Wrapping up and the End of a Good Week

Getting to the blog the past few days has been challenging, due to very little time and slow internet.  But, back in the USA and will do a little catching up.

Saturday, has traditionally been a site seeing day for the team and so that is what we did.  We began our day at the church for breakfast and worship.  When we got to the church, the doors were not unlocked so we decided to do worship right there outside on the steps.  Anyone who has ever been on one of these trips, knows you sometimes just have to do  and flexibility is very important! So, we pulled out our worship books and broke into song, prayer and a reading!  People watched and smiled as they walked by.  

Leslie leading morning worship

The Entire Group during worship

Diane - reading scripture

After breakfast, we all headed back to the hotel and loaded up the Kia trucks with all our luggage and remaining mission supplies.  It always amazes me how much of a task it is to get all of this stuff loaded, and how our local Honduran translators have this perfected.  Someone always says its not going to fit, yet it always does! 

The Luggage Puzzle Game

Once we were all loaded up, 2 van loads of people drove to Valle De Angeles - a more touristy area - with local crafts and souvenirs. 

http://www.honduras.com/valle-de-angeles/  

Its definitely a different feeling here, than all the other places we work, and a good place to unwind from the week.  And, they have good coffee!

Local art work 

After our little excursion, we drive to the traditional Pupusa place and eat lunch, before visiting the Christ Statue.

 The Christ Statue - built and finished not too long before the Hurricane of 1998 hit.  Many were surprised it was still standing.

Selfie with a view of Tegucigalpa behind me.

  

Panoramic of Tegucicalpa

We finished off our sightseeing for the day and headed to our hotel for the night for a little rest, before our celebration dinner.  At the dinner we get time to sit and unwind and talk about the week, and thank all of our translators for all they have done for us.

Sunday morning, a few went to visit the mission house and then we all went to the airport to catch our flights home to our families.  Only a few delays but not too bad all in all.

Glad to be home, but glad to be able to do the Lords work. 

As believers, we are called to actively spread God's words and love to make a positive difference in the world, whether it be our loved ones, or strangers from another country. 


"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  

Matthew 28:19-20 

Blessings,
Shelley

Danli Record Breaking Day for Optical

Didn't get around to the blog yesterday so catching up today!  Probably would not have been able to get on line anyway! Yesterday (Thursday), the optical team began seeing patients in Danli in the Danli Central Methodist Church.  We had a record breaking day and saw 104 patients.  This is my third year here and in that time we have never seen that many in one day, so it was awesome!  That many more people able to go home and read their bibles!  People actually say that to us about being able to finally read their bibles.  Makes it all worth it right there.  And the best part, we didn't to turn anyone away.   The rest of the team continued up in Escuapa as they still have plenty of patients to see.  A few of the team members also got to go on a home visit and visit a local school.  Apparently it ended up being quite the adventure as it rained and the van got stuck in the mud!  Took about 20 minutes to get it out and a couple of guys pushing it.  You never know what kind of conditions you are going to face on the roads in Escuapa, as they are simply made of dirt.  One team member even told a story of how they saw a yong boy tossing mud back on the road from the side after the rain.  That's the local road repair I guess!   People are always so friendly, welcoming and appreciative in Escuapa and Honduras in general.  There are cautions that we have to take when going out, but I have never felt unsafe here.  I will not miss the noise in Honduras though as there is a constant steady stream of music, or cars beeping etc etc.  There's even a rooster here who doesn't understand that he's supposed to be quite through the night.  He likes to practice his wake up call, all night long.   Friday, all the teams have a slightly shorter day, as we need to pack up everything we brought up the mountain and bring it back down again.  Some of the supplies, such as sewing materials etc, stay up there for the local church to continue with the sewing mission.  They use this mission to raise money for their church.  Optical works a little later, since we dont' have to drive down the mountain when working in Danli.  Today we saw 70 patients.  So total for the week 274 patients between Escuapa and Danli.  Adding that to last week in Tegucigalpa, we saw 664 patients total.  Pretty high numbers for the time here.  Glad we are able to help people see again! I learn more and more about the process and eyes while working in optical every year.  I never thought I would have knowledge about this stuff, but you never know where life is going to take you! I have yet to hear stories from the day in Escuapa as the other group is not back yet.  Will write about that tomorrow after we have had a chance to share our stories for the day.   Tomorrow, we have breakfast and head back to Tegucigalpa, where we do a little site seeing and then have our team dinner with all of our translators.  It's a celebration of the week and a way to thank our translators for all they do for us. Our jobs would actually be impossible without them.  We really need them to know how much they are loved and appreciated.   That's all for now.  Will update with the events of tomorrow before I head home on Sunday.  Blessings, Shelley  

Song testing someone for readers    

People waiting patiently to be seen in optical    

Testing distance

 

 As I'm riding to the mission site (with Frank driving),I've decided to use some of the 90 minutes to work on a post. There never seems to be enough time in the evening to write. 

The past couple of days have been interesting from a pharmacy standpoint. Monday got off to a SLOW start. The poor technicians thought this would be an easy week. After lunch, the medicos sped up significantly. We even started running out of a couple of things we had leftover from last year. 

Tuesday got off to a faster start. By lunch we had a wait of at least 10 patients. at 1:30 the backlog was more than 20. The pharmacy team was working furiously. Fortunately, our Honduras clientele has enough patience to allow us to complete our work. 

 Eventually, we did finish filling prescriptions. Our afternoons tend to be so busy that we cannot even accept help. The time and space that it takes to set helpers up will only delay our completion and departure. 

The departure from Escuapa, "the mountain", is important for several reasons. The road is rough and unlit. Travel after dark can be treacherous. Also, the journey takes just about 90 minutes each way. If we plan departure for 4 pm, actually depart at 4:20, we barely have time to drop work items in the hotel room before leaving the hotel for a 6:30 dinner. With worship afterwards; that gets us back to the hotel after 8pm. Add miscellaneous shopping, blogging, homework for the mission and communications with loved ones back home; let's say that it's easy to sacrifice one's sleep. 

Today we served more patients with more prescriptions than I have ever done in Escuapa. A HUGE thanks to the pharmacy team; Gail, Debbie, Terry, Bill, and to today's helpers; Pat, Sandy & Emily!! The is TRULY a team effort!! We even had to send someone to the pharmacy in Danli to replenish our more popular items!! We strive to help everyone who comes to our clinic without turning anyone away due to lack of time. I pray we can see everyone this week.

Well, it's time to get to that homework I mentioned. Medical teams collect data for the Honduran government and our churches back home. Such as; # of people seen, #adult vitamins dispensed, # children's vitamins dispensed, # of parasite treatments given & total number of prescriptions dispensed. 

Thank you to all who pray for us and support us in other ways from the States. We could not continue to serve as God's hands without your support. 

Special Day!

Today was a special day for me.  I finally got to officially meet my BECAS child.  I was really hoping he would come to the church, as he always does, but I found out he lives about 25 minutes away, and because he is now in school - which is awesome, he is unable to make it.  Partly because he is in school now and partly because of his disability.  He was born with hydrocephalus and has not been able to walk his whole life.  Because of this, he has difficulties with a lot of things.  The roads here in Escuapa are extremely uneven and full of pot holes so it is extremely difficult to get around.  It is a great thing that he is in school, and this is due to the BECAS program.  I had talked with our coordinator Sumaya about the possibility of seeing him and she talked with the Pastor of the church about the situation.  Since we were only going to be in Escuapa with the optical mission Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday morning, I would not get to see him, unless we did something today. So, she arranged to take myself and a few others to the town where he lives, La Lima.   We first went to his house, and I got to meet his mother, father and older brother.  I discovered that he lives in a nicer house than most of the families in the area, which was so nice to see.  Still very much in poverty but an improvement on what it could be.  But, his house is very difficult to get around with his wheel chair, and he often has to be carried from place to place.  His mom was very happy to meet and me and very thankful for being Carlos's sponsor, so he could go to school.  It means a lot to the families out there, that there are people able to help them out.  After we spent some time with his parents, and walked around his house, as she showed me the areas Carlos has difficulty with, we then drove to the school where he is at.  Since the roads are very bad, it is fortunate that his parents have a truck so they can drive him to school, otherwise he might not be able to go.  There's no way he could do those roads in a wheel chair.   When we got to the school we were immediately greeted by about 15 young children all dressed neatly in their uniforms. They were very excited to see us, especially since they were not expecting American visitors.  Our translators explained to some of the teachers there who we were and that we were here to see Carlos.  All the other children were outside playing, but Carlos was sitting at his desk working hard on his school work.  I found out he was sick the day before and could not come to school, and was very concerned with catching up and getting good grades.  He is a very hard worker, which is great to see.  When our translator introduced us to him  and he found out I was his BECAS sponsor, he grinned.  It was such a treat to see how happy he was to meet me.  Although, being 10 he was a little embarrassed at all the attention I think!!  Carlos is in 5th grade, and the school goes to 6th grade.  After that he will have to go to a school further away with all of the other 6th graders.  There he will hopefully finish high schoo.  He told me he wants to be a doctor.  I have have no doubt that with his attitude he has a good chance of fulfilling that dream.   We chatted for a while about his life and his mom talked about some of the difficulties.  Since they have to carry him around most of the time when he is not in the wheel chair, it will become very difficult as he gets older and bigger.  His wheel chair cannot handle some of the steps and bumps.  The wheel chair he has is not that great, and has caused some irritation in his lower back, which proceeded to get infected.  It looks pretty bad but his mom told me they took him to the doctor for it.  His parents seem to care very much for him and work very hard to make sure he has what he needs.  The school is a nicer school for the area, but does have a lot of uneven ground and steps.  Somehow he seems to manage though.   The teachers gathered up all the children so we could talk to them, so we told them who we were and why we were there.  We also found out that there were at least 10 children there that were part of the BECAS program.  10 children who otherwise would not be able to go to school.  Education in public schools is not super expensive, we were told about $50 per year, but the uniforms, and supplies, and shoes etc are extremely expensive and without those they are not allowed to attend school.  That is what the BECAS program does, helps to provide those items so they can go.   It was so great to see him and to see how dedicated he is to his school work.  I believe he will do well, but not without some significant challenges along the way.  I wonder how he will attend college unless he has some financial support to help, but maybe there are programs out there that can help him.  Something to ponder.   We said our goodbyes and headed back to the church.  We had previously packed up the optical equipment and loaded the truck to take it all down to Danli to set up our optical mission there.  We had lunch and then headed down the mountain to Danli Central Church.  Tomorrow we will start seeing patients in Danli and I expect we might see around 150 or so, for the two days we will be there.   That's all for now.  Enjoy the pictures below from our visit today. Blessings Shelley

Carlos House

Inside his house

Living Room

Carlos Bedroom

A pretty nice kitchen by Escuapa standards

One of his wheel chairs

Backyard

Me with Carlos Mom

Carlos and Me

All the children so nicely lined up!

Classroom

Carlos at his desk

Children in classroom

Learning English!

More school work

 

Tuesday March 7th - Jack of all trades

When you make the decision to go on a mission trip - especially for the first time, you probably don't realize that you will become a jack of all trades.  With the exception of those who are professionals in their areas of trade; Doctors, nurses, pharnacists etc, everyone else becomes a little of everything.   We all are assigned specific areas to work in, but quite often end up helping out in other areas.  Sometimes you are called upon to help out with a screaming baby, or even to fix a van door that has fallen off!  Yep, that happened today.  Fortunately, as we had just arrived at the church for dinner.   Terry, one of our new missioners, who is experiencing the pharmacy department this week, got down on the ground and worked with Danilo, and a few others to get the door fixed.  It took time and patience, but also a lot of laughter, and teamwork.  As someone else pointed out tonight, at home, we might have gotten frustrated or upset, or wanted to call someone to fix it, but here, we work together and find a way.  No matter what the issue, we always seem to be able to find a way to work together to do the things necessary to get the job done.  Sometimes, its difficult to see the solution to the problem, but we always find a way.   Team work is a significant and vital part to the success of a mission.  Without it our work here would be impossible. I'm grateful and thankful for the team that I am part of.  Sometimes, we dont always see eye to eye, or we get short and frustrated with each other or a situation, but at the end of the day, we are always still friends and part of the same team.  I pray that our team continues to work together and continue to have a successful week.  Tomorrow, optical moves to Danli to see patients in the city.  Today we saw 55 patients and Monday 45 patients in Escuapa.  Not too bad considering, we thought it was going to be super slow.  100 people in two days, able to see more clearly.  I always miss the rest of our team, when we split to two different locations, but it's always great to re-group in the evening and here the stories from everyone's day.   For the first time since I have been coming here, I got to walk across the swing bridge in Escuapa.  It's an important bridge that connects to parts of the community.  Over a very pretty river, and beautiful surroundings.  It was a nice little mental break from the day, and on our way back we were escorted by about 6 school children walking on their way home.   Despite the challenges of the day, it was a good day, and tomorrow will be better.  That's all for now  

Water ministry in action

Coffee bean farming

Swing bridge

Diane and Terry working in Pharmacy

VBS

Gerilyn and Emily helping a VBS child

 

  Blessings,  Shelley

Escuapa First Work Day and Monsoon Monday!

Escuapa First Work Day & A Monsoon! Monday March 6th.     Today we went up the mountain for our first work day.  As usually busy, busy days in in medical and pharmacy.  Optical not so much - wondering if it has come to the point that we may need to alternate years between different areas.  Prescriptions just don't always need to be changed every year.  But, still we did see 45 people today, that is still 45 people who can now see better.    Today was kind of unusual in Escuapa in that we all of a sudden got a steady pour of rain that almost looked like a monsoon.  The best part about it was that Leslie had just got though telling a story about Noah's Ark, when it started to down pour!  Guess the kids needed a visual!   I got to hold an 18 day old little girl today as well as a 3 month old and a few others.  Love the time to snuggle these little cuties.  Being a little slower in optical did mean I could walk around a little more and check out the other groups, and I also got to meet lots of little kiddos.     I am hoping and praying I get to see my BECAS child tomorrow as it is our last day in Escuapa for Optical.  We move down to Danli to do two days of optical there.  Carlos is our BECAS child and he lives in Escuapa.  I met him once before on my first every mission trip, but that was before he was my BECAS child.  For those that don't know BECAS is a program that was created by two US missioners to help cover the cost of school uniforms etc so that kids could go to school.  So you spend $120 a year and a kid is able to get an education. Read up on it on their web site.  http://www.becasconbendiciones.com/about-the-program.html That's for now, internet is in and out and will probably post this in the morning.

  Blessings,   Shelley

First post, I've only been here 5 days.....

 Blog

This very delinquent post is liable to be quite short. The past couple of days have been long and difficult in many different ways and, as a result, I am tired. Unsure that I can do justice to this blog entry. 

Debbie Endres and I arrived in Honduras on Wednesday, March 1st.

    I did that in order to check on the medications we ordered from the supplier here and those that we left at the mission house. I wanted to be sure that there were no mistakes in filling the order or in the inventory we took upon closing the medical clinic in 2016. All meds were as expected.

    Debbie came along for my early arrival so we could take in some sights in and near the Capitol city of Tegucigalpa. We spent 2 days touring Tegucigalpa, Comayagua and Ojojona.  It was a great time!

    Shortly after noon on Saturday, March 4th, we started meeting up with other team members. Len & Karen Haubert came through the airport on their way back to the states. Shelley was there, too. New missioners started arriving about 12:30. Ann Guardino & Bill Hathaway first, then 13 more on a flight from Atlanta. 

      Eventually, the leaders, trucks and vans arrived so we could be on our way. First leg out of the airport is a short one. It's only a few blocks to our traditional lunch spot; Pollo Supremo, best chicken on the bone I've ever had! Next we load back up for the 2+ hour drive to Danlí. This is our home base for the week.  Dinner with Carlos & the day is at an end for some. I worked on paperwork until midnight. It seems that I have some kind of work every night. This is how I get so organized for next year. The goal is to do less overall work each year while making the pharmacy run more smoothly. 

     Sunday brings breakfast and our first trip "up the mountain" to our practice site in Escuapa. I am not really convinced we are in the mountains, or only the foothills. We worship at the United Methodist church there. The outbuildings where built 15-17 years ago, by some of the team members who are still going with us. 

     After service and lunch, we set up for the start of clinic. That has me scrambling to keep people meaningfully busy while supervising set up and delegating tasks to folks from other teams who want to help. A huge THANKS to Gail, Debbie, Terry, Bill and Beth, Pat B, Emily, Gerilynn, Lynda, Sandy, Pat C and anyone else whose contributions I just did not see!! I appreciate all your efforts!

    Then it was time for the 90 minute trip back to Danlí. Another thanks to interpreter/driver Frank, for sharing your Faith with me. You are a pretty amazing driver!

      Another wonderful Carlos meal, introductions of the rest of the team members & interpreters and the day winds down. But, not without a bit of blogging. 

I'll post again when I can!!