Santiago

We had a lovely drive to this community along the river and thru banana fields and farms with cattle and sheeps. The community of Santiago is across the mountain from Maranatha.  We alternate between these two villages annually.  We were in the church and Pastor Andrea Molina and her family welcomed us and helped us set up.  Since it was our last day, we worked like a finely oiled machine.  Dinora handled crowd control with the assistance of Pastor Andrea and her brother, Will, who guarded the door and only let one or two people in at a time. As a result, the lines were MUCH shorter, and the church remained somewhat open and a LITTLE bit breezy.  It was still a very hot day.

We saw about 230 people, which brings us to a grand total of about 1145 for the week.  Rolando has been sharing a short sermon and his testimony before we start.  We have had a few people approach him with a desire to make changes in their life and asked for Bibles, so today we gave Pastor Andrea money to buy two Bibles.  We would like to commit to bringing numerous Bibles every year, because many can not afford ONE Bible to read.

There were many patients with throat and ear infections and also some cases of the chikungunya virus. (We have been religiously spraying ourselves w Deet mosquito repellent.). The medicine supply held out for the week, only running out of little things like gloves and labels.

The men in our group were a stone's throw away painting a preschool. The block wall they were painting soaked up a lot of paint since it was the first time it was painted. They went through around 7 gallons of primer and 4 gallons of blue paint for a room 15x15. It took them the whole day to do the one room and the medical team had to wait for them to finish so the van could leave.

A highlight of the week was our celebration dinner tonight with the whole team!  The 9 of us (Rolando off to see his family in Tecucigalpa at 6pm tonight), Drs. Alisson & Domingo, Med students Gloria & Arlene, nurse Gresy, and of course Pastor Juan & family & Dinora & family and Aurora & Gustavo. We enjoyed a Power Chicken takeout dinner outside of our hotel rooms. Gustavo brought extra chairs and we relaxed and chatted outside and then shared words of recognition and gifts for each team member. It was a time of joy in the work accomplished and new friendships made.

We leave early in the morning for Copan for some R & R.  Thank you all for your prayers.

XOXOXOXOXXO
The Team