Patch Adams!

Last week when we were in Iquitos, setting up the FRC Lima Tribal Campus there, we ran into Patch Adams. Twice! And I mean the REAL Patch Adams, not Robin Williams, who played Patch in the movie.

Patch was in the jungle to bring a little bit of joy to impoverished children living in the shantytown of Belen, the poorest section of the jungle city of Iquitos. We have been there several times with FRC groups, ministering in a local church, playing soccer and volleyball, and performing theater for the children who live there. Patch and his group of doctor-clowns were there to paint houses and make merry with the children.

We ate lunch together on our final day in Iquitos. Patch and his group do a lot of work in Iquitos and Lima. I told him of our involvement with the girls' orphanage in La Victoria and also in the shantytown of Pachacutec. He is not a believer (at least not yet), but he seemed to appreciate the fact that we don't limit our service to other Christians, but that we open our hearts to whoever crosses our path. It was a great conversation. Very interesting and stimulating. Pray for Patch Adams. God has given him a heart filled with compassion. I do not believe that our time together was a mere coincidence, but that it was God-ordained.