First Clinic day with the Medical Brigade

Today was our first clinic day with the full medical brigade from Trinity Presbyterian Church. We got started a little late, but this was due mainly because we wanted the group to tour the ministry center, and then it took a bit of organizing to see how we were going to arrange 3 provider stations, 1 ultrasound station, a dental station, the pharmacy, intake, etc. It took quite a bit - required all of our brains and finally had a good working clinic! It was AWESOME!!!! Our dentist ended up seeing 20 patients, for about 30 teeth pulled, Dr. Greg did 16 ultrasounds, and our provider stations saw 38 patients. We had Nancy outside hanging and entertaining kids, our pharmacy going full steam to provide for everyone, and all of us being translators, and overseeing things. We also had some construction going on, and our English class at the end of the day! Whew! Let's see what tomorrow will bring!

Many pregnant women came in today for an ultrasound - for many of the women it was the time they had ever had an ultrasound - Dr. Greg put on the audio and they were able to hear their babies heart beat.

Dr. Jiaro - saw many complex and high risk patients

Dr. Gina taking care of the kiddos

NP Heidi taking care of the ladies

DDS Wade saw lots of patients and had a great time (his words)!

Childbirth Education Classes

For a long time I've been wanting to put on some childbirth education classes. The concept here is (if you will) quite foreign. Ladies here go to the hospital, are admitted, labor by themselves, and deliver their baby - most without prenatal care, and most if not all any idea of the process. Now I don't know about you - but that seems pretty scary to me. So, after a long time, I met up with a lady (Silvia) who is committed to changing the concept of childbirth here in Honduras, she has a ministry called Dar La Luz. This got me motivated to start the process. I received many Spanish materials through the internet, through Silvia, through some books, and some I devised on my own. Some, however, I had to create on my own. I need visual aides for my classes, and can't buy them here - so I thought I would create them. That's been my motto since living in a 3rd world country for over 4 years now. I created my own visual aide placenta and uterus. I've already given one class for one individual, and plan to do many more. If the ladies commit themselves to my classes, then I have told them I will assist them with delivery at the hospital. I'll keep everyone posted on how it goes.

My baby and uterus

Placenta, amniotic sac, and umbilical cord

Learning From A Bad Experience

If you have recently read our other blog, newsletter or Twitter you know that we just fired 12 of the Honduran construction workers who had been building our ministry sites. This was one of the worst days we have had as missionaries in our three years in Honduras.

For over a year our team has been building two ministry centers in La Ceiba, Honduras. In that time we hadn’t missed a payroll or been late on a payment for supplies. In fact, in the past year God raised and we spent over $250,000 for the two ministry centers. So, what went wrong? How did we get to a place where we were forced to fire half of our labor force?

Seldom did we ask for financial support. We trusted in the Lord’s provision. When God wanted us to have money He sent it. This resulted in very sporadic and unpredictable giving. One month we would receive tens of thousands of dollars in contributions and nothing in the next three months.

For the Armenia Bonito ministry center, in six of the past 12 months we didn’t receive enough contributions to even cover our monthly payroll. We used previous month’s contributions to make ends meet. For the downtown ministry center, 60% of our total contributions came in during a two month period and less than 40% of our total came in during the remaining 10 months.

In an effort to be good stewards of the blessings God is giving us and to help us better budget and plan, we have devised a solution. We are asking churches, individuals and foundations to prayerfully consider supporting either of our two ministry centers at a modest, yet predictable monthly amount.

Here are the two projects:

The Armenia Bonito ministry center sits on two acres in the middle of the super poor community of Armenia Bonito. On this property we are building an indoor soccer field, a five-classroom high school, a four exam room medical clinic and a church. If you would like to provide monthly support for this project print, fill out and mail in THIS FORM.

The downtown ministry center sits on a small plot in the middle of busy La Ceiba. On this property we are building a dorm for visiting mission teams, a high school, a theological seminary, a homeless children drop-in center, a medical clinic and a church. If you would like to provide monthly support for this project print, fill out and mail in THIS FORM.

Please repost this link on your blog, Facebook or Twitter and forward the information to your friends and church leadership. And, please prayerfully consider your role in God’s amazing work in Honduras.

Madisons first day of school

In Honduras, schools only go through 11th grade. Because of that, Madison and I will be homeschooling her final year to prepare her for her GED. That being said, she started 10th grade, which in the States would be her Sophomore year, but here in Honduras they are called Juniors. So - she started her first day of Jr. year today. But - nothing could go without a hitch. Yesterday we were putting together her uniform, everything was ironed, and set to go. This morning, however, the one thing we didn't think of last night - her shoes. Madison has a size 9 1/2 - which is almost impossible to find here, so we specifically purchased shoes in the States while we were there. Well...we brought them back in February - and let's just say - they were no where to be found. We searched and searched and searched. We don't know if they were put into our ministry clothes closet (although I looked all through them), scattered or stolen when the thief invaded our home, or what - but they were no where to be found! So - what did we do? We managed to find a an old (yet usable) pair or shoes in the clothing closet. So - we are off to the mall after school today to prayerfully find a pair of shoes. Madison has gringo size shoes - so what we have found here is that shoes only go up to about a size 8. So the hunt is on.

Madison In New York City

Our daughter Madison just returned from spending the entire month of July in New York City. She served as a Cross-Cultural Intern at MTW's missionary training. She helped to prepare missionaries and missionary kids for their service around the world. It was a very busy and enjoyable time of service for her.

Watch this 2 minute and 50 second video of Madison's time in New York:

Tuesday with Rincon Mountain

Day 2 of full-time ministry. Today we continued with construction on a house, construction on our ministry project, and a full day of clinic. Today we had two provider stations, saw about 30 patients, and placed stitches on a young boy who severely cut his toe with a machete. All in all within the last 4 weeks we've done 1 set of stitches a week. Not so sure I like this trend - but what a GREAT service to provide to people who would otherwise not receive them, nor antibiotics. There were no medical "issues" today - everyone was VERY conscious about drinking water and staying hydrated! Yeah! A hard lesson learned, but it was taken to heart. In the afternoon we had a GREAT Kids Club with lots of kids in attendance, very fun craft, and lots of hanging out with kids! We ended the day at a local restaurant where we had baleadas (a national dish), tojadas (fried plantains), and ice cold soda! Yum! Everyone is now back at the dorms, probably talking about the day and getting ready for tomorrow. Sleep well everyone!

Rincon Mountain and the first day

So...if you are a frequent reader, you've noticed a number of ways in which the Enemy has been striking the team here in Honduras. But - he's not picky about who he goes for, this week, he is selecting our visiting team - Rincon Mountain Presbyterian Church. And it's only day 2. They left on their adventure by being split up - first 12 arrived Sunday night (after a delay) and the remaining 5 arrived Sunday morning. The 12 had no luggage, the 5 did. A trip to our house was made to hit the clothing closet and provide them with at least a set of clothing, some shoes, toothbrush and toothpaste. Then came Monday. Monday is a construction day, and clinic. This day consisted of Heat Exhaustion (IV started and 1,500ml's of fluids), displaced patella (that's the knee cap), another mild case of heat exhaustion, flushed a foreign body out of an eye - and no...those are NOT the patients that came to clinic, that was from the visiting team. We saw 23 patients in the clinic - removed some stitches on two patients, breathing treatment on a pretty sick baby, lots of skin infections, etc. Our construction crew worked on starting the walls for a house for a single mom with three kids, and the other construction crew is working on a wall at our project. The end of the day saw them hosting an English class and then dinner at our team mates house. WHEW!!! I'm exhausted just writing this! But everyone was a trooper, hardly a complaint by any. It's Tuesday, and we shall see what the day brings.