WE HAVE SCABIES!

We already feel that Honduras and specifically the Honduran people have given more to us than we have given to them.

That sentiment is double today as we realize that we have been infected with scabies!

Happy Birthday to Jamie

Jamie will be celebrating her 27th birthday tomorrow the 9th. But yesterday the Honduran staff at the medical brigade celebrated her birthday Honduran style.

In the U.S. we often celebrate by making a cake. In Honduras, due to the warm weather, they make the cake on your head. Above you will find eggs, flour and water bestowed upon Jamie.

Happy birthday Jamie!

Reed received a bicylce to ride down here in Honduras yesterday. It was purchased as a gift from Great Grandpa Howard. We told Reed that in order to receive this present in Honduras he would have to celebrate his birthday Honduran style!

Magda and her family

We had a great week of brigades this week working with a wonderful team from the Chicago area. A physical therapist named Jane had also joined the team and she was a wonderful blessing to the mission this week! I was able to refer many of my patients to Jane to get further soft-tissue work on their necks if they were experiencing headaches or there shoulders for strains there. I had over 200 patient visits from Monday-Thursday and our team saw around 100 souls come to know the Lord. Our working conditions were a little warm as we were in smaller churches and we were packed in. This week I seemed to get a couple dozen extra patients with shoulder pain and motion restrictions.

On Wednesday, a patient came to me with severe loss of motion in his right shoulder, the motion he did have caused him significant pain. He had been in a motorcycle accident a couple of years ago and has been having problems since then. I did a lot of soft tissue work on his shoulder as well as adjusting his clavicle, humeral head, upper back and neck. He was near tears during some of my work as he was in significant pain. After I had finished working on him, he had doubled his shoulder range of motion as well as almost pain free motion. I gave him some at home exercises, stretches, and muscle work to do on his own at home. He then went to the evangelism station to talk with one of our team members on salvation!

The next day he showed up again! He was so thrilled with his results he was wondering if I could treat him again. I treated him again and he regained almost 100% of normal range of motion. One of our team members took a photo of him and I will post it later.

This week we also visited a lady named Magda. We met her at the end of June and were drawn to help because of her story. She was 8 months pregnant with her sixth child and has no husband or boyfriend. She is on her own. She had asked us for some money (equivalent to $1) to buy food for her family.

With the help of Jamie's parents, Dan and Kim, we purchased groceries for her on Sunday. It was a true blessing for this family. It was the most food they had ever had and the largest gift they had received. The only food that had in their house was black beans. We are conscious of the fact that we have to be careful of giving gifts to needy families here, for concern of dependency. But we felt and Dan and Kim felt the Holy Spirit had directed us to her, not to turn away from Magda. I explained to her that this help is only temporary, the food will run out, the toys will break, and the clothes we brought will wear out. But if she accepts Christ into her heart that she will never lose salvation. That is eternal! She has a lot of sadness on her face, but I believe that the Holy Spirit wants us in her life to plant the seed of Christ and help lead her to salvation.

Below are some pictures from last Sunday.

Magda and her 5 children.

This is her stove to cook on. Not only is it not easy to cook with, but it uses the wood very inefficiently. This causes her to have to buy more wood than her family would need if they had better stove.

We returned to her home on Friday and there was more joy in her face and heart. We brought her a New Testament bible, some multivitamins for herself and her children and some more water.

She is somebody who we feel we need to help at this point in her life. We are not sure where the Lord will direct us in that task, but we will keep our hearts open to his will.

We were inquiring about the kids going to school and Magda told us that Darwin could not go to school because he had no shoes. His shoes had been left outside and had been stolen. Before we had left our house Reed had decided to bring an extra pair of Crocs in case his got dirty. (He knows that things are usually much dirtier in these homes that we visit) I went to the car to compare sizes so we could buy a pair for Darwin. What do you know... they fit! We felt that this boy needs shoes and it just so happens that Reed brought an extra pair. There of course was no decision to be made! Reed was quite distraught that we gave Darwin his favorite pair of shoes. We know that Reed enjoys giving things, because at our house he often times is looking for things to give a child we has met who has little. But just like all of us, we prefer to give our extra and not something that is difficult to us. Reed's shoes, zapatos in Spanish, were close to his heart and difficult to part with. I believe a new question for us would be, "What are my zapatos?".

Magda's 82 year old father. He says that he came

to know the Lord 20 years ago at the age of 62!

Lord,

I pray that we will all open our hearts to your will. That we will listen to You when You deliver your answer. That we will see the needs right if front of us and direct us on how to change this world for You. We know that your great commission You have called us is to find the lost and bring them home to you. As Christians You also call us to help the least among us and clothe and feed the needy. Help us to do your will.

Amen

A beautiful Honduran family

Last weekend we waited in anticipation for Sunday afternoon. We had plans to visit a Honduran family Ryan, Denny, and Donna had been working with a little. Aleyda, Ostello, daughter Clarissa (6), son Christopher (2), and a new little baby boy or girl we were hoping had arrived, live in the colonia called Nueve Capital. Describing the living conditions of most Hondurans or even showing pictures does no justice. Physically seeing and smelling is the only way to get a true feel for it. More on that later though.

As we were driving through the colonia and approached the home pictured I thought to myself, "I sure hope that one isn't their house," knowing that there would be five of them living there. The home wasn't that different than the homes around, it just seemed a little smaller and a little more in need. Just as that thought crossed my mind, we stopped! "This is it," Ryan said to me!

We came to know of Aleyda four weeks ago now. Each week WGO works with the host churches to choose a family or two in need of a concrete floor in their home. The concrete crew and Denny (the brigade coordinator) had a very eligible family from the church chosen, but something led them to the home picutured here as well.

The day I learned of Aleyda was the day she received her new concrete floor (Christopher shows it off below). It was the end of the brigade in this area and the team, including Ryan, were on their way back to the mission house. Donna and I were working in the pharmacy while she told me about Aleyda and her family. Aleyda had brought so much joy to the concrete crew with her positive, giving, and thankful spirit. Donna said that Aleyda was due to have a C-section the following day in the city because her baby was breech and they were unsure the due date, but figured it was time. This seemed so unfortunate for Aleyda on her third pregnancy after having two normal vaginal births and hearing the way C-sections are done in the poor hospitals (the old-fashioned verticle incision and no postsurgical pain medication). I thought to myself, "Ryan has to try help her." I told Donna that Denny should bring Ryan by the house to try Webster's Manuver (a chiropractic technique used to turn breech babies). Denny and Ryan did stop and the baby turned right away!! Aleyda was so thankful.

Ryan came home and shared the good news with us. I really had a strong urge to meet this family who had already been an inspiration to so many, so that Friday we drove around Nueve Capital looking for Aleyda's home with no luck. The following Wednesday, much to Aleyda's surprise Ryan, Michelle (an amazing interpreter), Denny, and Donna came over lunch to check in and see how the family was doing. The family was so happy to see them again as they had not thought the missionaries would come back. Aleyda had not yet had the baby and was anxious to as most pregnant women are in those last weeks. Ryan examined her and told her it could be up to another week or two.

When this Sunday arrived we were very excited to see the new baby we had hoped had arrived. And I was really anticipating meeting this family we had learned so much about. Their home is about 9ftx9ft with a tin roof (with holes) and thin wood walls (with holes). There are two cots along adjacent walls. One cot acts as Aleyda, Christopher, and baby's bed while the other belongs to Ostello. Clarissa has a small makeshift bed at the head of Aleyda's bed. The family cooks on a two burner camping stove with a gas can the size of a coke bottle. There is no sink. Most Hondurans have what is called a Pila to wash dishes and clothes in. This family doesn't have one and walks up the hill to do those things. They collect water in a pool outside of the house and once in awhile a water truck comes around and fills up the oil drum inside the door. This is the water used for cooking and drinking. When we arrived there was an 1 1/2 inches of water in the drum. The home has no bathroom or outhouse for that matter. I'm guessing that is what the back of the house is for.

Aleyda, Clarissa, and Christopher were so excited to see us and we were happy to hear that Aleyda gave birth to a healthy 7lb baby boy on June 18th. When we found this out we were so thankful that the Lord had lead us into Aleyda's life as the little baby boy (he's not named yet) would have been up to 3 weeks early putting him at more risk for problems and giving Aleyda the added risks and pain of a C-section.

Aleyda is such a strong and happy person. Her ability to be so cheerful and reliant on God not knowing when or if needs will be provided for are so inspirational to us. Clarissa has the same fun spirit and a little bit of a goofy side to her. They are such a joy. I love to watch Reed and Ella playing and learning from these situations as well. Reed and Ella brought a ball, construction paper, colored pencils, and shoes for Christopher and Clarissa and it was just like Christmas to them. Reed has been finding things that we should bring them since. It's hard though as they don't really have room for much. We plan to continue to check in with this wonderful family and help them when we can with their needs.

I cannot tell you how blessed I feel that the Lord presented us with this call to Honduras and gave us the strength and determination to answer that call. We have already been able to see and do so much for so many with God leading us all the way. We have learned to trust and lean on the Lord in ways we didn't know how to as this mission has not come without its struggles. And, hopefully we've been able to relate our experiences in ways that will be great for your spiritual growth as well. God is present here in this mission. You can see him on the brigades and in the faces of the needy all around. Please pray for the strength of this mission and all involved, for Hondurans new to the Christian faith, for the teams coming down to help, for Ryan's physical health and stamina, for good nutrition and food for Hondurans in need, for new life, and for this happy family in Nueve Capital.