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RADICAL from David Platt

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Fishing!

Maddy and I went fishing this afternoon, and we caught a big fish!! It was her first time to go fishing, and she was really excited. We just used a piece of bread, and it was on our first cast. It was a blessing from God. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! Thank God for the redemption that comes from His Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.

Video from CR trip

Here are both of the videos that I made for my sponsors and whoever is interested. I used vimeo to upload them because the quality is much better than YouTube. Enjoy!

Richard

UAB Dental / CMMA Mission Trip 2010- Costa Rica from Richard Baxter on Vimeo.

Richard's Costa Rica Mission Trip 2010 from Richard Baxter on Vimeo.

Saturday Clinic

On Saturday, the last clinic day, we went to a church and had 20 people lined up waiting for treatment. By 10AM we had examined over 90 patients. I noticed that we had open chairs for treatment, but we had a bottleneck at the Evangelism station. I asked Jan if we could start another Evangelism station and she told me to go ahead and do it. I went downstairs, moved some benches around, and invited 10 people inside for a chat. I began sharing my testimony and sharing the Gospel with them in Spanish. After 30 minutes, I asked each person if they had made a decision to accept Christ as their Lord and follow him with all of their heart. The third person I asked said she had never turned from herself and turned to Christ before, and today she wanted to put all of her hope in Him. Then, two more people chose to accept the free gift of the Gospel and follow Christ. One lady said that she had done so many bad things in her life and didn't know if this was for her. I explained how Christ died for all, and we have all sinned and cannot be reconciled to a holy God by ourselves, so we all need a savior. I told her it was not about her past, but about this moment and when you receive Christ, he will cleanse us and give us a new heart and the Holy Spirit to guide us in our new life. She decided she wanted a change, and she accepted Christ as Lord of her life. Later, I invited another 10 people inside, and two of them wanted to change their life and follow Christ. I gave all five of them Bibles and told them about the importance of reading their Bible and finding a local church to help guide them in their new life. This experience was better than any teeth I could have pulled, and this one event was worth the trip alone. Now, I have confidence to be bold as I share the Gospel with others back home because I know that it is not I who was speaking but the Holy Spirit through me that was changing hearts through the Gospel. I know this because my words and my Spanish are not good enough to do this, but with the power of the One who is all-powerful and all-sufficient, I could be involved in His plan to make His glory known to the nations.

Naranja and Earthquake

So today we went to Naranja, a city outside of San Jose to go to a Baptist church. We arrived and had about 20 people waiting to see us. We triaged the patients and then I went to see my first patient of the day. He was a policeman who needed his mandiublar wisdom teeth removed. I gave him the injections, and then Daniel took them out easily with the 301. We were all sweating profusely; especially the police officer. It was very hot with no ventilation. Luckily, we got a fan later in the day. Then I went and triaged a few more patients, told parents not to let their kids drink lots of juice, coke, etc. and to brush their teeth. I gave away a couple of beanie babies, then I went to see another patient. This patient needed #11 and 12 root tips removed (canine and 1^st premolar). Nathan gave the injections and started on the extraction and finished them up. We had to flap the canine to get enough tissue released to be able to remove it with the 301 elevator. I placed two sutures and we sent her on her way. I triaged a few more patients and then we had our sandwiches, chips and pear juice for lunch. We ate outside and it was beautiful. I love this warm weather, especially compared to the weather we have had in B’ham recently. We went back from lunch early and saw a few more patients. My next patient was a 10 year old boy who told me he was “muy valiente” (very brave) and I told him if he behaved well and cooperated we would give him a toy. He assured me in a very mature way that he was ready to begin and he wanted me to take out his permanent first molars on the left side. It was sad to see them so “bombed out” and broken down but I knew he was in pain. Norm said that hopefully his second molars would come in to the space where the 1^st molars were. He tolerated the shots well and then I started elevating. I had to wait a little while to get an elevator, but once I did it moved a lot better. Josue was very interested in seeing the instruments and he would ask, “what’s that one, what’s this one” and I would tell him “es mi amigo” (this instrument is my friend). He didn’t cry or complain once. He was my first pedo patient. Then after him, I treated one more child, also named Josué. He had a bombed out mandibular second primary molar. I numbed him up quickly, and rolled the tooth out. His friends were watching and I sent them away because he was having a hard time and started crying. In the afternoon, I went with Jan to the Evangelism station and helped interpret for her for two groups. There were about 10 people in each group and we talked to them for about 20 minutes. We had a great time with them and they were listening very closely. We gave them several Bibles and explained to them the importance of reading their Bible like “comida para el alma” (food for the soul). We went to an heladeria (ice cream shop) and got some nice cookies ‘n cream ice cream (after I realized that what I thought was cookie dough was actually fig ice cream!). Then we went to a souvenir shop and had a 2 hour bus ride home. We had “comida typica” for dinner of rice and beans and some beef stew. After dinner we sang worship songs and hung out. After hanging out for awhile, we had a “tremor” not an actual earthquake according to the person in charge of the SCORE house, but it was real enough for us. It was a very strange sensation, the floor was moving and we didn’t really know what was happening. I ran for the door, but it stopped after about 5 seconds. We looked up on Wikipedia and apparently a 4.0 is when you can tell the ground is shaking and a 3.0 is barely noticeable. A 5.0 causes things to fall of the wall, so I think we had a 4.0ish earthquake. Then we made a campfire, many played spaids, and we went to bed.

Pictures from Saturday

We were able to pull a bunch of teeth today. I triaged many patients this morning, I spoke with two groups of ten people about Jesus for 30 minutes each in Spanish and 3 accepted Christ as their Savior in the first group and 2 accepted him in the second group! It was a very fruitful day and I had a wonderful time sharing the Gospel with them. We also gave them Bibles and encouraged them in their new faith in Christ. Tonight we are going to dinner at a typical Costa Rican restaurant and tomorrow we are coming home! I can't wait to see Tara!

Pictures from Day 4

For the post, see below. These pictures show us ziplining, taking the shortcut, and the treacherous adventuresome way back to the bus. The sand was all gone since the tide came in and all that was left were slippery rocks and waves that knocked us down. Enjoy!

Day 4 - Pura Vida

Today we woke up early, had breakfast and got on the bus to Puntarenas. We went to a beach called Punta Leona and we were looking forward to a fun day at the beach and zip-lining. The other option for our free day was to go white water rafting. The bus ride was about 2 hours and we saw beautiful mountain scenery and saw a river with salt-water crocodiles in it. After we arrived, we went straight to the beach, played Frisbee, took some pictures and went walking on the beach. We found some coconuts, broke them open and tried the milk inside. We then walked to the other beach nearby, Playa Blanca with white sand. We took a shortcut and started walking down the beach in the waves. As we were walking in the waves, somehow I walked straight into a hole and fell 3 feet deep into the water. My camera was soaked. We kept going down the beach and then returned because we had an appointment for zip-lining at 11am. We got into our harnesses, had our helmets and went on a 10-minute hike through the rainforest. We arrived at the first platform and flew down the 10 cables in about an hour. After the 6^th cable, they let us go upside-down. It was a great feeling. Every time we arrived and they unharnessed us at that platform they would say “Pura Vida!” a saying common in Costa Rica. Then they asked if the girls we were with were single. I just told them no. We then drove back to the main restaurant for a buffet lunch and we had some great pasta, pork, and fish tacos. I asked the people at the buffet for some uncooked rice and a small bag. I put my camera in the bag and we will see if it is ok tomorrow. After lunch, we took a shuttle up to the Playa Blanca. On the way we saw some iguanas and some strange animal that is like a large cat /raccoon thing with a long tail. Apparently later in the day one would eat a Luna bar out of someone’s backpack! Then Forrest, Catherine and I rented snorkel equipment and jumped in. We saw tons of brightly colored fish, some were quite large, maybe 3 feet long. We also saw an eel. After snorkeling, Strud and I went around the bay in a kayak and had a great time. As we walked back down the beach, we saw an awesome palm tree and took some pictures. Then we went back by the shortcut to get back to the bus to come back the SCORE Coronado facility where we are staying. As we got over the hill of the shortcut, we noticed that the beach that was previously there was gone! The tide had come up, and now it was just rocks and waves for about 50 yards. Forrest and Catherine and Andrew went ahead and braved the waves and rocks, and Strud and I helped the other people we were with to make it safely across. We had quite an adventure and we almost fell into the water with all of our stuff several times. We made it safely yelling “Pura Vida” the whole time because it was quite an adventure! Then we had a 2 hour bus ride home, had dinner and small group and I talked to Tara for a while and now it’s time for bed. Here are some of the pictures I was able to get before my camera fell in the water. The memory card works, but we will find out tomorrow if the camera works!

Day 3

Today we went to a church near San Jose and we were greeted with only 4 patients. Another group today had 75 patients waiting for them when they got there! Although a little disappointing at first, I soon realized this was in fact a blessing because we were able to take better care of our patients and really help them with their oral health and their spiritual health. Many of the kids we saw had pretty bad decay and I was able to talk with the mom about the amount of juice and coca-cola that they drink. I also encouraged all the patients to brush and floss. I was able to triage many patients in the morning and some patients in the afternoon too.

I was able to have some great in-depth conversations today that were awesome. One was with a guy from Spain, just outside of Madrid and he was agnostic. I was able to talk with him about Jesus and share my testimony with him. I asked him what would happen to him if he were to die this afternoon. We ended the conversation well and I told him I was just trying to plant seeds and I just wanted him to think about the things that we talked about (in Spanish). We probably talked for 45 minutes and we wouldn't have been able to if we had been really busy. Later, I was able to talk with a guy who was 18 from Pensacola, FL. His grandfather was the pastor at the church where we were. He shared his story with me and I was able to share mine and encourage him and talk with him. For lunch we went to Pizza Hut, and it was not like those in the states. It was more like Chili's in the US because they had all kinds of food- not just pizza.

After lunch I helped interpret and translate Spanish for Earl at the Evangelism station. We talked with 2 groups of 6 people and were able to encourage them in their walk with Christ. After that, we had a lull and an 18 year old guy came with his friend. When we tried to triage him, he said he didn't need anything, just his friend did. I had some time so I sat down with him. I just asked him how he was doing, how school was, etc. and I found out he was a Christian and was having a difficult time right now. I encouraged him that since Christ has defeated death, and with that sin, and since he has given us his Spirit, we have the same power over sin - and we don't have to give in to temptation any longer. We have been freed from that. He was very encouraged and I could tell he was very receptive and was glad I was talking with him. I prayed with him and then took a look in his mouth. He had two very broken down teeth and I explained to him the importance of having them taken out and he told us he was in fact in pain. We would have just skipped over him if we had seen lots of patients today. So I was glad we were able to help him out.

Additionally, we were able to help out a woman and her daughter with special needs. She needed two teeth removed (one root tip and one lower molar) that were severely decayed and couldn't be restored. We went after the root tip first but it turned out to be difficult to extract. I was able to flap the gingiva and we removed some bone in order to get to the root. I was able to put two stitches in after we got it out of there. She had had enough and so we weren't able to remove the lower molar after all. She was a great patient though, and even started falling asleep at one point.
Finally, we had some time for worship tonight and had our small groups. After small group some of us got together and sang songs on the guitar and I used a cooler as a makeshift drum. We had a great time of fellowship and had a good time getting to know one another. Tomorrow is our free day and we are going to the beach and the rain forest to zipline.

Our prayers are with our small group leader who is having surgery tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Day Two

Today my group went to El Lugar (the place) church in San Jose. We arrived and were greeted by the pastor and his wife and some friends that worked at the church. We hooked up my iPod and played worship songs all day- it helped us stay motivated and encouraged us as we worked. I started triaging patients and we saw many people who needed dental cleanings and many that needed extractions. I was able to remove #32 (lower right wisdom tooth) and it was pretty stubborn. We elevated and tried to luxate with forceps but couldn't get a good grip on it since it was partially erupted and impacted with fully formed roots. I grabbed the #301 elevator- Tommy Murph style- and tried to roll it out. Eventually after a lot of presure it rolled out to the distal. That was my most exciting extraction today. I was also able to remove a retained root of a maxillary premolar for a lady who was in a lot of pain. The patients were all very appreciative and glad we shared with the the love of Christ.

During our lunch break we went to a nice park nearby and hung out for a few minutes before our afternoon patients (picture below).

I was able to talk with Earl about sharing the Gospel and we had a great chat. We were able to encourage a few brothers in Christ and I was able to share the Gospel in Spanish to another guy. We were also able to pray for our patients that we saw and show them the love of Christ. All in all it was a great day.

There are pictures from the day below! Enjoy!



-Richard

Photos from Day 2

Blog post to follow.
Here are some pictures!



Richard

A few more pictures from today

Here are some pictures from today. One is from the largest Catholic church in Costa Rica. The others are of our group today, sharing the Gospel, and of course pulling teeth. The man in the black and white photo was deaf and could not read or write. We still were able to communicate with him using basic hand motions and we shared the Gospel and pulled three of his teeth. Luckily we had a picture representation of the Gospel that we could show him. God is good and transcends language barriers of Spanish and deafness. Enjoy!
















-Richard

Day 1 of Dental Missions

So we went to Cartago, a suburb of San Jose today and were able to work on 37 patients at our site. Two other groups from our trip went to schools nearby and were able to work with kids who needed extractions. We had a great time working with our patients and we were able to share the Gospel with all of them and 16 people accepted Christ as their savior! I was able to pull many teeth on different patients and we had a great time interacting with the patients in Spanish. I did triage the first part of the day, we had ham sandwiches and some great cookies for lunch, then continued full steam ahead until about 4pm. I was extracting on the last patient and we couldn't get this root out, the visibility was poor without suction, and everyone was waiting. The dentist that came with us was about to glove up and come tackle it, I pushed the elevator in harder and it sunk in, the tooth popped out and we could go home. It was a good end to a long day. We came back- it took about an hour, and we had dinner, threw some frisbee, showers, worship music with a guitar and an improvised djembe (water cooler) for a drum and sang a few songs. Then we split into small groups and discussed the Gospel of Mark. We finally got the internet to work, and now we're getting ready to go to bed. Hope all is well for you today! Please pray for us as we go to our 3 different sites tomorrow that we would be bold as we share the Gospel and that we are able to help many patients in need. Earl, one of the missionaries with ua explained tonight that if you had the cure to cancer, that good news would spread like crazy, not based on who we are but based on what that means. We have something far greater than a cure for cancer, the Gospel is the cure for so many of life's problems and we are blessed to be a part of God's plan to reconcille all people, all nations to Himself. Thanks again for reading and praying for us!












-Richard

We made it to Costa Rica safely and settled into our lodging last night. We are sleeping in bunk beds at SCORE's Coronado house. We had a lesson on teeth extraction last night and had our orientation too. This morning we will drive out to 3 different clinics to start our work. Please pray for us as we begin our work.

Practicing Spanish

It's important to be able to speak to the people in their native language, so the next few days I will be practicing my dental, Gospel and "getting around" Spanish so I can interpret while on the trip. I have a few dental Spanish books, a Spanish Bible and Google Translate (which works surprisingly well!). Please pray that God will give me the words to speak as I share the Gospel in Spanish and as we are taking care of patients with dental pain. Tara and I will be packing up and getting any last minute supplies today. We're getting excited for the trip! Here's a taste of Romans 8:28 in Spanish.


-Richard

Dental surveying

It's a lot of fun!






-Richard

Packing party

Packing up for Costa Rica mission trip!  

Praise God for our small group

They are awesome. We had a wonderful time again tonight, and we love all of them.

Mission Trips and Boards

Ah, it is so nice to be finished with boards. I feel like I have my life back! I studied from August until the end of December, (yes, even Christmas Eve and Christmas), but it was worth it in the end. Tara had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas, so it worked out for us both. Now I can help around the house with chores again! School is going well this semester, and our course load is much better than last semester. It is nice to not have to worry about the basic science courses anymore, and to be able to focus on dentistry. We are learning about removable prosthodontics including removable partial dentures and complete dentures. We are also taking Periodontology II and Oral Pathology.

My Bible Study that I started at lunchtime has been going well, and we are learning a lot. Just today, a friend from a campus ministry offered to sponsor our Bible Study by providing us with food for the whole semester! Needless to say, I was very excited, and I hope we will have even more people come now to the Lunchtime Small Group. Our small group with Brook Hills has been amazing to be a part of as well. Tara and I are leading / facilitating the group, and we love getting to know all of the couples in our group. Our leaders Jim and Betty are wonderful role models, and truly display the love of Christ to our group through their relationship and their actions.

I also, just decided to go on the Spring Break mission trip to Costa Rica with CMMA to extract teeth and share the Gospel with the villagers we will meet. We are going with an organization that will maximize our impact by ensuring that we make a lasting difference in the community after we are gone. I am excited to see how God will work through our team in Costa Rica. If you want to help with the trip, you can donate through Paypal with "Richard Baxter" in the line. I don't think many people will read this, but it's worth a shot!

Also, Tara and I will go with our small group to Peru in June to spread the Gospel among believers and un-believers in Chosica, a small town outside of Lima. We will be interpreting for the group and helping teach in churches. We are very much looking forward to this opportunity as well.

Last Friday, I was able to rotate through the M-Power clinic in Birmingham, and I really enjoyed helping the people in need of dental care. I was able to help three patients. The first one had dry socket from an extraction from last week. She had been up all night for the past few nights with throbbing pain. I was able to anesthetize her, apply some Alvogyl (iodine, eugenol etc.) and suture her up so that it stayed put. She was very relieved and I was glad to help. The second patient needed an extraction on #14 (maxillary 1st molar) and I assisted one of my classmates. As we were trying to get it out, the crown broke off. This same thing happened to me earlier that morning and I had to ask the OMFS resident for assistance. This afternoon, I decided to give my classmate a hand, and we were able to remove all three roots without any help! She also had dry socket in another area (#6 max. canine) and again I applied some alvogyl and sutured her up. Lastly, the patient I saw had only her lower canine - canine left and all were badly decayed and in pain. She said she wanted to have them pulled and get a complete denture. So I pulled the teeth and she was out of the pain that she was in for almost a week. It's amazing the amount of pain a dental infection can cause. It's also amazing how by God's grace I am able to remove a patient's tooth and instantly they are happy because the cause of the pain is gone and they will be able to sleep again. It's wonderful to be able to serve those less fortunate in this way.