What a way to start the day...

What a day! Last Friday started at 3:45 AM, when my alarm so rudely reminded me that I needed to be ready to leave the house at 4 am. Why leave the house at 4 am you ask? Because Alli and I needed to be in Tegucigalpa by 7 am to drop off a father, mother and baby for a CT scan appointment and then meet up with one of our special cases at 8 am for a visa appointment at the US Embassy (for those of you who don't know, visa appts at the US Embassy are a BIG deal)...

Well, as I stumbled around, half asleep, trying to get ready Alli burst in the door saying, "I just woke up, the alarm clock didn't go off, I'll be ready in just a few minutes." I replied, "Don't worry, I just need to throw my clothes on and I'll be ready." Being the prepared person that I am, I had pulled out my clothes the night before so that I didn't have to think about what I was going to wear at 4 in the morning. I had just put my pants on, buttoned and zipped them, when I felt a stinging sensation on my left hip. I thought, "Oh no! I have ants in my pants!" But then the stinging sensation turned into an intense burning sensation and I thought, "Ouch! I have got to get my pants off!" Well, I ripped my pants off and found a huge welt on my left hip. I didn't feel any bugs on my legs so I went running for the Benedryl Anti-Sting Stick (a wonderful investment for anyone living in a tropical climate). I searched and I searched, and as I looked for that stick I could hear Ally open the gate, get in the car, pull the car out of the drive way, close the gate, get in the car... I knew she was waiting for me, I knew it was important to leave on time (one does not take an appointment at the US Embassy lightly... we had to be on time). As I continued to look for the Benedryl Stick, which I had seemingly misplaced, I found myself becoming angrier and angrier that some bug would have the nerve to sting me at 4 in the morning on such an important day! I finally gave up looking for the Benedryl stick and thought, "If I could at least kill whatever stung me, then I think the pain would calm down..." you know, as if taking revenge on the bug would decrease my pain level. Well I returned to my pants and started to shake them out. Nothing fell out. I flipped my pants inside out and shook them some more. Still nothing. Finally, I was so frustrated by the incident that I threw my pants on the floor, and that is when I saw it... a SCORPION was hiding under my left pant pocket! Well I flung that thing off my pants and squished him into itty bitty pieces! Consequently, I do think that killing the scorpion did decrease the burning sensation in my leg! After 10 minutes of searching for the Benedryl Stick, and then the scorpion, I finally threw my pants on and ran out to the car to meet Ally!

Though it was a bad way to start the morning, the rest of the day went very well. Ronny (the boy I mentioned in my newsletter) and his mother were granted medical visas for travel to the US for gastrointestinal surgery! Praise God! And now, thanks to Friday's events, I do not have a fear of the unknown... it isn't THAT bad to be stung by a scorpion... and the US Embassy isn't too bad either. All in all, quite a day!

What in the world has Meredith been up to?...

Wow, August 1st is approaching and there is so much to do. I am working, currently, on three projects and their deadlines are all on August 1st... not to mention where in the world did all the time go? It seems like the summer season just started and now it is already nearing August 1st? Crazy!

We have expanded our nutrition program by 34 participants. That means a total of 80 children that are being sponsored from friends in the US. Isn't that amazing? I think it is! The new sponsorships start on August 1st and let me tell you, a lot of work goes in to selecting and making sure that 34 new children will have 3 balanced meals a day. It seems that I naively expanded the program. I know it is going to be great, but I don't think I knew what I was getting myself into!

My second deadline is the initiation of our Family Program (see below a few blogs for full details). We will start visiting families, in their homes, in 3 different towns. The finalized version of the project plan and objectives should be completed tomorrow. The clinic MD and I will be sitting down to hash out all the details. He presented me with a plan written in Spanish. I could understand what it said, but could not seem to make edits in Spanish, so... I translated it to English. I have made my notes, and now we have to put the finished product back into Spanish. Thank goodness he is bilingual! We can't wait to be involved with people on such a personal level, to educate these families about health lifestyle choices, and to show them Christ's love. It should be an amazing project!

The third deadline I am working toward is preparing for the arrival of a medical brigade on August 1st. The brigade is coming from Indiana and has worked with Mission Lazarus in the past. In fact, I translated for this particular brigade when I was a missions intern 3 years ago. The will be doing a sort of traveling medical brigade. They will be providing consults at several of the churches that we work with here in the southern region. It should be a great encouragement to the local churches and really help out some people who would otherwise not have access to health care.

So that is what I have been up to the past couple of weeks... preparing for August 1st! Please keep each of these 3 projects in your prayers as August 1st nears. Should be an exciting time!

Intern Bloggers

Our summer interns have started blogging and you all should definately get reading! They have done a great job of providing a detailed insight into life in Honduas. You can check out their blogs at:

http://lazarusclinic.blogspot.com/

http://missionlazarusschools.blogspot.com/

http://missionlazarusranch.blogspot.com/

The Copan Ruins

A couple of weeks ago our summer interns and I decided to give ourselves a midsummer break. We stuffed our pack backs with clothes and snacks and headed out on a 8 hour bus ride to Copan for a weekend trip... Copan is in the northern left had corner of Honduras, about 5 minutes away from the Guatemalan border, and home to ancient Mayan ruins. We arrived late Friday night in the quite little town of Copan. We were all anxious to get off the bus, as we had been subjected to not one, not two, but three Spanish dubbed Bruce Lee movies (there were not earphone jacks for those who wanted to watch... so everyone got to enjoy all three movies!!!) After a short walk we located our cute little hotel called Hotel Patty. The rooms wrapped around a beautiful courtyard, and though it the rooms were modest, they suited our needs, and budget, well. On Saturday morning we woke up, ate a fabulous breakfast, drank some spectacular coffee and headed to the ruins. The ruins are located 2 K from the town of Copan and it was quite a pleasant stroll in the morning sunlight. We arrived, hired a tour guide and were in the park by 9 am. Our tour guide had a straw cowboy hat, a giant fake diamond ring in his left ear, and reeked of whiskey from the night before, but proved to be quite informative despite his apparent hangover. Our tour lasted over 2 hours and when it was completed I felt that I had significantly improved my knowledge about Honduran History, Mayan history, and archeology. I did take lots of pictures... lots of pretty pictures... and of course some silly ones too. I have included all of my favorites below!



After the ruins we just wandered around the cute little town of Copan, ate some wonderful typical Honduran food, and did a little souvenir shopping. We caught the bus early Sunday AM and were back in San Marcos by 7 pm that night. The trip may have been short and sweet, but it really turned our to be quite relaxing and I also got to know our summer interns and form friendships with them that I know will outlast our time here in Honduras!