I happily arrived at DIA the morning of the 22nd with running shoes on to prepare for my mother’s 95th birthday and out of state company!!
April 30, 2024
Buenas dias, Amigas en Cristo
First, we send our sincere gratitude for your prayers, thoughts and many kind words during the ‘cooker’ (as my dad would say) and continual electrical black outs. Yes, it did seem like a 'double whammy' so to speak with record breaking heat and electrical outages that one was ever totally sure would 'surprise' us. . . Actually, the situation started to be a joke! Previously, Richard had installed a fingerprint time clock, and we started to say no one would know if we did or didn't arrive on time. . . except a person is always noticed when devotions start at 8am sharp.
Change is difficult. Which is to say that Dra. Silvia's departure was just that! And attempting to legally deal with that was beyond challenging. . . i.e., awful! Finding a replacement felt like an ominous, dark hole. . . or so it seemed. Did prayer play a part? Yes, the prayers of many! And fortunately, Dra. Kerly whom Dra. Silvia used as a replacement on her vacations, was interested in the position. . . A salary was agreed upon and not a patient day was lost in the transition. We honor Dra. Silvia's departure with the verse "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
Additionally, Loly (office manager) and Eliana (accountant) touched my heart in the process of this personnel change. They collaborated and then told me they could handle Dra. Silvia's extra duties. Thus, Dra. Kerly will always be at the clinic 8am - 2pm. Their concern was to cut costs; they were also attempting to organize a location plan for the water technicians to economize on driving costs. . . GO! Loly and Eliana!! Our goal is to unify the water and clinic by raising awareness that new water customers is everyone's job, not just the water technicians.
We did have a staff meeting and our four water technicians were obviously disgruntled when it was brought up that people would call in a water order and it was not always delivered. As we dug into the heart of the matter the water techs said they were receiving calls on their personal phones when making deliveries and sometimes they just plane forget! Thus, small fliers were later given out stating that they would only be taking orders on the new water cell phone. Pastor Meza (our day guard) was assigned the job of taking those orders so that the water technicians were not disrupted while out delivering or scrubbing bottles. Fridays are always the busiest due to the weekend demands so Richard decided to extend hours to 6pm and pay for overtime on Fridays, giving them a little extra income. You should have seen the smiles on their faces.
I had the pleasant surprise of being told that Pastor Gabriel has started two English classes, younger children and older teens. He invited me to a class. . . I am so excited about these classes!
And after attending one class, Pastor Gabriel was able to share their needs. Thus, for the younger class I will be looking for very simple Bible stories (even used books if you are Spring Cleaning) . . .. any other ideas are welcomed!! (PS Pastor Gabriel is not only the pastor of the large church next to the clinic but he has an auto repair service out in front of his home on the street. . . plus they have two sons. . . so how does he also have two English classes? I think the answer is in Proverbs. . . see if you can find it.)
Every other Sunday I/we visit Pastor Meza's church in Floron 8. The congregation is growing and the instruments donated from last year's Music Mission are being put to great use! . . . . The Floron 8 church 'staff' is definitely a "family affair". Besides Pastor Meza delivering the sermon, his wife Bella is welcoming people, Loly (yes, our clinic office manager) is leading the songs and her husband Carlos opens with prayer and a Bible passage. Their commitment to sharing Jesus is obvious and thought provoking.
I probably focus on the poverty and the struggle that each day provides for the people of Floron. However, there is a deep-seated joy that the challenges of life don't seem to out weight the joy of their spirits. Jesus said we would always have the impoverished with us. . . and I often wonder if it is for my edification.
Dios los bendiga,
Richard and Elizabeth <><
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