March 2024 Trip

I had the pleasure of joining the HISM team in March 2024. I had known Dr Bowers for over 30 years, having had the honor of being his residency director those many years ago. Somehow we had moved in and out of each others lives so many times over the years, both of us doing mission work abroad, but not knowing what the other was doing.  So this was my first chance to experience the beauty of the people of Roatan, and the inspiring dedication of the HISM team.

     

I could tell many stories of the surgeries, both Phaco and MSICS, and there were many patients whose joy and relief as their sight was restored was inspiring. But I’ve seen this before, and it never gets old, but that wasn’t the amazing part. The amazing part was the team. Yes they were well oiled and experienced and knew their roles and did amazing work with no drama. But what was remarkable was the love they possessed and shared. They loved Christ, and one another, and the patients. They loved the recovering addicts we visited and screened downtown. They loved the work they were doing, and it was refreshing and awe inspiring to see. They realized that they were the tools in God’s hands, and they shared their talents with great skill and energy and determination and joy.  And at the end of the day, they sat and shared and were beautifully vulnerable with one another, a family reinvigorated for the next days work. It was inspiring to be a part of, and felt almost voyeuristic. To see this group of people, so united in faith and purpose and love, I wanted to look away. I felt I was invading something sacred. And so I was. But they invited me in, accepted me as part of their family and as part of Gods work for the people of Roatan. I felt unworthy, but I was received with great love.

 

So in the end, it’s not the beauty of Roatan or her people or the simple yet elegant surgery we are blessed to perform that I will remember best and most fondly. What I will remember is the love of God and his Son, expressed beautifully by people who loved one another and all they came in contact with. A flood of compassion and concern and affection, from the hand of God through His beautiful children to the people of Roatan. It was a privilege to experience this miracle, this palpable manifestation of the love of God.

Herb