Yesterday I had the nicest dental appointment of my life. I arrive on time, they sat me immediately, and the Dentist said "you have good teeth." Only in a missionary country would you hear that I .. have good teeth.
My teeth are sub par for Los Gatos, CA standards. (-;
He had a few spare minutes so he gave me a cleaning too.
And while doing so, he told me his story. (One of his sons is my son's friend... great kid)
He had his own practice back in North Carolina, was perfectly happy with his job and his family and then God put a call to become a missionary on his heart. It was hard for him to find full time dental work because so many dentists did part time missions work that many places didn't need him. He had almost given up.
I'm watching the joy come from this man's face as he's been here only a few months like us, and he's enjoying this job, even though he no longer has his 10 assistants who prep patience for him, no longer has the latest greatest tools, he is obviously very happy here.
The dentist here was not an orthodontist but he took weekend courses during his furloughs, and did much more than his training provided but was wise enough not to get in over his head. He retired at 72 this last year and after 2 years of looking for a replacement said "okay God, I can't find anyone, I need you to."
About the same time both these guys gave up, the new dentist, said "God, I know no place is going to use my extra 3 years of orthodontics so I give that up to you, I don't know why I learned it, but I'll do whatever you want." And soon he got the email for this other dentist.
They began to talk on the phone since the retired dentist was now 2 months in the States, and at the end of the conversation he said "by the way, you don't happen to know any orthodontics do you?"
That was a huge confirmation for God and soon he was out here doing full time dentistry.
I really enjoyed the conversation (well, I really could only listen). Here was a man whom I had met, our sons had played together, and I only barely knew, but who had a very similar call on his heart to come out here.
I really enjoy hearing what God does in the lives of people. So many of the stories are similar and yet unique. Each one is fun to hear, and fun to share.
I'm still stunned that we have a dentist out here.
