What a week! Spanish school is behind us, our weekend of revival meetings is over and we are spending Monday cleaning and doing mountains of laundry, mostly bedding, from having a lot of guests. The compound was full and because the church is here, during the day there were about 100 people here. Lunch and supper were cooked by native women and we had some wonderful meals! Sunday morning we served 40 people for breakfast. So it was a full week.
The bus rides to Antigua were an experience. Our first bus on Monday morning was so full, we were standing on the bottom step. We thought the bus was full, :) and we would not be stopping for any more passengers.... wrong! We took on a lot more people, just kept packing tighter. Some of the rides, I would watch the little children, and when their seat had 4 adults crammed onto it, they would sit up against the seat and hold on. Tuesday morning when we started to board the bus, the driver and his helper and Vernon were all excited to see each other and had their little hand shake ritual. Vernon has bused on their bus enough to be recognized and welcomed. Our time in Spanish school was great and I know it helped, but there is so much to learn and I had a hard time getting in all the study time I needed! We had guests come in during the week and my 'domestics' girl went home to the states on furlough and Marta went to San Bartolame for a few days. We were short handed, Jeana had a lot of responsibility. Jody helped when she could and Ruth and Elba helped out too.
The most unexpected part of the week was walking beside a young mother from Belize who was staying here while her baby was in the hospital. The baby was 2 months old and had been in the hospital since birth. He had one surgery at 5 days to repair some puncture that had accidentally happened. The real problem was that he was born with his small intestine malformed and it was sealed shut. He was a very sick baby when he got here. We were in the hospital with the mother on Tuesday afternoon and night while the baby had surgery. He seemed to come through alright and the doctor had hope he would pull through, but at 4 am they called and told the mother to come right away. We hurried to get ready and Vernon and I and Priscila went along. The baby died just before we got there. I went in to the intensive care unit and I can't describe how sad it was to see this young mother mourning her baby and all I could do was hug her. The baby was a beautiful baby and we both noticed what a peaceful expression he had on his face. We spent most of the day at the hospital half of it at the morgue just being there with the mother and baby. Because it was International there was a lot of paper work and the hospital wouldn't release the body till the bill was paid in full. There were many caring people at the hospital, doing what they could to help. This was Wednesday, and on Friday morning early, our mission pilot, Danny, flew the mother and baby to Belize City. Priscila was with the mother every day, and was a wonderful support and also was able to help the mother as she talked to doctors and etc. One tiny 5lb. life, and yet I will never forget it! Only 2 months old, but that precious baby brought heaven closer. We can think we have our life all planned out and figured out, but...... we never know! Pray for Sherri.
