Hey ya'll, wash this!

Today I had a special unplanned visit to the clinic, for Levi's goodbye lunch (chinese food is the traditional food here for birthdays, funerals, despedidas (translated would be good-bye-meetings or some other clever thing in English that currently escapes me) and just about any other event that gathers together more than just a few people. Why? It is cheap. In this particular case, it was also apparently cooked with uranium, as even though it was delivered to the clinic from nearby and would have had some time to cool...it was still hot enough through my plate to purify mined gold. It was sad to have him leave, but we know it is for God's glory since he is leaving to work with his Church teaching Bible to students at a school.

Of course, a trip to the clinic is not complete with many impromptu meetings, discussions, and decisions. Maybe that is why I try not to go too often...a 1/2 hour trip turned into almost three hours. (just kidding about trying not to go of course...I know sarcasm is best communicated verbally not written, but I still like to try.) In amongst the things addressed was talking to Dora about her responsibilities at the clinic and in repaying a loan she has with the mission. We are looking for her to make blankets during the day, and at night fancier hand made quilts, mostly using clothes that are too big, too warm, etc. for the weather here. She will have more time for such activities due to the decrease in groups this year. Although less groups means more time for Oscar and I to do other things...for the most part I am saddened by it (only nine scheduled as of right now) because it means so much less work being done for the Kingdom...construction, food, clothing, brigades...everything! God's timing in all things though, and I know it is for the best however it works out.

So we are hoping that we find a market for what she produces. We shall see. First she will need to complete some samples, and we can go from there. For that though I first need to get her some supplies for the quilting...me of course being a quilting expert I know exactly what she needs....for me to write some friends who know what she needs. In addition to those tasks, she also has other daily tasks around the mission house, milk project, clinic, and taking care of the grounds. Not to mention trying to take care of her wound from yesterday...what a miracle after talking to her more about it how everything really came together after the assault where things could have, and normally probably would have, gone much worse. She continues to have problems with her mother putting ideas in her oldest daughter's head that she needs to forget her siblings and get a boyfriend and settle down. She is fifteen. I told Valerie to sit down and talk with her...she needs another voice besides this troubled grandmother that is doing her, and her other grandchildren and her daughter, such a great disservice.

The women's counseling ministry began today. Some of you know Leila and Lucy from the Church, they were the volunteers today. Valerie printed up several wall posters for them tonight...Bible verses they had in mind (probably 20 or so) to decorate their room, and we are really looking forward to this important aspect to the ministry and what it will provide in the future.

Another thing was finding a washer for the clinic. We have had a dryer for some time donated in the US...but without a washer it does not get called into service of course. Today was the day I took a hard look at the need for the washer, that we could not wait another ten months for one to come from the US, and put in a call to a repairman we know here (we know him all too well from fixing our personal washer and dryers over the past couple years) who immediately said he had two used ones for sale for less than $200, which also came guaranteed. That is hard to beat here, and even harder to beat was that he was there installing them in less than two hours after my call....and as you can see, he showed up with two nearly identical washers, in case we wanted to pick one over the other just to give us an option. Plus Oscar found another repairman for the clinic refrigerator...who was able to come to the clinic two days straight, went and purchased the part we needed, and doing the repair all for $55. We felt like both those were pretty good deals.

And after talking with Oscar about better organizing our container space to clean up the man cave and get things where they should be for better use or dispersal, we took a look at our welder friend Miguel fixing our containers with the puck lock system...re-welding some, installing new ones...for nine containers it will take more than just one day, but every container after that should be good to go and practically impenetrable. Maybe for the house we want to buy instead of a house we should just buy property and about 10 containers and stack them all together. Hmmm, that sounds brilliant no? They do it in Europe and other places for everything from basic housing to luxury condos, and sounds just crazy enough to fit our family. Ah, one never knows.

Some good news from Gender...Oscar talked to him earlier this week, and as he went to classes (he is taking High School classes in Comayagua) and his professor who is a Christian saw him come in and told him..."What do you have to tell me?" Gender was surprised...he explained he had a dream that Gender had something he needed to share with him, and they had a good talk and besides him knowing he needed help, their talk was encouraging. Praise God for that, and for the upcoming pastor's conference there...that it would also be a big encouragement to him.

Jonathan has a lead on roughly 16 acres of property for coffee in San Juancito to provide for pastors/the mission. Please pray about that...we need direction on whether to pursue it...especially as we wait to see the price and terms because right now we do not have funds set aside for such a purchase, but this is prime coffee territory with the only downside, and it is a somewhat big one, is that is 1 1/2 hour walk from the Church...there is no road for vehicles to get there, maybe burros, but that is about it. Some people have been with us to encourage a family in the Church...we visit them only with a group that wants to deliver food to some people way up the mountain, and that is only 1/2 hour or so of walking. The price should be cheaper being so far away...we shall see, but with that much property it could be a huge potential.