What a day!

Well, things have been very quiet here in Honduras with the Springfield team here... until today! We have enjoyed the steady work of the team, and had little to do except to go for supplies and then stay out of the way of the workers. Today started like any other day, until 7 AM, when Wanda and I arrived at the mission house with Gerson & Lourdes, two workers that we bring from the clinic to the mission house each AM. Waiting for us there was a mother and daughter, Sandra and her daughter Marbella from Los Pinos. This mom had carried her 10-year-old daughter from Los Pinos to Santa Elena the night before with an ankle injury. Marbella had cut the back of her heel on a piece of metal, and had a piece of old sheet material binding it up. I took a look at her, picked her up (literally) and carried her to the truck, back to the clinic, and washed and cleaned the wound. She was amazingly good during this process, but anesthesia was needed, so I gave her some novocaine and cleaned the wound well - finding a partial achilles´tendon injury. I tried testing the tendon, but this caused too much pain. My options were: 1. do the best I could. 2. take her to Peña Bñanca to see a doctor with less experience than me, or 3. take her to San Pedro Sula to sit and wait the day to see someone whose qualifications were unknown, maybe be treated properly but likely not, after a 2-hour drive to getthere, or 4. Take her to Sequatapeque at considerable expense to see the private orthopedist and be treated. I asked my Father for wisdom, discussed the case by phone with Steve and Pablo, went back to the room with Marbella and squeezed her calf. To my great surprise, her foot moved downward, indicating a good achilles´function and little pain. I proceeded to close the skin with 3 widely-spaced staples, carried her back to the car, back to the mission house, then back to her home in Los Pinos. The novocaine was just wearing off, so she was in some serious pain, but I had given her some acetaminophen and some antibiotics, and told her that I would check back on her later. In the meantime, I had been given an open door right into the heart of this little village that will be the subject of many future blogs. No roads, just paths. But the house was well kept, apparently a lot of pride.

We returned to the mission house and found Dennis, one of the Springfield workers, standing in the driveway with blood running down his hand. He had jumped into a ditch and split the skin at the base of his thumb, deep into the subcutaneous tissue, and needed stitches. So, off we went to the clinic again, and closed the wounds with 8 stitches. Thankfully the materials were available and in date. He was back in one piece, and we were only a little late for our trip to Los Pinos to the feeding program there. We went to the program, then met one of the mothers with a daughter having bleeding problems for 24 days. We had tested her for pregnancy 2 days ago and the test was negative, so we were not worried about that, and we had given her some strong vitamins, but she was in a lot of discomfort. Once again, the opportunity was presented to get into another house. We did not directly speak the gospel, but there was no question of the love of our eternal God displayed to this little community. We also stopped back at Sandra & Marbella´s house, and found her stretched out in the living room on a hammock, foot elevated, grinning ear to ear to see us back again, bringing her a bag of ice, with instructions.

We then returned to the mission house in Santa Elena, thinking that we had about enough of emergency home medicine, gave pills to a worker for tendonitis in the shoulder, treated an impetigo with wound cleansing and antibiotics, gave meds for cast-related pain in an elderly woman post wrist fracture, and treatment for amoeba, of all things, in a worker. Finally, we removed the stitches from Pacita 9 days after removing a cyst from her back. We reconciled with Kevin, the little boy who had a cyst removed by Dr. McCloskey in Seguatapeque 12 days ago, and from whom we removed the sutures 2 days ago, making us temporarily the enemy. But he forgave us today and played ball with us in the side yard. We took some pictures, to be displayed below, and then showed them on the laptop screen (which is hanging in for now, probably thanks to many of your prayers) for the children to see. They were thrilled, as they are with almost anything!

We are preparing a major blog analysis of the work here, which we are convinced is inspired by the mind of God Himself, and has a great many healthy aspects and some real needs. For now, we are placing a few pictures on the blog, with descriptions, to let you know how things are going for us. Next week, with the team gone, we will be able to put a little more time into communication.

How about these 6 children shown here - they were so happy to pose for the camera. They are, in order, Amy, Gracie, William, Michelle, Kayla, and Carlita. It is absolutely amazing to experience the wide-open spirits of these kids.

Here is Kevin, waiting for the neck surgery, back when we were still friends. Sylvia, the teacher who works with him at the mission house, is sitting with him, with mother in background. Look at that hair!

Here are some pictures from Los Pinos, small village up on the mountain which, until recently, had little penetration with feeding programs or hygiene teaching, but has really stepped forward now with daily Bible teaching and feeding, as well as basic hygiene and parasite treatments. We have had a number of head lice treatment clinics with great success and many dead insectos! The kids are very grateful, it has been said in jest that there are now no head lice in Los Pinos!

Here is Xiomara, the teacher of the school classes in Los Pinos, a solid Christian young lady. Also Sylvia, who teaches the Bible stories every other week. She and Gerson will be alternating weeks in Los Pinos.

For those of you who don´t see enough men working (or standing around leaning on shovels, here are a few more:

Here is a picture of what Rick is doing:

And a picture of what Wanda is doing (she will love this on the blog!)

Here are some of the workers at the mission house, where we spend the majority of our time. Gerson & Lourdes, Pacita, Sylvia, and Pablo hold down most of the fort here.

Thanks for your prayers and your patience to reach the end of this section! More next week!