Work hard, play hard, trust harder

Well, I had better get a blog done as we are currently waiting for the next group to arrive, and we leave for El Mosco on Monday.

Surgical Campaign

When I last wrote we were finishing up our surgical campaign. We saw 4 patients, only one of which was a cleft palate patient.

I was hoping to have a good before and after picture of little Gisela, 14 months old. But when she came back to the clinic a week after the surgery the wound on the left had opened after the stitches dissolved. I didn’t feel that I should take a picture of her scabbed lip. Hopefully I will be able to show you a picture of her healed face one day.

Mary Kay assisting Chili while Dr. Dave looks on. This was my first opportunity to serve as circulating nurse in a cleft lip surgery, it was fascinating!

Everyone is rejoicing
Beside the surgeries, we rejoiced at one particular event that took place when our surgeon, Dr. Chili was with us. He and I got to visit between surgeries on Sunday and he told me a little about his spiritual search.

The next morning when he came to see his patients here at the clinic, we were informed that he and his friends were going out to the beach. They were going to baptize Chili! The previous night, just after the last surgery, Chili had an important conversation with Dr. Terri and his friend Mark. Chili made the decision to follow Christ, or as we say in Spanish “entregarse a Cristo” (which expresses better the act of surrendering one’s life).

It was exciting to us all who have worked with Chili to be able to witness his baptism. After Mark and Terri dunked him under, they grabbed their surfboards and tried to catch a few waves before they flew back to the States.

Right here Chili is telling Pastor Florentino (who had minor surgery on Saturday), "I really feel new!" as Eddie and Dr. Mary Kay look on.

Playa Sol Beach Club

Eddie and I have tried very hard to relax and recover from 8 weeks of teams and outreaches. We spent two days at the Playa Sol beach club, just swimming, reading and playing backgammon (surprise, I won most of the time!)

Do you notice how tan we are? We arrive back in Washington in May, it will probably be faded before we can wear shorts again.

Despedida de Soltera (farewell to singleness)

Wednesday I hosted a Bridal Shower for Laura. It was very well attended. But I forgot that Mexican’s tend to arrive late for events, and I didn’t help by not letting everyone know about a change of location.

So when only a few women had arrived, I saw that Dr. Mary Kay was accompanying Laura to the place where we were to surprise her. Eddie helped us out by faking an injury. When Mary Kay and Laura examined Eddie’s "sprained ankle", Mary Kay said he needed some ice. When Laura went to the clinic to get ice, she met a “real” patient who was suffering from asthma.

In the 45 minutes that Laura took to care for the patient all the rest of the guests arrived, and we were able to pull off the surprise!

Eddie miraculously recovered from his injury shares in the "surprise!"

Rachel dressed up in a wedding dress made of toilet paper!

Lord let me be like Abraham
Today has been interesting. The last few days I have been carrying a weight of concern about my family in California, among other worries. I was feeling burned out and tired in spite of our times of rest. On top of that my computer suddenly started going bad.

This morning, Bob, one of our wonderful computer geeks gave me the bad news that my hard-drive was dying. (I remember commenting, " if only that were my only problem.") So Bob and I walked over and talked to Berna, and Berna pulled a brand-new hard drive out of his desk, a hard drive with twice as much space as my bad one!

Then I walked into another office and told my friends Rachel (see above) and Dambi that God had solved my computer problems quickly, “I wish that the other concerns could be solved too!” Rachel said, “Can we pray for you?” And pray they did.

This ended out to be a great day. Bob had my computer up and running before lunch and the Lord moved greatly on my heart and lifted the burden. He spoke a word from Romans 4:17-21 into my heart while the ladies were praying.

"He (Abraham) is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

"Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead.

"Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised."

Abraham has long been my hero in faith. And I am reminded that when I can see no answer or solution, I can admit it, but recognize that God is in control and He will bring a solution that I cannot yet imagine. I will continue to give glory to God!

New Staff
No, this isn't the flying nun, it's Elisabeth. Elisabeth and her husband Joseph have just arrived to work with the clinic and other Roca Blanca ministries through August. The fancy hat is what we had to wear in surgery.

Also with Elisabeth, Sarah here will be taking my job with the pharmacy through July. Here she is working late, sitting next to me as we work on our medication order for the next outreach.

Oral Roberts University Nursing Missions Class
Another group from ORU just arrived. We will be heading out to El Mosco for 3 days of clinics. With them is Troy, who we look forward to seeing every year.

Well, good-night. This letter may suggest that prayer is very appreciated. Thank you to all of you who pray so faithfully.