TUESDAY, AUGUST 21
We did have clinic in one of the churches, from 9:00 until noon. But believe it or not, “we” saw 98 patients in the ophthalmology section. We were kept busy.

I am glad we have only one more clinic on Thursday, at the church where I have been holding meetings. Maybe I am getting a little “testy” when people don’t understand my questions. I need to study more Spanish and polish my pronunciation. Anyway… we try.

The Quiet Hour videographer [Kristian Allen, Revelation Pictures] arrived this morning and will no doubt be visiting some of the evangelism sites during the next few days, both clinics and preaching services, plus general environment in Iquitos.

Next to the church where we had clinics this morning was a carpenter shop. I picked up two lovely slabs of cedar. They will make beautiful clocks, even though cedar may be a rather ordinary wood without all the color some others have.

I did get an afternoon siesta. The rest was needed, and it did recharge the batteries some for the evening.

Evening service sent well. There was a lovely duet by two young ladies, one of whom has polio. She has attended every night, and has a very lovely personality. The song was beautiful also.

The pastor was by for a few minutes before service began and informed me more about the baptism tomorrow night. He will have a short sermon, examine the candidates, and have the baptism. (No lecture on my part.) I have heard that there will be 20 baptized, individuals who have been studying in various churches or groups in his district. Tonight’s sermon was on the Millennium, and went quite well.

The clock is ticking, and just like I kept track of the countdown to departure to come to Peru, I am now counting time to return home.

Thanks for your prayers.
Harvey

TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, part 2
Greetings again.

Our clinics today were at the central churches. The yards were full of people when we arrived at 8:30 to set up shop.

We had another person there working with optometry—somebody local. He had pretty good equipment, but his battery ran out part-way through the morning.

In “our” section we saw 106 patients and let me tell you, one develops patience in the process. Dr. Shearer is great, though, if only his interpreter [me] doesn’t foul things up!

The room was very small, compared to some areas where we have worked, but we did survive in time to get a motorcar to take us to the clinic for our 2 o’clock meal.

The hall of the clinic was lined with chairs and almost 100 waiting to see the visiting surgeons. I’m sure the doctors will have their hands full!

Lunch had a wide variety of food, and was very good. I think I mentioned once that the kitchen area is bigger than my house in Utah. They have quite a staff working there.

I asked one of the nurses on duty as to how many bed the hospital has, and she said 93. That is a big jump from the 24 I had heard previously

Just a side note on this translating deal. We usually begin by asking the patient what their problem is. Invariably they tell us, “my eyes.” I have finally learned, with some coaching from Dr. Shearer, to extend the question a little and ask “What is the problem with your eyes?” I am learning, little by little, to be patient with the patients.

Well, it is siesta time and time to recharge my battery for the evening meeting. The topic will be on baptism, and this is a very important one in the series.

I get CNN news, either English or Spanish, in my room, and I see that Hurricane Dean is due to hit Jamaica. Those can be devastating. We were in the Dominican Republic when George came through a few years back. I am sure Frances will not forget the “fun” we had trying to keep the house from flooding.

I got an e-mail telling about our Adventist losses in the earthquake, etc. This old world is getting older each day. Time for a renovation! I saw a news note about 140 miners, or so, buried in China. Those are terrible catastrophes.

Harvey