Thursday, January 18, 2001

5:30a.m.
Sweetness overtakes our soul as we awake to the hope of a new day. The time is growing short and Jesus the master builder is at the finish line cheering us on
7:00a.m.
Brian Caster brought our worship time to us and the topic is the joys of making new friends.
8:00a.m.
Our workers are off to the site for the next to the last time. Much work needs to be accomplished today. The playground will hopefully be done, as will the sidewalks. Yesterday they had to chisel through a huge bolder in order to lay part of the walk. The heat grows steadily stronger each day now. The campsite, which has been typically cooler, is now becoming warmer. The compound is down right hot; there is not a continual breeze as it is at the camp. But the little houses that have been built are surprisingly cool. Of course they are typically dark inside so while that helps keep it cool, the darkness does not take advantage of the antibiotic qualities of the sun.
We have put together little packets to hand out tonight at the meeting. They will consist of shampoo, hair barrettes, soap, lotion, tampons for the ladies and a razor for the men. We will hand out the clothes and toys we have brought tomorrow night after the last meeting.
Dr. Kellerman has brought an o2 saturation monitor to donate to the S.D.A. Hospital in Valley of the Angels.
Today will be the last chance for us to get our laundry washed; we are torn between putting it out and possibly not getting it back, or continuing to wear dirty clothes.

Randy Scherzer, also loving known as Hoss, is a farmer from Indiana. This is his first missionary trip and is just thrilled by the experience. He is overwhelmed by the friendliness of the Honduran people and the fact that even under such sad and devastating circumstances that they still seem to be so happy.
The highlight of this trip for Roy Kellerman Jr. who is a sophomore at Amherst College has been experiencing the earthquake last week. It certainly was a bit of excitement that most people will never experience. His Mom, Delores has been the one giving the children their immunization shots as Tom Fritzche interprets.
Amy Mack had heard so much from her mom Karen about the trip last year that she just had to come along with her this year and experience it for herself. We are glad she made the decision. They are both working in the medical clinic.
Melissa Rousseau has once again been given the gift of tongues as she works in the pharmacy. The Lord has blessed her each year by giving her the ability to speak and understand Spanish, which is not something she can do at home. Kevin Rousseau, Nancy Dixon, Barb, Dave, and Matt Thompson each worked on the model home addition that is now complete.
Bob Young who is our Mission Director told me today that while my job is reporter, that it was only secondary, he said my real job was to keep him calm and happy, because "if he isn't happy, then no one is happy"J
Lois, Ruth and Pastor had to go into the city last night and didn't get back until very late. While in several lanes of extremley heavy traffic a 5 year old girl was running between the cars trying to sell the 2 roses she held. Going from car to car as they stopped for a red light, she offered her rose with pleading eyes that were old far beyond her years.. Long after any of our children would have been in bed, this little one was in the midst of speeding cars, trying to earn money for her food. Pastor bought her rose.
Now for a lighter note, one our ladies told me that after lunch she just had to have a few minutes of personal time. She was suffering from a terminal case of "uni-brows" and needed to tweezeJ I am just learing so many new phrases here and enjoy it so much. Rose, while working in the kitchen reminded me so much of the energizer bunny with the way she keeps cleaning that I have insisted she needs to visit with me several times a year and am going to bring the calendar down to pencil in her stay before she gets away. Wow, she is like a whirlwind.
5:00p.m
Today was extremely rough for both of our dental clinics. It seems the worse situations have waited until the last to come in. One young man was seen by Dr. Beisiegel that had Down's syndrome and despite all the doctor did to calm his fears and numb his teeth, he wrestled and fought so bad that he wasn't able to be worked on. The poor fellow had some very serious cavities, with most of his back teeth being rotted to the gum line. Perhaps tomorrow he will come back and they will try again. Another patient had a cracked root that needed extraction and it was such a tough situation that it took 45 min. to get it out.
Dr. Williams saw 22 people and pulled 41 teeth today. Several of them being extremely deep-rooted molars that did not come out easily.
The optical clinic had a record day with fitting 121 people with glasses.
The medical clinic also hit a record high with the patient count coming in at 463 patients.

The playground is nearing completion and should be finished by tomorrow afternoon. Most of the sidewalks will be finished. Our work is coming to an end here.

The meeting tonight went exceptionally well. Pastor spoke on how it is the fault of Satan that so many problems are coming upon Honduras and the rest of the world as we are caught in 6,000 years worth of sin. The people were paying close attention to what the Pastor said and to his vivid slides that he took while a missionary in Thailand and Cambodia. The entire presentation was just excellent.
The children's meeting went very well tonight also. There was some rock throwing in the very beginning and one little child was hit in the nose and bled so profusely that he started to pass out. They had to wrap him up and take him to Dr. Kellerman to be treated. It actually was turned from a curse into a blessing. Kim was able to explain the effects and seriousness of this kind of rough play and how hurting one another hurts God. After that episode, they each calmed down and listened carefully to the lessons

Deena Wagner's English lesson has grown from 4 ladies into 15 in just one day. The word is out and these women are just so eager to learn. The fact that Deena is such a tender and sweet teacher might also have something to do with it.

Ooops……………blush …………blush……….sorry, sorry, sorry!
It was just brought to my attention by my most loyal fan and writing critique (Heather Young, via e mail) that I made a serious boo boo on one of my reports. First let me explain to those of you who do not understand all the keys on the computer. One is called an insert; if you hit it by mistake it will do what is called a type over. Each time you type a letter it will erase the one next to it. I had been having a terrible time that day with my little finger hitting that key by mistake. I had fixed the copy of the letter that we keep here, but some how the one that got sent to you did not get fixed and I had no idea until tonight. It should have said: out of the 72 people seen in the optical clinic, there were only 2 that glasses wouldn't help.
Thankfully we know the Bible tells us "A merry heart does good like a medicine" After having a good laugh over the missing letters, we should all live a few years longer from strengthening our hearts. And aren't we all glad Jesus loves us even when we goof? I certainly am!

With a blush as red as my hair, I send you my smile and apology,

Jennifer Young