This is Mission. Moving forward step by step, patient by patient. Celebrating lives restored, and doing what we can to maintain hope for a future for our patients and their families.
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OSMT sets off for Solidarity Bridge's second trip of 2019. The expanded team will be returning to the Cancer Institute of Eastern Bolivia in Santa Cruz for a week of surgeries and conferences.
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This week, we encounter the familiar story of the woman caught in adultery. A large crowd has gathered in the temple to hear Jesus teach, when the Pharisees bring in the woman and challenge Jesus as to her fate. They tell him that the law says she must be stoned. Jesus doesn’t rise to the bait or contradict the law. Instead, he tells them that whoever is without sin should cast the first stone. As Jesus writes in the dirt, one by one, the accusers leave. Jesus then rises and speaks directly to the woman. He does not dispense punishment, but asks her to change her ways.
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After a week of interviews with medical staff at the Santa Bárbara Hospital in Sucre, it became clear to the Solidarity Bridge mission team that this was the right place for a long-term partnership to advance neurosurgical care. The team was impressed with the scope of the need, but also with the professionalism and commitment of the Santa Bárbara nurses and physicians who serve an incredible volume of patients in spite of significant equipment and human resource limitations.
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This week, we encounter the familiar story of the Prodigal Son who experiences the abundant and unconditional love of his father. Jesus tells this story to illustrate the depth of God’s love for us. Wherever we are, God is ready to meet us and invite us into a deeper, more intimate relationship. Like the father in today’s Gospel, God doesn’t just wait for us to come, but runs out to meet us with welcoming arms and great joy. And, like the Prodigal Son, we can be changed and transformed by this love.
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The Solidarity Bridge team presented a proposal for a long-term, collaborative initiative with the Santa Bárbara Hospital focused on advancing neurosurgical care. Recognizing that the actual surgery procedure is just one part of the process, the proposed initiative would also seek to engage the many pre-, intra- and post-operative areas that are integral to the care of the neurosurgical patient.
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The Neurosurgery Mission team will land this weekend in “La Ciudad Blanca” (the White City), which is the nickname bestowed on the city of Sucre, Bolivia, thanks to its many beautifully-preserved, white-walled, colonial-style buildings
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This parable in Luke brings a message of hope and redemption with a simple reminder to us all - God forgives! Like the gardener pruning a fig tree, God loves us and is always ready to give us another chance to blossom. God’s tender, compassionate activity in our lives allows us to bear fruit. Let us remember God’s mercy and compassion this week.
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In Luke’s account of the Transfiguration, Jesus brings Peter, John, and James to a mountain to pray. There they are granted a vision of Jesus speaking with Moses and the prophet Elijah. God speaks to the group, declaring, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” Today, we too are called to listen for Jesus’s voice in our world, and to be transformed by what we hear.
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This short passage describes Jesus’s temptation by the devil after forty days of fasting and prayer in the desert. We see that the devil approaches Jesus when he is weak and weary and offers to satisfy his most immediate need – hunger. He then seeks to tempt Jesus with power, status, and wealth, and dares Jesus to prove his relationship with God. Jesus, relying on scripture and intimate trust in his relationship with God, spurns the devil’s offers. The devil leaves to await another opportunity
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It is easy to look at the beginning of Lent as a time of sacrifice and suffering, of desolation in the desert. But Lent can also be seen as a time of stripping away that which is keeping us from the love and joy that God intends for us. Pope Francis says, “Lent is a powerful season, a turning point that can foster change and conversion in each of us. We all need to improve, to change for the better.” Lent is a time that invites us to transform our lives - an opportunity to turn back to God with our whole hearts and reorient our lives.
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Hungry for a taste of Bolivia? Enjoy this slideshow with recommendations from Dr. Alvaro Encinas, Solidarity Bridge board member, missioner, and Bolivian food aficionado.
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“[I]n the context of today, when so many walls are being constructed in the world, how would you like to build a bridge? The bridge is being built; it's under way. How would you like to add to that, to cross that bridge and share the talents and gifts and expertise you have?” - Fr. Bob Oldershaw
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As we start a new year, we reflect on 2018 in preparation for our 20th year of mission. While we equipped, trained, partnered and served, we also challenged ourselves to understand what it means to be Somos Uno.
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In the OR machines power our surgical tools, provide vision where our eyes cannot see, and function as a bypass for our most crucial organs, but as with all mechanical equipment, attentive maintenance overseen by well-trained professionals, is necessary to keep these machines functioning safely.
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