Monday Jan 16, 2017

Isabel started our morning with scrambled eggs and, toast.  We all had a reason to smile on this bright day of sunshine as well as our meal.  We traveled to LaCeibita on steep mountain roads which were very bumpy.  Irish Meetinghouse road seems smooth in comparison. There were crops of corn on the side of the mountains, many banana trees, varieties of trees as well as colorful flowers. The long lengths of fencing was admired by the men. Fences are built by posts and trees that are trimmed like a post and barbed wire. It is an interesting way to make a fence and it helps to keeps steer off the road.
     When we arrived there was a small medical building so the dentist, the pharmacy, and the exam rooms were in this building. Lucky for us there was a church across the road. It was a bright airy building. Here we set up stations for vitamin A and deworming, blood pressure, hemoglobin testing, micro nutrients, registration of height and weight and test results and finally the donation table.
Aaron Clemmer, a seasonal volunteer gave out the donations as well as other jobs like set up and clean up. He is enjoying the work and had fun playing with the children. Marlon Hernandez helped me at the vitamin A and deworming station. He had lived in the USA for fifteen years but came back home to care for his mother. What a great asset for the team!  It is wonderful to have a fluent translator, because you learn so much more about each family. Karin Hernandez is a full time student studying tourism but had a break from school and she wanted to help. Karen's mom is Isabel the cook at the mission house.
The community showed up and the flow was a nice steady pace all day. The people showed patience and had great appreciation for the services at the clinic. Our team worked well with the locals. We had 60 families, 121 children, 74 women and 68 men and 103 bags of nutrients were handed out.
     The concrete team worked very hard on ten floors. They divided into two teams to accomplish this task. Mixing 99 bags of concrete took all day!
One team had a sixty year old man, Eusebio Euzman Diaz, that helped carry sand which is very heavy. The team worked on his home and learned that both of his sons worked security and they were both shot. He is raising their families. He was so appreciatie.
The only problem was Dave Rice had with a chick at his first house. After chasing her out and fixing his finished floor he moved to the next room. The chick returned and messed up his finished floor again. The chickens were not appreciated on the job!
  We didn't make it back to the mission house until dark. Isabel had dinner all set and we enjoyed our meal. Tim shared devotions and we prepared for our next adventure. We were all blessed as we went through our day and I am sure our team will enjoy tonight's rest.
Keep praying for us.
Ruth Hohenstein