Our final visit to the villages happened today with a visit to Las Quebradas. The road was windy on our way up the mountain and the view from up there was so beautiful that it's hard to put into words.
We finished strong with a busy day. Henry performed 33 extractions today. Two extractions were on an 8 year old girl. The little girl was initially scared, burying her face in her mother's arms or covering her mouth. Eventually Henry was able to convince the girl to let him work on her and he was able to successfully extract 2 of her teeth.
The hospitality of the community was great. During both the morning and the afternoon, people brought around coffee and homemade donuts for all of us. The donuts were delicious, and the kindness shown to us by the people was even better.
At the end of the day, we were packing up. The eye clinic had disconnected their equipment and has put all the eye glasses away in their appropriate boxes. A 98 year old man came in saying he couldn't see. The computer containing the inventory information was still on and Paul sat down with the man to find out his eye issues. Paul was able to help the man so that when he left he could see distance and was able to read. Paul told the man it was an honor to meet him. The man thanked Paul and said that he lived in the first village coming up the mountain. He then told Paul that he (Paul) had to come back next year because the man would coming back when the team returned. He expected to see Paul and have his eyes checked again at the next visit!
On the way back to FOB, we stopped at a local cacao farm. This story all started on Tuesday when Paul brought out chocolate he brought from the US and challenged the Honduran FOB members to a chocolate competition to see who had the better chocolate. At the farm, we learned the entire process involved in harvesting the cacao. We saw the trees that the cacao plant grows on, we saw how the cacao was extracted, dried, roasted and ground. After learning about the cacao, we enjoyed hot chocolate with the cacao. In the end, the Hondurans chocolate was both purer and better than chocolate from the US.
Once back at FOB, we inventoried supplies for the next group as we winded down for the week. In the end, we saw 1,054 people in the general clinic, extracted 151 teeth, gave vitamins to 1,143, dewormed 581 kids and adults, and saw 258 people in the eye clinic. Our final dinner at the Alfredo House consisted of fried chicken, potato salad, rolls, salad, and cooked broccoli and carrots. We will miss the delicious food and the kind smiles of Virginia and Albita, who have cared for us all week.
For devotions this evening, the theme was compassion. When broken down, compassion means "suffering with." In Matthew, we read about the crowds following Jesus to a remote place and how He healed them. He then tells his disciples to feed them when his disciples say to send the people away because it's getting late. We ended the evening with affirmations of each other. Many kind things were said about one another. Each team member has played an important part on this journey. We showed teamwork, we had strong leadership, and we established long-term relationships within our FOB family and with the many wonderful villagers that we have met along the way. What great memories we have to share, and we can give all the thanks to God.
