with this family.
This moment, made possible by MedSend supporters like you, is one of many where healthcare opens doors to share Christ’s love. As we approach our fiscal year-end, we need your help to continue supporting medical missionaries like Caitlin to reach the overlooked and bring both healing and hope.
