Optical changed locations from Escuapa to Danli beginning Tuesday through the rest of the week due to saturation in Escuapa and less need for glasses. A good thing when all is said and done. Danli however, was a different story. We saw 74 patients which is a high number for optical. Busy busy busy. Had to turn people away which is always hard to do but can’t be helped at times.
Extreme poverty is ever present in Tegucigalpa but our team’s home visits to two families who are being upheld by
Tegucigalpa Central Methodist church revealed hope in the midst of it. These mothers love their children deeply. Siblings care for one another from an early age. The homes revealed great ingenuity to use what they had creatively. A broken bucket is a planter. A plastic table cloth is a room divider. Pallet material becomes a shelving unit. Nothing useful is thrown away. They were proud of the homes they had cobbled together.
With so little in material comfort these mothers rely upon hope and God’s grace as a more real and present comfort. One of the mothers said to us with absolute certainty. “We will be together in heaven.” It seems that in absence of material abundance spiritual abundance thrives. One wonders how much our own material abundance gets in the way of our reliance upon God, a lesson we can learn over and over again from the Honduran people.
Today was our first day in Escuapa seeing patients. Things went very smoothly for the most part. Optical a slightly shortened day due to the fact that our plan was to do only one day in Escuapa and the rest in Danli. But that’s okay. We expect to be very busy next few days. Short blog. Late nights and early mornings.
Those who know me will not be surprised when I tell you that I’m a rather solitary person. I need some alone time occasionally. Last week it took the form of 10 minutes with my eyes closed while waiting for lunch to be set up. Today, I sat alone in the pharmacy for a portion of lunchtime. (We cannot leave the meds unlocked but the key was offsite. So I sat inside the locked room, protecting the drugs….)
Many things cross my mind during these alone times. I daydream, make lists in my head, think of places to go & what I’ll see when I get there (also NOT a surprise). Today I also put in my many eye drops, checked inventory, fielded questions about the baño bolsa, responded to a request for water.
It was a relaxing interlude. Left me refreshed for a busy afternoon……
Today’s blog a little different from the rest. It has been an eventful beginning to the second week mission. Trouble with vans and schedule issues, led us to be delayed with setting up in Escuapa. But the biggest concern was with one of our interpreters. We came out to the van this morning only to discover one of our loaded up to the heavens trucks had a flat tire. So ended up with one less vehicle to take us up to Escuapa, resulting in some people staying behind for the day because we simply didn’t have room. Danilo one of our interpreters was one of those people and while staying with our group his job was also to fix the tire. Unfortunately the jack on the truck didn’t hold and the truck fell on Danilos hand. Due to the weight of the truck he was unable to get out from under it right away and was in a lot of pain. He was taken to the hospital and praise the Lord it wasn’t broken but he did end up with stitches. So, prayers for Danilo and may he rest up this week and heal. We will miss you Danilo.
God is my strength. God is my shield.
Friday was a day of hurry, hurry, hurry. In the morning; it was hurry to start a new project; hurry, which project can I finish by noon; hurry through lunch so we can pack up; hurry, hurry pack up so we can get back to the mission house to clean up for dinner. Hurry, hurry, hurry!!
Today we said goodbye to most of our week one missioners as they headed off back to the USA. Once we said goodbye, the few that were left, Shelley, Chuck, Pat, Leslie and Dawn, waiting fo the second group to arrive. Finally after the long immigrationcustomsbaggage wait, they made it through and we headed off to lunch at our traditional chicken restaurant! Food was excellent as is most of the food we have had here in Honduras.
Sandy and I have enjoyed several mission trips to Honduras but I believe this year had some truly memorable experiences. The Bible program had a number of children from previous years, and some of them were helping new children to get acquainted with the program.
The optical team provided 187 pairs of glasses and saw 233 patients. All received sun glasses, eye drops, and hats to help them deal with the bright sun shine. One of their clients was given progressive glasses and couldn’t adjust to them. He saw us when we were out walking to visit with two nearby families, and since Pastor Guadalupe was with us, we were able to understand his problem. We asked him to come back, and with regular bifocals he was very, very happy!
Our sewing team was able to provide a baby carrier made from 3 T Shirts for her to carry her 15 day old baby with real comfort and security. They also taught a number of women and one man how to use our five sewing machines to make some of their own clothing from donated material, zippers, and other notions. One of the daughters of one of our professional construction team was able to make four items with beautiful design.
Our volunteer construction team was able to sand, caulk, and paint three of the six bed mission rooms (each have their own bathroom, shower, and toilet) to provide hospitality for mission volunteers like us. These rooms are just one important factor of this third floor of the five story facility. In addition, we utilized donated funds to purchase a number of tools including a 12 foot Warner fiberglass step ladder that made our work far more possible. We also purchased more sandpaper, extention sanders, paint brushes, caulk, and other hand tools to prepare the rooms for our painting. We are so grateful for all you’ve donated to make our work possible.
It is so exciting for us to see the degree of progress for this essential effort of our UMC Volunteers In Mission. This major multi-year project will provide a large regional church, housing for the pastor, office space for the pastor and superintendent, and guest facilities for those attending conferences and other events that reach out to the community.
All and all, we have found this mission trip to be filled with delight, lots of fun, inspiration, our awareness of God’s living presence among us, and the privilege of doing what Jesus told us do do: “Go therefore into all the world making disciples.” We feel very fortunate to do this important work. Thank you for your prayers and support!
In gratitude, Ron Retherford
Today was all those things mentioned the title. A shorter day for some because it was the last day on our site. Most of the teams with the exception of Construction closed up shop early due to packing that needs to be done. Construction continued to try to get at least the 3 rooms they had been painting done with one coat. So the rest of the group at the end of the day went back to the mission house while construction stayed behind.
My foot in the bucket!
