Victor Artega preaching in the church with Amanda Lewis translating Dr Tom Pickard led a double quartet for praise and worship in the church Sitting around the table in Cheryl's kitchen counting pills for the pharmacy Marcy Ellis, Linda Bullard and Penny Buehrer set up a pharmacy in the “campo”. Randy Ellis enjoyed the children when he was not working on painting the manufacturing plant. Dr. and Mrs. Green with Linda Bullard and (back) Dinaya Pickard and Kallie Clark watch the soccer game from the sidelines. Nicolas (our guard) with Mark Bullard Jonathan Weaver with Joel Mejia on the soccer field. Jonathan was a formidable player. Dr. Tom Pickard and Dr. Scott Clark see patients in the "campo".
Didn't post for a couple of days; by the end of the day I was out of gas. The last of 23 team members left today; we had a wonderful week. Four doctors and support staff examined and treated 700- 800 patients in four different locations. There were education programs; improvements to the manufacturing plant; and a number of sporting events including four soccer matches, two of them official: Honduras beat the USA 4-3; and Nelson's computer students beat the gringos 5-1. Mark Bullard also fixed nearly everything that was broken around the house. Matt Pile captured many of these events on film. Before the Friday night service we made two trips up and down the highway from Rondon to Chile and brought back two busloads of people. The service started late and was very long but hopefully some seeds were planted.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: I have noticed increasingly that when I'm not busy doing something, my mind wanders. That's normal, but normal is always good. Often my thoughts become worry; other times meaningless prattle. The result is, at best, wasted time. The apostle Paul addresses the matter in Romans 8:6, “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the spirit control your mind leads to life and peace”. This was the second Sunday that we had services in the new church. Victor Arteaga from Peru, by way of Tulsa, preached in the morning and afternoon. Before morning service we walked through the streets of Seis…. Pottersville still. Counting both services we had about 35 people; Melissa Paz and family came and Erika led singing…. This noon Nicholas and I went looking for Dr. Castellanos, the physician that the mayor promised us. When no one in either Seis de Mayo or Gran Via seemed to know him I stopped at a pulperia and asked the 2 men sitting there if they had ever heard of him. One said, “I’m Dr. Castellanos.” Turns out he lives just on the other side of the wall from the Center. He’s going to meet with us on Wednesday; speaks English and his daughter is a dentist.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: To "do something different" may not be as easy as it sounds. On December 23, 1983 God made it clear, "you're not waiting for me – I'm waiting for you." It was another 16 years before I really took the step of faith. I got a call from Marlon in Honduras yesterday. I hadn't heard from him or seen him in months. I'm not exactly sure why he called, but I suspect that he would like to come back to work for us. I hope the dorm project moves forward so that we can have him back. I called Nicholas this afternoon to make sure he got pictures of Dr. Rios's students doing their dental clinic. They had already left the mission center. As it turns out, it has been raining the last three days and is cold and only about 20 people showed up. With five students seeing patients, they were finished by mid day. Dr. Rios did say that they will be coming back at another time.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day today. Jenny and Marco were here as well as Jeff and two of his friends, Miguel Bustamante from Honduras and Justin, a fellow ORU student from North Carolina. We talked by phone with Michael who was spending the day with the Fields family and other missionaries in Kentucky. Marisa called from New York City and Amy from Los Angeles. Even though we were not all together at least we got talk and share the joy of the special day. I had a note from Nicholas yesterday that Alfredo arrived in San Pedro on schedule, at one o'clock in the morning. Flor and the kids went to the airport with Nicholas and he said they had a happy reunion. Yesterday morning I called Dr. Rios in San Pedro regarding the student dentists he plans to take to the mission center. They will be going either this Sunday or next. This will be a very good thing for everyone.
Dr. Rios (dentist from Columbia) has asked permission to bring a group of five dental students to the mission center to treatpatients. This is for a social project they are required to do at the end of their dental training. Of course we told him we would be very pleased to have them.
Yesterday Cheryl went to the ladies meeting at Helen Gilin's house where Helen treated them to Russian borscht. While she was there I went to the hospitals to pick up laboratory reports, and also did Christmas shopping for the employees. The perspective welding teacher was supposed to be here at 1:30, but didn't make it. The president of Honduras was in this area and when that happens they shut the telephone service down. That slows everything will crawl. Today Nicholas took the little boy, Levi, to the hospital in San Pedro for a pre-surgery examination. His operation will take place on Friday at 3 PM. He is a little boy who broke his arm in and it was not set properly.
Dr. Green's group left today. We had a great week. Altogether the doctors saw about 400 patients. Of those, 40 accepted Christ for the first time! We were able to give most of them a Bible and have names and locations for follow-up. On Friday we were supposed to go out into the jungle but before dawn we had very high winds and torrential rains so we had to change our plan. Nicolas, Nicki Collins and I met with Flor at her house, and arranged for her to bring those with greatest need to the bridge in Campana we shuttled them back and forth in the pickup. It really worked quite well and allowed us to see others who came to the center from other villages.
Another of the patients today was a young man who seemed very cold and hard. Every chance I got I spoke with him and eventually asked him if he had a church. He said he goes to church in Campana and his pastor's name is Samuel. Well, that is the church where the 21 young men came forward in 2006 when the Baptist Chapel youth group was here. As some of you know, we have had a hard time following up on those guys because, being gang related, they are hard to find. I called him into my office where I have a large picture of them on my bulletin board. I asked him, "Do you know any of these guys?" He broke out in a broad smile and said "I know every one of them." I think he will be our contact to follow up on these guys.
2nd Day of the Medical Clinic - Today there was a baby, 5 pounds, that had stopped eating...10/26/2010
Today was the second day of the medical clinic. Doctors Green and Krauter have seen about 100 patients each day. Today there was a baby, 5 pounds, that had stopped eating. The doctor said that if she did not begin eating soon she would not live. We had Nicholas go to Puerto Cortez and find baby milk powder which we mixed up and started feeding the baby in a syringe. At first she couldn't even swallow, but as the ladies worked with her she improved and before she left was drinking out of a bottle. Praise the Lord. BETTY JO GREEN AND HELEN RUTH SNIPES WORKING WITH A PATIENT
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