Sunday, July 3

This morning began with a miracle. After arriving at the Hogar, breakfasting and gathered to have our morning devotions, Dr. Corn announced that they didn’t have the needles necessary to be able to extract teeth. He was completely confident, however, that God would provide. When they asked (Chus—Maria Jose, the “mother” of the Hogar) if she had any idea if they might have some needles, she said, “hmmm, it seems I’ve seen some needles somewhere.” She found some, but was hesitant to even bring them to Dr. Corn, as they didn’t look like regular needles. When she did, we were all amazed at God’s working, as they were the exact ones to fit Dr. Corn’s equipment. The Dental team worked tirelessly all day on the kids of the Hogar, cleaning their teeth, and sometimes, extracting teeth. The rest of the group went to begin working at the Day Care (start prepping the wall to be painted). In the evening we had a marvelous Evangelistic meeting where we began our Vacation Bible School. The local lay workers mentioned that we got a LOT of visitors, so we were really happy about that! The kids seemed to really enjoy the VBS activities of crafts, stories and songs (last night being about Naaman’s transformation).

That night we fell exhausted, yet renewed, into our beds. During the night we had some unexpected visitors. We got an army of ants swarming through our building, marching militantly through most of our rooms and, in some cases, congregating under mattresses….fun! haha…not! Helda and Laura had to move to another room for the night. But all these things are bearable and taken in the spirit of adventure as we let God lead us in this work!

We really appreciate your prayers, your letters, your support. May God bless YOU as you continue doing his work.

Today was SO awesome. Not only did I get a really cool birthday card, but I got to be the “nurse” for the dental clinic. Which entailed helping dentists by cleaning his tools, etc. and bringing comfort to the little ones who did not understand what was going on. J ---Catherine

I’ve been having an awesome time here. I thing, out of the many blessings I have received, the greatest one has come from he children. They’ve been the ultimate Spanish teacher. And it’s surprising how small a language barrier can be once you start doing stuff with them. ---Jeremiah

Today was a very productive, yet uneventful day. We spent the entire morning cleaning our “dorm” house form top to bottom. I discovered a bit of an engineer in me when I set out on a missions to fix the fan in Dr. Corn’s room. I took the blade off a fan with a broken motor and replace the 32.5 bladed fan in the room. With the “men” help from Daniel, David and Jeremiah, we were able to do it! Yay teamwork (trabajando en equipo)!! ---Jen

People I’ve met (by Raquelita Vazquez):

 I met Bertha Lopez, a 17 year old girl. This August she will have been at the Hogar for 10 years. She is in 3^rd grade of High School (10^th grade). Her father lives in Honduras and when he comes to see her about 3 or 4 times a year, he brings her around 300 Lempiras. Her mother is in Guatemala and hasn’t seen her in 6 years and hasn’t communicated with her. She is a beautiful (inside and out) girl.

Today was an uplifting and inspiring day.  During worship Dr.  Corn shared with us that after preparing for several months he could not locate hiss needles.  He asked for prayer and before we  prayed he said God will provide.  After we prayed and dismissed, the dental team continued to prepare for work.  As they were preparing needles were found at the Hogar.  The amazing thing is that they were the needles that he needed.  We serve an awesome God.  When we ask we must have faith and believe in what we ask God for He will provide.  ---Helda

In setting up the dental clinic today, we with horror realized that an essential item had been forgotten.  The needles, necessary for anesthetizing our extraction patients, could not be located anywhere in the luggage.  We immediately gathered as a group, prayed for God’s intervention, and praised Him for His providence.  As He has on so many other occasions, God came through again with stunning precision as not one, but two boxes of needles were found among some miscellaneous supplies at the Hogar de Niños.  What are the chances that a small orphanage in a remote town in Honduras would have two boxes of not just ordinary injection needles, which being of a larger gauge would have been very painful, but the exact dental needles we required in the clinic?  Within a span of 15 minutes, a mistake, which could have been tragic, turned into a triumph of prayer and faith.  By the omnipotent grace of God, we went on that day to treat 43 patients, a staggering number for any team, despite the inferior conditions.   But one questions hovered in the back of our minds.  How long had those needles been in that back closet?  Had a previous mission team left them there after visiting?  Or did an angel sent by God deliver them straight from the parcel post of heaven in the exact hour of need?

~ Isaiah 65:24 ~

Before they call I will answer, and while they are still speaking, I will hear. ---Bobby

These kids are awesome! They just broke my heart, it’s hard for me to hug people I don’t know, or do not know for a long time; but when the kids see you, they run to you, and hug you as if you are their father! Today Cindy came to me, stood on a bench (‘cause she is half my height), hugged me and whispered to my ear “I love you.” That made my da, after working the whole afternoon with the Dentistry team all what you is “my tooth hurts,” everything is complaints, anyway, which kid likes the dentist? Or his team? So when someone comes and whispers to your ear “I love you,” the only possible answer that my lips can pronounce when the words are breaking you heart in a million pieces is: “I love you too!” Time stops, and you are standing in the middle of the universe with a kid hanging from your neck and everything, it’s….just perfect.

I just arrived, and I wanna come back! ---David