I saw this on one of the boat trips to Roatan. It was a very large fishing vessel offloading to a barge. We are getting more and more larger vessels in our area these days.





















Pastor Teddy, along with a few islanders, and
a visiting team from WA rebuild the walkway in the pond that was falling into the swamp. Projects like these are plentiful on Helene, and we need visiting teams to get them all done.













Bentley Bay from the sea, the furthest west village on Helene.












Learning from Dr Tony, DDS my latest ministry area of interest, emergency dentistry. So far I have just assisted, but my turn will come to numb gums and pull teeth!

























This was a sad and strange sight to see! Overnight, these 'wee wee' ants came out of the bush, making these pathways you see, straight for the Hibiscus bushes! Every leaf was devoured, leaving one little wilted flower. Believe it or not, all the leaves came back within a few days after Jerry, our "gardener" followed the tracks into the bush to kill the ant nest. But, alas, they have struck again since then.










Joe and Willis refinishing the cabinets for the medical clinic remodel. This has been quite a process, of course taking much longer than we hoped it would. When done, we will have 2 private patient rooms, a reception area, and a pharmacy. It will have a computer desk with reference materials, and a lab area. I can't wait to show more pictures as the process continues!

Miss Sheila with Zachary









































Here are a group of ladies on the Northside in front of Miss Zula's house. We were gathered for a Bible study.

Here are Paster Teddy, his wife Heather, and their 3 kids, Jahari, Jadiri, and Zachary in front of their new home.

Here I found Sharina doing her homework in the Pond, sitting in front of an old shed, surrounded by mud, chickens, and garbage, but she had found shade and a quiet spot to get it done.

Argarta and her son, Daroni with Marian on the right. We were having Bible study on Miss Zula's porch.


















I snuck into the kindergarten room to get a picture as they were working on their favorite project, coloring. They were making cards for us to send back to WA for Miss Marjie. We hear she just loved them!










This is in the oldest classroom, the 5th-6th graders of the HEC (Helene Education Center). Compulsary education only goes to 6th grade in Honduras, and that is the extent of the English school, too. Anything beyond that, basically 7th and 8th grades, is called college. There are some trade schools, and some 'university' courses on the mainland.








Tannie and her 2 week old son, Rodney. This was another birth I missed, he was born while I was away to the states in Febuary.



















OK, so did you know that cockroaches are next to impossible to kill?? We have poured bleach on them, tried many sprays and powders, but the one thing we finally did learn (almost by accident) is that hot water kills them almost instantly!!! It is inevitable that you will have these scavengers in abundance when you live over sand or dirt, in a tropical environment, where there is food in abundance that they can manage to gnaw into somehow. Thank the Lord they are mostly nocturnal!

Church of God Convention, April 11-15th, 2007

I only attended the last 2 days, which was plenty to get a good taste of what happens there. There are 4-5 meetings or services a day, from the 6am prayer meeting daily, to the evening service at 7pm, that went until 9-10 pm. There were breaks for meals, they provided breakfast and lunch, free of charge. It is a tremendous undertaking for a church, the majority of the work seeming to be the meals, which ladies from other churches did help with.

Here I am with sweet Tamika, Kiera's daughter. She was so good for all the sitting we did!

Here is the choral group from the Helene COG, minus Mr Rowlands, who made it in just in time to sing Sunday morning.

Front row from left: Aileen, Marian, Zula, Bonnalee, Liolyn.

Back row: Amalia, Pastor Teddy

It is quite an honor to get chosen to sing at the convention, so they get matching "suits" for the show. Even Miss Liolyn said it's "much about the clothes you wear", people bring a different outfit for almost every service and meeting. I didn't have enough, so had to buy a new skirt/shirt!

Here they are, up singing their hearts out on Sunday morning. They did a great job with Amalia leading the choir. You can just see Aileen peeking over Amalia's right shoulder, but Mr Rowlings is directly behind Miss Liolyn on the left side.

A few of the ladies and kids who I attended the event with:

Henry, Marian, Kiari (Marion's youngest) Marixa (Marian's sister & Henry's Mom), Tamika, and Kiera. (Henry lives on Roatan with Miss Liolyn so that Marixa can work more. Its been that way since shortly after his birth. Not an unusual arrangement for many of the kids)

The kids were sure better behaved than I can imagine may American kids being at something like this!

Here were my hostesses for the weekend, Miss Liolyn and her sister, who's house we stayed at. She had AC in her bedroom, which is where she spends 90% of her time since she lost her legs to diabetes. She is so grateful and gracious, and made me feel quite welcome. It was just a difficult night because they kept waking up every hour or so to talk! Then dear Miss Lili woke me up at 4:30 to ask what time it was, then said "oh, good, then we can lay back down for another 1/2 hour! Ug, it was good to get home and sleep!

I went with several of the Helene team to a futbol (soccer in the States) game at Diamond Rock on Roatan. I was the official medical person there, it seems otherwise, there usually isn't anyone there in that capacity. Amazingly, this day there were no injuries or incidents, despite both teams playing for hours in 85-90 degree heat!

Marvin (left) and Ewings (right) getting some water on a much needed break during a period intermission.

Marvie and Ewings work closely with us here at the clinic. Marvie works with Clean Sweep, which is a program that travels the island path, cleaning up garbage and burning it, cleaning the beaches, and doing minor repairs on the bridges. Ewings works with us as a Clinic Assistant, he starts and helps maintain the generator, collects and burns the garbage, drives our boat, and generally assists wherever needed under the direction of Joe and Camas. Both a greatly involved in Bible studies and individual discipling.

This is the younger team taking a victory lap after winning 3-2!

The older guys, after receiving new "suits" from a generous donation from friends from America. This boosts their morale greatly!

Futbol is definately the most important sport here in Honduras, as well as much of the world over. Kids start playing almost as soon as they learn to walk, and it is played year round. It is just about the only organized sport I see them play, with the possible exception of basketball, which I believe the gringo's brought to Helene.