The women's prison in El Salvador needs the following items:
plastic toys for children 4 yrs and under
plastic plates, cups, glasses, and bowls for the women and children to eat with
cloth diapers
ladies clothing
clothing for children 4 yrs and under
If you can donate any of these items please let me know - Ralph
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
These two girls, Roxana and Noemi, are proudly displaying the promotion certificates they received from 7th grade to 8th grade at the La Palma Christian School. These girls and two other students like them, live several miles from town and can only attend school past the 6th grade if they are allowed to live near the school during the week. Last year they lived on campus with the Lalli family, which has since returned to the States. Now they must live with a different host family and need money for food, uniforms, and school fees. This amounts to $65 per month per student. They will walk to La Palma each Monday morning, attend school and church activities during the week, and walk home each Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. Both have dreams of professions—one wants to be a teacher and the other a psychologist.
Support for these students is important to their continued education and spiritual growth. Please consider helping them.
You may send checks, for full or partial support, to Church of Christ, 732 S. Landrum, Mt Vernon, MO 65712 and mark it for La Palma students.
Questions or comments may be directed to: Ralph McClurg, 417-849-0245, rmcclurg@mo-net.com
Monday, December 26, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Those who have been there and have seen both the wealthy areas and the poor areas can relate to this. We visited La Gran Via on the last trip and it is an amazing contrast to the poor areas where people feel blessed to have enough money for tortillas at night.
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20111217/LIVING/712179963/1042/LIVING02
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20111217/LIVING/712179963/1042/LIVING02
Friday, December 16, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
"Lori's girls" proudly display their promotion certificates to grade 8.
In trying to calculate a budget for Ana and Trini to 'board' more students, we asked how much they spend on food each month. Reality hit hard when Ana said they sometimes don't eat because they don't have money to buy food! Think about that!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Lori chose these two girls last year to live with her and attend 7th grade. This was something they could not do otherwise because they live so far from town. They did very well in school and are returning. Lori chose two more to attend with them. They will live with Ana and Trini in the house that Lori and Monte occupied last year.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Saturday, December 10, 2011
The masses of women! When there are no scheduled activities, the women at the prison just mill around in whatever open areas there are available, using whatever they have available for shade.
Lori, Dea, and I arrived home late last night. The remainder of the group will be leaving the San Salvador airport in about an hour for their trip home.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
An amazing day today. Left Ocotepeque at 7 am and had coffee at La Palma. Got to the ladies' prison at Ilopango at noon and toured a couple of hours. The conditions there are deplorable--worse than I thought it would be. The crowded conditions are almost unbelievable! They really need sheets, blankets, mattresses, and some clothing. I keep remembering Mt 25:36 and Isaiah 1:17. With travel and communications as they are, there really are no borders when it comes to helping the downtrodden and correcting social injustice.
Then we met with Tony Saca, the former President of El Salvador for abut an hour and discussed lots of things including the past help we have provided to the people and whether or not he will run for President next time. He did say that any nation whose government does not follow God will fail!
The group in La Palma attended a vela last night for a young man who died not too long after he attended the youth activity at the San Ignacio church Monday night. It was very stressful for them and the family.
Lori, Dea, and I travel home tomorrow. The remainder of the team will travel home Saturday.
Then we met with Tony Saca, the former President of El Salvador for abut an hour and discussed lots of things including the past help we have provided to the people and whether or not he will run for President next time. He did say that any nation whose government does not follow God will fail!
The group in La Palma attended a vela last night for a young man who died not too long after he attended the youth activity at the San Ignacio church Monday night. It was very stressful for them and the family.
Lori, Dea, and I travel home tomorrow. The remainder of the team will travel home Saturday.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
We also went back to the prison with some medicines for the guy who really needed them. Another prisoner asked for medical help. He has all of the symptoms of a kidney infection. Dea recommended that he be tested by the local clinic. They did not want to do it but relented after some negotiation by our wonderful Peace Corp volunteer, Catie!
We are well and busy. Yesterday we continued planning the medical clinic plans including changing the dates to March 10-17 for the convenience of some workers. We also added an optional 3-4 days for tourism to go to the Copan ruins, do a zip-line, tour the Esquipula basilica, tour a hot-springs spa, and do some serious shopping. These areas are famous and it will allow visiting them while already in the area.
Last night we attended worship/Bible study in La Antigua with over 40 present. This is a recent church plant and it was encouraging to be with them.
Ocotepeque was without power last night, so we had no internet. But phone service was back on!
The lost luggage for the teams in La Palma arrived Monday night so they were able to conduct the planned classes and change clothing.
This morning we are all attending the promotion ceremony at the La Palma Christian School.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
Today we met with the local Peace Corp volunteer to plan a medical brigade in March. She has a health specialty and is excited to be able to be involved. She will get translators for us as well as local doctors and nurses and other people to help. She is trying to locate a source for medicines in the country also.
One of the missionaries from Mississippi is an architect who designs jails and prisons. We obtained permission to tour the local state prison and had him come up from La Palma for the tour. The conditions are largely deplorable! We were asked to provide some medical help and will go back in the morning for some followup work.
We attended a baptism at the river. This lady has two little boys but wants to be a good Christian, and we rejoice with her.
I do not have a report on the luggage or the VBS classes in El Salvador as of tonight. We are healthy, although Freddy had a bad cold last night.
Sunday morning the group split, with some going to San Ignacio and some going to La Palma for worship. The photo shows the group at La Palma.
In the evening 11 of us traveled to Ocotepeque, Honduras for evening worship there. This congregation is really growing and is a very friendly bunch. Everyone gets many hugs before leaving the building.
Dea, Lori, and I stayed in Ocotepeque to work for a few days. The others returned to La Palma to prepare for VBS and evangelism classes.
Saturday another wave of missionaries was coming in. Leonard and I went on the bus to get them, and to get the medicines held by customs. The First Lady had explained to us on Friday that they have rules requiring prior notification and approval before medicines are brought into their country (not a really unreasonable request). Since there had been no such request it was rather embarrassing, but she agreed to help us, and late Friday afternoon the request was approved. We were told about medicines coming in from other countries which were not only not effective--they were harmful. Thus the health department tries to limit incoming meds to those they can trace to a reputable supplier and those with proper expiration dates.
We got the meds long before the arriving missionaries came out of the airport. Most of their checked baggage did not arrive (and still has not). We were quite late arriving in La Palma that night. The photo shows dinner time at the hotel.
I will try to summarize our trip to date.
Dea, Lori, and I left Thursday afternoon and flew through Houston to San Salvador. We had checked some baggage and the Customs officials confiscated part of it because of the medicines in it (there was no paperwork submitted for it).
We spent the night with Carmen Cruz at her home and met with the First Lady of the country the next morning. Her name is Vanda, and she is the leader of the Social Services in the country. We were with her for over an hour. She presented certificates of appreciation for the load of equipment and supplies that we sent to a state-operated nursing home back in January. She seemed to be genuinely grateful for the help it provided to the elderly.
She then presented an opportunity to help her and her country. There is a womens' prison not too far from the capital that has a problem. Women incarcerated there take any small children (under 4 years) with them. The children are not provided for, and they badly need beds, bedding, and some clothing. She asked us to visit the prison and we set up an appointment to do that on Thursday.
The photo shows Dea, Lori, Vanda, and Blanca (secretary).
After that visit we toured the nursing home that received the equipment and supplies. It was not as bad as we had anticipated, partly because of some recent construction. We then visited a physical rehabilitation facility and headed for La Palma. The second wave of missionaries arrived at the La Palma hotel after we did. They too were delayed in customs by a lack of paperwork for medicines.
There was a large group already at the hotel and some of the group had go up the hill to the new rooms just completed rather than stay in the lower, older rooms.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
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