October 2006 - Adult Servant Trip
MEDICAL TEAM FROM ST. MATTHEW BARRINGTON SERVES IN MEXICO
Down the dusty streets of San Francisco, Zaragoza, San Marcos, and Polo Gamboa, they came by the hundreds--men, women and children. All were coming to the medical clinics sponsored by St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Barrington during the week of October 16.
Each of these communities are located east and south of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. While medical care is available in the area, most of the people coming to the clinics cannot afford to pay. By the end of the week the team had served 703 people.
Since 1997 St. Matthew Congregation has been sending medical teams to work in this area. For many of the people coming to the clinics, this is the only medical care they receive.
This year’s 22-member team--composed of both medical personnel and lay support staff–treated diabetes, hypertension, respiratory problems, infections, intestinal parasites, and variety of other health problems. The team provides special attention to pregnant women and young children. Most are suffering from some level of malnutrition.
At Zaragoza the team conducts its clinic at Santisima Trinidad, the Lutheran congregation. At the other three sites, people allow the team to use their homes as clinics for the week. Most of the medicine dispensed by the medical teams was donated by area doctors. In addition, the team received corporate donations of toothbrushes, toothpaste, and acetaminophen. Last summer’s Vacation Bible School at St. Peter Lutheran Church, Arlington Heights, made 280 fleece blankets for children. These were distributed to the children who visited the clinics. The children at St. Peter also contributed money with which the medical teams purchased additional medicine.
On the Sunday before the clinics opened, the Rev. Gerald Schalk, pastor at St. Matthew and the medical team’s leader, joined with the Rev. Jose Hernandez, pastor at Santisima Trinidad, to baptize 22 children. The medical clinics support the on-going ministry of the congregation in Zaragoza.
“Since our mission trips to Mexico began,” reported Schalk, “we have sought to experience the Christian faith in another culture, provide help which would not otherwise be available, and live as a Christian community. This trip certainly accomplished those goals.”
Members of the medical team are not only drawn from St. Matthew Congregation, but from neighboring churches and communities. Some of the medical personnel have joined this team through Lutherans in Medical Missions, an agency from Concordia, Mo, which matches medical people with groups which sponsored medical mission trips.
