The Aldens

Failed Blog for Christmas

2011-12-23T03:18:00.001-08:00

This is a test only, as a lengthy blog was just lost, refused to save to publish. Testing 1,2,3,4.

Possum Pinata/Pains

2011-11-12T18:27:00.000-08:00

On the light side, I was awakened one night this week by our parrot making squawkings from his hanging cage on the patio outside the open bedroom window. Unusual, as he's silent after dark. Fearing that someone was trying to steal him (although why anyone wants a non-talking parrot, I don't know!), I quickly went out the backdoor, grabbing the broom as I went, and switched on the light. Not thinking how I was going to thwart the thief's plan with only a broom, nor how he would respond to a viejita rapida (fast little old lady) in PJ's , I charged out without my glasses. I saw a big possum, harrassing John's little Cheekie. I lifted my broom over my head, carefully using both hands to take better aim, and let him have it. I succeeded in putting the hanging cage into motion, swirling around, with the now totally catatonic possum frozen onto the side of the cage. I made several more swings, not sure I hit him even once as the cage continued to elude me in its spiraling. On one of my attempts, I struck my pinkie knuckle against the cage and have a growing bruise as a battle scar. About then, John had awakened because I have trouble battling in silence, and must shout like a he-man with every strike. He was able to rescue his parrot, and the, by now, braindamaged possum limped off after dropping from the cage into the small ravine below.

On the heavy side, seems it was that same day we received news from Eryn and Benton's mom, Kate, that their birth father, Delaney, had taken his life. Though he has not been in their lives for about 2 1/2 years, and then only for a short time, it was a sad couple days for them as they visited back and forth online with family and processed death of a family member for the first time. Eryn was encouraged greatly by a friend here, Sarah, who interrupted her own busy school schedule to help Eryn prepare a brief music/foto memory to be shared at the memorial service. The kids did not go back to the US, but have gotten a lot of support from the missionary community here.

Victoria was born with a cleftlip and palate. We met she and her mom at church and John quickly got them in to see him, and he began trying to locate help for Victoria. We were blessed to have Eryn being the Pusher to make it happen, and within a month, we put Victoria and her mom on the bus to go to San Pedro Sula to meet with a specialty brigade there for her first surgery.

On the way to the hospital

Eryn and Benton being artistic with their pumpkin-like squash.

Here is Victoria just a day after her repair, not yet quite healed. She will return for the surgery on her palate in April. Thanks for your support that allows us to help babies like this! Eryn delights in being involved with such things.

Aspiring Stars and smart chickens

2011-11-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

Last blog was over some of our noteworthy friends and how we see them excelling.Ttoday would like to introduce some faces that I hope will keep being topics of our blog as they exceed our expectations, which are high, in the coming years!
This smiling face is Yuri, whom I trained as a nurses' aide several years ago, but who was hired immediately to be a pharmacy tech and to help on the computer in Information. She is a highschool graduate that never lacks a gracious smile, and carries herself professionally. She has dreams of becoming an LPN.

Meet Rosalinda. She is in charge of our Information area where patients are first met and entered into the computer. She takes their vital signs, and assigns them to a doctor for their consult. She has been a big part of her family support, and is known as a leader spiritually in nearby Lucinda. She is finishing highschool at a weekend school, and has aspirations of paying off school loans this year and heading for nursing school next. She will be getting some math tutoring to prepare her in the meantime.

Argentina was recommended to me several years ago when I began the first nurses' aide class. She had been singled out for a scholarship to her 6 years of "colegio" or Jr Hi-highschool, by the McKinney's. She faithfully hiked down the mountain trail from El Toro each day an hour, leading other little ones behind her. She graduated high in her class. Our first day of learning to do a bedbath, I send Argentina to warm up a pitcher of water in the micro- and she never came back. Another classmate went in search of her and found her in tears in front of the newfangled electronic device- there is no electricity where she lives. She has excelled as a nurse's aide and been chosen for special training in computer entry to assist our nurses on weekends to enter the costs of patients. It has been a joy to see this scared rabbit grow into a confident and competent helper, with the goal of being a nurse. She has been saving diligently.
All this to say, we are excited to be able to help some such as these to realize their goals, and to prepare a source of LPN's for the hospital needs using local stars. If you are interested in donating to their scholarship funds, or want more details about how we will keep them accountability and not just be handing out $, please contact us at pennyalden@gmail.com . We also have in mind 2 younger students, who will be graduating from 6th grade this month, a MAJOR WOW out here in the campo. We'd like to be able to encourage them to continue in school also.

On a lighter note, Eryn took this picture enroute home one afternoon in the midst of a downpour! Love it!

Some of our Shining Stars

2011-10-04T14:51:00.000-07:00

Anael (left) after a baptism in Rio Esteban

Several years ago, John noted a young man that attended our church and remarked that he had potential- but had never had the chance to finish highschool. We brought him to the attention of some visitors, and they have helped us scholarship Anael to finish highschool- he graduates next month! He has worked off his scholarship at various times by helping at the hospital, helping at the farm, doing the church maintenance- all the time being a school leader and sharing teaching responsibilities at the church. He has a gift with young people, and can be found with little kids climbing him at all times. He plans to work a year in the city and then apply to LPN school.

Xiomara (right) doing patient teaching

Right after we arrived here 7 years ago, we hired a young lady from the community to work afternoons for us while she was attending morning highschool, to give her the funds to finish her education. Xiomara has worked for John as his office assistant since she graduated, and we've had the joy of seeing her born again and married. Last February she began LPN school on the weekends in the city, with plans to be our Labor and Delivery Nurse once she's done. Other visitors who bonded to her have helped with a scholarship to make this possible. She is continuing working most weeks with John while she is in school.

3 years ago, Joni was a shaggy, scrawny rabbit, his head always cocked quizzically to one side. He held his reading material up to his nose to read, definitely not one to capture your attention. His grandparents were raising him, and the extended family lived in a grouping of mud huts. Joni learned to play guitar, was mentored and loved by our former Guatamalan pastor's family, and entered our lives. He has worked for us in his spare time since then, being mentored by our gardener, and has bonded to our family. His work has given him an account from which to buy a pair of glasses, get haircuts and clothing, a friend donated a guitar for him, and we've seen him grow to be our church music leader. Last year, John became concerned that the public school was always on strike and made arrangements to scholarship Joni to a new bilingual school near him that we had some ties with. It meant he and his family had to agree for him to go back a year, to catch up on the English. They all agreed, and now, a year later, Joni converses with us in English, has begun to excel in his academics, and has led his school to victory in a biblical/musical/memory Olympics. He will graduate from 6th grade next month, and then work his vacation to earn money towards next year's school expenses. He spends time each weekend with us, especially now that our grandson Benton is one of his best friends! What a joy to see Joni blossom with lots of love and input!
As we look at sustainability here, John and I are feeling its best to invest in the education of promising young leaders that live in the campo and that are likely to stay here. Next blog will focus on a few more up-and-coming young people that we have had our eyes on for a few years!

FOLLOWUP ON PAST BLOGS! The twins, Adam and Eve, were in clinic this week and are slowly gaining weight. They sit unassisted, are beginning to crawl. They turned 1 on July 28!

Miguel Angel, excited about his first soccer ball, with Benton and mom

Miguel Angel, the newborn who almost died a year ago, celebrated his first birthday in the mountains 2 weeks ago. Our team from Oregon was able to go up the mountain with us to bring a pinata and a picnic and soccer ball up to celebrate this miracle. God is good!

Alden Family Update......

2011-08-25T15:27:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd jot some thoughts before more than 2 months had passed, and I'm close now! We spent 5 weeks of that time in the USA, partly in the NW doing needed upkeep on the home we own there and enjoying our neighbors and family there. The weather was perfect, the clematis in full bloom in honor of our homecoming, and all the work went smoothly. A highlight of that time was a weekend bicycle trip from Spokane to Couer d 'alene with Penny's sister and husband- such memories! Guess part of "making every day a masterpiece" is relishing the small things.

Deb and Penny in Leavenworth-touristing!

We also had the privilege of hosting John's sister and her husband from Portland, OR for the first time and enjoying some leisure time on the awesome back patio that John and a fellow missionary constructed awhile back. Our neighbors from Honduras, the Greene's, also found time to give us a 2 night visit in the midst of all they are going thru as a family so all in all, our NW time was a blessing.

Ellie: "I'll take these socks, thank you!"

The remaining 2 weeks John spent in Tulsa catching up with church, kids, doctors, and getting supplies for the hospital. Penny had been gifted a ticket to go see our daughter Sarah in PN, so spent just 4 days there enjoying her and Jaie and baby Ellie. Ended all too quickly...

We returned home to Honduras with Eryn and Benton on august 5, a smooth transition compared to our departure in which John's backpack had been stolen in the airport and we were delayed 3 days in Dallas (which time was spent with old Wycliffe friends, so turned out to be a real blessing). Smooth entry...but 4 days later, our pickup that was parked in the carport slipped out of gear and rolled across the neighbors lawn, back onto the road, and headed across the main steep road to partially disappear over the bank. Pretty horrifying to hear it slip and run out to helplessly watch it! No one was hurt, thankfully, and about 9 men responded STAT to have it look like nothing had happened less than an 1- 1/2 hr later. That was 2 1/2

weeks ago and we hear our insurance here is covering it well...supposedly repairs have begun in La Ceiba, and we're just borrowing vehicles to do the necessary til its done. Several are out of the country right now and have generously allowed us to use their vehicles. We pray its fixed by the time our next team arrives mid September!

August 10, Hannah Lundsford from VA arrived to be a homeschool helper for this school year for Eryn and Benton. We began school just over a week ago, so working out the kinks before Eryn begins an online class the second week of September. Hannah will help me 3 days a week, allowing me to work in the hospital without feeling as tho I am wearing 2 hats at the same time and doing neither well. Pray for Hannah, please! She is one of 8 kids, so probably knows all their tricks, as well as a homeschooler herself. She added piano to her teaching responsibilities this week so the kids will have this additional blessing .

Well, this has been mostly a personal family update! Will update you on other areas next time!

How hard can it be to leave the country?

2011-06-29T16:54:00.000-07:00

We had an uneventful departure from the hospital Monday, albeit 4 hours later than planned, as John had forgotten to clear his schedule of patients! Kids finished their Iowa tests and rejoiced in "ending" the school year officially, tho they will continue doing their math all summer. We made it to our hotel not too far from the San Pedro Airport with time to go to the mall for everyone to enjoy their favorite at the foodcourt before bedding down in midst of a fierce rain storm that was rather lulling. After an early AM swim and breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, we left our pickup in the keeping of Hector for our 5 weeks out of Honduras, and headed for the airport with plenty of time to spare. Enjoyed visiting the large team that had been with us at the hospital, as they were headed out on the same flight as we were. We enjoyed our last hour in the food court of the airport, playing chess and Bananagrams with the kids and visiting. We got up to go to our gate...and discovered that we were short John's backpack, in which he carries everything but the kitchen sink, like a good Scout master. In the ensuing delay of contacting airport security and reviewing the security camera video, we missed our flight. Marvin and Sharon Lopez had brought the large team in, and willing waited during our delay and even helped a lot with the police visiting. They graciously drove us to another motel to spend the night, as Continental was unable to get us out til the following day. In the stress of the theft and making contingency plans, we forgot til much later to check and verify that our flight from Dallas to Spokane had also been revised to reflect the lost day....and found it had been overlooked. Hours on the internet and phone from the hotel yielded no available flights, and then a big storm coming in took out the internet for the rest of our time. So John left for the airport on the first shuttle to try to plead for help. Because the flight had been made by Continental but using United, they could not help us, so John was finally able to get a flight out on Saturday night...stranded in Dallas for 3 days and nights! The July 4th holiday had all flights booked full and very costly.
Many calls back and forth with our FWF (Foul Weather Friend) in Tulsa, much prayer by the LDL community and Tulsa Bible Church...and the Lord brought to mind fellow missionaries, the Kenworthy's, Wycliffe, who live in Dallas. With the need to close all our accounts and reopen new ones, finances are in a bit of an upheaval as we seek to prevent any of the financial information stolen being used wrongly. Having a place to rest our heads for the 3 days we must be laid over in Dallas is a great blessing.
So how have the Wild Things tolerated this unforeseen delay, as they have been counting down days and then hours til they again were in their mom's arms? Amazingly well. We are so proud of them! They both congratulated John at supper last night and gave him an A+ on how well he'd handled the crisis. They have used the extra time to swim to their hearts content, to play games, were blessed to be bumped up to a first class seat for the flight to Houston,and are now both watching individual movies in the luxury of the USO here in the Houston Airport during a 5 hr layover. Its been an inconvenience for their mom, to be on hold in Dallas an extra night, but only a few more hours for them and they'll all be together.
John was robbed of his mini laptop, his cell phone, and all our financial paperwork. Please pray that the thief will only take out the sellable items and trash all the paperwork! One day we'll see why the LONG delay in getting to the NW has served some unseen purpose. Thanks for your prayers and concern.

Cheekie and Chispa, Adam and Eve

2011-06-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

Our gardener and friend, Chilo, caught a baby squirrel (ardia) awhile ago and the kids quickly bonded to it, naming it Chispa, or Spark. A little friend later advised them that "she" was a "he" and they needed to rename it. It remains Chispa, and delights all of us with its bonding and chirping sounds, and its constant aerobic exercises in its large hanging cage outside our bedroom window. Later, John stopped on the highway and bought a little parrot, more parakeet, that has not yet bonded to any of us. Her name is Cheekie.

On a human note, last Tuesday when John was in Satal, where he holds a Women's Clinic in the mountains every 3 weeks, he saw what looked like newborn twins. He discovered that, tho they weighed 8 lbs., they were almost 11 months old. He met with the family and the LPN of the clinic and decided to bring them down the mountain for evaluation and admission. Adam and Eve, whom Eryn has named Itty and Bitty, have not yet begun a growth spurt, but their intestines have been treated, they have had ultrasound to evaluate the level of malnutrition(severe), and have been started on a feeding regime. Eryn has become passionate about their care, researching WHO literature on malnutrition, and participating hours daily in their loving care and physical therapy, which she is learning from a visiting PT/OT. As usual, we are blessed to have a specialist here for "such a time as this". This is a pic of Dr. Greene ultrasounding one of the twins and Adam using the probe as a Popsicle.

We do not know how long the twins will be hospitalized, but we need to begin seeing some weight gain before we release them to stay close by for followup. Their hospital bill will be impossible for them to pay. For those of you with a passion for babies, please consider making a donation for that bill, designating it "Woman's Health Fund". We want nothing to cause the mom to take the kids home prematurely. Send donations to Cornerstone International, PO Box 192, Wilmore, KY 40390, specifying Aldens, To the Least of His Brethren, Women's Health Fund. On a seperate note, specify Twins. We'll keep you posted on their progress!

Miracle Miguel, Hand touching Hand

2011-05-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

Miguel Angel

Tuesday we went up the mountain on John's monthly clinic visit to Satal. This time, many others went along to participate in the first of what we hope to be many outreaches into the school there, to do physicals, eye exams, developmental assessments and hematocrits on first graders. Each month we will do a different grade. Was well received, and a good pilot project, which we will tweak and revise to improve it. A highlight of the day was being greeted first thing at the clinic by a bright-eyed and well-groomed couple whose newborn baby, Miguel Angel, had come very close to losing his life to pneumonia back in the fall. We'd never expected to see him again when we put him on the trail for the long hike home with his folks when he was finally discharged from Loma de Luz. Miguel is a chunky, delightfully active and normal appearing baby now. What a miracle!

Hand touching hand

Got this shot below of a little 4 yr old girl who was inpatient with burns, from a village many hours from here by trail and boat. She was on the tail end of weeks of whirlpool treatments to help her heal. She was a real screamer, and I caught this of her dad's finger gripped in her little hand to keep her calm. Reminds me of the famous Michaelangelo painting of God reaching down to man.

Eryn,(second from L) and her bilingual school classmates and teachers

Eryn and Benton completed 7th and 5th grade respectively today, both finishing strong. Next week is the long-awaited Missionary Kids' Camp that will host about 60 kids from around Honduras for 5 nights and days of typical bible camp stuff with a Honduran flair. It will be on site here, but we will not see them all week. Our grandkids have heard so many stories about past camps, many now legends, that they are totally pumped. Imagine, John and I will have 5 nights and days alone! It will probably take the rest of the summer for them to tell us all the stories about it!

Heading for the US for kids' visa trip in late June, after Iowa Tests for them here.We will be in Moses Lake, WA for a bit, then in Tulsa for the last 2 weeks. As usual, we'd like to see as many of you as possible to share what we're up to here. Please contact us at pennyalden@gmail.com or at our US cell phone of 509-431-1885.

Solomon, homeschool helper, update on baby Milagro

2011-03-26T14:38:00.000-07:00

The 75 yr old homeless man did not lift his cataract- occluded vision to meet my eyes, even with an encouraging hand on his shoulder and much repetition. Like perfume that preceeds a young lady as she enters a room, so the "perfume" of this chronically unbathed gentleman had greeted me as I entered the ER to translate for Dr. Abby that PM. I had encouraged his son to get him showered while Dr. Abby paid attention to the first patient, after reading a note from several years ago on his chart that he was homeless. I guess I thought I'd do him the favor of gifting him hot water and soap while he waited! When he didn't return, I walked down to the bathroom and witnessed a standoff between him and his son, with Solomon holding tightly to his pants. I was not blessing him with my magnanimous idea of bathing. So I asssured him it wasn't necessary and escorted him back to the stretcher in Er so Abby could examine him. That, too, proved to be too much invasion for our patient. I guess we assume when a patient arrives in ER, it is voluntary and that he has a very pressing need he wants tended. While Solomon again held tightly to his pants, and resisted all my attenpts to undress him, his son stood silently, helplessly by. With prodding, he shared that his dad did not like staying with any of the family, that he slept outside, that he had been transported to the ER by our wonderful area mayor at the request of someone who had seen him fall in the dirt street. The pain from a HUGE hernia at times overcomes him....but he had NO intention of accepting any treatment. A helplessness overcame us, far worse than the odor emanating from him. Unwilling to let him just leave and admit we had nothing to offer that he'd accept, I remembered a suitcase of men's clothes. I rustled up a baseball cap, shirt, socks and crocs and before he could resist, slipped off his VERY encrusted clothing and put the new things on. I then put my hand on his shoulder and began to pray for him, feeling like he was unreachable. When I opened my eyes, he had removed his new cap and had it pressed against his chest in respect and I could have sworn I saw the glisten of tears in his eyes.

Since our night in the hospital with John in Sedona, AZ for chest pain- just 3 weeks ago- he's had a positive blood test for H. Pylori, much easier to treat than heart problems! So for those wondering about "the rest of the story", he is now on medicinal treatment to take care of this GI problem!

Baby Milagro

Kara and Benton

We have been back on the job here at the hospital now for 2 weeks. As a followup on baby Milagro (Miracle- see earlier blog) who came to us at just over 2 pounds and 10 days old- we saw her on a return visit to the pediatrician after almost 3 weeks at home, weighting over 5 pounds. She has a double chin and fat cheeks- her mom, Jesus, seems to be taking good care of her! More Miracles to come...

We have been praying for a homeschool helper for me to allow me to put some time in as a nurse at the hospital. That need has become more urgent with the imminent, unexpected arrival of 2 student RN's that will be doing their mandatory social service with us. Aside from the
need for training, they will be a big blessing over their year here. This past week, the Lord met my need by sending a visitor, Kara, to help me for 3 weeks. It always amazes me how the Lord meets the need! I know wait on Him to send me someone else to cover 4 weeks from April 13- mid May!

An Unasked-for Day of Rest March 6, 2011

2011-03-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

Penny writes most of our notes. Once and a while, especially if it is a happy baby story, it falls to me. This is not a baby story, but I think that if I don't write it, it will confirm what some think, that John is in a state of "Chronic Denial" or chronically "out in the ozone".

Today I was allowed to honor the Sabbath. Penny did not. (hm, he must be speaking about a REST! Penny) She spent the morning sharing about the work at Loma de Luz, with a church in Sedona, Arizona. It's my brother's church, among our earliest supporters. It was not something that she was looking forward to alone. But her sharing, with each of the morning services, was well received. She came away very encouraged.

I did something that I have never done. I read the entire book of John in one sitting, with some little interruptions. But the point is that I got a different overall picture. I really enjoyed it. I was also challenged to think about the meaningfulness of our lives.

Probably the most annoying interruption was the tearing off of one series of chest EKG lead patches to arrange another set. I would estimate about 40 patches, all together. Since I started the day with a normal chest of hair, I still had some at the end of the day, but there are some bare and nearly bloody spots. Another less-than-fun interruption was running on a treadmill. But it was ok- "normal heart rate change" and "normal blood pressure change", "No S-T wave changes", and "random isolated ectopic beats". The nicest line on the results was "cardiac output = 20% above average". Its good to be above average in something. I almost drifted off during the 15 minute Nuclear Contrast Uptake scan. That was OK, too. We'd lost a night's sleep with ? chest pain. The nice young fellow who discharged me from the hospital more or less asked "Have you tried any antacids?"

So in the end they sent me home with the routine warnings. Of course most of the nurses and doctors had learned that we live in Honduras. At least one severely challenged me with the idea that we should not be returning home this week. I told her that I did not want to die sitting in a chair. She said "OH!, I understand, but you know I have to cover my---" and she patted her backside.

18 months ago, a hero of mine collaped and died behind the pulpit. That is how I want to go (figuratively speaking, of course). I need to think this thru, tho, as that would be very distressing for a young pregnant patient. So perhaps carrying a backpack up the trail to the clinic in Satal, No, it would be better, coming back down the trail from the clinic. Now you all know, not a word of this is to be mentioned to Xiomara (the faithful young lady who has worked with me for about four years now).

Penny and I easily talked about some of the things that come up at these eye-opener times of our lives, as we returned south to near Sun City, AZ.after late afternoon discharge. I think that we were in pretty good agreement.

Jesus and Milagro

2011-01-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

This past week we admitted a longtime acquaintance whom we have known since we first arrived in Honduras. Jesus, now about 20, arrived with her 10 day old little girl, Milagro, who had been born at 30 weeks gestation at home. John had admitted her to our hospital several weeks ago to stop early labor, and had transferred her on to the public hospital in La Ceiba where she was treated. Fortunately, she was given steroids to mature the fetus's lungs, because when she resumed her labor several days later and was prevented from going to either hospital by the heavy storms in our area, her little Milagro (Miracle) did not have the respiratory problems one would expect from such a premie.
Having been told by the local Health Department not to bring the baby in until she reached 5 lbs., Jesus obediently kept Milagro home with her, weighing her in at the local pulperia (little storefront) in the vegey scale. She thought she'd weighed about 3 lbs. By day 10, Milagro was weakening and her own supply of milk was about gone. Jesus arrived very ill herself, but is improving. We've successfully helped her restart lactation and begin giving her own milk to the baby. Two nursing missionaries on site contributed their own milk in the days before Jesus's supply became sufficient. 8 or more missionaries volunteered to take l feeding a day to ease the load on the overworked Honduran nurses, every 3 hours. We've been rewarded in seeing Milagro begin to suck better, increase her ability to tolerate the feeding amounts, open her eyes...and to see the joy in her mama's eyes when she is able to use her own milk to satisfy her firstborn. Pray for Miracle Baby, as Benton calls her. She weighs in just over 1 Kg.

6 weeks AG (after grandkids arrived!)

2011-01-15T11:23:00.000-08:00

Bicycles for Xmas- mobile at last!

We've just completed 6 weeks with the grandkids living with us here in Honduras! I have taken an almost total leave of absence from nursing at Hospital Loma de Luz for the forseeable future to allow me to homeschool Eryn and Benton.

Both kids enjoyed the annual missionary Christmas pageant, and we were blessed with more than our normal of festivities, gift-giving, special meals, etc. Benton's 11th birthday followed Christmas by just 1 day. We woke him at dawn to hike to the watertower above for sunrise, and he was King for the Day, selecting all his meals. He shared his day with a few friends for pizza and games.

studying at Joni's home

Joni is a local 13 year old with whom we share lots of time- he works for us on his vacations from school to accumulate funds for the bilingual school in which we've scholarshiped him. He has become a friend of Eryn and Benton's, and they are mutually enjoying English/spanish, and all learning a lot! Eryn and Benton will accompanty me one day weekly to that school when they resume classes in February to teach English, in the hopes they will learn more spanish and get immersed in the culture.

Eryn is slowly adapting to the little school some of her age MK's attend for History, Science and Writing. It demands that she budget her time to get outside reading done, divide her work between the school days as they don't meet daily, and keep track of her schedule. We are both growing! Benton is here full time at home with me for his 5th grade work, and both have now added daily spanish and guitar to their already full schedule. Both kids look forward to the day's end when they can go play soccer with the locals down the hill or just relax with a friend.

Benton flexing with visitor, Henry!

The heavy rains of winter have continued, with much cooler than normal weather overall. Its made the adjustment to a tropical climate much easier for the kids. The past few days the river has not been crossable by truck and l bridge is barely passable as the access is washing out. We transported a pregnant nurse/friend to that river so she could attempt to get home to the city for her days off this am- this picture shows her on the trusty steed, ready to be led across the swollen river to hitch a ride home on the other side.

Prayer needs: for kindred spirits for both kids. That the tight circle here would open to make them a true part of the Work.

The Wonder of It All

2010-12-18T09:32:00.000-08:00

Entering the week before christmas here in Honduras. I returned on December 3, with our two grandkids, Eryn, 12, and Benton, almost 11, in tow. Thus began a new era in the lives of Grandpa and Gran! Its been amazing how fast they both have acclimated to a new land, culture, language and family. They are redecorating our home and our lives- with much laughter and adventure! Eryn began experimenting with the Bilingual School, El Camino, run by the McKenneys, to see how she would adjust in the 2 weeks she had with them before they dismissed for Christmas break. We'll reassess down the road a bit to see how she is doing. She is only there a few hours weekly, and will spend the rest of her time with me at home. Benton has all his classes with me. Both are having spanish language lessons here at the house.

kids after decorating

Because they came in during holiday season, its been a bit partyish since arrival, with movies next door for the highschool coop there, the missionary Christmas party, a 15th birthday party of one of the kids here, and anticipating the annual christmas pageant next week, in which both have a part. This more than normal excitement has made their entry festive and fun! We've decorated a bit, baked a lot, delivered presents. The weather has been pleasantly cool, to ease that adjustment. They have yet to learn to live in a land of unrelenting heat with its discomforts! They are enjoying frolicking in the ocean, running up and down the steep hill to the hospital gate, arising early with the sun and going to bed early with the same. All in all, the Lord has blessed them immensely with good adjustment.
Within the first 48 hours home, I had assisted in a Code in the hospital, much to the kid's consternation when I flew out the door and hopped on the motorscooter. During the next night, a fellow missionary went into labor and I awoke the kids to accompany us to their home to assist John in the delivery. They were initiated immediately into the need for flexibility. Since then, I have not been much in the hospital, will take an indefinite leave of absence.from direct hospital involvement until its clear the 2 grandkids are thriving in school and in their personal lives. They are our primary mission right now.

This past Monday, they accompanied me into San Luis, a nearby village, to assist Lindy in teaching guitar and scripture to a porch class. Both kids got to learn some chords with the kids, and added spice to their .
day. In addition, provided spanish interaction.
Please pray for them in their first Christmas away from their mom. Pray for her also. Eryn leaves us a love note on our pillows many nights- she learned it somewhere! Both are very huggy and sensitive- their mom has been a good teacher. We don't pretend to take her place...but pray for God's grace in their lives to use this time with us to grow mightily. I know that God will honor their nightly prayers for healing for their mom. Thanks to all who have been (and ARE) a part in making this work for all of us. Getting us school books, making trips to deliver things to a courier passing thru Tulsa...all bless us immensely. May you all be touched by the wonder of this special season as we are. John and Penny

HE LIVES! by John Alden (December 12, 2010)

2010-12-12T18:07:00.000-08:00

HE LIVES! No, I am not confused, I know that this is Christmas and "He Lives" matches with Easter.

Yesterday was not routine. In the wee hours of the morning, we had a baby. Never suggest to a pregnant lady that having a baby is routine, but most of the time you know where you are going and most of the rest you are ready for. Being on ER call is different, Sometimes, if you knew what was coming, you might call in "Sick". In these cases, the best preparation is prayer. I am not speaking just of my own, but those who routinely pray for us and the work here at Loma de Luz.

Jose Contreras is a 23 year old whose family lives in Las Crucitas. For those of you who speak Spanish, you might think that it is a Catholic community, but that is not the origin of the name (and that is a different story). Yesterday, Jose got into a fight with his chain saw; he did not win. If your favorite color is a dark red, you might like the picture. No, I don't think so!

You do not have to know much about Human Anatomy, to know that there are some big arteries in the back of the leg. We could not have collected blood and transfused him quick enough to save Jose's life. An hour drive to the city, rainy season, rivers without bridges, and the State Hospital that looks more like the County Fair Ground than a hospital, Oh, LORD!. The LORD looked down upon us with grace.

An available, ambulance-like Land Cruiser, (Thank You, Iain and Liz), an ambulance driver (Jon Lent) and nurse (Norma Hunt). A couple of fast running IVs, a tourniquet and your routine prayers. Jose arrived at ATLANTIDA (the State Hospital) with a hematocrit of 11 (normal 40). They had a unit or two of blood available and he was off to San Pedro Sula where there might be a vascular surgeon.

I heard late today that Jose Contreras lives. Praise GOD!

Thank you for your prayers for the work here.

John

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.....

2010-11-25T19:44:00.000-08:00

Sarah with baby Ellie and Benton

Last night, our 33 yr old daughter, Sarah, began singing the old favorite Mennonite doxology from her youth group years, and I joined her. "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures here below....praise Him above ye heavenly hosts....". It came at the culmination of several days of phone calls, emails, scannings, visits, all directed towards helping our other daugher, Kate, secure a passport for her 10 yr old son, Benton. I am bringing he and his 12 yr old sister, Eryn, back to Honduras to live and study for awhile, and teach John and I what its like to be 10 and 12 again! To get a passport with such little notice proved to be quite a task- without the help of Senator Coburn's office, it would have been unreachable. A 5 hr. drive to Dallas yesterday proved victorious and we returned with the passport in hand- and today, Thanksgiving Day, we made their flight plans to return with me next Friday. Deserved the Halleluia Chorus! The cherry on top was John's voice on the Skype phone today when he realized I'd be returning on the previously scheduled date and not having to delay to wait for a passport. We miss each other!

I have now been in Tulsa, OK for 4 weeks. A thyroid mass was the reason we planned this trip, and my first 2 weeks were spent pursuing a diagnosis. The needle biopsy showed it to be benign, so the endocrinologist's suggestion was to attempt to reduce the size with lowdose levothyroxine. If its unsuccessful and continues to grow, then down the road we'll discuss surgery. A big YEAH! Thanks to the many who prayed and followed this closely with encouragement and humor! In the end, I think John concurs with me that the thyroid was just the bait the Lord used to get me to Tulsa before our projected time to be able to address a family need and to enjoy a 2 week visit with our Sarah and 2 yr old Ellie, who came supposedly to nurse me back to health after surgery. Instead, Sarah has been invaluable in helping me deal with this family need and also building up my health thru her awesomely wholesome and delicious cooking.

Son Jake, with Eryn and Benton

Please uphold us as we begin a new chapter in our lives, that of loving our grandkids up close in our Honduran home instead of investing in their lives from afar. We need your prayers as we begin to homeschool them and teach them Spanish. Pray for the huge adjustment in their lives too, that they would both form close, edifying relationships and grow and blossom like the jungle flora. That they would meet God in a BIG way at Loma de Luz....see Him in all His Glory.

We are thankful for all of you who have invested so heavily in our lives- in encouragement, in loaning vehicles, providing lodging, hummus and cottage cheese, accompanying me on doctor's visit, lending reading material, winter clothing, sending hospital supplies back with me, buying a new grate for our honduran grill....oh, the list goes on and on! Bless you all. Merry Thanksgiving to all .

Change of Pace

2010-11-10T14:14:00.000-08:00

The scenery is very different looking out the window here in Tulsa! I have traded the jungle out back and the ocean out front for tall trees with various shades of turning leaves, squirrels, and increasingly cooler air. I left Honduras when our last guests, Bob and Alexis Jack and their engineer friend, Ben, left the country after fixing our electrical system in the hospital. 4 weeks earlier, I had noted a small mass on my thyroid and we began making plans for me to come back to the US to have it evaluated. I'm now 1 1/2 weeks into my visit and still awaiting the definitive thyroid diagnosis! However, we had very good news today in hearing that the PET scan done to prove that the mass was not part of something more extensive turned out negative. More news and a plan of attack should be forthcoming after a Friday visit with the endocrinologist and a Monday visit with a surgeon. I've needed some recovery time physically as was very tired on returning, so have been content to spend a lot of time reading, praying, and visiting with friends mostly here where I am staying. Just now getting out walking and enjoying the late Fall sunshine with the kids and grandkids. John has stayed behind this trip with the 4 kids committed to caring for me if its necessary to have surgery! Sarah and baby Ellie will be arriving here in Tulsa on Monday from Philadelphia, figuring that a toddler is good laughter-therapy- especially this one! Eryn has said she'll skip school to help me, Dan says he'll take time off work....I am richly blessed. I appreciate them all, and with the good news that its nothing more than a thyroid problem, I am confident I'll be able to just enjoy them all and need very little help!

aftergame treats with Eryn and Benton

The plan, Lord willing, is for me to return to Honduras Dec. 3. So until then, no pictures from Honduras! Please pray for peace for John there alone. The heavy rains have begun in earnest, he's dealing with the normal bridge outages, internet being out, inability to get to his mountain clinics, and having to keep up the house alone. We're thankful for all the prayers in this health problem....praying that I will be a good steward of this time the Lord has given me.

...and now, for the rest of the story!

2010-10-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

Proud nurses releasing our miracle baby

1:30 and the 5 hr trek is just beginning, with sunset at 5:30!

Last entry left 2 week old Miguel Angel just having begun recovery after a rough week. He continued to improve, mom Rosa very happily nursing him after her every 2 hr. pumping to build up her nonexistent milk supply on arrival. It had been hard for her to do so, not understanding the principle of milk production, and knowing her baby was dying. but she had trusted and done it- and got to see the fruits of her obedience- Miguel rapidly grew a second chin and fat thighs. We grinned each time we heard him having a tizzy- we couldn't get enough of him. Almost 2 weeks after that last entry, I had the privilege of driving Miguel plus his 3 yr old big sister who had also been admitted with pneumonia and diarrhea, and mom and dad to the start of the trail that would take them home. Know our nurse visitors, Lori and Amber, can't wait til next Sept. when they return, when we all plan a victory march up the mountain with a pinata for Miguel's first birthday.

Since our Jacksonville, OR trio left, our neighbors from Moses Lake, WA, Mike and Claudia, have also spent a week with us. Claudia left having made curtains for the children's center, and Mike did his normal "fix-everything" routine. We enjoyed the fellowship immensely!

Mike and Claudia

Update on Michaelangelo, onward to baby Elder

2010-09-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

Baby Michaelangelo (Miguel Angel) 6 hours after extubating himself

Been a roller coaster week in the hospital. Baby Miguel Angel has kept all the RN visitors busy, and the locals besides. He was intubated twice, both times took a decisive role and yanked out his breathing tube. The second time, yesterday AM early, we had just spent many hours making an ambulance to transport him to San Pedro where rumor has it there is a ventilator. At the last possible minute, he went bad again, it took awhile to stabilize him- and he yanked his tube. We all prepared to say goodby to our little friend. I have pictures of mom and dad tearfully cuddling him. But he perked up, and this picture is of him with a full belly of breastmilk, mom and dad just enjoying him. Who can know the mind of the Lord? His folks are totally at peace with just being with him, waiting on God to either take him HOME or for them to carry him back up the mountain 6 hours away.

Baby Elder, hypothyroidism, 4 lbs at 2 months old

As we were backing off from baby Miguel, letting his folks care for him, breathing a sigh of relief and thinking we might begin sleeping normally again, we received a tiny 4 pounder, who hasn't gained any weight since birth, but 2 months old. Every rib showed. Dr. Sharon made what looked like an instant diagnosis, and we began intervention. He looks like a starving baby from Africa...had a blood transfusion during the night. Another baby to pray for. The second of our 4 visiting RN's leaves today, so that leaves us our 2 visitors, Amber and Lori, to be the extra hands.

John and our visitors, with his assistant Xiomara, attempted a trip to the Cayos islands offshore to do a Women's health clinic. They had to return within 24 hours as Hurricane Matthew was descending on the north coast of Honduras. They boated in at noon, the rains hit by 3, and John made a quick transport of a laboring patient as darkness hit. Thats our 4th delivery of the week, 3 transported out to the city. We have had trouble finding time to eat or to visit all together with our company, but we surely have seen God at work protecting patients, protecting long hours on the road.

Michaelangelo

2010-09-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

Magda,RN in government service, with baby Miguel Angel

13 day old Miguel Angel is fighting for his life. His mom and dad carried him 6 hours down the mountain the end of last week with a bad pneumonia- imagine being a newly delivered mom, hiking that distance! Little Miguel went bad Friday night before we got back from the city with our 3 guests, Amber and Richard Shields, and Lori. Its not been a restful visit for any of them, beginning with all day Saturday doing wound care in the hospital, helping John deliver a baby Saturday midnight, then working all day sunday in the hospital helping John stitch up ER patients. I went with Richard to church, and returned to help in the hospital til supper time. By then, it was obvious Miguel was not doing well, so Amber and Lori stayed the night to special-duty him. By sunday night, Sandy Hurst, a nurse anesthetist friend, had arrived, so because surgeries were cancelled on Monday, she was free to special-duty Miguel Monday. By afternoon, she had decided to intubate him as he was just wearing out. Since that time, someone has been breathing for him by ambu, as there is no ventilator here nor anywhere close! "For such a time as this"- we surely see God's hand in the timing. Never do we have 2 extra RN's and an anesthetist! So baby Miguel Angel has received the best Honduras can offer. I just dropped Amber and Lori off at the hospital for the 3rd straight night....Please pray for this little fellow to turn the corner and begin to recover. Pray for mom and dad, a young, VERY poor couple with 3 other children back up in the mountains. When I began speaking with them yesterday about the possibility of transferring the baby, their main concern was how to pay for all this. I told them that they could pay us in bananas, chickens, mangoes....he said , "You don't understand. We are being given housing where we are. We have none of what you are describing. We have nothing". I asked him if he was a Believer, and he visible lit up, saying yes, he'd been walking with the Lord for 4 years. I pointed to his wife, a very sweet young lady, and commented that she was quite a treasure too. Then I asked him if he was healthy, and he assured me he was capable of hard work. I summed up out brief conversation with, "Hm, you said you are SO poor, you have nothing. I think you are a very rich man! You have Jesus, your wife, 3 children that are being cared for by your pastor, and say you are strong and healthy. Yes, you are a very rich, blessed man. Lets just deal with today, with Miguel Jesus. We'll find a way for you to be able to pay your bills."
Yes, there are many kinds of poverty. This man is poor in $ only. I'd rather be that kind of poor.

Arma blanca y arma del fuego (machetes and guns)

2010-09-15T20:30:00.000-07:00

"Voy a machetear su cara..."- "I'm going to machete your face!"- hm, for the first few sentences I was listening closely for clues as to whom I was speaking yesterday afternoon as the generator roared in the background. I was preparing Sunday School in advance, and the power was out, so that noise made it hard to hear real well what the speaker on the house phone was saying. I'd assumed it was a Honduran friend....but realized with the threat that it was NOT a nice man! He spoke of his gang and needing money for the coffins of some "homies" that had been killed and told me he was watching me as we spoke! I pretended I couldn't understand him and stuttered in broken spanish that I needed a translator...and shouted at the neighbors for help! Diana, the spanish teacher, was providentially giving a lesson and took the phone, wisely stringing him along until Dr. McKenney arrived. By asking some clever questions, she quickly discerned that he was NOT viewing ou rhouse from half a block away- we don't have blocks here! Then he said to bring the money to the gas station. Wrong again- we don't have gas stations here. Whew! I just knew he was peeking in my window! Found out later that this scam is prevalent in the country right now, with numbers being dialed randomly. "He keeps in perfect peace those whose minds are fixed on Him." Still, that phrase, "I'm going to machete your face" kept doing maneuvers in my mind as I went to bed last night.

anael, flagbearer

Today was Honduran Independence Day, so we were out in Rio Esteban by 8 AM, ready to take pictures of the parade of school kids. They make special outfits, beat on drums, carry banners. Anael, the 20 yr old that we and friends support to get thru highschool, and who bears the main load at the church, was among the top 5 in his class (Junior) so was one of the elite flagbearers. They each had a plastic drinking cup looped thru their belt to support the pole. Clever.Tho the parade didn't really rev up til 9:30, it was fun visiting with all the familiar faces.

Joni in his finery

Joni, the 12 year old we mentor, began in the bilingual school (a misnomer!) in Rio Esteban 3 weeks ago now. He looked so proud in his newly made maroon pants with tie and beret in the parade today! Tho his changing schools means he had to go back a year, we think the guarantee that he will get schooling instead of always being home while the public schools are on strike made it worth the gamble. We are looking for a tutor for him for his winter break from Dec. thru January, 2 months, to really grill him on English and improve his math skills. Anyone want a Carribean vacation over Christmas? Please pray and consider this need!

Last week was the Community Health Promoters workshop for 3 days, so added that extra to the normal full schedule. We were blessed to have Dr. Gabby, the head of World Map for Honduras and the chief teacher for this Promoters course that runs for 3 years, and her coworker Loyda, staying with us. They were delightful company and so full of vigor and ideas! We are beginning to see fruit from this course thats now at the end of its second year for 2 of our hospital employees, and the end of year 1 for the remaining 23. Dispelling myths that negatively affect health and wellbeing of the people is a priority of this course.

Sunday evening we received an emergency call from Anael, saying to meet them at the hospital, that a mutual friend, Jose, had just been shot. His advance notice helped us be a bit better prepared. Jose had been returning home from the village for supper and taken a shortcut up a creekbed in the dark. He came upon some "mountain man", he reports, and decided to turn around and return to the road, but was shot in the back as he turned around. We stabilized Jose and began transport plans. It again pointed out the great need we have for an ambulance out here. In the end, our faithful neighbor, Dave, who by day works in IT but moonlights as an EMT, drove our pickup with Jose and his wife in the backseat, to the hospital in the city, with our agricultural missionary Brad, accompanying. (One wears many hats here!) . Jose was finally operated on after noon Monday, and we hear from his wife Doli that he can now walk a bit. She says he's in a lot of pain, and that she has to go out and buy him medicine as they don't have any in the hospital We plan to bring him something enroute to San Pedro tomorrow. We think pain control is a RIGHT- here its only a privilege of those who have money. Pray for Jose and Doli- they were the first couple John baptized and married here.

From KY to WA to OK ----to Honduras!

2010-08-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

August 21, 2010

Our dear friends, Bobby and George, with the 60th
anniversary couple, Mom and Dad

Long silence as we left for the USA on July 3 for our Cornerstone International Summit back in Wilmore, KY, and didn’t return to Honduras til just a week ago.( Believe it or not, we have much more consistent internet access in the jungle than in the US!) In addition to VERY pertinent input at the Summit and wonderful fellowship, we were able to fly on to the NW and have time with our daughter Sarah, Jaie and baby Ellie, now 17 months old and SO much fun, spend time in our home in Moses lake WA, and attend the 60th wedding anniversary reunion for my folks at the home of a niece. We had just 3 days together, with 4 generations represented, and a special visit to the reunion from a couple who probably have had the most influence on the Webster clan in our walks with the Lord. Thanks, Bobby and George, for making that big effort to celebrate with us, even tho you were dealing with grief in your own family. Also, we salute you for the investment you made years ago in all of us, and how you continue to support the Webster kids that are on the mission field today!

Sarah and Ellie

Sarah made a special trip with baby Ellie to Moses Lake to spend 4 days with us and give Ellie a chance to know her Great Grandparents before bringing us with her back to Portland to fly on to Tulsa. An unplanned blessing there was having dinner with a highschool classmate I’d not seen since our wedding 36 years ago! Thanks, Craig and Valerie, for making that happen.

Loving on Kaitlin Maurie

Before Before returning to Honduras, we briefly visited the 3 kids in Tulsa OK. Bill, a longtime friend of ours, treated us and 3 grandkids and our son to a day sailing on Oologah Lake. Will long remember the day for being our first day alone with our granddaughter Kaitlin Maurie, now almost 3- a fun time to get to know her a bit.

We arrived back in Honduras in time to reacquaint ourselves with our friends , the Greene’s, before driving them to the city to fly back to the US. He and Dr. Joel have held down the hospital and clinic for almost 6 weeks alone, except for brief respites with visiting docs. Now we are expectantly awaiting the reentry of Dr. Shaw today, hopefully followed by Dr.Mark next week. Slowly the whole crew is trickling back in.

As last year when we returned in July, we had 2 Code blue’s this first week back. Seems one gets back in the groove quickly…sink or swim. I am busily orienting a new LPN and SO thankful to have another nurse on board! It will be a bit before she can work independently, but will be a big help. As John looks at the schedule, he is trying to plan 2 mountain trips in the next 2 weeks, to be sure he’s gotten into these 2 health departments at least one more time before the rains start in late October, as the roads become impassable. We had one of the nurses from Las Ballas inpatient this week and from her found out the road is still passable to their clinic, contrary to what we’d been told by rumors.

Had opportunity to participate yesterday in a mass civil wedding of 24 couples here in Balfate- all done free to fulfill a campaign promise of the new mayor. Our longtime friend and John’s assistant, Xiomara, was finally married, and we attended as their witnesses. John has committed to giving them the roof for their intended house when it comes to that point- a practical wedding gift!

Juan Carlos and Xiomara finally wed!

In closing, please pray for Karly, a 17 year old short-term missionary that spent 6 weeks here caring for Orlin, a baby in the children’s center who needs 1:1 care. Today, she is flying back to Seattle, escorted by her Dad, to be admitted for diagnosis of some mysterious ailment that has had her down now for a week. She has puzzled our docs…her desire is to get treated and return….we pray for her healing and for her spirits during this big disappointment.

Baby Ellie rocking in the porch swing with Great Grandpa

June 28, 2010- Winding Down

2010-06-27T20:19:00.000-07:00

Winding down for a trip to the US for our mission board conference July 5, and the celebration of my folks 60th anniversary the end of that month. 1 week left! We've hosted old friends from our reservations days, Mike and Cathy Breckinridge, these past 3 weeks. He agreed to come and take over the pharmacy so the Honduran who works there could take his vacation. It meant 5 long days each week. His wife was here at a very needy time, as the 2 men who had been doing all the counseling spiritually had just left, so Cathy agreed to cover that as well as sharing several times for the staff morning devotions. Because she speaks such good spanish, she was in demand also to lead Women's studies and sang frequently. Mike is a Ham operator so we also had testing while he was here to offer the opportunity for new missionaries to get their legal licenses, as its still how we best communciate here.We put them on a bus for the city on Friday. I'm sure they will need to rest up when they arrive back in the US!

John was finally able to make it up to Las Balles (think thats how its spelled!) twice. It is a community way up the mountain that was a 4 hr. plus walk for the last group that attempted it. Just about a month ago, a road went thru to connect us, so he immediately began planning a trip to do Women's Health Care in the health department there. In the week between trips, the road eroded a lot- I got brave and went on the second trip. My knuckles were blue as I gripped the "grannie" bar- reminded myself that I'd have no scenery to report if I didn't open my eyes! We brought an exam table in the pickup as well as a nebulizer to gift the clinic. John had a full day of patients, and I played visitor, playing guitar all day with a crowd of kids. Praying the road lasts long enough for l more trip up to see patients before rainy season.

En route home from dropping friends in La Ceiba and picking up 2 more visitors for the hospital yesterday, we passed a big balloon-festooned celebration at a home in Lis Lis we visit frequently in our comings and goings. Remember Keilin, who birthed little Emanuel 2 1/2 years ago and died shortly afterwards? Well, her sister Delmy has mothered little Emanuel, and her partner, Luis, even came home from the US where he was working to be an active Dad to him and his other 3 children. The festive celebration was their wedding! We were SO thrilled for them. We were late arriving for another wedding out at the hospital, so couldn't stop, so the present will be late! Exciting to see families changing as they take to heart God's Word.

Little Aron lost his big sister to a rare skin cancer last year. It is genetic and he has the same ailment. I think he is 3, maybe 4, a bitty mite with freckles. He has undergone more surgeries than one can keep track of, and all in the hospital know him. Unlike most kids whose superheros are just cartoon characters or fantasy, he has a real-life superhero. He admires- and wants to be- Dr.McKinney, his surgeon. I assume thats also why his other passion is motorcycles, as Dr. Jeff drives one. He says he is "McKinney" and "operates" on his parents. I put him on our motorscooter one day when he was bored waiting for his appointment, and got his foto, then gave him a copy. Also found a large pair of surgical green scrubs like his mentor wears and had someone make a wee pair of scrubs for him. Outfitted with those and a plastic stethoscope, scrub hat and mask, he is a sight. The next thing on his 'Make a Wish" list is the motorcycle ride. Still working on arranging that!

Wedding shower for our RN employee, Ritza, was a beautiful time together to celebrate her LONG wait for the right guy. She will marry during our US trip, so had to do it early!

Completed all 16 of the necessary recertifications for our staff in CPR these 3 months, and almost done with a big project of making a procedure manual for our purchasing department. Had a picnic and movie night with our 10 from Sunday School to encourage them, and just plain get them out doing something fun. Often bringing several home on Sundays for lunch and then guitar next door. Hoping to see more on the level of Joni, who has learned enough to be a steady part of the music at church. Finishing up a series of Sunday school lessons on basic foundations of the faith, preparing to lessen our formal involvement there and begin to pursue other things. Will continue our 1:1 discipling, our extra-church involvement with our 10-12 kids, just feel a need to move out of the formal setting, have 2 less Gringos there, and put our efforts behind some other happenenings in the same community!

John continues to invest heavily in the ongoing training of those who will one day replace him in women's health care so that now when we leave there is a local woman well capable of continuing prenatal care and well women's care. Thats a big step! With his involvement in the 2 mountain clinics and once a week in a health department in Rio Esteban, he is changing the face of women's health here.

Continue to feel the need for an ambulance here of our own, especially since the late May crazy trip with a 2 yr old iron overdose. According to Dave who followed the ambulance at dusk in order to drive Joelle and I home once the child was delivered to the city ER, our driver made his own lane down the center of the paved highway and forced a semi off the road! In a torrential downpour, he refused to use his wipers, and fishtailed many times on the muddy dirt road. Thought is we might just save lives by driving ourselves! The iron overdose made it, despite the fact that the antidote is unavailable in Central America. ( As a result of this incident, we now stock the antidote ourselves!)

Enjoying having a Tulsa-ite next door, interning with our neighbors, the Rumbaughs. Karin Shacklett has been here a month now, going on 2, and is SO nice to have someone from our home church amongst us.

Too long to go without writing. Each week here is its own book!

Of Baptisms and Birthdays

2010-05-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

A week ago Sunday was the river baptism of Jorge, one of our Sunday School students whom we've known for 6 years. He is the one who weekly reminded me that I shouldn't expect him to behave in class as he wasn't a Christian! A shy boy with a nonstop grin and sparkly eyes, Jorge is one of 12 and takes big responsibility in his home for the remaining 4 children younger than he.We invited he and another boy to lunch after church Sunday to see pictures of the baptism and other Sunday school activities, and to practice/learn guitar, as Dr. Don was giving a class. So Jorge showed great potential, and was sent home with a list of 35 songs to memorize, and to enlist 9 others to join him, to earn a guitar of his own!

I mentioned that the monkeys seem to be quite brazen right now, ever drawing closer to the house. Enjoyed sitting inside the laundry room with my camera poised on the open window to catch the little rascals as they scanned the house, then jumped to the roof and leaned down to steal the bananas we had hanging from the eaves to ripen.

The 2nd of 12- 3 day long Community Health Promoters workshops that will be held over the next 3 years was held last week at the hospital, put on by World MAP International. There were about 30 participants, 10 of them needing lodging for the 2-3 nights. Takes a lot of planning on the part of John and Dr. Rene to make this work, but fits well with the longterm goals of the hospital and ministry.

Because I had gone down to the hospital about 3 PM thursday to sign something, I got involved in the care of a 2 year old boy, Angel, who had overdosed on his mama's iron tablets and went downhill very quickly as mom had waited 4 hours before bringing him in as he'd shown no initial symptoms. When he began convulsing and vomiting, we got him. After stabilizing him, and contacting Poison Control in the States, Joelle and I prepared to accompany he and his mom in the bare box of an ambulance for the hour plus ride to La Ceiba to the public hospital. For a much better story than I can tell, having been bent over the child and not daring to look out the front window, see http://davefields.blogspot.com/2010/05/iron-overdose-poisoning.html. Dave is a fellow missionary/EMT who often volunteers to either follow the ambulance and bring us back to the hospital, or to drive John over when its a laboring patient. Enjoy!

Friday, I had intended to celebrate my 58th birthday by staying home alone while John went to the city and just catch up with the Lord. When the Field's invited me to accompany them on an outing, I accepted, thinking it was a place very close. I had confused the name, and ended up going almost to the city with them, had a wonderfully relaxing day by a pool, eating good food, just luxuriating in no radio and good fellowship. Arrived home to greet 3 of the nurses who had climbed the hill to bring me a cake.
The fun continued the next day when Dr. Don asked if I'd drop his kayak off at the end of the road, as his partner in recreating had not brought his pickup. We were finishing a Saturday guitar/keyboard class, and all 7 or so youth wanted to go too to swim in the icy river. So we followed the guys out to the waterfall with the kayak on board, and all jumped in the river fully dressed! They all cavorted like so many otters, dumping each other off the kayak and pirating it for themselves. Delightful to watch and participate in! Thus ended a fun birthday week.

http://davefields.blogspot.com/2010/05/iron-overdose-poisoning.html

Back in Honduras

2010-05-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

Been back in Honduras 2 very hot weeks now, after 3 weeks in the US, John in the NW and I in Tulsa. John came and went thru Portland, so was able to visit Sarah, Jaie and baby Ellie. He accomplished much on the house we own in WA- with the help of a fellow missionary from here, Terry. The 2 of them played bachelor, cooked for themselves there, supervised the roofing of the house and the installation of the heat/AC unit, and they built the roof on the deck and a fence around it. Can't wait to see it!

I spent the 3 weeks reconnecting to 3 children and 3 grandchildren in Tulsa, as well as numerous friend visits. Spring hit while there, and was able to go to

some old haunts with Eryn and Benton, some we'd visited with them before leaving 6 years ago, one hike in REdbud valley that we'd done with our own 4 kids 20-some years ago! Beautiful foliage everywhere. Always feel so blessed by how we are cared for by our friends there, who find us a car, provide a spacious apartment for us to have our kids and friends visit...and who are available for deep visits and sharing anytime from 6 AM til late. Can't pay for that kind of blessing!

We had 1 week to acclimate again to the hospital work and the church ministry before friends from Tulsa arrived to "vacation" and see firsthand what they have faithfully supported now for 7 years! Bob was supposed to be relaxing in the wake of completing a huge baseball stadium in Tulsa- but was obviously with us "for such a time as this", as he immediately got pulled into 4 days of sweaty work with 2 other engineers who arrived "coincidentally" the same time he did, working on various needs in his field in the hospital. Alexis tackled my disorganized office, and left it in good shape, with all my baskets of baby clothes seperated and folded. She helped me with my weekly afternoon reading time with some of the church kids- they had scheduled a "picnic" at the top of the wooded hill on the church property, so we carried a blanket up and had our brownies and juice and reading practice up there while they climbed the huge trees and took pictures of each other while the others read. We also did some needful newborn visits together, giving her a better picture of those we minister to in their home settings. One night we went out for dinner near here at Rosies, something that had not been available until recently. We had a tasty lobster/shrimp dinner in this rustic place on the beach. En route with them back to San Pedro Sula, we stopped at the Lodge at Pico Bonito, which we'd heard about but rarely take time for "touristy" things. It was a beautiful stop, and we plan to go back one day when its cooler to take a tour of the area with a wildlife- botanist sort to find out about the plants and birds and butterflies in the area.

We had made reservations at an American chain motel so that our guests would sleep well before flying out- only to awaken in the very early AM to find that their AC had not worked and it had taken 3 trips to their room before they finally replaced the whole unit. Then they awoke to find molasses-colored water in their bath, prohibiting bathing! We returned from bringing them to the airport and changed to use the gym, which they had assured me when we checked in had AC. Arrived to find a hole in the wall where the unit had been the night before- said unit was now installed in our friends' room!

We've had several opportunities to use the delivery room since returning- now with AC! Thanks to the man in Tulsa who donated the breakers necessary to complete the installation. Is tempting to sneak in there and pretend its my office! But then one must sooner or later leave- and then one gets hit with the wall of heat. Is better just to stay acclimated to the real world!

The heat is driving even the monkeys crazy- we have not witnessed it yet, but our gardener says several times lately the whitefaced monkeys have come out of the trees onto our back patio, chased the cats, walked on the porch or roof. Can't wait to get a picture of that!

Louis's surgery March 22

2010-03-23T14:45:00.000-07:00

Little Louis, whom I mentioned in my last blog, was operated on yesterday for his long-standing intestinal pain, even tho the anesthetist, Sandy, was delayed 24 hours in arrival. The visiting anesthesiologist with the ENT brigade was able to do the anesthesia with Dr. McKenney. Pray for rapid healing and return to little rowdy boy activity! We look forward to the day soon when Louis is out playing soccer with the other boys from the center. The saying "Lord willing and the creek don't rise!" has real significance here, and we saw it yesterday with torrential downpours that kept many of the first day ENT patients home. Here is little Louis before surgery during a pain-free spell.

Patients, New Believers, Heroines

2010-03-23T14:20:00.001-07:00

March 21, 2010

Tempestuous start to the hot season here, interrupted by welcome respites of cool rain. Hear our friends in Tulsa, OK are under snow right now, preventing our anesthetist friend, Sandy, from taking off this AM. Awaiting her arrival for 2 much needed surgeries for patients from the Children’s Center!

Following up on last blog: Dubis’s, the 52 yr. old woman with the suspected uterine cancer whose surgery was made possible by donations from our Tulsa Sunday school class, had a hyatidiform molar pregnancy. There will be followup hormone studies for awhile to be sure she remains cancer free. She returned last weekend, having opened up the incision and needing admission with us for IV antibiotics, but is recovering now at home. Thanks for making her diagnosis and surgery possible! We are SO thankful for the relationship John has with the private city hospital and the generosity of the OB-GYN surgeon there. This is not the first time he’s donated his skills and time!

Andrea, the 11 year old whose mom died this past year, has made a decision to follow Jesus in her young life, and with several others having made the same decision in our Sunday School class, we are following her closely to be sure she gets the discipling she needs to be fruitful. Christine, the lab director who is teaching our wee one’s Sunday school class, has bonded to Andrea and is studying regularly with her. Christine is a very timely addition to our church, with the departure of our Guatemalan pastor and family. We are beginning to see some fruit from our 5 years of teaching here….perhaps the 12 strong men I’ve been praying for to form the base of our church group will be mostly youth! Jorge, a 13 year old from a very troubled family, has chosen recently to follow the Lord and arrives sparkling and eager to study. All are entering the time of most temptation in their lives here, their teens. Few make it through unscathed. Pray for the 6 youth that are beginning their walk with the Lord.

This month, I have graduated 6 new students from the nurse’s aide class, so we again have a “pool” from which to select new employees. One has been hired at the children’s center, and another comes on board tomorrow in the hospital. Because of a 3 week planned trip to the US beginning this week, I am sad to not be able to orient her as I’d desired! I have also begun the yearly CPR training, difficult as we can’t afford to pay them to come in on time off and our low staffing doesn’t allow them the leisure of escaping during work time to take the course. But slowly, 3-5 at a time, I am plowing thru the list of nursing staff and doing a 6 hr DVD course with all. Learning from the example of our neighbor, Dr. Don, I put the basics of CPR to a song they all know to hopefully improve retention. I will complete the last group of staff when I return in 3 weeks.

The most inspirational person in my last month has been Liz, who directs the Children’s Center with Iain. They are increasingly getting very difficult kids and babies, as the equivalent of our DHS system has discovered them and are sending them hard cases. Among the recent arrivals was Louis, an 8 yr. old that began coming to our Sunday School. He has now been a patient for over 2 weeks in the hospital, so becoming well-known to all of us. He had an abdominal surgery right before coming here that has left him with some complications, so is awaiting surgery, in much pain at times. Also a patient for several weeks now is little 8 month old Orlin, with head injuries from abuse. He needs a feeding tube to prevent or control the constant aspiration from bottle feeding, so he too is awaiting a surgery. Both were admitted right as iain left for a planned return to his homeland, Scotland. While we “feel” for Liz as she has been a constant fixture in the pediatrics ward, rarely leaving the 2 untended , the blessing has been the chance to see the character and resilience of Liz, making it work with her own son at home and she at the hospital. Her ever-cheerful presence in a full ward, listening to and encouraging the other young women, has not only been inspirational but VERY helpful in being able to address the needs she sees close up there. Thankful for the chance to know the “real” Liz, and be able to rub shoulders with another giant in the faith.

Women's Health Newsletter-update by John, March 3, 2010

2010-03-03T19:16:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, Joel T, one of the FP Docs, referred a lady to the city for an ultrasound exam. Seeing Loma de Luz on the referral, the radiologist, a friend, assumed that I had sent the patient , so sent her back to me with URGENT on the results. He saw evidence of uterine cancer. He also called a mutual friend, the GYN surgeon that I work with in La Ceiba, who took a quick look and confirmed the radiologist's finding. Dubis and her husband, Domingo, showed me the ultrasound exam. She reported that Doctor Sae told them that it could not wait and that I was the one who could make it work. Now and then her husband sobbed and interjected "There is NO Way, we have no money". With the exception of feeling that a CAT scan was appropriate to have a better idea if we were dealing with metastasis, it was easy to agree with the other opinions from a quick look at the ultrasound. The following day, Friday, I met with another radiologist who has the capacity for a CT scan and with the surgeon. We agreed on Tuesday as the surgery date, depending on the results of the CT.

On Saturday, Penny and I crossed 2 rivers and several creeks to visit with Dubis and Domingo. They agreed with the plan, but needed continual assurance that we would not let money stand in the way of her receiving the care she needed. "Dios puede hacerlo". (God can do it!) I wrote them the referral for the CT and called Dr Sae to confirm the plans.

As well, Penny sent a note to her "Foul Weather Friend" (FWF), Nancy, who responded that she would "pass the hat" in Sunday School class the next day. Indeed, "Dios Puede": the hat yielded enough to cover the deeply discounted prices of the CT and pathology exams and a good start on the anesthesia bill. Neither Dr Sae nor I will charge the patient and he (the owner of the hospital) will overlook the hospital costs.

Monday evening, with a CT result of "no evidence of metastasis", Dubis was admitted and at 7 am on Tuesday, we were in the OR. As we got to the point where we could open and examine contents of the uterus, we found what appeared to be a very different kind of probably benign tumor, and one that would be unheard of in a post-menopausal patient. On Friday, nine days after her first exam, and amidst Domingo's interjections that "we have no money" and that "Dios puede", Dubis was discharged. I am awaiting the pathology results.

On Friday while I was discharging Dubis, Penny was walking one of our young pregnant patients through the HIV clinic at the public hospital. On a VERY happy note, the clinic lab negated our positive, preliminary "screening" test.

But if you would, please pray for another of our young pregnant patients, whose screening test affirmed her HIV. Pray that she will both continue with her prenatal care and with the HIV clinic; that her baby is not infected and for her healing.

Zippety Doodah, Zippedy Aye, My o My what a wonderful day

2010-03-01T08:03:00.000-08:00

Friday, I (Penny) had planned to use my day in the city to walk a pregnant young lady thru the HIV system in the public hospital while John did the other errands. Was struck by the dirt and disorder, garbage, broken equipment outside the buildings in the hospital compound. The nurse that we finally got routed to was efficient, very kind, neat and informative- a wonderful contrast. When I asked her how often this confirmatory blood test turned out negative when we had a positive from our hospital, and she tersely replied "Never", and I watched S's eyes well up with tears. This is pregnancy #4 for her, and we had already gotten a negative on her husband. The Nurse poked S's finger after cleaning it with water, as she was out of alcohol. She did not have gloves to use. While we waited for the 15 minutes for her to read the results of the blood test, she began to outline the protocol that S would immediately begin, due to the pregnancy. When I again said, "Now, that’s IF its positive". She brushed away my statement and continued her efficient teaching. At the 15 minute mark, she turned to read the test- and said quietly, "It's negative!" She quickly asked S if she could still get blood out of the previous stick (so as not to waste another lancet!) and she could, so she did a second confirmatory of a different type- also negative. YEAH!
We went to a dirty Dunkin' Donuts to celebrate, and S talked about how she felt, like she had a new life. She had walked with this hanging over her head for a week, wondering how she'd contracted the disease, as she was clear that she'd been a "senorita" when she married and that her husband was faithful. She stayed with us all day as we did our errands about town, commenting frequently how free she felt. Made me think of how I felt at 18 after I’d ended a year’s search for the Truth and encountered Grace!
Resolved: visit the HIV clinic to bring alcohol and gloves! Pray for our friends who weekly visit patients dying there of AIDS, and help them with their needs.

Yesterday we had Andrea up for the afternoon, to make cookies for our Sunday School class, just have some 1:1 time with this 11 yr old orphan from the Children’s Center. Her mom died in October, so Andrea will be raised in the Center she’s done with school , one of her mom’s last requests. She has seen and felt too much in her 11 years, so is a joy to see her eyes sparkle. Christine, 26 yrs old, full time lab director here that has bonded quickly to the Honduran kids and employees, came up midafternoon and took Andrea for a ride on her moto, and a hike up to the water tower. We made lasagna for Andrea to test out and bring to Liz and Iain, the Children’s Center parents. Think it was time well spent!

The Barba Amarilla

2010-01-29T18:56:00.000-08:00

Something stands out each week to make it different from the last. Was beginning to interview the last of the 6 students for the Nurses Aide class I begin On Feb. 8 when I got a call about noon to head for the ER. Found an 8 year old boy, Emin, from 3 hours up the mountain, VERY pale and agitated, with a bloody rag around his index finger, and dried blood from head to toe. He had been bitten by a poisonous snake, a Barba Amarilla, supposedly the day before, and arrived with a hematocrit of 10 (dying) and blood that would not clot, effects of the venom. We got 2 IV’s running, l for anti-venom and the other to transfuse blood. While we ran the antivenom, Norma donated a unit of blood, having been prepared just 18hours before to give blood for another patient that ended up not needing it. So that sped up the process and we had both blood and antivenom in by 7 pm, and the little fellow was asking for food and drink.
The story gradually came out that he had been bit Saturday, and grandpa used natural medicines to treat him, having had success in the past. When he began bleeding from ears and nose and vomiting blood, they called a family member in San Pedro who works at a hospital to travel the 7 hours and bring “suero” or IV solution to give him. That is the cure- all here. So there had been a 4 day- plus delay in seeking the hospital.
When I arrived early on Thurs and entered Emin’s room to check on him before going to my office, he was almost bright eyed. I was delighted to hear that the first need was to treat him for bad headlice and parasites- you only treat live boys for that! With all the loving on him we did, I suspect I need to buy a gallon of lice shampoo to pass around.
Like I frequently say, one doesn’t have time to adequately process one emotional event before jumping right into the next one. Early the same AM, Don Pedro, a gentle elderly man who had been carried by his granddaughters down the mountain in a hammock on Christmas Eve, had gone to be with the Lord. After being with us a month, all were very attached to him and there were many tears. So after leaving Enin in stable condition, 4 of us went into Balfate to the wake to visit with the many family members, and particularly with the granddaughter that works with us. Don Pedro and his wife had been together over 60 years.

Little Emin recovering!

Jan 24, 2010

2010-01-24T19:00:00.000-08:00

Jan. 24, 2010 “When its all been said and done, there is just one thing that matters. Did I do my
best …did I live my life for YOU!”

Hm, first blog of the new year! This year’s Christmas eve call fell to John, so he(we) had a busy evening. Early in the evening, we received an elderly couple who were carried by their granddaughters in hammocks down the mountains, both very ill with malaria and other age-related problems. They were followed shortly by a young victim of a shooting. Amongst the celebrators in the nearby town of Lis Lis was someone who ended up shooting 2 men, neither of whom was brought to the hospital, but a third bystander (or by-rider) was the youth who was riding by on his bike and somehow was shot in the hip. Christmas day was the burial for the 2 deceased…a relative of the murderer appeared at the cemetery and was promptly dispatched in retaliation, a common game here. The hospital suffered personally as one of our employees is part of the same family, and she and her family had to flee to prevent also being victims of reltaliation. We thought we would have to replace her, but fortunately she was able to come back last week.

There was some heavy storming during the next few weeks, with the river being high enough on 2 Sundays to prevent us going to church. One of these Sundays, the housekeeper for the hospital had crossed the flooded river early in the AM, about chest height, not being able to swim. When I found out, I told her I would be there to take her out to the river to cross at the end of her shift, just as a way to thank her for how determined she’d been to get to work on that Sunday. We arrived at the fastmoving stream to find it still uncrossable by vehicle. We waited for a chance to see what others were doing and presently a man and child took off their shoes, tied them around their necks, and the wee fellow was put on dad’s back. Marta did the same with her shoes and followed close to him so as to be able to grab him if she fell. Another older gentleman was having trouble deciding how to cross, not wanting to get himself wet. He had a large piece of tarp with which he was wrapping himself, but couldn’t figure out how to hold on to his backpack and also keep a hand at his chin to keep himself covered with the tarp. Then he decided to take off his long pants to keep them dry. This he did while trying to keep himself from being exposed, but he wind was brisk. He had his pants wadded up under his armpit, but his pack kept sliding down his arm and he would drop the tarp in trying to rescue his pack. So I finally stepped in and offered to roll up his pants and put them in the backpack, put the pack over both his arms, covered him and it with the tarp, and bid him a safe crossing. I sure wish I had had a camera, as was hard to keep from chuckling.

New Years Eve day, I believe it was, we had a frank breech deliver in the hospital. Rare here for one to be born live. One of our employees, an LPN, had had to coerce the patient, her sister, to come to the hospital, as she had seen the signs of it being in trouble. If it were not for her, I believe the outcome would not have been so healthy. This wee one was born with a very bruised bottom, and its little legs kept springing back up straight alongside its ears from the long time in this position intrauterine. Hard to even get a diaper on it! We praise God for the good outcome! Dr. McKenney accidentally got caught with catching this one, as he made the mistake of coming into his office on the holiday and heard a bit of commotion in the ER! He was relieved to see John returning from his trip to the city in time to finish up the job!

Last weekend we escaped on Thursday to make a trip to San Pedro, part vacation and part our desire to pick up Christine, the new lab director from the US. We have known her and corresponded since her first visit here 4 years ago, and John’s communicating was what landed her here amongst us to fill this much-needed position. Poor Christine arrives to find that one of the 3 employees that keep the lab running is leaving so one of her first jobs will be tackling the need for his replacement.

Last Sunday, Rosmery, a beautiful young lady who first came to Loma de Luz as a scrawny patient whose hand had been damaged in a grain grinder, spent the day with us. After several surgeries and long stays in our pediatrics ward, Rosmery had come to live with Saundi and Kenton Brown, our neighbors, as a foster child. There Saundi taught her English, and homeschooled her, getting her ready to enter Teachers College about 3 hrs away. She now spends her time in the Children’s Center when in our area, and right now is home on vacation from her school. Was such a joy to see how she has matured, how deeply spiritual she still is, so much fun to have around. She came to church with us last PM to play guitar with us. She has only a semblance of a thumb on that right hand, and uses an apparatus to strum the keys, but makes a joyful noise unto the Lord.
I made an off-schedule trip to the city Wednesday with Joni, who just celebrated his 12th birthday, who is helping our gardener out during his vacation from school to earn money for some life essentials. He had already earned money to pay for a guitar case I got him to house the guitar donated by a friend in the states. Now he had money in his pocket to buy a school uniform and some supplies. First we had to have his eyes checked, which was a 3 hour ordeal, and ended with finding they could not correct his vision completely as he has bad nystagmus, or eye wiggling. but she fitted him with a nice frame and sent them off to the lab to be picked up next time I'm in the city. Friends had given us $50 to help toward his guitar months ago, and the case was only $10 so had $40 left. When the secretary asked who would be paying the bill, I just nodded at Joni, and he grinned.The Dr. asked if Joni could afford 800 Lempiras- exactly the $40 remaining for him. So the Lord took care of that whole bill, leaving Joni's saving account with $ for the dresser he wants and some church pants. When someone asked Jonie about his eye exam, he reported that they had been unable to correct his eyes, couldn't make him glasses and had filled his eyeballs with air!" Something got lost in the translation!

Returned home to celebrate John’s 61st birthday while our friend, Sandy, was here from Tulsa. She is the anesthetist that comes regularly to help with the surgeries, and so we celebrated 2 days early to include her. Had 2 other couples here, and I recreated the menu of the first birthday John celebrated with me 35? years ago. Tho he got called out to the hospital during dinner, it was still a good time.

This past Friday , about 18 Community Health Promoter “wannabees “ arrived on campus for the day to assess their interest to begin the 3 yr long course. John had been told by the coordinator 6 hrs from here that if he could find a goodly number of interested people, she would begin a course here, with quarterly meetings of 3 days. We have made 4 trips this past year with the 4 trainees from here, to participate in the course near the capital, so this will be a big time saver. I taught a 2 hour community CPR course for them, and we hosted Dr. Gabby and her assistant, Lucy for the 2 nights. They felt like the gathering was a good start and so we will kick off the official program in early march. Yeah!

Weather has gone from a frigid low of 63 degrees back up to sweaty hot again. Yesterday, don’t know if it was the weather change or what, but about the time Rosmery and I were preparing to make chocolate chip cookies, we had a major ant invasion, of 3 different species at the same time! After battling them with towels and spray for a few minutes, we gave up and radioed for help. 2 men responded within a minute or two and stayed, each armed with Raid and a ladder, until it looked like the battle was calming a bit. We let the spray dry til John arrived home from the city, and then he did most of the sweeping into piles and sucking up in the vacuum. It was gross…even in the bedding and the pillows, between pages in the Bible, etc. An interesting day, but not the chocolate chip cookies I’d intended!

Another delivery, the father is a hospital employee. This one was caught by Dr. Rene!

Christmas Eve Day, 2009

2009-12-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

Tis the night before christmas, here in Hondurees,
the monkeys are stirring, free from all worries. .
No stockings are hung, as no chimney is had,
There’s no hope of Santa, tho one is not bad.
But the children will not snuggle secure in their casitus,
for tonight is FIESTA, tamales and ruckus.
There will be no santa, no reindeer with sleigh,
but there will be apples on Sunday , that’s the Honduran way.

Okay, Oklahoma CARD BARD (Mike McGowan, whose Christmas poem I am awaiting again!), I know it doesn’t measure up….

Christmas Eve day, 2009, dawned hot and sunny, still. So clear we can see the islands in the bay, the ocean is calm. Slept in til 6:20 as it’s a holiday in the hospital and we will enjoy a 4 day weekend except for John’s taking call! I staggered to the kitchen, whining, “COFFEE, COFFEE” and then settled back in bed with my Bible and study materials to begin preparing Sunday School for our kids, rapidly growing to adulthood, now mostly 12 years old.

Been back in Honduras since Dec. 3, got back in time for all the Christmas celebrations, enjoying it all. Lots of missionaries coming and going, so a real flux. I was part of a choir for the annual missionary Christmas program that our neighbor, Suzanne, wrote and directed- great fellowship in our many practice times, and was very uplifting to just be part of it…the wee kids were the hit of the program, with 1 of the 2 yr old lambs having to be carried out for tizzying by her dad, and one of the 4 yr old girls stopping Suzanne during “Away in a Manger” and correcting her for a wrong word! Priceless. The theme, “Christ With Us, Christ Thru Us” couldn’t have been more meaningful.
Just a few days after re-entry, we took a ferry trip to Roatan to visit with friends Dan and Rhoda who were on a cruise from FL thru the Caribbean. Only had 3 hrs. to lunch with them, but after being friends since Sarah was 1 (now over 30 yrs.), we start out deep.

This past Sunday was our campo church Christmas program, also with a Nativity drama largely masterminded by just l woman. She crafted cow and sheep faces out of quilt batting, and managed to cajole enough youngsters and teens to participate that it was special. The lector did not practice and got his pages of the script out of order and there were lots of LONG pauses and incorrect parts read,….but the audience of about 100 did not seem to mind. The kids seemed to enjoy it, and it was a festive time, with the traditional tamales served to all the guests after. Because we were involved with our missionary program presentation we had to miss the tamale making party.

Our first days back in the country we had to say goodbye to Pastor Antonio and his wife and 3 girls, whom we loved and admired. They returned to their Guatemalan home as they had planned 2 ½ years ago when they agreed to serve as leaders of the church. The little group is struggling….pray for the Lord’s clear direction for The Church at Margarita, and for a national pastor to lead it.

Yesterday fellow nurse Norma and I hosted all the nursing staff at her home for a Christmas “tea” at 3:30. I spent the day making my annual treat of cinnamon rolls for them, and we had a fun time with them as they shared Honduran customs with us, and it was also a forum for Ritza, who has been with the hospital since it opened, to share her engagement with everyone at once. It gives me such joy to see them “walking in truth”….and having walked with Ritza closely for 5 years, I know its not been easy for her, and I have such admiration for this woman who, when she hears new truth, applies it to her life, no matter the cost.

We’ve added a 12 yr old boy to our payroll, so to speak. Joni is being raised by his elderly grandmother and needs encouragement to thrive right now. He has been in our Sunday School class for several years, has picked up guitar and has an awesome voice. He always has his head cocked to one side with a quizzical look on his face. We found out he has trouble in school because of his eyes, so have arranged to bring him with us to the city for fitting of glasses. Our wonderful gardener, Chilo, has agreed to let him work at his side, training him, “fathering” him, during his vacations from school. Someone donated a youth guitar while we were in the US (thanks, Jane!) and I got a case on Craigs List for only $10, so Joni spent last week paying off the guitar and proudly carried it home. He is now working towards the glasses, and then will begin saving for the new school year which begins before February. I showed him just once how to calculate his tithe, and yesterday he did it without hesitation! Then handed back his pay and said I was to start a savings account for him! So we’ll teach him basic recordkeeping and hopefully responsibility. I put my own guitar out for him for his lunch hour as well as a Honduran devotional for kids, and he can use his time as he chooses. Usually he runs around, swings on the hammock, sings and kicks up his heels. Know his short life has been full of hard work, not much play. He had been getting up at 3 am each day to help his uncle with his job of getting the cows in for milking in a nearby community, returning at 5 am, then getting ready for school! Not sure what we’ll do when school starts…

Trying to set better boundaries, both of us, to have more quality time at home, keep up things better, have more company. John found parts for my stove in the US, so have been having a great time being able to cook and bake again after over a year! We are getting fat with all my experimenting! We are doing better at watching out for each other’s health, making exercise priority daily. John’s bike trainer broke, irreparable, so just last night found one online and had it sent to someone who will be returning here shortly. Praying it gets there in time, as biking is HIS favorite form of exercise, and he had a nice system set up on the back patio where we could watch the monkeys swinging in the palms while riding! Hope to have that up and running for him again soon.

For my part, I am finding my new IPOD to be a great invention to lower my cholesterol and triglycerides! Hm, Pastor Barnett, bet you don't advertise your sermons with that benefit! I love it! It moltivates me out the door at 5:30 and actually a smidgen of enjoyment in it now.
You'd think I invented it, the way I talk about it! I find its been a steep learning curve...had to go to the neighbor to ask how to adjust the volume.

May your days be merry and bright, even those who’s Christmas will NOT be white! We ALWAYS have a reason for joy, as OUR hope resides within us, the great Immanuel.

More from The Top of the World

2009-11-05T01:25:00.000-08:00

Last blog posted as Nov. 5, but was written weeks ago. OOPS! So we have been in Kathmandu now for 2 1/2 weeks. Overall impression is ...sensory overload! The incredible colors, textures of the women's clothing, the Pashmina wool, the weavings, the Hindu prayer flags, the smell of coriander and garlic in the streets, the steamy milk tea with its sinus-clearing spices, the men's colorful hats, the mass of humanity on motorcycles or buses or bike-rickshaws, the honking of the horns, the odor of humanity in the narrow alleys..... and over all that, the awareness of how blessed we are to be having this opportunity, praying constantly not to miss ANYTHING the Lord has for us in this land.

We spent our first 5 days being a bit touristy, wandering the streets of Patan where LB and Jeff live, and getting used to again being where we understand nothing of what is going on around us!
Took us back 5+ years to our arrival in Honduras! Jeff and LB's pastor from Vashon, WA flew in with a friend of LB's dad to participate in all the doings, so joined us on our wanderings. We wandered out in a rural village near the city, amazed at some of the similarities to our villages in Honduras. It is harvest time, so rice was drying on evey available space of gound, the window openings were full of drying corn unhusked. I stopped to stroke the soft head of a baby goat- and he began to suck my finger... then chomped on it. Hm, they sure teethe early. I have trouble resisting baby goats. We spent one afternoon going thru a famous large Hindu shrine here, and then bussed to a Buddhist site and wandered in and out of the shops, stopping to enjoy a big meal for about $2 in a typical restaurant. Those first 2 weeks we ate lentil and rice (dal bhat) almost daily- and we have not grown tired of it. (Hm, I smell it cooking in the kitchen right now!)

For me, a touching and emotional memory of the "before dedication" events was a visit to the printing press that was pumping out the New Testaments and song books for distribution. Because of strikes and Hindu festivals, they were much delayed and it sure looked like right up to the last minute that there would be far fewer ready than Jeff desired. But to see the intricasies of the process, the dozens of people sitting crosslegged in a dark workroom under lightbulbs doing the cutting, folding, gluing, sewing... and to know how many years, tears, and prayers had gone into this endeavor was momentous. At the last minute, we were able to transport all the needed books to the dedications!

Along with about 7 other folks from the US from the Seed Company (a Wycliffe affiliate that works with this type of project to fund it), we flew out to the east on Sunday, Oct. 25, and settled into the accomodations the Limbu committee has secured for us. Ours was right on the main highway, up a dark stairway, a spacious cement room that showed no signs of having had clean linen for a long time nor a cleaning of any kind. Workers slept on mats out in the hallway. But we had no bugs or rats, unlike our companions in a neighboring hotel. We were able to participate in a church service in the Limbu church a fair walk away the evening before the celebration, which was really neat- seeing them singing THEIR songs with THEIR instruments, ones they had composed themselves, not just english hymns that had Limbu words. They did their traditional dances and had their traditional dress, giving us a peek at their lives.

The dedication ceremony was 5 hours long, with many dignitaries speaking, some christian and some political. Jeff felt that the location, the local municipality building, very public, and the banner over the entry for all to see, was a real first. No effort was made to hide the purpose of the celebration. Jeff was honored both here and at the India dedication for his years of devotion to the Limbu translation.

There was a huge feast on the grounds afterwards. Because of a strike closing down transportation and businesses the following day, some of the visitors left for the airport area that PM to be sure they arrived in time for their flights. LB, who had made the long journey over just for the cereomony but had to return to her teaching job the next day, chose to stay overnight...then had to take a bike rickshaw the 1 1/2 hrs to the airport in the early am as there was no taxi service!

From there, we piled into vans like sardines with all the Limbu folk who were also traveling the 8 or so hours into Sikkim, India to a town called Jorthang. The border crossing and journey are a blur...not easy. The believers awaited us at the church there with a meal specially prepared. We sat outside and gradually several got brave enuf to attempt the use of English. Much more personal interaction here, as it was a smaller group, probably only about 350. We were taxied by the Limbu committee out of town to a guesthouse on a rushing river, far from the highway, where we enjoyed a small supper and a deliciously quiet night- WITH hot water, a rare commodity. We attended the second dedication Thursday, where the highlight for me was to hear Jeff give an address, the only one who spoke Limbu! Apparently the Nepali are hesitant to use the language in public- there was an obvious response to him! We drove the incredibly curvy, narrow roads (yes, Dr. Don, worse than the road to Sattal!) thru the mountains over the border and down to the lowlands before dark, but still a long drive to the border thru awful traffic. I will never again complain about Honduras traffic. We stayed at a $7 a room place near the bus terminal, the nicest hotel in town! Think we were all relieved to get to the little airport in the AM and fly back to Kathmandu.

We rested up over the weekend, enjoyed the international church that meets at the school LB teaches at, and prepared for an overnight trek. John had gone out biking with Jeff and a group of men for 4 hours that morning, and had a nasty fall when some schoolgirls crossed in front of him in the mountains. He did a 4 or 5 point landing, striking his sternum also so is having some residual discomfort. Despite all his ouchies, and wondering up to the point of departure if he could do it, he took off with Jeff and I at 6:30 Monday for an 8 hr, 13 miles mountain hike. He survived better than I did- there wasn't much that didn't hurt by sunset! But the views were worth every ache and pain! We arrived at an awesome mountain retreat right before sunset, with time to shower and snuggle beneath 4 layers of down, wool, and 2 regular blankets to warm up while sipping Nepali milk tea. We watched the full moon come up on our right and the sun go down on the left- with the snowcsapped Himalayes in front of us. Then limped to the dining room for a wonderful hot meal- yup, dal bhat! Slept deeply beneath all the layers for warmth as we were a mile high and it got cold. Jeff had to wake us up to view the sunrise! Hated to leave the view behind, but we descended the mountains after a leisurely quiet time facing the mountain range in front of us. May we never forget the many showstopping views we were privileged to see! Winding down our time for departure next Monday.

Thanks to all of our supporters who in one way or another made this trip possible.

Top of the World

2009-11-05T00:36:00.000-08:00

October 21 sees us in Kathmandu, Nepal, on our long dreamed for trip to see my brother Jeff and his incredible family here. They have lived here doing Bible translation work for about 20 years. We were able to arrange a day's layover in HongKong enroute here to catch-up with some longtime friends, Diane and Steve Lawler. That was not only a delightful interlude but allowed us to survive the long trip better.
Diane Lawler, HongKong

Oct. 26 will see the formal dedication of the New Testament in the people group Jeff has been working with. What a culture shift, from the Western Third World of Honduras,with a mostly Judeochristian worldview, to this mostly Hindu nation. We will be here and in northern India for a similar dedication, returning to Kathmandu for another week and a half of just family time- with a 2 day trek in there somewhere. John has enjoyed the first of what he hopes to be many long mountainbike rides in the early AM.

We left Honduras 2 weeks ago and made a week stop in Tulsa for the start of our medical checks
and visiting our kids and the 3 grands there.
It was not nearly enough and are looking forward to Thanksging with them enroute back to Honduras. We happened to have unknowingly timed our Nepal departure to conflict with Tulsa Bible Church’s mission conference, but were at least able to participate in the kickoff, and then the children’s conference and a brunch, so better than nothing. It is shocking to realize that the 1st graders in the conference were born the year we left the states! We will continue the visits we began when we return. Its never enuf!
Snuck in a lunch with Joanne Heck

My last update from Honduras was mid September, and I was chronicling the progress of my favorite patient, Enel, a 37 yr old who was with us with bad burns. I also shared the need for an instrument for doing skin grafts. Well, while in the US for the birth of a grandchild, fellow workers Dr. Leon and Judy were able, miraculously, to obtain the $20,000 instrument for $500! Fun story- but the results were good skin grafts on Enel’s calves before we left the country….and we vicariously enjoyed and cried over his return home 2 days ago. He was with us for 7 weeks I believe!

We left the hospital knowing the new missionary RN , Joelle, was already gaining the confidence of the Honduran staff, even with such a short orientation. I can’t imagine taking on the responsibility she has at 22! Our last weeks there were exhausting, trying to get John’s system sustainable in his absence, and enjoy a team of 7 that were there for 2 weeks from Jacksonbville, OR visiting us. They decided to not cancel their trip despite the continued political unrest and anxiety. 5 had been with us before, 2 were new, but is amazing how quickly the “new kids on the block” become part of our lives! One of our fellow missionaries will have ongoing memories of them, as they painted her house outside, that had suffered so badly in last year’s flooding. John will think of the 2 nurses as he enjoys the neatly organized delivery room they prepared, plus many more tangible and intangible blessings they left behind. All our community feels the touch of this team when they come! More later from the Top of the World.

Sept. 12, Lost Journal when Computer Crashed!

2009-09-28T16:57:00.000-07:00

Sept. 12, 2009

Our burn patient Enil is on day 13 now, beginning to heal. Still not out of the woods as far as grafts is concerned, but no decision yet on those. Each crisis here like that makes the need for specific equipment glaring. Right now we could use a Dermatone, that cheesecutter type device that slices off the skin to use for grafting. Ours is archaic. Anyone got one stuffed away on the top shelf?

Our new RN’s arrived Monday and I began to orient them to us and the hospital. I promised them that we would not do the “sink or swim” method of orientation, that they would NOT be asked to do something before having been checked off. Yeah, right! Wednesday after having assigned them to their places for the day, John let me know about 9 (as I was beginning the hour+ dressing change on Enil) that I needed to be the ambulance STAT to take an OB patient at 8 cm. to Ceiba. Not my favorite job, as I dread getting caught on the road delivering a baby. I changed the job description of Belkis for the day and enlisted her companionship to transport. We hit the road, and thankfully many of the speed bumps had been leveled in road repair recently. We made the low flying trip in 55 minutes instead of the 75 I usually take. I kept one eye on the road and the cows and chickens crossing, and the other on the rearview mirror to watch for signs of pushing! By God’s grace, she did not begin pushing til we arrived at the hospital. Whew!

We arrived back in the campo to find that a 14 yr old girl had come in in our absence, having been shot in the face by her boyfiend (oops, that friend!) at fairly close range. She was just coming out of surgery, and a big repair job of her tongue and mouth and face by Dr. Jeff. As she is unable to talk til she heals, I gave her a notepad and pen to communicate. I was so touched when I asked her the second day if there was anything I could do for her and she wrote, “Ore por mi”, pray for me.

John went up to Satal in the mountains on Tuesday, getting to be a regular clinic up there monthly. We are beginning to see results in the care there, more folks following up down below with ultrasounds and coming down to have their babies. Recently a road has gone thru to the mountain village making that 1 hr hike at the end of the old road not necessary any more. Makes the trip more feasible, tho it will still not be passable in rainy season. Our Dr. Don has begun some home groups meeting for bible study, and has been doing programs in the school. We are thankful for such open doors here.

Just got back from another trip to the hospital. #3 for the day. The first was when the guard from the gate rode up on a motorbike he borrowed this AM at 7:30 as they couldn’t reach us for some reason by radio. A lady was ready to deliver, so we both scooted down to be there to help Dr. Joel, who was on call and found himself caught with this imminent birth. I was done with my part and on the road to the music program by 8:45- now that’s an efficient mother. The second trip was to give John a tetanus shot as he got himself with the drill while working here at the house. The 3rd. was just because ER was too busy for the nurse to handle that plus her inpatients, so just got her thru the worst of it. Time for bed.

Exciting note from church this afternoon. Angelica, for the first time in over a year, was emotionally healthy enough to lead singing. I had met with her twice during the week as she cleans house for us and she worked on the songs she wanted. Decided to pick 3 hymns, which we haven’t used much here, but she loves them. Well, she did great, and there were an unusually large number of attendees. There was great participation with her selected hymns…made me happy to see her glowing. Met with the pastor and a young couple I have been very involved with now for 3 years to discuss their role in the church. Have seen them thru some troubled times, so was a great joy to see them ready to make mature decisions. They were the ones that got married a short time ago.
Sept. 15 Honduras Independence Day- clinic closed today in honor of their holiday. We will celebrate with the fellow missionaries, the Tumlinsons, later today with a program on the history of Honduras and typical Honduran food, hosted by Cynthia, who is Honduran.

“Is today the day?”

2009-09-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

Julia, Bonnie and John Barnett, "out to eat"
The staff dealing with the burn victim

September 7, 2009, Monday

In the book, Safely Home by Randy Alcorn, the Chinese Christians taught their children that came to the point of being born again to ask the Lord daily on arising, “Lord, is today the day?” There are many martyrs in the Underground church in china, and they learn young that there is a heavy cost to following Jesus. That they need to be prepared to suffer, and even die, for Something that outlasts life.

I wonder if Noel awoke Saturday with that question on his 12 yr old mind. As I got out of Dr. Don’s car and began to unload the guitars and keyboards from our weekly Saturday AM music class in Margarita, I heard Heidi shout at me, “Code Blue! They are calling you from the hospital!” I ran for the driveway and hopped on the motor scooter. The downhill ride to the hospital gave me time to pray and calm my “Fight or Flight” response. I arrived in the ER just about 5 minutes after they had begun CPR on a young man who is a student of Dr. Don’s in LisLis in the music program in the school there. Noel had been diving in shallow river water, hunting shrimp while the ladies were doing laundry in the river and got caught on a submerged root. It was too late when it was finally noticed he’d not come back up. We worked hard for about 30 minutes before calling the code, the whole time praying audibly that God would choose to miraculously bring him to life. For Noel, Saturday WAS the day.

We had a pretty sober Sunday School class Sunday Am in the aftermath of this event, as our kids are about 12. Life and Death are SO “in your face” here, nothing to sugar coat the reality of either. Very few of our kids have not seen the death of a baby in the family or the death of a mom or other close relative, most up close. They understand that they need to decide now whom they will serve, and with that choice, where they will spend eternity.

Several weeks ago my Honduran friend, Ritza, shared her dream about Loma de Luz being flooded with RN’s. I wisely told her that we could be sure that was just a normal silly dream because we couldn’t afford even 1 LPN with our current shortage of funds, much less RN’s at triple the wages. Last Monday, just a week ago, we said kind of a happy goodbye to a young LPN that had pinchhit for us during the vacation of one of our nurses. He did not prove to be a good gamble, so were thankful it was short term, but it left us with big gaps in the scheduling, and with 2 nurses needing to postpone their vacations for lack of staffing. About 4 PM I got a call from the gate that a nursing instructor from the RN program in Ceiba needed to talk with me. She arrived with 2 new graduate RN’s in tow. Her story was that they had been placed to do their 1 year of social service for the government out in the Mosquitia, but that the cost of living was higher than the small stipend they receive so the government had told her to send them to us! We ARE part of the public system as well as a private hospital, making us a site for MD’s and nurses to do their service time. A major WOW! Today I began intense training of Rosa and Beklis, to have them trained before we leave for Nepal in October. Thursday this week, an RN from the US arrives for 6-12 months to help us, and tomorrow another Honduran RN begins volunteering for John, as she can’t find employment. Hm, the count is now 4 RN’s, and I am in touch with one more, an American trained Master’s degree RN who is Honduran…and you guessed it, wants to volunteer with us until she gets her Honduran license to get some experience! I guess that 5 RN’s, all unpaid by us, constitutes a flood of them. Ritza, I stand corrected. Your dream WAS a vision from God!

In the wake of such good news last Monday, I was bringing a birthday cake down to Silvia, one of the nurses, and saw a lot of action in ER, long after the day shift should have left. They were working on a young man who had been badly burned in a home gasoline fire, receiving 2^nd. Degree burns over about 45% of his body. I joined them to get him stable and took staff home after. It’s been a challenge to work twice daily with Enil on cleaning his body and reapplying dressings with our limited handicapped accessible bathrooms and showers. But we have seen great improvement, bonded with he and his wife, a teacher at our local highschool. I said years ago when our daughter Kate was working in the Burn Unit at Hillcrest that I would NEVER work with burns. Hm. Sure makes me admire her, tho. Its been a tremendous challenge for staff, and we’ve even enlisted visitors to help as it takes about 1 ½ hrs. to do him.

Last week passed in a blur more or less, with the bright spot being a whirlwind visit from John and Bonnie Barnett (our pastor and wife from our Tulsa days). I went to Ceiba to pick them up at the ferry dock from Roatan after work Tuesday. Julia had taken them there for a birthday celebration for her mom as they entered the country. John and Bonnie had accompanied Julia on her 5^th trip here in less than 2 years, to be able to see the area she has fallen in love with. (and that has fallen in love with her!) They were with us just 2 nights, before we turned around and drove them back to San Pedro. Having company and seeing our work here thru their eyes and hearing about it from their point of view always causes us to stop and thank the Lord for allowing us to serve Him here for this time. Julia will stay for 3 months to help Lisa in administration.

Odds and Ends of Update

2009-08-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

So many scenes here are idyllic, peaceful and picturesque. The woman washing clothes in the pila is Sonia, a long time employee of the hospital and a good friend. She is a success story- trained from the local pueblo in surgery, sent off to the city to attend LPN school, returned to us and is now the Triage nurse. She adds sparkle to each day with her loving hugs and sense of humor. I frequently pass thru her little enclave where all the family lives to climb up higher to visit another employee.
I just love seeing their everyday life, sitting and laughing with them over the antics of the little puppies under the pedal sewing machine (which is currently hemming John's pants!), the chickens jumping up on the couch.

The week after returning from the flight out to the Mosquitia, John and I journeyed inland 6 hrs with 4 young ladies to the mountains for another Health Promoters Conference where John did several days of teaching on OB GYN issues for the group. I enjoyed the extended downtime in a bed and breakfast surrounded by nice gardens and a wall. It was SO nice- and the sink did not fall off the wall! There was electricity and it was SO clean. A sharp contrast to the motel we stayed at in the Mosquitia. We left ahead of the girls to get John to the airport in San Pedro for a flight to the US. We were able to meet up with Dr. Leon in the motel there, as he too was leaving the country and I put them both on the plane before heading into the city to pick up the girls at the big bus station there. I had their company back to the hospital.
Then began a week "alone"- if one is ever alone here! While John maximized his time to be with our son Jake in Tulsa, and pay short visits to Kate, the kids, and Dan, I said goodbye to Norma, the other RN that works with me as she was leaving for a 4 month furlough. Did some things for John's patients during his time away, but more or less just kept things running! Enjoyed a bit more time visiting with friends in the campo, and even had the adventure of a bus ride with 40 others from the church out further towards the end of the road for an evening of singing with other area churches to the roar of the generator that fueled the 2 lites and the amplifier!

Joni, the young boy below,reading his Bible early in the AM, came home with me so I would not have to drive alone in the dark from the church. He has been in our Sunday School class for several years, and have seen grow from a wimpy, retiring dirty kid to a well-groomed, confident, guitar-playing young man, competently memorizing his required verses and taking big responsibility. Being raised by his Gran, a local illiterate midwife, since his mom was killed, he is now working as gardener and cleanup man for our sunday school champa with dirt floors for 6 weeks to earn his own Bible. He and 2 others persisted in a program we put together and memorized 35 verses to earn a children's illustrated bible, but he wants an adult Bible too.

Well, its almost midnight, John and I have been at the hospital with a young friend in labor with her first. John is now headed for the city with her and her husband. Off to bed.

La Mosquitia

2009-08-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

kitchen at orphanage

Have 20 minutes til Norma picks me up to be at the church early to practice guitar. My progressively more arthritic hands and finger are balking at the thought, but guess movement is the best treatment. Returned just yesterday from a 3 day trip by air out to Puerta Lempira, in the Mosquitia to the east of us, land of swamps, drugs, another language and culture. 2 other women and I left at 6 am wednesday for the 1 1/4 hr flight, landing on the dirt airstrip to be greeted by many dogs, the pastor and Gris that work at Mama Tara's orphanage, and assorted people we didn't know. I had created havoc in the departing airport and almost missed the flight because the scanner showed 3 things in my backpack that weren't permitted! Oops. Even in the 3rd world they are careful. As the flight took off, a steady stream of water began to drop on the woman across from me, so Liz and I held up a barf bag to catch it to keep her from getting soaked. It soon stopped. The airconditioning for the ride out was the frequent opening and closing of the window in the cockpit, so was a pleasantly cool trip!

Dirt air strip in Puerto Lempira

We spent our day visiting in the orphanage, asking questions of the boss and various others connected with the work. Had time to play guitar with Gris, the 19 yr old from our area that I'd gone to encourage. She spends time teaching guitar to the kids with an evangelical program Dr. Don from our area created, and they were delighted to give me a concert! Part of our goal in the trip was to encourage the 2 volunteers there and assess their success and needs, so took the Canadien 29 yr old out for lunch to have time to talk with her alone. She took us on a tour of main street, a dirt road ending at the dock, bordered by many small wood shops. All goods come in by boat or plane, so the dock is integral. Prices are high based on lack of access by road, there is no clean water to be had, and electricity is sporadic to say the least. We were able to visit House of Hope, a special needs orphanage that is the nicest in the area with good support from the US. I slept well, despite no a/c or lights during the night. No coffee to be had in early am is my only complaint!

Our second day was also spent at the orphanage playing with kids or consulting with helpers, and then we left with Gris to visit another orphanage that is essentially a family in which lots of the mothers, (sisters), have died and so the aunties have kept the 29 kids together in a very small 3 bedroom house. They were spotless, delightful, orderly. Assessed their water and hygiene needs- water is from a deep square dirt hole pulled up by bucket- muddy to say the least. They walk a fair distance to a faucet in the community for "drinking" water, also not purified. We are so blessed!
We went back to our motel to process all we'd seen and while I was holding my water bottle over the sink in the bathroom to add some powdered drink mix to it, the sink fell off the wall. Shocking pain, as I began to form a hematoma on my foot immediately. The water began flooding the room so we had to evacuate! In the end, we were moved to another room and ended up having a peaceful night, again without electricity. I did NOT touch the sink in the new room!

Backtracking a week or so, John admitted a 7 yr. old with osteomyelitis (bone infection) in her leg from an untreated break. He sent the xrays to an ortho in the US for counsel, and he said it was among the worse he's seen. After 2+ weeks of IV antibiotics in the hospital, with her leg immobilized in a cast and more or less restricted to bed, little Fanny became everyone's pet. She is from a long ways away, but family stayed with her much of the time. It was decided she'd do better at the Children's Home with other kids to help her pass the time, so she was sent there a few days ago, with her IV, and the need to come to the hospital twice daily for her antibiotic. When Dr. McKenney returns on the 17th, he will assess her and decide what he as a surgeon can do for her. Meanwhile, we're fattening her up, introducing her to yogurt and other high protein foods, and loving her.

Because of the political unrest of the past weeks, we had missed an important wedding about 3 hrs from here, and it took place without our signature on the wedding papers. Last week, we took a 24 hr trip over to Tela with Silvia, the new bride, and stayed overnight in a hotel with her, enjoyed dinner at a place on the beach....and then went with her to sign her wedding papers. Silvia is now legal! We got to meet her family and enjoy breakfast with them before hoofing it back to the hospital. We had no problems on the road, met no demonstrators.
There is a political standoff right now, with relative peace but no resolution. Negotiations still going on, roads blocked on Thursdays and Fridays with marches. The teachers staged a large march on Friday with spraypainting bad things on public buildings and private dwellings. We are still expecting 2 teams in September, praying nothing will happen to cause them to change their plans. Life is more or less normal, with the typical swine flu scares, local shootings and macheteings, more civil weddings. We are safe, here in the center of His will.

Spotlight on Eryn,Honduran Unrest, July 23, 2009

2009-07-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

Eryn at Luis and Kara's wedding.
Eryn on front porch, waiting to swim in ocean
Patients arriving for clinic on the island.
Eryn helping in the island clinic

3 1/2 weeks since I last made an entry. Gabi , the little girl we took to the big city because of a tumor in her brain, DID go to be with the Lord. The political unrest that began big time the day I wrote continues, some days scary, but always our lives continue as normal at the hospital, at work in the community, in the bible studies. Eryn, who arrived as I wrote the last entry, lived and played with us for these past weeks while storm clouds brewed politically. She overlapped many shorttermers, all of whom have left the country due to the potential powderkeg. I just returned from a quick trip to San Pedro with Dr. Greene to put his wife Judy and our Eryn on a flight out of the country. Nothing we saw alarmed us other than the riot police setting up shop near the airport! I am just thankful to have found a way home for Eryn and breathed a sigh of relief thru my sad tears at her departure. We had quite the time together!

Eryn made good friends with a new MK here, Sam. They spend many hours playing, swimming, staying overnight with each other. She also bonded to our pastor's girls, and spent l day playing in the campo with them, and would play with all the church girls during the women's bible study on tuesday. While I was at church working with 4 kids that wanted to practice guitar, she played around the church Monday. Jessica shinnied up a palm tree and got her a coconut to try. She loved the water, and then our gardener chopped off the shell and presented her with the "cup" to scoop out the coconut meat. She has had about as much avocado as she could hold, as well as mango and pineapple, as all are producing right now.

Her stay overlapped 2 weddings, one of which we had to miss as there was a curfew instated for this time of crises and we chose to adhere to that. Silvia got married without us attending, but is coming to dinner tonight to show us her pictures and share her big adventure. We were to be the witnesses, so still have to make the 3 hr trip to sign her papers! The following weekend was a huge festive wedding of Kara Faull and Luis, a local guy that we all love. Luis is at bible school in Guatemala City, so Kara will join him there. That event took dozens of us to prepare for, and Eryn was included in helping. It brought in a lot of old timers that had lived and worked here in the past, so like a major reunion. All homes were full of guests as there are no hotels in the area.

Last week, we took a private boat to go out to the clinic on the Cayos Cochinos islands. Eryn went along to "help"- and snorkel. We left early Tuesday AM and returned when the sea got rough on Thursday, leaving a census undone that we'd planned. Next time. We saw about 22 patients, snorkeling in between during the lulls. All come in by small boat or dugout, so often come in groups, then awhile before the next boat arrives. It is a chain of small islands with no roads, so only transport in water. I got up early one day to have 5:30 coffee with Laurie, a friend on the island who kindly opens her guest cabin for us to use on our trips out there, so that was an added perk for the trip. We visited the one village on the East End to see the potential of beginning a bible study or some other outreach.

Saturday, Eryn had the opportunity to go to Ceiba with Lisa Bradley, who has a ministry in the city dump there. She spent the whole day, and really enjoyed it. Seems nothing shocks her. I went out to Margarita with Dr. Don and another newcomer to the hospital to help in the music outreach there. Regularly having 30 youngsters and adults learning, singing, praising. Incredible. Eryn enjoyed that once while here also. She really got a good taste of what we do here.

Johns life has been consumed with clinic, as there are just 2 docs and himself here right now. All the rest have left for the US. So sharing call among the 3 makes for a busy life. He had 3 OB's over the weekend, one whom he shipped by ambulance, one whom he delivered Saturday night, another whom he himself drove to the city after dark to deliver. Seems to be a run on babies right now.
The one delivery was a good friend from the church. Hard to separate the incredible miracle of a newborn from the situation that conceived it. Many tears on her part, much grief on ours as we gradually uncover the day to day wickedness that abounds here.

As I close tonight, ex-president Zelaya has stated that he is approaching the Nicaragua-Honduran border with a "force of press". He has asked his family to meet him on the border. He claims he is entering under a white flag. Because of Venezuela's involvement with Zelaya, the Venezuelan ambassadors to Honduras have been asked to leave the country, and their 72 hr. deadline is about up. Today there were major road blocks near the capital as well as public hospitals that were "paralyzed" by Zelaya supporters. We were blessed by hearing Norma tonight at missionary prayer and fellowship share her rendition of the story of Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20, where in response to the kings pleas to God to intervene in an inevitable battle, he was told "Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's. Take up your positions, stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you". Then in the morning, as they prepared to march out, he appointed men to lead at the head of the army, "singing to the Lord and praising him for the splendor of his holiness". Remember what happened? As they began to sing and praise, the Lord "set ambushes against their enemies and they were defeated. "

Thus we choose to remain here for now, praising God for the splendor of his holiness, delighted to have front-row seats to see Him at work. He shines the brightest in adversity. Pray for Honduras.

Political unrest in Honduras

2009-06-27T06:37:00.000-07:00

For lack of time and words, I am pasting with permission of Dr. Joel 2 things that have consumed our minds and our time this week. Then I will follow the first with an update from yesterday. The following was written Thursday night.

"Gabi is a 5 year old girl who I first met almost 6 weeks ago. She came in have her first seizure (maybe, there were some questionable ones in the days leading up), and it was a doozy. Status epilepticus, for those medical types. All told she was probably seizing for over 35-40 minutes by the time we got it suppressed w/ phenobarbital (a strong sedative and anti-seizure med). She was then in the hospital for 2 days, the first mostly sleeping off the drug. After leaving, she came back the next week w/ no new seizures, controlled on her dose of phenobarbital, happy and sweet. She even sang me a song! I thought we were on our way to a happy ending. However she returned a few weeks later and had scary symptoms developing: severe weakness in Right arm and hand, difficulty walking due to weakness in R leg, and facial droop like a stroke victim has. Distressed, I told her mom that she would need a CT scan. Mom seemed somewhat detached from it all, and blamed all her problems on intestinal parasites. She seemed to understand the need for the CT scan, but said she couldn't afford it. I told her that I would speak to her pastors (since they both serve at our hospital as well) and that her church would help. The Yosts, a missionary family in that same church, offered to pay for 1/2 and drive her to get it. I made her an appt for 3 days to try and get time to make the arrangements. Mom and Gabi did not show up. I heard from those in her church that she told everyone that Gabi was improved and didn't need to go, so not many people contributed in the offering. After missing another appointment, Gabi and mom finally showed up (2 weeks later, after multiple attempts by pastors and missionaries to have them return), and Gabi looked much worse. Very lethargic, still walking, but just barely, and now having developed deviation of one eye. After some long discussion w/ one of our excellent nurses and Peggy, mom agreed to get the CT scan and said she could come up w/ about 1/4 of the cost. The other was covered by various others touched by this beautiful, suffering little girl. Ct done next day. Not good news when they came back Wednesday. She has a tumor the size of a small egg in the L side of her brain. We kept her overnight in the hospital, and after some-difficult-to-explainresistance from mom, who still seems somewhat detached, and required several "talkings-to", arrangements were made to take her to the largest government hospital in San Pedro Sula. The have experienced neurosurgeons there and even pediatric oncologist, whom I spoke too and who agreed she need to come there. So today mom and Gabi were taken in car by staff to that hospital. I really ask you all to pray for Gabi that God would heal her, that she could get the surgery she needs and would grow to become as lovely a woman as she is now a lovely girl. Pray that God would protect her, that she could even have no significant neurological deficits after her treatment. Even pray that her healing would be an amazing testimony and set off a revival in her town. Also, pray for mom that God would touch her through this and bring her to himself. Pray that she would see her need for Christ and repent. Pray that God would give her strength to be a good mom during this difficult time. Pray for provision for her other children whom she had to leave behind w/ other family."

John and I traveled to San Pedro yesterday, Friday, to be ready to greet Eryn, our 11 yr old granddaughter, traveling into the country with Dr Leon and Judy. We visited Gabi and her mom and aunt in the hospital about 6 PM. Gabi had gone into convulsions again shortly after arrival in SPS, and then into a coma. She was still in Pediatric ER 24 hrs later- still in the same green dress, but now unresponsive. We had been told that she was on mechanical ventilation- hm, the mecanics of which is mom and auntie taking turns squeezing the ambu! They have done this for over 24 hours...they're mad and tired. Gabi has probably winged her way heavenward as I write. Will call when its a decent hour.

The second attention grabber of the week is the political unrest here that Dr. Joel describes far better than I can. Due to being involved in the hospital, I had not been on email all week, and the gradually increasing tension had escaped me. All here will be staying close to home as the national "referendum" is tomorrow, Sunday. There is nothing else in the news here. Tho we know its "small potatoes" in the states, as is the pathos of our Gabi, it nonetheless a crises here.

To quote Dr. Joel, at present there is a "showdown between the president and executive branch and every other branch of the government/power structure. In short, President Zelaya, w/out saying what changes need to be made, is calling for a vote of the citizens to see if they want a 'cuarta urna'(fourth ballot, the first three are for 1)local candidates 2)congress candidates 3)presidential candidates) included in November's elections. Unfortunately, there is no such polling or cuarta urna allowed in the Constitution. There are other ways established w/in the Constitution to change the constitution, but apparently he is not interested in these methods. Probably b/c he could never get enough support to get them called. Slyly, he won't say what part of the consititution needs changing, just saying that it "doesn't work" or is "bad". Apparently, this hasn't fooled too many people, as the press and most people interviewed call it a veiled attempt to seek continuismo, staying in power continually. Lately it has really become a showdown, and looks like it might develop into a crisis. It is incredibly interesting, but scary too. The atmosphere builds w/ the weightness of what is happening. W/in the past week, the Supreme Court declared the polling unconstitutional and ordered the armed forces and police to NOT participate. The attorney general declared it illegal and has threatened to bring charges against any government officials or workers or citizens who help put forth the polling, as it is against the law and considered an "attempt against the state". Just yesterday, the president fired the equivalent of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff of the armed forces, when the general said he would not follow the presidents order to establish the cuarta urna, b/c to do so was to break the law. So he got canned. In response, the heads of each branch of the armed forces and the defense minister resigned in solidarity. The next day, the Supreme Court reinstated the head of the joint chiefs, saying it was within his power and that his firing was unlawful. There have been large street protests, so far apparently peaceful, against the president's effort. There have been smaller ones in favor. Their are rumors that the executive branch has been paying money and giving lots of gifts to labor unions and campesino groups to get their support. Like actual cash payments to come to the rally. Their is the sense that the majority of Hondurans are against this, and not just mildly so, but actually fed up w/ it and screaming no. But that could just be my impression from the people that I know. Anyway, at the very least, this is very heady stuff and a potentially explosive situation. Please pray: 1) that the rule of law would win out and that rule of law will be respected, throughout Honduran society
2) that peace would reign and that no violence would occur, no lives would be lost 3) that justice would rule and those guilty would pay the consequences and 4) that God might use this to build a more peaceful, less corrupt, more just society focused on serving its people and lifting up those who have-not. "

We are pensive yet excited today as we await the arrival of Eryn. Pensive as we await news of Gabi, about how her family will handle this. Pensive in the aftermath of a young man who died yesterday AM in our ER from machete wounds after being attacked by 2 men in his field up in the mountains. Hurting for the staff and the need for them to "deal with" such pain. Studying in Perspectives weekly the need to never be resigned to the status quo as regards evil. How to confront evil without forsaking 1 Cor. 13, "Love is patient, love is kind...keeps no records of wrong". Having been rightly accused of being aggressive in the Pediatric ER last PM as I spoke with the doctor, I am truly reassessing my reaction to injustice, how we "take a stand" without anger that is destructive, not life-changing. Pray for us. Pray for Honduras.

4 weeks update

2009-06-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago: The weather has turned almost unbearably hot- I frequently make my rounds with a blue surgical handtowel over my shoulder to wipe off the sweat when it interferes with my performance- like in starting IV’s, when I am dripping over the site. We love the setting of the sun when a lite breeze comes up off the ocean to cool down the house a bit so we can sleep. Rare to need a sheet nowadays.
In the aftermath of Thursday am’s earthquake here in Honduras, we are en route to San Pedro Sula to pick up a couple at the airport flying in from Maine. We stayed in a cheap cabin outside the city and awoke at our normal time of 5:30 to find no water. The owner kindly and apologetically brought us a gallon of water from the wee swimming pool to wash our faces! Knowing there would be no coffee forthcoming here, we forayed into Progresso to a Dunkin Donuts for a breakfast sandwich-and COFFEE! Read The Prensa, the morning Honduran paper, while we breakfasted, and pretended all was well with the world, while we read of growing dangers in the cities here and the aftermath of damage from the quake. We will soon have to cross a bridge that was partially destroyed but we understand we can cross on l lane. We will see! (They say, “Si Dios quiere”, ). Afternote: we crossed without problems. See pic below.

Mid May John and I enjoyed 4 days away in the mountains where John was helping with the OB part of a Community Health Promoters conference sponsored by World MAP, a welcome respite and a wonderful way to spend my 57th birthday, reading a fun book instead of studying as usual. We are very pleased with the results of this 3 year class, which just began. We have 4 young ladies from our area attending, the only drawback being the 6 hr. drive and pulling away to do it every 3 months! It’s exciting to see the light of understanding flash in their eyes as they become aware of different truths. As a follow-up on this, Dr. Gabby, the director of MAP in Honduras , and her sidekick Lucy came to our area this past week to introduce a method of community assessment in Lucinda, teaching Dr. Rene, who works with us, the technique. We are always looking to assess needs so as to better meet them here, so perhaps this will give us a handle on that.

We were glad to have a Physical Therapist here for a short week, in which John and I both accompanied him on some home visits, in addition to which I translated for him for clinic patients. He worked with some of the kids in the children's center as well. Below is our visit with Wilson, a 4 year old severely handicapped child with a captivating grin who suffered a bilirubin of 48 after birth without treatment. We brought out a highchair for him that the PT padded to help his mom with his posture. She and her companion take great care of Wilson, and the love they have for him is tangible.

Our housekeeper, approaching the end of her pregnancy by a married man whose wife is also pregnant, has presented John with some challenges. We have visited with her family, who refuse to let her bring another baby into the poverty of the household. They have agreed for her to return home after giving the baby away! That is not out of the cultural norm here. She does not want to give the baby away, but feels no other options. The father is threatening her over her decision to give up the child, saying he wants to give it to his wife! Oh, Lord, give us wisdom! She is afraid to return to work for her last weeks, having been on bedrest for the past 2, because she says he will get her on the road! Hm. We are seeking options as to how to best bless her and the baby.

…..the above was written several weeks ago, now being June 13. Our houseguests, Mike and Cathey, just left after 2 weeks here, he in the pharmacy and she in nursing and evangelism. During their stay, we were delighted to host 2 men from Faith Comes by Hearing, one from Guatemala City, the other from Ceiba. My brother Jeff with Wycliffe in Nepal put us in touch with this group, as they have used them there to do the audio recording of the language they work in. We spoke of them and the workshop one presented back in May to begin listening groups for the Garifuna Bible. This visit was strictly to encourage John and I, which it surely did. They are both delightful men, one a pastor in a large church in Guat. The other is a youth pastor, 25. Both very musical, so after a typical dinner I gave them both a guitar and with our other guests we sang for over an hour. Then Abdiel had us gather to listen to John 4 on The Proclaimer, the audio tool we have been using, only in Spanish. From that section in scripture, he encouraged us and then prayed over us and our work.

Mom asked for an update on Carla, the little malnourished girl I sent a picture of awhile back. Carla has been at the Children’s Home now since that time, being loved and fed and doctored. It was discovered she probably has beriberi, a vitamin deficiency, so is getting 3xweekly injections of thiamine. Thos she was gaining weight, she was also rapidly gaining girth and walking like a 9 month pregnant lady. An echo showed congestive heart failure, and she also has a very enlarged liver. She is now on heart meds and a diuretic, measuring her girth each visit. She now joins in Sunday school class, says “Adios, Penny” aftr I inject her, and will let me “chinear” her when she’s sad or hurt. Pray for her…she is in need of much physical healing.

While Cathy and Mike were here, another missionary from La Ceiba came out for 2 nights and the 3 guys did 2 sessions of Ham Radio testing to provide legal licences to a few more of the long term missionaries. Tho we now all have cell phones, there are still many places where there is no signal and we all rely on radio to communicate. So was a great blessing to have both Rob and Mike here to form a testing team, all 3 guys being able to give tests.

Our housekeeper Chayto gave birth last Sunday night, quickly and healthily. John and I were with her. I had needed to work in nursing both Saturday and Sunday due to staff sickness, so the added need to be out during the night started my week with less than a full tank! But were thankful Chayto delivered without problems. Her father changed his mind and was actually in the hospital for the delivery, and the second person to hold the baby. It looks like after all our planning to find a haven for her and the baby that it won’t be necessary after all!

Monday I began the first of 10 days of a nurse’s aide class for 5 young women we’d carefully selected as being possible candidates for employment. We know we will need someone very soon, and even as I was beginning the class, another employee is talking of resigning to move. So of the 5 I began training, perhaps 2 will be offered immediate employment and will begin hospital orientation at the end of this coming week. It meant some long hard days, with very little time to prepare, as we had company and then extras each night, so was late before I was able to retreat to our room to study and prepare the next days classes. The Lord honored my intent, and it was a good week. This coming week, we will begin the 5 days of clinical experience in the hospital and clinic. I am thankful to have this group trained so as not to be caught with limited time or options when there is the need to hire someone. I actually enjoyed the week, tho barely made it energy wise!

We're down to 2 weeks today that our granddaughter Eryn arrives! Hoping to have an easier pace with her here after working so hard to deserve it! Many are gone so the hospital should be slower. Our laboratory person and family leave permanently sunday, and others are headed out on visa trips or furloughs. We will be tight...but that also means not so many admissions. Thanks to all who sent their notes of concern about the earthquake- we are covered in prayer, obviously.

Always a reason

2009-05-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

(this is Angie, watching her own and her sister's baby, with whom I study each Sunday afternoon)

When I last wrote, we were preparing to leave for a 2 nite trip up to Las Vallas on horses to do a Women's Clinic and a hospital survey, assessing community needs for both evangelism and for community development. We put a lot of energy into preparing, complete with borrowing bicycling shorts to protect my bottom on the wooden saddles! We picked up the male RN at the public health clinic in Balfate, and with all our backpacks and a visiting MD, Dr. Evelin, headed out close to the end of the road to meet the horses that had been sent down the steep trail to take us up. Well, we got there 15 minutes early, really hyped for this adventure- to hear that the locals had been there and departed for some unknown reason! We occupied the sunday afternoon as best we could, dealing with our disappointment, wondering why the Lord had closed that door after such thorough preparations. After exploring a nearby waterfall and introducing Dr. Evelin to Rio Coco, we headed back to the hospital to unpack our carefully prepared backpacks! Back went the hammocks, the granola bars, the women's health supplies.

We only had a few hours to find out why the trip had been cancelled. Early in the evening we got the call that our coworker, Suyapa, had finally gone heavenward after a several month battle with cancer. The next 24 hrs were devoted to that, and some of the missionaries accompanied about 50 staff and friends of Suyapa in a rented bus over to the city for a beautiful wake in her church of many years there. It was a good closure for all of us, who had so many funny and special memories of our friend, her Pollyanna-like spirit, her spontanaity, her passion for lost souls. There was a time for sharing memories of her life, with her fiance Oscar sharing his many years of friendship with her and what he'd learned from her. She was buried in her wedding gown with her engagement ring.

A urology team had arrived Sunday for surgeries, so in between these special memories, we had a very full couple days, screening patients, preparing the chosen ones for surgeries. This team always bring their own anesthetist, and surgical nurses, so are fun. The normal confusion reigned the first day, but think all agreed it had been a success when they left Saturday.

We had planned on catching up Saturday, but John had seen a very sick pregnant girl on Thursday in Rio Esteban, sick enough that he had cancelled lunch plans with some locals so as to introduce Dr. Evelin to the culture there, and taken the patient back to the hospital to admit her. (Evelin and I kept the commitment for lunch, and enjoyed both our visit and the bus ride back to the hospital!) Because the patient had only gotten worse by Friday, John and I made plans to leave with her at dawn Saturday to transport her the 5 hrs. to San Pedro to see a specialist and admit her to the hospital. So our catchup day ended up being in the car driving- we have heard that the patient is doing well, and was discharged, so is all worth it! (This is just part of what Women's Health funds pay for).

Sunday we got a call from Emel, a former employee of the hospital who married in December and is now pregnant. She hosts about 15 Garifuna single women in her home regularly to study the bible. She asked if I could come to help answer the women's questions! Was a real delight to sit on her porch in the shade and listen to her describe her ladies and their search for answers biblically for the plights they have created for themselves. This past week, 2 of the men showed up demanding equal time, wanting Emel to host a study for them too! I talked with Emel's husband, asking him if he felt her could lead a companion study, and he agreed! Pray for Joni, that the Lord will enable him to tackle this needful task. Not only does Emel host these women, she is also trained in using the Proclaimer and hosts a listening group in Garifuna in her home. (This is the program that John worked to initiate here about 2 weeks ago)

This week was the first of my weeks committing to supervise Oscar in the inventory program and the accompanying organization of all supplies in the warehouses. A dirty, exhausting job, but in the end, it will pay off with knowing where everything is and keeping better track of it for ordering purposes. Oscar is young, think about 19, the youth pastor for the kids in The Church of God in Rio Esteban. I am praying that having someone to teach him his job will bear fruit in better work ethic and job performance. Think he has potential. We are expecting a container from Gulfport any day, so our first major job has been to prepare the receiving warehouse to receive it!

Oscar asked us to come out to his youth group Wednesday night to help him by lending a computer. So we took part in his weekly meeting, John sharing a brief devotional and then being an audience for a drama that the youth hope to present on the soccer field on Saturday night. Looked like they were a long way from ready, but we'll see! We will bring out a projector and the computer for them to use and be on hand to troubleshoot. Thanks, Peggy, for all your computer classes 6 years ago! (below, Oscar on our computer)

Thursday PM was the second of the every other month Honduran Outreach fellowship, in place of our normal missionary praise and worship time. Everyone involved in some outside ministry is invited to bring their folks in to a Spanish worship service preparing and run by the hospital employees. It was great! Women's Bible study groups, our group from Margarita, related churches, etc- with the staff leading singing, preaching, sharing a drama.

Griselia, with whom I played guitar in the schools with Dr. Don's outreach, left us last Monday for a year in an orphanage in the Moskitia. She had waited to "know" her new sister, the ninth girl born to her parents. Little Juanita is now 3 weeks old, so was time for Gris to shove off. Another missionary, Lisa, who is on the orphanage board, and I will fly out to visit her in mid June just to encourage her.

Only 6 weeks til our granddaughter, Eryn, comes for a 5 week visit! This is REALLY big! Can't believe its really happening. We have dreamed of it for 5 years, wanting someone in the family to really SEE what we see here. Blogs only go so far in painting a real picture! Pray with us that its a lifechanging trip for Eryn.

Faith Comes By Hearing.....

2009-04-25T13:31:00.001-07:00

Highlights of the week- a representative from Faith Comes by Hearing from La Ceiba visited us for the night Thursday, explaining how their ministry works. We have been praying about using their Proclaimers now since September, just never was a time that worked for all of us to do the training necessary in the Garifuna community to get the program launched. Well, this was the week! Rene Ortiz went out to the church area with John early Friday AM and he trained 4 locals to use the Proclaimers, a self-contained audio device that is either handcranked, solar-powered, or electric, with the New Testament in Garifuna. Delia, Emel, and Enilda, along with our pastor Antonio, went thru the training and plan to begin "listening groups" in their homes in this language this coming week! For those for whom this is a heart language, this will be their first hearing of the bible in their language. WOW!

I shared of little Marbeli last week, a child dying of a horrible facial cancer. Well, 2 of our staff went out to begin home visits but only needed to continue it for a week, as the Lord took Marbeli home yesterday and freed her from her painful body. The needs she presented, along with those of some other terminal patients, have made it obvious that a hospice program would be a blessing. Roseanne McKenney has tackled putting a program together and all will participate as they can in making it work.
I made a trip down to the hospital in the dark Thursday PM to get an oxygen concentrator to carry over to where Suyapa, a staff member, very ill at present, was being cared for. As I opened the back door of the hospital, I disturbed a large coral snake that was lounging along the base of the doors. He startled and began to try to climb the door, causing me to wig out and start yelling for the vigilante. (guard). I could hear him in the interior garden/chapel, coming slowly and muttering something about "She's afraid of the sapo!" I reacted to that, as I have no fear of the large frogs that are numerous here, and continued to yell for him to hurry, that it was a snake! He arrived before it had wiggled off, and with lots of slashing of the machete, quickly dispatched it.
Early in the week I greeted an American family in the waiting room, and heard their story. They had brought a 5 year old girl, Carla, in for malnutrition. She would not converse with me, but looked BAD. She became an inpatient for initial treatment and when stable, was transferred to the children's center, where she will be loved and continue getting adequate protein to build her up. Think there are other children in the home who also need care....the mom seemed minimally aware of how severe her daughter was, and less than capable of providing the needed care.

Our Juana, who delivererd #9 girl named Juanita, or little Juana, arrived home safely just 24 hrs after having her baby, and we climbed the hill to visit them before Saturday evening church last weekend. Beautiful baby, and the other girls are fighting over her. The older sister, Griselia, or Gris, leaves Monday for a year long mission to the Moskitia, a swamp far to the east of us accessible only by air. She will be working in an orphanage there, bringing with her the music outreach proram she has learned from dr. Don, our neighbor. She has been working in the Lucinda schools with him, long before I came on board to help. This is REALLY big- a young person steady enough and strong enough in her faith to leave her family and trust the Lord in this way. Pray for Gris!

Well, busy packing for a 2 nighter up the mountain to a village 3 plus hours by horse, to do a Women's Health Clinic, and access local needs. I am going prepared to do the Wordless Book CEF program with kids if the situation allows, and to do a hospital generated census going door to door. Next blog will report on that! Not being horse-back riders, John and I sure don't know what to expect, but trust the Lord will go before us and send his angels to protect and guide us!

Up the Trail to Satal

2009-04-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

Last week, we had Julia for dinner, as she will be going back to the states soon and we had been in the US much of her time here in Honduras. Our attention was somewhat diverted from her when Josh stopped by, interrupting our patio dinner with his iguana. He and said iguana joined us at the table. Only in Honduras!

We celebrated Easter for the first time in the new church building, made more special because it was the first anniversary of the dedication of the building also. It was a quietly festive time, meaningful to all. We hiked up the hill on the church property at 5:30 for our second annual sunrise service, and shared hot coffee and cinnamon rolls in the church when we descended. Because of our own church activities, we missed the missionary sunrise service on the beach, in which Mariah, one of the MK's, was baptized. But we were all together at the annual Easter dinner in the cabildo, sharing a drama by the kids and awesome food. We had invited 2 couples from the Canadian Resort near us, are trying to integrate them a bit into the social life here. John and I had driven after our church service to La Ceiba to meet up with Sandy Hurst, the anesthetist who comes to us a week at a time from Tulsa area. So she too was able to share the Easter activities.

Tuesday, John and I and his helper Xiomara, went with 3 workers from the local health department up a mountain by pickup about half an hour and then hiked in with daypacks another half hour to a mountain clinic in Satal. It was a rugged walk! We spent until late afternoon seeing OB and Gyn patients, doing papsmears, etc. It was our first outreach there, the beginnings of an effort to meet both physical and spiritual needs in remote areas. This was an exploratory trip, and I think a positive encounter for all. Locals prepared us a huge lunch of typical food- rice, beans, spaghetti, a kind of white squash and tortillas. I was bushed by the time we got home, but a good day! Next time up, we hope to take materials to do some stories with kids, play guitar with them, etc. Below is the group beginning the hike in, and 2 girls having brought their baby brother in on horseback to see the nurse in the clinic.

Please pray for "A", a good friend who struggles with mental health. She feels better and then discontinues her meds, and goes into a downward spiral and ends up causing a major crises for her family, as she has taken on the task of raising her son's wee one. Now the family has had to accomodate the care of this baby with 2 others in the extended household. Her daughter works at the hospital, and has not been able to come to work because of the additional burdens falling on her.

Got off to a quick start yesterday with a call from the nurses, saying our friend Juana was having an emergency and needed us! John has followed her VERY diligently, as she is a gravida 9 and overdue. We have had her to the city twice now, and each time they send her back! Luckily I had arisen early and had already walked and showered, was ready for work right after 6. So only had to comb my wet hair and run. John had not even showered yet. We assumed she was close to delivery in her home, so hiked up the steep red dirt hill to her house and found her still the same as the day previous but in obvious labor. With some encouragement from us and her husband, she got down the hill to the truck and we got here to the hospital where the fetal monitor (bless you, Tulsa Bible church!) showed good baby response and we prepared to drive her again to the city so as to have the option of a c-section.

Only while she was showering, a pickup pulled up to the back door and unloaded another laboring woman from the bed, carrying her in on a cot mattress. Her story was that her water had broken several hours earlier and she couldn't deliver. So in she came, putting a halt to our plans to transport Juana temporarily. I had already driven out to Dr. Rene's house to wake her up and ask her to take over John 's Rio Esteban clinic day while we traveled to the city , so we beefed up that call to get her in for the delivery of the other baby! It took over an hour, but a wee one was successfully delivered and the mama cheered for as she rode triumphantly to her room in the wheelchair after delivery.

We were then free to load up Juana and her 19 yr old daughter to go to the city. She was miserable, bumping over those awful ruts for over an hour, but we successfully got her in and admitted, despite the backlog of laboring patients waiting to be tended to. The Lord was surely paving the path ahead of her and us! We heard that she delivered a few hours later, not needing a section if we heard correctly. Finally we will be able to climb the red dirt hill and cuddle this baby, the 9ith girl, instead of just pat the mamma's tummy.

One of our long term visitors, Sue, has taken on the awesome and needful task of doing some hospice-type care for the ministry. Right now, she and Peggy, our wound care person, are visiting little Maribel more than once a week with her increased endcare needs of pain control and getting liquids down, and today added Maria, an open and close case with metastatic cancer. She lives about an hour from here, but Sue is not deterred. Families here are already so strapped with physical demands and poverty that terminal care does not get much emphasis. Sue will be a great blessing, helping to rock these two into eternity.

Was thinking how many people it takes to make our weak efforts successful here. One person who tackled my need to make a mirror image of a diagram for a medical chart page, another who collected baby blankets for "our babies", another who sends me links for patient education materials in spanish, another who got paper for John's fetal monitor, ....the list goes on and on. Thanks to everyone who addresses our spoken and unspoken needs with such love. You all are the "wind beneath our wings", the ones who cheer us on as we "run the race".

Hi ho, hi ho, its up the quebrada we go...

2009-04-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

Ending Holy Week, revving up for Resurrection Sunday and a lowkey celebration in our church of the anniversary of the dedication a year ago. Because the clinic was closed Thursday and Friday, we used yesterday to have a Dia del Campo- day in the country. Hm, but we LIVE in the campo! We met for prayer at the church early armed with picks, hoes, shovels, machetes and water. We began our adventure like ducks in a row, using the creek as our path, crossing again and again as we gained a bit of elevation traipsing thru the jungle. They kept talking about the presa, or dam, and I had visions of a large structure to retain the water. Well, it was a concrete wall about 10 ft. long, perhaps 8 inches thick, with a bit of water backed up behind it! It is where we get our water for the church- not that we have running water, but its a source to fill barrels with to flush a toilet, no more. We got to work scooping out leaves and clearing a blockage of the primitive filter they had over the tube that carries water above ground to us below. It frequently needs repairing as the cows use the creek and stomp on the flexible tubing. Mission accomplished, we enjoyed fellowship as we came back down, wet, dirty, with tiny ticks on us.

Emily is the 9 month old daughter of one of the young women I bible study with weekly. It was fun to catch up with her development this week, reestablish ties with the mom, and begin challenging her to grow again. This face shows totally joy in living, don't you think?

John finally has his bike on the stationary trainer out on his new patio, overlooking the jungle. The other AM was like we were on a Monkey Highway, with Fruit Loop birds thrown in for color. The whitefaced monkeys were ascending the canopy, jumping one at a time from the trees to a huge manaca palm, bending the frond way back and scampering up that frond to the middle of the giant plant and jumping to the next tree. Was like a monkey parade. The toucans added a colorful touch. Makes biking fun!

One of my visits since arriving back was to a young Garifuna friend who has married and become pregnant since I left for the US. Was delightful to see her in her new role, knowing her husband had thought it best for her not to work while pregnant and would not be seeing her around the hospital. She has been biblestudying with a group of 15 or so Catholic women, single, near her home. She is one that has agreed to be trained in using the Proclaimer to share the Garifuna Bible with a listening group in her home. We will be having Faith Comes By Hearing come out here in a week or so to do that training, and they will equip several with this machine that is solar powered and handcranked to listen to the Word in their own language. While visiting, my friend introduced us to the fine and complicated art of making casava ( is that "a" or "i"?), a flat, tortilla type bread from the yucca root. My friend Ritza from the hospital, also Garifuna , bravely took a turn at making a round! I volunteered to just take the fotos.

Had the opportunity to visit with a 7 yr old girl who lives about half an hour from here who has been a patient in the clinic since I left, diagnosed with a skin cancer that has destroyed her face totally, kind of like leprosy. She knows the Lord, has a limited number of days left, and it was decided while she was with us in wound care this week that we would begin home visits instead of her making the painful and embarrassing trip to the hospital for help weekly. Pray for this 26# emaciated child, that somehow she might find joy in the journey, and that those that care for her and her grieving parents might have wisdom in all ways. Lord, imprint on Marbeli's heart that despite this disease, she is "fearfully and wonderfully made" and that her days were written in Your books even before the beginning of time.

May your heart be touched by the things that touch the heart of God.

Meti' la Pata

2009-04-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was Father' Day here in Honduras. A day or so later an emotionally challenging patient left a "Happy Father's Day" message on my telephone. As you can guess, it was a bright spot in my day.

"Meti la Pata" is the Honduran equivalent of "Open mouth, insert foot" This past week I had my second serious awareness of doing so, here in Honduras. The first time, a couple of years ago, was in front of a good natured and patient Honduran physician colleague. This time, only Xiomara , my office helper, and I got to enjoy my embarrassment. I say "embarrassment" for perhaps lack of a better term. More precisely, getting to enjoy the sometimes not so gentle, but timely teaching of the LORD.

During a busy morning in Rio Estaban (a rural village clinic) I felt compelled to explain to a happy and "air headed" 35 year old patient that her second pregnancy (her only other was 15 years ago) was "High "Risk". In my attempt to emphasize the potential hazards, I described a (hypothetical) 40 year old woman with her first pregnancy and the elements of risk.

If you haven't guessed it yet, the next lady was 43 years old with her first pregnancy. She was not dismayed. Her uterus was twice normal size with uterine fibroids. Neither did her weight, borderline high blood pressure and blood sugar seem to discourage her.

Vamos a ver. ("We will see".) As she comes to mind, please join us in prayer for "Aurora Lalin" as we pray and walk with her thru this new adventure in her life.

Gracias y Dios les Bendiga,

John

Back in the Jungle

2009-03-31T19:22:00.000-07:00

Finally arrived back in Honduras Sunday PM after more than 3 months in the USA!
John arrived home in Balfate almost 2 weeks before me alone, after an unexpected 24 hr delay in Houston, in which he wore out his sandals hiking around to allay the boredom! But he arrived without mishap, ferried from San Pedro out to the hospital by trusty neighbor Dr. Don. I enjoyed his reentry vicariously from Tulsa, OK, where I flew 2 days after I put him on the plane for Honduras. I enjoyed the second opportunity in my 3 + months to have some alone time with my folks in Sun City, AZ before flying on to deal with my painful R. wrist. Mom, after a downhill episode, got a clean bill of health from her cardiologist and pulmonologist, and while resigned to her “new normal” still amazes her children by her consistent swimming and walking. She is slowly pushing back to her 1/2 mile daily in the pool, so we are thankful for that. I will not soon forget the hours we spent in the pool together walking and rehashing my 56 years as her daughter. Time spent with dad in the exercise gym trying to at least keep up with “the old codger” as he calls himself will long sustain me in the months away from them. Thank you, Lord, for precious time with my parents!

My 2 weeks in Tulsa sped by, full of contacting friends and supporters. The priority was to make necessary contacts to get some consult on my wrist, and that was accomplished with the help of a friend who is the PT for a hand surgeon here. She paved the way for me to get an appointment with him after seeing the PCP, and even accompanied me, followed by a session of showing me various exercises and helps for my hand. In the delay before I could get an EMG done, I scheduled various other preventative procedures, some long overdue. One was to have been done 4 years ago…my, where DOES the time go? Having put some of these necessary tests behind me will make our next time back to the US less hurried for me.

Between tests, I traveled north to see the 2 kids and 3 grandkids there, and south to see faithful friends near our old home in Okmulgee. Jake lives near where we always stay in Tulsa, and came by twice to take a long walk and have dinner with me. He also met me up north one weekend to slumber party with our grandkids, Eryn and Benton, and share rootbeer floats and a movie. Then all of us accompanied our son Dan, 23, to watch him play in a fundraiser football game for cancer. Good memories!

The EMG showed no evidence of what the hand surgeon thought was surely an acute onset of carpal tunnel bilaterally. Hm, so I left for Honduras only knowing what it is NOT. He injected it with steroids, and told me to try using it.

Because of the unexpected layover in Tulsa, I was able to see Sarah, Jaie and Ellison again, as they flew in Friday to go see her siblings and Jaie’s grandfather. We shared pizza together and got some 5 week pictures. It was a sniffy parting for me, knowing there would be many months without hugging Ellie.

I left Tulsa in below freezing weather , and arrived San Pedro Sula with temps of about 90. We were able to get in to the hospital area by dark Sunday, and am well into unpacking and reorganizing the house after so long away. I have spent my first 2 days home doing just that, with 5 visits to friends and coworkers this afternoon. Some joyous visits, thankful for the growth I see, some sad, seeing a return to old vices.
My first visit was to Suyapa, a Honduran coworker who has led SO many people to the Lord! She is 49, and hospitalized in critical condition. I brought her a Teddy Bear that she’d asked for. Made me sad as her changes have all come during my absence. She appeared healthy when I left. One thing is sure- He who began a good work in her will surely bring it to a glorious completion!
As I write, I hear the riotous singing next door of 50 plus teenagers, who gather together weekly for Alfa and Omega, time of playing volleyball followed by devotions and singing. I sense that we will hear from these young people in the future…that our area will be forever changed by them.
John and I have enjoyed 2 nites eating on our new patio that he built while we were separated, to the tune of the jungle insects as the sun sets. We have also enjoyed morning coffee out there, so guess it was a good idea! I had questioned if we’d ever use it, but think especially when we get plants in and improve the scenery around it, it will be nice. Gives us kind of a secluded together place, which is nice since we all live in glass houses here with an open door policy all the time.
So its back to jungle journalism, all further notes will reflect that! Thanks for all who hosted us/me and made our time away so special.

Homeward Bound (I wish I were!)

2009-03-11T19:58:00.000-07:00

Tamara Kirk and Penny on early AM walk

Silly picture time!

John and I just finished up 6 weeks in the NW, 4 spent with our daughter Sarah , and 2 in our home in WA. During the time we were homebased in Portland with Sarah and Jaie, and then little Ellie Isabela, John went to Jacksonville, OR to visit the group there who have twice now visited us in Honduras, and are planning another visit in the fall. I stayed behind to have more time with Ellie, as she was such a late arrival we knew her more pre-birth than post. It was hard to pack up and know we'd not see them again for many months.

We arrived back in Moses Lake, WA in time for me to spend l nite in our cozy home and then pack a suitcase and sleeping bag to bus with some of the church ladies to a winter retreat in ID. The snow was about a foot deep at the retreat center on a lake there- incredible scenery, lots of deer. I shared briefly about the work at Loma de Luz, and some thoughts on not wasting our lives, on apostolic passion. Met a lot of deep women, snowshoed during free time, innertubed down a hill, crocheted on my scarf that I hope to have done in less time than my last baby sweater took (2 years).

Returned home to frigid weather and spent the next week just cleaning and sorting the house, having time with my sister and brother-in-law. When home, we spend most suppers together at one of other of our homes- can't get enough of each other. I fill up my tank with laughter for another year!

Our last weekend in WA saw us at a mission conference again sharing the Honduras work. Sure met a lot of wonderful people, many of whom have sent us support without us knowing them even . So was good to put faces to the names. Moses Lake is becoming more like home as we meet more people.

Left at 5 AM with the neighbor kindly taxi-ing us the 1 1/2hr to the airport. Now just a full day for us to repack with the gear we left at my folks here in Sun City and put John on the plane for Honduras Friday am. I will go on to tulsa to see if we can find out what ails my R. wrist thats been in a splint now for 6 weeks. Next blog from there!

E-Time (Time with Ellie!)

2009-02-24T14:14:00.000-08:00

Ellison Isabella- Ellie, in quiet alert mode.

The First Lady standing guard over the new arrival.

E-time on the bouncy ball. It works!

This is Ellie's 5th day. My mom asked last night if I'd taught her to read yet. Working on it. Having long and weighty conversations, in which Ellie appropriately moves in what Sarah calls the Hand Dance. At day 5, Ellie has taught us all what makes her happy- and that is any movement that simulates the action in the womb, as her mama is a very busy med surg nurse and worked up til the end. Ellison is used to action! So we cuddle the little burrito while bouncing on the large bouncy exercise ball. I'm a believer ! Nice centerpieces at the table have been replaced by an even nicer one- Ellie in her bouncy seat. This very organized and charmingly decorated home has baby equipment in every niche. The swing, car seat, bouncy seat, bath seat, jog stroller- and no one seems to mind the invasion! They were adamant that this child would NOT sleep in the adult bed...would have to stay in the co-sleeper to be safe. Only 4 nites of this new life and she managed to convince them that it might not be a bad tradeoff for some sleep! She is a cuddler, likes to have her legs crossed and up on her abdomen like in utero. Has been to the store, the pediatrician, the lactation consultant, and around the block on a dog walk twice, so she is a mover and a shaker! DO WE LOVE HER? YES WE DO! Childrern are indeed a heritage of the Lord.

Ellison, 8#1oz, February 19, 2009

2009-02-19T10:52:00.000-08:00

Well, our daughtr Sarah was able to give birth to little Ellison this a.m. without induction! They went in last PM to begin the process, as she was 2 weeks overdue, and think she was resigned to the process. But little Ellison went into active mode about 4 am instead of waiting on the Pitocin, and came into the world by herself about the time they were to have begun the induction! Mom and baby doing well. Including a picture for all of you who wondered what we were REALLY doing all this time in the states! John will go to S. OR Saturday to meet with Jacksonville Pres. Church to talk with their group that wants to visit again this coming fall- I will likely stay here to bond to Ellison! Thanks to all who have been praying for them. How we desire to see Ellison grow to love and honor the Lord!

"Lo, children are a gift of the Lord".

Lady in Waiting and Lady waiting

2009-02-06T11:06:00.000-08:00

John looking HazMat-ty!

The Lady in Waiting and Lady waiting, both patiently.

Passing the days awaiting the birth of our granddaughter here in Portland, OR with twice daily walks of Sarah and Jaie's golden retriever, Lady. The outings in the wet cold here are greatly anticipated by all, Sarah hoping by such exercise to decrease the time she spends awaiting the birth of her daughter, Lady just for the sheer joy of an outing with her loved ones.

John has spent time in various projects, insulating under the house here, building a child-proof barrier for the heater, helping his college roommate Louis with his rental home here in Portland. Yesterday we spent some hours with our niece's family, who have embarked on a huge undertaking of home building- with 6 kids under 7. John helped pour the floor in the garage yesterday. Thus we pass the time of waiting! "Whatever your hand findeth to do, do it with all your might".

Ongoing Saga of Emaneul

2009-02-03T19:21:00.000-08:00

Penny and I are in Oregon for a few weeks patiently waiting for the birth of our daughter Sarah's first child. Penny had come to the US earlier to care for her mother (in the aftermath of some pulmonary emboli). As you may have noted. her mother is doing much better.

Leon Greene drove me to La Ceiba as the first leg of my trip north and accomodated my request to stop at the home of our young friend Emanuel (and his family) and get a picture of him.

You may recall that Emanuel's mother, Keylin, died a few hours after his birth about 10 months ago. His live birth was a miracle, considering his mother's inevitably fatal heart defect (Tetrology of Fallott).

Emmanuel was born, full term, weighing 3 1/2 pounds (not kilograms)-incredibly small due to the low blood oxygen his mother endured (in spite of being aided by an oxygen concentrator given by encouragers from Tulsa, OK).

Tho tiny and looking a bit "elfish", he appeared to be healthy. I have watched with some anxiety for signs of normal development, being reasonably concerned for his central nervous system development as a result of his intrauterine oxygen deprivation.

Emanuel appears to be a bit of a VIP in the village of Lis Lis, as he is often visiting a neighbor or relative when we stop by. (And I can note that his mother's pregnancy and his birth have increased the number of patients from the village getting prenatal care.) But whenever we stop by, a "big sister or brother" (really his cousins) run one path or another to bring him for us to see. I search each time for some signs of development. Seeing him this day was truly getting to see a bit more of the miracle of his birth. Leon (a cardiologist and actively involved in Keylin's care) and I were so privileged.

Big Sis handed Emanuel to me as she returned from a neighbor house that morning. For the first time, he cried and reached for "mommy", so I gave him to her, but within seconds his crying stopped and he was reaching back to get his hands in my beard (few men here have beards). WOW! "Stranger anxiety" developing about on schedule- and yet sufficient recognition (of me) and curiosity about my strange face. As we talked, I asked about the scrape on his nose. His mother (aunt), told me that it was from falling while learning to walk! Delmi (his mother) asked one of the other children to bring a chair and she put him down beside it. He zoomed around the porch, scooting the plastic chair in front of him.

WOW, stranger anxiety, recognition, curiosity and walking developing on time, .
You know that we praise GOD for getting to see this.

A Bike in Every Port

2009-01-22T12:31:00.000-08:00

Today is John's 60th birthday...he is not fond of my broadcasting it, but I think its wonderful! I quote, "Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be!" We headed out for an early AM walk to the store to have birthday coffee and buy some grapes for him. On returning to the house, I put the no-fat carrot cake to bake while we went to Home Depot so he could begin buying things for Honduras. We will only have l full day in Phoenix as we depart the country in March, so he needs to get most stuff during our last 2 days here before flying to the NW on Saturday.

You know the saying, "A woman in every port?" Well, we joke about John's "bike in every port". Knowing he'd not had much exercise for that past 7 months, I set out to locate a bike for him to ride during his 5 days here in Sun City. Found that to rent one here would be about $50 daily, and was having no luck finding a used one, so had given up. The last night before he arrived I went to Craig's List once again and made a few calls. One sounded positive, so we followed it up Monday and were able to get a very nice John-quality bike for much less than a rental. Plus it will have the advantage of always being here at my folks when we visit. Thank you, Lord! John has used it at least once daily this week, did 60 K yesterday. Well worth it!

John and I drove directly to Sedona, AZ after reuniting at the airport late Saturday- 6 weeks to the day that John had taken me to the airport to fly up and be here with mom. John's brother Gary and his wife Jane had saved dinner for us, and we also got to visit with Gary's daughter Lynn and her daughter. They are the most awesome hosts in the world, always making us feel pampered and loved. We go away spiritually fed, emotionally tended, physically refreshed. We attended sunday services at Christ Center Wesleyan, one of our supporting churches, and shared a bit impromptu about the work in Honduras. A very warm and receptive group- good visits with new friends afterwards. Monday a.m. I met with the church secretary just to share and deepen the relationship that had begun several weeks before when she had gone to church with Jane and I down in Phoenix. Time well invested.

Yesterday, Mike and Kandee McKlain from OR who have visited us with a team twice now in Honduras came by to see us. They are snowbirding for 2 months near here, and took the opportunity to take us hiking and picnicking. We did some brainstorming re: their 2009 trip next September, and were able to view the awesome album another team member, Shirley, had sent with them. So fun to see our world thru other's eyes. Very encouraging. Kandee left us with another original painting she had done of a Honduran mud hut- John immediately claimed it as I have her first one in my office. They also left us with the video the pastor, Richard, had put together to present to their church after their visit to Honduras. Excellent, and was very good to be able to show it to my folks to give them a better idea of our lives there.

John and I, Kandee and Mike

Our Sarah's baby is now less than 2 weeks from due. Praise God she has navigated these 38 weeks in good health. Our next note will likely be first pictures of our granddaughter!

And, speaking of granddaughters, Eryn, 10, won her school's geography bee yesterday! WOW! We immediately got online and ordered her the National Geographic guide for studying! This is the same brilliant child who just did a science fair project on "The Relative Strength of Various Brands of Gummy Worms". Top that one, you grandparents! :)

Driving Miss Daisy, New guitar

2009-01-14T16:25:00.000-08:00

While the rest of the USA hunkers down in record low tempereatures, here in Sun City, AZ where I have been now for over 5 weeks, we walked in shirtsleeves this afternoon, and swam laps in an outdoor pool yesterday! The citrus is coming ripe, so enjoying oranges and tangelos before we head for the NW on the 24th. John is due to arrive in just over a week- this is the longest we have ever been seperated...I get giddy just thinking about his upcoming arrival! (Sorry, John!)

Mom continues to improve- she began doing laps again about 5 days ago, but after 3 days, had some mildly disturbing symptoms so she is back to waterwalking again for a bit. Dad thinks she was doing too much too fast. By the time I swim laps with mom, then go to the gym for a long run on the treadmill or on the elliptical machine with dad, I should be in better shape than ever before. I've enjoyed meeting mom and dad's friends, one widower who has come to dinner twice with us. I joke about "Driving Miss Daisy" daily, but what fun we have! One day, while doing the grocery shopping, I set out to find mom after being seperated from her. I figured it would be easy- just scan the aisles for the short, whitehaired lady. However, since this is a retirement community, there were very few who didn't meet that description!

Today was another milestone, as Mom stepped out without me to go to lunch with 5 girlfriends, and do some cardmaking. Found myself listening for the phone! I had a commitment with one of their friends here at the house for a guitar "lesson"- Dick had helped me do the EBay purchase of my new travel guitar, and had offered to give me some hints and play some. Very worthwhile 2 hours. Now, if I can only remember it all! Been trying to use my time wisely and play as much as possible.

Jack Deere: "A passion for God has to be guarded and cultivated or we will los it. Almost every good thing in my life is all too ready to compete for my time and intimacy with God. The essence of all of life is loving God and then loving His people"

Only One Wee Foot

2009-01-02T12:32:00.000-08:00

Women's Health Project

Penny here! Have encouraged John to send out his women's health mailings to our journal list, as many have said they were interested on his perspective also. Be alerted that this tends to lean more to the medical stuff, if you are squeamish! I told him after reading this that I could probably deliver a footling breech with these explicit instructions!

A couple of weeks ago I had opportunity to visit with a prospective full time missionary. As we talked, I shared that never, before coming here, do I "recall" seeing a miracle. I have overheard others verbalize the same. Does our lack of resources teach us to pray and see differently than we otherwise do? I suspect so. Do we understand a bit better than ever before the work of the LORD? I think so. Among my observations about such occurrences is that they do not occur when I am expecting them.

I went to bed that night having no reason to think that I would not get a good night's sleep. As I drifted off, the radio quickly brought me to alertness. Nelsy, the night nurse who is always gracious and patient, had a stressed rapidness in her speech. A mountain village midwife had brought in a patient who, after three days of labor, was ready to deliver. However, "only one wee foot came out". This we call a "single footling breech".

This is not a pretty picture. One foot out... the other foot probably up by the baby's ear. In the absence of a cesarean section the prognosis is grim. Most of the time we do not have anesthesia here and that was indeed the case that night.. The city is at VERY BEST an hour away. This is not the best time of the year to travel.

The trip down to the hospital is quick, a half mile. But I had time to pray for wisdom and grace. Prayer is something that has not come natural for me, but I rarely miss it as I go down the hill. I recall the text books of nearly three decades ago and the few of these cases that one ever sees.

By GOD's design the head (the biggest part) normally comes first, the rest comes easily. In our four plus years here, I have heard (among the village midwives) of only one live breech birth. The picture is so grim that one begins to ask questions. Does GOD not want babies who are born breech to live? Are those born such inherently evil people? (If my picture here is not clear, if you wonder what I am thinking about, the question is: ?Infanticide?)

The single foot complicates it. Get the other leg out, straight, without breaking or dislocating something. The distal half of your of your index finger behind the knee, now flex the lower leg with your middle finger as you gently rotate the hip and pull it down.

Now the arms, carefully, as it’s easy to cause permanent nerve damage at the level of the shoulder.

Now the head, if it is not trapped by an incompletely opened cervix. Don't break the neck. These processes are named for those who first thought out and described the maneuver, I remember the name of this one, the Mauriceau, Smellie, Veit maneuver. With middle finger in the mouth and the ring and index fingers below the lower orbits of the eyes (careful with the eyes) keep the head flexed as an assistant pushes down on the bladder area and you lift the body up so that the head emerges, as it rotates.

You do all this while you are trying to work around the woman's stress: contractions, pain and not easy to control "thrashing about". Do not scare her, hurt her, cause a laceration, break something inside of her. Do this without your own stress (yelling, throwing things) making things worse.

Three days? Maternal dehydration, exhaustion, infection, probably a dead baby. (I had one of those this week also.) To be honest, even recounting such a case raises your pulse. This is why relatively few doctors or nurses want to do OB.

The first miracle was that she was healthy and having no contractions and the baby was alive. Maybe that is three miracles. But time is on our side. The ambulance was there in only 40 minutes (sometimes takes a couple of hours). Nelsy woke up Ritza, another Honduran nurse to ride in the ambulance with me. She woke up Dr. Renee to follow behind the ambulance, to assist, if we had to deal with a delivery en route and get to us home from La Ceiba.

Denia started have some mild contractions a few blocks from the hospital. We arrived there (the public hospital) in 55 minutes; in the rainy season, there is no way! It’s hard to make that kind of time in the dry season. The Labor and Delivery folk at Atlantida have learned that I bring bad news. They were on this lady quickly, gently and kindly. We listened to the baby's heart beat with my electronic stethoscope (they do not have one). I suspect that they held back some tears along with the cheers, but you could hear the sighs. She was whisked off for a Cesarean.

A week later we took out her stitches at the Health department clinic and passed around her quiet and content daughter.

I have recounted some of the miracles. Denia's health, a live baby, no contractions, timing absolutely the best and an L&D staff able to hop on it. It took me a week or so to realize another miracle. The same fairly dry weather that permitted our incredibly fast trip had also made it possible for Denia to cross the streams and get out of the mountains. Without that, the outcome for the baby and mom would have been different. Praise God.

John Alden
The Women’s Health Project
Hospital Loma de Luz,
Balfate, Colon, Honduras

What a Christmas!

2008-12-28T16:23:00.000-08:00

Here's a few Christmas fotos from Sun City! Mom ventured out to a community church program close to home on Christmas Eve, and did well. VERY nice music. Then we went to Christmas Mass in the morning, also very inspirational and enjoyable. But the most exciting thing was that since that church service, Mom has not felt the need to use her oxygen during the day, freeing her from that dangerous 50 ft. tubing. The shortness of breath has left her, and the constant complaints of tiredness. What a gift! We were able to share Christmas dinner with family friends of theirs, with energy left over at the end of the day.

We have begun walking in the therapeutic pool, which will have to satisfy mom until Jan. 10, when her surgeon had said she could begin swimming again. She is walking over an hour a day, while I swim next to her and we reminisce about our past as family...and about the 5 years we have been out of the country. Rich, rich, rich. At 56 years old, I still feel like my folks are my biggest cheerleaders.

For all of you who have prayed for Mom, a big thanks. There has not been a day here without one of the Hondurans calling to ask how mom is doing, to tell me they are praying for her healing. She would say the prayers have been answered.

GG update, Of Old Dogs and New Tricks

2008-12-22T12:31:00.000-08:00

Twas 3 days before Christmas....Penny here. My hope is that John too will post to this to do better at communicating! After almost 5 years out of the country, I asked our mission board to send on our mailing list so I could "update" it during this luxury of having extra time. I was horrified to see how outdated it was, and we plan, with Cornerstone's help, to remedy that when John joins me in mid-January.

Our grandkids call my folks GG (great gran) and GPa. I have been with them in Sun City now just over 2 weeks, and have seen GREAT improvement in my mom. The portable oxygen tank made her recovery so much easier- she is now walking about an hour a day in 3 seperate outings. We will get a recheck on her anticoagulant therapy tomorrow. While still discouraged over her energy level, and at times still short of breath, I think she is encouraged by how far she's come. She has begun to do simple chores, fixing her own meals, making her bed, etc. What a Christmas gift, to be given this additional time with her!

To use my time well while on this "Sabbatical", John encouraged me to buy a travel guitar so I could practice while in the states. Said he'd get it for my christmas gift! So....trying to be a good steward, I decided I would attempt EBay. That first week, I spent hours online, working out the intricasies of bidding, trial and error. Pretty funny! Didn't occur to me til after I had bids out on several guitars at once what to do if I got them all! Oops! Fortunately I was outbid on all but l, and finally got my first choice. To give credit where credit is due, one of my parent's friends was visiting mom and saw my struggle, took over and made a final bid for me, then aware I had not yet discovered that I needed a Pay Pal account, he put it on his own account and I paid him cash when we discovered I'd won the bid! Its not arrived yet, but half the fun was bidding on it! In the end, I saved right about $50 over the store price here. My sister Shellie called the next day to let me know she'd just deposited an annual rebate check from our auto insurance- for $1 more than the purchase price of my new guitar! Isn't that just like our God?

Another first for me is learning to text message. Decided since that was the language of our kids and grandkids, I would learn to do it. Came up with a wall, tho, when I realized I had no idea how to enter numbers while texting, and Kate wanted a phone number. Haven't mastered that yet.

With Mom doing so well, I ventured out in my first solo rental car Saturday AM to go about 2 1/2 hrs north to Sedona, AZ to visit John's brother, Gary, and his wife Jane, great encouragers of ours. The weather cooperated, despite the awful weather elsewhere in the US, and I had no problems. Jane and Gary direct a non-profit ministry called "Potters Hand", that puts on several major productions yearly in Sedona, one being the Christmas "Bethlehem Marketplace", along with an awesome concert/drama in the Brooklyn Tabernacle style. Really enjoyed seeing what the Lord is doing thru them in this mecca of New Age thinking. Jane and I visited from 4 am-7 am on Sunday- she is an early riser, and there was no other free time with her 3 day intense commitment to the production. I alway come away from my time with her convicted. (and yes, Dr. Don, CHANGED!)

John is occupying his time with me away finishing up 2 little patios he's had in the works now for a bit, with a man from church helping. Since he did such a good job, John kept him on for a bit to finish up the trim inside the house, that we've had ready and waiting for 4 years now, hoping some visitor would feel led to do it. No one has had time, so finally its getting done! John said the annual church christmas program was last night, and said there was no comparison to our program 4 years ago and now. He was VERY impressed by all the growth.

Just in the nick of time, the Lord sent 2 LPN's to fill the pressing need in the hospital. They will be orienting for the next month or so and then fill a critical shortage in the schedule.

May your Christmas be blessed, full of peace and joy. In Him, Penny

Mom On the Mend

2008-12-12T16:36:00.000-08:00

Its now 9 days since Mom began having problems from several pulmonary emboli. She seems to be stable, beginning to walk short distances with her oxygen, especially now that we have a small over-the-shoulder tank she can use that does not get in her way like the pushable tank! She has up days and down ones- but is optimistic that she will be in the pool waterwalking in 2 weeks. It will likely be WITH her oxygen, but knowing mom, she'll do it!

I'm enjoying the major change of pace- cooking and cleaning and erranding instead of being at the hospital 24/7 in Honduras. Quickly becoming accustomed to the clean, pretty golf course to run on daily, and even ventured out to the gym today with Dad to use the machines there. Mornings are down to 30, so need to go out to the Thrift store and get some sweats. My jungle garb is too lite for here! Went out today to see if I could find a guitar to play in my leisure time, and may make a decision on that shortly. I miss my guitar-outings to the school with Dr. Don! But not as much as I miss John!

Over the rivers and thru the mud, to Grandma's house we go

2008-12-09T20:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I am now in Sun City, AZ, at my parent's home. Got a call last Wednesday that mom had thrown a few pulmonary emboli, one lodged in her pulmonary artery, and that she was being started on anticoagulant therapy and oxygen at home. It seemed best to go quickly, as I was the most free of us siblings. John worked hard to get me to San Pedro Friday night- by God's grace, the bridge that had washed out the previous Monday was repaired late thursday, allowing us to cross by truck instead of canoe and a long hike! I was prepared with my crocs and easy-wash sports clothes, but wasn't necessary. I arrived here Saturday night, and have settled in for the time being.
Mom is stable, just waiting for her energy to return and for her need for oxygen to decrease. The cardiologist today suggested that at least 2 more weeks of oxygen, and then they would do an office test to see if we could begin weaning. She is still very weak and short of breath. Her appetite is slowly returning with a lot of enticing. I'm enjoying the return to being a "homemaker" again, as there hasn't been much time for that these past 4 years. Finding old favorites to cook for mom. Trying to give Dad a bit of a break from the doctor's visits, cleaning and erranding that have comsumed his time. for now, I am on a US cell phone, 509-431-1885 or on my folk's home phone, 623-972-1300.