it is the end of the day on wednesday, a long day for both teams. half of our time here remains but i will use the whole alphabet to try to describe the trip so far.

A ll around us, beautiful landscapes, dedicated servants, welcoming people.

B eans.  we eat them with a lot of…
C indy.  every mission team should have one.  we’re lucky enough to have two!

D iligent is today’s adjective doug uses to describe himself (see tuesday’s post for more).

E ye-opening that such conditions (poverty) exist under 5 hours from kansas city.

F is for frank.  every year we have great partners from CEPAD who we want to have with us when we return.  frank, welcome to the list.

G is for the garbage dump we pass daily, where people chase the trucks to see what they will dump.

H is for hospitality:  a family giving up its home for the clinic. the neighbors leaving their living room so that we might have lunch.  and carl the missionary buying a round after a hard day’s work (or lots of talking to larry — check the letter L).

I ndescribable…despite our best efforts.

J amie is the first woman in the history of our medical clinics who has gone to the work site every day…not once to the clinic.  and she’s going back tomorrow.

K is for karla’s where we all had ice cream tonite.  ice cream “con galletas” was great.  (of course when are galletas not great?)

L is for Larry, the teenager who helped lay the foundation for a water treatment facility (tongue in cheek) by talking with mules.

M ules — lance, carty, bill and bart.

N ancy: the only person on the trip lobbying to be mentioned in the blog.  she wants everyone to know that while we miss our dental superhero phillipe, over 120 children have received flouride treatments in the first two days of our clinics.

O h…here’s another chance to mention nancy.

P resence: a ministry all its own.

Q uiet is not a word to describe the village of mesa sur.

…R ice

S is the shovel jeff just didn’t wanna give up.  you go jeff!

T is for trust the nicarawan workers showed lance when he suggested using a chain link fence to unload the sand.  and it worked.  ask lance about it!

U niversal…almost 3 billion people live in poverty. we are the exception.

V ery tired at the end of most days…but it’s a good tired.

W alk humbly with your god…part three of our “mission statement.”

X is for the x-ray our last patient of the day desperately needs.

Y et he refused treatment and thus his eyesight remains in jeopardy.

Z ero is the number of cars or trucks we usually pass on the hour-long ride to mesa sur.

AA nd now on to thursday.

BB lessings and good night.