Of Baptisms and Birthdays

A week ago Sunday was the river baptism of Jorge, one of our Sunday School students whom we've known for 6 years. He is the one who weekly reminded me that I shouldn't expect him to behave in class as he wasn't a Christian!  A shy boy with a nonstop grin and sparkly eyes, Jorge is one of 12 and takes big responsibility in his home for the remaining 4 children younger than he.We invited he and another boy to lunch after church Sunday to see pictures of the baptism and other Sunday school activities, and to practice/learn guitar, as Dr. Don was giving a class. So Jorge showed great potential, and was sent home with a list of 35 songs to memorize, and to enlist 9 others to join him, to earn a guitar of his own!

I mentioned that the monkeys seem to be quite brazen right now, ever drawing closer to the house. Enjoyed sitting inside the laundry room with my camera poised on the open window to catch the little rascals as they scanned the house, then jumped to the roof and leaned down to steal the bananas we had hanging from the eaves to ripen.

The 2nd of 12- 3 day long Community Health Promoters workshops that will be held over the next 3 years was held last week at the hospital, put on by World MAP International. There were about 30 participants, 10 of them needing lodging for the 2-3 nights. Takes a lot of planning on the part of John and Dr. Rene to make this work, but fits well with the longterm goals of the hospital and ministry.

Because I had gone down to the hospital about 3 PM thursday to sign something, I got involved in the care of a 2 year old boy, Angel, who had overdosed on his mama's iron tablets and went downhill very quickly as mom had waited 4 hours before bringing him in as he'd shown no initial symptoms. When he began convulsing and vomiting, we got him.  After stabilizing him, and contacting Poison Control in the States, Joelle and I prepared to accompany he and his mom in the bare box of an ambulance for the hour plus ride to La Ceiba to the public hospital. For a much better story than I can tell, having been bent over the child and not daring to look out the front window, see  http://davefields.blogspot.com/2010/05/iron-overdose-poisoning.html.  Dave is a fellow missionary/EMT who often volunteers to either follow the ambulance and bring us back to the hospital, or to drive John over when its a laboring patient. Enjoy!

Friday, I had intended to celebrate my 58th birthday by staying home alone while John went to the city and just catch up with the Lord.  When the Field's invited me to accompany them on an outing, I accepted, thinking it was a place very close. I had confused the name, and ended up going almost to the city with them, had a wonderfully relaxing day by a pool, eating good food, just luxuriating in no radio and good fellowship. Arrived home to greet 3 of the nurses who had climbed the hill to bring me a cake.
The fun continued the next day when Dr. Don asked if I'd drop his kayak off at the end of the road, as his partner in recreating had not brought his pickup.  We were finishing a Saturday guitar/keyboard class, and all 7 or so youth wanted to go too to swim in the icy river. So we followed the guys out to the waterfall with the kayak on board, and all jumped in the river fully dressed!  They all cavorted like so many otters, dumping each other off the kayak and pirating it for themselves. Delightful to watch and participate in! Thus ended a fun birthday week.








http://davefields.blogspot.com/2010/05/iron-overdose-poisoning.html

Back in Honduras

Been back in Honduras 2 very hot weeks now, after 3 weeks in the US, John in the NW and I in Tulsa. John came and went thru Portland, so was able to visit Sarah, Jaie and baby Ellie. He accomplished much on the house we own in WA- with the help of a fellow missionary from here, Terry. The 2 of them played bachelor, cooked for themselves there, supervised the roofing of the house and the installation of the heat/AC unit, and they built the roof on the deck and a fence around it. Can't wait to see it!

I spent the 3 weeks reconnecting to 3 children and 3 grandchildren in Tulsa, as well as numerous friend visits. Spring hit while there, and was able to go to

some old haunts with Eryn and Benton, some we'd visited with them before leaving 6 years ago, one hike in REdbud valley that we'd done with our own 4 kids 20-some years ago! Beautiful foliage everywhere. Always feel so blessed by how we are cared for by our friends there, who find us a car, provide a spacious apartment for us to have our kids and friends visit...and who are available for deep visits and sharing anytime from 6 AM til late. Can't pay for that kind of blessing!

We had 1 week to acclimate again to the hospital work and the church ministry before friends from Tulsa arrived to "vacation" and see firsthand what they have faithfully supported now for 7 years! Bob was supposed to be relaxing in the wake of completing a huge baseball stadium in Tulsa- but was obviously with us "for such a time as this", as he immediately got pulled into 4 days of sweaty work with 2 other engineers who arrived "coincidentally" the same time he did, working on various needs in his field in the hospital. Alexis tackled my disorganized office, and left it in good shape, with all my baskets of baby clothes seperated and folded. She helped me with my weekly afternoon reading time with some of the church kids- they had scheduled a "picnic" at the top of the wooded hill on the church property, so we carried a blanket up and had our brownies and juice and reading practice up there while they climbed the huge trees and took pictures of each other while the others read. We also did some needful newborn visits together, giving her a better picture of those we minister to in their home settings. One night we went out for dinner near here at Rosies, something that had not been available until recently. We had a tasty lobster/shrimp dinner in this rustic place on the beach. En route with them back to San Pedro Sula, we stopped at the Lodge at Pico Bonito, which we'd heard about but rarely take time for "touristy" things. It was a beautiful stop, and we plan to go back one day when its cooler to take a tour of the area with a wildlife- botanist sort to find out about the plants and birds and butterflies in the area.

We had made reservations at an American chain motel so that our guests would sleep well before flying out- only to awaken in the very early AM to find that their AC had not worked and it had taken 3 trips to their room before they finally replaced the whole unit. Then they awoke to find molasses-colored water in their bath, prohibiting bathing! We returned from bringing them to the airport and changed to use the gym, which they had assured me when we checked in had AC. Arrived to find a hole in the wall where the unit had been the night before- said unit was now installed in our friends' room!

We've had several opportunities to use the delivery room since returning- now with AC! Thanks to the man in Tulsa who donated the breakers necessary to complete the installation. Is tempting to sneak in there and pretend its my office! But then one must sooner or later leave- and then one gets hit with the wall of heat. Is better just to stay acclimated to the real world!

The heat is driving even the monkeys crazy- we have not witnessed it yet, but our gardener says several times lately the whitefaced monkeys have come out of the trees onto our back patio, chased the cats, walked on the porch or roof. Can't wait to get a picture of that!