Wednesday, September 10, 2008



Here is a summary of our trip to date:

All arrived on time Saturday and all baggage arrived with us. We were through customs and immigration in record time—about 12:35. We had to wait on the bus which was scheduled for 1 pm.

The trip to La Palma was smooth – no rain or other problems. Arrived in La Palma at 4:45pm.

All slept well the first night after a long day.

Sunday we worshipped with the La Palma church in the morning. We were joined by Rueben from Houston and Rigoberto from Tegucigalpa. Chris preached and one lady responded asking for prayers and Bible study.

Sunday evening we worshipped with the Ocotepeque church. Chris preached again and 10 responded asking for prayers of rededication.

Monday we prepared clothing for a giveaway the next day. Lots of work was involved to sort and stack clothing by type. Rick worked on the video conference system for the preacher school. He had lots of work to do to get rid of viruses on the computers and set them up for use. After evening classes for the men, women, and youth separately, we had the church people come for clothing.

Central America is celebrating independence from Spain this month. An independence torch is being carried through the countries, and it came through La Palma about 11 o'clock. It was carried by some athletes and escorted by ambulances, military troops, and policemen.

Tuesday was a big day with about 200 New Testaments given out and thousands of clothing items distributed. There were as many as 200 people waiting outside as those inside 'shopped'. The lady who responded Sunday morning completed some Bible study lessons and was baptized in mid-morning. We distributed a Personal Energy Transport to Julio—a 32 year old man who has never been able to use his legs. He typically walks on his hands using blocks of wood. The million dollar smile on his face when he could move himself around made all of the container effort worthwhile.
Rigoberto preached to the church at night; then he and Rueben travelled to Honduras for a few days.

Ron, Doug, and I met with the school parents in 2 separate meetings to tell them how we appreciate their support and to let them tell us about any problems or concerns. The overwhelming opinion of the group was that they were pleased. One comment was shared about a problem. We had already been approached about it and are acting on it. Little Jorge came to visit us. We had not seen him at all in June and wondered what was up. He is not in school and does not want to be.

A lady from one of the pharmacies came and asked to talk to me. She simply wanted us to know how much they appreciate the good things we are doing. The mayor of San Ignacio stopped to talk to us when we were delivering the PET to Julio. He, too, said he wanted us to know that he is grateful for the good things going on.

I watched the school band practice yesterday. It was terrific to watch how seriously they are working on marching drills for Monday.

We now have requests for 4 children's wheelchairs. The latest request is for one for little Andrea as she is having trouble getting around the house.

Several people from the church and the community come asking for medical help. Barbara and Marcy stay busy. We learned that Claudia is improving with physical therapy. She spends time daily learning to walk.

Wednesday a team went to Ocotepeque and worked with the 50 program children there. Others conducted Bible studies and prepared for a clothing distribution in the mountain town of Granadillos on Thursday.

Reina's uncle died Wednesday evening after being extremely sick since we got here. Marcy had given him an IV – just to make the family feel better. Jim, Rueben, and Rigoberto had visited him and prayed with the family.

The photos show Mary handing out balloons and Melvin getting ready to hang a pinata for the children's party.
We are aware that Ike may change the travel plans for those planning to go home Saturday.

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