Here is a video of what I saw when I went into my front yard this afternoon...a boa constrictor eating one of our chickens...
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=3922901124009&saved
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Traveling and Life
Last weekend I went with the Ward family to Copan, Belen Gualcho, Gracias, and Santa Rosa, all cities in the Western area of Honduras. It was so much fun seeing different parts of the country--it's crazy how different each one is too, even if it's only a couple of hours away from where I'm living. The climate is different (actually having to use blankets when you sleep!?! crazy. It got really cold at night when we were in Belen, which is a small village up in the mountains), the food, accents, and even the way people talk and certain words they use are all different each place we traveled to. Yes, they all speak Spanish and they're all still in Honduras- but definitely a distinction between each sub culture.
Unfortunately I got sick again :/ Luckily not the flu or anything that bad like last time, but I had (I'm almost all the way over it now) some type of cold thing with some lung issues along with it. So, I am thankful for feeling better now--but would also like to ask for prayer for continued health especially with dehydration when the heat gets really hard to deal with, and work in, as well.
This morning I moved out of my room and am living with the Wards for the next week since we're putting on a kids camp and they'll all be living in staff housing for the week(where I normally live). And the Wards have a/c in two of their rooms here!!!! Praise Jesus!! SO nice to have some air conditioning even if it's only for a week :)
Work in the hospital is going well--I'm mostly just taking and recording each patient's vital signs before they see the doctor and also assisting in surgery when I'm needed as a translator, and some of the doctors are really great about letting me in on surgery even if they speak Spanish and don't need a translator, because they know I'm going into nursing and they want to provide me with as many educational experiences while I'm here, especially because most of them I wouldn't be able to do in the States. :) And I was out of town when there were a bunch of babies born last weekend!!! Such a bummer. But, since I'm here for the rest of the summer--the obgyn said he'd call me whenever some one goes into labor or the next time there's a c-section scheduled. So excited!!!
When we were traveling last weekend we went to some small cities but also a very very rural village called Belen Gualcho up in the mountains of Ocotepeque, Honduras. Below is a picture of the cathedral there. It is absolutely breath takingly beautiful. The pastor welcomed us and he even let us go on top of the roof of the buliding- where the dome is and everything and look out upon the "city" and all the beautiful trees, fields, and mountains surrounding us. Some of the most beautiful views I've seen in my life.
While we were there I was introduced as "This is Maria, she's from the States and is working in the hospital in Balfate as a nurse" (except in Spanish obviously). It's hard to explain how I'm technically only a CNA, not an RN, but yet I'm doing work that an RN would normally do. So to make it simple we always just say that I'm an enfermera. The point of me writing this though, is that once people heard that I was a nurse they would ask me random health questions about problems they've been having, have me look at something, etc and expect that I had an answer. A daughter of the lady we were staying with had a bump behind each of her ears and it hurt when I pressed on them. I told her that if it started hurting without anyone touching them she should take the trip into town to see a doctor (which is a few hours away by bus and is an expensive, all day trip to make). One woman who was pregnant came up and was talking with me and then she placed my hand on her stomach (she was about 7 months along) and asked me if the baby was healthy or not. It started moving while my hand was on her and I asked her a few questions about how her pregnancy had gone so far and told her that I didn't think there were any problems as far as I could tell, but that she'd need to see a doctor to be sure. Then she asked me if it was a boy or a girl. At first I thought she was kidding, but while I paused before I answered I realized she was only partially kidding--I think part of her truly believed I would be able to tell the sex of her child by my hand on her stomach and since I was an American nurse, I'm educated and know these types of things. I smiled (in response to the supposed 'joke' she made, or just to be friendly-I let her decide which since I didn't know if she was being serious or not) and told her that she would need an ultra sound at the hospital to see if it was a boy or girl. She was hoping for a boy though since she only had girls so far and so I told her "Who knows--maybe it will be a boy!!" And everyone was all excited about the idea of possibly having a boy and then the conversation changed to something else. It was so strange to experience how someone sees you in such an obvious way. She knew only a few things about me and had only known me for a few hours of talking and eating together, but she knew this much: American/gringa, educated, is a nurse, speaks Spanish. What these added up to: I am able capable of diagnosing and treating ailments the family has along with giving her advice and answers about the child she is carrying. After figuring out how to respond and handle the situation, it gave me perspective on how they saw me because of these traits. I praise God for the level of education I have had thus far and am so grateful to have the opportunities I am blessed with to continue in school, so that one day I actually WILL be able to better treat ailments and problems that people ask me about, or at least have better general advice for them about health issues. But until then, I will be navigating how to respond besides with an "I don't know", because I know they are seeking hope or at least some type of answer.
Prayer requests:
-Safety!!! This is always something I'm praying about--especially when I'm in the bigger cities an no matter how tan I am or how well I speak Spanish, people always know I'm not Honduran. Although most people think I'm from Puerto Rico or Mexico, which is better than being seen as a Gringa, so that's good.
-Health: Not getting dehydrated and NO MORE getting sick! Oh, and not getting Malaria too, that'd be good. I'm taking anti malaria pills though so my chances are lower.
-Making more friends here and getting to know people better.
-For my Spanish to improve even more. It has already improved even just being here a few weeks-but sometimes it is frustrating when a conversation is flowing and then all of a sudden my brain just decides to not want to think in Spanish anymore. Very imconvenient.
-The patients and staff of the hospital.
-Kids camp that's going on next week.
-Wards are moving back to the States on Thursday.
Thank you for following my blog and like always your prayers are very very appreciated!!! :)
Unfortunately I got sick again :/ Luckily not the flu or anything that bad like last time, but I had (I'm almost all the way over it now) some type of cold thing with some lung issues along with it. So, I am thankful for feeling better now--but would also like to ask for prayer for continued health especially with dehydration when the heat gets really hard to deal with, and work in, as well.
This morning I moved out of my room and am living with the Wards for the next week since we're putting on a kids camp and they'll all be living in staff housing for the week(where I normally live). And the Wards have a/c in two of their rooms here!!!! Praise Jesus!! SO nice to have some air conditioning even if it's only for a week :)
Work in the hospital is going well--I'm mostly just taking and recording each patient's vital signs before they see the doctor and also assisting in surgery when I'm needed as a translator, and some of the doctors are really great about letting me in on surgery even if they speak Spanish and don't need a translator, because they know I'm going into nursing and they want to provide me with as many educational experiences while I'm here, especially because most of them I wouldn't be able to do in the States. :) And I was out of town when there were a bunch of babies born last weekend!!! Such a bummer. But, since I'm here for the rest of the summer--the obgyn said he'd call me whenever some one goes into labor or the next time there's a c-section scheduled. So excited!!!
When we were traveling last weekend we went to some small cities but also a very very rural village called Belen Gualcho up in the mountains of Ocotepeque, Honduras. Below is a picture of the cathedral there. It is absolutely breath takingly beautiful. The pastor welcomed us and he even let us go on top of the roof of the buliding- where the dome is and everything and look out upon the "city" and all the beautiful trees, fields, and mountains surrounding us. Some of the most beautiful views I've seen in my life.
Prayer requests:
-Safety!!! This is always something I'm praying about--especially when I'm in the bigger cities an no matter how tan I am or how well I speak Spanish, people always know I'm not Honduran. Although most people think I'm from Puerto Rico or Mexico, which is better than being seen as a Gringa, so that's good.
-Health: Not getting dehydrated and NO MORE getting sick! Oh, and not getting Malaria too, that'd be good. I'm taking anti malaria pills though so my chances are lower.
-Making more friends here and getting to know people better.
-For my Spanish to improve even more. It has already improved even just being here a few weeks-but sometimes it is frustrating when a conversation is flowing and then all of a sudden my brain just decides to not want to think in Spanish anymore. Very imconvenient.
-The patients and staff of the hospital.
-Kids camp that's going on next week.
-Wards are moving back to the States on Thursday.
Thank you for following my blog and like always your prayers are very very appreciated!!! :)
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Sickness, Wellness and Newness.
First of all, I want to thank you guys for your prayers for health and safety. This weekend they were much needed. Today I think I'm finally over a nasty nasty flu virus I've had for the past few days :/ My stomach started feeling yucky Thursday night and then I was vomiting before you know it that night and then for the next few days so I had to go to the hospital (which is luckily just down the road!) for an saline i.v. so I wouldn't get too dehydrated (which is the main concern, since it's so so SO hot here and I had lost a lot of fluid). But! Good news now. That was Thursday night, and now it is finally Sunday and I am finally able to eat normal food and I'm fully rehydrated. Praise the Lord!! :) So, needless to say I did not work Friday like I normally would, so my second day of work will be tomorrow, Monday, and I am excited to see what this new week brings! Thursday I leave for Copan, Honduras with the Ward family, so I am so beyond grateful to have this flu thing out of my system and so thankful that God's timing is bastante perfecto in that I wouldn't be sick while traveling! Such a blessing.
Another thing to be thankful for is that I found out one of the doctors here dances West Coast Swing too!! Whattt!?!?!?! YES. YES!!!!! Ahem. So, we plan on breaking out some music and dancing in the kitchen together every once in a while :)
So I've realized the past couple of days there's a lot of things that are very different from home that I assume you guys know, when in fact you very well might not. So for todays post I've decided to do a bullet point list...
New Things Added to My Life:
-It gets dark by 6:00pm because Honduras doesn't do daylight savings.
-The howler monkeys that like to hangout in the trees by my bedroom window make the weirdest yelling/barking crazed-dog sound. I can't even describe it. But they tend to do this when it's dark out...when everyone's trying to sleep.
-Not speaking English!! Some of you would laugh at this one, because you feel like I already didn't speak English even when I was in the States. But yes, I'm having to get used to this as well.
-Being the minority...Bend, OR is about as white as it comes and now I'm the odd man out instead of the majority. Haha I thought I was somewhat tan while I was in Bend.....nope. Not at all. I am as white and gringo as it comes.
-Being able to walk to the beach <3
-Sweating.
-I take that back, not ever ceasing to sweat. Like take a shower and then dry off and you're sweaty again type of sweaty, because of the 90+ humidity along with the 90+ degree weather...and working in this heat as well.
-Not having a schedule!!!! :)))) It's the BEST THING EVER. I go to work by 8am and then i'm done whenever there's no more patients which is sometime before 3:30pm. After that, I'm free to do whatever I want. Go to the beach, READ A BOOK (when was the last time I did this for enjoyment--and NOT a class?? Crazy), do devotionals, take a nap (if it's not too hot..), just socialize with people and not have to set a time and place but just BE there and talk with someone until the conversation ends.
-Fresh fruit that's actually fresh goes bad pretty quickly...learning to grocery shop smart.
-Buying M&M's and then having to refrigerate them so they don't melt.
-Sleeping with a fan on.
-No siblings around :( I miss you guys!!!
-Going to church and listening to the sermon in Spanish. :)
-Not caring what I look like as much as I used to. Makeup usually sweats/melts off pretty quick here anyways.
-My hair is a continuously growing mound of frizziness. I should be on a hair commercial for the "before" shot of the crazy hair girl. But i doubt they even make a product that would fix this so they'd even have an "after" shot. But! I have been blessed with a few good hair days. 2, actually. Guys don't get this--girls, you realize how annoying this can be.
-Throwing tissue paper in a garbage can after you use it, and not in the toilet...(plumbing system is too sensitive). Gross, I know. But true.
-I know this may sound funny, but being around people with very thick Southern accents. A lot of the volunteers here are from South Carolina or Louisiana, etc. And also hearing Spanish trying to be spoken in a very Southern accent.
-Putting on bugspray to go outside--to the beach, on a walk, cooking in the kitchen downstairs, etc
-No Netflix when I'm bored. And this I know is a blessing! It's crazy how much time I wasted on there, now realizing that since I don't have it.
-No West Coast Swing dancing </3 In fact, dancing is seen as a bad thing here. They associate dancing with drugs and alcohol which then leads to sex with someone you're not married to and pregnancies. So altogether dancing is a huge no-no. People just goofing off once in a while dancing in the kitchen, etc is fine but a group of people dancing isn't ok.
-Not letting ice cubes sit out for more than 10 seconds, or else they'll start to melt.
-Living in a jungle. I. Love. It <3
-There are people carrying machine guns in front of stores, their property, or on trucks driving by to protect the goods they're transporting.
-Actually wearing sunscreen because I'm so much closer to the equator the sun actually will burn me here.
-Drinking lots and lots and lots of water to stay hydrated.
-The sound of pure nature, and no traffic or construction interrupting it's beautiful sound.
-Not having a cellphone, I LOVE IT!!! :) (okay, actually I DO have one--lots of people here do but it looks almost like a toy one it's so cheap, and it's just for emergencies, etc)
-Writing medical charts in Spanish.
-Weighing people in kilo's instead of pounds.
-Feeling more relaxed. I actually feel more at home here, in a foreign country. I know it sounds weird. But I love it here. And I can't believe I'm actually here--after 4 years of praying for this opportunity, it's happened-I'm living it out here in Honduras. :)
Alright, there you have it! A wwaaaay too long of a list of my random thoughts of things that are new to me. I hope it's brought a better insight of how my life looks here in Balfate, Honduras! :)
Oh! one last thing.
Prayer requests:
-That no one else gets sick!!!! I really don't want anyone else to get the nasty flu bug I had.
Gracias!
Another thing to be thankful for is that I found out one of the doctors here dances West Coast Swing too!! Whattt!?!?!?! YES. YES!!!!! Ahem. So, we plan on breaking out some music and dancing in the kitchen together every once in a while :)
So I've realized the past couple of days there's a lot of things that are very different from home that I assume you guys know, when in fact you very well might not. So for todays post I've decided to do a bullet point list...
New Things Added to My Life:
-It gets dark by 6:00pm because Honduras doesn't do daylight savings.
-The howler monkeys that like to hangout in the trees by my bedroom window make the weirdest yelling/barking crazed-dog sound. I can't even describe it. But they tend to do this when it's dark out...when everyone's trying to sleep.
-Not speaking English!! Some of you would laugh at this one, because you feel like I already didn't speak English even when I was in the States. But yes, I'm having to get used to this as well.
-Being the minority...Bend, OR is about as white as it comes and now I'm the odd man out instead of the majority. Haha I thought I was somewhat tan while I was in Bend.....nope. Not at all. I am as white and gringo as it comes.
-Being able to walk to the beach <3
-Sweating.
-I take that back, not ever ceasing to sweat. Like take a shower and then dry off and you're sweaty again type of sweaty, because of the 90+ humidity along with the 90+ degree weather...and working in this heat as well.
-Not having a schedule!!!! :)))) It's the BEST THING EVER. I go to work by 8am and then i'm done whenever there's no more patients which is sometime before 3:30pm. After that, I'm free to do whatever I want. Go to the beach, READ A BOOK (when was the last time I did this for enjoyment--and NOT a class?? Crazy), do devotionals, take a nap (if it's not too hot..), just socialize with people and not have to set a time and place but just BE there and talk with someone until the conversation ends.
-Fresh fruit that's actually fresh goes bad pretty quickly...learning to grocery shop smart.
-Buying M&M's and then having to refrigerate them so they don't melt.
-Sleeping with a fan on.
-No siblings around :( I miss you guys!!!
-Going to church and listening to the sermon in Spanish. :)
-Not caring what I look like as much as I used to. Makeup usually sweats/melts off pretty quick here anyways.
-My hair is a continuously growing mound of frizziness. I should be on a hair commercial for the "before" shot of the crazy hair girl. But i doubt they even make a product that would fix this so they'd even have an "after" shot. But! I have been blessed with a few good hair days. 2, actually. Guys don't get this--girls, you realize how annoying this can be.
-Throwing tissue paper in a garbage can after you use it, and not in the toilet...(plumbing system is too sensitive). Gross, I know. But true.
-I know this may sound funny, but being around people with very thick Southern accents. A lot of the volunteers here are from South Carolina or Louisiana, etc. And also hearing Spanish trying to be spoken in a very Southern accent.
-Putting on bugspray to go outside--to the beach, on a walk, cooking in the kitchen downstairs, etc
-No Netflix when I'm bored. And this I know is a blessing! It's crazy how much time I wasted on there, now realizing that since I don't have it.
-No West Coast Swing dancing </3 In fact, dancing is seen as a bad thing here. They associate dancing with drugs and alcohol which then leads to sex with someone you're not married to and pregnancies. So altogether dancing is a huge no-no. People just goofing off once in a while dancing in the kitchen, etc is fine but a group of people dancing isn't ok.
-Not letting ice cubes sit out for more than 10 seconds, or else they'll start to melt.
-Living in a jungle. I. Love. It <3
-There are people carrying machine guns in front of stores, their property, or on trucks driving by to protect the goods they're transporting.
-Actually wearing sunscreen because I'm so much closer to the equator the sun actually will burn me here.
-Drinking lots and lots and lots of water to stay hydrated.
-The sound of pure nature, and no traffic or construction interrupting it's beautiful sound.
-Not having a cellphone, I LOVE IT!!! :) (okay, actually I DO have one--lots of people here do but it looks almost like a toy one it's so cheap, and it's just for emergencies, etc)
-Writing medical charts in Spanish.
-Weighing people in kilo's instead of pounds.
-Feeling more relaxed. I actually feel more at home here, in a foreign country. I know it sounds weird. But I love it here. And I can't believe I'm actually here--after 4 years of praying for this opportunity, it's happened-I'm living it out here in Honduras. :)
Alright, there you have it! A wwaaaay too long of a list of my random thoughts of things that are new to me. I hope it's brought a better insight of how my life looks here in Balfate, Honduras! :)
Oh! one last thing.
Prayer requests:
-That no one else gets sick!!!! I really don't want anyone else to get the nasty flu bug I had.
Gracias!
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Safe and Sound!!
I'm happy to say we made it safe and sound aaaall the way to Balfate!! :)
For those of you who don't know who "we" is or how we got here...
My dad and I both flew from Redmond to San Fran to Sacramento to Houston to San Pedro Sula and with a few layovers and a delay too, which meant we literally made one of our connecting flights with 10 seconds to spare--running to the terminal, yes. And then we drove 4 hours by truck to a small town in Balfate, where the hospital is.
My dad came with me because our church, New Hope, has a sister church we support here and a mission family (with whom we've been friends with for many many years) that our church also sponsors and we try to have a person or team of people visit them every few years and it had been a while since someone last went so my dad figured he might as well come with me and check in and help out with agricultural stuff here too and then travel to Tegucilgalpa, the capital, where the church is on the 2nd half of his trip.
Anyways! We made it safe and we are not exactly caught up on sleep yet...but I'm sure in a few days I'll feel 100% :)
About where I am:
A tiny town in the county of Balfate, the state is Colon and the country is Honduras. I'm about 30 miles East of La Ceiba (nearest big city). On the Loma de Luz Cornerstone grounds there is a hospital, school, children's home, and farming that all benefits the community and is nonprofit. Anything we make 'profit' on goes towards funding the hospital and making care cheaper for the patients.
Children's home (casa de los ninos): Kids ages newborn to 16 live here. Some are foster children that the state has placed there, some are orphans, or the family can no longer support/ are unfit to raise their children, or at least not all of them, so they send some of their kids to live in la casa de ninos.
School (escuela): Children from the community and kids from the casa de los ninos attend school and ages range from 6 to 18 yrs old for the students. But how old the child is does not always mean they will be in a class with kids their same age. For example: a child who is 13 could be in the 1st grade with 6 year olds because they were not educated prior to attending this school and have to start from square one like the younger kids.
Agriculture: We grow acres of palm trees, right next door to Dole's farm of the same trees (surrounded and patrolled by armed guards that have machine guns), and ours are growing better!! We don't use pesticides and they do. ha just had to throw that in there.
Hospital: I toured it today for a few minutes and then got right to work! I am a certified nursing assistant (cna) and mostly what I'll be doing at first is taking vital signs and signing off on charts of the patients once they check in at the front desk. What I did today: Work, continuously sweating in the 90 F heat with 90% humidity, from 8 to 12:30. Normally I will work from 7:30 am until 3:30ish, depending on how many patients we have. Never have I been so appreciative of air conditioning!!!! WOW. I went in to the lab room for a few minutes to say hi to my friend Sydney and I was actually cold in there because it has a/c in there, when that's probably the normal temp of my house back in Bend. haha. Crazy. Anyways, there is a continuous line of patients waiting, kids running around, mothers nursing, children's snacks dropped on the floor and everyone is dabbing sweat from their forehead. Surprisingly, it's calming to me. I know writing it out and reading it back to myself it sounds like pure chaos, but I can't explain it--there's a peace about me and the patients. The only thing I can say about it is that it's God working there, there can't be any other reason for the hospital to run so well and for the staff to continue working as happy and welcoming as they do--it's the power of the Holy Spirit. And for that, I thank God for blessing this ministry. Without Him, it would be impossible.
So today I took so many vitals I honestly don't know how many patients I saw--50? Maybe more? Idk, i'll have to keep track next time because I've never worked to efficiently and continuously, stopping for a sip of water twice.
So since I only worked a 1/2 day today I went back to my room after lunch and took a short nap because I wasn't feeling good, I had a really bad headache. So then I decided some beach therapy might do the trick :) After a few ibuprofen, I went to the beach with Syd, Amy, and mi Papa' for 2 hours and swam and bobbed up in down in the warm, and soothing beautiful waves of the Caribbean Sea. I honestly don't think I will EVER get over how much I love it. <3
About where I'm going:
This week I will be staying in Balfate and working. Next thursday me and the Wards (mission family here that's moving to Florida soon, Sydney is their oldest daughter) will be traveling to Western Honduras to visit some of their friends they have their from the first place they lived in before they moved to Balfate.
I'll try to post once or twice a week and keep you updated. Thank you for reading and your prayers are appreciated!
Mucho amor,
Maria
For those of you who don't know who "we" is or how we got here...
My dad and I both flew from Redmond to San Fran to Sacramento to Houston to San Pedro Sula and with a few layovers and a delay too, which meant we literally made one of our connecting flights with 10 seconds to spare--running to the terminal, yes. And then we drove 4 hours by truck to a small town in Balfate, where the hospital is.
My dad came with me because our church, New Hope, has a sister church we support here and a mission family (with whom we've been friends with for many many years) that our church also sponsors and we try to have a person or team of people visit them every few years and it had been a while since someone last went so my dad figured he might as well come with me and check in and help out with agricultural stuff here too and then travel to Tegucilgalpa, the capital, where the church is on the 2nd half of his trip.
Anyways! We made it safe and we are not exactly caught up on sleep yet...but I'm sure in a few days I'll feel 100% :)
About where I am:
A tiny town in the county of Balfate, the state is Colon and the country is Honduras. I'm about 30 miles East of La Ceiba (nearest big city). On the Loma de Luz Cornerstone grounds there is a hospital, school, children's home, and farming that all benefits the community and is nonprofit. Anything we make 'profit' on goes towards funding the hospital and making care cheaper for the patients.
Children's home (casa de los ninos): Kids ages newborn to 16 live here. Some are foster children that the state has placed there, some are orphans, or the family can no longer support/ are unfit to raise their children, or at least not all of them, so they send some of their kids to live in la casa de ninos.
School (escuela): Children from the community and kids from the casa de los ninos attend school and ages range from 6 to 18 yrs old for the students. But how old the child is does not always mean they will be in a class with kids their same age. For example: a child who is 13 could be in the 1st grade with 6 year olds because they were not educated prior to attending this school and have to start from square one like the younger kids.
Agriculture: We grow acres of palm trees, right next door to Dole's farm of the same trees (surrounded and patrolled by armed guards that have machine guns), and ours are growing better!! We don't use pesticides and they do. ha just had to throw that in there.
Hospital: I toured it today for a few minutes and then got right to work! I am a certified nursing assistant (cna) and mostly what I'll be doing at first is taking vital signs and signing off on charts of the patients once they check in at the front desk. What I did today: Work, continuously sweating in the 90 F heat with 90% humidity, from 8 to 12:30. Normally I will work from 7:30 am until 3:30ish, depending on how many patients we have. Never have I been so appreciative of air conditioning!!!! WOW. I went in to the lab room for a few minutes to say hi to my friend Sydney and I was actually cold in there because it has a/c in there, when that's probably the normal temp of my house back in Bend. haha. Crazy. Anyways, there is a continuous line of patients waiting, kids running around, mothers nursing, children's snacks dropped on the floor and everyone is dabbing sweat from their forehead. Surprisingly, it's calming to me. I know writing it out and reading it back to myself it sounds like pure chaos, but I can't explain it--there's a peace about me and the patients. The only thing I can say about it is that it's God working there, there can't be any other reason for the hospital to run so well and for the staff to continue working as happy and welcoming as they do--it's the power of the Holy Spirit. And for that, I thank God for blessing this ministry. Without Him, it would be impossible.
So today I took so many vitals I honestly don't know how many patients I saw--50? Maybe more? Idk, i'll have to keep track next time because I've never worked to efficiently and continuously, stopping for a sip of water twice.
So since I only worked a 1/2 day today I went back to my room after lunch and took a short nap because I wasn't feeling good, I had a really bad headache. So then I decided some beach therapy might do the trick :) After a few ibuprofen, I went to the beach with Syd, Amy, and mi Papa' for 2 hours and swam and bobbed up in down in the warm, and soothing beautiful waves of the Caribbean Sea. I honestly don't think I will EVER get over how much I love it. <3
About where I'm going:
This week I will be staying in Balfate and working. Next thursday me and the Wards (mission family here that's moving to Florida soon, Sydney is their oldest daughter) will be traveling to Western Honduras to visit some of their friends they have their from the first place they lived in before they moved to Balfate.
I'll try to post once or twice a week and keep you updated. Thank you for reading and your prayers are appreciated!
Mucho amor,
Maria
Friday, June 22, 2012
Only a few more days!
And here is a bird's eye view of the school, hospital and the apartment building I'll be living in too. Really close to the ocean, and lots and lots of greenery everywhere.
I'm going to try to post on here at least once a week while I'm away and will post lots of pictures on facebook and some of my favorites here on the blog.
I fly out Sunday evening, June 24th, so I'll do my first real post from Honduras soon after that. So until then--stay tuned!
And gracias a todos for all your thoughts and prayers going into my trip this summer. It really does mean a lot to me to hear such amazing encouragement and to know that people have been praying for not only my health and safety, but also for the people in the community there and the frienships and relationships that I will be making soon. I can't wait to see what God has planned for me, and to share it with you guys!
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