I hope you had a good week and have not melted in this heat !   We had a great trip to Belize; it was hot, and we worked very hard.

This is the first time we have been there this time of the year which is the start of the rainy season.  We usually go in late March/early April, which is still the dry season, and we rarely see any rain at all.  This time it rained and stormed several nights and some during the day.  The mango trees are also loaded, which I had never seen before;  I don’t think I even knew there were mango trees there, but people were eating them all the time, and we also ate them several times, plus juice with lots of fruits, including mango in it, which was absolutely wonderful !

It is also crab season there, and at night there would be crabs everywhere coming from the ocean, which is right across the street from the hospital, and where we were driving at night, we would see them creeping around, plus lots of dead ones on the roads !  Some of the rains were pretty hard, and since it is also the beginning of hurricane season, sometimes I wondered if it was a hurricane, and we just didn’t hear the warning !  It was pretty amazing and added a different dimension to our trip for sure.

It was sooooooooooooooo hot and humid.  Of course, it is always hot there; I really don’t know what the temperature was, but I was wet most of the day, every day.  Our operating room has an air conditioner, but now that we have an extra scrub tech with us, I am not in the OR as much as in the past.  It is better for me to be out in the hall, running things !  That is apparently what I do best, and I am happy to do it to keep things moving along.  There is a LOT of activity and things to coordinate.  But the hallway is stifling hot !  I shipped two new fans for us to use, and upon my arrival,  I sent one of our helpers out to buy two more !  So we had fans in every location possible.

The hospital has made more improvements, and they now have an actual labor and delivery “suite”, which is much better for them and their patients.  The down side for us is that we were able to use two of those rooms last time for our pre-op and recovery area.  That area is right across the hall from our OR and supply area, and that end of the hospital is separated by a doorway, which keeps traffic out.

So that was ideal for us last time; we were all in the same area; the visitors couldn’t get to our surgeons with their countless questions and needs, and we were able to cool the “pre-op area” by putting a fan in the delivery room door while it was not occupied. The delivery room also has an air conditioner. We put up dark paper “blinds” over the windows to keep the sun out, and that area was fairly cool most of the time.  This time we were not able to use those rooms at all.  They did give us two other rooms further down the hallway; one was our “break room”, and the other one they had planned for us to use as pre-op and recovery.  It was a very small room with no AC, and we later figured out that the doorway was too small to get our stretcher in. We could actually squeeze one in there, but it would have been impossible with a patient on it with side rails up etc., so for the first several days, we just took our patients further down the hallway to the female ward, where we had an oxygen tank set up.

There are about 8 beds in that room, so there was no way to provide much privacy for the recovery patient or our staff, and there are always visitors lurking about, and it was very HOT in that area.  We thought our recovery nurses were going to suffocate there.  This is the way we used to do it, and it was misery for those nurses, so the set up last year was so much better, and we were hoping for that again, but it didn’t work out that way.   We did use the little room for pre-op, but with it outside the “barrier door”, we had the same “crowd control” issue.

I spent a lot of my time trying to keep the doctors away from unnecessary questions by visitors, patients, and our people as well.  I know they don’t understand they are bothering them, but the surgeons have enough to do without everyone else hounding them all day about stuff that I can handle.   And it is not that the surgeons don’t want to talk to people, but they also need a little time to rest, eat, drink, or take a nap without being disturbed every minute ! At some point during the week, one of the hospital nurses figured out that their ambulance stretchers were not as wide as the other ones, so we started using one of them, and we were able to get those ones into our little “recovery” room.

We also decided to buy another air conditioner (we had to buy one last year for the OR; the old one died)  and put it in that pre-op room, so the hospital “maintenance” guy installed that for us which made things better; it certainly cooled that room off, and probably was more of a morale booster than anything else.  My next goal is to try to provide AC for that labor/delivery area.   I don’t know how those patients and/or nurses can stay in there with the sun beaming in those windows all day.  My “desk” was in the hallway right outside one of their doors, and the heat was killing me, so I cannot imagine staying in a bed in those rooms !  They need AC and vertical blinds on those windows.  I will have to work on that.   It would take at least $2,500 to do it, I think.

I sweated more than I ever have.   I know I said that last year, but I am sure it was at least the same or more this time.  It would start the minute I left my hotel room, and my clothes were wet most of the rest of the day, and sometimes, sweat was pouring off my face.  It is amazing.  The only relief is to be standing in front of a fan constantly or to be inside a room or car with AC.

Mayfair Church is supporting a young missionary, Robert, who has been living in Punta Gorda for the past 18 months, and he helped us from time to time. When we arrived, he suggested a place for us to lget our lunch each day.   He said,  “it is only two blocks from the hospital; you can just walk there and get what you want.”  I said,  “I am not walking two blocks in this heat for anything !”   For the past 2-3 years, we have made arrangements with a bed/breakfast place right across the street from the hospital for our lunches.  Their place does not have enough bed space for our group, so we don’t sleep there, and they are pretty expensive.  It is owned by an American couple.  This place is right on the ocean with a wonderful view and usually a great breeze.  We can sit outside and be served a nice lunch and sit and relax for 30 minutes, then get right back to work.  The lunch price is very reasonable, and we have a very good relationship with them.

We can also yell outside the OR window in case of emergency if we need one of the doctors or anesthesia people, so it is an ideal set up for us.   We found a new restaurant this time which was perfect for us for breakfast and most of our dinners.  It is also owned by an American woman; her name is Allison, and I think she became disgusted with her life in the States and decided to make a change.  I don’t know all the details, but she is a very nice woman and is a great cook !

Her place is right behind the hospital and we pass right by it driving to and from our hotel.  One of our anesthetists, Gordon, who handles the money for us, stopped by the first day when he saw the “donut” sign  (Gordon REALLY likes to eat, so he notices these things !).  He met her and arranged a “running tab” with her and told her our schedule.  She made breakfast for us each day, and our favorite was her “egg McMuffin”, which was a home made bagel with egg, cheese, and ham or bacon inside.  It was delicious and perfect for us; we got those most mornings. She also did some pastries and other things, but she took care of breakfast every day except one, I think.   One morning we didn’t even have to go inside.  I guess she saw us coming and came out to the curb and handed it to us……..our first, “drive-thru” service in Belize !  I think she has only been in Belize a few months and started her business just a few weeks ago, so she was grateful for the business and was so impressed with what we were doing.  She also promised our evangelist, Don, that she would be at Church on Sunday, so this may be the start of something really good.

She prepared our dinner several nights.  In the past, we had to send someone out to place orders, then go back to either bring them back for us to eat at the hospital or go to the restaurant to eat.  It takes soooooooooooooooo long to eat at any of the restaurants there, and we usually don’t want to take the time away from our work or we are just too tired at night to sit somewhere two hours trying to eat some dinner.  Allison does not have much dining space, so we all could not go to her place to sit down.  So she would either send a large casserole dish or fix individual take out plates for us, plus her fabulous fruit juices in ½ gallon containers, and we would either eat at the hospital if we were still working or take them back to the hotel where we would sit on the porch.  It was so much better than before.  Of course anything is better than the “early days” when we dared not eat at any local establishment for fear of food poisoning, and we ate Vienna sausages, beanie wieners, and canned fruit while sitting on a broken down stool or the floor in the corner of our supply room  !  Now those were the days !   Our new people and the young folks really can’t appreciate our pioneer spirit and suffering we went through in those days !

We have used the same hotel for several years, and it was nice, clean, and convenient for us.  It may not be the nicest place in the town, but we like it, and we love the owner, who is also a pilot for the “little planes”  airline we use to get to Punta Gorda.  The hotel is right beside the air strip, so we just walk over.  The owner, Heston, also lives in the “hotel” with his wife and child, and if he is around, he is always happy to drive us around if someone needs a ride somewhere.  We rent a van for the group to use, but occasionally someone has it on another errand, and two or three of us would need a ride somewhere.  He really appreciates our business and looks forward to our return each year.

We have developed such a wonderful relationship with so many people in this town, and it is really special.  I know they trust us, and some of them really seem to realize our dedication to them.  To them we are not just another “mission group” coming for a “feel-good” adventure in a third world country.  They know we respect them and want to provide for them because we love them; not just because we want to say we have been somewhere and helped the poor, ignorant people.  They also appreciate the fact that we do so much for their people.  We hear this every year and again this year……….although they do now have a “regional medical center” in Dangriga, which is 2 hours drive from them, as opposed to the hospital in Belize City, which is about 5-6 hours drive, they still say,  “we will wait for you to return to have our surgery”.  They do not trust the doctors in their own hospitals, most of which are foreign doctors who have come to do their “rural health” residency; most of which do not have much experience, and all of which do not care about the poor people in the southern district.

I have no idea who the doctors are in Dangriga or what their skill levels are.  We have not seen that hospital.  At one point a few years ago, the regional director indicated that he wanted our group to work in Dangriga each year instead of Punta Gorda, but we graciously refused that offer and told him that we would prefer to stay in PG and help the people there.  We wondered if we would be allowed to come back at all after we declined that offer, but we haven’t heard anything else about that suggestion.

It sounds good on paper to have a “regional” medical center, and even if the services are free, which I doubt, these poor people cannot afford the trip there, plus the living expenses for family to go and stay or visit while someone is in the hospital.  And we have also heard of situations where a surgery was scheduled, then the patients gets there only to find out that his case has been canceled/rescheduled for various reasons, and they have to go home again.  It is so sad.  We had two patients this time with acute appendicitis that we operated on.  The usual procedure would be to transfer them to Dangriga for their surgery, but that is usually a pretty long wait, depending on ambulance availability, and some people don’t have a lot of time to wait after they are finally diagnosed.  Some of them will die before they can have surgery.  I am glad we were there to be consulted.  Another woman had an incarcerated hernia, which means a loop of her bowel was stuck in the hernia, so it did not get enough blood supply.  We had to remove that part of her bowel and put the two good ends together, plus try to fix the hernia.  She had already been in the hospital over 24 hours when we were asked to see her.  She would have probably died if we had not been there.  Her chances were not very good with that situation.  She did fine and went home after her surgery.

Another woman who was 4 months pregnant had an incomplete miscarriage and was bleeding a lot.  We did a D&C for her to remove the remaining tissue.  We also had to give her a lot of IV fluids with special medicines in it to make her uterus contract properly and slow down the bleeding.  She also did not have a very good chance of surviving a trip to Dangriga to get that done.  She also did well and went home.  I think this was her 4^th miscarriage, and she doesn’t have any living children.  She admitted to smoking marijuana, but I don’t know if that is the problem or not, but she said she plans to have a tubal ligation, so she will not get pregnant again.  We may see her again next year for that surgery !

The other cases were more “routine” and non-emergent.  We did 9 gall bladder surgeries; they all had stones, and all of them had recurrent attacks of pain that they had been suffering with for a long time.  It is sad that they have this condition for so long and feel that they cannot trust their own surgeons do give them some relief.

We saw 6 more people who need the gall bladder surgery, but did not come to us in time to get it done this time, so we put them on the schedule for next year, and they will probably suffer through and wait another year until we return and hope they will be able to get on our schedule. We did leave them with some pain meds to use for the “severe attacks”, but that is all we could do.  We try to do the “Major” cases early in the week, so we will be there to follow up with them.  These folks didn’t come for evaluation until Wednesday when our schedule was full, and our last day to operate was Friday.  We did only minor procedures on Thursday and Friday.  We did a total of 48 surgeries, plus several other little procedures, some in the ER, suture removal, etc.  I didn’t even keep up with all the patients the doctors evaluated this time.  They examined all the surgery patients except the tubal ligations.  I can schedule those without an exam unless there is some other condition going on.  The anesthesia guys also see all of the patients ahead of time, so that keeps us all very busy.  There also are other people who think they may need surgery and are examined by the doctors, but we do not put on our schedule.  Some can be treated with medicines or they need a surgery that we do not do.

We had mostly our “usual crew” with some added new people. Some of them did very well; others were obviously in culture shock and not accustomed to hard work.  Dr. Cobb’s son, Tom, was with us again.  Tom recently graduated from high school and will attend Freed-Hardeman University in the fall.  I really like him.  He is so sweet and down to earth like his Dad.  He doesn’t meet a stranger and doesn’t hesitate to use an opportunity to start a Bible study.  He did a lot of running for us and bringing in boxes from an outside storage area where our shipped boxes had been stored.  Several in the group also left each evening and conducted a VBS at the local church for the kids in town.  I think they ended up with 60 children, which was a lot for them to manage.  The local minister and his wife plus some of the other church members also helped with them, but I know they were worn out by the end of the night.

We had a new OR nurse with us, Nancy, who is about my age, I guess and works at Huntsville East with two of our veterans, Leesa and Allen.  They both recommended her, and she did well.  Nancy stayed in the hotel room with Leesa and me, and we have always been the early risers and first to the hospital to begin the morning set-up, so I think Nancy finally gave up on trying to sleep late and just decided she may as well get up and go with us.  She was actually pleasant about it, but I think she was more than ready to get back home !  Leesa and I could have stayed for weeks, I think and been perfectly content.

Nancy went one day early with me and the two anesthetists to get things set up.  That worked well, so she would know what supplies we had and where they were.  She worked as the “circulator” nurse, so she needed to know where everything is.  I was glad to have that first day to unpack things and get them set up and organized.  It was hot, of course, and our first day in the heat.  We have to drink constantly to keep from getting dehydrated there.  We kept the “helpers” busy each day, keeping the little frig in our break room supplied.  At night everything in our “break room”  has to be put in zip lock bags and off the floor or the room will be full of ants by the next morning.

Friday was our last day to do surgery; we had been warned earlier in the week that there would be a “scheduled black out”……….there would be NO power in the town from 6am -12 noon.  We had those before, and we know that it probably means more like 2-3 pm, so we were prepared.  I did not schedule any surgery that day until 3pm, and we planned a little “excursion” for the morning.  The hospital staff has traditionally prepared a “pot-luck” lunch for us on the last day, and that is always nice.  They did that again, but we didn’t need electricity for that; I guess they all have gas stoves, and the food was wonderful, and we always enjoy spending that time with them.

So when I learned of the scheduled black-out, I told the rest of the group of my plan.  “ I will be in the van with the AC running at 6am when the power goes off……….any where in this town will be miserable; there will be NO fans or AC……..I plan to drive to Blue Creek, take off my shoes and sit beside the creek under the shade tree with my feet in the water ! “………Blue Creek is such an oasis in this area for me.  It is about 45 minutes drive from our hotel and close to the village of San Antonio where we held the medical clinic for all those early years.   It is actually part of a wild life reserve and has become one of the “tourist attractions” in the area.  National Geographic did some sort of “Jungle Canopy Life” TV series there several years ago.  You stop at the creek, then you can walk about a mile into the jungle to a lodge, where some people go to spend the night or nights.  (Personally, that does not sound like fun to me, but apparently some people like that sort of thing)   I did the walk in once, and that was enough for me. There are also hiking trails and other fun stuff to do there.

A few years ago, one of our pharmacists went on a little excursion there with a group and was climbing on some rocks and fell in a hole and cracked his skull.   LONNNNNNNNNNGG story, but he ended up air evacuated by helicopter to Belize City airport, then taken back to Huntsville by Medjet assist on life support where he was in ICU for weeks, then in rehab for months…….he survived and seems in perfect health now.  He did go back to Belize with us the next year  !   There are a few houses right by the creek and one kind person who has allowed me to use her indoor bathroom on several occasions.  There are no stores or any other touristy things; some of the local women bring their crafts there to sell, but mostly you just see women and kids bathing in the creek and doing their daily laundry.  It is really amazing to see, and I guess they are used to tourists staring at them.

I had a nice conversation this time with a young girl who is 13 and was doing the daily laundry for her family of 10!  It was a lot of work, but she seemed pleasant about it and was out of school for the summer and plans to finish high school and go to college to study to be a biology teacher.  Another nurse, Debra, stayed with me by the creek, along with Allen, one of the anesthetists.   They also decided to avoid the heat and mosquitoes in the jungle.  Debra and I had a nice visit while Allen napped under a tree.

Before we got to the creek, we went to visit a family we met three years ago. The woman was in labor with her 12^th child and had a prolapsed cord, and we did an emergency c-section.  That baby probably would have died before they could get her to another hospital, but they both did very well, and she named the baby Theodore Gerald, after our two physicians.  We have gone back to see them the past two years, and that is always fun.  When we got to the house, the mother was not there; they were not expecting us, and maybe didn’t even know we were in town at this time.  We did see Little “Teddy” and his other siblings and we got to visit with them for a while and leave them some books, bears, and other goodies.  This was our first “home visit” for the new people, and they were obviously stunned and a little afraid of the local “wildlife”.  I warned them,  “don’t get out of this van until you put on the bug spray……….you will be covered with chiggers if you don’t”   It is so funny to me, and I forget that us old folks just think this is a part of our lives and it is nothing unusual to us anymore.

So back at the creek, we told everyone, “You have 2 hours to get back to the van”.  By the time they came out of the jungle, they were all wet with sweat and exhausted !  Dr. Cobb was the only one who seemed relaxed and calm; he has been on that hike before, so he knew what to expect and how to pace himself, and he mainly went to look after the adventurous young people.

On the way back, we stopped to visit another post-op patient who had surgery this time, and she was glad to see us.  We have done this post-op home visit thing the past three years, and we really enjoy it.  We want to make sure everyone is OK for one thing, but it is also a day to get out of the town and see where the people live, and the people seem so thrilled that we actually will come to their homes.  We give them a piece of red plastic and tell them to tie it on a tree or something near the road so we can find their home, so it turns into a scavenger hunt for us.

Jim and I went on the post op journey last year and we enjoyed it.  I stayed back this time with Allen and Gordon to do the packing up and inventory for next year.  Frankly by the end of the week, I was glad for a quiet day away from everyone else, and it was good for me to be able to sort, pack, throw away old stuff and get things organized and inventoried for the next trip by myself.  Sometimes in the past, we tried to do that on the last surgery day, and it was so chaotic with so many people trying to “help”.  We decided to just work as long as possible on the last surgery day and factor in another day for visiting and packing up, and this works much better.  So with the power outage day,  I did get to do a little visiting and got to sit by the creek for a while, so that was enough for me.

The “post-op” visiting  group all said they had a great time and were able to visit every one.  It was a very long day for them; they finally got away around 9:30 am, I think and did not get back to town until 9pm !  They stayed at one house for about 2 hours, I think, which slowed them down.  It was the home of one of the church members who lives way up the side of a hill, and he wanted them to all stay and sing with him and his family.  He even had song books for them to use !  They said they sang a couple of songs and got up trying to leave, but the family kept suggesting more songs and insisted on singing all the verses of each one.  Dr. Cobb finally said,  “we can stay here and sing all night if you want to !”   Leesa said, “Dr. Cobb really enjoyed the visiting; he was in his element for sure.”

They also went to visit one patient who lives in the village of San Jose, which is a LONG way off the main road.  I have been to that village several times in the past, taking patients home late at night after dropping the rest of the team off at the hotel in the village where we used to stay.  I would usually do the driving and get a “volunteer” to ride with me so everyone else could get to sleep.  So some of us have been to San Jose and described it as going to “the end of the world”.  It’s really not that far, but at night and on that terrible road, it seems forever.

Well, when they got back, they said,  “we have been to San Jose !  It is a long way; we thought we would never get out of there !  It is like going to the end of the world !”          I just said,  “REALLY ! ! !  ! ! ! Allen finally said,  “we have been there several times…………..we have been telling you about San Jose for years” !  I guess you just don’t get it until you do it yourself ?

We were ablet to visit all the churches in the area and the local ministers while we were there.  Some of us went to San Pedro Columbia for worship on Sunday, while the others worshipped with the Punta Gorda Church, then the post op group visited with many of the San Antonio Church members on Saturday.  The Church continues to grow in the Toledo district; many of the young people are leaving the villages to find work in the larger towns.  Our evangelist this time was Don Hudson, who lives near Dr. Cobb.  He is 70, I think, and the most energetic and persistent evangelist I have been around in a long time.  He got up early each morning to get in his “5 mile run” for the day, then he would come by our “apartment” which included a coffee maker and drink about 3 cups of coffee before breakfast.  Then he would hit the streets, talking, visiting, and studying with anyone who would allow him in their door.  I was concerned about him being out in that heat, but he did just fine.   A LOT of people were willing to study with him, and over 30 of them promised him they would attend services with him on Sunday.  I flew back home on Sunday, so I don’t know how many of them actually showed up, but I was really impressed with him.  He also met every hospital employee and studied with all of those who showed an interest.  One of the hospital nurses, Chima, who is from Nigeria was baptized while we were there.  Robert said she had been visiting the PG Church, but it was apparently Don’s teaching that convinced her to be baptized.  Prior to her baptism, Don reminded her of the story of Esther, and the effect that one woman’s actions had on the world.  He never hesitated to talk to anyone and always seemed to know the right thing to say.

We missed Jim this time, and I think he really missed going.  Maybe next year, he will be able to arrange the time off from his work.  It is always wonderful for me to be able to work with this group of Christian professionals, and I look forward to the next trip.  Allen and I have worked together for 15 years; the others have come along since that time, and some of them have been with us 10 or more years.

We understand and love each other, and we know the needs of the people there and pray that we can continue to help them for many more years to come.   We appreciate your support and encouragement; without your help, we could not help these “less fortunate” ones.  May God continue to bless you.

Love,  Gloria

We arrived home late this evening from another great trip to Belize. We were able to perform surgical procedures for 52 people, plus evaluate countless others who wanted to see the doctor. Some are already waiting for the next time we will go there for their surgery.

The weather was HOT, but we all survived; everyone worked really hard, 12-16 hours each day, and we still could not get to everyone who needed our services. There were 14 in our group this time, plus we had the assistance of two local ministers, Venus Chun and Kenion Gill, and also Robert Durough, who is working with Mayfair Church of Christ this spring in Punta Gorda. He was a tremendous help to us, and he was able to meet and study with many of the patients and family members in the hospital while we were there.

On Sunday, we drove out to San Pedro Village for Church services which also included the baptism in the river of a young man who had been studying with Venus Chun, the local minister there. We also worshipped wih the Punta Gorda Church Sunday evening after having a “post op clinic” at the building, where all the Punta Gorda patients were asked to come for a check up.

On Monday, we traveled all day to various villages to see 18 patients who lived outside the Punta Gorda area. It was a long, HOT day with a lot of walking, climbing hills, sweating, and driving, but it was great to be away from the hospital and mostly wonderful to be able to visit with the families in their homes. They really appreciated our making the effort to come to their homes. Earlier in the week, one of our patients decided that she wanted to be baptized before her surgery. Diane Florida had been studying with her in the pre-op area, so Jim arranged for us to use the pool at a bed/breakfast guest house across the street from the hospital, and she was baptized, then had her gall bladder surgery. That was a first for us!

We are happy to be home and hope to see you all soon. Thanks for your interest and support of the work in Belize. I will write MUCH more later !

Love,
Gloria

So much for the mild weather. It only lasted one day. On Tuesday after a late start due to getting everything organized we did 8 surgeries. On Wednesday we had a power outage from 8:00 Am to 12:30. We were only able to do minor cases during this time. After the power returned we found that the air condtioner in the OR could not keep the room cool enough to work in. We bought a new unit and the maintenance men came at 5:00 PM to install it. We waited until about 7:00 and it became apparent that it would be several more hours before the installation would be complete, so we called it a day with only 5 surgeries. Today the new air conditioner is working great and we are moving along a good pace. Bible studies are being conducted in the waiting rooms, hallways, pre-op room and on the veranda. Everyone who has surgery has a Bible lesson before hand, usually in pre-op.
Everyone is doing good and the only problem seems to be the heat.

May God continue to bless this work and those who have an interest in it,

Jim and Gloria

Update: We just received word from our folks in Belize and it appears that everything is going as planned. Gloria writes,

Greetings from beautiful Belize. The group made the trip down here without any difficulty-only one lost bag. We spent yesterday afternoon and evening getting the pre-op, post-op and operating room set up and started surgeries this morning. Everyone is doing fine. We are receiving teaching support form a Lipscomb University student who is down here for several weeks. He is very eager to help and is doing a good job. The weather is not as hot as usual-probably 10-15 degrees below normal. That is all for now.

Love Jim and Gloria

Continue to keep the team in your prayers.

Barton, as many of you know, was our youth minister for five years before moving to Dallas to begin the first stage of his plans to do mission work in Cusco, Peru.  You can follow Barton and Allison’s progress at The Cusco Chronicles.

Workers preparing gift bags

We have returned from yet another wonderful and productive trip to Romania.  Our newest team member this year is Chris Lee, who is a UAB student and member of the Ashville Road Church of Christ in Leeds, Alabama, where Jim and I are members.  Others returning were Beverly, David, and Melissa Precise (from Scottsboro, Alabama),  and Pam Fondren from Savannah, Tennessee.

We spent several days preparing 4,400 gift bags for the children, and we were able to visit some child care facilities and several hospitals.  We were also able to visit with many Church members, and they all were so grateful for our continued help and interest in their children.

Each year, we have been able to deliver prescription medications that have been donated and/or bought with donated funds.  These meds are used by hospitals, orphanages, and also for the Bucharest Church members who cannot afford to buy their presctiption drugs.  Dr. Radu Boari is a member of the Church, and with our help, he is able to keep a “closet” stocked with a variety of drugs for hypertension, cholesterol, prostate problems, etc, plus antibiotics, cough meds, and assorted over-the-counter meds.

One of the most rewarding aspects of this work is to see the growth of the Bucharest Church.  The attendance continues to increase, and many children we have known these past 9 years are now in high school and college, and some are married and having children of their own.  They and the older adults are all encouraged by our continued support and visits, and they all send their greetings to you all.  We appreciate your help and pray that we will be able to continue this work for many years to come.  Thanks again for your support.

In Christ,
Jim and Gloria Harrington

Placing God at the center of our plans will allow us to experience the final phase: sustenance. The team has made a commitment to sustain the work that we’ve started. We hope to keep it alive through many ways. First, after the five year milestone, we plan to add more team members. Some from the first group may decide to return home and will need to be replaced. Second, we will work to grow the church to a sizeable number that will be self-supportive. This will mean numerical growth, but also we must develop within the number men who will capably lead their church family. Third, one of the most important intentions of our team is to teach the church to plant another church. Like the church in Antioch (Acts 13), the Christians in Cusco, Peru will be a mission-minded group that will influence the surrounding region.

Ultimately, it is our prayer that in 10-20 years we can look into this region of Peru and find many mature, healthy churches of Christ. What a privilege it is for those who give of their resources in the mission field. Moreover, it is a greater honor for all of us to be used as an instrument by God. We are all partners in this work, and to God be the glory.

Published in Seeking Things Above and at The Cusco Chronicles.

Hello everyone. This is the first time that I have personally been near a computer since we have arrived! We have been VERY busy, and we have done a lot of work. Everyone has worked so hard, and we are happy with our progress.

We have made over 4,300 Christmas bags for the children. Tomorrow we plan to visit several hospitals. Saturday, we took a road trip to Tigorviste to a hospital and also to visit friends of ours there, so it was a nice easy day for us.

Chris Lee has worked very hard, and everyone is happy to meet him. I am not sure what his impression of all of this is; it will take a while for it all to sink in, but it has been a good experience for him for sure. He has been so helpful and cooperative with everyone. We could not have done so much work without him for sure.

Six of us are staying together in the upstairs “apartment” at the home of Eugen Ana’s parents. They live about 40 minutes drive (in NON-rush hour traffic). Imogene rented a van to use for deliveries this time, and we are driving it to and from the Church building each day. I did most of the driving last week, and we finally found an easy route to take, so it has been less stressful the past few days. The driving here is definitely different and quite challenging. Jim has driven several times, and David also did some driving yesterday to Tigorviste, which is outside of Bucharest. Jim and I are the only ones who are “insured” to drive it here, so we have to be careful! The trick is just try to drive like a maniac! It has been nice to have a vehicle for all of us to ride together.

We are very tired and are anxious to see everyone again. We have enjoyed our time with the Church members, and they are so encouraged by our visit again.

Dale and Imogene are doing very well; they will leave on Dec 27 to go to the States to visit with their families. Dale will stay one month, and Imogene will wait until April to return to Romania.

That is all I have time for right now.

God is interested in growth.  In fact, life is experienced through growth.  In Genesis 1 and 2 we learn that God created a world that would grow.  In that world He created man, whose greatest achievement would forever be physical, mental, social, and spiritual growth.  Even when God became man, it would be necessary for Him to grow (Lk. 2:52).  And the church today lives by growth.  Like the establishment of the church on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), one of the signs of a true and living church is one that is growing.  Therefore, beginning in the fall of 2010 and reaching into the year 2015, our emphasis will be growth and development.

We’ll be balancing a number of goals throughout this third phase.  Our church plant will officially begin, and so we will participate in intense evangelism.  The contacts we’ve worked to make previously will now develop into Bible students who will hopefully make the decision to become Christians.  This will be an exciting phase because a new church family will be born!  These new converts will develop and grow, and they must find their place in the body, as God has arranged them (1 Cor. 12:18).  Our team will also be committed to broadening our influence in the community.  Finally, we will focus our attention to completing the upcoming goals in the final phase of our work.  We hope you come and visit our work in Peru, and it is our prayer that you’ll find there a living and growing church of Christ.

Published in Seeking Things Above and at The Cusco Chronicles.

Learning to contextualize the gospel will be the purpose behind the second phase of our work:  adaptation.  This period will begin in the fall of 2009, when our team finally arrives in Cusco, Peru.  Taking the time to adapt will accomplish many goals:  honing our communication skills, getting our bearings and overcoming culture shock, building trust among the people, and fulfilling the Lord’s command of doing things “decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).  The team has already set some plans in order to arrive at these goals:  we’ll begin an immersion program (i.e., language and culture study), build contacts within the city, form a relationship with the existing congregation, and work towards the establishment of our congregation.

The adaptation period will last for approximately one year.  It is our hope that what we experience during this first year of adjustment will lay a foundation for solid Bible studies, a dynamic beginning for the Cusco congregation, and a strong presence of the church in the community.  But it all begins with contextualization.  When we discover how to best teach the people, then they will learn of a God “who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4).

Published in Seeking Things Above and at The Cusco Chronicles.