Thoughts from Honduras

Life will never be the same!     Last night we went to church in Lis Lis without driving THROUGH the rivers!     We drove OVER them on our two new bridges!   The bridges are not quite completed, but finished enough to be used.  Another contractor needs to fortify the approaches so they don’t wash away during the rainy season.   For the people in Balfate and Lucinda, this means they won’t be stranded this year by the rains.  They will be able to send the milk from their cows to the dairy year-round.  They will be able to ride the bus rather than slop through the mud and wade through the rivers.  They will be able to keep their general stores stocked.  Of course, the people further down the road will still need to deal with the Lucinda and Esteben Rivers.  But once they get to Lucinda, they will be able to catch a bus.   It also means that property value in our area will likely soar as people fr...

I knew as soon as I saw her sitting weakly on the bench, awaiting her appointment, that she was going to be a complex patient.   As she was carried into the exam room by her mother, grandmother and friend, it was evident that she couldn’t sit any longer, and that she needed an IV.  She was pale (hematocrit of 16), with yellow sunken eyes, breathing rapidly.  Her mother told me that her daughter, only 28 years old, had been sick for 4 months, and had been in private hospitals twice, but no one could help her get better.  They thought she had hepatitis, and showed me her lab results.  They only showed that she had hepatitis A in the past, but did not have an active infection currently.   She looked like an end stage cancer patient, dehydrated, not long for this world.  I could not see an obvious cause for the problem on physical exam.  I looked for a vein to start an IV, but had doubts.  I prayed for God’s hel...

Life in Honduras usually follows the pattern of two steps forward, one step back.     But recently, we have been pushed back about three steps! This year started very slow financially for the Cornerstone.  We assume this has something to do with the economic uncertainty in The States.  We had hopes of actually moving the clinic into the front half of the hospital this year, but we will have to wait and see.   Because of this slow down, the construction work force has been diverted somewhat to missionary homes, which may be a good thing!  We have two mission families here in Balfate needing homes, and two others hoping to move here before the end of the year.  The O’Neils have been told that the house they were renting is now for sale, but the asking price is unreasonable.  So they have started work on their new home near the hospital.  The Schofields, our newest mission family, also need a home.  More o...

(Note from 2025: The view of salvation I had in 2001 has evolved significantly over time  [see Faith Reconsidered].   I believe God is much more “generous” with his love and salvation than most of us give him credit for. But, for historical sake, here is what I wrote in 2001.)   Our youngest son Jake loves to draw us pictures.  His people are beginning to be recognized as people.  He still has to give us considerable explanation of what else is in the picture, and the action involved.   Jake thinks his pictures are great!  Of course we encourage him and tell him they are good, leaving unsaid the qualifier “for a six-year old”.  Jake is adopted.  If we were to have chosen a son based on artistic ability defined as being able to produce great masterpieces, Jake would have fallen short.  Yet, he would have kept on drawing, and would even have entered the competition with high hopes!  He really ha...

We performed our first operation at Hospital Loma de Luz yesterday!     Actually, it was in our temporary operating room in the housing complex.     Dan DeCook, a surgeon from Holland, Michigan, (and missionary kid who grew up in Bangladesh) was here to assist.     We did an inguinal hernia repair with mesh on a 19-year-old guy from nearby Rio Esteben.     Chrysti Reeck, our nurse, “circulated”, and our Honduran “nurse aids” watched with interest.     We gave the patient valium by mouth before the procedure and used local anesthetic.     All went well!     We will see him back in a week. Hopefully this will become a weekly event, since our waiting list is long.  We also soon hope to begin doing gastroscopy (looking into the stomach with a scope that the patient swallows).  As we continue to expand our services, we soon hope to see other surgeries offered via spinal anesthetic!

It was one year ago February 21 that we opened the clinic at Hospital Loma de Luz.     We now have medical records for over 2200 patients.     Many patients have made decisions for Christ. People with chronic diseases, like diabetes and high blood pressure, who before could not afford to visit the doctor or buy their medicine, now are having their diseases affordably and conveniently brought under control, seeing the love of Jesus Christ in action.   This is a year of expansion.  As at least four more doctors and one nurse plan to be working on site this calendar year.  We will see our hours, services and Honduran staff all increase.  We have done our first surgery, opened a lab, and are awaiting our first shipment of glasses for our eyeglass clinic.  Construction proceeds on the hospital building.  We hope by the end of the year to begin occupying the actual clinic area in the hospital, moving from our temporary...

People often ask, “Why isn’t the hospital finished?” or “Why did it take so long to fix your roof?” or “Why does it take all day to get groceries?”   What they don’t understand is that shopping here is not like shopping there!  For example, when I go to town to get stuff to fix up the house, there is no Home Depot or Wal-Mart.  Usually, I need to go to three or four different hardware stores to get everything on the list. Even then I sometimes can’t find what I need.  No one store carries everything.  When we go for groceries, we usually visit at least three grocery stores; one has the best vegetables, another has the best meat, another has granola; plus visit two street markets, one for oranges and another for bananas, pineapples and melons.  No superstores here!   Let me illustrate with my recent quest for black shoelaces.  In The States when you need shoelaces, what are your choices?  You can get them at ...