Anecdotally Speaking

Dr. David and Dr. Cindie sat looking into the open box between them. It contained medical supplies donated by a pharmaceutical company for the upcoming medical mission trip. It was February 2004 and a team of sixteen lay volunteers from a small rural church in South Dakota was going into the jungles of Peru for a one-week mission.

This particular box arrived just a few days before they left. After spending months collecting and packing as many supplies as possible, it would be a challenge to find additional space to pack and bring the medications contained within this box. However, there was never a question in the doctor's minds that a way would be found. The pharmaceutical company had generously donated a large amount of a potent, highly effective, injectable antibiotic. Not a has-been product, but a state-of-the-art, front-line product.

The doctors counted the doses and quickly realized this donation was worth thousands of dollars. They were filled with gratitude for those who would give such a precious gift, and for seeing the hand of God blessing the preparations for this trip in such an extraordinary way.

Dr. David and Dr. Cindie had been to the remote jungles of the Amazon River before and they understood the desperate needs of the people they would see. It was breathtaking to imagine what might now be possible. Dr. David posed a prediction: "The medicine in this box is going to save someone's life."

Not long later, it was Thursday of the weeklong mission to Peru, when two team members and Dr. David were making house visits along the jungle river. Dr. David had a portable medical bag with him to look after whatever basic medical needs there might be. These people have no regular access to health care and the needs are very great.

While visiting at one home, a small, motorized canoe pulled up to shore and dropped off a young woman holding a small baby in her arms. The baby's name was Lester. Quickly an urgent call went out. "Get Dr. David, there is a sick baby here."

On approaching the shore and seeing the mother, Dr. David could make out the fear and desperation on her face. With only a glance at the baby in her arms, he recognized that this unfortunate child was not only gravely ill, but he was dying.

Dr. David felt profoundly helpless in that moment. If this dying baby were in a modern American hospital emergency room, he could bring to bear all of his hard-earned medical knowledge and skill along with readily available innovative technology and aggressively save the life of this helpless infant.

Instead, they were standing on the mud bank of a parasite-infested tributary of the Amazon River, deep in the tropical rainforest. To Dr. David, the desperateness and hopelessness of the situation was so tangible that it seemed as if a heavy shroud was pushing him down, as real and as pervasive as the inescapable energy-sapping humidity.

Closer inspection revealed that the infant most likely suffered from pneumonia and was progressing to respiratory failure. The baby was working so hard to cough and to breathe that he could no longer feed. He was becoming dehydrated. The infection was spreading to the bloodstream, what doctors call "sepsis," a vicious medical process that ends in death. Without appropriate and timely medical intervention, there is no hope of recovery.

Dr. David explained that they could do nothing there. They must get back to the medical boat. Baby Lester and his mother were loaded into the speedboat and off they went.

Back at the medical boat, Dr. Cindie and non-medical lay assistants began to treat baby Lester with everything they possibly could. IV fluids, breathing treatments, oxygen. And the precious antibiotic that had been donated. This medicine has the unique property of remaining effective in the blood stream for twenty-four hours after an injection.

When all that could be done was done, Dr. Cindie asked Lester's mother if she was a Christian. She said yes, and Dr. Cindie asked if they could pray. After praying Lester's mother, her anxiety dissipated, exhibited gratitude, and a surprising amount of peace. Exhausted, she was able to lie down and rest, the first time in many days.

When Lester's mother had rested, she asked to take her baby back home with her. She was satisfied with everything done for Lester. Unfortunately, Lester showed no signs of improvement and the medical team wondered if anything they did had improved the baby's prognosis at all. The situation seemed so grave; the baby seemed so far gone.

Before leaving, Dr. Cindie wanted to be sure that the mother was aware of the situation, and did not harbor unrealistic expectations. They did not expect the baby to survive, despite the best medical treatment efforts and despite the belief and faith that God could even if they could not. Not that there was no hope, but to be realistic, to be reasonable in what the situation was they faced.

It was clear his mother understood. In her peace, she would accept whatever the outcome, and in gratitude to the team, for the gift of care she and her baby had received. Arrangements were made to take them back home and visit them again the next day, the last day the team would be in Peru before going back to the United States; a home visit to give the baby another medical treatment. Final prayers were said and then they left. No one knew if they would ever see baby Lester alive again.

The news of what happened with Lester that day had spread around to everyone by Thursday evening. Lester was supported in prayer, and there was much speculation on what the team would find on the next day's home visit. Would Lester survive? Was the gift of the medicine for this trip, for this week, so that Lester's life could be saved? Certainly, it was difficult to imagine anyone needing it more badly than Lester did.

A large team of volunteers formed to travel to Lester's home Friday morning. The speedboat was full. The mood was serious, somber. Chances were good that they would find Lester had not survived the night. However, in this boat, on this morning, there was no despair. No, there was hope, faith and trust in a faithful God that loved them and loved Lester and loved Lester's mother.

The group arrives and quietly, reverently makes its way to the primitive one-room thatched-roof home of Lester and his family. To the relief of all, and with gratitude to God, the weak, sickly cry of baby Lester could be heard as the group approached, a welcome sign that Lester had indeed survived the night. It was difficult to tell if Lester was any better, but to the trained perceptions of the doctors, they thought Lester was showing very subtle signs of improvement, and they were very encouraged.

The room was dark and crowded. Video recorded the event. Mother lovingly cradled her critically ill infant as he held on to life tentatively with every labored gasp of his breathing. Dr. Cindie administered with deft skill her medical treatments, injecting again the powerful lifesaving medicine that had been donated so generously for this very purpose.

The team members crowded around in love and support, an expression of powerful empathy, a spontaneous caress here, an embrace there. There was a powerful sense by all who were there, of an unspoken longing for wholeness and healing, understood by God as a non-verbal prayer of profound faith, a resonation with God's will.

Bill Lake, in the finest tradition of lay ministry, a large equipment mechanic by trade, after spending the week on this mission pounding countless nails to construct a church building, in the most gentle way possible laid his hand on Lester's head, and led the group in prayer.

Goodbyes were said and the team returned to the United States. The video of Lester was shown to thousands of people. However, this was a story without an ending. Did Lester recover? Did he survive? If he did, that would sure make a good ending to the story. Nevertheless, chances are that he did not survive, but that he died. Many were convinced God's purposes were served no matter how it turned out ultimately. However, there was an ongoing sense of loss, of incompleteness, in not knowing how things turned out.

Reflecting on these events and watching the video of Lester brought many who were there to believe that the most important thing that happened to Lester on that trip was prayer. The touch, faith, courage and obedience of Bill Lake somehow reached the very heart of God. No one who was there can watch the video, no matter how many times they have seen it, and not sense again the power of God in that electrifying moment.

The story now has an ending. It came a year latter when another team returned to the same river. Would it be possible to find Lester's house one year latter? Would his family still be there? Would anyone be able to tell us what happened?

Drs. David and Cindie were on this trip as well as Bill Lake. As they passed up and down the river, they could not be sure which house it was. Moreover, time constraints limited how much time they could search. Dr. David, for one, was not sure he wanted to know, thinking that holding on to the hope that Lester might have survived would be better than finding out that he did not. Bill however, was confident. "I can't tell you how I know," he said, "but I know baby Lester is alive."

On the last trip down this river, they passed a house they thought might be Lester's house, and a woman washing cloths in the river that might be Lester's mother. They could not be sure. They nearly kept going without stopping. However, they had them turn around the boat and go back to check. "We can't come this far and miss our chance to find out," they reasoned.

Tentatively, with trepidation, they pulled in close. The woman certainly did look like Lester's mother. The question was very simple and very direct. "Does a baby named Lester live here?" Then the answer, "Yes, he is in the house taking a nap." There was an instant flood of great joy. The second question, "Do you remember us from one year ago when Lester was sick?" "Oh, yes," Lester's mother beamed. There were embraces and an invitation to the house.

The anticipation of seeing Lester, now a healthy one-year-old toddler, intensified as they moved into the house. He was asleep in a hammock. He was absolutely, perfectly beautiful. He was truly a gift from God, full of unlimited potential. Pictures were quietly taken trying not to disturb his slumber. Nevertheless, the flashing lights caused him to stir. He roused, and blinking his sleepy eyes, he tried to take in the startling sight of his usually peaceful house filled with pale white strangers. He almost looked like he would cry, but his mother held him close, comforting him.

Everyone made their acquaintance with Lester; there were more pictures, gifts, candy, prayer and good byes. His mother related that baby Lester battled many months after we left before finally overcoming the illness that nearly took his life. Now he was perfectly fine, healthy in every way.

Why did Lester survive? Because a group of Americans used their vacation time to travel to this remote place in order to help? Because a pharmaceutical company donated life saving medicines that the team could take with them and use? Because Lester's mother brought him to the exact place he needed to be to get the help he needed? Because ultimately trust was placed in God through prayer? Perhaps one or all of these reasons, or perhaps none of them. What is certain though, in the minds and hearts of those touched by Lester, that they have seen the hand of God at work.