September 16, 2010 Happy Faces At A Toy Giveaway In Zuniga Arriba, Valle

Today was a wonderful day filled with lots of hot, hard work but I had a great time giving away toys sent to my by Halo of Hope Ministry directed by Dale and Gloria Leiniger. 

Thank you to Jack DeLoss Taylor Trust for their help in paying for the gasoline to get to this remote village.  This pueblo is 2 hours on a bumpy, hole filled asphalt road then another hour and 15 minutes on a dirt road.  We took an eye team with us and were able to examine about 70 people and found several with cataracts who will receive surgery next week.

September 13, 2010 Miscellaneous Wheelchair Giveaways Over The Last Few Months

Many times I give away one wheelchair at a time and other times friends give away the wheelchairs and send me the photos.  The following are photos of people who received wheelchairs in the last few months.

Free Wheelchair Mission

 donates the chairs to the ministry and we are able to bless many people with the gift of mobility.

My precious friend Vilo Martinez is one of those who helps me give away wheelchairs.  He is the guy on the left in the blue shirt.

A HUGE thank you to Jack DeLoss Taylor trust for their donation which helps keep me in gasoline to be able to deliver these wheelchairs.  Also to the Michael Martin family which keeps the ministry truck running with their donations.  

September 10, 2010 Children's Day With The Kids From The Garbage Dump

Last week I baked and froze 300+ cupcakes for todays event.

These are the precious children who were waiting when we arrived.

Aren't they cute?

There are always a few clowns in the crowd...

Look at these pink sandles and pink shirt...

And then there are the shy ones...

A friend took off work and went with me to help give out the cupcakes and pour the coke... I know neither of those are good for you, but it was Children's Day and they might not like Broccoli!

Not sure what the pucker face was about...

Some of the kids played with their friends on the floor...

I had to take a photo with the clowns...

Fixing hundreds of drinks...

Vilo Martinez, the good lookin' guy in the striped shirt invited me to participate in the event... He bought and brought hundreds of plates of food for the kids.  I was blessed to help give it out to them...

These kids are all children who scavenge in the Tegicigalpa City Dump...

A local pastor has set up a private school just for them with computers and everything...  It is a wonderful facility and that is where we held the event...

Getting ready to eat chicken and rice...

I am so thankful that I had a nice home to live in growing up and I am so thankful that my girls (Jessica Searcy Maldonado and Sarah Searcy Gonzalez) had a nice home to live in when they were growing up.  

Have you ever wondered why you were born where you were? and why your parents are your parents?  I think God placed me where He did because He knew I had compassion for those less fortunate than I am...  

I am thankful for those who help me with the ministry where I am able to help others.... I am thinking today of Jack DeLoss Taylor Trust and the Michael Martin family who have helped me tremendously this year.

Thanks also to my mom Mary Lucille Wallace Andrews from Buckner Arkansas who taught me how to cook.  Because of her I am able to be a blessing to others by making them tasty food...  And thanks to my dad who keeps everything going for me on the home front where I can be here in Honduras doing what I love to do...HELPING OTHERS!

September 7, 2010 Wheelchair Giveaway Del Campo Bilingual School

Their names (left to right): Augusto Javier Chavez, Hubert Bodden, Luis Fortin, Gustavo Mejia, Rocio Celis, Alejandra Amaya, Monica Chahin, Carlos Garcia y Carlos Duarte.  The school organization´s name is Social Work of the Academy. 

They are the young heroes which found this man in desperate need of a wheelchair and helped him.  They attend Del Campo School In Tegucigalpa and are part of the Social Work of the Academy class taught by Edwin Lagos.  

Thanks to Free Wheelchair Mission for providing the wheelchair.  Thanks to Jack DeLoss Taylor Trust for donating the money to pay for the gas to get there to deliver the chair.  Thanks to teacher Edwin Lagos for inviting me to speak to the class at Del Campo School.

September 5, 2010 El Heraldo Interviewed Me To Write An Article About The Ministry

I had the expectation of a small article and a full page came out in this morning's newspaper.  
I was thrilled with the article, BUT why did they pick a picture with my mouth open? I asked the guy and he said, "Your mouth was open in all of them!"  What did he expect?  They were taking photos while interviewing me.

The title says: The Great Mission To Serve The Poorest
She left the comfort of the USA and inserted herself into the most miserable parts of the south of Honduras. Her objective is to take hope and health. More than 8,000 patients have received surgeries as a result of her medical teams.

September 3, 2010 Only In Honduras! My Neighbor Decides To Make A Window Into My Patio Area

In Tegucigalpa houses are built right up to the property line.  

This means, one's property line and airspace are right next to one's neighbor's property line and air space.

This is what I woke up to this morning!  The neighbor hired an unscrupulous handyman to make a window in the wall, looking directly into the backyard/patio.  The worst thing is that the man cut the steel rebar column, after he finished making the hole.  So now the 4 floor building is minus a column and since the entire building is NOT up to code, I am praying that the building doesn't fall over with the next big wind or next small earthquake.  (see how small the column is just 4 small rebars and this is for 4 stories of building and they have one column like that every 6 feet)

I had already had the same problem with the previous owner, but that was resolved when he found out that I knew the building code.  So he closed off the 5 windows which were illegally looking into my patio.  So I have had the pleasure of looking at the, filled in with block, window holes minus the stucco.  Sometimes I get really tired over people trying to run over my rights... just because I am a gringa... and they think I am too dumb to know any better...  Or maybe it is because they want to do what they want to do and it really doesn't matter to them that they are breaking the law.  Either way, what happened to common decency and respect for the law?

The end to the story is that they have their window and I have a huge piece of tin covering it up on my side of the wall.  No air goes in and no light goes in.  If they don't close it up soon, I guess I will have to build a small wall to hang my plants on and fill between the new small plant wall and their window hole with concrete!  Would I do that?  Yes I would... 

September 2, 2010 Giving Away Wheelchairs to HRN For Disabled In Danli Who Were Flooded Out

Severe flooding in Danli has caused the eyes of Honduras to turn to this area in Eastern Honduras on the Nicaraguan border.  

Today I dropped off two wheelchairs to Radio HRN open air collection center for people who lost theirs in the recent flood.

September 2, 2010 Giving Away 2 Wheelchairs to the Old Folks Hospital

This group of students needed a project to graduate... so they found out that the Social Security Hospital for older people needed some wheelchairs... They contacted Renan Inestroza of Repuesta Por Andar and he contacted me.  So off we went to donate wheelchairs... or so we thought...

When we arrived, they had a party planned...

The retired people were dressed in their dancing folk clothing...

and the ones who could... DANCED!!!

and they danced...

and they danced...

and they danced... while the ones who can't dance watched from the chairs around the room...

then they danced some more...

and some more...

and some more...

after the party we turned over the wheelchairs...

and we posed for photos with the dancers and the kids who planned the party and the give-away...

August 31, 2010 Baking 300 Cupcakes For The Kids At The City Dump

Vilo Martinez, a friend and a young man with a huge heart, told me about an event he is having at the City Dump on Children's Day.  He is taking some treats to the children who scavenge at the dump on a daily basis.  Early this year, we took toys to them a few weeks after Christmas.  

I asked if I could participate by helping him with the food.  In the end, I volunteered to bake cupcakes for each child.  When I asked how many children, I was shocked... at the beginning of the year there were 80+  now there are 300.  So I am baking, baking, baking!

When we return from the Dump next week, I will post photos!