By: Whitney Saulton

April has surely started out with a bang.  Here at the hospital, we have already done an emergency delivery for a baby, watched in awe as a 6 year old girl named Yennifer arrived weighing only 9 pounds and gained 5 pounds in a week, and this week we admitted our third set of girl twins who are suffering from malnutrition.  This past week, it was during my “down time” that I felt I had the most impact here at Saint Luke’s.

I pulled out my small bag filled with nail polish, and the hospital mamas all come running toward me for a manicure. I wish I was able to describe to you how much they love this small act of being pampered. These are mamas that have lived tough lives– having dropped out of school, raising several children by the age of 18, and carrying gallons of water on their heads for miles when they are home in their village. The moments that I am painting their small, dirty, hardworking hands are some of my most cherished moments in Guatemala. It gives me a moment to speak to just them and get to know them personally, rather than my usual sweep through to ask medical questions about their babies. Having their nails painted is more than just some frivolous act of vanity. Rather, it is an opportunity to speak into them of how important they are and that they are loved.

This day was particularly exciting because I had finally replaced some of my old nail polishes with new ones I had received from the students in Ms. Kleinert’s class at Freedom Middle School in Spotsy, VA. As we meticulously lined them all up on the table, the mamas and little girls were enamored by the new packaging and fun, glittery colors.  One of the more clumsy mamas excitedly reached across to grab the popular color, and we all watched as the color slipped through her fingers and shattered onto the floor.

Everyone gasped, and she immediately bent down to try to scoop up the glass shards covered in paint and somehow salvage what was left. While I knelt down beside her to convince her it was okay, she looked at me with tear soaked guilty eyes. She was frozen in fear from a history of abuse. “It’s only nail polish, it’s okay!” I attempted to reassure her, as I reached out my hand to help her back up. But the expression on her face was as though she had committed the world’s worst crime. My heart shattered that day just like the nail polish.

John 12:1-11 is a beautiful story of a woman named Mary who intentionally broke open an expensive perfume to wash Jesus’ feet. Using her hands and her hair, she anointed his feet out of an act of love and service. This perfume was a rare gift and incredibly expensive. The small bottle that she used cost a year’s wages!
Those who were present during this moment judged her and called her wasteful for pouring out all of her precious gift. “The expensive perfume was wasted!” “You could have sold the bottle and given the money to the poor!” Despite what critics would say, Mary’s gift wasn’t wasteful. It was worship.

How many times have I allowed a critic’s opinion to interfere with my worship? While there are fleeting moments of me being a heroic nurse and saving lives, the majority of my time spent here are the small moments of holding hands, wiping up broken nail polish, and wiping up tears. It’s allowing myself to be broken and poured out in an area of the world that is desperate to hear about the hope of a God who would send His only son to be crucified for the weight of our sins. I challenge each of you to live your lives “poured out” in service to others. As contraindicative as it sounds, it is during these moments that I feel most full.  If you are planning a trip to Hope of Life, I invite you to come to Saint Luke’s and meet some of these precious mamas and their babies that we are caring for.  Bring them your love (and some nail polish too!)