When the Interpreter needs an Interpreter

When your next team misses their connection and gets in a day later than expected...you blog about the last one, a vision clinic in Lima, Peru, with Our Redeemer Lutheran Church (ORLC) in Wichita Falls, TX. 

ORLC is perhaps LAC's most widely traveled congregation, so six of the eight team members had served in at least one other field, sometimes more. Four were part of a vision clinic team IN Lima in November 2019. This particular trip was a Tuesday to a Tuesday, with a set-up day, four clinic days, and a culture day. 

My practice is always to arrive in countries I don't live in the day before a team. I would have been OK with late evening, but all the good flights must have been gone. I was therefore scheduled to arrive around 1 am Monday, which turned into 7 am when all was said and done. I vowed to stay awake so I'd sleep well that night and have energy for prep work Tuesday before the team arrived in the early evening - not hard when a pair of cuties is begging for Tía Erin to play with them. 

Their arrival was thankfully far more uneventful than mine. We talked through things over empanadas...

...and then walked through them the following day, onsite at Iglesia Luterana de Los Olivos. 

Oh, the refractor. Carmen (R), was ready to trash the team's new contraption for reading people's prescriptions by clinic's end; it took up to 20 min. for some people, was beyond anyone over about 40, and produced iffy results about 30% of the time. 

Our day was supposed to go neighborhood canvassing > set-up > lunch, but a mix-up with the flyers meant we skipped canvassing and left straight from lunch to be back in time for Coffee & Conversation (weekly ESL outreach). Part of the team prepped some snacks while I made a quick, unplanned hardware store run with a couple of the guys, but we were all in place by the time students started arriving around 6. 

Everyone loved getting to know their partners, who were all so proud of their country and city. 

Students and partners alternated paragraphs during the closing devotion so the students could both practice reading aloud and hear the correct pronunciation. 

Thursday morning, it was time for the team to do what they came to do. Pastor Elvis led everyone - team members, missionaries, church volunteers, and interpreters - in an order of morning prayer before we opened the doors. 

The story of the week was entirely unexpected but emerged pretty much right away. Somehow, a Deaf school heard about what we were offering and came out in force. Saturday, for example, I'd estimate only 25% of patients were hearing. Lima's half million Deaf are largely underserved, under-resourced, and therefore disadvantaged, so it was a joy to treat them with the same love, care, and respect as everyone else who is created by God and redeemed by Jesus's blood. Thankfully, at least one sign language interpreter was on hand at all times. I was one of the team's interpreters but was of little more use than someone who didn't speak Spanish anytime a Deaf patient came through my station. However badly I wanted to understand what they were signing, I just couldn't sometimes. 

Margarita interpreting the spiel about the church that Pastor Elvis gave periodically for those awaiting refraction. 

Our hired English/Spanish interpreters were the bomb (Jimena helped out four years ago, too!), as was the team's other new toy. They're already planning to buy second set of optic trial lens frames. 

Nancy and Carmen taking advantage of a lull at the reading glasses station to sort through registration cards. 

We couldn't have done it without these and other dedicated church volunteers. They got there before us, stayed after us, and some were on their feet ALL. DAY. 

A recent addition to Peru team itineraries is Siete Sopas, a restaurant known for its soup of the day. I've been on a Tuesday and now a Friday and highly recommend Friday!

~Interlude~

Things I love about hosting Peru teams: staying right there with them and being a part of their worship and devotional life. 

I mentioned Saturday above. After a long day of struggling through communication with our nonexistent sign language, we jetted over to La Victoria for their Saturday evening Divine Service. Pastor Jeancarlos was kind enough to unlock the upstairs so the team could see "Dr. Dale's Sweat Shop" (aka spaces utilized at the 2019 clinic), too. 

All week, we'd been inviting everyone whom we saw to church. Some of the Deaf rightly wondered what they'd get out of not being able to hear anything, so both of the interpreters who'd been helping out agreed to come interpret the WHOLE SERVICE into sign language. I was SO excited. 

The other story of the week was rain in metro Lima for the first time since 1974. I finally got a picture of this canal through the city that's normally a trickle on the way to church. 

Elvis invited anyone who wasn't a confirmed member up to the communion rail for a blessing; a handful of the Deaf took him up on it! Deaconess Caitlin is going to sit down with one of the sign language interpreters about how the church can continue to serve the Deaf community.

Of course the last few patients through the clinic seemed to take the longest. Once the last pair of glassed had been dispensed and the last red foot locker packed, clinic "staff" from two countries took a moment to recognize their mutual appreciation for one another. 

The Peruvians handed each of their US friends something to remember them by, one by one. Yepci (R) picked JoAnn (L). Then, the team members passed out Thrivent shirts for the Los Olivos volunteers. 

Before we'd even finished loading the bus at the airport on the day the team arrived, they asked me if we could have a 2019 favorite for dinner one night: Chifa, or Peruvian Chinese food. Sunday was that night. Overall, it was hot in Lima, even for this dominicana, but I had to move out of the way of that A/C unit in our private room!

ORLC also unanimously voted to repeat one of their 2019 excursions on Monday for all the newbies along: the catacombs. Then, we had a little over an hour for shopping and photo ops before lunch at Pastor Walterson's house, featuring a birthday celebration for TWO team members!

Pastor Jeancarlos led the group through the Service of Prayer and Preaching, in English, to close out their time on the ground. I wouldn't be mad if that became a new tradition for Peru teams. 

I'll save one last aventura limeña for a separate post ;)

Overall, it was an uplifting week on the part of all involved. I'm not concerned about numbers, but together, we helped many to not only see near and far but to see their Savior and His great love for them. Church members were encouraged and leaders are excited to pursue new contacts and evangelistic opportunities. The team overcame the all-too-common travelers' diarrhea and dreamt up some clinic process improvements. And me, I'm ready to see where God will call ORLC next because I don't see them slowing down anytime soon. 

Until next time, blessings in Christ!