Rested! It was good to sleep in my own bed again--and a few hours late. Jose kept me up talking till after 2 am Monday night. I was tired and the trip home was tiring and we lost an hour.

In an earlier blog I mentioned getting back to 'real food'. That was a mistake on my part. I should have said something like food that we are accustomed to. We actually ate better on this trip than any before. Pollo Campero has a permanent location in La Palma and we ate there once. I love the baleadas and pupusas. We had FRESH eggs every morning--probably laid only the day before. On the way to the airport we ate in San Salvador at Miguel Arguerra's restaurant. It was terrific! We had pizza and a wide variety of foods. I guess I just wanted a juicy Wendy's hamburger and mis-spoke about real food.

It will take a while to update you on the events. I took lots of notes and Lori took a couple thousand photos, so there is material to show and write about.

The trip was to gather information, plan for June, and follow up with some new Christians with encouragaement. We completed it.

God bless you, and may God richly bless the people of La Palma and Ocotepeque.
Ralph

We are all home! Now we need to analyze how we could have done more and better, but we were blessed to be able to influence some lives and hearts.

God bless you,
Ralph

We are on the way home after a great trip. We met Gladys' mother at the airport and had our photo taken with her. Now getting ready to board for the flight to Houston where we will enjoy real food! The next posting will probably be about 11:00 pm when we arrive home. God bless you, Ralph

Ralph called this afternoon and said they may not have a chance to blog today and asked me to update here. They are all "happy and healthy." They have been very busy since returning from Ocoptepeque. Jaime and Raphael are driving the ambulance from San Salvador to LaPalma and then they have planned an evening of pupusas at Reina's. Tomorrow morning they leave out early for the trip home. Please pray for a safe trip home.

Lana

We are at Ocoptepeque Honduras tonight for worship. This morning I preached at El Tule where they had a large gathering of area congregations. They asked me to be strong in the invitation, and I was. Two men came asking to be baptized.

We had lunch with Flor, a lady who helped with the medical campaign in February. She asked us to bring her a stethoscope and BP cuff in June. She is a Nurse Practitioner but is having trouble finding a job. She fried some great chicken! She would be a great mate for Jose but thinks she is too young for him at 26.

Last night we relaxed a little bit at bedtime. I went to sleep while the others had a long laugh session.

Lori and Melva have had some great Bible studies.

We are all well and healthy. There is a lot to do tomorrow before we go home.

It was interesting at the border last night as we crossed to Honduras. There were three medical personnel masked at a desk in the open air under an awning. They asked a ton of questions such as "have you been in contact with anyone who has swine flu?", "do you have a headache?", "do you have a fever?", etc. I found it rather humorous. I considered saying, "no, but I sneezed last Friday!". They had to wear the same masks all day but were in open air! The masks likely contaminated those wearing them. There was no one checking as we crossed back into El Salvador, and there was no one checking tonight as we came back into Honduras.

God bless you, Ralph

Blog Sat May 9, ’09

We are mindful of the wind damage to Southwest Missouri that caused problems for some of our homes and the homes of many team members not on this trip.

Yesterday we were joined by little Jorge. He came from seemingly out of nowhere for breakfast and again for dinner. He is roaming the streets apparently, but he remembers that we pray and clean our hands before we eat.

Marcy has been teaching English classes in the school each day and again each evening at the church building. The classes are well received and attended. Emily is her assistant and does a remarkable job.

Lori and Melva taught ladies classes last night and are conducting Bible studies during the day.

We arranged for roof repairs on the home of a lady from the church. The adobe walls were deteriorating rapidly because of the rain

Today we are scattered in home visits and Bible studies

Tomorrow we travel to El Tule for a regional worship in the morning and to Ocotepeque Honduras for worship in the evening.

Today’s photo shows the interior of the new church building. It is ready for the concrete floor to be poured.

We are all well and healthy.

God bless you, Ralph

OK, time to catch up on our trip a little bit.

We had a nice flight down and were on time. The health department was set up as we entered the immigration area with a thermal imaging system that is supposed to tell them if we had a fever. We had not seen anyone masked at Arkansas or Houston, but all government employees were masked at the San Salvador airport. It was strange to see even the security guards, immigration agents, and customs folks masked up. It made communication a little more difficult.

At customs I led the group to the lane and they checked my baggage. It was OK so they let the rest of the team thru. We boarded a small bus to the nearest hotel and spent the night. They had a fantastic breakfast buffet, which we enjoyed. We then loaded a van and took a detour to the ocean before coming to La Palma. It was homecoming as we were welcomed to the area. We toured the new school facility and the new church building before we ate. We made few home visits that night and then I spent a long time visiting with Lillian, Jose, Jesus, and Marvin.

Thursday we were visited by an inspector from the Ministry of Education. They recommended adding some windows for light and ventilation before we move into the new classroom facility. It was more than a recommendation—it was a requirement, and not a bad one. We now wait formal approval to make the move in June.

I spent a long time with the mayor asking his feelings on the government change and expressing my disappointment for the fact that someone could steal everything electronic and none of it be found. He also gave us a tour of the new emergency operations building which is just now being completed. It will house offices for the police chief, fire department, and the ambulance crew along with the new ambulance they just received from us. It is a very modern facility and very nice.

We are trying to arrange as many details as possible for the June trip. We believe that the folks here understand what our goals are and will help us achieve them.

We are eating well and sleeping well. We are all healthy and busy. It rains every day. Those of you coming in June need to be climbing steps and walking a lot to get ready. Spend time in the sun to avoid burning when you get here.

The photo is of the new church building as the exterior is being completed.

This entry delayed several hours while waiting for the internet.

Tomorrow is less busy --we plan home visits primarily.

God bless you, Ralph