We have been impressed that we should be doing more medical missionary work in Mexico. For that reason we have started in a humble way to organize groups of young people into classes in which we can study the principles of giving simple treatments, and teach the sick how to keep well. It is very interesting to see what has been accomplished out in the field. These young people were sent in to our union headquarters from all of our six missions, and they represented a variety of conditions of life in old Mexico.
There were those who had lived all their lives in the great forest country of Chiapas, as well as some from Sonora and Chihuahua in the north of Mexico. Some were farmers, and some were brought up in the cities...
After three months of intensive medical study and Bible study, they were given some practical work in our Clinica, where they could meet the sick and help in the care of wounds and the ailments that are so common here. They then returned to their missions and went to work as self-supporting workers. In some of the outlying districts they found much to do and much suffering to alleviate. Some of them have had to travel long distances through fever-infected swamps, where the fierce jaguar is a peril in the forests.
One brother tells of his trip through this country by night in a storm. He says : "As we waded out into the darkness of the swollen stream, we were startled by the rushing and splashing of some large animals. They were tapirs. The next thing that attracted our attention was the passing nearby of a large snake. After getting thoroughly wet, we succeeded in attracting the attention of some men, who came over to us in their dugout and took us safely over the river and to their home. We found some very sick people in this home, without any medical attention. We gave the simple treatments, with prayer, and it was marvelous what the Lord did in these cases. We found that the fevers were reduced, and the patients were soon on the road to recovery. They were so grateful for what the Lord had done that the way was opened for Bible studies."
Now I will let Brother Alejandro tell his story.
"A number of months ago a man and his wife began to attend the services in our church. The wife was very much interested and desired to accept the truth, but her husband was a heavy drinker, and was very violent when under the influence of liquor. This woman had been suffering from a serious illness for about four years, and had spent a great deal of money and time in trying to regain her health. As the woman continued to grow worse, she came to me for help. I told her I did not know that I could help her, but that God could, and that I would try to do all I could.
I found that her disease was in an advanced stage, and I was much perplexed to know what to do, as it seemed that an operation was the only thing that would save her life. We had special prayer for her, and requested the help of the Lord. We began to give her simple treatments, sun baths, etc., with a regulated diet, and in fifteen days she was much better. At the end of a month she could walk and visit her friends. We thank the Lord for this remarkable answer to prayer.
"We kept the woman at our place until her health was completely restored, on account of the violence of her husband when under the influence of liquor. This man finally came around and took his wife to her home, and thanked me for what we had done for her. He made a donation to build a clinic to continue our good work."
Impoverished Diet of Indian People
The brother speaks of regulating the diet of this woman. It is very apparent that much of the sickness is caused from wrong habits of eating. Here in Mexico the diet of the Indian people for centuries has been corn and beans and usually chili peppers, with meat and fish when they are obtainable. In the north the Tarahumare Indians use dried pumpkin, cut in long strips, to eat during the long winter months when nothing green is available. In the spring they eat potatoes and some mushrooms that grow in the region, and are very fond of An, the secretion of an insect (Carteria Mexicana). Their favorite drinks are tesgiiino, sotol, and mescal. The diet of the other tribes is similar, except that in the south and along the lowlands and coastal country they have the tropical fruits. The iguana is also eaten, and in some parts the tapir, which is of the elephant species, the opossum, and a species of anteater.
It means much for these people to give up a diet which is overspiced, and live on a simple diet. In many cases it means that we must teach them some form of agriculture. We have found that the gondule, a tree bean or pea, is very practicable, as it grows up beyond the reach of animals and bears enough of a crop for the family. We imported this plant from Puerto Rico, and it is now sold in some of the markets in the Indian villages.
We find in some localities that there is a lack of certain mineral salts, and we try to supply these. In one place many of the women were suffering from goiter, because of the lack of iodine, and we gave the Indians turnip seed to plant to supply this deficiency. In the lowlands of the state of Guerrero the disease called pinta is found which is a fungus that changes the color of the skin, sometimes to a dark blue or almost purple, then again to a dark brown in contrast with white. This disease is no doubt carried by the small gnats of this region, but it seems to respond in part to the Sansalvarsan treatments, and is thought by some to be carried the same as syphilis.
The diet has much to do with all these cases, for there is a great deficiency of green vegetables in this region. These are only a few of our many problems in medical missionary work, but our youth are facing the situation and are doing a great deal to educate the people and alleviate the suffering.
We are now building an institution in which we can carry on regular training courses for nurses, which will no doubt prepare many to work in our clinics.
This remnant church has much to be thankful for, as the divine will has been so singularly revealed to us. It seems to stretch out even to the very end of time. Note the following quotations from the pen of God's messenger :
"Henceforth medical missionary work is to be carried forward with an earnestness with which it has never yet been carried."—Counsels on Health, p. 392.
"Christ is no longer in this world in person, to go through our cities and towns and villages, healing the sick; but He has commissioned us to carry forward the medical missionary work that He began."—Ibid., p. 393.
"We have come to a time when every member of the church should take hold of medical missionary work." — Ibid., p. 425.
Of the future of medical missionary work we read:
"We shall see the medical missionary work broadening and deepening at every point of its progress, because of the inflowing of hundreds and thousands of streams, until the whole earth is covered as the waters cover the sea."—Medical Ministry, p. 317.
These citations would clearly indicate that the future of the medical missionary work is to be well founded, first of all, in each member of the church, then by earnestness and zeal it is to be carried forward, until it grows into a world movement of world-wide influence.
