the hospital and the barrio

Written by Ken Phillips

This morning would represent a very interesting experience for all of us. The team would have the opportunity to visit the La Mascota Children’s Hospital in Managua dedicated to treating various types of cancer for all children in Nicaragua. The hospital does not have CT scan capabilities, does not have an MRI unit, and may not even have sufficient medicines to support the treatment of cancer at any given time. Against these odds, the La Mascota Children’s Hospital continues to provide medicinal treatment to over 1200 children per year.

Five of the men had previously visited La Mascota in 2006 but seven of us were completely unprepared for what we were about to see. PAN started a painting ministry in the hospital several years ago and this morning each member of the team would engage in painting one-on-one with one child suffering from cancer. This was an emotional experience for each one of us but also very rewarding. We would sit on a child’s bedside and help them paint a picture making every attempt to communicate out of love. We also had the opportunity to pray with the child and the family if they were willing.

Each child was left with a portrait created by one of the men and a Teddy bear. It was truly amazing to see the smile of a child who is going through a very painful and traumatic experience. God guided us through a very difficult experience and rewarded us with an outpouring of love from these children.

The day continued to get better when we went back to the barrio for our final day of Sports Ministry. Most of us have now become very much attached to the children after five consecutive days. These children continue to pour out their love to us every time we come and certainly look up to us as father figures.

The Men’s BBQ at the church in the barrio became the highlight of our day. We had between 25-30 men come to the church for the BBQ to experience a time of praise and worship with the team. Doug, Charlie, and Dan had the opportunity to share their testimonies with this group of men. We served these men by providing them with a hot meal and an outpouring of God’s love.

The evening was amazing and Pastor Elvis even closed the evening with an altar call. We had the opportunity to pray for five men who made their way to the front of the church. At the end of the service, two men from the barrio wanted to speak and they communicated their appreciation to the team for their work in providing them with a sports field. We will do this all over again for the families of the barrio on Sunday afternoon.

Talk about one amazing day! God was with us and blessed us in every way today!