Eye Doc in a Box

This blog post is a bit out of order, but I had to share it...Two teams ago when the Summit team came from Virginia, they hosted an eyeglass clinic. They brought down and "Eye Doc In a Box" kit that allows non-medically trained missionaries to do a quick screen for vision. You can get a rough estimate of what a person's prescription is and then try to find appropriate eye glasses for them. The team brought down something like 600 pairs of eye glasses, all in individual baggies with the prescription written on the baggie. We did two afternoons of testing at a church in northern Costa Rica in a beach town called Nosara. We also did a morning here in San Jose at Fundavida, another Christian foundation connected to the Vineyard church, and an afternoon here in Los Anonos. I wanted to share a couple of highlights from that time.

 Here are the girls modelling some of the donated glasses. Me thinks we pretty sexy...

 

There was a woman who hadn't been able to read her Bible in 5 years. She was so excited to finally be able to read that she had a hard time giving me the Bible back. We saw several stories like that...where people hadn't been able to read for years. It was amazing to "give sight back to the blind".


The woman pictured on the right had a prescription that we just couldn't fill. One eye was drastically different than the other and it would have taken a special pair of glasses. Tovah and I ended up praying for her, knowing that while we couldn't give her better vision, our Lord and Savior can. While we didn't see a miracle and her sight instantly restored, she was immensely touched by the Holy Spirit and began weeping. Her name is Maria. Please remember her in your prayers that she would receive her miracle and restored sight!!

I love children. I especially have a heart for children who wear glasses. I got my first pair of big, bright pink, thick plastic framed glasses when I was 7 years old. I thought I was pretty hot stuff in those glasses...until I look back at the pictures and think "WHY?!?!?!?" Yet, those were the 90's...they were made that way...So we were doing a clinic day at Fundavida and we had a pretty good system down. Two girls would screen for vision, the people would come to a center area to hear the gospel message from Tito, and then they would come 3 at a time to get fit for glasses. While one group was hearing the gospel, I couldn't help but see a little girl, about 8-years-old, trying to choke back tears. Most of the kids that day were screened as not needing glasses, and were a bit upset at not getting any. So I thought this girl was the same. She and her mother came through my line to be fit for glasses. The mother handed me the slip of paper with the prescription and it was a pretty high number, so I assumed it was for the mother. I went and selected a few pairs in the prescription and brought them back. I handed the first pair to the mother and she immediately stuck them on the little girl's face, who then preceeded to burst in to tears. Oh, NOOO! I thought. These weren't for the mom!! They were for the girl!! I scooped her up into a big hug and told her it was okay, I hadn't realized they were for her! I told her I was going to find the prettiest pair of glasses we had! Not to worry. As I turned back to where the glasses were, my heart SCREAMED at Jesus... "PLEASE, Lord, if you have ANY mercy on me, let me find the right prescription for this girl...IN THE CUTEST FRAMES POSSIBLE!!! PLEASE LORD, PLEASE LORD, PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE!!! AMEN!!!!!" I went back and found 2 really cute pairs...and the one that fit her and was the right prescription.........WERE PINK!! With glitter on the ear pieces!! With little hearts by the lenses!!! HALLELUJAH, Praise Jesus, He really does care about little girls!!!! (Not that I doubted, but this was a big deal!!). As soon as I put them on her, she said simply, "I can see!!" And then broke out into the hugest ear-to-ear grin. Praise you, Jesus! I gave her another big hug and told her that she was a princess. I told her the same things I tell my girls in the princess club. That Jesus knows her heart and He thinks she's a princess. And every time she wears these glasses, they are to remind her of that. She then proceeded to show EVERYONE in the room her new princess glasses....and then she brought me her friend who also needed glasses and wanted me to find a pair of princess glasses for her too...Help me, Lord!! AND HE DID!! I found ANOTHER pair of pink, little girl glasses in the right prescription. God is SO good!! This is a picture of her after Jesus helped me find her glasses:

 

For more information on how you can be trained in the Eye Doc in a Box kit, click on the link below.

Eye Doc in a Box