Day 7 El Cispres

Today we traveled to the beautiful farm at El Cispres. This property was donated to the MAMA project a few years ago by a missionary couple from the Midwest. There are beautiful fruit trees, tilipia fish ponds, a technical school, and a bakery that makes MAMA bars. This was a fairly healthy community, and we saw about 130 people. The highlight was seeing the family that Rolando had talked to last year about adoption. This year the kids looked healthier, and the mother was more responsive to the kids, but we found out that they are homeless. Rolando talked to the mom again about adoption, but this time she said no. Now he is sure that these are not the kids God wants him to adopt. We prayed for for a few people who requested prayer, and two people accepted Jesus as their Savior.

Yesterday the cement team completed their fifth house. They finished earlier, and so got the chance to walk around the community with Pastor Juan, and to visit some of the families of the pen pals, and where they live. We will be bringing pen pal letters home, and looking for new pen pals.

We will be bringing home lots of pictures that will tell the story of our week better than we can express here.

For the team, Hannah

Day 6 San Jose del Cayo

Today we were in a community close to the one yesterday. We were in a school and a church that were close to each other. There were alot of scabies in this community. About 170 school children came in lines for deworming. Ashley and Jess played soccer with the kids outside in a big open area nearby. We always leave a soccer ball behind in each community. It seemed like a community of just women and children. It caused us to talk about how the men leave for jobs in the U.S. and now there is a trend where the mothers are starting to go to the U.S. for jobs as well, leaving the children with their grandmothers.

The cement team (Bob, Tim, Renee) poured their fourth floor today. The homeowners were Secondina and Deanna. He was the father of the homeowner, Rafael, from Wednesday. Secondina is 77, and Deanna is 19. Secondina has 70 grandkids that all live in the San Pedro Sula area. They are developing good relationships with lots of families and children of the Santa Anna area.

For the team, Hannah

Day Five

Today we went about an hour away to a community in the mountains. We set up in a school and a mennonite church. The de-worming and waiting room were in the church and the nurses and pharmacy in the school. Today we saw many school children. There was one young man who came in a wheelchair. We held prayer for him and got him up and helped him to walk. Soon he was taking a few steps by himself. There were tears all around. This was a very large community and they cleaned us out of all we brought for today. We are all tired, but feel that today was a very productive day. The cement team went out to do more houses in Pastor Juan´s community. Please continue to pray for us that we will be able to accomplish all that we came to do, and that we will all stay healthy.

For the team, Hannah

Day Four (Day 2 in Pastor Juan's Community)

Today we went back to Pastor Juan´s community. We saw many people who came down from the mountain. We used the same setup as yesterday. The cement team went out and did another house. Today we saw a young girl, Karla, who had one leg that was shorter than the other. There wasn´t much we could do, but we prayed for her, and hope that she can get some help. She knew a little english and went around asking poeple´s names. We returned again around 4:00 and all felt that it had been a productive day. We all joined together for another delicious meal cooked by Aurora, and then afterwards Rolando held devotions.

For the team, Hannah

Day Three (Day 1 in Pastor Juan's Community)

We left at 8:00 this morning and drove about half an hour away to Pastor Juan's community Gracias A Dios. Janet and Hannah set up in the church with de-worming in the bottom half, which was Pastor Juan's house. Up top there were four stations: Jess took care of blood pressure, Pat and Barb Hackman manned the pharmacy, Carmen, Rhoda, Rolando, and Nancy teamed up to diagnose and prescribe medications. Barb Rice floated around making sure everyone had what they needed. Renee, Greg, Bob, and Tim went with Pastor Juan to do cement floors in some houses. They finished one house today. The nurses saw about 130 people. Around 4:00 pm we packed up and went back to the hotel. We then sorted some medicine, showered, and then we enjoyed a delicious meal that Aurora cooked for us. Afterwards, we had devotions and shared about our day.

For the team, Hannah

Day Two

We started off the day with breakfast at the hotel, this is what we´ll be doing each morning for breakfast. After breakfast we got picked up at 9 and headed to the MAMA nutrition center in San Francisco de Yojoa. We met many of the mothers and children staying there, and heard about the Nutritional Program from Olivia, the director. Then we set off to the lake for the fish fry. A few of us had chicken that Dinora had to walk to a different retaurant to get for us. There were many fish skeletons left on the table at the end of the meal. We then came back to the hotel and worked on sorting the medicine for the five days. After we had a suitcase for each day, we then sorted the meds for day one into plastic baggies. After this was finished an impromptu game of soccer was started in front of our hotel rooms, after Ashley inflated one of the 8 soccer balls she brought along. Then it was time for another meal. We were honored to be invited to Linda de Robelo´s home for a beef barbecue. We enjoyed fresh salsa, cheese, avocados, beans, grilled beef and tortilla´s. Linda also told us about the work of MAMA here in the city of San Pedro Sula. We were happy to see their children Belinda, Nelson, and Josué again. We are now back at the hotel and are preparing for our first big day on Monday. We will be doing a medical clinic, and concrete work in Pastor Juan´s community, Gracias a Dios. We plan to deliver the pen pal letters from Deep Run East, and also pick up lots of letters from his community´s children. We would appreciate your prayers for our first day of work, especially for the nurses, and that everyone else will find a place where they can be used.

For the team, Hannah

Day One

We arrived in San Pedro Sula with barely a glitch. We were a little late in setting off due to bad air traffic. We were surprised to find when we arrived that the temperature was 93 degrees. Still dressed in our clothed fit for Pennsylvania weather, we drove to our hotel, Villa Nuria, to get settled. After sorting out rooming and luggage, we hopped back in the van and headed off for dinner. We ate a a restaurant called Power Chicken, and enjoyed getting to know the MAMA staff, Dinora, Aurora, and our driver Gustavo. Afterwards, we went to the San Pedro Sula MAMA office, and sorted through some meds. Outside, Hannah and Renee started a game of catch with Jésus, who is a neighbor of Gustavo. Soon, we packed up the meds and carried them back to the hotel on our laps. When we arrived back at the hotel, many of us enjoyed a nighttime swim in the pool. It was a nice way to relax after a day of traveling.

For the team, Hannah