How long does a 24 hour virus last when you have 36 girls, 5 staff members and 18 team members? We don't know the answer to that question yet because we had somebody starting to feel poorly earlier this evening. So we are still dealing with this bug, and are still counting right now how many days it takes to get through this bug. Thankfully we have had a whole day without the vomiting. One of our girls , who is prone to have a weak constitution, and who even before this adventure in illness, was lovingly called "the Vomit Queen", has suffered the worse. She has a time with motion sickness, or with smells, or she can get ill even if someone says something about vomit, or if she sees someone getting sick she does too. When she first came, if she didn't like something you did she would vomit on a personal item of the one she was upset with, like for example, my backpack . She is better and is not doing the retaliation vomiting anymore. The other day she was helping water the strawberries, and she threw up at the side of the field, and kept on watering the strawberries like nothing happened.
The last team that came from Georgetown, got to participate in our 24 hour bug. They were such great sports about it, but I hated it so bad. The ones who were the closest to the children got the bug… now that I think about it, nearly all the team went through it. They were so great with the girls. I am thankful that it was only a 24 hour bug, but hated that they got so sick, while they were here.The good news is that they were a medical team and had a doctor a PA and a nurse. They had gone into several schools and examine kids who were really needing some special care. We want to say a special thanks to Dr. Jack and Noni for their work in the dental side of the team. I have never been involved with a dental team that the children didn't cry or anticipate pain. Dr. Jack did a marvelous job in keeping the kids calm while he ministered to these elementary school children. We also want to thank Wanda Moody for all of her hard work
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Jayme
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Estrella
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We have some new girls. Estrella is two and Jayme is 5. They both are pistols and used to doing things their way. They are very independent I guess because they have had to be, but they keep us hopping. If Estrella wants to go to the car she justs walks of to the parking lot. When you can her to come back she runs in the opposite direction of your voice. She is too cute for her own good. Her sister is a live wire also, but they are really learning fast that people do care about them. They have really settled in and are a blessing. Elida is also one of our new girls. She is thirteen which is older than we usually allow to enter the farm. WE have found that when a girl is a teenager when she comes in, it is harder for her to settle in with the rest of the girls who have been here since they were little. Be praying for the transition for all the girls.
WE survived our team blitz which lasted from March to the last week in July. We have had 17 teams since January. We only have a few more this year, but the summer was super busy with back to back teams. We are so thankful to all the people who sent stuff, made stuff, and blessed all the stuff that was sent our way for our girls and for the people of the department of Intibuca
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Our Medical Team Ministered to the children of Secate Blanco
The children and the team were amazing
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We Have Skype!
We have internet in our house once more. It has been a huge blessing! Everybody has been calling home on Skype and we are so excited at the possibilities of people who want to stay in contact with the girls. We just need you to send us your skype number and a time when we will be hovering around the computer and we will see what we can do. We will be glad to herd everybody into the office and let them talk with you guys. Let us know and send your contact number to my email, pamdemott@yahoo.com
WE have been in the middle of a drought. Normally it is raining everyday this time of year, but it has been dry for a solid week. WE started praying for rain Sunday. It is a crucial time for the corn crop here on our farm but also to our neighbors because they use that crop for their tortillas for their main food source for the rest of the year.
Ben and I went to a water meeting that USAID is sponsoring so that the people in the Las Arenas area can have water during the dry season. The house that the male interns will be living in is located in that community. USAID supply the technicians and directions and the community they are trying to serve provide the raw materials to accomplish the task. We we holding a meeting about the water project under construction site that had only a tin roof to keep us out of the broiling sunshine. One of the neighbors mentioned something about the drought. There were little or no clouds against the blue sky. Then all of a sudden about 15 to 20 small brown grasshopper/locust looking insects flew by and one of the local campasino women who had just been elected secretary to the board of the water committee, said "It is going to rain". Everybody just nodded their heads and I asked why. They pointed at the little brown flying insects said it was because seeing the locust flying about are a sign of rain. I looked about and didn't see any sign of rain, but I figured I would believe with them, and said "Well okay then". Before the water meeting was over which was about an hour long, clouds had started to gather all around us. We got home, and Ben jumped on his motorcycle to get home before the storm started, and he didn't make it.
I wonder how many times we miss signs that the Lord sends to us. It wasn't a superstitious thing that happened, like when your grandma used to tell you if you drop a fork you are going to get a visit from a friend, it was a known fact here about the animal kingdom because the people pay attention to the happenings in nature that surrounds them. I can honestly say, I have never seen locust flying about, or if I did I don't remember and that it is probably because nobody ever pointed out to me that those were locust that just flew by. I just wouldn't have paid it any attention. I remember my Great Aunt Bessie telling me about when you hear a rain frog or crickets at night that meant rain was on the way and I studied on what she said and listened I found out that she was entirely correct. It happened every time.
We all stay so busy but Jesus tells us to watch for the signs of the times. The Bible usually mentions the words "signs" and "wonders" and "happenings"together. He tells us to look to the fig tree when it blooms and you can know that summer is near. He tells us to look at the red sky at night that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow, but when we see a red sky in the morning, that means we will have a stormy day. He tells us to be careful and not to let our hearts get weighed down with goofing around the anxieties of life that we end up missing the signs and wonders He will be sending to us. Then He tells us to always be on the watch and always be praying so that we can escape all that is going to happen.
Dealing with 36 girls you have a lot of drama of a sorts every day. Running a ministry with so many teams that have come to help us and staff members coming and going that sometimes I am weighed down by all the things I need to do for the ministry to function like it needs to. On that day, I went to the bank, went to the lawyers, went to the public defender's office, went to the phycologist office,went to the mechanic, went to the hospital with one of the girls, went to the grocery store, went to the hardware store, went and paid an employee, went and had a meeting with one of the board members, went to the water meeting, went back to the farm at the river and went home to have some supper and have devotions and Skyped someone about a situation I was having with a couple of the girls here at the farm. That doesn't even cover the phones calls I made back to the farm and to the internet guy and to the States. But I need to do as Jesus tells me to do and stay alert and not get so overwhelmed with how to run a ministry, maintain relationships with the girls and staff, teams, officials and with the neighbors that surround us. I want to focus on being the friend of Jesus. He says because he calls us his friend he will tell us everything that the Father tells him. He tells us to call upon him and he will show us great and marvelous things that we knoweth not. I know friends tell each other their deepest secrets when they get to spend a lot of time together and I want to be a friend of Jesus that He would feel comfortable telling me the secrets that He has for me and that I knoweth not. As I was sitting on the plastic chair under the tin roof watching the locust zoom by, it hit me that once again I have let the things of the world capture my attention with being so busy that I could have missed out on the cool things He was trying to show me. I pray that God slows us all down to pay attention to Him and his great signs and wonders that He has provided for us and that are happening all around us.
I want to thank all of the teams that came this summer to help us in so many ways. I want to thank their families for praying and keeping things running while the other team members were helping us. I thank everyone for their support and all the love they have shown us. There is no way to repay all they have done for us. I want to thank Natalie Martinez and Courtney Bradford for coming back to help us get through the team marathon. We are going to miss them terribly and will be praying for what the Lord has prepared for them and that they don't miss it. Thanks to the mission board here, and in the States for all the assistance they send our way. Thanks to my family who are helping take care of things in the States. And finally thanks to Jesus for calling me here to be part of something that shows me wonderful happenings He has prepared for me. I work with wonderful people, have wonderful kids and live an abundant life. Blessings from the Wonderfully Blessed and Always Watching Honduran MOM
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