We started out with a trip to the clinic to drop off some supplies, for Valerie to take care of some eye glass ordering, sorting, etc. and to see the amazing progress on the new clinic in just a week we were gone (almost all the bare concrete floor is poured...waiting for next week's group to start putting down the ceramic tile, which Oscar and I are going to price and buy in 1/2 hour, the electrical is getting closer, the plumbing is actually looking like recognizable fixtures, etc.) although I am still concerned, even with the donations we have received...that we will not be opening in February, because work will have to stop before then. God knows, His timing, we shall see.
Then we visited briefly with Dora and then Juan (of Juan and Leandra fame.) Dora's house looks so nice and clean (and bare) although I share in her concern that she does not have the window covered or the back door secure. I could easily share in her telling of having one eye open and a candle lit all night in case someone decided to climb in and take what little they have.
In the afternoon I met with Jorge and Jorge from the Church. They came to see me, which was a bit disconcerting, but it was a good meeting, if not depressing. The first item was the bakery. A long story short...it has failed in its mission. This afte the initial donation from the US, and their investing another $3,000 of their money. That was hard for them to share, and hard to hear. They were very aware of wanting to move forward, but also not sinking more into what has already shown to not work. Is it not having a truck to sell the product? Is it improper management from Pastor Manuel? Is it the wacky economy and wildly fluctuating flour prices in the last year? A combination? I have yet to get a financial report from Manuel, but likely it is a combination of all of those. So, they are thinking about renting it out to someone else that wants to run a bakery, which would at least provide dependable income, which was one of the goals of that ministry, but would not be quite as productive in providing employment to people or on the job training. We also talked about the women's ministry using it to try to make a go of it...instead of bread making pastries, doughnuts, etc., possibly using it for another kind of workshop (electrical?) and the idea that God seems to be continually reminding me of...a sewing ministry. What the future holds...only God knows, but it was encouraging to see that they did not just give up by any means, and are still looking to see how to use what God has provided to help provide for them to, as they put it "keep expanding the Kingdom."
The CIY conference is this week, this year just outside of Teguc...we are hoping to at least stop by to see so many old friends and share for a few hours. Churches and youth from Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala are here.
We also talked about their ambitious evangelism ministry that they are already doing, how we can help some with groups, the continuing scholarship ministry, and...
some of you know Lilian and the struggles that she has had, and that we have had trying to help her last year. To the amazement of all involved, she is very involved now in the evangelism ministry, and both Jorges were extremely impressed with the change in her life in the past few months, so much so that Jorge the evangelist said "when she speaks, it is so moving because you know that she wants people to believe, and that what she is saying is coming from her heart. She has to be one of the top two people working now in the ministry." Praise God for that! Lilian was even blessed by the Church in getting to go to the CIY conference this week, something she would not have been able to afford otherwise, and Pastor Jorge told me she is thinking about going back to school...a Bible College of some kind. Let us pray God continues to guide her in the coming months.
And to end with a picture, and...well, something of a light note:
Here is a picture of Dorothy taken at her home she sublets from the Glenda (that chick that lives up North.)
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