We Need More Prayers... And More Prayers

This morning was overcast and drizzling.  The weather matched my mood this morning.

Yesterday morning started a bit unorganized.  I was going to town to run errands.  Nicole was going to town to run errands.  I sent Luis to run even more errands.  Dorian went to the farm.  Matt was going to get a group at the airport.  The Indiana group was leaving for Guajire, planning to return on Sunday.  They had packed 300 bags of food.  While in Guajire, they were planning on building two houses and fellowshipping with the church there. 

The bus was taking the tools for the houses, the mattresses for the houses, which were also being used for the group to sleep on, food for themselves for 2 days, the group and the luggage.  Dan Kerr was driving the tundra with the 300 food bags. 

There was a bit of a transportation problem, but we soon had that resolved. 

About lunch time, Luis called and said the tundra was broken.  The tundra with 300 bags of food.  A rock had gone through the grill and punctured the radiator and the truck lost all of its water.  I rubbed my temples.  Luis said he would call a mechanic and take care of things.  He assured me he had enough money.  I knew Luis could take care of this much better than I could and I left it in his capable hands.  It was 5:30 when Luis called and said the tundra was fixed and was its way to Guajire at last.

By the time, Luis gave me that news, a broken radiator seemed liked a very small problem.

I returned from town around 2:30 and we unloaded the car.  Donna, Sherry, Matt and I were sitting in my house talking when John ran in and told Matt that Brayan had drowned and was in the hospital.  I could hear Karen's car leaving.

I bowed my head to pray and Sherry said I think we need to pray.  Matt, Donna, Sherry and I prayed.    In just a few minutes, we heard an ambulance leaving the hospital and I felt sick to my stomach.  At the exact same second we heard the ambulance, my phone rang.  It was Karen.  I felt even sicker.  Karen tends to talk really fast when she is upset.  But I understood that she was in the ambulance with him, CPR had been done, he was under oxygen and he might not make it.  She called back several times in the next few minutes as she thought of details that need to be done.  I took care of what I could and left for the hospital.

Brayan had asked to go to a friend's house to work on homework.  It was math and he struggles in math.  He rode his bike and Karen told him to be home by 5:00.  At 4:30, someone came to the gate and said Brayan had drowned and was at the hospital.

After finishing the math homework, the other boy asked his mom for some money so they could go the internet cafe and do some research.  I guess they stopped for cokes and chips and something else before they got to the internet cafe.  And then, they decided to go swimming.  The other boy saw Brayan go under and some him not come back up.  He tried to get Brayan out of the water and could not.  He began to yell for help and found some.  Someone got Brayan out of the water and the other boy did CPR.  A lot of water was removed from his lungs through CPR:  The boy and his mother had a motor taxi take Brayan to the hospital and then came to find Karen.  If those steps had not been taken, Brayan would not be alive right now.

There were Casa details and group details and everyone was calling everyone trying to get everything covered.  I was praying and calmer than I thought possible.  I was traveling at a decent rate, not extremely fast or slow, until I got to Santa Rosa and traffic slowed to a crawl.  This was the last thing I needed.  I prayed some more.

I was so thankful when I arrived at Dime.  I called Karen to see where they were.  I went to emergency.  Mark and Lori where there, too.  I went in and held Brayan's hand.  He was making an awful groaning sound.  It was not a human sound and I will be haunted by that sound for some time to come.  He was aggressive and restless.  He looked awful.  Karen and I hugged each other and the tears began to flow.  I sat down and I felt Lori's arms around me trying to comfort. 

Dorian arrived shortly after I did.  Somehow, that made things better.

The chest x-rays showed there was still a lot of water in the lungs.  They were pumping his stomach and giving him diuretics in hopes that is body would normally take care of the water.  He had fever and antibiotics were started.  He was sedated as he continued to be aggressive and restless.  His breathing was very labored.  There were three or four or more people attending him at all times.

Mark and Lori went to get us something to eat and were helping in every way possible.  And, Mark kept reminding us that Brayan was alive.  We tried to decide if he was in a coma.  Lori googled  coma and we decided he was unconscious, not in a coma.

Karen decided she would stay last night and who would stay tonight is still not decided. 

Once they begin to move him to a room, Brayan begin to get restless again.  Mark and Lori left after Brayan was in his room and I left shortly after that.  Dorian left not long after I did.

I continued to pray, as did many others, for this precious child. 

I saw that Karen posted that he continued to be restless and aggressive.  He had more sedative at midnight.  This morning they were not wanting to give sedative until after the doctor came.  The doctor wanted to try to determine if he was coming out. Before I left for the mission house this morning, I talked to Karen.  There had not been much change.  Restlessness.  Aggressiveness.

As I was returning from the mission, Karen called and said he was talking as much as he could with the oxygen mask.  The nurses asked who it was and he said Karen.  Karen asked him a question and he said yes, in English.  Karen told him what happened and he began to sob.  He said he remembered doing the homework and nothing else. 

The clouds cleared off and the drizzle stopped.  The sun is shining.  My heart feels a lot less heavy, too.

Brayan is not well, but much improved.  Please keep those prayers going.

We are blessed to be a part of the family of God and blessed to have so many people praying for us.

Another Group Has Come And Gone

The Childress, Texas group has already come and gone.  It went way too fast.  Their trip dates were supposed to be July 4-11.  But a huge oversight, their trip ended up being July 4-9.  Then another delay in Dallas on Friday caused them to miss their connecting flight and they spent the night in San Salvador.  They were supposed to land at 9:30 on Friday night.  The first thought is this is not too bad, they will be on the 9:30 a.m. flight on Saturday morning from San Salvador and the day can still be salvaged.  After seven years, I should know better than to think thoughts like that.  They arrived at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Not much day left to salvage.

They came to Ojojona and checked into the mission house.   Church was at 6:00 and Trey was preaching.  It was a rush, but it all worked.  Trey preached again on Sunday morning in Ojojona and we all had lunch at Caso y Campo.  The group then did VBS for about 40 kids in the Ojojona church and Trey did a marriage sermon on Sunday night.  There were about 20 couples and some women there.  It was a packed house.  And a packed day.

Monday was another busy day.  They fed at the dump and then did a VBS in the feeding center for the children at Buen Samaritano.  The Childress group admits this is their favorite community.  There was 175 children crammed into the feeding center for VBS.  The children and the group were excited about this. 

A house build had been scheduled on Saturday.  That got moved to Tuesday in El Aguacatal.  Along with the house build, they also did a clinic.  That is pretty aggressive for a group of 20 people.  The clinic saw 324 patients. 

All the morning and night devos were great.  On Monday, a group of 17 arrived from Indiana and Texas.  Monday and Tuesday nights the singing and devos were especially good as so many voices blended together.  Early, early, early this morning the Childress group left.  Thanks Nicole for making that early morning airport run. 

What a busy 3 days.  I am glad they all arrived home safely.  Now for more fun with Indiana and Murray, Kentucky, who arrives on Friday.

Bean Crisis

Rice and beans are consumed in great quantities in Honduras.  They are staples.  Recently we began to have trouble buying beans.  One day when Nicole went to town to buy the food for the feeding center, she said the market was out of beans.  The little pulperias were out of beans, too.  We were still finding plenty at PrcieSmart, though they were going up in price. 

Wednesday, when I bought groceries for Casa, beans were on the list.  I cannot remember the last time beans had been on the PriceSmart list, because we buy them from a local vendor that comes to the gate selling them.  As I pulled the cart up to the beans, I noticed there were not many.  I called Nicole to ask here if she wanted me to go ahead and buy some beans for the feeding center.  Before she even answered her phone, I saw a sign had been placed over the beans that said "one bag per membership."  I told her why I was calling and said never mind.  I bought one 20 pound bag of beans.  That won't last long here. 

By the time Nicole got to PriceSmart on Thursday, she could only get 10 pounds of beans.  Trust me, that will not last long at the feeding center.

With airport runs and such, we have decided to hit PriceSmart every time we go to town and try to get some beans.  With the children's home and two feeding programs, we need beans.  We are also changing the menus to something that does not include beans.  At the dump, we will be feeding arroz con pollo ( chicken and rice) one week and spaghetti the next and alternating between the two.  At the feeding center, we will be adding another day of soup.

Please pray that this crisis ends soon.  Many will lack needed protein without beans and probably cannot afford other sources of protein.

Group Update

I am not doing so great updating on this blog.  Some nights it is all I can do to get home, much less write a blog. 

Last week we had the Overland Park/Skillman groups. This was a great group with a total of 29, our biggest group so far. I was glad to see Josh West back and to meet Allen French, but was so sad that Jerry and Dale had to drop out at the last minute.  Jerry Taylor,  I hope you are feeling much better.

This group stayed busy by building five houses and having two clinics as well as feeding at the dump and the feeding center.  They carried on with the second clinic even when Anne had to leave early.  The nurses had collected some supplies and made a nice donation to the NICU at Hospital Escuela.  One of the houses they built was for Adonis (formerly of Casa de Esperanza) and his mother.  That had a special place in my heart.

I made new friends and had a great time.

The day the group left, Matt, Nicole, the girls and the interns left for the beach as we had no group this week.  I went to the airport and told the group bye and met Lisa Bloecher for lunch.  There is nothing quite like having Lisa pray for you.

I rested on Tuesday and attempted to get caught up on some paper work the rest of the week.  I love groups being here.  I will not lie.  I was ready for a little break.  Now that I have had that little break, I am ready for Childress, Indiana, and Murray followed by Starkville, Madison, San Antonio/Houston and Antioch.  More houses, more food, more evangelism, more fellowship.

A Trip To The Farm

Lanetta and I went to the farm today.  The farm is a couple of hours away, but as many snacks as we took, you would have thought it was a several day trip.  We had fun as we rode.  Guess who snapped pictures all the way?  If you guessed me, you are wrong.  I was driving and Lanetta took more pictures than I ever dreamed of taking.

Denis knew we were coming and he was waiting at the highway for us.  It is a long, long walk from the farm to the highway.  We drove up the mountain.  We parked at the back of the property and started our tour from the back. 

There has been a lot of overgrowth and weeds and brush on the farm.  Denis began showing us some of the areas he had cleared and some that he would clear.  He has cleared a lot of land and planted beans.  We walked through one of the bean fields.  He told us not to step on any beans.  That was harder than you might think.  The beans were not planted in rows but quite sporadically across the field.

 

 A bean sprout

 Here I am learning all about beans.

Several areas have also been cleared and corn planted.

Not an Illinois corn field, but a cornfield.

Workers in one of the cornfields

Denis had his machete and as we walked, he whacked at weeds.  No use wasting time.

Of course we saw the bananas and coffee.

Not only did I learn a lot about beans, I learned a lot about coffee.  Before coffee can be planted in ground, it has to be started in these little bags.  He had these little bags everywhere.  I have no idea how many new coffee plants will be planted.

We saw where the coffee beans are washed.  I did not understand the whole process, but it was interesting.


Some land had been terraced and was being prepared to plant cabbage, lettuce, green peppers, carrots and broccoli.

There are hundreds of fruit trees on the farm.  Though not ripe and ready for the harvest, many were loaded with fruit.

Denis found and killed this little guy.  Even though it was dead and the skin had been cured, I did not like it and did not want to be in the same room with it.

It was a very interesting day at the farm and I am pleased with the progress I saw.

New Church

Eleven years ago, when I made my first trip to Honduras, we built a church building in the community of Los Pinos.  That church has grown and ministered to the community around it.  Now they have expanded their borders of  ministry.

We have built many house in a community called Lomas Diamante.  Many years ago, the people of the community started to build a community center.  It was a large building.  They never had the money to finish it.  In February, the Unashamed Missions group went up there ( and I do mean up.  It is so far up the mountain that it is just a few steps from heaven) and but a roof on this huge building.

The church at Los Pinos is now starting a new church in that building.  To drive from Los Pinos to Lomas Diamante is quite a ways even though you can see Los Pinos from Lomas Diamante.  But over the mountains and by foot, it is only eight kilometers.  Some of the men from Los Pinos walk that 8 kilometers after their Sunday morning service so that they can be in Lomas Diamante by 3:00 for church there.  Then after that afternoon service, they walk back to Los Pinos.  That is dedication.

Timoteo asked if Billy Ferguson could come up there this afternoon.  Billy said he would and Nicole took my car and drove him up there.  Billy preached.  Nicole translated.  Maybe Emmy helped translate, too.

This is so exciting and I just love these pictures.

There were two baptisms there this afternoon.  Isn't God good?

It Was Another Manic Saturday

The words of that do not flow as well as the words of the song.  Oh well.

Nicole had to take Baby Josue to the doctor Friday evening.  When I got up to give the medicines, I did not understand one of the new ones.  I called Nicole at 6:00.  Much to my surprise, she was still in bed.  She mumbled through what I was suppose to do and I gave the meds.  About ten minutes til seven, Nicole called me and said she was running late, could I go get the kids up.  There were small issues up there and I dealt with them. 

I arrived at the mission house a bit late.  Luis had brought Dina, the accountant, out with him and she was patiently waiting on me.  I began to run around doing a million things and paying people.  I quickly realized I did not bring enough money.  Lanetta went back to the house for more money.  Everyone left but me and Matt saw Dina sitting in the comedor and thought I had forgotten her.  Matt, not realizing I was still in the store, took Dina to Casa where she patiently waited on me some more.

Donna Griffith is here again teaching the girls more about sewing.  Lori Connell and Janet Hines have graciously allowed us to use the Mi Esperanza sewing center across the street.  Nicole and Emma Kate left with Donna and the older girls to get started on the second day of class.

Donna had trouble with some of the machines and finally got one running consistently.  Some of the girls were a bit impatient as they had to share one machine.  Such is life in Honduras.  Donna was over there all day long.

Here at Casa, there were three groups here.  Some were working on the wall and some were working on the playground.  I was in my house and could here all the happy sounds.  I opened the store several times.  I opened the office more than once for screws and tools.  Dina was working.  Lanetta was working.  I got one receipt filed.  Yay me. 

The groups that were here were our group from East Tennessee, a TORCH group from I don't know where and the Columbus group.  I have done a lot of life with the Columbus groups.  A lot of life.  There were a lot of tears yesterday.  All day.

I kept the coffee pot going all day.  Billy, Cisco, Don, Jorge and others had a meeting on my front porch.  Nicole brought Emmy over about 11:00 for a nap.  I gave her some milk and put her to bed.  She got quiet,  and I thought she went to sleep.  But in 15 minutes, she was saying, "Gammy, Gammy."  So much for that.

At some point in time, Matt left for the airport to get the Skillman group.  

At 3:00, one group left and Matt and the Skillman group arrived. 

Several of the Columbus group came to my house and prayed with Nicole and I.  More tears.

At 3:30ish, I walked over to Mi Esperanza to check on Donna.  She and Ana were just finishing.  They stayed a bit longer. 

I told Dina that someone would take her to Loarque at 3:00.  At 4:00, she was still patiently sitting and waiting on me.  I went to my house to get my purse and Don and Billy were there making another pot of coffee. I started a long conversation with them.


Before the group left, they almost completed the playground.

The kids were so excited.  They started playing before it was completely finished.

I was still in the house talking with Don and Billy, when it got quiet.  I knew the Tennessee group had gone to take a few of the older kids to play soccer.  The ones that were not in trouble.  I thought when they left that they probably took Dina with them.   

As I continued to visit with friends, Lanetta made snow with the little kids.  No one in Honduras has ever seen snow.  They were excited.

At 5:00, I realized Dina was still patiently waiting on me.  I got my purse and Donna, Lanetta and I left for Loarque.  When I got there, I got a nice cold Dr. Pepper for the drive back up the mountain.  That was only one of the bonuses of the late afternoon trip.

This was the other one.

I got back to Casa and gave the 6:00 p.m. medicines. 

Again, I arrived at the mission house late.  All of the devos have been good.  I thought last night's devo was especially good.  Maybe because of the manicness of the day.

There was a lot of manicness yesterday.  A lot of work accomplished.  A lot of teaching and learning.  A lot of smiles.  A lot of happy sounds.  A lot of tears.  A lot of prayers.  A lot of fellowship. All done for God's glory.