Things I really was glad to experience again:
1. A bath. We have only had showers here in Honduras.
2. Water you can drink from the faucet.
3. Being able to go barefoot in the house without the fear of stepping on a bug or worse yet a scorpion.
4. Driving where there is some semblance of order!
During our time there we traveled over 1200 miles, seeing ALL the grandkids, daughters and son-in-laws, my mom, David’s dad, and other family members. One of the highlights was our visit with Uncle Jerry and Aunt Bertie. Bertie has had a 6 year battle with cancer and at this point had been sent home to die. Yet, her spirit was high and rejoicing. On Sunday evening we joined a group that came to sing songs for Bertie. What an incredible time we had worshiping at the gates of heaven. On Monday we spent some more time with them. (Only one week later, Aunt Bertie has gone to be with the Lord. Please continue to pray for Uncle Jerry and the rest of the family. We sorrow for our loss, not for her because she is with her Savior Jesus Christ.) Also, on another sad note, I had my dog Joe put to sleep. This was a traumatic decision for me; one that I had never had to make before. However, once I saw Joe and knew how very much pain he must have been in, this seemed to be the thing to do to ease his suffering.
Uncle Jerry and Aunt Bertie on Sunday night. Aunt Bertie passed away Tuesday February 17th. They both have a special place in our hearts; we are very close. At one point in time, they lived in our front yard while Jerry was head of the construction crew building a church that we were pastoring. They taught us how to dream big! 
A picture of my dog Joe taken last Christmas at our Home on the Mesa. Joe was born August 7, 1994. Originally I had gotten Joe for my grandfather. I thought he needed compaionship. They became great friends. When my grandfather passed away Joe became mine.
February 12-February 22, 2009—we returned to Honduras and hit the ground running. We arrived only 2 days before we began to have a group from the states. Thankfully, we now have Nellie working for us 5 days a week. Sometimes in Lake City I have had help with house cleaning, but as many of you know this is $20 an hour. Here Nellie does cleaning, laundry and cooks lunch for about $7-$8 a day. What a blessing. She helped us get the rooms ready. On Saturday Chase and Rory Carmichael of Ocala, Florida arrived. Chase came to work on his needed community service requirement for high school graduation. (Some of you should get some ideas from this!) Sunday morning Steve Ewing from Compassion Alliance arrived. He is helping Chase. On Sunday, Dr. Martin came over with Mirna our new doctor and Sarah the new clinic administrator. They will be living in the clinic with us through the week and return to their families each weekend. Sarah is married and Mirna tells us that she has been concentrating so hard on obtaining her education that she has not had time to consider dating. She now is looking. The criteria are that he has to be a Christian and a surgeon! Wonder where she will find him? On Monday friends from Lake City, First Baptist church arrived: Nancy and Keith Chambers, daughters Cara and Kayla, and friend Caitlyn. Also, Becki and Ian Carmichael came for a couple of days.
On Monday we got off to a quick start by going to the River. The River is just this side of San Pedro Sula. It is a place where the poorest of the poor dwell in tin and cardboard constructed shelters. The river provides a place to wash clothes, bathe and some sewage. I hope they don’t use the water for drinking. Ever since I first went there, I have wanted to go and provide medical care. Today, that dream became a reality. While Chase, his dad, and Sule entertained the children, gave out beans and rice and candy, Dr. Mirna, Sarah, and I saw and treated 60 patients. This was done over the space of 3 hours. I hadn’t thought about it, but a friend called to my attention that this is one patient every 3 minutes. That is amazing! We saw a lot of infections, gastritis, and parasites. Gastritis and parasites are a big problem in Honduras due to the lack of clean food and water sources.
Dr. Mirna at the River talking with a young mom about her baby.
A family at the River: This is Jose' Anthony, wife and 3 children. Just 2 weeks ago his oldest son died. His son was hungry and ate some food he found in the garbage. Two hours afterwards he was dead. Unfortunately this sad story is repeated often.
On Tuesday Nancy and the girls worked in the school. The English teacher was out for the day and Nancy had the opportunity to teach class. The girls found that though the kids here speak another language, friendship is universal. By the time they left, they had more pen pals than they could ever correspond with!
A point of information: we have had a run on scorpions—4 in two days!
One of the projects that Keith worked on was the water system. A year ago, Frank Olson installed a closed water tank and purification system. Before that time, the holding tank was an open cistern with unbelievably gross stuff in it, a dead pigeon and green algae to mention some. Keith spent much of the week testing the water and adding chlorine and showing David how to keep it up and test it. Another task that Keith addressed was the putting up of towel bars in all of the upstairs bathrooms, 12 to be exact.
A point of information: we have had a run on scorpions—4 in two days!
One of the projects that Keith worked on was the water system. A year ago, Frank Olson installed a closed water tank and purification system. Before that time, the holding tank was an open cistern with unbelievably gross stuff in it, a dead pigeon and green algae to mention some. Keith spent much of the week testing the water and adding chlorine and showing David how to keep it up and test it. Another task that Keith addressed was the putting up of towel bars in all of the upstairs bathrooms, 12 to be exact.
This picture shows before and after. The yellow is the bacteria in the water. Now we might possibly drink the water, but probably not. However, we can feel better about washing fruits and vegetables and dishes and rinsing a toothbrush.One of the projects that the Chambers had hoped to complete was to provide for the construction of the first playground equipment for the children. Last year when Ben Hake was here, he put a tire swing up in a tree. However, due to the strength or lack thereof in the tree, it did not last long. Nancy and Keith knew this and wanted the children to have good, sturdy swings. This was a big project, because first of all the land was low and dirt had to be hauled in. A retaining wall for the dirt had to be built. The pipe had to be welded and secured in cement. Chains and swing seats had to be institutional quality. Astonishingly this was accomplished by Friday afternoon!
Children waiting in line to swing. It was funny that all week the kids were watching the work and trying to figure out what was being built. Another interesting thing is that many of the smaller children had never sat in a swing before. Little things that we take for granted!
Jenny, a preschool teacher tries out one of the three new swings. Note the corn growing in the background. This will be used to help feed the children. This is making use of extra land that is part of the school property.On Thursday we traveled to Congo. Read more and see pictures in the blog.
Unfortunately, Kayla got sick and today we stayed at the clinic. This however, was not a bad thing after such an exhausting week. Also, it provided us with some down time to visit. But there was no down time from work. We have had a plumbing leak in what we thought was in an upstairs wall and dripped down to the waiting room. This was here when we arrived last November. We had had several plumbers look at it, but never got a definite price, because no one was sure of where it was leaking; today though it became apparent. We had a flood in the great room! There was so much water that it covered the room and was going down the stairs! This time we got a plumber who said it was coming from under the tile! So, he brought 2 workers who hammered out tile until they found the leak! The culprit—an uncapped line! I don’t know if I have mentioned that construction here is somewhat shoddy. What I mean by that is for example: a beautiful tile bath will be built and then a hole will be punched in the wall to put in the plumbing or all the walls completed and then run conduit on the outside of the wall for electricity! Not exactly what I am used to! By Saturday at lunch all of the work was completed, to the point of capping the line, pouring new cement in the floor, laying tile, and replacing the damage ceiling tile in the waiting room. All of this cost around $15o! To fix a major plumbing leak for that cost—a miracle!
While David was finishing up with the plumbers, I introduced my friends to the joys of El Centro. Today it was pretty overwhelming with the hordes of shoppers. But they had fun finding just the right souvenirs.
On Sunday we went to church. Though our pastor was gone, the service was marvelous. The pastor’s wife preached on the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. She was continuing the subject her husband had spoke on last Sunday.
We had planned on tilapia for lunch, but when we got home there was no electricity. It was a good time for sandwiches. It seems like the electricity has been off a lot this week. Funny, last week when we were in Dallas the electricity went off during a storm and I thought I was in Honduras! Well, the electricity was off until almost 6. Thankfully it came on so that we could cook and take showers. When there is no electricity; there is no water!
Unfortunately, Kayla got sick and today we stayed at the clinic. This however, was not a bad thing after such an exhausting week. Also, it provided us with some down time to visit. But there was no down time from work. We have had a plumbing leak in what we thought was in an upstairs wall and dripped down to the waiting room. This was here when we arrived last November. We had had several plumbers look at it, but never got a definite price, because no one was sure of where it was leaking; today though it became apparent. We had a flood in the great room! There was so much water that it covered the room and was going down the stairs! This time we got a plumber who said it was coming from under the tile! So, he brought 2 workers who hammered out tile until they found the leak! The culprit—an uncapped line! I don’t know if I have mentioned that construction here is somewhat shoddy. What I mean by that is for example: a beautiful tile bath will be built and then a hole will be punched in the wall to put in the plumbing or all the walls completed and then run conduit on the outside of the wall for electricity! Not exactly what I am used to! By Saturday at lunch all of the work was completed, to the point of capping the line, pouring new cement in the floor, laying tile, and replacing the damage ceiling tile in the waiting room. All of this cost around $15o! To fix a major plumbing leak for that cost—a miracle!
While David was finishing up with the plumbers, I introduced my friends to the joys of El Centro. Today it was pretty overwhelming with the hordes of shoppers. But they had fun finding just the right souvenirs.
On Sunday we went to church. Though our pastor was gone, the service was marvelous. The pastor’s wife preached on the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. She was continuing the subject her husband had spoke on last Sunday.
We had planned on tilapia for lunch, but when we got home there was no electricity. It was a good time for sandwiches. It seems like the electricity has been off a lot this week. Funny, last week when we were in Dallas the electricity went off during a storm and I thought I was in Honduras! Well, the electricity was off until almost 6. Thankfully it came on so that we could cook and take showers. When there is no electricity; there is no water!
Keith and Nancy, Cara and Kayla, Catitlyn Barbee and Sule at the plaza near El Centro.
this looks great, Candy!!
ReplyDeletegood job!