Today is Monday, January 13, 2020, day 4 of our mission trip this year and day 1 of the clinic. The word of the day today is FEAR. The related scripture for today is 1 John 4:18 – There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear. Also, Mark 5:16 – Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” Fear is an important Christian word, not because we want it, but because, to be mentally and spiritually healthy, we need to shed our fears. Those in a 12 Step Recovery Program come to believe that we are powerless over addiction and the management of our lives without God (a Higher Power). Likewise, we Christians realize that we are powerless to live our lives without fear unless we have a relationship with God. With God, all things are possible; without God, we rely only on our limited human capability and therefore live with fear. With God and love, we drive out fear and without fear, we lead a life that eliminates many of the character defects we have which are based on fear. This allows us to lead a much more joyful life. We are here today at the beginning of the clinic to help the folks of the Ciudad Espana neighborhood reduce their fear of illness, disease and death but most importantly, we are here to bring them the Good News of Jesus and his love so they may have hope for life and life after life. Ciudad Espana (literally “City of Spain”) is so named because the country of Spain built this town from scratch after Hurricane Mitch in 1998 created thousands of refugees from the related floods. The clinic got off to a smooth start this morning. After brief introductions and instructions, a prayer was offered by Terry. All departments were up and running by that time as our support team of T.J. and Charley had the dental suction and pressure ready to go. We are blessed to have 17 paid translators and at least 30 local church volunteers to make the mission possible this week. A heavy demand for dentistry has kept the dental providers quite busy all day today and will do so all week long. Dental care is difficult for Hondurans to acquire even though there are plenty of trained dentists. The economy here is such that patients have a difficult time paying enough for dentists to stay in business which creates a total disaster for Honduran dental health. Just based on what I have seen personally, I think the average Honduran has better dental health than when we first came here in 2003, although it is certainly way below where it should be. An elderly woman came in today to have her teeth cleaned, wearing her “Sunday Best.” After Sheila cleaned them, the lady looked at her teeth in a mirror and said, “Look, I am beautiful!” One patient made a dental chair conversion to Christianity today and accepted Jesus as her savior. Helen continues to recover well from her hip fracture repair and is in good spirits. The hospital and physicians here have been great to work with and have provided excellent care. In today’s photos, you will find an image of Helen in the Hospital with the newlyweds from the wedding some of us attended on Saturday. Several of our group visited Helen tonight and felt she was doing well. We continue to hope Helen will be released to the inn mid-week and will be able to fly home on Saturday. Today, the weather has been in the low 70’s with clouds and occasional drizzle. Our health remains good and spirits remain high. Charlie gave a great devotion tonight based on Proverbs 20:24 which says how can we as humans understand our “steps” in life when life’s plans are up to God? Please see the link below for some photos from today: https://www.flickr.com/photos/167537108@N03/albums/72157712671958483
May God’s blessings be with you and thanks for your prayers. I am sorry this is late due to Internet problems. Roger