In Costa Rica

This is my second day in Costa Rica, and I am having a very enjoyable and profitable time. Today the Guatemalan missionaries, the national pastor and his wife, and I had a three-hour meeting to talk about the work. I came away very encourage; God is working in Costa Rica. In the last two days there were two new converts at the work in the capital.

I haven´t taken any pictures yet, but I will be over the next couple of days and will try to share them as soon as possible. In place of pictures I will share the last of my mother´s newsletters that she wrote the day before they left Honduras a couple of weeks ago. There have been about 10 different people who have told her that she needs to write a book, and I would agree with that comepletely.

I Want to Throw His Dirty Diaper on the Roof

She was just 15, still a child herself, yet she had given birth to her own child only a few hours before. Her baby’s father had bowed out of the picture months ago, and she would be raising this little one without his ever knowing the meaning of the words “my daddy.” I met her at the start of my night shift and knew I would have only a short time to try to help her learn the multitude of things she would need to know in order to bridge the nearly impossible gap between young carefree teenager and mature responsible mother.

Her baby was a fussy one, and she was impatient with his insistence on her attention when all she wanted was some sleep. Along about midnight, he refused her repeated snapped orders to shush up, and I went in to see what I could do to help her quiet his crying. The solution was a simple one: like any self-respecting fellow, he was not pleased to be lying in a soggy diaper. I figured a class in “Diaper Changing 101” was certainly in order and went to gather the needed study materials.

“Can you please give me his dirty diaper?” she requested. “I want it for a secret.” More than a little startled, I nevertheless managed to keep from sticking my finger with the pin I was easing through the cloth, and tried to be casual in my questioning. I had a hard time hiding my surprise at her shy confession. “I want to throw his diaper on the roof. That way, when someone comes by who wants to give him the evil eye and hurt him, they won’t be able to.” Years of superstitious training didn’t easily give sway to my gentle assurance that Jesus could protect her little one from harm, and she tucked the plastic bag with its soiled diaper deep into her scuffed backpack, quite sure that her trust in its effectiveness was valid.

My heart aches to think of the hopelessness of a life without knowledge of the One who came to dispel such fears, but at least that’s one belief that won’t physically harm her baby any more than it will help him. That wasn’t the case with the proposed remedy for her newborn’s colic that one mother asked about. “Do you think that it would be all right to bathe him in his father’s urine?” she wondered. “I’ve heard that works well, but I want to know if you agree.” I think I managed to convince her of the futility of such a practice – at least I sincerely hope so!

Then there was the twelve year old girl who arrived at our clinic the day before yesterday, clutching a bloody rag around her hand. I was puzzled at the strange appearance of the wound and quite curious about the bright green color of something peeping out from the bandage. Come to find out, her parents had liberally sprinkled cigar ashes in the deep, two inch gash and topped it with coffee leaves. Before any stitching could be done, all of that mess had to be cleaned out, a process which didn’t make the job any more comfortable for the girl!

And so it has gone, in the ten weeks that we have been here this summer. I’ve delivered ten babies, put dozens of stitches into various and sundry wounds, given close to a hundred injections, started many many IV’s, gone on 3 ambulance rides with 4 different patients, (the last one was with a critically wounded man and a woman pregnant with her 12th baby, who was having complications), held and comforted hurting parents, and shown God’s love to those He sent my way. It hardly seems possible that ten weeks have already flown by and that in a few short hours we are to board the plane that will take us back to family and friends in the states. We are happy at that prospect, but as always, there is a part of our hearts that we will leave behind! Many times I have been reminded anew of how blessed we are with the day to day comforts that we simply take for granted, which for too many people here would be unobtainable luxuries. I thank God especially that He allowed me to be born into a Christian family and to be raised with the knowledge of how infinite and all sufficient is the love of Christ. That same love in turn has granted me the privilege of ministering to those who are less fortunate than I, which has been an especially satisfying and rewarding means of sharing Him.

An extra special “handful on purpose” that God let fall my way was the opportunity to deliver two of my fellow missionary’s babies within this last week before our leaving.
Daniel and Tiffany Melton’s third son, 7 pound 15 ounce Kenton Daniel, arrived into “Auntie Hannah’s” welcoming hands at 6:03 Thursday morning. Zack and Sarah Robbert’s second daughter, 6 pound 5 ounce Eleyna Ruth, (the “Ruth” being chosen in part because it is “Grandma Hannah’s” middle name!) made her appearance at 4:25 Sunday afternoon. Both little ones were born in the clinic, which in itself made history, as they are the first missionary babies delivered there in the 29 years the clinic has been in operation. The town’s people are bursting their buttons with pride and commenting with approval that “los gringos” are common ordinary people after all. It’s been a wonderful means of bonding between them, and a great advertisement for the clinic.

Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for us. I know a lot of the news has been about clinic happenings, and Rex’s and Jeffrey’s activities have not gotten as much notice, but they have kept very busy with their responsibilities and have had an important ministry as well. We will be heading back to the start of school at Penn View next week, and I know Rex especially would appreciate your continued prayers, as he will have less than a week to prepare for his responsibilities there.