Greetings from an even hotter Honduras. Last Friday we had a record 120, but today it is “only” 107. We have some clouds, so maybe we will get some much needed rain.
We ended up having over 160 patients in the clinic in June–more than 30 more than we had last year. This month we have started out slowly. I think it is too hot for people to move. At Church yesterday, everyone looked miserable from the heat. Once again we had more men than women in the services. Yesterday morning Madonna took a loaf of Hawaaian Nut bread over to the family of Gustavo Fuentes. His wife and one son now worship at the Pentecostal churrch, but he is still not in church anywhere. He was so faithful in our first years here, but has not atttended church for years. Please pray for Gustavo Fuentes that he will return to the Lord.
Our big news for this month was the celebration of the 100th birthday of Evangelina Mateo. As farr as we know, she is the first person in Las Brisas to reach 100 years old. Last Thursday the women of the congregation had their meeting at her home to help her celebrate. Some of the women made up a big pot of rice and chicken and brought Pepsi to drink and Madonna made a strawberry and a chocolate sheet cake to share. After singing some hymns, Lourdes Sandoval de Mejia gave a devotional and we sang the special Happy Birthday song in Spanish. Besides the women there were a lot of her great great grandchildren, great griandchildren, grandchildren and children so we must have had over 50 people there inside and outside. We think at one time Eva attended the Pentecostal church, but she doesn’t get far from her house any more.
We leave for the States for two months on August 6th and are preparing to pay salaries and the money to the students we help for the two months we are away. Gilma Avilez de Sandoval and her mother, Eva Deras will see that the clinic runs smoothly and our minister, Reyno Hernandez and the leaders of the congregation will take care of the church services. We will hope to see many of you while in the States.
In His Love, John and Madonna