The fourth and final team that YLM hosted this year from MOST Ministries was here from October 24-31. The team was comprised of individuals from various churches in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Northern Illinois, along with their fearless leader Gayle Sommerfeld and her husband Don. This was Gayle and Don’s second trip to YLM, as they brought an October team last year as well, to do the same thing: a 2-day eyeglass clinic at San Lucas in Anapra, followed by a 2-day eyeglass clinic at Cristo Rey. As is tradition for MOST teams, Friday is reserved for sightseeing.
Eyeglass clinics require a significant amount of set-up, so the group arrived early to church at San Lucas on Sunday so they could arrange tables and unpack green army duffels of glasses. As was the case all week, they had to factor in the beginning of Daylight Savings Time in Mexico, a week earlier than in the U.S. They left at the time groups typically have to leave to arrive at the service on time only to arrive an hour early—AND they got to sleep in a little later than normal all week!
Monday and Tuesday the clinic was at San Lucas, and then Tuesday afternoon everything was packed up and shifted to Cristo Rey so it would be ready for Wednesday and Thursday. The pace was much slower than the team was equipped to handle due to a government assistance program for the poor, pouring rain, and a cold front, but the slow times made us all slow down and pray that God’s will be done, and it allowed the pastors and leaders from each church to spend more one on one time with each person at the final station—evangelism. All in all, 481 people were seen and 559 pairs of glasses were distributed.
It was a week spent giving people the gift of spiritual sight as well as physical sight, and a week filled with memorable moments, but I don’t think anyone will ever forget the kindness of José Ángel. He was an optician who saw a report about our clinic on the news and stopped by Tuesday afternoon to lend his services. The clinic was closing, but we told him where we’d be the next day and he came without fail for the next two days. He brought some of his personal tools of the trade and was an invaluable asset to Ron and Jane at the fitting station. When asked if he was a Christian, he said that he believes in God but isn’t very serious about it, he just likes to help people!
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