Ruger Series 4

As usual Ruger did awesome! He went right to the short bird. He did have a small hunt on the flyer, but nothing to worry about. He started off great on the long bird. He had a straight line getting right in the water. He faded to the left and was going to get out of the water early so Eddie stopped him and got him back on line to swim the whole way. This he did and got out on the bank just right of the bird. He took a left turn and Eddie handled him over to it. He had a very nice 3 whistle blind. He looks set to earn his title unless they decide to squeeze in another series tomorrow. Way to go Ruger!
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Blu Series 4

Blu started off really nice. Pickup up the short bird no problem. He went right out to the flyer where his bird proceed to fly back to the bird station. He made a big loop them went over and caught it! He started off for the long bird just like Pete. Eddie was quick to stop him and try to correct the situation before it got out of hand. With some big verbal casts he was finally able to coax him to the bird. He was invited to run the blind, but the judges said they would have to discuss it. He had a 6 or 7 whistle blind. Not impressive, but not too bad.
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Pete Series 4

Pete started off like a pro. He easily picked up the go bird and the flyer. Then he lined up for the long bird. He looked right out at it. Eddie sent him and he headed straight for the bird, then he abruptly hooked right, around some trees. Eddie tried feverishly to get him back on track. Running way off line to see him and handle him over. Unfortunately, he was unable to get Pete into the water and back in the test. Sadly Eddie called him in and that was quite possibility his last test.
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Master National Series 4 Test

Saturday, October 31st 2009

The forth series test is a land/water triple with an honor. It has a wipe out go bird at 53 yds that splashes. The first bird lands in the corner of the pond on the dam. The flyer is shot to the outside left of the test. After the three marks are picked up, on the return of the final mark, a diversion shot is fired. Upon return a "by invitation only" blind is run behind the flyer station.
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Ruger Series 3

Ruger did awesome! What a talented dog! He had virtually no hunt on the left and middle bird and just a short hunt on the flyer. Not the best job I have seen on this test, but close. Third series and still no handle!
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Blu Series 3

Blu had 2 no birds in a row! Wow! But as they say, third times a charm! Blue did awesome, just awesome! A tiny hunt on the flyer was all he had. Go Blu!
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Pete Series 3

Pete started off great picking up the go bird. Then lined up nice for the flyer. His initial line was awful. He was in the middle of a large hunt when they realized the bird had walked off. So Pete got a lucky break and got a redo. One his second time around he did much better. He ran out for the go bird like a 2yr old. He put up a pretty good hunt for the flyer, but pulled it out in the end. The middle bird was no problem. Another series without a handle. Good job Pete!
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Master National Hunt Test Series 3 Test

Friday, October 30th 2009

The third series is a tripple land/water mark. Shot around the horn right to left starting with the flyer. The flyer is shot across a long gully about 120yds, but is very inconsistent with lots of no birds. The middle mark is about 85yds clipping the left quarter of a small round pond. The left , go bird, is about 45 degrees from the flyer at about 65yds. The birds are all pheasants adding a little difficulty to it. The flyer seems to be the biggest issue. Causing lots of dogs to have to handle.
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Pete Series 2

Thursday October 29th

This morning was warm and humid. Luckily it was not raining when Pete ran. He did really well. His flyer was a little long, but he went right to it. He came back and focused right on the left hand bird. Eddie sent him easy and he hooked right into it. When he came back he looked right at the long bird. Eddie sent him hard to get through all the drag back sent and he got in the water pushed right over the end of the point and swam straight to the bird. He didn't have a hunt on any of the marks. When he came back from the last bird the blinds were already down. Eddie lined him up for the short land blind and he one whistled it. After that he lined him up for the water blind. He started off with a quick whistle for line correction. Then he lined into the water over the peninsula and back into the water then started up the hill. He faded a little to the left and Eddie gave him a correction. He scalloped to the left and after a step cast he pushed back and found the blind. Now on to the third series.
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Ruger Series 2

He started off with a no bird, but it didn't affect him whatsoever. I don't even need to tell you about Rugers marks. They were perfect! His blinds were excellent too, just not as crisp as his marks. His land blind started out fading a little to the right. Eddie stopped him and corrected him back to the line. One quick cast at the end and the first blind was done. He took a good initial line on the water blind into the water then he faded to the right a bit. Eddie whistled and got him back on line. Then he carried the line over the next piece of land into the water. Finally, a right hand whistle and he picked up the bird.
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Blu Series 2

Blue did awesome! Smacked the flyer! He started out a little right of the left bird but promptly corrected and picked it up. Eddie sent him a little right of the middle bird. He took the water perfect and came out and went down the bank about 15ft to pick up the final mark. The left land blind was no challenge for Blu. One whistle to correct his initial line and he was on his way. Straight to it! The water blind was a little more challenging for him. His initial line was too far to the right. Eddie corrected and he went too far to the left. Another correction and he was back on line. After that he faded to the right, but one final correction and he had the bird. Good job Blu!
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Master National Series 2 Test

Wow! Yesterday (Monday) was a mess! It rained off and mostly on all day! They had to move one of the birds in the first series test because it was under water! Luckily we had run all our dogs Sunday and were able to spend the day playing. We went to Brenham to the Blue Bell Creamery and took the tour and had a little ice cream. Then we went to La Grange and sampled some wine at Rosemary's Winery. A cute little winery that in my opinion produces some very nice wine.

Today is beautiful! Sunny, warm and breezy. Just beautiful! Still extremely muddy though. There were a few dogs to run this morning to finish up the first test, but we are moved now. Gun shots in the background must mean that the test dog is running. Eddie runs #5 this morning with Blu. Then #13 with Ruger. Pete won't run till nearly last. Probably tomorrow.

Series 2 Test

This test is a walk-up water triple with a double blind. Its shot around the horn left to right with the flyer as the go bird shot to the far right outside of the test. Nearly 180 degrees to the right of the first bird landing about 60yds from the line. The lines to the memory birds are multiple water entries. The left mark was about 50yds and the middle mark was about 70yds. Once you pick up the marks the blinds are by invitation. The first is a land blind to the left of the marks about 70yds. Pretty straight forward. Through a little dip up a hill. The water blind had two entries. It stretch up a hill about 100yds going between the left and middle marks.
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Ruger Series 1

Dog #169 - Ruger

Ruger did exceptionally well. Despite his no bird that didn't get called. He started by picking up the short bird, no problem. The left bird gave him a little problem, but after a reasonable hunt he got it. The flyer came out of the station and headed straight behind it. It hit the ground and they shot it again. It really should have been a no bird, but it all happened so fast that no one called it. Ruger headed out just fine, but wouldn't hook the gun station and started to hunt. Once it was apparent he was not going to get it Eddie began to handle him. The flyer station was positioned at the left end of some thorny cover, so when he cast him over he could no longer see him and he was on his own to find the bird. He was a good dog and found it quickly as we all held our breaths. The judges said they would not count it as a handle since the bird landed where it did.
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Blu Series 1

Dog #160 - Blu

Blu had a very nice test. He was very ancy to get started. He picked up the short bird no problem. He made a short hunt on the left bird, but came out with it. The flyer through him off a little, along with a whistle from the other test, but he pulled through and beat the test. Over all a very nice test.
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Shelby Series 1

Dog #150 - Shelby

Well, Shelby didn't do so well. She picked up the short bird no problem. Then she went for the "hard" left bird and that's when it all fell apart. Its not all Shels fault though. Her bird came out and landed in the right spot, then rolled back into the trees. She went right out to where it landed, but couldn't push back into the trees. It took Eddie some effort to handle her back to it because she had already gone to where it should have been twice. The flyer was just as bad as she stopped to hunt it short and did not cast well to it. Looks like the end for poor Shel.
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Pete Series 1

Dog #135 - Pete

Pete went and got the short bird no problem. Then it was time for the second bird, the "hard" bird. At 7 years old Pete is a veteran retriever, and he showed it. He pushed through both ditches and landed just to the right of the bird. He turned and picked it right up. The flyer was a different story. Pete is not as fast as he used to be. Actually, he is a little slow now. He strolled by the flyer about 10ft down wind and then proceeded right on past. The goober kept going and hooked the trees. Then he got out of sight and Eddie had to handle him back to the bird. Where he missed the bird again. Another tweet and he finally picked it up.
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Master National Series 1 Test

Sunday October, 25 2009

Its a cool breezy mostly sunny morning. The test is a tripple shot around the horn from left to right with pheasants at each station.

Bird 1
Bird one is shot right to left in the shadows against a tree line. Across a ditch about 80 yards.

Bird 2 - Flyer
Shot right to left at about 110 yards.

Bird 3
Shot right to left at about 40 yards landing behind a ditch.

The position of the sun and the clouds makes the first bird the most challenging. Pete is the first to run. The starting number was 122. Pete is 135 making him #13 to run. Most of the dogs to run so far have had to handle on the first bird. All in all its a fair test.
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Dia Sies

Hola missions team!

Lunch time again. I am so glad! I am starving! I only had one little roll for breakfast. This morning has been busy, but has gone fast. I can't believe its the last day. My body is ready to go home, but my spirit is not. I know God will continue to provide for these people once we are gone.

The afternoon will be crazy I think. We are closing the clinic early to pack up and spend some time with everyone who has made this possible. This will not give us much time after lunch to see people.

Well, its 5:00 and the vision clinic is officially packed up. The pharmacy and the lens dispensing are still packing. My heart is heavy with the people we were unable to see. It is glad many times over for the people we did see! Thank you Father for all!

Its now 10:05. The bus was supposed to be here at 10:00. Welcome to Peru! We managed to get out of the church. The people surrounded us. It was so bitter sweet. We came back to the hotel, packed and showered. No more showers for at least 42 hours.

At 8:00 we left the hotel to go to dinner. We had Chinese again, which at first sounded bad, but ended up being good. After dinner a few of us went around the corner to our favorite little dessert shop. They were out of coconut ice cream, so I had the chocolate coconut pie. So very yummy!

God was very evident today. We were out of any prescription over +2.75. This is not very strong for older people who have had very little eye care all their lives. So when I would go from the 2.50 to the 3.00 I would say "this one is gonna be it". So many times they would pick the weaker strength. It was such a God thing.

There have been so many awesome stories this week. If you have never been involved in a mission trip before, think seriously about it.

We are on the bus and moving! The bus was supposed to leave at 10:15. Its only 30 minutes late. Not too bad. I'm about to take my sleeping pill and hopefully not open my eyes again for at least 8 hours. Good night!

Hasta Luego,

Heather
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Dia Cinco

Hola missions team!

Its lunch time again! I don't know what's on the menu. I have a real good guess though :). I just finished working on todays devotional. Sitting on the sidewalk in front of the pastors house in the sun listening to Casting Crowns. This is refreshing break.

We had a busy morning. I don't have numbers yet, but I suspect they will be bigger than yesterday. Well, the second bus is here so its time to eat. Later!

Well, lunch is over. The first bus is full so I will wait here in the sun for the second one. Our group is so big that we have to make two trips. Lunch was good. Not quite as good as yesterday, but better than the day before. My hands are still a little sticky from the two oranges I ate. They were amazing!

Here is the devotional I did for today.

-I so often feel unworthy of doing Gods work. I feel like the blessing I am receiving is much bigger than the one I am giving. Being here draws a clear picture of Gods love, grace and mercy. There is a song by Reliant K that expresses best how I feel. The man in the song is dying and Jesus comes to speak to him.

-He says: see one night in your life when you turned out the light. You asked and prayed for my forgiveness. You cried wolf. The tears they soaked your fur. The blood dripped from your fangs. You said what have I done. You loved that lamb. With every sinful bone. And there you wept alone. You said Jesus please forgive me of my pride. And sanctify this withered heart of mine. Stay with me until my life is through. And on that day please take me home with you.

I am constantly sticking my fangs back into that lamb. Every day I fail and ask God why he continues to put up with me. It was my sins that took that perfect white lamb to slaughter. Yet, here I am. In his service. So unworthy. But blessed beyond measure. We came together from all over: Texas, Oklahoma, California, Georgia, to help these people. If this is not a picture of Gods mercy, I don't know what is.

Erin has been praying for each patient all day. I pressured her into it by telling her that Tina had been praying for everyone. There was this one lady we were praying for today. She was praying as we prayed and continued to pray for us after we had finished. Not until she prayed for us did I realize how much it meant for us to pray for her. I had absolutely no idea what she was saying, but it refreshed my spirit.

I thank God every day for allowing me to be in his service. I am so glad I serve a God whose plans are bigger than my downfalls. That the success of what we do here does not depend on my righteousness but on his. I want to finish today by saying; What a privilege we have to serve him! -

So, right now I'm sitting on my bed waiting for dinner at seven. The afternoon was a bit stressful for some. I faired pretty well. My ankles are already swollen, but I think I will live. We are having dinner tonight at the hotel. The OM team is going to a christian concert here in Chiclayo. I dare not speculate what's for dinner, but it smells a little bit like chicken. I'll let you know later.

Dinner was great. No chicken. Not that it really matters much since I don't eat meat, but it was good for everyone else. It was like beef stew, rice and french fries. I use the term french fry loosely. They are not skinny and crispy like fast food, they are thicker and not crispy, but very good.

After dinner we went to the grocery store. This may seem a little boring for Peru, but its actually quite exciting. Simply avoiding being run over on the way there is a rush. Once there you stock up on all the goodies you have grown to love since you arrived. This is my shopping list. Coconut cookies, several varieties of tea, flan, toffee, vanilla extract, banana chips, sweet potato chips, chocolate covered soda crackers and coffee. Yumflan!

On the upper level of the grocery store was a little cafe with desserts. I had a piece of lemon pie and orange juice. The pie was not as good as the coconut pie, but still very yummy. The orange juice here is almost like fresh squeezed. It is very refreshing.

After that we all came back to the hotel. I waited a few minutes for the computer in the lobby to check my email and Facebook. While I was there the OM team showed up from the concert. They had a good time. And that was pretty much the end of the day.

Here are our numbers for the day.

Medical - 168
Vision - 170
Salvations - ?

Please pray for energy to get us through the last day of clinic and for safety as we return home. See y'all soon!

Hasta Luego,
Heather
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Dios Cuatro

Hola missions team!

Our God is the greatest! I am so blessed to be part of the work here in Peru! I am so unworthy of being used in such a mighty way!

I want to start with some totals.

Medical Clinic: Sunday - 170
Monday - 171
Tuesday - 164

Vision Clinic: Sunday - 148
Monday - 152
Tuesday - 138

Salvations: Sunday - ?
Monday - 50
Tuesday - 28

Only our Father could take a group of 22 people, many of whom don't know each other, and throw them together in a foreign country with 13 Peruvians and make something so good! Many people are doing things they have never done before. Things that aren't like anything they have done before. And some people use skills they have been preparing all their lives. Either way it all comes together.

Sheer exhaustion it beginning to set in at this point. I had to drag out of bed this morning. If it weren't for the sugar rush from the giant piece of amazingly great chocolate coconut pie I had for dinner I would be passed out right now. I have been told it is because today was our "hump" day and everything from this point will be down hill. I certainly hope so!

The vision clinic was great today. I felt good, which helps immensely. Tina Moore was my translator today. She did an awesome job of translating and praying for the people! We had one lady today that had her son with her. He was being a little fussy and he was sitting in Tina's chair. So, when she was done, Tina started to lead her to the next station. She stopped and started talking rapidly. It took a while to figure out what she wanted, but she just wanted us to pray for her. She had seen us pray for others, and she wanted us to pray for her too. Needless to say, we didn't try to skip praying for anybody else after that.

I was able to give away the pair of glasses I had from Steve Stidham today. For those of you who don't know him he was Eddie's mentor who died early this year. It was very bittersweet. It felt like giving away a memory. But at the same time you were creating a new one. A happier one. I will be forever touched by both of these men.

Lunch was awesome! I had potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, rice, a banana and a sweet lemon. The sweet lemon was exactly like an orange in size and shape, it however, had no flavor. We assumed they were not ripe. Dinner was great as well. I had an amazing salad and french fries.

We will have clinic tomorrow and Thursday. We will get on the bus around 10pm Thursday night and drive to Lima. We will arrive in Lima around 9am Friday morning. Then they have some tourista stuff planned for us.

I am constantly amazed by Gods grace and love in this place. If you have never been on a foreign mission, start praying about it today. It is a life altering experience. I must warn you though it can be addicting.

I pray that you all are well. Thank you so much for your love and support!

Hasta Manana,

Heather
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Dia Tres

Monday October 12th, 2009

I am presently sitting at the table at the pastors house. It is very noisy with all the conversations. I would love 30 minutes of alone time.

This morning started off just as yesterday. We actually saw the same amount of patients as yesterday. It is physically and mentally exhausting. The ground is rocky and uneven and it hurts your feet. Not to mention that there is no air flow. Actually, I may have mentioned that yesterday.

My sister, whom many of you know wears glasses. She has since she was very small. My mother had saved all of her glasses. She found them recently while cleaning and had the brilliant idea to send them with me. So, I have been able to take glasses my sister has not worn in years and give them to people who would otherwise have none. It really adds a nice personal touch.
*
Lunch is over. We had chicken, rice and veggies. surprise. I'm sitting out on the sidewalk in the sun. It feels amazing. There is a persistant ocean breeze and its just cool enough that the warm sun feels great.
*
The first patient I had after lunch was Desi. She is one of the OM team. She is also rooming with Marium, Amanda and me. I was able to give her a pair of my sisters glasses. That meant a lot to her. I have given out about 5 pair of her glasses so far. I only have 4 pair left, but they are small and will have to go to the right person.
*
It is now 9:45pm. I am exausted. I felt a little feverish after lunch and took some meds and felt mostly better. But waiting on dinner I started feeling bad again. I took some more meds, but still feel a little down. Please pray for strength no matter what. That even if I still feel bad in the morning that I will press on.

We had pizza for dinner. It was sort of like a frozen pizza from the states. Not as good as it sounded, but still a welcome change from chicken and rice. After dinner we came back to the hotel for our nightly meeting/debreifing.

During this time we are encouraged to share stories from our day. The most interesting story was of a woman with leprosy. I saw her waiting to see the doctor. She had no fingers and it was obvious even with shoes on her feet must have problems as well. She had several open sores on her hands. She was nearly blind from the disease. The doctors she had gone to told her she had a fungus. She was 12 when she first started having symptoms and she is currently 35. She has spent the last 23 years of her life suffering with a horribly dilapidating disease because of a missed diagnosis. They said she was the happiest person they had met. Even with all the suffering she still had her joy. What a lesson to us all!

Another lady was being checked out in triage when the nurse noticed she was having a heart attack. Needless to say, they thought it best to take her to the hospital. On her way out the door she stopped them to tell her she had also needed to have her eyes checked!

She came back later and was doing much better. She did get her glasses too. Any, one of the OM leaders asked her where she would have gone if she had died today. She responded that her husband was a christian. Any told her that didn't matter, that it was about her relationship with Jesus. She then made a profession of faith! Who knew a heart attack could save your life!

The last story I want to tell is about the pastors daughter. She has a baby around 8 months old. Totally cute, but her eyes move around rapidly. She has no control of them. The daughter was in Laura's room, along with her mother and the baby talking, for about the fourth time, about the baby's eyes. There is nothing to do, but Laura was patient to talk with her. The mother took the baby out of the room giving Laura and the daughter time to talk.

Once the mother left she really opened up. She is 18 and not married. So had obviously made some bad choices in life. She told Laura that she had lived with a man and that her sin was unforgivable. She also expressed that this was why the babies eyes were messed up. She thought God was punishing her! Laura was able to talk and pray with her and give her better understanding about forgiveness of sin. She said you could tell a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulder.

How amazing is our God! I am so thankful that he even allows me to be part of such important work! Other prayer needs are for health and strength and energy for the team. Also, we are running low or are out of certain lens prescriptions. Please pray we will have what we need to help people. I pray that God blesses you all abundantly for supporting me!

Hasta Manana,

Heather
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Request

I have only one small request. I love getting your replies, but please do not just hit the reply button. Start a new email. I have to pay per kb so the smaller the better. Also, I receive text messages for free. About to start day two. Love you guys!

Heather
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Dia Dos

Hello team! I did not forget about you today, today was just busy. It started at 7am. No, that's not early, I just get ready fast. I went down stairs (I guess now would be a good time to mention that my room is on the second floor) to the cafe to find out that breakfast is served on the fifth floor. So, I go back up stairs on to the fifth floor.

Most of the team was already there. The table was set up with toast, rolls and jelly. There was coffee, tea and juice also. A typical Peruvian breakfast. I caught the first bus to the church which left at 7:45.

Today was awesome! I don't have all the numbers, but ill give you what I do have. We stopped at 1:00 for lunch and by that point we had seen 85 eye patients and 120 medical patients. We started back from lunch around 2:30 and worked until 5:00. I will let you know tomorrow the first day totals.

I have Erin Moore as a translator. She is the daughter of our doctor and the niece of Randy and Tina Moore whom most of you know. Erin is not fluent in Spanish. She is way better than me, but there is a lot she can't communicate. She tells the patient there will be two lenses and to pick which one is better. All they have to do is pick one or two, but there is a lot of confusion nonetheless. One lady we saw was particularly difficult. I had to test her several times because she kept changing her mind about what was better. Finally after several tries I got to the same conclusion twice, so I wrote her a prescription for it and sent her on her way. She was not satisfied though and told Erin she wanted to see the doctor and pointed at Randy! I found this extremely comical, but Erin was mad. The woman obviously felt like Randy had more authority since he was a man. I sent her to sit in his waiting chair.

For lunch we went to the pastors house again. And we ate the same thing again. Dinner was a different story fortunately. We walked about 6 blocks to a Chinese restaurant. The food was real yummy. And different!

That was a crude summary of today, but seeing as I have fallen asleep already at least 6 times since I am giving up and going to sleep! I will try to do a better job of keeping you informed tomorrow.

Connect,

Heather
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Dia uno.

Well, we are finally here! We left DFW at noon yesterday and arrived here today at noon! I got a lot of sleep on the bus, but I'm sure I will crash hard later. We are meeting at 1, to eat -yay- and to go to the church to get set up.

We had lunch at the pastors house. Chicken, rice, potatoes, peas, green beans and little melons about the size and shape of tomatoes. They tasted like a cross between honey dew and cucumber.



Presently we are at the church getting things set up for tomorrow. The church is one open room aside from the bathroom on the right side. They have "rooms" sectioned off with white plastic. The floor is partially concrete and partially dirt. Very humbling.

There are presently 4 rooms set up for doctors. One will probably not be used and will most likely become part of the vision clinic. Vision will use one open space. There will be 3 people, including myself, performing eye exams. In another open area there are three tables set up for triage. The pharmacy is in a room at the front of the church, next to where the glasses will be dispensed.

We did not see any patients today since it was so late when we finished setting everything up. We will be arriving at the church between 8 and 8:15 in the morning to get to work. I am very excited to see how God works tomorrow!



We walked about 8 blocks to a restaurant to have dinner. They served us roasted chicken, french fries and salad. The salad is of course off limits, but being hard headed, and since I don't eat chicken, I went for it. I will let you know tomorrow how it turns out.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel for a short meeting. Then, two ladies and I walked 7 blocks to get some ice cream. Not something I usually eat, I know, but the ice cream here is just so good.

Well, that's about it for tonight. I'm going to bed. I want to be sure I catch up sleep from all of the traveling. And I know the morning will come too soon! Tomorrow should be a more exciting story.

Hasta Manana,

Heather
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