Yesterday morning five members of the Carpenter's Sunday school class at First United Methodist Church here in Tulsa came to visit us. They brought Christmas gifts and a wonderful holiday coffee cake and then we had about two hours of great fellowship. We shared, sang, and prayed together. It was such a great blessing. In the afternoon we went to an open house for a recently married couple in our church; then did a little shopping and came back to the house. Later on I went back downtown to the Methodist Church for dinner and a Christmas party put on by the PTL Sunday school class. All in all a pretty full day.
Cheryl had her surgery this morning. She was released and is home tonight. The doctor said it did not go as well as planned. The stones didn't break up as expected. We will meet with him next week to determine what to do next with this and with the other kidney. Thanks for your prayers.
Cheryl and I went to see her doctor yesterday and were encouraged to learn that they may possibly be able to accomplish her surgical procedure by a less invasive means. Today we went to St. John Hospital for her preop session. Surgery is scheduled for the 30th at 8 AM. She also went today for prolo therapy on her foot. It's very sore and swollen tonight so she won't be able to do as much cooking for Thanksgiving day as she would like.
Helens Snipes left at about noon on Friday. Afterward Cheryl and I ran errands and then met Mike and Sherrill Gasinski for dinner. We have gone to church together for the last several years but never really got to know them very well. We had a great time of fellowship together. Cheryl and I then went to Frank and Phoebe Harrison's to spend the night as it was well after dark. We also had a great time with them. Frank had been studying the book of First Peter and shared some very encouraging thoughts. On Saturday we ran the rest of our errands and then went back to the mission center for the evening. On Sunday Cheryl was the worship leader at church and I had the communion meditation. Afterward we went to the airport to pick up Denny Boersma who had come from Michigan to help with the process of selecting a new pastor for our church here. During the afternoon we met with the Honduran representatives for the Reformed Church, and then attended church service and meeting afterward with the pastors who have an interest in helping us fill the pulpit. Denny has been working on the water filtration system today, and also additional computer connections to the satellite dish. But we have also had a couple of prayer, talk sessions about how to best choose the pastor; and about preparing for the first phase of construction of the dormitories. These were extremely productive times and we are very much encouraged with regard to both initiatives.
As most of you know, Gary's and my motto is, “PRAY AND SHOW UP AND THEN GOD SHOWS UP”. Sometimes we do not always see God show up.
An interesting thing happened the other day. We were expecting Dr. Green’s medical team on Saturday, October 23rd and this was the day before. I had to get groceries and supplies. We try to get the perishable groceries last minute because they deteriorate quickly in this hot, humid environment and they are not always fresh when we buy them at the store here. So the Friday before they came in we made the hour plus long drive into San Pedro Sula to purchase our list and supplies and get right back to Helen Ruth Snipes at the mission center. I had every stop planned and timed, we were in a hurry. At the first store we picked out our goods and went to the check out. Our card was denied. We knew there was money in that account and so we had them try it again. Again our card was denied. We had to pay with another account, just to get through the line, and then stepped outside into the mall where Gary and I sat down and tried to figure out just what we were going to do. We had a long list, (groceries for twenty some people for seven days) and did not have other funds that we could use. We prayed….we showed up…now what? As we were leaving the mall, we saw an ATM machine near the stairs. Normally if our card was not accepted at one business it would not be accepted anywhere. Also, we do not use ATM’s and seldom get a lot of cash so as not to put us at risk, but we thought we would give it a try. Amazingly, it took our card, but gave only a limited amount. We used both of our cards and got another limited amount and went on our way. We had several stops before we went to the big “SUPER” as they call it here and purchase the large amount of food. It took some time and several baskets and we headed to the check out, but something was wrong. The lines were not moving. In time we found out that the “systema” was down, i.e. their computer system was not functioning and no one how had credit or debit cards could check out. They gave out a call that if you had cash you could come to the front of the line and check out. We were put up to the head of the line and checked out and had just enough cash to purchase the groceries. Had our card not been denied and we not gone to that ATM, and gotten cash, we would have never been able to get groceries that last day before the team arrived. Junior didn't show up to translate today so Sonia took the English class and I went into the preschool with Helen while she told the story. I think she had 17 kids today. In any event she gave them a memory verse at the end of class, Luke 10:27, and as soon as she did they started reciting it from memory. As it turns out, that is a verse Myrna had given them some time back and every one of them knew it from memory. Interesting. It occurred to me last week to try to speak to Alfredo Orillana about our woodworking classes. We began working with Alfredo back in the year 2000. He is a good friend, a Christian, and an excellent woodworker. He is the one who made kneeling benches out of mahogany for Jennifer's wedding. Several years ago Alfredo went to the United States to try to earn a living for his family and has been there ever since. Tonight I spoke with him in North Carolina with regard to his future plans. He says he's planning to return early next year, as soon as he comes up with enough money for a plane ticket. However, the longer we talked, the more interested he got in possibly returning to work with us. He said he will call me back next Tuesday to discuss it further. With our plan to produce goods to be sold in the US market, he would be my first choice as one to help with that program. This might be something to put on your prayer list. I've spent a fair amount of time the last couple of days working through the issue of insurance for our building here. We have had coverage against earthquake, fire, and hurricane, which on the surface sounds pretty important. However, I did some research and found that as far as earthquake is concerned there have been no serious earthquakes in Honduras since they started keeping records back in the year 1530. There have been earthquakes in Central America, but they have been confined to Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Of course we do have hurricanes, but in checking with some pretty well-informed local people, there is hardly ever much wind damage to buildings as a result. The damage is through heavy rains and flooding; but we are on high ground here so that doesn't seem to be a problem either. As for the thought of this building burning to the ground, it is made of concrete and rebar, that is not likely either. I had a conversation with Bill Hoff who has Bible Institute south of San Pedro and he is pretty much in agreement with what I am thinking. His thoughts were that our greatest exposure is with the contents of our building. We do have contents coverage through Clements International in Washington DC and my thinking right now is to use our money to increase that coverage and cancel the other. Over the weekend we received enough money to get the red van fixed. Therefore, we had a wrecker come out and pick it up today and take it to San Pedro. No word yet on what problems might be. When we were with Frank and Phoebe Harrison over the weekend, they offered to let certain of our employees attend their discipleship training seminar presenting a technique called"storying." I talked to Beto about it and he seems quite enthused. He and Joel would be the ones to participate . I also spoke with him and Nicholas about offering the diploma discipleship class first to our employees, just to get started. They both seemed quite enthused about that. They asked that we announce it at our next luncheon/staff meeting so it is clear that it is our idea and not theirs. We had further evidence today that Cheryl's foot is doing better. Joel walked into the office upstairs with a live, 6 foot long snake. When she saw it she did a dance that would challenge most anyone. Dr. Green and his team arrive on Saturday. Cheryl has spent a good bit of her time lately getting things ready for that.
Michael and I went for a walk tonight and the exercise felt good. Less than six months ago I weighed 105 pounds and had spent two months either in bed or in the recliner. Thanks to all for your prayers. I am now up to 135 pounds and am almost back to normal with regard to my energy level.
Today we provided medical care for five people in four different hospitals and clinics, Fortunatley our computer teacher, Nelson, and his wife Sonia, accompanied two of the patients to a government hospital on my behalf since I am laid up with a broken foot. They arrived at the hospital at 5:45 A.M. and waited in a long line with hundred's of people.Six hours later they were given an appointment to see a specialist on a day next month. One of these patients is a little boy whose broken arm was not set right. It will require surgery. Another one of "our" patients had surgery on both breasts for cancer. There were two other seriously ill young girls that were seen today. All of this is provided by Gathering Hearts.
This morning in the mission center apartment, I was surrounded by workers and repairmen. The air-conditioner was being repaired....again.... even though it has had less than a year's use. When purchased, we assumed it was new, but only the outside of the compressor was new but someone had replaced the new inside unit with used parts. As a result we continuously get the air-conditioners worked on. Other repairmen were here to fix a dishwasher that had been given to us. Even though it also had hardly been used it will require replacing some parts that are not sold here. It will take awhile. The Ford fifteen passenger van had been in the repair shop for nearly two weeks. We were hoping to get it out in time for the arrival of a team tomorrow. We have not heard. As soon as we get it out we will need to put in our other van and then our nineteen year old pick up.They take turns in the repair shop. Meanwhile Gary is pleading his case on an issue in the court house in Puerto Cortes. Without prayer and intervention this case could cost quite a bit of money. Our workers want to help. Two of the can seats are placed on the porch as "outdoor" furniture. As far as they are concerned - if you can sit on it, it is great. I will try to replace that with our plastic outdoor chairs without offending them. There is much to do to prepare for the arrival of the Oklahoma State University Engineers without Borders' team tomorrow. Translators need to be hired, class rooms need to be cleaned, hotel reservations confirmed, five gallon bottles of pure water needs to be purchased and a big part of the cooking needs to be done ahead of time. I managed to mix together a batch of cookies in my wheel chair. The EMB's goal is to provide filtered clean water for the neighboring village of Seis de Mayo. They will interview the locals and meet with the officials in the municipality. Monday we welcome another team from First Methodist Church, Tulsa, OK. This will be a multi-task team that will teach skills and minister to the sewing class women, evangelize in the schools, hold a pastor's conference, and preach and teach our vo-tech classes. It will be a challenge but this church is efficient in short term missions. Gary and I both saw the DR yesterday. Even though Gary has a ways to go, he is doing better. He had an overactive thyroid due to a medication reaction and his immune system was low due to pneumonia. He lost twenty pounds altogether. Latest test results show that his thyroid has decreased some, which is good and he has gained 3 pounds. He is able to be up most of the day now, and is able to be involved more in the work. Thanks for your prayers.
I had surgery March 2 for a fractured right foot. The surgery took longer than expected, over three hours, and he was not able to get all of the bone fragments. He had more work to do than he expected, but I needed to stay only one night in the hospital and have been doing fine. I expected to get the stitches out yesterday but it will be another week before they can be removed. I fell on Sunday and hit that foot,which did not help. it will just take some time to heal Gary and I have to leave the country around March 30 and plan on returning to Tulsa. We will both be in wheel chairs, so we will be a sight! As much as we miss and want to see our family, it will be hard to leave. So much has happened these past few months in expanding the ministry, not the least of which is .planting this church. We will be returning early summer, but will maintain the work through our loyal workers. IN HIS SERVICE CHERYL Bless you all for your prayers. |