teaching and school

Just a quick update. Had our English class today in the village. Kids Club tomorrow, and this Thursday/Friday/Saturday we will be hosting our second Theological teaching to local pastors and lay-leaders. The theme is on Jesus in the Old Testament. We are looking forward to this with much anticipation, and are hoping for a good turn-out. As there is no postal system like we recognize in the States, Sean and Mike have had to hand-deliver flyers to the local churches in the city. This took 4 full days to get them all delivered. We are excited to see what will come of it.

I am also starting the preliminary research on local schools. Compulsory school only goes up to 6th grade. So, if you want to attend school past that, you have to pay for it. As the majority of the kids out in the Village are barely getting enough money to put food on their table, school is out of reach for these kids, and therefore, their hopes of getting any type of good job is way beyond their reach. It was put on our hearts to see if there was a way to get sponsors for these kids to attend school. So, the research is on to see what monthly tuition, uniforms, school supplies, etc. will cost so we can start getting some sponsors, and getting some of these kids in to school. School starts in February, so we need to get moving so we can register them in January. Please pray for this, for potential future sponsors, and for God to show us which kids to minister to this school year.

Christmas Preparation

Thanksgiving is done, the left-overs are almost picked clean, and now it's time for Christmas preparation. Our tradition since before Madison was born was to drive over to a local Christmas tree farm and carefully select our Christmas tree. Each year a different person selected the tree - Mike usually picked the most practical, Madison picked the "prettiest", and I picked the biggest darn tree I could get my hands on :-) Well - as Central America isn't really conducive to growing large amounts of evergreens such as Christmas trees - the ONLY option you have are fake trees. So, begrudgingly, last year, I purchased such a tree. Now, comes the preparation and building of the tree. Cool thing is - a cold front has arrived in Honduras, along with that comes rain. So, instead of putting my Christmas tree together and sweating in the process - we are actually in long sleeves and socks! Yes, it's only 72 degrees, but after living so long in 90+ degree weather (year round) it's a shock to the system for it to be "so cold". We also enjoy the practice of Advent. However, if you think you can find an advent wreath in Honduras, you would be wrong. So, like many other things I'm unable to find here...I make it. Purchased some wire, created the skeleton, bought some candles, some greenry - and wah lah! Advent wreath.

Tomorrow are elections for Honduras. After the increase in bombings and violence, we are opting to stay locked securely in our house for the weekend. Please pray for the people of Honduras - that they vote, they are safe, and that the elections will be recognized around the world. The U.S. has finally stated that they will recognize the elections. This is good news for Honduras indeed!

The "home made" Advent wreath...


Decorations around the house...



Building the tree

final product :-)

Thanksgiving

Today we hosted a small Thanksgiving dinner at our house. Our dear friend, Rhonda, came down from the capitol of Honduras - an 8 hour drive to join us. We also had another dear friend, Matt, came over and brought a young boy he works with who lives in the dump. Madison invited her dear friend from school, Rudy - this was her first Thanksgiving food. She found much of it good, much of it strange, and some she flat-out wouldn't eat. Our team mates the McCann's and their two girls were here - 11 of us in all. And BOY did we have quite a spread! Fun times indeed. We then finished out our evening by watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving! AWESOME day!

The Spread...


All enjoying the feast.

La Ceiba

La Ceiba is such a beautiful city! In the midst of all the poverty and suffering, the city has its own beauty.

Clinic

Saying a temporary goodbye to Eduardo


Yesterday we had our weekly health clinic. I love the opportunity it gives us to meet new people. We have also been so blessed to have some youth from the village help us out each week. They enjoy working with us, and it gives us a chance to spend one-on-one time with them. We are saying goodbye to Eduardo, a good friend who will be traveling to the island of Roatan to be with his mother for 2 1/2 months. In this time of economic struggles, especially when you live in a third world country - it splits families up. They have been without their mother in their home for almost 6 months. This is "normal" for the people in this community - people go where there is work, and the kids fend for themselves. We will miss Eduardo and his sister Johanna, but we are happy that they will get some quality time with their mother.

Some boys just "hanging out" with us :-)


Walter helping with intake

Mom and baby waiting to be seen

Genesis has come to see me about her cough...

Talking with one of my patients

Just another day

Today seems like just another day. Nothing exciting, nothing unusual - just the normal kind of day. But funny, when looking and reflecting back on your "normal" day - how not so normal, just 2 years ago it really would have been. Started the day with a splitting headache - I know - what's unusual about that? Nothing - but just feeling cruddy! Headache, achy bones, lethargic (NOT the flu), but I had to get up to take Madison to school. Mike is still gone until next week. On the way back I had to pause for 10 minutes while the herd of cows were paraded across the street in front of me on their way to new pastures. Then I went off to pick up a laundry line. But as you can't purchase laundry lines here (not the actual line, but the poles to hook your lines up to), I had to find a welder, and then pay him to have it constructed. My friend Sarah held on to the back of the truck with the pole while I drove back home. Then, as we don't have a shovel, we commenced to dig the hole with a machete. We then made our cement, poured it in said hole - and hopefully by tomorrow it will be good to go! In the meantime - washed clothes, and hung them around the house and over furniture hoping they will dry. Then I prepared all my dozens of boxes for med clinic tomorrow (this consists of re-stocking the medications, making sure I have all the supplies I need - purchase or replace as needed). Then, I input all the patient data from the previous week. I have a database on my computer, but as we have been so short staffed on med clinic days, just the extra time to find the patient and put the data in during clinic is too time consuming. So, I just write everything out and transfer it to my database at a later date. Now I'm off to go pick up Madison from school - as I avoid cows, horses, kids playing on the street, street cart vendors, go to the farmers market for things for dinner, sweat (yes, it's November, but it's still 90 degrees outside), and overall - finish out my day in what has become quite typical for me. Once the cement dries and I have laundry hanging, I'll be sure to post some pics of my new laundry line :-) Ah the little things in life that make me happy.

Monday

Today we had our weekly English Class. Learning more about verbs and how to use them in a sentence. I have some advanced students who have been attending - unfortunately, because of our "low staffing" (Mike is still in The States), and the McCann's have another ministry on Monday's, it's just me. So, my advanced students are a little neglected, but they are having fun, and learning none-the-less. Tomorrow is our weekly Kids Club, Wednesday I prep for clinic, Thursday is clinic all day, and Friday I recover :-) Been a little rough handling a lot of things here on my own, but God is good and gives me just what I need each day.

Girls Day

Madison, Oneida, Kaydi, Carolina, me, Kasandra and Nolvia


Today was our third group of girls we have taken out for a special day. Today we took them to a beach side restaurant where they enjoyed fish and chicken to eat. We then hung out - a great thing that girls love to do! We made necklaces, colored, did some origami. We were there for almost 2 1/2 hours! Then we took them out for ice cream, then back to Armenia Bonito. It's such a blessing to us to be able to have some special time with the girls! Lindsey and I are now in a place to start deciding which of all of these girls we are going to start a discipleship group with. We want to meet weekly with the girls and really get into heart matters. Please pray for Lindsey and I, that God would bring the right girls to us, and that we get something started. We are looking to start early after the holidays

Car ride back to Armenia - enjoying ice cream and cookies :-)


Madison and Oneida

1. 

Floods and Fungus

So, this morning while I was quietly sipping my hot coffee (gotta love the rain), doing my bible study, listening to Christmas music (shhhh...don't tell my husband) :-) I was startled out of study to the sound of water being dumped onto some hard surface. Now my first thought was - wow - the storm has come back full-force. However, when I glanced behind my back I noticed there was no rain pouring on our back porch. So off I went to investigate to find that the tank on the downstairs toilet was overflowing and had managed to flood the bathroom floor, the hallway, and started creeping into my kitchen! Are you kidding me?! Now, instead of yelling out any number of beautiful bad words in English OR in Spanish I managed to turn the water off at the tank and asses the situation. Now, my husband is gone, Madison is at school, I'm leaving to go to clinic in 1 hour, not having showered or gotten ready. Hmm...what to do? Leave it as is was my first inclination. However, being the independent, gun shooting, paratrooper, motorcycle riding, patriot missile launcher, mother, wife, nurse, missionary - I was NOT going to let this stupid toilet get the best of me! So, after throwing down 20 towels (okay - only 5), getting the wrench, spare parts, etc. I managed to repair the toilet so you wouldn't have even known there had been a problem (other than the tons of water still on the floor). Ah well - nothing the rest of the day couldn't solve. I was off to clinic afterall, and wouldn't be back until 5pm - plenty of time for nature to take care of itself :-)

Work in progress:

Clinic was a little crazy. LOTS of people - change of weather means lots of cold related issues. Along with that are the increasing amounts of foot fungus, nail fungus and skin fungus that I see on people. Ah the joys of nursing :-) Fortunately, with Mike being gone, we aren't short for helpers. We have had our "regulars" helping us every week - Eduardo on pharmacy, Alicia and Walter on intake. What a blessing indeed!

Deciding on treatment...

Walter and Alicia at intake:

Sean and Eduardo at pharmacy:

People waiting to be seen:

Bugs...

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Class Diplopoda (Millipedes)

Order Polydesmida

Family Xystodesmidae

Genus Sigmoria

Species trimaculata (Sigmoria trimaculata)

Bottom line? It's a millipede. You see, when someone decided to build our house, I think they left their level at home. Why? Well, we have about an inch gap at the bottom of our front door - but only on one side. So, we can't place a screen door to keep out critters. This allows plenty of room for things to find their way into our house. I often contemplate the reality of my world. I've never had a bug that's the size of my hand in my life, but somehow I live in that reality. I realize they belong somewhere in someones food chain - I just hope that I'm not included in that chain.

This guy has found his way a few times into our house. One time he made his way into my cupboards, and when my husband finally made his way into the kitchen to find out what the hysterical yelling, flinging of pots and pans across the room was all about. In the end - the bug won. He escaped:



And, if you remember the times I posted this guy who came into our house. After chasing him around our house - throwing sofas across the room (Hulk - eat your heart out), screaming like a wild woman, with my deadly broom raised above my head, convinced (or TRYING to convince myself) that he's more interested in eating bugs than taking a chomp out of my arm - and yet at the same time not wanting to squash him to clean up his shmoshed guts later, I finally swept him outside.




Course then there was the day that a full sized TOAD made it's way to sit harmlessly upon our shoes in the front room, croaking (or whatever they do) looking at us like this was his home and why in the world had WE invaded in HIS space. I'm still not quite sure how that guy made his way in:



And finally there are the tarantulas that come to visit. These guys have managed to come in 4 times...I'm done with them - I sweep them outside after the hair on my arms settles down - convinced that they do better catching bugs and swept outside, than squished underneath the shoe thrown across the room.



Why the bug post? Because with the increase in rains, the increase in the frequency of bugs finding their way into our house. This week alone - one tarantula and 2 millipedes. Let's pray the others don't come around.

Travels and the winds of change

Mike is once again off! Off to The States for a couple of meetings, conference, speaking engagements, etc. Madison and I will be the lone women in our house once again. It's all good, but we sure miss him when he's gone. Luckily I have my 110 pound dog to protect us :-) : I know...I know...he sure looks fierce :-)





Taught an English class yesterday solo - Mike has TONS of things to do before he leaves, and Madison had a boat load of homework. So - managed to teach 15 beginners and 2 advanced learners. Had a lot of fun worksheets for them to do with bribes (oh - did I say that?!) - uh...positive reinforcement treats for each sheet the finished. They ALL managed to finish ALL of them - go figure :-)

Tomorrow is prep day for clinic, then Sean and I will be solo for the medical clinic on Thursday. It's always a challenge when we are "short staffed", but we have it down to a science, so prayerfully things will go well.

Last night brought in some much needed rain and a relief to the weather! Can't believe it's November and I continue to sweat, and have to sit in front of the fan...this rain has been a nice relief! I pray it stays through the holidays!

Saturday

All day yesterday I sat on the couch and relaxed! It was heavenly! Nothing on the agenda, nothing pending - just me, myself, and the couch!! I was also anticipating Tropical Depression Ida to hit, but away she went. As of now she still can't decide if she is going to dump tons of rain on us or not. The skies are black, a nice little wind, but nothing else. We shall see.

Mike returns tomorrow from his time in Colombia. He had some great training. Then he will spend the following two days preparing for his time in The States. He will be gone for 2 1/2 weeks, but back just in time for Thanksgiving! I've already purchased the turkey, made plans with the McCann's, and can't even wait! Thanksgiving is a special time for us - filled with traditions...then the Christmas Tree will go up that weekend - and the Christmas season will commence! Exciting times :-)

Colombia, Clinic, and Ida

Mike is currently in Colombia for a leadership conference. After a false start at the hospital, and a one-day delay, he will be there until this Sunday. Then, on Wednesday he will leave to The States for additional meetings.

Today is our weekly medical clinic. We have had an increase of people coming from the mountains. As we are one of the only free medical clinics, people are coming from near and far. The difficulty with this is we are not able to see as many people from Armenia Bonito, as people from outlying areas are coming - the pros are - we are seeing people from unreached areas and are able to pray with them, and provide them with evangelism material.

Hurricane Ida has made landfall in Nicaragua. We are waiting to see what impact it has on Honduras. It is scheduled to arrive still as a Hurricane in a few days. It seems to be veering a bit East, so it looks like we won't get hit with the eye of the storm - but it's sure to bring a lot of rain.

Update

Today I taught an English class on Days of the Week and Months of the Year. After having a fun time yelling out the words, given cards to sort into the proper order (and to take home and practice more), and placing signs with days of the week on the walls, and having people run from place to place to the correct "day of the week" sign - I came home to my husband who stayed one more day in-country, and will be leaving to Colombia tomorrow.

Our team mates, The McCann's have returned after just over two weeks of a restful time with their family, and are ready to jump back into work :-) Although they have been gone, we have continued with all of our ministry work with just Mike and myself. Now Mike will be gone. I'll be continuing our English classes with the assistance of Madison, the McCann's will pick back up the Kids Club, and Sean and I will be doing our mobile clinics. Busy times indeed :-)

Fall is here, but you just wouldn't know it. We continue to swelter, sweat, and wear shorts and have our fans on full-time. A bit difficult to get into the season. However, our decorations are up, I've purchased the turkey, and now we are just waiting and starting to plan for Thanksgiving. Because Madison attends a bilingual school, they actually do celebrate many of the U.S. Holidays. Yes, she is the ONLY North American in attendance in the school, but they DO celebrate Thanksgiving (accion de gracias). So, she has Thursday and Friday off!