March, 2001, North Coast, Honduras
"...He heareth the cry of the afflicted." Job 34:28
We returned to Honduras (after our first missionary trip in 1999) for six or seven more years. Working alongside our missionary coworker, Quenton, we sometimes brought a team with us or sometimes it was just Jack, Jennifer and Patrick, our son. During the next missionary trip, Quenton had another location for us to reach with dental evangelism. Again, it was on the North Coast of Honduras in primitive surroundings. We were to go by boat again as there were no roads that led all the way to this village. But as the morning came for us to head out, the boat captain never showed up. We thought this would be the end of the ministry trip but Quenton said we would go by truck after all. So off we went and experienced some of the worst roads possible. Thankfully, it was dry season or we would have gotten bogged down in the mud. We came to a river whose bridge was made of two planks across it that were the width of our tires. Jack and Patrick jumped out of the truck to guide Quenton across, inch by inch. It was nerve wracking getting across. Quenton, took it in stride and said he had been this way before, alone at night! Then we came to the coast and had to drive partially in the ocean and partially on a ridge of sand along the shore. We were passed by a brand new pick-up truck filled with young guys. Quenton said they were drug runners because no one in that area could afford a brand new pickup truck, unless they were running drugs.
We finally made it to our destination, a small house right by the ocean, in which we would both stay and work. First we had to chase a bat out of it before we could pillow our heads. It was a strange place. As we pulled in we saw the truck that had passed us on the beach parked at the house next door to ours. We were feeling a little uneasy about them being so close. Why had the Lord brought us here?
The next day, we were pretty sure we knew the answer. We treated patients all morning and then we saw LaSandra. She was just a bit of a thing, almost a dwarf; a small woman with a big problem! Her face was swollen twice its normal size. Her teeth were loose and seemed to be floating in a sea of infection. Jack located the tooth that he felt was causing all of the trouble and warned Jennifer to be ready because he wasn’t sure what was going to happen when he pulled it. It erupted like a volcano and infection poured out of it, like lava. Jennifer was frantically soaking up the infection that was pouring into LaSandra’s mouth. This went on for a long time until finally it stopped. We sent her home with antibiotics and pain medicine and told her to return the next day. She should have been hospitalized and put on intravenous antibiotics but there was no hospital for hours away and not even a clinic.
We found out that LaSandra was a Bible believing Christian and the believers in her church had been praying for three months that God would send a dentist to help her, as her infection grew worse and worse. We were so thankful for Quenton’s stubborn insistence on keeping his promise to his contact in the village to bring a dentist. His contact knew nothing of LaSandra’s condition but God did. He heard the prayers of His children on behalf of their little sister who was in trouble.
The next day she was better. Her face was less swollen and her eyes did not look as if she was terribly sick. We left LaSandra with all the antibiotics we had with us, as we were leaving the following day for the States. Usually once the offending tooth is removed, the infection goes away but this was not a normal infection. We never heard what the outcome was. Quenton’s contact in the village suddenly moved elsewhere and he didn’t have another contact to check with about her condition. We believe that since it was the Lord who had worked to get us to that village when we were needed, the medicine we left with her was sufficient to kill the infection in her mouth. Surely God could make it sufficient.
We were so blessed to be able to help someone in such terrible need. It was times like this that made all that study in dental school worth it! We were so thankful that God allowed us that privilege. When we are heaven, LaSandra can tell us the rest of the story!