Medical Brigade makes the news

It was pretty cool...today the local news came out to the medical brigade and interviewed our own Doctor Roger who gave an overview of the ministry that was being provided this week.  I'll do a follow-up recap of this weeks medical brigade at the end of the week.

#45TVinforma -- Una brigada médica llega a La Ceiba, gracias a La Iglesia Misión para el Mundo, se lleva acabo en el sector la colonia El Edén, con un aproximado de 20 o más médicos norteamericanos, nos comenta el Doctor Roger!! Más detalles en el Diario del Mediodía y Radio el Patio en estos instantes...

Posted by 45TV El Canal de Los Ceibeños on Tuesday, July 21, 2015

 

Medical overview

Ever wonder what it looks like to go on a medical mission trip somewhere in the world?  Having done more than 500 mobile medical clinics, established a permanent clinic in a third world country, and worked in disaster situations, I've seen a lot...here is a video to give you an idea of what it looks like to be involved in medical ministry.

Medical team and construction

This week I had the privilege of working with two docs from Westminster Presbyterian Church of South Carolina, and my friend Denise who currently lives in Florida.  We had a full week of medical clinics, from a mobile clinic in an outlying village, and finished up in the permanent clinic in Armenia Bonito.  The rest of the team did a full week of construction, spent some time with the Peter Project (our street kids ministry), and taught English class at our Hig School.  

Overall we saw 159 general consult patients, and 50 additional children were treated for parasites and given children's vitamins.  We saw a variety of patients with a multiple variety of illnesses. 

This is an interesting place, mentally, for me.  As our job roles have changed, my position is going to look very different.  Medical brigades and the clinic have been so much a part of my life over the last 7 years,  In that time frame, I have easily had over 16,000 patients come through my mobile clinic and permanent clinic.  I am excited to see what this next chapter is going to look like.  I know that there will always be a medical/mercy ministry component to what I do...it is just part of my genetic make-up.

Mobile medical clinic in barrio El Trejo

Running an EKG on one of our patients

Sweet little 95 year old patient we saw in clinic

Growing things

I have always loved growing things.  In The States we always had a huge garden.  Finding things to grow well here has actually been quite challenging.  Because of the extreme heat and tons of rain that floods things out, I struggle with making things grow the way I am used to.  About six months  before we left to go back to The States this furlough, I purchased a papaya from a local fruit stand.  Now, I am not a huge papaya fan, but I know the nutritional value of them so use them a lot in fresh smoothies.  So I took the seeds out of the papaya, and threw a bunch of them in a pot with some soil.  Well...they took off.  By e time we returned from furlough the trees had started fruiting!  However, not so sure I will actually be able to enjoy the fruit of my labor so as some local fruit bats have found out about my tasty papayas.  All in all, it is the growing of things I love, so that's okay :-)

Here is e planted tree right before we left

The trees after we returned

And some fruit that the bats are enjoying...

Readjusting to life in Honduras

Well, we have returned, and started things off with a bang.  Two days after our return we started a leadership assessment of the men on the team.  Folks from Mission to the World have come down to be a part of this process.  It is a great way of looking at strengths and weakness in areas of leadership and is designed to give some insight into each couple evaluated.  We have not only been evaluated, but are part of the assessment team.  During the same time we are trying to get our house in order.  We have literally been going non-stop since our return, and have not even managed to unpack, we are still living out of suitcases.  Gratefully food is provided during this week as our stove and oven are not functioning, and we are not home to be able to have a repair person come evaluate it to be fixed, or if it is even fixable.

Life here has continued on as expected.  New businesses have opened, many have closed. My he clinic has been running well, and continued mobile clinics in numerous communities have continued as well.  We are going to take the next few weeks to get our house in order, spend time together as a family and just live before we start evaluating what our role here is going to be.  Summer teams are right around the corner, so there is that as well.  We have numerous international trips planned including a trip to Africa to do some information exchange.  They have a great seminary program up and running and we want to learn from them, and we have done much in terms of medical/mercy ministry and they are looking at starting something and want to learn from us.

So that's us in a nutshell...no different than usual, the Pettengill's running 100 miles an hour, but that is how we roll :-)

Cruise

The intent of this cruise was to relax, sleep in, and have zero agenda.  In typical Pettengill style, our days have been jam packed since we have been on furlough.  An awesome church, Faith, in South Carolina, provided us all the funds we needed to go on this cruise.  So we did it "right."  We got a mini-suite with a balcony and relaxed.  Here are some pics of our trip... 

our suite...

Leaving LA Port

USS Iowa

Room service

Puerta Vallarta

Mazatlan

Cabo San Lucas

We did a lot of this...

And this...

And this...

We enjoyed each other's company

And even caught a few episodes of The Love Boat that played endlessly on the TV...

Threw some bread to the seagulls as they flew by

We slept in late every day, and even enjoyed some "Movies Under the Stars" each night.

All in all our goal was accomplished.  We were unplugged for the week, I read three books, watched lots of movies, gained some weight, and just relaxed.  Thank you to the incredible people of Faith who took a HUGE extra step to make this happen!!!  We appreciate it I think more than you even know!

Our return

It has been a long road.  Furlough, or better known as Home Mission Assignment is meant for a number of things.  The primary reason for furlough is for rest, and a time of refreshment.  However, most missionaries will tell you that very little of either of those things actually transpire.  We have obligations to meet, supporters to visit, and tasks to do.  It is a great time for churches to utilize their resources and have us teach on missions, participate in missions conferences, and share the work of what is going on in Honduras.  And we are happy to do these things!  This is part of what we do, afterall.  We couldn't be in Honduras if we didn't have people praying for us and financially supporting us.  Mike and I also decided that I needed to pick up a job while on furlough.  We were going to be located in one geographic location this time, unlike last time, so this would enable me to take on a job. This would allow us to send Madison to Europe this summer for a study abroad program for college, pay off some bills, and have the opportunity to just have some fun without feeling the financial strain.  

So now the end of our time here in The States is on the horizon.  We will be headed back to Honduras in just over five weeks.  There are still things I feel we have left undone, but for the most part we were able to see friends and family, visit all our supporting churches, and yes...even have a little bit of fun.

I have eight shifts left at work, we still have a visit to Seattle coming up, another trip to California, Mike is going to Orlando, and we have to drive across country to drop off the car we have been using and pick up Madison from college.  So although our time is short, we still have much to do.

Please be in prayer for our final time here in the States, we are starting to feel a bit ragged and know we have a lot coming up yet, then back to Honduras and are immediately back to work.