Como Esta Honduras

Hi Everybody. You may have heard about the recent political disturbances here. We're OK. Things were a little tense Friday thru Sunday. What we would have considered a reasonable referendum on relaxing term limits was worrisome to many who were concerned about vote buying ( outcomes are often contested here). Lately a lot of fuss was made by the legal powers over the constitutionality of such a referendum. When the military wouldn't cooperate to get the ballots from the legal branch, the president got his people to get them, provoking legal reaction which led to the military sacking the president. His popularity had been sagging. The legislature then endorsed the action and appointed the president of the congress ( cf Speaker of the House) as temporary head. The problem now is that this looks like a military coup. They say it's not, but most other countries say it is. Anyway life seems to be going on like normal. We've been staying home ( we live 10 miles south of Tegucigalpa) for the past couple of days.

I started a chess club for the kids up at the children's home. What a riot, teaching a crowd of 7 and 8 year old boys that no you can't move the pieces around like toy soldiers and knock the other guys down while making gunfire noise. I guess it would be the same if I was teaching a bunch of politicians. Happily they started catching on and seemed to enjoy themselves. We're going to need a few more chess sets now.

Jane was sick for several days...diarrhea which led to dehydration. We got excellent medical care by the Honduran doctors. Not expensive either. She's OK now. We have to be really be careful about food. Washing, peeling, etc. You can't assume always that kitchen and serving staff are trained and practicing good hygiene. Sometimes it's good to watch for a while before you order. It's time for another training for the children's home cooks. I was happy to see that some of my suggestions to improve the facilities are being implemented. Thet're getting a new tile floor and there's a new work table.

Jane was able to team up with a psychiatrist to review some of the kids who are on medication or need to be. Building fairness and accountability into the system is very important to us. Pray that this will be a learning and a healing community.

I finally got my bike tire fixed. I'm on wheels again! I identified the hummingbird that hangs around our house as a "White Eared Hummingbird". We've got "Yucatan Jays" as well as "Social Flycatchers", "Streakbacked Flycatchers, "Altamira Oriels","Great-tailed Grackles", and Wagler's Oriels" . I'm still trying to figure out the others. Like one who says "Did you pray?".

I've been reading how many of Jesus disciples didn't recognize him right off when he appeared to them after his resurrection. I'm wondering how often I miss him because I'm too caught up in my concerns, too distracted by all the noise the world's making, or just not looking? Time to clean out my ears. Hope you're all well. We miss you. Gil.

Cementing Friendships

Hi Friends, Another team has come to help here at the children´s home. I´m helping out with communication between the the Honduran mason and the team as we have been building a concrete courtyard in front of the school. I´m learning a lot about the process, from leveling out the site, tamping it down, laying rebar, mixing and finishing cement. Maybe I´ll try putting in a little patio when I get home. We´re all learning, the team includes a surgeon and a lawyer and their kids among others. Even those who´ve done this kind of work are finding out how it´s done Honduran style. Working with Hondurans this way does a lot to help cement friendships too. What if we built relationships with as much care as we do houses?

Thanks to all who have been praying for us. Both Jane and I have been sick lately. We have a fresh appreciation of the value of our community here and at home.

I´m preparing a talks for the kids on self-esteem. Jane loaned me a great book- Respect-A Girl´s Guide to Getting Respect and Dealing When Your Line is Crossed-Macavinta and Pluym. I wish I´d had something like this when I was growing up. I hope we can get these boys and girls off to a better start.

I´m reading in John 16:20-21 about the hard times that Jesus was anticipating and how he was trying to prepare us. He describes it using the picture of a woman having a baby. How does a woman prepare for childbirth? Maybe there are some ideas there for all of us as we face spiritual and emotional hard times.

I´ll say goodbye for now. Thanks for reading. Gil.

From Ciempies to Futbol

Hi Friends, It's been a busy couple of weeks since I last wrote. One thing that's impressed me is that Nature however beautiful, can be dangerous. My last health talks at the children's home have been on Earthquake Safety and What To Do in Lightning Storms. You'd think I'd be more careful. I found a lightning bug in my house and thought I'd help him outside. I discovered that he had electricity left over. Yeoww! Then I saw one of those creepy, wiggling a thousand ways, centipedes (ciempies). Didn't realize it had crawled into my bed. Aghh! They sting!

Jane had to make a trip to California, so I was on my own for a week. As it worked out I was able to help out with a medical team down here from Tennesee. My first time to help out translating for doctors. It was pretty challenging. The area for consultation was about 10x20 feet with 5 tables, an MD, a translator, and a family at each. Noisy! Then I discovered that many people were using words in ways different from dictionary definitions. Fortunately being altogether in a tight space, I could get help from other translators. After a while it seemed that patients were comparing notes and their symptoms were sounding very similar. That's when the physical exam was essential. We saw probably 300 plus every day. My last day with the team, I had to get my residency papers renewed( I'm good for another 30 days), so my translator job was filled. I was pressed into community relations, which meant I was out in the street playing Frisbee (platillo), volleyball (capia), and soccer (futbol). We did a lot of retrieving frisbees from roof tops and soccerballs from ditches. I learned anew how important it is to learn peoples names. I made more friends that day. I got to know some really kind and friendly brothers and sisters from Tennesee, too.

We celebrated National Student day by taking a hike. It was a long way to the trail head so we were really tired by the time we got to a river with a nice pool. We decided to make that our objective and soon all were splashing and whooping it up. Who cared if our clothes were drenched, it was hot! We made it back, big kids carrying little kids. You'd think they'd had enough of hiking for a while, but they were asking me about next day's hike. That's another story, we did find another mango tree. The kids are a real team, some climbers, some gatherers, some carriers... they really help each other. I do think God was watching out for us...no one was injured badly by falling mangos...I had only one first aid call and I was carrying bandaids...and the rain held off until we got home.

Speaking of fruit, I've been reading John 15:4-5. Jesus is the tree and we are the branches. Sticking to him is our work and the work of the Jesus and the work of God's Spirit. Fruit comes out of this unified cooperative community. What is this fruit? It's love for each other, like those kids take care of each other, and it's praise and thanks to God. Like oranges are liquid sunshine, love is a spiritual wine, we lift our glasses to him.

Hasta luego amigos!

Green Mangoes and Manzanitas del Rio

Buenos Dias a todos, I´ve got more of a schedule now, and we´re in our own place which feels good. I´m really enjoying my Saturday hikes with the kids from the children´s home ( Hogar de Niños). Recently I enlisted the schoolbus driver ( a local) as a guide. We hiked for nigh on 3 hours.The kids were pretty worn out at the end but revived when we came across a tree loaded with green mangoes. Soon they were scampering up the tree, shaking branches, and scrambling for the fallen fruit. We returned home laden with mangoes, stuffed in pockets, t-shirts, and even plastic sacks salvaged from the roadside. The hikers were generous and shared their haul with the other kids. Even when green, mangoes are good. People here eat them with salt and lime and chili sauce. Next week I took a different group out, they were talking mangoes from the start. Things turned out different, this time we discovered parroqueet feathers, slid down hillsides covered with pine needles, and ran into a tree of manzanitas del rio ( little river apples). These taste a little like apples with a hint of some kind of spice. I don´t know what we´ll find this next Saturday. I just hope the ice cream man doesn´t find me again. How can I say ¨no¨ to 15 hungry children?

The latest health talks to the kids have been ¨Who Do You Talk to When You´re Upset¨ and ¨Making Sure We Have a Healthy Environment- Taking Care of the Earth¨. the adult talks have been ¨Depression- Danger Signs and How to Help a Friend¨ and ¨Keeping Your Joints and Your Back Healthy¨. It is getting easier. I´ve started asking for feedback, I need the correction and encouragement to keep at it.

Our place is feeling more like home. I got the hot water working, hooray! It´s kind of an on demand electric water heating shower-head. We got a hot plate and yesterday I made crepes and french toast. I´ve got a bike to keep up my exercise, but so far most of my sweating has been over flat tires.

Some of you may have heard about the earthquake down here. 7.1 on the Richter Scale just off the Caribbean coast of Honduras. We felt it here. It was like we were in a boat. We could hear water splashing in the toilet. It wrecked a lot of the dock in the major port of Puerto Cortez as well as a major highway bridge to the North coast. 6-7 people died. I´m planning a ¨What To Do in an Earthquake¨ talk for the kids. I´m going to try to translate some of this blog into Spanish. It´ll be good practice and I know I´ve got some Latino friends I´d like to keep informed. Til later, Gil.