Our friends/Cousins departed on Tuesday, from the island of Roatan.  What a great week it was to have them here.  It was cool on so many different levels:

First, it was so good to have a piece of our home come to us, in the form of our ‘Peeps.’       We had a great time of playing together, sweating together, and serving together.  The hardest thing about living and working here in Honduras is being away from our family and friends  (The second hardest is going without real pizza.  They just can’t get it right down here.) 

Second, they did some really amazing work here, and blessed a lot of people.  Jason resurrected at least 3 vehicles that were not running before he came.  He worked on a total of 13 vehicles and 3 other small engines.  He also helped lead worship on Sunday at church, as well as Thursday night during our weekly Prayer and Praise time.  I have photo evidence of how hard this guy busted his butt down here—his clothes were just filthy at the end of each day (I saw the hospital Laundry Personnel just throw his clothes away one evening, as opposed to even trying to clean them).

Jessica quickly learned how to be a ‘Honduran dental hygienist,’ which is a special type of Hygienist.  They are adept at working under low light/no power conditions and dealing with marginal sterility.  And rather than a 2 yr training program, they actually obtain their degree after about 75 minutes of causal instruction and then on-the-job training by Dr. Trammell.  Also, they need to say, “Aye Yigh Yigh!!” a lot.  Jessica was joined by Ana and Jenny, other missionaries here, in assisting Dr. Chris.  This was a really great team of young ladies (well, Jessica really isn’t young anymore, I guess.)  (yes, that was a joke Jessica, hehee).

Tram (Dr. Chris), my cousin, was able to do some great work for both the local Honduran folks as well as some of the missionaries.  He and his team started slowly the first couple days as they figured out how to make things work in their makeshift dental suite.  But by the end of the week, they had the place humming like a slightly rusty,  modestly-oiled diesel Toyota Hilux.  At least, until all the power died on Friday.  In addition to assisting at the dental clinic, Hannah was able to help teach dental hygiene at the bilingual School, and spent extra time at the Children’s Center with many little ones.  She was also great to our children, especially Juliet who was in big-cousin Heaven.

Finally, it was very satisfying to be able to show them all the wonders of this place.  To share with them all the sights, sounds, people and situations that have captivated us, that have brought out compassion in us, and that have even caused us frustration and disappointment.

Thank you, Tram, Hannah, Jason, and Jessica for donating your Time, Treasure, and Talent to Bless the People of Honduras, as well at the Missionaries here at Loma de Luz.  And thank you to all the other people who prayed for this trip, and made financial contributions to support the trip.  Also, many people put together care packages containing shoes, tooth brushes, art supplies, etc. to give to the orphanage.  Burkhart Dental donated many supplies as well, for the dental clinic.  It was a labor of love brought about by many prayers and efforts.

 

A Photo journal of their trip: