screening day 2

             Yesterday was a different day. I was not sitting behind my desk, shuffling passports around, or taking a trip to the immigration office. I was going to screening day. A couple of days ago my boss asked me if I would like to go to screening day. I told him "sure."  He asked me, "What do you want to do?"  I replied, "Any job that needs to be filled."  So I piled into a vehicle and off to the stadium I went. When I arrived, I was given the task to be an escort. I escorted individuals from the prescreening to three different places. First was the "Exit" (individuals that we could not help or did not meet the criteria for surgery). The second place was for prayer (individuals who we could not help, but wanted prayer for their individual needs). The third was inside the stadium where they were weighed, blood was drawn, personal medical history was recorded, and they were seen by a doctor. I really enjoyed taking individuals inside, but it was always difficult to walk someone to the exit. After walking to the exit many times, each time was just as difficult as the first, knowing we could not help them. I started to get a little frustrated. I walked back and saw one of the pre-screeners call me over. As I walked over I noticed it was a mother and daughter asking for help.  The pre-screener told me to take them inside.  I smiled and motioned for the two of them to follow me. As I was walking (I was about a one and half steps in front of them), I soon felt a little tugging on my hand. I looked down and saw the little girl's crippled hand holding on to mine.  I looked up and she was smiling from ear to ear. I could not help but think she has hope.  At that moment I was not thinking about all the times I walked to the exit, or the sun beating down on me, or the sweat rolling off my face. I was thinking this is why I'm here. During the day, I tried to keep track of this little girl to see if she made it through the process, but with so many people there I quickly lost track of her. I sure hope to see her smile again on the ship someday.

Tim