When you are a dentist working at a free medical clinic, you don't always have a nice setting to work in. It may be a rock ledge that the patient lays on, and your friends may watch you get a shot of novocaine!

Marcy holds Fatima's baby. Have you ever seen so much black hair on a baby?

I have no idea what the story is behind this photo of Marcy and Steve. Sometimes when the work at hand is done there is some opportunity to be silly. This must have been one of them.

Another large group will go to La Palma on June 13 and come home on June 20. This group will also help with the move and some of them will go to Ocotepeque, Honduras and begin construction of a new church building there. They will also be preaching and teaching the children.

This group still needs a translator. If you or someone you know can go and help, please contact us.

Please pray for the June trip to La Palma. A large group will go there on June 6 to help with the school and to move the present school to the new building. They will also be teaching VBS classes and preaching and conducting the initial purity classes. This will be a large group. There probably is room for only one or two more in this group that comes home on the 13th.

A small group will be going to La Palma May 5 - 12 to do some personal evangelism, to plan for the June trip, and to investigate the best way to conduct "Purity Classes". The culture there seems to approve, if not encourage, pregnancy out of wedlock. Although our goal has not been to change culture, rather to preach Jesus, we believe this part of the culture needs to change through the teaching of Jesus.

Please pray for the success and safety of this trip.

This ambulance arrived in San Salvador yesterday and was to be given the the Mayor. It was purchased last year by individual members of the Church of Christ and Rotary Clubs. Using a government program that is humanitarian in nature, we had the US Air Force fly it down there on a space-available basis at no cost to us. It was not a fast and easy process. It was driven to Whiteman Air Force Base in central Missouri, flown to Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina, then to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and finally to San Salvador.

Now our challenge is to teach them to use it wisely and efficiently. We need to train their operators and medics. We were not allowed to send very much medical equipment/supplies on the plane--not even oxygen bottles. It has a gurney in the rack, a folding gurney, 2 backboards, lots of sheets and blankets and pillows, and a box of gauze. If used properly, it can save lives.

God bless you, Ralph

A young lady stands by the gate to a cabbage patch. The fields are tilled by hand.
Very, very few tractors exist in this region. It is hard work--day after day and year after year.

This is a family farm operation 'up on the mountain'. Over time, the workers have become slaves to the landowners. They till the soil, plant and cultivate the crops, harvest the crops, and then do it all over again. The children are pressed into the cycle and have no hope for escape. Here you see a boy about 8 years old carrying a huge cabbage head to the truck. He should be in school, but obviously is not.

We go to La Palma to bring them hope, but in some cases hope is not available to them.

As we prepare to move the La Palma Christian School and the La Palma church into a new and more secure facility, we face yet another challenge from the Devil himself. Twice in 2 weeks the school has been broken into and thieves took advantage of us. First, they stole about $160 that parents had worked for and contributed toward some school activities.

This past weekend they broke in and took everything electronic - 12 computers with the keyboards, mice, cables, power strips, UPS units, printer, headsets, CD burner, copy machine, and fax machine.

It would appear to be coordinated by someone who knows the system and that there are valuable items stored there. The State Police are investigating.

There are some blessings here: most of the computers were very old and weak. We were planning to replace them in June, but we would rather have given them to the community for educational use. This forces us to go with new and modern units that have been donated and will be much better. The loss in other items, though, is substantial. The UPS units, the headsets, and power cords and copy machine are significant.

God has blessed the work there and will continue to do so. He still owns the cattle on a thousands hills, and He can provide. Rick already has enough computers to more than replace those, and the replacements will be better, faster, and easier to maintain. We will end up with the best computer lab in the country after the June shipment gets installed. The copy machine was old and slow, but it worked. A better one will replace it.

Please pray for the work there--for the teachers, for the preachers, for the students and the church. Please pray for those who stole! The purpose in being there is to save the lost.

God bless you.

Anyone can mix cement! You just have to want to do it, even if the sun gets hot!

Ready-mix trucks don't deliver concrete in La Palma! You mix the cement and sand, then mix in the gravel, then mix in the water. It is hard work!

This amazing photo was taken by Tammy of South Carolina. It shows the beauty of the flowers with the georgeous mountains in the background!

This is the back side of the new building under construction. Disregard the elongated, homemade ladder--OSHA has no authority or influence here!

A new photo shows the columns poured and roof trusses going up on the new building. Also, the floor is being poured and other work continues. Completion is planned for early June.

This photo shows the new property in relation to the hotel and the present church/school.
Thanks to Stephen B. of West Palm Beach for marking the locations.

Some are wondering where the new school and church buildings will be. Here is a photo that shows the location from the "Y" in the highway at the north end of town as well as in relation to the city hospital. Later we will show the property in relation to the Hotel Montana.

This shows the hard work needed to raise cabbage in the mountains. The soil work is all done by hand - no tractors. Many families become 'slaves' to the large companies that own the land. They know nothing else but to till the soil, plant, cultivate, harvest, till, plant, cultivate, harvest, etc. Lots of children never leave the farm, never go to school, and seldom travel.

This little guy is really enjoying the attention he is getting from Darin.

Another little girl who looks great in photos. Either she was interested in the camera or the photographer had a goofy look.

Some of the children that come to the medical clinics are just too cute to not have their photo taken!

Jose and nurse Marcy consulting during the medical clinic operation!

Nurses team up to check vitals in the 'waiting room' of the medical campaign.

The construction progresses as this photo shows. The gable ends are completed and some of the columns are poured. This photo is taken from the roof of the first building.

Nurses go through the waiting room checking vital signs to help speed the process.

Registration and weighin for those coming to the medical clinic looks chaotic but is usually smooth. Local church members and friends usually accomplish this since they speak the language. The people will wait in long lines in the sun if needed, but our teams try to get them into the shade as soon as possible.

Christy, a nurse, checks a little boys vital signs, and then satisfies his curiosity about the stethoscope. The nurses who go on medical mission trips are wonderful and come home feeling good about what they do. They also appreciate the facilities we have in our country.

Another view of the new construction progress. The space between the two walls closest to you is about 9 feet wide for bathrooms and a kitchen with serving window. The large space to the right is auditorium. You can see that the walls are going up rapidly and the foundation backfilling is complete. There will be columns poured in the spaces between exterior wall sections for hurricane resistance. In the previous posting I mentioned plumbing and electrical work to be done yet. This is part of the contract. We will receive keys to a completed building--ready to use! That will happen in early June.

This shows the fine progress being made on the new church building. There is still a lot to do, but the walls are going up rapidly. We plan to move into it in early June. There will be considerable wiring and plumbing to be installed, but no heat or air conditioning is needed!