We got a note from Nicolas yesterday saying that the water filter construction team has started working again. That was good news as construction of the filters had slowed considerably. We have moved the construction site from our vacant lot to the open space by Breny’s house. That seems to have helped. Nicolas was also happy to report there had been a break in the weather and that Santos was working on construction of the little house again. However today we received another note saying it had been raining nonstop and there was so much mud and water on the roads he could not get into San Pedro. All the lowlands in El Sauce, where we are building the houses, are flooded; several of our employees had to leave work to address water problems at their houses. Please pray for this situation.
While we were in Kentucky with Cheryl’s family over Thanksgiving we spent time at Cleft Rock, the missionary retreat center that was begun by the Fields family. Michael was there and we had a great time visiting with him and Savannah. We also enjoyed having time to visit with other missionaries; and the evening before we left we had dinner with Lynelle and Wil….
We heard from Nicholas yesterday. They have been having a lot of rain; so much that the builders have been hindered in moving forward with construction of the next house…. Last night we received a telephone call from Perla (10 years old) in Seis de Mayo wanting to know how each member of our family is doing; when we're coming back; whether or not will be spending Christmas at the mission center; etc. I think she just becomes a little insecure when we are gone for a while. Just before leaving Honduras this time we met with Mauricio Mayer, general manager of the Landau Company. He and his group have designed the assembly line for production of our tote bags, and they will be coming out in January to determine how many machines will be needed, etc. In a couple of weeks, I will be meeting with the head electrician at Landau to make sure the machines work properly on 110; and to develop a plan to get hooked up with the energy company. I saw Gladys at the recent clinic. She asked if we were still going forward with the “microempresa” (the production center). She has been interested from the start, partly because she is one of our sewing school graduates. Also, she has a family, and as she has said more than once, "there are no jobs." Conversations like that make us want to double our effort and get the center into production as quickly as possible.
Freda Longstaff, mother of Cheryl, was dismissed from the hospital and looking forward to being together with family for Thanksgiving. She will undergo surgery later this month. Gary and Jeffrey will drive from Tulsa to Kentucky to join the family.
Pastor Nelson Batista and his wife have been approved to be the pastor of the church, now called Alpha and Omega Church in our Las Portales Village near the GH mission center. The Batistas have been trained by Eleazar Bermudez in Venezuela and are being sent from their church. Please pray with us that God will fulfill His purpose for the Batista’s and the church ministry. They will arrive in Honduras January 15th.
We are having torrential rains nearly constantly now. "Torrential" does not do it justice. You can’t hear yourself talk over the roar of the rains that pound our tin roofs. You can understand why schools are not in session from the middle of November until the middle of February.
It was a "letdown” after Dr Jim and Betty Jo and team left on Saturday. We had such wonderful evenings with them; they are family! Since they left, Gary and I have been running now to get everything caught up. I met with several of the employees about their work. We are planning a Christmas program for the children who will give a presentation to their parents in the church in December. After running errands in San Pedro, Gary, Nicolas and I will meet with the private school principal about the upcoming school year scholarships. Tomorrow we meet with Mauricio Mayer about the production center. by Betty Jo Green:
We had a full day seeing 60 patients. One man was taken to the hospital in San Pedro Sula as he was suffering quite severely with kidney stones. We were blessed to have translators from the Atlantic Bilingual School in Puerto Cortez helping us this week. These were high school young people from Honduras and some of them helped us share the gospel with our patients. Many of them are considering medicine as a career. One of the highlights of our time here is the exceptionally marvelous meals that Cheryl Kuney prepares for us each evening. Then we gather as a team along with Cheryl and Gary to discuss the day's events and share what The Lord did in us and others. We had help with our clinic today as an older missionary nurse and her crew came from up north. This was a rich blessing and we learned much from them. For example we had a little girl with a small bead in her ear that one of them was able to remove. We are also giving spiritual care to each one who comes for medical help. The gospel is being given! Betty Jo Green |