There’s a couple patients that stand out to me lately.  I’ve been meaning to write about Donny V for awhile.

Donny V is a friendly gentleman who came to us with a severe foot and lower leg infection.  He had Osteomyelitis, which means the infection actually extended into the bone.  It didn’t take Dr. Jeff long to determine he needed an amputation.

After amputation, we still struggled to control his infection.  He became septic (the infection spread to his blood/body).  There came a time in my daily visits with him that I decided he looked pretty bad, and I started mentally preparing for the worst.  I think his family sensed this as well, as they contacted his brother who lives in Canada.  Donny V had not seen him in 8 years, and when he learned that he would be coming he was very joyful.

The thing that gave me some peace was that Donny V already had a very strong faith in Jesus, and was not fearful of his mortality.  On the contrary, he often would encourage me as well.  One morning in particular, he was teetering on delirium from his infection, and struggling with significant pain.  Despite this, he told me he was praying for me.  How humbling that the dying man was praying for me!

Eventually, we determined that he still had infection brewing in the stump of his amputation.  Dr. Isaac and I took him into the operating room to clean out his wound, a place that a family doc doesn’t find himself often except to grab a baby after a C-section.  We cleaned it out daily for a week, hoping that our efforts would be rewarded.

Slowly but surely he started to turn the corner.  Our efforts were paying off.  And after a month of painstaking care of his infected foot, and then stump, were were finally able to send him home.  It was with some trepidation, as we were a little worried the stump would again become infected.  However, I am happy to say that I saw him last week in the courtyard shoving fried fish into his mouth, grinning from ear to ear, vibrant sparkle in his eye.  He brought me some aguacates (avocados), and expressed his gratitude.

He just as easily could have perished from the infection, but as we have come to rely upon, ‘Dios obra aqui,’ God does a great work here.

*There is a young lady who I would like to lift up in prayer, about 14 years old, who unfortunately just had her leg amputated.  She has what we believe to be a Sarcoma, which is an aggressive muscular tumor.  Her fate is still to be determined, as we wait for biopsy results.  We do ask for your prayers for healing, but more importantly for her heart.

Missionary Language moment: Awhile back, a student in Heidi’s class came up to her and asked her to pray for her, the word, ‘Orar.’ Heidi was very pleased that the little girl would ask her for this, and so she proceeded to pray. When she was done, the girl had an impatient and uncomfortable look on her face. She reiterated her request, and it was then that Kathryn, her teacher’s aide, realized she had said ‘Orinar,’ which means ‘to urinate…’   oopsies.

This reminded us of when Owen was about 3 years old. We were driving down the road one evening, the whole family in the car, and he asked us if we could talk about Jesus. We were elated that our little guy already had such an inquisitive and budding faith. ‘Why, sure Owen, we’d love to talk about Jesus!’ we exclaimed.  He then replied, “No, dad, I said CHEETAHS…”            “—-oh…”

In regards to our ongoing ministry here in Honduras:     It’s like a baseball game.  We’re in the 5th inning and pitching a pretty good game.  Coach hasn’t pulled us yet, as we’re not that far into our pitch count.  I’m not sure if I even see a reliever warming up in the bullpen.  So until the coach yanks us, we’re still in this ballgame.

What we mean to say is that we feel led to stay another year here.

On that note, we want to thank all of you who are helping make this ministry possible, by supporting us with prayer and finances.  It is amazing how many people it takes to make Loma de Luz possible—And the majority of them don’t live here in Honduras.  Thank you!

 

One day I was sitting on the couch at the Alexanders, minding my own business, when a hairy creature came out of the rafters, stalking me…

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Cue “Jaws” movie theme…   Duh-dun-duh-dun-dun-duh—-dunnaduuuuh!

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oh, phew.  it’s just a monkey.  We edited out the part where he sank his razor sharp fangs into my neck, and then scratched out my eyes and disemboweled me.

We ‘monkeysat’ for the Mckinney’s recently, their White-faced Capuchin, ‘Jack.’

Conveniently, Jack wears a diaper.  Jack is a lot of fun.  Jack also has ADHD.  I believe this is likely a trait of all monkeys.  And 6 year old boys…

Live, central american cockroach…

dead, central american cockroach…

We recently had to say goodbye to one of our favorite persons, Miss Lizzie Nelson, who completed her year of service as a nurse in the hospital.   Her smile will be missed!

 

One last waterfight for Miss Lizzie before she left.  Missionary boys vs Miss Lizzie, Heather, Elizabeth, Heidi, and Juliet.  I’m pretty sure the chicas won.

 

I’ll admit, I like zombies.  And this is just funny.  Thanks for sending this to me, Mark!

 

I found this thing in our bathroom.  It was alive at the time, but I just couldn’t let it stay alive in the same building in which I was about to sleep.  I did some research, and it’s called a whip spider, and was featured in a couple of the Harry Potter movies.  check this out…

 

The only good kind of scorpion:  squashed…

Last but not least, a cicada.  This may actually be my least favorite bug here.  Not because they are gross, scary, or bite you.  It’s because they are freaking LOUD

Thanks for reading!