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