God Can Use Ordinary People To Do Extraordinary Things.....

Hello Friends!

I have been missing in action.

I have so much to tell you.

It'll definitely take several posts to catch you up on everything that has been going on.

Remember I went with a group of 30 other people to San Bartolo, Lempira, Honduras the week of April 17th-24th on a Medical Mission Trip?

Our medical team consisted of 1 Doctor, 4 Nurses, 3 Dentists, and 4 Pharmacists. There were a host of other people, Pastors, Children's Ministries, Food Workers, and other helpers that were essential to the success of the week.

There was nothing at all special about those of us that went. Simply God using ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Here are the details of the week.....

300 people led to Christ with 7 rededications.

927 children heard the gospel.

2117 patients were treated in medical clinic.

12,000 prescriptions filled.

513 Dental patients.

981 teeth pulled.

400 eye patients.

303 pairs of glasses dispensed.

3 minor surgical procedures performed.

I thought we were gonna get to deliver a baby while we were there but it just didn't happen, lol. We treated a lady in clinic that was 9 months pregnant, who had walked, yes walked, 3 hours to see us, only to wait another 5 hours in line. She hadn't seen a doctor or midwife her ENTIRE pregnancy.

Isn't that unbelievable?

I remember nearly having a panic attack trying to get my 4th ultrasound approved with Kylee, not to mention those countless visits to the Dr's office.

We are blessed indeed.

I thought I'd share some pictures with you from my week, surprised huh?

It's amazing to know the Creator of the Universe, who placed each cloud in the sky, is madly in love with me

Beautiful Country of Honduras

Selling fish by the side of the road

Homes

Nice Homes

Welcome to San Bartolo, Lempira, Honduras

People waiting for the gate to open

Me and Belkis, My Sweet Translator

The Medical Clinic

Look at these eyes =)

Beautiful Mother and her Baby Girl

Adorable

The Pastor of the Local Church

Sweet Girl

So Beautiful

Such a Little Man

Most of these kids came through the clinic without a parent

Sweet Baby Boy

How cute is this?

Blonde Hair, Green Eyed girl is not a common site in Honduras

Lots of respiratory sickness because of all the dust and dirt roads

This boy is so adorable =)

She is cute too!

The playground at the school where we stayed and worked at, pretty sad, huh?

This is the Girls Bathroom.
There was no light, so even in the daytime you had to take a flashlight to the bathroom with you. You were in bad shape if you forgot it. =)

We slept on old Army cots.
I slept under a mosquito net, not everyone did.

These are our showers.
Yes, we did get showers everyday, though they were ICE cold.
Didn't matter though, it was most appreciated.

It was an awesome week. It is great to be a part of such an amazing group of people who simply want to be the Hands and Feet of Christ and tell others about Him.

I have much more to tell.......

Love you MUCH!

=],

Day 1.....

We started the day with breakfast at 6:00am.

We had a bad, bad, bad storm here last night and the power has been out ever since.

Clinic began a little after the planned time of 7am due to the power outage.

It has been a long, tiring day. We had 600 people come through today. We only stopped very briefly for lunch.

There has been an array of complaints. Some upper respiratory infections, ear infections, lots of fungal infections, vaginal infections, dry eyes, urinary tract infections, asthma among other things.

By the end of the day we had the routine of clinic down pat. Tomorrow should be much smoother.

Love you MUCH!

=],
Gracie

We made it to the village about 3:30. The 4 hour bus trip turned into 8 and a half so it was a really, really long day.

We worked all afternoon unpacking and organizing supplies. We will start clinic bright and early in the morning.

On a good note, we do have water so I was able to shower. It was ICE cold but it was a shower nonetheless. You never know, we may not have water tomorrow.

It's raining hard here now, thundering and lightning.

My mosquito net worked perfectly. I am about to put it to good use and go to sleep.

I can't wait to see what God has in store for us tomorrow.

Love you MUCH!

=],
Gracie

The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round.....

And so our wheels go round and round as we head to our destination.

We are traveling on an old school bus. It has no air conditioning but with all the windows down it is quite comfortable actually.

It is packed full. There are 31 of us plus all the translators and support staff that have joined us.

So far I've seen a dead horse on the side of the road that was being eaten by buzzards. They didn't let us zooming by bother them because they didn't move.

I've also seen some beautiful countryside. Lots of banana and coconut trees. The mountains are gorgeous.

The roads are still paved right now but are getting worse. They will continue to get worse the further we go and will soon only be dirt.

I have many, many pictures to share with you when I get back.

I'm not sure I will have service for much longer, probably won't but I will update as I can.

Love you MUCH!

=],
Gracie

The Journey Begins.....

The journey begins.

The journey to Honduras that is, most specifically to San Bartolo, Lempira.

We arrived in Honduras about 12:30PM. Our flight was a little late due to some turbulence. For the record, not a fan of turbulence, just sayin.

What I am a fan of is looking at God's creation from an altitude of 38000 feet.

I sat by the window looking out the entire time and basically looked like a kid at Christmas. Though I have flown before, there is always something about it that takes my breath away every time.

I am in awe that all those gorgeous, billowy, white clouds were just spoken into existence by The Creator who loves and cares for ME, whose heart aches when mine aches and who is angry when I am treated unkind.

Yes, my dear Friends this journey has begun.

We are spending the night in the city and will be heading to the village at 7 in the morning.

The bus ride is estimated to be 5 hours long. It is 90 degrees here and the only bus air conditioning is from the windows being rolled down.

On a very positive note, the Hotel has water so we were able to get a shower tonight as well as in the morning. Not so sure about the village yet though. Showers are good! ;)

I am operating off 1 hour sleep last night and I am TOTALLY exhausted. I will update you all as I have service and can.

Love you MUCH!

=],
Gracie

As I type this on my BlackBerry, I am on a church bus with 30 other people heading to the Atlanta airport to fly to San Bartolo, Lempira Honduras for a medical mission trip.
I am not really sure what kind of conditions we will be staying in yet, if it will be bad or worse, but I hope to be able to update you throughout the week.
I am so excited. Everything has worked out perfectly for me to go on this trip. I anticipate a life changing experience. Any Nurse could go and do this, so it's not what the Hondurans get from me but yet what I am getting from them.
Life changing experiences.
I love you all MUCH.

~~ Gracie =]

Waiting For The Storm To Pass, Literally.....

So, here I sit, bright and early this Saturday morning, at a softball field in Madison (Huntsville), Alabama, waiting on this to pass so our Lady Panthers can play.



Hope we're not in a hurry, huh? May take a while.

So, I am catching up on you while we wait the storm out.

Waiting the storm out, sounds familiar, huh?

Been there, done that. Haven't we all.

Hope you all have a fabulous Easter weekend.

Love you MUCH!

=],