Tuesday evening in Helene. Well, there's YP (Youth Program) at the Methodist Church next door, for the first time in months - so that is a great thing! Today our Bible Study "took it to the streets" by starting our new ministry of visiting unbelievers homes, instead of just meeting with other sisters. (or as the island ladies say, we were "visiting the sinners" - yeah, like that doesn't include every one of us!) Bonnie was very grateful for our visit, even though she hadn't been warned beforehand and was in the midst of cooking when we arrived. She was working up to send us away until a better time when Miss Leolin said "Bonnie, when Jesus comes knocking at your door, you can't send Him away, you've got to stop and hear what He has to say thru us!" Her 8 year old son got in on it, too, by saying "Ma, it's only fried chicken! I guess saying that it is pretty unimportant compared to having a talk about Jesus! Sweet kid, he got the job done, and we had a great hour sharing from the Word and our hearts! I am looking forward to this new way of doing things, God is so wonderful and sure is keeping me on my toes and challenged!

The short term team season starts tomorrow with our first team of the year. I am looking forward to having some fresh faces around here, and the team from Portland WA is always a good one. The teacher training at school is in full swing, with a record number of women showing up to "try out" so to speak, for the teacher and assistant spots. There are some of the teachers from last year that are a little upset that their position isn't guaranteed by that fact, and that they have to attend the training knowing this fact. But it isn't us, but the island led school board that will make those final, difficult decisions. It has worked out very well to have the school board ever since it was formed last year. The new school director, Elizabeth, is doing a fantastic job, and her obvious knowledge of island culture makes everyone feel more confident in the acceptance and understanding of the agreements and decisions. Remie is doing wonderful work in the medical clinic, and now out in the community as he is being 'hired' by various islanders to check blood sugars, give shots, and do wound care. I love to watch his confidence and skills grow and meet community needs in a win-win situation!

Hello again, long time! Since I haven’t written anything in this blog since 2007, I suspect that nobody has been here to see it either! So, just to catch you up…

· I am still in Helene, Honduras serving as a nurse missionary, and have now been here for nearly 4 ½ years!

· God has been growing and stretching me steadily – spiritually, physically, emotionally, and vocationally. I am now doing dental and veterinary work in addition to the medical work!

· I am running or participating in 2-3 Bible studies a week, as well as continuing to disciple/mentor several island girls or young women.

· I am now a Grandma of 2! Aubrie Jean is 3 ½, Wyatt is 9 months old!!

· The Lord has done some amazing things here on Helene, with the school now being run by an island-led school board, my clinic assistant of nearly 3 years went off to college for nursing, so I am training a new assistant with a very strong interest in the medical field, hoping to become a doctor someday!

· We have left the Alternative Missions organization, and are now a part of a new non-profit called Missions Encounters, Int’l (MEI). It is very exciting to watch God open doors and new opportunities and possibilities with this change.

I do plan to become more consistent with this form of communication now, so check back regularly if you are interested in keeping in touch with me or the goings on here in Helene. I would love to hear from you anytime! If you’d like to see some pictures, check out my web album at: http://picasaweb.google.com/livewyre4cj.

God bless!

Deirdre

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.

Its all about me..... AUBRIE alone

I like riding in the car, especially with Grammy entertaining me!

This is my lepord suit that I fit in, at least for now - I'm so cute!!

Being on my tummy isn't my favorite position, but the workout is good for my arms, I almost can turn over both ways now. I can't quite get my legs and arms under me at the same time to crawl yet - but soon!

I love my teddy, he comforts me when I cry, and sleeps with me all the time. I have to wear socks on my arms so I won't scratch, that excema makes me crazy sometimes!