Earlier this year, a door opened for us to offer a health and nutrition workshop at our local church. It all started as Erin was sharing with our pastor’s wife about some of the things she was studying and learning about health, nutrition, and the impact small changes in our diet and lifestyle can have. As word began to spread, the idea was born to offer something more formal.
Since then, we have offered two more “Stewardship of the Body” workshops. The overall emphasis is on staying grounded in what God’s Word has to say about health, physical and mental well-being, and our everyday choices. We cover information on nutritious food choices, good hydration, and regular movement, but also include the timing of when we eat, sleep schedules and getting adequate sunlight each day.
The stories we hear from participants have been so encouraging. After just a few months of making gradual but consistent adjustments to their nutrition and lifestyle habits, individuals have shared how they have been able to get off of blood pressure medication, they sleep better, their headaches are gone, waistlines are shrinking, and they are seeing lower blood pressure and glucose readings. Another participant, Anne, went from being in a wheelchair to just using a cane, after consistently applying the information she learn to help with her arthritis. Also, her husband and grandaughter have lost weight, and all three have their blood pressure and glucose levels under control. Praise the Lord!
We want to highlight another door that has opened as a result of the workshops. A friend who is a 4th grade teacher at a local public school participated in one of our workshops, and shared with us how teachers here are required to teach health education in their classroom; however, they are not given any type of curriculum. When she learned that we could help her with lessons on health education and nutrition, she and her co-teacher eagerly invited us into the classrooms. We taught using games and hands-on activities, based on the model of Mexican Medical’s health fairs for children.
The teachers were very pleased with the program and invited us to come back again this school year. Praise the Lord!
