Tuesday, January 16, 2001

Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up!
5:30am.
Thank you father that our eyes open to a new day. A day of hope, a day filled with possibilities. May we humbly serve those you died for. We hear your call and we answer, here am I, send me Lord.
6:45a.m.
After feasting on a delicious breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, scrambled tofu, 7 grain cereal, stripples, melon and grapefruit, we were fed the word of God as Stuart Dixon read one of the Psalms to us. It went down smoothly, coating the soul with balm.
Many of us are now sick with diarrhea and sore throats. It is hitting us right on schedule, just like clockwork. Some are able to fight it off with out medicine, but others are requiring antibiotic. We are so extremely careful with our sanitation and yet we still battle this problem. If you could see the garbage and filth strewn all along the roads and the conditions that we work under at the site you would wonder why we have not all come down with it.
We have had a problem with our laundry also. This year we decided to pay some local ladies to wash our clothes each day. Pat Haesche collects them in a rotation order each day and sorts them, she folds the dried clothes that are brought back. The 3 local women scrub them by hand and hang them. It is so damp here at the campsite that the clothes that are brought back to us are still soaking wet. The other problem is that most of the clothes are not even brought back. I have a feeling we might have to go shopping at the local outdoor market to find all our underwear and socks. Bob told them last night that if we do not get all our clothes back that they would not be paid. We will see what happens now. In the mean time things are getting pretty desperate for some of us who are use to wearing underwear everyday:}
Last night Bruce Williams, DDS. Found a rhinoceros beetle and brought it into our quarters to show it off. It was so huge we could of saddled it and rode it around. It must have a great personality because it certainly was in the minus column in the looks category.
Bob Young, M.D. stopped in at the Catholic housing project this morning to make sure that they knew we have free clinics going on and medicine. He extended the invitation for him to send their people who needed help. The fellow that directs that project was so thankful. He told Bob that they like to keep a little stock of medical supplies and they were totally out. Bob brought him to our pharmacy and filled him up with the supplies he will need to help his group in the future.
2:30p.m.
As I walked over to the construction sight I passed Barb Thompson, I had to take a second look, as I couldn't believe how many blocks she was carrying! Like they say, dynamite comes in small packages.
In the dental clinic Judy Sirard was busy packing supply to take to the prison with a team of 8 workers tomorrow. She said they had more excitement in the clinic than usual today. A woman who came in to have a tooth pulled, fainted before Dr. Beisiegel even looked in her mouth. It was a combination of fear and the fact that she had not eaten breakfast today. They had to lay her down between a chair and a box until she came too. In both of our dental clinics Kathy, Renee, Cindy and Judy have all told me stories of how in certain instances they have had to physically restrain the children by the arms and legs, sometimes holding them in their own laps as they wrap their arms around the child so they can be worked on. Of course this is with their mother saying to do it. Judy said she was so concerned that they had traumatized these poor little ones by this and then an hour or so later she would see the child smiling and pointing to his missing tooth as proud as can be. So there goes the trauma issue.
I walked into Dr. Williams's side of the clinic just in time to see the largest tooth in the world being pulled from one mans mouth. The fellow handled the situation very well, but about the time he started throwing up I knew I was late on checking on the optical clinic and had better hurry on.
Stuart was busy checking the strength of glasses needed by one woman as a room full of people patiently waited. We have run out of the weaker strength glasses now and only have the stronger lenses left. It is so rewarding to see the people try the glasses on and be able to see with them. Their faces just light up when they can tell the difference in their vision
I stopped at one of the resident's houses as she was washing her clothes. They use a rock as a scrub board and using a pot, pour water over the item on the rock. Next they take this extremely strong soap and run it over it. More water and then they rinse it in the same manner. Never using the container of water to put clothes in, but instead just pouring water over each item. This woman was very fortunate in the fact she had a bush in her yard that she could hang her clothes on. We smile at each other and tried to communicate. I was invited to sit with another woman on a piece of wood that served as a bench outside her house. We said a few things to each other, most of which we just smiled and nodded as if we had any idea what was being said. But the smiles always clinch the deal in a friendship. I was invited into her house and she showed me the rooms and how she lived. She had much more belongings than the last house I was in and there were 7 people living in this house also. Have you ever just met someone and felt like you were instant friends? Well this was the case as I sat on the thin slab of wood with my new friends and let our hearts bond. We could look across the street from their house and watch the construction team putting up the swing sets and the basketball courts. I was able to make her understand that 2 of those men working were my family. Later I went and stood next to Bob and Eric and had them wave to the ladies so as to identify them in the crowd. Finally it was time to say Adios as I went about my duties. Then I spotted Gabriel, one of our translators and together we went back to their house. They invited me back in and we held hands as I prayed for them and asked Jesus to bless their home. They said they would look for me at the meeting tonight.
Gabriel is a wonderful young man. He is originally from Columbia and has been in Honduras working for ADRA as a missionary for a while now. Gabriel's dad is a Pastor so he was brought up in a believing home, he told me the desire to be a missionary came to him when he was 8 years old and at an evangelistic meeting. It thrilled him to hear the missionaries from other countries come and present the word of God with their different accents and mannerism. Gabriel has answered the call of God on his life at an early age and is a full time missionary, working in Jamaica Tahiti and Honduras. It certainly has been a blessing to all of us to meet and work with him.

More and more of our group are getting sick now, we had to bring a few home from the work site today, as they just couldn't continue on. I have heard the intestinal bug that hits us described in many ways. The one that came from the dental clinic was the best one yet. When I asked how they were holding up their reply was they were acquiring plenty of 'frequent flyer miles"
Optical clinic gave out 56 pair of glasses today
Medical clinic saw 350 patients
Dr. Williams pulled 37 teeth from 19 people
Dr. Beisiegel saw 30 people but lost count of how many teeth he pulled.

Dr. Kellerman brought our segment of worship to us and the topic was "why we are here"
9:30p.m.
The meeting went well again tonight, not quite as many adults but just as many if not more in the children's meeting. Once again they did have somewhat of a problem controlling the children at some points. We expect the children to be hyper-excited at times, but the rock throwing is going to have to be stopped. Dr.Williams presented a mini lecture on the proper care of teeth and also gave some very interesting facts about teeth.
Tomorrow part of our team head for the prison to minister there. Pray for them.

Remember, Jesus always loves you best.

As always, in His service,

Jennifer Young