Hepatitis A

Did you know that the beginning symptoms of hepatitis A and Dengue fever are very similar. I was diagnosed with dengue fever on Monday. The symptoms grew worse and I was admitted in the local hospital. While I was in the hospital they did more extensive blood tests on me. The end result was a very clear view of my illness, Hepatitis A. It was great to finally know what the problem was, but not so great to hear that there is not a medicine I could take to cure this. After two days in the hospital, I was more than ready to come home. I did not realize, however, that the medicines they were giving me for nausea were working quite well. I was prescribed the pill form on checkout; while I "enjoy" the same "buzzed" feeling (yes, I am being sarcastic) it does not seem to do anything for the pain. So now I am on bed rest until I am feeling better.

The elevated numbers from my tests were over 1500. The normal number is 41. This number has something to do with the liver, but as the explanation was in Spanish and I was only told the technical name once, I have forgotten the name. After two days in the hospital, my levels were down to just over 900. As Hep A is a virus that is self-immunizing, I will never have to worry about getting it again. I will just have to put up with the pain associated with it until I have recovered. The recovery can take two to six weeks. Since I have had this for a week now, we hopefully are halfway through the battle. I have learned never to take health for granted. Please continue to pray that I will make a speedy recovery. Please also continue to pray for Jason as he is now not only Dad, but also Mom, Cook, Housekeeper, Nurse, Blogg typer, ect....

Cassy has been unavailable to post any new articles to do her recent illness. Cassy was diagnosed with "classic dengue" which is a viral illness carried by mosquitoes. She covets your prayers as she recovers from this sickness. Classic dengue is one of two forms commonly found in Honduras. It comes with a high fever, migranes, and sore muscles. It generally lasts a week or two. The only medication she can take is a high dose of Tylenol. The doctor has recommended hospitalization if symtoms do not improve by Wednesday. Please pray that we can avoid this.

Shopping in Honduras

Do you love shopping? Normally I do, but there are times when shopping in Honduras is just a big headache. For instance, yesterday we had to take in our computer to be repaired (the fan was making funny noises), then buy 20 postcards for a missionary family on deputation, Sunday school materials, and a charger for my cell phone. That took us all day. The hardest things to find were the postcards and cell phone charger. There is a rule in Honduras about shopping. If you think that in the future you may need it, buy it, because when you need it they won't have it. We tried finding the postcards in "tourist" shops near the airport and our house, but they didn't have anything. We tried several stores in the mall, but as we had given up and were leaving I saw some. Yeah! We were so excited not to have had the day wasted.

The cell phone charger was difficult to find. Everyone was out of them. We finally found one at the last cell phone store in the mall. Somehow my kids lost my other one. It still do not know how that happened because it was plugged in behind the VCR and not easy for a kid to reach. My cell phone is a European model so I have to have special adaptor for the plug head. They did not lose that, just the part I really need.

I normally love shopping, but when you have to shop all day to find one thing it can be frustrating. Next time you go shopping and are able to drive right to the store and they have the product you need, remember us and pray for us because if we are out shopping we will need an extra dose of patience. :-)

Joey and Buddy

Our two year old son has a special friend named Buddy. Joey's buddy is his green Pooh blanket that was made for him when he was born. He loves his buddy very much and does not want to leave it for any reason. Many are the times that we have had to sneak it into the wash or he will cry for it. Joey should have been named Linus as his favorite thing to do is walk around with his buddy and suck on his two middle fingers that are in his mouth.

Joey also has another strange habit. No matter how many times we put him back to bed he always ends up sleeping on the floor. We always have to go in after he has gone to sleep at night to check and make sure that he is in his bed. Most times he just falls asleep on the rug by his bed, but it is never good when he is asleep in front of the door. It is always doubly painful because then he won't fall asleep again for at least another hour.

Thursday Evening Services

We praise the Lord for another great service. Although we were low again in attendance we were greatly encouraged to have Esperanza come. She had to bring one of her twins, Mauricio, as he was sick and would not go to sleep. She lives next door to the church and normally puts the twins to bed during the evening service and with the door open she can hear them if they cry.

We also were excited to see Reina, who has been saved about two months, come. She was very faithful until this past month when we scared her by being a little pushy about baptism. The country folk here don't like pushiness (is that a word?). In the past she attended churches of other religions and left because they tried to push their religion on her and didn't just let her make decisions for herself. That is one thing that has been hard for us to learn. We just have to present all the evidence and let them take their own time to make a decision. She still has not decided on baptism, but she has started to attend church once again and we are thankful for that.

All in all we had 15 in the service tonight. Please pray the God would bless and we would see growth. God is blessing and of the 15 we had tonight, 12 are faithful and have not missed a service in over a month.

Last night was Ladies Meeting and while we normally have a good attendance we only had two ladies attend. One, a first time visitor to Ladies Meeting, was Esperanza. She has been attending church pretty faithfully for the past month. Her family does not like her coming to church and so will not help with child care or anything, but she has been faithful. Esperanza is a young lady that is the mother of four kids. Jimena is six, Angie is four, and Mauricio and Iris are 18 months. Esperanza had her first child just days after she turned 14. She has been saved and wants to live for God, but is having a hard time with her situation. Her mom sold her when she was 12 to be a live-in housekeeper for a woman in Ojojona. After that woman died she was left to her own and was given a "home" by Osmin and his family. Since that day she has had four kids and her "man", Osmin, has had three more with other women. Esperanza still lives with her "in-laws", but they do all they can to keep her from church. Last month we had an incident at the church where a young man on drugs broke into the church and was in the process of destroying everything when Esperanza ran and told the police. Because of the threats on her and her family we brought her into town for a few days to live with us until things cooled down. We got a great chance to talk to her and give her some time to just relax. We just praise the Lord that we were able to be an encouragement to this young lady who wants to do what is right, but at this time in her life feels like she is stuck in a rut because of bad decisions. Praise the Lord she has been coming to church and for the first time in her life she is learning what it is like to have a loving Christian family.

My how time flies. It seems like just yesterday we were proudly showing off our first little baby. Audrey is now five and in Kindergarten. Since she was born we have also welcomed Jordan who is now almost four and Joey who just turned two. They along with Dad and Mom, Jason and Cassy, are missionaries in Honduras.

We live in the Capital City of Tegucigalpa and are working in an area to the south called Ojojona. We have a great time and love the Honduran people. We have been in Honduras for almost three years

This is my first blog and a new idea for me. I was enthused to try it out when my friend let me read hers. It is my intention to keep as up to date on this as I can with three kids. :-)

Until the next time I blog, keep praying for Honduras that many would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and those that are saved would see great spiritual growth.