Special Day! 27 March 2011

What a special day! But for a most unexpected reason… TIME for Christ Mexico Ministries! After we delivered all of the donations to the Hospital Escuela, we were met by the President of the Baptist Medical & Dental Mission International, Dwight and Margaret Carr. We drove less than 2 hours north to the village of Guaimaca. There we toured the BMDMI hospital with the building missionaries, Sandy & JoAnn Cheves. We saw operating rooms, pre- and post-op areas, dental department, xray, lab and pharmacy. I cannot get my photos out of my camera on this old computer, but will have them available next week. Then we toured the housing facilities for up to 75 team members with hot showers that have clean water that is potable!!! Wonderful clean bathrooms with this quote over each potty, “Please place toilet paper in the toilet. Thank you!” (For you non-TIME readers, this is a shock!) There is a very nice kitchen with refrigerators/freezers, etc., for the team. Finally, we learned about BMDMI’s structure with opportunities at this facility for surgeons of all types, anesthesiology, dentists/oral surgeons, nurses, pastors (none of whom need to speak Spanish) AND translators! Medical doctors and all the support personnel they would need go in “Brigades.” These are teams that go to schools that close just for these teams and are converted to clinics just like TIME. Some are in small cities close to 20,000 all the way to rural schools out in the country side that are not even in villages. We then toured their home facility where medical teams enter and leave and it is more beautiful, clean and comfortable than any mission facility Begee and I have ever seen. They want what TIME has been doing but would need slightly smaller teams. Their preference is one week but it can be longer, depending on the time of the year. Cost is $750 for one week plus airfare to and from Tegucigalpa (ours was $715 @). That cost includes everything including transportation. Begee and I both felt so strongly about this that we are convinced we will return trying to organize people from TIME, especially the translators!!! Those of you who have been saying, “Two weeks is too long,” or “It is too far,” or “It is too expensive.” These won’t fly!!!! I see great opportunities for audiologists, the ComCare solar rechargeable hearing aids, OT/PT, lab and xray techs, pharmacists, dentists and hygienists, and pastors (sounds like TIME doesn’t it!). The two specialties that they have seen almost none of are ENT and Eye! They really want what the Charlotte Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Assoc. team has to offer!!!! The BMDMI ministry is frankly staggering. They have The Good Shepherd Children’s Home for 150 children so a children’s ministry is important. They have a pastor’s school training up to 15 pastors at a time. They have planted over 120 churches. There is a construction ministry and on and on. If you do something… they can find a way to use it! Right now, if this interests you, write me at parsonsdav@aol.com! Our other anesthesiologist arrived today, Steve Mendoza. I am exhausted! In His Service, David & Begee