Well, the 'extreme' cold for here appears to be over. We're still using a blanket at night, but it's pleasant. We're having more periods of rain than we normally do at this time of year, though. It downpoured yesterday about 5pm. Woke up to sunshine this morning, but the skies have quickly turned overcast.
Bob is slowly getting better. He still coughs, but no where near like last week. He's sleeping better at night. But his energy level is still very low. Please pray for his recovery.
We have a med group here right now and Bob is NOT going out with them. Any of you who know him, should take that as an indication as to how sick he has been. He NEVER stays away from a group. Usually puts in 16-18 hour days when he has a group. Fortunately, this is a group that has come for several years and are very self-sufficient. Also, Tim and Evelyne have stepped up to help tremendously.
I'm still recovering, but I was never as ill as Bob. The main thing is the lack of energy. Please continue to pray for us....
(Sorry if I scared anyone off with my last post, but cold temps here are a serious issue. Many, many Dominicans are sick due to it. Yes, 55*-65* probably seems warm considering current temps in Ohio, but it is not normal for the people here and they are not prepared for it. Didn't mean to offend anyone, but please understand I was asking for prayer for us.)
Happy Monday!
~~anna~~
Monday, January 21, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Weather update....no laughing matter
"La Romana reported a 12.8C temperature in the early hours of Tuesday, 16 January. This beats the previous record of 14C in 1976."
This is from today's DR1.com update. When you do the conversion La Romana's temp dipped to 55*. Remember , this is a tropical country, where the night time temp is generally 75*.
While these temps may seem pleasant to people in the States, remember homes here do not have heat. They do not have much in the way of cool weather clothing. Many Dominicans during Tropical Storms Noel and Olga lost their homes and/or most of their possessions. They are not used to these temperatures and the cold temps are weakening people's resistance and creating much illness.
Please pray for the people here. Bob is the sickest I have ever seen him in 35 years of marriage. He has come close to requiring breathing treatments. Most of the SCORE missionaries are sick.
~~anna~~
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Shiver bbbrrrrrr, and pass the tissues~~~
Well our med group of 67 left out on Saturday. It was an incredible week; very busy; and at times resembling a 3 ring circus with a couple of side shows, too! But no major mishaps.
Most importantly, many people received medical treatment and heard the Gospel several times during the day. Many decisions for Christ. Even those who didn't receive salvation at the time, have heard and the seed has been cast. Pray that it will find fertile soil and take root.
Unfortunately, after the group left Bob became quite ill. He has the worst cold and cough I have ever heard from him! He is miserable. Because we don't have any groups right now, he has been able the last two days to rest and sleep in the afternoon. Pray that he recovers quickly. Thursday we are supposed to travel to Jarabacoa, where Bob has been asked to speak to the pastors and their wives at the Dominican Southern Baptist meeting. We also have a med team arriving on Friday for a week.
Pray for the rest of the staff also. Another missionary couple, Andres and Johanna, have the same thing. Andres's parents are here and his dad has come down with it. Tim and Evelyn are getting over colds also.
I spent the day serving in the pharmacy in our med clinic today. I really enjoy doing this. But part way thru the afternoon, my throat started hurting. Now I ache and have a low grade fever.
I actually slept in the living room last night in the hopes of not catching what Bob has.
So, please pray for those who have heard the Gospel (last week and in the clinic itself), and also pray for the missionaries for physical strength and speedy recoveries.
Oh by the way...the weather here has been down right cool! 64* this morning at 7:30. There have been times in the past 10 days when I have worn long sleeves. For the 1st time ever here~~one afternoon I had jeans (!), socks and a shawl over a t-shirt in our apartment! We're using a blanket on the bed at night and NO fans! This is unheard of. Many Dominicans are wearing winter coats in the early mornings. The unusual weather is causing many to become ill. The government is putting out health alerts due to the cold temps. It may sound strange to you to hear that 64* in the winter is cold; but normal night temps are in the 70's.
til the next time,
~~anna~~
Most importantly, many people received medical treatment and heard the Gospel several times during the day. Many decisions for Christ. Even those who didn't receive salvation at the time, have heard and the seed has been cast. Pray that it will find fertile soil and take root.
Unfortunately, after the group left Bob became quite ill. He has the worst cold and cough I have ever heard from him! He is miserable. Because we don't have any groups right now, he has been able the last two days to rest and sleep in the afternoon. Pray that he recovers quickly. Thursday we are supposed to travel to Jarabacoa, where Bob has been asked to speak to the pastors and their wives at the Dominican Southern Baptist meeting. We also have a med team arriving on Friday for a week.
Pray for the rest of the staff also. Another missionary couple, Andres and Johanna, have the same thing. Andres's parents are here and his dad has come down with it. Tim and Evelyn are getting over colds also.
I spent the day serving in the pharmacy in our med clinic today. I really enjoy doing this. But part way thru the afternoon, my throat started hurting. Now I ache and have a low grade fever.
I actually slept in the living room last night in the hopes of not catching what Bob has.
So, please pray for those who have heard the Gospel (last week and in the clinic itself), and also pray for the missionaries for physical strength and speedy recoveries.
Oh by the way...the weather here has been down right cool! 64* this morning at 7:30. There have been times in the past 10 days when I have worn long sleeves. For the 1st time ever here~~one afternoon I had jeans (!), socks and a shawl over a t-shirt in our apartment! We're using a blanket on the bed at night and NO fans! This is unheard of. Many Dominicans are wearing winter coats in the early mornings. The unusual weather is causing many to become ill. The government is putting out health alerts due to the cold temps. It may sound strange to you to hear that 64* in the winter is cold; but normal night temps are in the 70's.
til the next time,
~~anna~~
Saturday, January 12, 2008
*Of Mice and Men * or, rats on steroids!
If we hadn’t seen, or experienced, this one for ourselves, we might not believe it happened. But I do have some photos to show next time I’m in the States. Now, on with the ever-so-true story.
Sunday evening we heard rustling noises in our kitchen (Our living room, dining area and kitchen are one long room….lower level cabinets are the division for the kitchen from the rest). The noises appeared to be coming from these lower cabinets. Bob checked and could find nothing. But we knew from the sound, it was NOT another tarantula. So, we brought out the big rat traps I had purchased in the States last summer. All they have available here are sticky traps, which do not work well.
We set one in the cupboard and since the cupboards do not extend to the floor, we placed one under the sink cupboard. We thought it strange that the noise was coming from these cupboards, as there isn’t any food in them. Monday morning I discovered where the varmint had been. Our laundry room backs up to the kitchen, there is a door from the kitchen and louvered windows over the stove. On the back side of this window/wall are short cupboards mounted to the wall. That is where the canned goods, and pkgd items are stored. And that is where the critter had been. The signs were obvious. So, I spent a good portion of Monday cleaning those cupbaords. We also have some wire grid shelves with items stored. He didn’t bother that ~~guess he didn’t like the grid. So after cleaning, I placed only canned goods in the cupboard, and anything he might be able, or tempted to nibble, onto the grid. Then I set a trap in the cupboard.
That evening I was in the kitchen. My apartment size stove has 4 burners but only two knobs. The two that are missing only have the metal stud sticking out. In the hole around the stud was what appeared to be cotton (think cotton balls or pillow stuffing) For the life of me, I could not figure out why Bob would have done that. Then it dawned on me, Bob hadn’t! it wasn’t there on Sunday. Bob was gone with a group all day Monday. The varmint did it!!!
Bob came home that evening and I showed it to him. Well I started removing the cotton…and removing….and removing. Finally decided I was going to have to remove the top of the stove to get at it all. When I pulled the stove away from the wall to get at all the screws holding the top, I made another discovery. This critter had plugged all holes on the back with the same cotton!!! Unbelievable!!! I started checking the pillows on the couch for damage…NONE! That is when my beloved informed me that the rat had been running around our bedroom the night before and that even though Bob had turned on the light and hunted for it, I never moved. AND he never found the rat! So then I checked the bedroom pillows ~~they are fine!
So, I proceeded to remove the top of the stove. The little stinker had been pulling apart the insulation around the oven and overnight had made a very nice, cozy nest. It has been cool here the past week, so that’s probably what drove him in.
Fortunately, he was not currently in residence! I say “HE” although the nesting thing makes me think “She” was preparing to increase the rat population!
I removed all the loose stuff, reassembled the stove, and placed a trap on top of the stove and one on top of the cupboard in the laundry room (backs up to the stove wall) Figured either I would get him on top of the cupboard or when he landed on the stove.
Bob and I went to bed, laid their reading for an hour before shutting off the lights. About 20 minutes later, I heard the trap and some flopping sounds. Woke Bob up and we went to investigate. Sure enough…we had ensnared him on top of the cupboard. The wire was across his neck and he was barely moving. I got pictures of Bob holding the trap and the rat dangling.
Bob decided he didn’t want to mess with the trap at midnight, so he put the whole thing in the kitchen garbage and closed the lid. Tuesday morning when I got up, Bob asked if I had removed the rat from the trap. Huh? It appears that this little guy was doing some heavy weight training or on steroids. Bob had opened the garbage and discovered an empty trap! This rat got his head out of the rat trap! How we will never know….I have a picture and his head was in the trap at midnight!!! At 6:30 AM he was scampering in our garbage.
Now the garbage can is a swing lid that only needs a 13 gallon bag, but we have an abundance of big black Hefty garbage bags. These things are big, but they were free, so we are using them. Bob decided to take the entire garbage can downstairs to the street to place it in the 55 gallon drum where our garbage is placed for pick-up. Sounds simple enough, right? The look on Bob’s face when he came upstairs was….WOW! It seems he took off the lid, rat was nowhere to be seen, Bob raised the bag out of the can ~~so now the top of the bad is at Bob’s shoulders ~~when the rat appeared at the top edge, jumped over Bob’s head, landed on the road and ran off into the brush across the street!
But I think we finally won: I reset both traps and the next morning there was a body….clearly DEAD! and disposed of without incident! And no rodents have been caught since!
Life in the DR….never a dull moment!
Sunday evening we heard rustling noises in our kitchen (Our living room, dining area and kitchen are one long room….lower level cabinets are the division for the kitchen from the rest). The noises appeared to be coming from these lower cabinets. Bob checked and could find nothing. But we knew from the sound, it was NOT another tarantula. So, we brought out the big rat traps I had purchased in the States last summer. All they have available here are sticky traps, which do not work well.
We set one in the cupboard and since the cupboards do not extend to the floor, we placed one under the sink cupboard. We thought it strange that the noise was coming from these cupboards, as there isn’t any food in them. Monday morning I discovered where the varmint had been. Our laundry room backs up to the kitchen, there is a door from the kitchen and louvered windows over the stove. On the back side of this window/wall are short cupboards mounted to the wall. That is where the canned goods, and pkgd items are stored. And that is where the critter had been. The signs were obvious. So, I spent a good portion of Monday cleaning those cupbaords. We also have some wire grid shelves with items stored. He didn’t bother that ~~guess he didn’t like the grid. So after cleaning, I placed only canned goods in the cupboard, and anything he might be able, or tempted to nibble, onto the grid. Then I set a trap in the cupboard.
That evening I was in the kitchen. My apartment size stove has 4 burners but only two knobs. The two that are missing only have the metal stud sticking out. In the hole around the stud was what appeared to be cotton (think cotton balls or pillow stuffing) For the life of me, I could not figure out why Bob would have done that. Then it dawned on me, Bob hadn’t! it wasn’t there on Sunday. Bob was gone with a group all day Monday. The varmint did it!!!
Bob came home that evening and I showed it to him. Well I started removing the cotton…and removing….and removing. Finally decided I was going to have to remove the top of the stove to get at it all. When I pulled the stove away from the wall to get at all the screws holding the top, I made another discovery. This critter had plugged all holes on the back with the same cotton!!! Unbelievable!!! I started checking the pillows on the couch for damage…NONE! That is when my beloved informed me that the rat had been running around our bedroom the night before and that even though Bob had turned on the light and hunted for it, I never moved. AND he never found the rat! So then I checked the bedroom pillows ~~they are fine!
So, I proceeded to remove the top of the stove. The little stinker had been pulling apart the insulation around the oven and overnight had made a very nice, cozy nest. It has been cool here the past week, so that’s probably what drove him in.
Fortunately, he was not currently in residence! I say “HE” although the nesting thing makes me think “She” was preparing to increase the rat population!
I removed all the loose stuff, reassembled the stove, and placed a trap on top of the stove and one on top of the cupboard in the laundry room (backs up to the stove wall) Figured either I would get him on top of the cupboard or when he landed on the stove.
Bob and I went to bed, laid their reading for an hour before shutting off the lights. About 20 minutes later, I heard the trap and some flopping sounds. Woke Bob up and we went to investigate. Sure enough…we had ensnared him on top of the cupboard. The wire was across his neck and he was barely moving. I got pictures of Bob holding the trap and the rat dangling.
Bob decided he didn’t want to mess with the trap at midnight, so he put the whole thing in the kitchen garbage and closed the lid. Tuesday morning when I got up, Bob asked if I had removed the rat from the trap. Huh? It appears that this little guy was doing some heavy weight training or on steroids. Bob had opened the garbage and discovered an empty trap! This rat got his head out of the rat trap! How we will never know….I have a picture and his head was in the trap at midnight!!! At 6:30 AM he was scampering in our garbage.
Now the garbage can is a swing lid that only needs a 13 gallon bag, but we have an abundance of big black Hefty garbage bags. These things are big, but they were free, so we are using them. Bob decided to take the entire garbage can downstairs to the street to place it in the 55 gallon drum where our garbage is placed for pick-up. Sounds simple enough, right? The look on Bob’s face when he came upstairs was….WOW! It seems he took off the lid, rat was nowhere to be seen, Bob raised the bag out of the can ~~so now the top of the bad is at Bob’s shoulders ~~when the rat appeared at the top edge, jumped over Bob’s head, landed on the road and ran off into the brush across the street!
But I think we finally won: I reset both traps and the next morning there was a body….clearly DEAD! and disposed of without incident! And no rodents have been caught since!
Life in the DR….never a dull moment!
Saturday, January 05, 2008
In His hands~~
I have produced a few posts over the past couple of weeks, but if it starts to rain, or even a storm cloud appears, the internet connection is lost. NOT an exaggeration. Since I don't see any clouds on the horizon, I'm hoping this makes it through!
Just a few highlights from the past couple of weeks....
~~The week before Christmas we were headed up to Santiago for mail day ~~about a 3 hour drive. Had a Christmas package coming from Shan and were hoping for Christmas cards. We were driving the Ford Explorer, as 'little red' (Diahatsu smaller than a Festiva) was at the mechanics with a fuel system problem. Bob checked all tires for air in Juan Dolio before we left. When we got to the northern side of Santo Domingo, we were sitting at a light; the street vendors began knocking on our windows. We had already purchased bottles of water and little bags of cashews, so we were trying to ignore them. They became quite persistent. That's when we realized they were trying to tell us something. .
Bottom line: Right rear tire had only ONE lug nut and stud holding it in place and it was loose!
Somewhere between JD and Sto Domingo, our vehicle had broken and lost four studs and lug nuts! Our poor guardian angels had to have been quite dizzy trying to hold a tire on an Explorer travelling in Dominican traffic.
PTL, there was a Ford dealership on the far corner where we were able to purchase the LAST four studs and lugnuts they had in stock! They placed us in their express repair lane. $75 and less than 2 hours later, we were on our way.
~~The next day Bob, Pastor Tolentino, Tim, Evelyn & I travelled to San Cristobel. There is a school, clinic and hospital there overseen by a pastor. They had very few supplies before Tropical Storms Noel and Olga; even less after the water level in their bldgs hit 3 ft. So we were able to take SCORE's flat bed Diahatsu truck with hospital beds, and an enclosed trailer packed full of food, water, supplies and clothes.
~~ In the days before we left I had sewn 2 dozen little dresses (size 2-12). I love to sew, so my sewing machine and serger received a real work out. What a joy to know the LORD was allowing me to contribute something to someone else.
~~The week before Christmas our Internet went down. Repairman told Tim it would take 24 business hours to fix. That 24 Business hours translated to the Friday AFTER Christmas. But we made the delightful discovery that Giulia's Cafe has free wi-fi. Giulia's cafe' is at the end of our street. It is an open air Italian cafe' owned by a Jewish man named Judah, that flies a big British flag and serves the best cheeseburgers ever! it sits right across the street from the ocean; has big screen TV that shows sports events usually. (It's where we like to watch the SuperBowl!) It's probably our favorite place to go...cheeseburgers are large enough for Bob and I to share one!
~~It's really nice having Tim and Evelyn living right across the landing from us in this apartment bldg. Christmas Eve we spent at their place eatting snacks and playing cards. Christmas Day we pooled our 'resources' and had dinner at our place. What an enjoyable time!
~~Of course, the enjoyment began AFTER the demise of the tarantula that made an unfortunate appearance in my kitchen cupboard about 10 minutes before Tim & Evelyn arrived! But lots of bug spray, hair spray, a big wooden spoon and a drop from our 2nd story balcony to the cement below took care of him. But I am more careful when placing my hand in a cupboard now!
~~Our medical clinic is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So I spend those two days running the pharmacy. I LOVE IT! It's very tiring, but fun! Evelyn will be going out with the groups and translating for the village clinics.
~~So, our quiet season has drawn to a close. Our first team arrived on Saturday...all 67 of them! The airport arrival closely resembled a three ring circus! But all of them were delivered to the SCORE complex without loosing any luggage or carry-ons. It only took 3 buses and the flat bed Diatsu! Their group is comprised of med teams and evangelism. They have many things prepared for presenting the Gospel while people are waiting to be seen. The first clinic is today (Monday); they were on the road at 6:30AM to begin a 2 hour ride to the other side of Santo Domingo to work with Pastor Vernon.
Please pray for their safety, wisdom and strength this week. But, even more important, pray for the hearts of the people that will be ministered to!
~~Our busy season is upon us. We have seen the LORD work in many ways. We are in His hands; His might and strength protect us....what more could we ask for?
Just a few highlights from the past couple of weeks....
~~The week before Christmas we were headed up to Santiago for mail day ~~about a 3 hour drive. Had a Christmas package coming from Shan and were hoping for Christmas cards. We were driving the Ford Explorer, as 'little red' (Diahatsu smaller than a Festiva) was at the mechanics with a fuel system problem. Bob checked all tires for air in Juan Dolio before we left. When we got to the northern side of Santo Domingo, we were sitting at a light; the street vendors began knocking on our windows. We had already purchased bottles of water and little bags of cashews, so we were trying to ignore them. They became quite persistent. That's when we realized they were trying to tell us something. .
Bottom line: Right rear tire had only ONE lug nut and stud holding it in place and it was loose!
Somewhere between JD and Sto Domingo, our vehicle had broken and lost four studs and lug nuts! Our poor guardian angels had to have been quite dizzy trying to hold a tire on an Explorer travelling in Dominican traffic.
PTL, there was a Ford dealership on the far corner where we were able to purchase the LAST four studs and lugnuts they had in stock! They placed us in their express repair lane. $75 and less than 2 hours later, we were on our way.
~~The next day Bob, Pastor Tolentino, Tim, Evelyn & I travelled to San Cristobel. There is a school, clinic and hospital there overseen by a pastor. They had very few supplies before Tropical Storms Noel and Olga; even less after the water level in their bldgs hit 3 ft. So we were able to take SCORE's flat bed Diahatsu truck with hospital beds, and an enclosed trailer packed full of food, water, supplies and clothes.
~~ In the days before we left I had sewn 2 dozen little dresses (size 2-12). I love to sew, so my sewing machine and serger received a real work out. What a joy to know the LORD was allowing me to contribute something to someone else.
~~The week before Christmas our Internet went down. Repairman told Tim it would take 24 business hours to fix. That 24 Business hours translated to the Friday AFTER Christmas. But we made the delightful discovery that Giulia's Cafe has free wi-fi. Giulia's cafe' is at the end of our street. It is an open air Italian cafe' owned by a Jewish man named Judah, that flies a big British flag and serves the best cheeseburgers ever! it sits right across the street from the ocean; has big screen TV that shows sports events usually. (It's where we like to watch the SuperBowl!) It's probably our favorite place to go...cheeseburgers are large enough for Bob and I to share one!
~~It's really nice having Tim and Evelyn living right across the landing from us in this apartment bldg. Christmas Eve we spent at their place eatting snacks and playing cards. Christmas Day we pooled our 'resources' and had dinner at our place. What an enjoyable time!
~~Of course, the enjoyment began AFTER the demise of the tarantula that made an unfortunate appearance in my kitchen cupboard about 10 minutes before Tim & Evelyn arrived! But lots of bug spray, hair spray, a big wooden spoon and a drop from our 2nd story balcony to the cement below took care of him. But I am more careful when placing my hand in a cupboard now!
~~Our medical clinic is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So I spend those two days running the pharmacy. I LOVE IT! It's very tiring, but fun! Evelyn will be going out with the groups and translating for the village clinics.
~~So, our quiet season has drawn to a close. Our first team arrived on Saturday...all 67 of them! The airport arrival closely resembled a three ring circus! But all of them were delivered to the SCORE complex without loosing any luggage or carry-ons. It only took 3 buses and the flat bed Diatsu! Their group is comprised of med teams and evangelism. They have many things prepared for presenting the Gospel while people are waiting to be seen. The first clinic is today (Monday); they were on the road at 6:30AM to begin a 2 hour ride to the other side of Santo Domingo to work with Pastor Vernon.
Please pray for their safety, wisdom and strength this week. But, even more important, pray for the hearts of the people that will be ministered to!
~~Our busy season is upon us. We have seen the LORD work in many ways. We are in His hands; His might and strength protect us....what more could we ask for?
~~anna~~
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