Teresa travels to El Salvador tomorrow to begin a new phase in her life. Please pray for her success and safety.

After getting some signatures on papers to allow us to ship items to El Salvador without paying duty on them, we have had requests for more help.
They requested hospital beds and other items for a new wing on a nursing home. CURE, Compassionate Utilization of Resources and Equipment, has the needed items ready to ship and John Kachelman is doing the paperwork to have USAID ship the load as soon as possible. Another request also came in: furnish 30 hospital beds and equipment for a new hospital wing. That paperwork is just getting started. How great it is to be able to see our unused equipment and supplies being shipped to someone who wants it!

Jose and Norma in front of the table of gifts they received.

Another view of Jose and Norma's wedding party.

Ron is safely home. Marcy and Rick are home. Morris and Donnie are in Houston.

The last group is traveling. Pray for their safety.

Rick is an awesome guy. He can repair a computer or setup a network or teach a Bible class. He is a great husband and father also.
The last group leaves La Palma today and will spend the night near the airport, flying out early in the morning for Houston. Gladys has spent the last 2 days with her family and will join them at the airport. Donnie is spending the night with Jaime and Gladys and traveling home Sunday. The others arrive home Saturday night.

Donnie escorts the bride to the church building.

A photo of Jose and Norma with her attendants.

Rick and Marcy are shown during the lasso part of the wedding ceremony. The cord is wrapped in a figure 8 around the two signifying that they are bound together.

Jose y Norma at the reception.

The first of the many photos of Jose's wedding to Norma.

An earlier posting told about Norma having to go to San Salvador after the wedding and take a test early tomorrow morning. The instructor has relented. She got approval to take the test early--she no longer has to make the trip alone right after her wedding.

Donnie called to say "the deed is done", indicating the marriage of Jose and Norma. The rain held off until the activities were over. The building was full and overflowing. Photos coming soon!

I just talked to Morris. The group got to La Palma early and had a good night.

The preacher who was to do the wedding ceremony got sick so Donnie is scrambling to do it. Jose and Norma did their civil ceremony yesterday at the mayor's office.

The weather appears to be good for the wedding.

Donnie and Morris are enjoying coffee on the veranda! (And the chef there makes really good coffee!)

Donnie called to say they were headed 'up the hill' in a van.

The plane carrying the three from Missouri landed in San Salvador early.

Rick, Marcy, and Donnie are boarded for the flight to San Salvador. They had a good trip to Houston.

Morris reported that they had a very good day yesterday and accomplished a lot. Today, Daniel and Daniel Antonio come home. Donnie, Marcy, and Rick travel to La Palma.
Carol is getting around slowly and not experiencing nausea. She sees the doctor again Tuesday.

Most people in this country are avid fans of soccer. As we are keeping abreast of the world cup scores, I was amused at this street soccer game. Two students walking through the action are totally ignored.

The folks in La Palma report a successful day with home visits and a conference with the people of the Education Ministry.
I am traveling home tomorrow to help Carol, who is having some balance problems and loss of hearing in one ear.
My goals for the trip are almost totally complete with some extremely successful. Ralph

I am without phone service for some reason so do not have an update from La Palma for today.

The President's wife is in charge of all social programs here to include welfare, orphan care, senior care, and donations. Carmen took Napo and I to meet with her executive secretary, Blanca. She listened to our plea to help us get goods imported into the country without paying taxes on them. She was very understanding of our situation and appreciative of our help in the past.
She then introduced us to Tania, a lawyer in the department, who handles all franchises of donated goods. She, too, was appreciative and understanding. She gave Napo some forms to fill out on the spot and let him use her computer to write the proper letters of donation. I signed them, and with a few followup items in the next few days (actually it is putting the information in the proper format) we will have permission to ship items into the country duty-free subject to the proper customs inspections. The only costs we will incur are administrative costs and transportation from the airport. This is a big success and will lead to future work without the problems of the past.

A quick note to say that I met some great people in San Salvador today and got signatures on some very important papers. We WILL be able to import items to help the people of El Salvador and not pay tax on it!

It is 66 degrees this morning! Just a beautiful day after the rain last night.

We have several things going on today in San Ignacio and other places.

The folks from Southaven will continue VBS in San Ignacio this evening with several children, and Gladys and Daniel will continue their classes.

Morris is busy as usual. It will be a great day.

We scattered again today. Some went to Cumbre de Gramal to meet with the children there, conduct a Bible study, and distribute clothing. Some went to San Ignacio to work with the new congregation there. Ron and I went to Santa Rosa, Copan, Honduras and met with Donna and Phil Waldron, missionaries there from Athens, GA. Morris was not up to par healthwise so he stayed in La Palma and worked.
Donna and Phil had us meet with their staff and provided a wonderful lunch for us we really enjoyed the visit and also meeting several people from Tulsa who are there teaching English classes.
Daniel is teaching the men tonight and Gladys is teaching the ladies.
It is raining, with thunder and lightning around. Today was not as hot as it has been a couple days since we got here.

It was a candlelight worship service in Ocotepeque, Honduras and many other places last night because of a major power outage that affected large parts of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition to the candles we had one small LED flashlight. The power was off from 6:50 pm to 9 pm. No cause has been published yet.

Ron and I are in Honduras today. The others are in La Palma. The group from Southaven arrived about 5 last night. They are wonderful people.
Hope to have more time to write tonight.

Our team will be splitting up and going in different directions today. We will start at La Palma and San Ignacio and then go to El Tule and Ocotepeque.
We expect Michael, Mercy, and Yuvonia to arrive this afternoon.

We had rain much of the afternoon yesterday. The temperatures are just fine. The food is great.

Gladys and Ron arrived about 6 pm. We have eaten, had our devo and ops meeting, and are preparing to go to bed.
Morris and I rested this afternoon. Daniel did not feel well so he stayed mostly at the hotel.
Daniel Antonio and I visited the Police Department and got a courtesy inspection of our facility. We are getting prices on some more razor wire and motion sensors. There is a large wedding at the hotel Montana tonight with some very loud music! We can hear it from here.
There is a small carnival in town also. They have 2 merry-go-rounds and 2 ferris wheels. And did I mention fireworks?
Lots of teaching will be going on tomorrow in La Palma and San Ignacio.

Stephen sent this photo of him and Carolina from the wedding.

Adoni and another boy pose for Debbie's camera. I can only imagine what fun our grandson Nathan will have with them when he gets here.

Yesterday afternoon the two firemen came to the school again. They have the only safe ladder in town for high places, and they brought it to us and then changed some light bulbs way up high in the auditorium. Thanks Debbie! You created a very good relationship with them. I can climb that high but I sure hate to!

We kept busy all day doing stuff. I don't really like Walmart but they at least have a wide variety of stuff. We walked all over town a couple times to find towel racks. There were only a couple of them in the entire town!

Norma admires the new cabinets that Morris built in the school science lab.

Our team before the first group left this morning. Front row--Christian, Morris, Joel, Ralph. Second row--Stephen, Brandon, Glen, Tony, Daniel, Debbie, Daniel Antonio, Natalie.

Wednesday night worship at La Palma. There were many visitors from the community.

This was the final night of preaching for the week. Both San Ignacio and La Palma had great audiences each night. 19 year old Glen, from Kansas City, preached in La Palma tonight and did great. It is wonderful to see young people learning to be productive Christians.

The local Fire Department did a pre-inspection of the school today and made recommendations on needed work--mostly adding fire extinguishers and evacuation signs. The Minister of Education is ordering schools to have the inspections. The local firemen were happy to do a pre-inspection to help prepare for the real one later. Debbie has been super at teaching them trauma and child delivery techniques this week and built a rapport that will greatly assist us for a long time.

We had about 18 hours without electricity. Not a huge problem for most of us. We don't have or need airconditioning anyway. It did limit our work today being without power tools.
Part of our team went to Chuntrun today and report having a great time with the families there. Some thought the climb and the walking were a little extreme.
Morris almost finished the science lab. He was down to the gluing and did not need power for that. My plans to hang racks and safes were thwarted for sure.
We had our final night together with this team. Seven are leaving us tomorrow. We have a new group coming in Saturday.
More later. Ralph

Thursday

Ralph just called and said they've been without power overnight in La Palma so he hasn't been able to post anything. As soon as the power comes on he'll update us. Everyone is well and working hard. :)

-Lori

We had a good day today and got a lot done. It was fun to watch the wedding of Stephen and Carolina via internet. Tony is preaching tonight in La Palma and Daniel is preaching in San Ignacio. More later.

Don't forget the wedding at 2pm, 3 cdt.

Much to do today! Morris is working on cabinets. Some are going to Ocotepeque to work again. Debbie and Natalie are teaching the fire department how to deliver a baby, with Joel as translator. Tony is counseling. Daniel and Daniel Antonio are busy, busy.

A lot happened today in La Palma. Morris got a real good start on the cabinets for the school lab. Several home visits were made. Debbie had some good questions from the folks in the fire department and is going to do some serious training. There were good crowds at both La Palma and San Ignacio worship assemblies. Dr Day has been busy and productive. Some guys will go back to Ocotepeque and work tomorrow.
We are ready to have final meeting and devo. Good night.

Blanca had her MRI read today and the doctor is NOT recommending surgery. She came home and will receive treatment locally. We do not know what that treatment will be yet. We believe this is good news.

Have arrived in La Palma.

Ralph headed to La Palma...

Ralph is heading to La Palma today and has called to say that he is boarding the plane in Houston. Thank you for your prayers for safe travels.

-Lori

Note From
Stephen Beliech
It has been a fast action weekend but plans are set and I hope you might be able to join us long distance on Wednesday.

On June 9, 2007 I first arrived in El Salvador. After a nice ride up the mountain we arrived at the hotel. The group that was there and staying the next week came out to help us unload the bus and to meet us newcomers. There was this one woman… she was a stunner. I kept my eye on her and I got to know her. Then later that summer I returned to El Salvador and visited with her and her family. Another trip in December for Christmas, emails, packages, trips again in 2008 and 2009 and well… Stephen Beliech and Carolina Contreras will marry three years to the day they met! It has been years of work and paperwork but a fiancée visa was secured and Carolina and her 10 year old daughter arrived in the USA. Now the plans are complete for the wedding to take place.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 4pm Eastern Time will be the ceremony in Palm Beach County, Florida. Of course you can’t come down in time for the ceremony but if you have internet access log on to www.pblcoc.org, click the “watch the services live” link on the right column (see the picture below) and then select the player you can use to view movies. Windows Media Player is the most common.

The link is only active when something is being sent down the line, so it will be active prior to the ceremony with some picture of other indication of the link. Don’t be surprised if you go on early and the link is blank, just wait.

Again, Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 4 p.m. Eastern time.

Some of the group worked in Ocotepeque Honduras today on the new church building. Dr Day proved that he can be both a doctor and a rock carrier. Tony can mix cement. Look at the pile of rocks available for the foundation being poured!

Brandon Day working as a doctor in Ocotepeque, Honduras

The first group in a photo op in church building--less Daniel and Tony.

The first group as they were eating pupusas.

Talked to Tony and Morris today. Things are going well. The weather there is better than here!

At 6:30 our time, 5:30 pm their time, the bus was about 5 minutes from the hotel. They were all OK, and the hotel is ready for them.

The plane has arrived at the gate - late!

The group had some delays getting to Houston--almost missed the flight. The San Sal flight departed late and is expected to arrive in San Sal 30 min late. It has to fly extra distance to avoid the oily gulf area.

The first group of the June Missionaries leaves out early tomorrow morning and should arrive in La Palma by 4 pm. Pray for their safety.

Sherry is an ER nurse at St Johns hospital in Springfield. Here she has given up the luxury of a modern ER to help people in a rather primitive setting.

Good teachers always have students gathered around them.