El Cayo

Today was our first day at work. The teams were close to one another allowing us to enjoy the day together. The construction team is working on finishing a home that was started by the owners and they were unable to complete. They mixed concrete to pour the floor of the home for three different rooms of which one was fairly large. Throughout the day they were entertained by a young man that decided to stop and help out. The shirt that Bob changed out of in the morning was washed, dried, and pressed by the owner by the day's end. They finished their day a little early and pitched in at the clinic. This may be more of the result however of the hard work of Wendell, Vern, and Brandon, because as even Pastor Juan said, Bob was just a supervisor today. Stay tuned for tomorrow's results on the construction team's ongoing card game, as Bob reports they are in a 2-2 tie. Don't know when they fit time into playing so many card games while being so hard at work- maybe this is why they weren't able to beat the January's usual 40 bag days!
As for the medical crew, we were blessed to have Dinora's niece, Allison, a doctor. Sandy and Colleen worked alongside of her as well, allowing the team to have three doctor stations. Rolando and Liz served as wonderful translators. Joyce worked alongside the MAMA staff to register patients, obtain height, weight, and vitals, as well as giving Vitamin A and deworming medicine. The pharmacy was staffed by Barb, Kathy, and Dinora. The community was very organized and with all the extra help we were able to spend quality time with families at the doctors station rather than feeling rushed. By day's end we saw 172 plus patients (some patients were missed on cards and added to a sibling!). The team felt truly blessed to be able to have three people serve as doctors which allowed the day to run very smoothly. With a Honduran doctor with us, she was able to provide prescriptions to those in need. Colleen was able to catch up with an old friend- a woman she treated for the first time with Karen Detweiler 2 years ago that had a severe fungal infection of her legs. It was a blessing from God to see her last year, and such a joy to see her again this year still doing well. Great organization was also provided by Gustavo who directed families to the next available doctor. We were blessed to be able to have enough medications in the pharmacy to provide to those in need and only ran out of very little. After our lunch we were surprised however to find a hen in the pharmacy who was trying to lay her eggs. After many efforts and a close call for Kathy who was almost pecked, Farmer Wendell saved the day and the hen finally decided to lay her eggs outside!
Thank you all for continuing to pray for us. Both the construction and medical teams are headed to the Mealer community tomorrow. Please continue to pray for our eyes and hearts to be opened by those we are here to help. Continue to pray for good health- everyone is doing well. Also pray for us to not forget to continue taking time out to truly get to know the communities we serve.

Joint posting by Wendell and Colleen, with additional commentary provided by Bob, Brandon, Liz, Kathy, and Sandy.