I am EXCITED to announce I will be going back to Honduras on April 5, 2018. I am a bit out of my comfort zone, since this will be the first time in 15 years, that I’m going without Karl. The Lord has put it on my heart to go and help Lisa Bradley at the Bethesda Boys Home in Honduras. Lisa has been a longtime friend who is currently overwhelmed and over worked. I am happy to answer the call for help. Please pray for me, that I will bond with the boys, be a big help to Lisa so she can get a break she so much deserves and needs, for language skills for me as well as finances to support my trip. I am trusting in God for all of this as well as for safety while I travel and live in the jungle at the boys home. If God lays it on your heart to donate, you may do so at pokropmissions.com 

  I arrived fine.  When I got here there was one 18 month old names Dani who I was to be helping with. He had been sick with cough, malnourished, diareaha, and very weak when Lisa got him. He seemed to be doing somewhat better when I arrived although still not healthy.  Two days later, Lisa got a call saying little Marco was very sick could we come get him? It was late at night and the tough decision was made because it is a dangerous neighborhood and at night, to wait until morning. Since the house is not baby proof and Lisa is leaving to go to the states, the decision to take Dani back to him mom ,(as he was somewhat better, and I couldn’t physically care for two sick toddlers) and pick up Marco. This is the third day I was here and the third time we needed to go into the city an hour and a half one way for various reasons like groceries, medication, etc.. another long day. 

  Upon seeing Marco, we knew we had to bring him with us. So we take him home. I sit in the backseat with him, as we have no car seat for him. Half way home he begins to vomit 🤮! Upon getting home around 8 pm we clean him up ( and me) and give him some medication to calm his stomach but then the diarrhea starts along with the wheezing. He falls asleep around 9:30 pm but wakes up around 3 am. I cuddle with him, change his diaper and about 4:40 he falls back asleep. He awakens around 5:30. I give him a drink and Lisa gives him some medicine. The diarrhea seems to be under control so I give him some banana and wait an hour..no vomiting..I made him an egg and ate it. He starts to play and began wheezing badly so I give him a bath and a breathing treatment. He falls asleep in the chair. 

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Giving Marco his breathing treatment 

Thursday  

Today Karl will pack up all our household items that we don't leave out while we are not here and our suitcases. I will go out into the clinic and also hand out clothing, beach balls, and tootsie rolls. Our internet will be shut off today.

Tomorrow we have decided to take a fun side trip to the island of Utila. We will take the ferry over and shop in the little local shops for 3 hours and return home. We have not taken any vacation time away from our work here in 5 years so figured we would spend our last day doing this . Please pray for safety and calm waters as we cross the Caribbean ocean as well as a safe flight home on Saturday. 

Wednesday  

Good bye is always hard to say. Had to say good bye to all our hospital friends. Karl finished up is projects today.

Tuesday  

Today I learned to put in and take out catheters. I did not do one myself. I bandaged and rebandaged wounds and made lots of gauze. 

karl worked on a baby warmer, a vacuum suction for the operating room, and installed batteries in two pulseoximeters.

 Monday     

    Wound care again this morning which mostly consists of bandaging and unbandaging wounds. Not just any little wound but large wounds and lots of surgery sites. Today I took off  a cast as well. In my down time when there was no patients which wasn't much, I made gauze pads. They use a tremendous amount and they are very expensive so we make them from large rolls of gauze.  

Karl worked on the C-Arm the endoscope.  

Friday

   Karl dropped me off at Lisa's house to go to the dump with her. We left for La Ceiba but Lisa had many stops to make on the way.One stop was for a sick baby with a fever. We promise to bring antibiotics later. Then she had a few stores to go to. We were going to pick up a child that was in danger and take him home with her. We started up the mountain and stopped for lunch at Pico Bonito, a national park on the way. The food was excellent and there were beautiful flowers all around. When we were done lunch we headed up the mountain to meet the woman who was coming half way when the phone rang. It was someone who said the mom asked her to call and let us know she needed to leave to go back up the mountain as it was the last bus. So we can not get the boy until tomorrow.We go over to the dump but it was getting pretty late so we Lisa just stayed in the car and talked to the people she needed to. Then we headed back home. I was disappointed we didn't go to make house calls and see the people but Lisa has a lot on her plate right now so it just wasn't possible this time.

Thursday  

Started off the day with a sting from what I think was a bee. I couldn't get the stinger out but eventually I did. I put ice on it and it seemed fine an hour later. Instead of going to the hospital I went to see a clinic another missionary runs. She said she was desperate for help. I saw some lespanisis, cough,and malaria. She offered me a full time position with her. I told her I would need to go home and pray about it. Please be in prayer about this.  

After clinic, we went up the mountain to hand out clothing and shoes to the poor. I handed out tootsie rolls also. We went to a house up in the mountains and did a house call on a man in a wheel chair. He had three large bed sores. After that, we went to a friend's house that the woman who has the clinic knew. They made tamales for us and even let us make our own! It was fun. When we returned to the house of the woman who has the clinic, I had opportunity to play with her two howler monkeys!  

Karl stayed home today to do some painting and fixing of things in our house that needed to be done before we leave.  

After dinner, we walked over to my neighbors house to return their keys and suddenly my arm began to hurt a lot where the bee had stung me. It hurt to move the bone in my arm. It was hot and swollen. I took ibuprofen and put ice on it as well as wrap it in an ace bandage to keep it from moving. if not better by tomorrow, I will go to the doctor.

Wednesday  

Today was the opposite of yesterday. It started off busy and got slower. Upon arriving I had a 4 year old in the emergency room to give a neublizer treatment to. Then I needed to go to the pharmacy to get some prednisone for her and crush it and mix with orange juice. After giving her that and a second neublizer treatment if was off to X-ray for her. The next patient was one I had seen a few days ago that had an open wound down to the bone. I unbandaged it and as it needed to be cleaned daily. The same was for the man who had a mangled foot that  Dr. Jeff pinned every toe back in place. We needed to unbandaged it, clean it and rebandage it. Then it was over to the hospital side to care for another man who had a bad infection in his leg. He may lose his leg but we are trying hard to clear up the infection and praying the leg will not need to be amputated. 

Karl worked on a washing machine. 

Tuesday  

The power went out around midnight. I got up around 3:30 but couldn't make coffee 😥. Did my usual routine and went for my walk and when I got back, the power was on! Praise God, coffee! Got to the hospital and the first case was a local schophrenic man covered in dirt. He was found lying on the road. I was asked to take his vital signs which I did. Dr. Peter came in and warned me he can get violent and if he did I should just yell and run out of the room. Then they called up a guard from below to come up and stay with him just in case. There was no issue. Next was a lady with a fractured arm and large cut on her leg. I was asked to clean it. Then there was a baby with club feet( fortunately to too bad), another patient that had hand issues, and the man Dr Jeff did the the foot surgery on who needed his wounds cleaned. Then Dr. Jeff asked me to stand in while he did a breast exam. After that I went over to the hospital side to help clean and bandage a man that came in yesterday with the fracture that had wounds that were infected.   in between there was a little boy who I needed to monitor as they had to put him out in order to aspirate fluid from his knee. There were others in between all of these patients. Turned out to be a very busy day.

 Karl worked on the blood pressure monitor, and the baby warmer today. 

Monday  

Woke up at 3 am. Made coffee and did devotions. Got ready for work, took a walk, and made eggs for breakfast. Off to the hospital at 7am. The beginning of the day started off very slow. There were lots of patients but somehow I only had about 5 for vital signs. When I was done with them, I wandered around the hospital looking for work. Dr. Ryan, the head doctor went into the emergency room, wound care, the OR and other areas of the hospital looking for work for me. There was none. I sit for about an hour and wander into the wound care again. The had a few patients. I started by unbandaging one wound and cleaning it. Next was a fractured leg which I helped with. There was also a woman who had the largest foot/ leg  I've ever seen. It looked like she had a bag around it. From the knee down, you couldn't even see her foot. Strangest thing I've ever seen. Then there was the man Dr. Jeff did surgery on to put his foot back together. He had pins in every toe. We unbandaged it to see how it was healing. One toe was very black but the others looked good. There was also a man who would need to have an amputation and it smelled really bad. The lady that already had an amputation needed her stitches out. A busy afternoon after a slow morning. 

  Karl fixed an endoscope and worked on a baby warmer, as well as repaired the operating room sterilizer. A full day for sure.