Monday and Tuesday

Please excuse the delay in our update. Our blogger has been under the weather but beginning to feel better now!

MONDAY: Our first official work day! Mike started working in the pharmacy and was also willing and able to donate blood for a labor patient who needed it.

Richard, Pastor Richard and Jerry began the water fountain project. What a blessing that will be when completed.

A pregnant woman was admitted and induced for post-dates and low blood count. She received a unit of Mikes whole blood to correct the blood count issue and started on pitocin which is common for inductions. She began having contractions right away but had no change in her cervix, so the pitocin was turned off and the patient was able to sleep through the night.

Kathy and Nell rode to La Ceiba with John. Monday is his normal "run to town" day. He takes pap smears he has been collecting to the lab. He takes people to town if there is need and on this day he was transporting a baby with a cleft lip and palate, her mom and her moms friend to an appointment to evaluate for surgery. John is so committed to the people of this country.

TUESDAY:

So, the labor patient had a cesarean for a beautiful "round headed" baby boy! He was not coming out the conventional way! Currently we have a labor patient in the hospital expecting twins. We expect her to deliver in the middle of the night.

Kathy, Pastor Richard and Jerry went with John today to the mountain village of Satal. Kathy helped John with his clinic and the guys were building benches for a church that is being planted in there.

Nell was able to spend the day organizing her kitchen and getting all her ducks in a row! She also made the best chocolate chip cookies! Yay!

Well still under the weather so that is all for now. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We all know how blessed we are to get this experience.

God Bless, The team

The Lords Day

Off to church we go. We went out to the church in Margarita this morning for an inspiring teaching in spanish :) Norma, who is one of the missionary nurses, taught the sunday school lesson. Her spanish is beautiful and it was such a pleasure listening to her. This church in Margarita is the one that our original teams came down to work on. It is amazing to sit in it completed and fellowship with its members. What a blessing.



The kids of the church are so much fun and love us "gringos"! Our cameras are there favorite and if you leave church with your camera intact, you are lucky! Some of us have watched these children grow up. Many of them live in the children's home and have sad and tragic life stories. It is impossible not to want to take them home and shower them with love.





In the afternoon God blessed us with an amazing downpour and the gutter system here in staff housing blessed us with a waterfall! For dinner Nell prepared delicious hamburgers with a strawberry desert to die for! Yes, all you honduras missionary wannabe's....we eat like kings! Last night was the best chicken ever! We are so blessed to have our awesome chef here with us.




Hope all of you had a wonderful Lords day,

The Team

Your 2011 Honduras Mission Team

Jerry and Nell Mathern, Mike and Kathy Hooper, Amber and Richard Shields, Richard Evans and Lori Bell

Day 1,2 and Fabulous 3!

Day 1...Put on safety orange shirts that were supposed to be MANGO! Get on flight out of Medford after learning our weighing skills leave something to be desired! Dinner in Portland then loading up just after midnight for our red eye to Houston.

Day 2...Attempt sleep on red eye flight....fail! Arrived in Houston with a couple of hours for breakfast then loaded our last flight for San Pedro Sula, Honduras. John and Penny were waiting there to celebrate with us that for the 5th year in a row...all bags made it! God is good. Uneventful drive to the grocery store in La Ceiba then on to Hospital Loma de Luz. We dropped off the suitcases we all brought full of supplies at the hospital then off to staff housing for some much needed sleep!

Fabulous Day 3...

Feliz Cumpleanos Miguel Angel! We drove up the mountain road to meet Miguel and his family for a celebration lunch. Our team of 8 plus another 9 and Miguels family of 6 plus another 10 community members met on the side of the road near a river for a birthday feast and cupcakes too! Miguels family walked hours to get to our meeting place, all dressed in their sunday best. Miguelito got lots of attention from his Tia Lori and Tia Amber and all his adoring fans! What a blessing to see this fat, bright, beautiful boy and KNOW he is only there by the grace of God. We will be smiling for days.

After all our fun we had to get back to work, so to the hospital we went to unload all 16 bags full of medical supplies. Pray our trip continues to run smooth and we all stay safe.

Dios Bendigo, The Team

This past Sunday Sept 11. The team met and packed the donations for the trip.
It took almost 4 hours and 16 heavy bags were packed up. Here are some photos...

Final Planning Meeting

Tonight (August 18 2011) is the final planning meeting for this year's trip to Honduras.
We are very pleased that past team members Mike and Kandee McClain will be joining the meeting to give much needed input and advise as we draw our planning to a close. With just a few weeks left until departure we have a number of things in place and a few still to nail down.
We are currently a little over a $1000 short of the minimum we need to fund the trip, but there is no doubt that God will supply as He always does.
We are also looking forward to the drinking fountains arriving and supplies filling up the empty suitcases in Pastor Richard's office.
Continue to pray for the team and all involved in these last days of preparation.
Thanks for all your support.
The Team!!

The team had a great planning meeting last week, which included a phone call with John Alden!!
We are super excited about this year's trip as always and are getting ready. Already there are 9 suitcases in Pastor Richard's office waiting to be filled.
Below is an updated list of needs.
Thank you for your continued prayer and support..

1. Scissors, gauze and rolled gauze for wound care

2. Scrubs, especially small and extra small (expect white & blue)

3. Tape for nurse use

4. IV extensions (up to 4”)

5. A variety of over-the-counter meds especially children’s

(if you are not sure what to get, we have a some medical people who can get

meds at cost if you so choose to donate funds to the mission trip...Thanks!)

6. Prenatal vitamins.

7. Infant (especially preemie) and children’s clothing to age 8 years

8. Toothbrushes and toothpaste

9. As many dressing supplies as possible

10. Baby supplies (Airway and umbilical disposables.)

11. Disposable endometrial biopsy sample catheters and pap smear supplies

(old slide style, not the newer wet prep kind).

12. Hospital fitted sheets

13. Kerlix

14. Vital sign machine portable monitors.

15. A gram scale for nurses to weigh diapers.