Philippines - July 2006

When the mud slide buried 3000 people near St. Bernard on the island of Leyte, it left a number of high school students as orphans. Their school was about a mile away from the village and they survived. Sunrise Christian College offered 12 girls scholarships. The only problem was they did not have a dorm to house them. BandS was able to contribute enough funds to build this dorm and to dig a well for the water supply. I went to take part in the opening ceremonies. I had a great time with the staff and the orphans. The girls prepared the meal and the dormitory for the opening ceremony. The local TV and paper covered the event and it was given prime time on the evening news. I think it was very good publicity for our work and the work of Sunrise Christian College.







I was also able to visit Tagaytay and enjoy the fellowship of the church there. Many of you remember that we asked for prayers for Lyn, pictured here. She has had thyroid surgery and is making very good progress in her recovery. Thanks for you help and for your concern.

Indonesia - July 2006 - Clef Lips

One reason for going to Indonesia, was to participate in doing 20 clef lip surgeries. BandS is in partnership with Hoesni Karim, a business man in Medan. He is a good friend who is very generous in caring for those who need help. He has several projects that include lip surgeries, dialysis center and cataract surgery clinics.
We agreed to do 20 surgeries this year and were fortunate to get started on them while I was there.








































You can see the first two photos are before and immediately after surgery. These children did not receive any premedication. They just came to the operating room and we used local anesthesia. I have never seen children so cooperative during what must have been a frightening experience. We only did three surgeries the first afternoon.

The plastic surgeon we hired in Medan, Dr. Nazar, has agreed to do unilateral lips for $250, bi-lateral lips for $500 and clef palates for $500.


Pictured here is one of the more difficult cases that will be completed in the near future.











This little girl was too congested for us to operate on. She requires a general anesthetic for this procedure, and will hopefully be ready for surgery next week.

Thanks for all your help and interest in this ministry.

Indonesia - July 2006 - Cataract Surgeries

I left home July 7, 2006 for a mission to Indonesia and the Philipppines. My main purpose in going to Indonesia was to see about the cataract surgeries BandS Ministries partners with other NPO's in doing. The flight to Medan was very comfortable thanks to free on miles given by Larry and Gaylene Drader, of Calgary, Alberta, (Gaylene is my niece).

The roads on the Island of Nias are still in a state of disrepair. Almost every bridge and culvert on the island was destroyed during the tsunomi and earth quake last year.

The roads make it both dangerous and difficult to transport patients to Lukas Hospital for their eye surgeries. Even with these problems, there were 101 eye surgeries completed during the second week of July.

The weather also interfered with our travels. Our flight from Medan to Sitoli was cancelled twice and we arrived a day late. Getting off the island was also difficult. I bought tickets on two different airlines so I could be sure of getting a seat. I took the first flight out.

I found out that the bugs on Nias have been in training. They now attack me without a sound. I thought of trying to negotiate with them and offer my blood in a small basin so they could get their fill with out puncturing my warm and tender body. Think of the wear and tear it would save on their little sticker/sipper.

We will do surgery in a few hours. One interesting fact about this trip is that many of the patients came from remote villages. One small village sent 40 patients. It is only 17 miles from their village to the hospital but it takes 6 hours to make the trip.

We sent 4 small trucks with benches in the back for them to travel in. Of course, more than 40 people came. Each patient was allowed to bring one person with them, but the count seemed to get mixed up.

I have not been in one place for a month this summer, but I have not been home any either. Rose and Papa both "encouraged" me to blog, and this is my contribution. I started the summer by registering at Harding, and have 15 hours next semester which were difficult to procure because of my AP credits and planned semester in Europe. Then I headed to church camp as a camper for my last year of Zenith at OC. It was wonderful. I had one night in my bed before flying to Nicaragua with Papa. A learning experience and a testament to how much I appreciate mission experiences. Then I was home for a few days to shop for my dorm, train for Royal Family and head to Cornerstone, a middle school camp, as a counselor. 14 middle school girls. It was like reliving the worst years of my life, but I was viewed as old and supposed to have all the answers. Actually it was awesome and my group grew tremendously. God has worked powerfully in everything He has allowed me to do this summer, and I am blessed to have so many opportunities. I leave for Houston on Monday and then Royal Family Kids' Camp for foster children is the next week. It amazes me how much energy I still have...lots of love to everyone, and I hope your summers are as wonderful (I know they are as full) as mine has been thus far.

Arrived Safely in Indonesia

I had a good trip to Medan, Indonesia. The first leg of the trip was to SF and I had plenty to read, so the time passed quickly. The longest leg was from SF to Tokyo. I was able to sleep about 4 hours of the 11 it took to fly. It was day light and we went from Wednesday morning to Thursday night without any darkness.
From Tokyo to Singapore is about 6 hours and the arrival time was 11.30 p. There is a very nice hotel in the international arrival area and I had a room reserved. They have made improvements since I last stayed there and it is atlest a **** hotel now.

The trip from Singapore to Medan is just a little over an hour, and they try to feed us breakfast. It was not a breakfast I wanted to eat.

One of the usual things that happens is that the baggage crew holds back a few bags and about the time you get the form for lost baggage filled out they suddenly find them. In the great rejoicing hour they ask if you would like to give them a little something for finding your bag. I fell for this the first time, but this time I told them I knew what was going on. The custom inspector was a part of the plan and did seem a little embarassed when I called their hand.
I took several out to dinner last night as we made arrangements to do 20 cleft lip repairs here in Medan. We negotiated a price and we will do the first ones on Wednesday, the day I fly to Singapore on my way to Manila.

I am out of time.
Love to all,
Papa

Medical Mission - El Cua, Nicaragua

Dr. Cody Mihills, Jordan and I along with about 40 other workers traveled to El Cua Nicaragua to conduct a medical mission. This trip was lead by Malena Rampy of Olive Branch Ministries.

The working and living conditions were very primative, but the volume of patients was great. I know Cody saw over 150 patients in one day, and we averaged about 60 extractions each day.

The hotel had no running water, just a tank and a bucket to use for showering. The toilets did not flush and the electricity was off about as much as it was on.

The food was good and we had plenty to eat.

Our daily routine began with alarms going off at 5 a.m. Needles to say, with cold water and a bucket, it didn't take long to shower.

The morning devotionals began at 6 a.m. Breakfast was at 6.30 and clinic opened as soon as possible there after.

Jordan and I were assisted by a Spanish speaking young man from Germany. Sabastian was a good worker, good translator and we couldn't have done well without him.



Our trip out from El Cua was interesting. We came very close to having a head on with another bus. Then we transfered to smaller vans and had the experience of a broken cable on the transmission and a flat tire, causing us to arrive 3 hours late for our luncheon appointment.

After lunch we went to a shopping area and enjoyed the bargaining and shopping that is traditional in Central America.

Jordan was a great worker, shopper and travelling companion. The picture is of us at the farewell banquet provided by one of the local congregations.




This was Dr. Cody's second trip with Olive Branch and I think it won't be his last. He has a caring heart and the patients were very blessed and appreciative.

You can see some of the beauty of Nicargua in this final picture.

I hope Jordan will blog her impressions of the trip. I leave in about 10 hours for Indonesia and the Philippines, and I have not finished packing. Pray for me.

John (Papa)