Cipro, Immodium, Gas-X and Glasses. Oh my!

Well, I got sick. I ate something that made me feel queasy, and boy, am I glad my roommate is a doctor. She had quite a supply of Cipro, and after a night of tossing, turning, and praying that I wouldn´t need to use the garbage can next to my bed, I´m ok. Thank goodness for modern medicine! She said that on one of her previous missions to Mexico, she picked up a bunch of the stuff.

There are approximately 22-24 languages spoken in Coban, Guatemala. Most of them speak Spanish, and my Spanish is improving daily. The other most common language is Chi. At least that´s how it sounds when it´s spoken. The people who speak Chi look to be native Mayans. In more common terms, they look Native American, but they´re native Mayan.

So far, we´ve helped about 7,500 people see! I´m so happy to be able to be part of this mission. Especially today...















This morning, I was again at the autorefracting station. After lunch (which looked like poo but was actually vegetables rolled up in beef), I moved to IMS (Inventory Management System). This is where we enter the prescriptions that the doctors write into the computers and find the best match.















I was at IMS yesterday - all day. I wrote out a copy of Uncle Pete´s prescription for all of the five computers, hoping that someone would find the right recipient for his glasses. Unfortunately, nobody was a good match. Until today. :)

Last night at dinner, I told the story of Uncle Pete´s glasses to some of the doctors. Of course I lost it just telling them... Every time I told the story, I bawled! (Uncle Pete was laughing at me the whole time, too, I´m sure!) The docs said they´d keep an eye out for the Rx for me.

About two hours after lunch, Doctor Max came up to IMS and asked Mitch, who was sitting next to me, if he could look up another pair of glasses for him. The glasses selected weren´t a good match for the recipient. Mitch said - wait a minute, Erin - give me that prescription. My heart pounded... Dr. Max said that Uncle Pete´s Rx was an excellent match! I screamed!















I grabbed my camera and Amy, who was sitting next to me, and Susan, who was like - what´s all the commotion?! and went out to meet Pedro. That´s what I call him, because I never saw his name, and he looked a lot like Pedro from Napolean Dynamite.















I explained, as best I could in Spanish, to Pedro, that these glasses are very especial. They were my Uncle´s, who is with God now, since ten months. (Literally, that´s all I knew how to say!) He was quiet and asked the translator if the glasses were mine. So much for my Spanish!

I was in tears - of joy. People all around me were taking pictures, because they all knew how important this moment was to me.

Now, let me back up a bit. Last night at dinner, I was explaining how I was upset that I couldn´t find a match. A bunch of people told me that it was only day two, and that the right person just wasn´t here yet.

As most of you know, Uncle Pete was a Major League Baseball fan. He collected fitted caps from all the teams. After he passed, I was fortunate enough to be able to select one of his caps, so I chose the Angels, because he was my angel.

Pedro was not only a good match for the glasses, but he was also wearing a Major League Baseball hat today. It wasn´t the Angels, but it was Los Angeles - literally translated , ¨The Angles.¨

I truly believe that he was meant to receive those glasses. A teammate, who was born in Cuba and speaks Spanish, was able to tell him how special the glasses are to me, and that he got to keep the case. Pedro was stoked about that case!















Dr. Max said the whole experience gave him chills. It was his first pair of glasses that he dispensed, and for that to be his first pair was awesome.

Believe me, it was awesome for me too.