Sunday & working/celebrating the 4th

Sunday is usually a day of rest around here and it kind of was.  We got to sleep a little later and we worshiped with the church in Mololoa.   (Where I had built a house the day before!). It is always cool to worship in a bilingual service.

The people at the mission house have part of all of the day off on Sundays, so we had a lighter breakfast and lunch in the mall after church.

Here is Pat giving this baby the first solid food ever!!! Cinnamon roll!

The rest of the day, we worked on sorting, assembling food and medical supplies.  Diane and I were ready for some quiet time, so we worked on bags for new mothers in our room.  We assembled about 75 bags.  I had posted a picture and said I would reveal in the blog what it was.  Diane's church has a sewing group and they work on different projects.  That pattern was found on the Internet.  It is a washable, reuseable sanitary pad.  They made enough for us to put two in each bag.

Monday was the 4th of July and they've planned a special celebration for us.  For $5 each, our group can get the whole movie theater and watch Independance Day.  (That includes a drink and popcorn!)

The word had gotten out that we had made up the new mother bags and one of the leaders asked if we wanted to go to the hospital & of course, we did.   Every time we go, it's a little different.  This year, one of our speakers is a cool COC youth minister from New Jersey (tats and all).  He's a great speaker, and what's even better, he can speak Spanish.  We headed into Hospital Escuela and he found someone who happened to be the main administrator for the hospital.  He lead us to the areas where we could visit.   Someone had sent some supplies to donate and he took us down below in the halls underground.  We had never been there before!!!  We even passed the morgue!!!

Capybara

Jenny Taylor, Diane and I were the only ones who visited the new mothers.  We had almost exactly enough bags.  It would have been exact, but a few mothers had "hemelos" (This may not be the correct spelling, but it means twins.)

We headed back to the Mission House for a quick lunch and then our group had to get 200+ heavy, floppy food bags loaded on the back of the bus.  I helped with that and got quite a workout!!

This is Reed.  This is her 3 or 4 missionary trip.  Her parents have been coming since they were in college. She is a hard worker and always is a trooper.  She will be in 2nd grade next year!

We then headed up the mountain to a very pretty area to hand out the bags.  I made the first steep hike with two heavy bags & I was winded!  Could someone please check what the elevation is here?  We can sure tell a difference.  Actually, the Mission House is even higher up the mountain!!!  It was very beautiful though.  When you get out of the city it is much cleaner.

After that, I started handing bags to our people out of the back of the bus.  This was also a workout, but I really liked it.  We finished around 4.  I couldn't believe we had actually given out all of the bags.  You have to understand, those people don't live on nice little streets.  They live on windy paths way up the mountain.  I commend all of the young people who hiked those paths tirelessly.  Specifically, I worked with Hunter Galbraith, Rachel Tucker, Kelvin Roberts, and Ansley Roberts, as well as others.  Shout out to their  parents!!!

The things you see in the mountains

We all rushed to get showers to be ready for dinner.  It was about that time that we heard there was going to be a baptism.  Sara Whitley from Brandon, FL put Christ on in baptism.  We rejoiced with the Angels!!!

It is the 4th of July, and we had an extra good dinner.  Pupusas are a local specialty.  They are made of corn tortillas and they are similar to empanadas, truly delicious!!!  We were in a hurry to make it to our movie, which we did.  I have to say, I couldn't keep my eyes open for the movie, but it was fun anyway.

All in all, a very full two days!!!

Sick ninos & mas comida (Sick kids and more food)

Wednesday we had two main work groups:

1.  Dump visit/Painting classroom at El Diamante

2.  Hospital visit & Food distribution at El Diamante

Oh, there actually was another group:

Building a home at El Diamante.  This was earmarked as Jenny Lovell's house build and a bunch of her church members and friends worked on that house.

Jo Dawn's daughter, Cheyenne and I assembled the baby clothes I had bought at Goodwill in gallon size baggies with things for the family. (toothbrushes, soap, toothpaste, razors and other things we could find)   A group of about 20 stayed back a little while at the mission house to get our things together.  We also formed a bucket brigade to get about 250 food bags on the back of the bus.

My plan (which isn't always God's plan) was to go visit the new mothers at the hospital and hand out the bags we had made, but when we got there there was a Honduran group of young girls.  It was apparent that they were from a private bilingual school because we spoke to them in English.  They said they were going to see the new mothers.  They had diapers, pads, a blue baby gown and some other things.

Our group started on some other floors.    My group of about 10 went to the orthopedic floor.  The emphasis is always to try to make a relationship, not just hand them stuff.  I was very proud of Cheyenne and myself.  We went in a room of about 4 kids and a few families.  (Some don't have a mother or family member there!!!)    We spent about 45 minutes in that room.  Somehow (because I thought I was going to new mothers)  we didn't have many things for kids.  We did have just enough for that room.  (See photos)

(hospital selfie)

Cheyenne did a great job of trying to read to the little guys.  We had a book about Jonah that was in English and Spanish.  There was a boy who was 11.  The older kids don't seem as happy to see us.  I feel it's because they are more aware of there situation.  I had picked up something to give.  Do you remember color by numbers?? This was a picture that you added stickers by numbers.  He and I put that together.  Then he read the book to me about Jonah in Spanish.  After that, Cheyenne and I didn't have anymore things to give.

We went to a really large ward where all of the children had been in some type of accident.  There was man pins sticking out of the injured bone.  One of the nurses on our team said that we don't use that method in the US.  I basically walked around and talked to them in my limited Spanish. (Honestly it's gotten much better.  Even some of the "newbies" will say, "You speak Spanish don't you."  I say, "Solo un pocito!!)

On this same floor, we found a room that had about 6 babies.  From what we could tell they were babies that had been born with different issues or handicaps.  Luckily, we had baby bags for those families.  As I walked around I would ask the families if they wanted me to pray for their child.  They always said yes.  I would pray in English and after I was finished in English I would say, "En el nombre de Cristo".  In the name of Christ Amen.  Maybe someday I can learn a Spanish prayer!!!  Before we left, I even overheard Cheyenne praying with a child.  She is one awesome 15 year old girl!!!

We had spent probably an hour and a half or more visiting and we went back to find the rest of our group.  By then it was almost time to leave.  A few of our group had gone upstairs to the new mothers, but we decided not to deliver the rest of our baby bags today. (Since those others had already visited.)

(This Pedro our night guard at Villa Gracia.  He often works all night and then goes with us.  As far as I know, he only gets a food bag for his family.  We have heard he needs new glasses that cost $200.  We aren't supposed to give money, but we are checking with our leaders to find out more information. Unfortunately, there is stories of hardship wherever we go!

We ate our lunch on the way to El Diamante.  If you remember, that is the area where we went to church on Sunday.  El Diamante is like a mesa or table on top of a mountain.  That means it's flat and very windy with beautiful views.  A much easier place to hand out food than the last time.  We also eventually met up with our house build team and our dump team.  The food team successfully handed out all of our food bags too!!!  Thank you to all who gave donations.  Those small bags will feed a family of four for a month!

Later that evening I was asking Cheyenne about her day and she said, "It was okay."  I thought she meant that she didn't like it as well as building, but she told her mom how sad it was.  I guess as an adult, I have become hardened to what I see there.  I was so impressed with Cheyenne that she was able to interact with the young kids, but put her emotions aside!!  

(Torch has built many homes in El Diamante.)

Below you will see one of our sweet bus drivers, Marlon.

Jenny Taylor

Visiting the sick & the Peace Monument

view from the Peace Monument

Today was our first work day back in Teguc with the new group.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I decided I would just go where I was needed.  It just so happened that they needed people to go to the hospital.

getting ready to bring cheer in the hospital

We had purposely set aside baby clothes from our clothing giveaway in Cholucteca because there wasn't that many newborns and the babies we saw were fairly big.  Those of us who visited the new moms the last time felt like we should bring something to them. 



 Last night, I made some hygiene packs from the donations I had in my own suitcase, plus we were going to take all of the baby clothes that we set aside.  Everything was nice and like new.  There was even some nice crocheted blankets. 




We also had a group who was going to break down bulk food and package it in bags to give to families.  We did this with the first group also.  There was also a group building a house, and another group was going back to the dump to feed the people there.




We all got our things ready to take to the hospital and we couldn't find the box of baby clothes anywhere!!!!  All we could find were the winter clothes that were too hot for Choluteca.  We were able to pull out a few things, but most of it was not very nice.  We visited the new mothers in the maternity ward and prayed with most of them.  There is something powerful about a group of Christian women young and old praying together.

ready to go home

  All of the mothers were very appreciative.  Then we walked over to the neurological unit.  I had been there last year.  A lot of the children have hydrocephalus.  Some will be fine (according to Nurse Sarah), but some seemed very sick. 

 We were visiting the different wards, and we came upon a women who was crying and the baby seemed to be fighting for breath.  We all gathered around her and hugged her and prayed with her.  Jennifer, our translator, did a great job helping us and translating the prayers.

 Some of our younger members realized what was happening and they walked in to comfort her.  I stepped into the hallway and a man came dashing down the hallway and was very upset and crying.  I knew something wasn't good. 

 Our translators found out that his daughter was dying and they went and prayed with the family.  We were all feeling very emotionally spent by then, so we decided to walk down to the main lobby to find the rest of our group because the bus was supposed to come back soon. 

Josue, the proud papa

 Josue (sp) is a Honduran man that speaks English well and works with Torch groups.  His newborn baby was in the hospital because of breathing problems and he wanted us to go see his baby and surprise his wife.

balcony on one story of Hospital Escuela

We went back down to the cancer treatment ward.  This pillowcase dress was made by a lady in my church.

Like it often happens in Honduras, we found out our bus was going to be delayed another hour and half.  We hung out for awhile at one of the side entrances.  We couldn't at the main entrance because the nurses were on strike.  They have been on strike every time I have been in Honduras!!!!

                             Carlos, my friend from the last time.  We gave him a ball and he called it a "goal"!  LOL

striking nurses and Josue in red

Genesis was in the burn unit.  She was a cutie and quite the talker.

killing time & waiting for the bus

                        
We were finally picked up by the bus and we were reunited with the group who went to the dump.  We were hitting the Teguc rush hour, so one of our leaders decided to take us on a short excursion to the Peace Monument.  I had only been one other time, but I was asked to tell about it.  Here is the story as I know it.

There was a soccer match between Honduras and El Salvador and it ended with a dispute and a war broke out.  This wasn't a war with guns, but shovels and pick axes, no one died, but both countries agreed to end it peacefully after 3 days.  This was the only war that Honduras has ever been in and the monument was built to remind them that war is a bad thing.

The monument is maintained by the firefighters who are also kind of like forest rangers.  They also do wild animal control.  They brought this out to show us.  This is Steve Johnson.

This is supposed to spell Torch!!



Until next time!!! xoxo PJ