Day 3 (Wednesday) Message from Jan

You might have noticed that Tuesday's email wasn't sent till after 6 am this morning--last night the signal wasn't strong enough to send.  This afternoon when we arrived back, we weren't able to access a connection either.

Our devotion this morning reminded us that our motive for service needs to be to glorify God, not our selves or because we want to prove something to the world.  Our breakfast consists of fruit--today it was watermelon and papaya chunks--juice, white toast, jelly and butter for the toast, scrambled eggs and today we also had rice and red beans.  Coffee is also available for those of us who need a caffeine jolt in the morning.

Our skylight installation crew spent yesterday morning purchasing supplies and with the help of Jose installed 2 skylights.  The first took longer because of dry rot in the area of installation while the second only took 25 minutes.  Today they completed the other 3 installations.  This morning the crew had shade but not this afternoon.  Though there was a wonderful breeze, being on a steel roof with the sun beating down is HOT.  After the first installation, the group took a long break to recuperate from the heat on the roof.  Now you night wonder why when the people have electricity we are installing skylights! They pay a flat fee for electric--anything over that is an excess charged at a higher rate unlike the US were the rates are cheaper the more power you use.

Today the remaining 15 water filters were delivered to the home.  We encountered a problem that several of them leaked and we had to go back to the church and redo the assembly which connects the hose on the filter to the bucket.  Charlie, one of our translators, finally go all of the leaky ones fixed.  Praise the Lord.

During our presentation to the women this morning, the we asked the lady who is the dentist to explain the proper way to brush your teeth. Her explanation was nearly 10 minutes long including cleaning the roof of your mouth and tongue.  We asked her to come back this afternoon to tell the kids how to brush also.  She brought her "over sized" teeth to show the kids the proper method and the kids were just enthralled.  It was such a joy to see her using her education among her friends and neighbors.  Pray the Lord gives her the opportunity to continue using her knowledge for the benefit of the community.

Happiness and joy were shown by one of the women who received both a skylight and a filter today.  While the Spanish wasn't understood the enthusiasm and joy show on her face and her body language.

Finally, as the guys were walking back for lunch, several kids were walking behind them and one slipped on the hill and hit his head against a rock which was sticking out of the ground.  Dr Jeremy was there to deliver first aid, they took him home and later went back with Jose to check to see he was OK which he was.  Praise the Lord the injury was minor though bloody initially.

Continue to pray for breezes again--it is so nice
Pray for shade trees for the skylight installers
Pray for the families of team members who are serving this week.
Pray for all the wonderful women and check whom we met yesterday and today
Pray for continued good health for all of the team
Pray for God's blessings as we move to the new village Thursday

Thanks again for your prayer support--we truly can feel your prayers

Day 1 (Monday) Message from Jan

Everyone has arrived--most of us met in Miami when the O'Hare group met 
up with the Detroit group.  Lindsay who flew from Iowa thru Houston met 
us in Managua.  Praise the Lord, everyone's baggage arrived also so we 
are all ready to start.  After a 2 hr trip to Leon via van, we went out 
to dinner and following devotions, we are all going to get some sleep as 
we started out day very early.

Pray that we will have a great day on Tuesday--that the people will be 
receptive to our leading, that the Lord will be glorified.
Pray we all stay healthy--the weather is hot but the humidity is only 
about 50% so it isn't unbearable.
Thanks again for your prayers

God's blessings

Day 2 (Tuesday) Message from Jan

We began our morning sorting supplies for a units for today and sorting toothbrushes which hadn't been sorted.  Our devotion this morning compared us to pens who will write what is said about Jesus today--Wow, what an idea--be a pen for Jesus.

Today we installed 10 water filters--The homes varied from dirt floors, to concrete floors and tiled floors.  Everyone has electricity some from a generator.  The ladies were very cognizant the answers to the questions about flies, mosquitoes, etc.

It is the dry season here, so there are very few flies (only were their are animals especially pigs) and we have yet to see a mosquito--praise the Lord.  While the temperatures are very warm--42Centrigrade which is about 100 degrees.  Our translator said this is very unusual to have temperatures this high at this time of the year.  The other good thing is that the humidity is only about 50% which is as comfortable as summer in the midwest.  During the rainy season, the humidity is well over 70%.  Praise the Lord for low humidity and today there was a very nice breeze.

When we delivered one of the filters today, the lady told us she went to school to be a dentist and has her degree.  She has recently purchased a dentist chair and is looking forward to the day they can have a clinic in the village which will include the dentist.  In order to pay for her chair and supplies she will need, the family is raising pigs which they then sell.

While the lower humidity and lack of mosquitoes is great, the dust is all over our shoes, pants etc.  We were so happy to get back to take a shower and rid ourselves of the dust, mosquito spray and sun tan lotion which made the dust stick nicely.

Praise the Lord for breezes and pray they continue as we walk around installing the filters.
Praise the Lord for nice showers to rid us of the dust.
Pray for a little girl who has appendicitis with a fever-that the doctors would know what is best procedure
Pray for continued flexibility and cooperation among our team
Pray for the families of our team who have spouses, children and grandchildren at home

Thanks for your continued prayers for us.
God's blessings