Beggar

So we were driving in the capitol, Teguscigalpa, last week and stopped at a redlight. I saw a lady out of the corner of my eye. I tried to not look at her or make eye contact but she kept coming towards us anyway. I knew she was coming to beg as happens so many times in a third world country. When we first moved to Costa Rica, beggars were definitely the greatest source of culture shock for our children. Maybe me too. They made me feel angry, guilty, and scared all at once. I definitely had alot of culture shock and lost alot of weight because of it. (Sometimes I jokingly think, "I wish I could get a little more culture shock now in order to lose weight.")

This lady walked up to the car, turned her free hand backwards and rapped on my driver's side window. I was reminded of the passage in Matt. 25 where Jesus talked of separating the sheep from the goats by sharing a glass of water, clothes, or food. So I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small bill, lowered my window and handed it to her. We then watched as she went to a group of motorcycles, and some other cars. No one else gave her any money this time.

This beggar was a little different from the many others we have encountered in that she was carrying a small child probably between 1 and 2 years of age. His head rested on her shoulder and he was sound asleep. It was sunny and very hot. She had him covered with a towel to keep the sun off of him but I am sure it made him hotter. Because of her poverty she was standing and walking and begging in an area of heavy traffic often moving fast. Very dangerous indeed.

Well, the light turned green and we all could leave and escape the sadness of the image of her and her little boy. You may wonder if I felt good that I had tried to help her. But as I drove away all I could think is I should have given more. I asked myself over and over, "Lord, why didn't I give more?"



Walking to the next car.







Going to the motorcycles.

17th Anniversary

So yesterday was Dawn's and my 17th wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe we are up to number 17. I can still remember our showers, rehearsal dinner, wedding like it was yesterday. I remember the excitment and the nervousness.

Liliana is the wife of our head Honduran doctor at the hospital. She is an excellent cook and has started cooking supper for our teams. She surprised us Friday night by cooking us an excellent meal. We were able to eat in Jimmy and Bonnie Abbott's house by ourselves for a little mini-date on Friday night. It was a sweet time as we get little time to ourselves anymore.

I was saved when I was 7 years old but had really fallen away from the Lord during the years following. Dawn and I were married on March 27, 1993. On Memorial Day weekend of the same year, Dawn led me back to the Lord and I rededicated my life to him. So between the Lord and my wife (of course the Lord is first) the last 17 years have been the best of my life. This tribute is more for Dawn since it was our anniversary yesterday.

Dawn has been a great wife, mother of our seven children, friend, helper (she helps me to be a much better man) and lover. I look forward to spending the rest of my life with her!!!

It has been a fantastic 17 years and I do not regret a single minute of it.

Dawn, Te amo mucho. (I love you very much.)

Tully

My 1st Mountain Medical

A view on the way--our journey took us up the mountain above the tree line and we were rewarded with views like this.



The medical clinic--and Tully seeing his first patient of the day



Setting up the pharmacy


Three boys peeping in a window to see what we're up to in the pharmacy.


Esaú, who is one of the kids at the Good Shepherd's Children's Home in Zamorano. He is visiting us this week as he is interested in becoming a doctor. Here, he is translating instructions for medicines in the pharmacy.





Well, it was SO much fun. Where to begin? There is a group here from Pella, Iowa who enjoy doing mountain medicals, where we travel to a remote village and take doctors, nurses, plenty of medicines to dispense, and the good news of Jesus Christ. I helped out today in their pharmacy in a village called Agua Fría.

It was a great day all in all, then we packed up and started our return trip home down the mountain. Well, the brakes on the car I was driving went out, and, yes, we were going down the mountain. God is so good as I was able to maintain control of the car as it careened down the hill and finally came to a leveled out stopping place. We decided that was a little too much excitement for ending our day.

15 year old emergency

Three days ago on Friday we had a young wife, age 15, and her 17 year old husband come to the hospital early in the morning. The girl was 10 weeks pregnant and had a miscarraige. She began bleeding heavily around 4 a.m. and came to the hospital around 9 a.m.

When she first arrived her blood pressure was 50/40. Yes that is right--50/40. Her hemoglobin was 6.0 less than half of normal. She was still bleeding heavily. Our head doctor was able to use a pair of forceps and reach inside of her. He delivered the placenta and stopped her bleeding. We then had to transport her to the capitol for a blood transfusion.

She had to be transported in the back of a pick up truck. Look closely at the picture and you can see two IV bags. Her pressure was so low that we felt it necessary to start and run two bags of IF fluids. Would you continue to pray that we will be able to get an ambulance. I am trusting and believing that the Lord will supply it.

Yesterday

I drove to the Zamorano Valley from here to buy some palm trees at the agricultural school. During our furlough, many of the dirt roads along the "back" way were made smoother, almost ready to be paved, so I went the back way, along with Trey, Tee, and Lupe, a translator friend of ours and of the mission. It was only about 1 1/2 hours--as opposed to 2 1/2 or 3 when we went the back way, avoiding Tegucigalpa, in August.

Pretty much everything here is an adventure, yesterday's trip being no exception. The countryside is so beautiful here. Along the way, I dodged oxen, herds of cows, dogs running out into the street, donkeys carrying firewood on their packs, road construction where we could have literally reached out of our window and put our hands on the machine as it was working. The other day when we were driving, a herd of horses raced our car up an incline. Leading the pack was a mare and her colt, the baby having no trouble keeping up on those gangly legs!

Driving in Honduras, you have to have your mind at all times focused on the road as their are SO many potholes, so many dangerous things to avoid. I decided yesterday that I like it better when Tully drives so that I'm free to look around and take in all the intriguing sights!

Extra Protein

Tonight, we had broccoli. I love vegetables, especially green ones. Here, we eat so much rice, beans, and corn, that salad, broccoli, and green beans are pretty much delicacies now with me. : )

Well, the broccoli tasted so good to me tonight that I ate a double serving, which is unusual.

At the end of the meal, as our family was sitting around talking, I noticed something all of a sudden on my plate--it looked suspiciously like a little white worm. But I thought, no, that's not what that is! I should have just gotten up at that point, scraped my plate and washed it to get it out of my mind, but I didn't. So, we talked some more, and I looked down again at my plate and noticed a second little white (cooked) worm, this time on my broccoli.

At this point, I was, of course, really grossed out, and feeling too full of wormy broccoli. Tully, in an optimistic moment, said very matter of factly, "Well, at least the corn wasn't wormy, too." I said, "Is that supposed to make me feel better??" The boys were practically rolling on the floor in laughter.

What Have We Been Up To?

Well, to answer that question, it would take a much longer blog than I'm sure anyone has time to read. I have, primarily, been homeschooling, which is taking a long time each day, but we are really enjoying our new (to us) school, the SC Virtual Charter School. I can't say enough good about it, really, but it is time intensive.

I have also enjoyed planting some flowers here and there around the hospital when time has permitted. One of my favorite things is gardening, so that has been fun. Plus, our dry season hasn't yet begun, so the flowers are flourishing soaking up the rains.

Emotionally, it has been a month filled with ups and downs. We returned to (some) employees who were a little scared of us and/or the changes, which, truthfully, has been hard for me--I like to be liked, in fact, didn't realize how much so until this happened! : )

When we realized what was going on with the employees, however, Tully hit upon a great idea which was to invite the different (small) groups of employees to the team kitchen for a lunch--to get to know us, for us to get to know them. So, the first day, we had the nurses, a couple of days later, it was the guards' turn (who were hilarious, by the way--and we picked up some new Spanish words), then the other hospital employees. Today it was the cleaning ladies at 12 pm, and the pastor of the church and the head of grounds at 1 pm. Tomorrow will be the team cook and the lady in charge of the food program. This has given the employees a chance to ask us questions, and we can tell them a little more of what we expect, etc.

This weekend begins our brigades with the first being led by our dear friend, mentor, and former pastor, Wilson Nelson, who is bringing a group from his church in Calgary, Canada. We are all so excited! Beginning this weekend, we will have someone here until mid March, so we have been readying everything for the teams. Dr. Estrada has taken around flyers for announcing the upcoming surgery team, as has our pastor, Mingo, by taking flyers to our surrounding mountain churches, the TV and radio stations have begun their announcements regarding the surgery team, and Joann and I have spent some time making up menus for the upcoming teams.

In a nutshell, has been a great month, a hard month, and a learning month, and I wouldn't trade it for anything!