Home

Three plane rides, a few meals in airports and the team arrived home close to midnight. Thanks again to everyone for everything. The presentation to the congregation at First Presbyterian Church of Jacksonville will take place on Sunday December 1 at 11:45am. Until then God Bless you all.

Final Days

Tuesday and Wednesday saw the completion of the second floor. The team are grateful for the help and support during this knee aching project. The floor looks great and by next year this room will be full to the ceiling with supplies, meaning that the rooms they are currently taking up space in the hospital can be remodeled to be far more practical.

Wednesday was also the last day on this trip spent with our sponsoring missionary family the Fields. They left for the annual missionary conference which is several hours away in Siguatepeque. Missionaries from all over Honduras come and refresh and connect. The Fields are involved in organizing things, including worship music and technical aspects of this great time together. We know that this is not goodbye however but another temporary separation from a family we have all come to love and respect.

Beverly again connected with Juana the Honduras housekeeper of staff housing, this year they have been singing together and even filmed a video. After taking a few of the missionaries to Rosie's on Tuesday night for dinner, Wednesday night was a great delight to take dinner to the Miknaitis family. The team supplied the main meal and Abby and Rimas made the ice cream which was a treat everyone enjoyed together.

For those keeping score the final total of babies born while the team was here is 10. Thursday morning will see the team depart for the drive to San Pedro Sula where they will spend the night before flying home on Friday. Once again a huge thank you to all those who have been praying and supporting this trip and the continuing work of Hospital Loma de Luz.

During the team's devotional time on Thursday morning, two stories were shared which bear repeating to a wider audience. One was that on Wednesday afternoon as Sonia was being taken to her class, the team members who were transporting them, also gave a ride to a few of the hospital nurses who were leaving to go home. This is not an unusual thing in Honduras there is always room for one more in the vehicle. When one of the nurses was taken to her home, she insisted that the team members were invited into the home, introduced to everyone and everything, and shown the surrounding area. This shows such a great generosity of spirit to share all that people have, even when what they have is very little by worldly standards, and yet is far more than many of us have, who seem to have everything. The other story was shared by Sonia, who has been teaching many local women and girls to knit bags and booties. During her class on Wednesday the women (through the translator) told Sonia that they had decided to donate the items they have been knitting at home with their own yarn, and at their on expense, to the hospital as a thank you for the new skill that Sonia has imparted to them.

These stories are just a few of the many that the team will have to share when they return home. Talking of returning home, Thursday was the first travel day and as this is being typed the team is resting up in San Pedro Sula, following the full day drive from Belfate. 3 plane rides await them tomorrow.

Lori and Linda Report Again

From Lori:

Hi all! Late night (or morning) update:

Well its 2am on Wednesday morning. Amber Shields and I are here at the hospital with our 10th labor patient. I expect her to deliver about the time the sun comes up. Monday was a fairly uneventful day. I had the opportunity to assist Dr Vance with a abdominal hysterectomy. We recovered a couple of other patients and then spent the afternoon taking care of some small things. All in preparation for our dinner with Liz and Ian McKenzie. Liz and Ian run the children's home here at the hospital. Their story...like all the missionaries here....is amazing. Awesome night.

Today (or technically yesterday) was to be a day of rest and fun...at least for Amber and me! No surgeon available means no labor patients. But Vance didn't go to the city after all! That was ok though. Had a labor evaluation in the morning who went home, did a dressing change on a little guy who had reconstruction surgery on his arm last week when Richard Owens was still with us and some IV hydration for a couple of tall guys The afternoon was spent down at the beach for a quick swim and then a lovely and delicious dinner. Got a bout 2 hours sleep then called down for this labor...whew....sounds pretty busy when I write it all out. Love to all. Thanks for your encouraging words, thoughts and prayers!


From Linda:

God has been so good to our Honduras team. Blessings and strength for the tasks every day. My job at the Bi-lingual school connected to the hospital is going well. I have been doing end -of-year assessments for the kindergarten teacher and giving one-on-one help with phonics and reading for the first grade teacher. Most every night we invite a missionary to our house for dinner and fellowship and give them a chance to share how God brought them here. Our hearts and souls are getting all filled up with the many wonderful stories we have heard and experienced.

Tiling, Teaching and God moves without Words

After the activity of the weekend it was back to work for the construction crew on Monday morning. With most of the tiling on the first half of the room completed by Rene and Meto, The edging was all that had to be finished, this took a while as each tile had to be cut to the right size and placed and hammer down. It was a great relief to place the final tile. Although only half the room is finished at this point, it is with a good sense of being able to complete the other side that the team continue onwards.

Having learned some lessons from the first half the second half will be tackled in a slightly different way. So the order of the day was to place filler directly onto the floor in the cracks rather than nailing new boards on top. This went well and tomorrow (Tuesday) glue and tile will be set.

The baby count is now at 9 with that baby being born via c section on Sunday morning. Today Linda went with Sonia to teaching knitting in Lucina, and with Dave Fields on a trip to La Ceiba, Pastor Richard became the transportation for a number of people.

Later in the afternoon Phil and Beverly went over to Lisa's house to visit the boys and present the gospel via the wordless book. One of the 8 boys was at the point had not accepted Christ. (in the early hours of Tuesday we heard that after hearing from Phil and Beverly and a later conversation with Lisa, this boy came to accept Christ).

Our evening guests for dinner were Ian and Liz McKenzie and their son Samuel. They run the children's home and after a great meal together, Stories of many of the children who live and have lived at the center were shared. These stories will have a long lasting effect on those who heard them this night and all those with whom they are shared in future. Certainly the team will have a great deal to share again this year.

Sunday!!!

Sunday is always a highlight of any trip to Honduras. The team has been contacted with the church at Margarita, since it was planted and then the current building was built from ground up. In past years we have been involved in building window frames, the tile floor and other things. But the most important thing that has been built is the relationships between team members and members of the church. It is a complete joy to see and be around Anael, Johnny, Christie, Rico to name but a few. The service begins with the children singing and leading worship. After much praise and worship, the children go out to Sunday school and for the third year in a row, Pastor Richard was given the privileged of sharing God's word with the congregation. This year from Romans.

Anael and Johnny joined some of the team for lunch back at staff housing and also picked out a few of the bags we had brought with us. Anael is working extremely hard in seminary. He has just finished his first year and has 3 more to go. He studies 15 days and then has 15 days back at the church. It was a true joy to spend some time with everyone we saw at church today.

During the afternoon the team visited Mike and Peggy Yost at their home in Belfate. It was an enjoyable and relaxing time for everyone and involved a short walk to the beach and the sea.

The day was concluded with a great visit with Lisa and her 8 foster boys. Lisa shared her story and how God is working to provide the space needed to home the boys. They are all street kids who have had they lives impacted by God through the ministry He has lead Lisa too. Everyone also joined in a time of praise and worship.

The Lori and Linda Report

Lori and Linda wrote the following two reports that talk about Saturday on the mission trip.

From Lori:
Our day in a nutshell....or van...whatever!

Our morning started with a call on the radio at 7 that a patient was at the hospital in labor. Usually this news is received with jumping about and clapping of hands! Today however, we did not show that type of enthusiasm. You see....we had GRANDE plans for the day. So we promptly popped down to the labor room and did an hours worth of labor prep so when we turned her over to nurse Heather, she had less to do! Then we were off.

Our schedule consisted of going to the dump in La Ceiba, eating lunch and shopping for some souvenirs and groceries. The dump, as always, was an event. We go with Lisa Bradley, as many of you know. She has an amazing ministry there and is loved so much by the children who call the dump their home. So, the second we pull up, we are surrounded by beautiful and dirty Honduran children all vying for Mama Lisas attention. They ALL get some So, an hour and a half or so later, we have bandaged many wounds, given out antibiotic cream and diagnosed multiple skin conditions (including acne..lol). We also give children suffering from worms medicine to treat them. Prayed a lot.

Lunch was yummy at the air conditioned mall! And shopping was fun and hectic! Easy drive home and then spent dinner time with our awesome missionary hosts, Dave and Marinajo Fields. Yummy spaghetti dinner.

And don't worry. We are about to deliver baby number 9! Gonna be a LONG NIGHT


From Linda:

Busy day. Pastor Richard and I childsat Chad's 2 kids for 2 hours. I got up at 4:30 this morning! Then off to LaCeiba to the dump. Spent 3 hours there and it was bristling hot there today! Overcast in the beginning, but then the sun broke out and we all about died!

Then to the Mall for lunch in the food court. Then to a local souvenir shop. Another team joined us for the LaCeiba trip....from Ohio, 5 of them. They rode with Lisa. We took our van, Amber drive to there, Lori drove back. Brave women they are! The air conditioning is now working, though the smell coming from it smells like an old air conditioner. Almost stifling in the beginning. Last was a trip to the grocery store to buy our last food supplies. Running out of things though we only have 4 days left here. I was so tired I slept about 45 minutes on the way back....until we got to the gravel bumpy part of the road, got to stretch out in the seat by myself. It's the seat with no foot room so laying down was better anyway. Dr. Rich should be getting close to home by now. He worked so hard this week doing difficult surgeries with Dr. Jeff. Rich has a real passion to work here. Loves this place. This was his 3rd trip and he is talking about coming back for a week in Feb. again. He has a colleague who wants to come down, too, and suggested to Amber that she accompany him. He has never been here. Amber and Lori worked hard too....both with deliveries and recovery room....late into the night. The girls are back at the hospital now working with another delivery patient to deliver sometime tonight.

We barely got home in time to leave for the Fields for spaghetti dinner with a special homemade bread. Yummy.

Tomorrow to church in Margarita. Afternoon at the beach. Lisa and her 9 boys to dinner at our place...hotdogs. These are various homeless boys she has taken in. The Lord is giving her 40 acres of land near the hospital to build a boys home. Quite a wonderful story. Lisa is/was the hospital administrator. The go-between for all groups coming in to work. She is single, a long-ago divorced lady, passionate about her dump and boys ministry. She has 3 grown sons and 2 grandchildren in the states. The youngest son is here right now visiting and helping her. She's a small woman, very sweet and kind and very big-hearted. The kids at the dump love her and come running when they see her, "Lisa, Lisa, Lisa!" She loves them, hugs them, kisses them on the head, holds the little ones. She is not a nurse so tries to take a nurse or dr with her to help diagnose. Lots of skin problems, worms, etc. Passes out small bits of ointments, healing creams, etc. Often a more difficult case is before her and she will call someone for advice or refer them to this hospital's ER or to a local clinic. There is so much love and sacrifice here. Wonderful missionaries.

Glue and Pizza

Friday and the end of the first week of the trip for the team. On the construction side of things the floor was finally ready to have the glue laid down. After some short instruction from our friend Rene, with translation by Ramon, Scott, Donna and Richard Evans got to work. There were times when as much of the floor was sticking to there arms as to the ground. After a couple of hours the glue was laid. The hope had been to lay tile in the afternoon, however it was decided that this was not going to happen and so the idea presented itself to employ Rene and Meto to lay the tile on Saturday. So the rest of the morning was spent continuing to paint the outside wall of the concina.

The afternoon then was reserved for tours of the hospital and grounds for those who have not seen them before. These tours were lead so wonderfully well by Dave Fields. The team would like to take a moment here and underline the huge amount of work that Dave and his whole family have gone to, to make this trip not only possibly but so successful. The team would not only not be able to be here without them, but would not be as effective without them either.

Friday was also Dr Rich's last full day in Honduras. A number of surgeries took place including one that has been in the planning since the trip 12 months ago. A young boy who was shot and was left with a very damaged arm. By all accounts the surgery went well, and long. It sure has been a God given gift to have Ernest the anesthetist here, not only for the surgeries, but also the team have gained two new friends in Ernest and his wife Sonia, for which everyone is grateful. The plan for the evening meal was pizza, ordered locally, a small business set up by Dr Jeff's daughter Hannah and some friends, in an attempt to encourage others locally to do the same. This meant that Beverly was released from kitchen duty and was able to accompany Sonia to her knitting class, in the afternoon.

And of course what is a Friday without another baby being born. This number 7 and makes the count 5 boys to 2 girls.. The pizza was indeed most welcome, and the Tumlison family were the team's guests. Joel, Cinthya and their 3 children, Linda, Lisa and Lucas, were a delight to be with, Joel was called out to the hospital shortly after eating, and so Cinthya shared about their journey to Loma de Luz and their ministry.

Bubbles, Exploding Milk & A Brindle Cow!!

Thursday began with breakfast and devotional, each morning the team has met at 6am to eat and study and share God's word. The team's theme verse is Romans 1:16, and each day we have reflected on how the gospel impacts various areas of our lives such as Joy, Forgiveness, Suffering to name but a few. This has been a great time of sharing and bonding. Each morning concludes with the sharing of prayer requests from and for the team. The team are grateful for and certainly feel the prayers that are being offered for them.

The day included the construction team discovered that the nice flat floor they had laid the previous day ready to be glued for the tiles, had Bubbled up! In many places in the room there had appeared bubbles, probably due to the humidity and the rain that has been falling each afternoon. It is a little early in the year for the amount of afternoon thunder storms that are taking place, but it certainly makes the temperature a lot cooler than it would be otherwise. After spending a couple of hours re nailing much of the floor, the team suddenly discovered that the floor seemingly on it's own had flattened and was ready to be glued. However Mike Yost's back flared up again and so we went and painted an outside wall instead.

6 surgeries took place today and and so a busy but productive day. Rich also got to meet up with another of the patients he operated on a previous trip. He was pleased to see that the results of the previous surgery had been very successful indeed.

This afternoon Donna went with our new friend Sonia to Sonia's knitting class and took over 200 wonderful photos! This is a great ministry to enable the local women to have a new skill to not only supply knitted items for themselves and their families, but also to make enough to sell.

On returning to the staff housing a number of the team were greeted by a very surprised Beverly who was laughing so hard. She was covered in milk that had turned bad and literally exploded when she opened it.

During the day Lori, Amber and Dave were transporting a patient to get to the public hospital in Le Ceiba as they have some equipment that Loma de Luz does not have. However the patient decided to return home instead of making the trip. All this to tell you that during this time, Lori randomly said Brindle Cow, or so the rest of the vehicle thought, it was not random as She had actually seen a cow that was Brindle.

Now anytime you see Lori, just say brindle cow and she will laugh out loud. The evening continued with the weekly fellowship, during which Pastor Richard shared a brief message based on Psalm 46:10 and then lead communion. This has become an annual opportunity and a great blessing to all involved.