Rare Find

Some places have bears,

Some places have anacondas,

Some places have poisonous snakes,
Some places have other dangerous animals and/or insects,

and some places have...

As Geña was cleaning and moving around some blocks and bricks where I roast coffee, she came across a "rare find."

It is not unusual to find scorpions in the yard, but what makes this find a rare one is that if you look closely, you'll see baby scorpions attached to the back of it.  They say that after a female scorpion gives birth, the babies eat her.

Before and after trapping this scorpion, Geña killed 7 others in the area.  The next day in a different area where there were some bricks laying around, she killed 3 more.  A week before this, she was stung by one on the tip of her finger, but didn't affect her.

Any guesses as to how many babies were attached to the mother???

53!!  That means, that in those two days, Geña killed 64 scorpions (alacranes)!

Water in Cofradia

On November 8, I sent out a plea of prayer for water in Cofradia through Facebook.  Many of you responded and we are very grateful!  

That day as many of you prayed with us while we went out to the well, we prayed that God would open up the water veins again and provide water for the town.  The well had gone dry during the three months we were without water.  We had to repair a number of water lines throughout the town and the pump was getting weak as well.

While we were out praying at the well, we sensed a need to go pray for the man in charge, Fermin.  From there, we went to his house and he was very appreciative of our visit.  We assured him that we knew and God knew that he was doing all he could to help the town get out of the problem it was in. With tears in his eyes, he mentioned to us that many townspeople had been ridiculing him and were placing the blame on him for no water.  He was under a lot of stress.  After visiting for a while and hearing his story of the pain he felt in his eye, we prayed for him and the town.

Since then, some men went out and dug the well a little deeper and said that "mucha agua" was flowing out of the veins.  What an answer to prayer!  The water lines are fixed and we have had water now for a couple of weeks.  As we heard the water pouring into the underground cistern at the house, it felt like Christmas when an excited little child anticipates the beautifully wrapped gifts under the tree.

There are still two issues that have not been resolved.  The first one is that the power company continued to charge the town for the use of the electricity for the pump at the well.  It was nearly the equivalent of $3,000 US Dollars.  The town leaders went to fight it and the authorities lowered it to just over  the equivalent of $1,000 US Dollars.  The townspeople are set back with what they have to pay and some are refusing to pay.  This is a heart issue and a perfect example of how one person's (many in this case) specific sin affects many others who have been obedient.  Now, the town has to pay that bill, plus the bill for November that will be here in a few days.  If we don't pay it, we go back to not having water again.  It's a sad situation, but this is a small town and it's how it is in towns like these.  The monthly water cooperation for each family is only about $3 dollars!  We can pay this, it's just a matter of the Lord softening the hearts that have been hardened.

The other unresolved issue is Fermin's sight.  When we were there he was able to see well, but had pain in his left eye.  That was a Friday, the next Tuesday I went to visit him again and he had gone completely blind in one eye and the other eye was fuzzy.  I have been visiting him from time to time and we even went out there with the group from Texas to pray for him.  This morning he still has pain as if a nail were scraping his eye as it moved back and forth.  He is still blind in his left eye and has blurred vision in the other.  I've been sharing with him about Jesus' love for us and how we can become His children.  Fermin has been taught that everyone is God's child.  We know from the Scriptures that everyone is His creation, but in order to become His child, we need to believe in Christ and receive him as our Savior as Genesis 1:26 and John 1:12 state (just to mention a couple of the many verses on this subject).

Please continue to pray for the town and for Fermin.  Fermin's doctor changed his appointment from November 28 to the end of January.  There is no one (within his insurance plan) that will see him.  Pray for his salvation as well.

Thank you for reading and praying.

Fermin and I

Texas group praying with Fermin

Cofradia Parade; November 20, 2013

Yesterday, as usual, the town celebrated Mexican's Revolution with a parade.  All the school kids and townspeople (those who want) participate in walking around town.  This was Emma's first parade and she was pretty excited!  Here are a couple of pictures; I also took some video.  Sometime when I get around to better internet, I'll upload it.

Rebecka with her classmates in traditional dresses.

Emma walking with her classmates.

Pavement!

We have pavement again!  This is the best it's ever been!  The road from the Interstate all the way past Cofradía to Santa Fe has been repaved after months and months (over a year) of potholes and canyons.  We're all excited about this, especially the vehicles as they breathe a sigh of relief.  This is the first time they've actually painted the stripes the way they should be, we're hoping that all this new pavement lasts through the rainy season.  What a blessing!

Iglesia Hosanna

Acabo de agregar un vínculo a la derecha para la "Iglesia Hosanna."  Pastor Rafael Gradilla es muy buen amigo mío y le tengo mucho respecto.  Disfruto escuchar sus mensajes.  Él ha viajado a Cofradía varias veces y es un hombre que Dios ha usado grandemente.

I have just added to the right a link to "Iglesia Hosanna."  Pastor Rafael Gradilla is a very good friend of mine and one of my favorite speakers, I have a lot of respect for him.  He has travelled to Cofradía many times and God has used him greatly.

Horseback Riding

Beto and I became friends when I was leading the youth group here 13 years ago. He and his wife Monica (who was also part of the youth group), have two daughters the same ages as our daughters. While on a family bike ride a couple weeks ago, we ran into Beto as he was driving cattle from one pasture to another. He offered to take me out horseback riding sometime so Tuesday I took him up on it. I haven't ridden a horse in a while, but I've always loved it!

He took me out to where he had his cattle and we drove them from there to another place about a mile away (my first cattle drive!LOL). At one point, Beto had to run down the road to get some cattle who had veered off. Once my horse saw Beto running, it wanted to run as well. I was ok with that, but my hat flew off! As I tried to grab it, I lost control and pulled on the reins to stop the horse. Suddenly, he stopped and almost sent me to the ground. It was pretty funny. Too bad no one had a video camera for that one!

After we took the cattle to the other field, we rode around the large pond outside of town. I had never been on the other side before and it was beautiful. We stopped along the way to get some water out of a natural well and sat down to eat some green mangos with lime as we talked about life.

I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Knee Surgery Results

To follow previous posts on what happened with my knee click here for the first one and here for the second one.

I had surgery yesterday afternoon and the Doctor did not find anything wrong with my meniscus. Instead, he found other problems...

1. The ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) had been stretched, but not torn. Because of the stretch, the some chords had separated so he repaired and tightened the ligament.

2. The Femur's Condyle (I believe) had been torn as well so he repaired that also.

3. Also, there is a slight crack in the cartilage underneath the knee cap and he repaired that as well.

I understood him to say that the femur and knee cap had slight cracks in them, but after researching here, I think it was the cartilage tears that he was talking about because he did say something about cartilage damage (I'll blame the misunderstanding on the drugs from surgery...smile:).

The final result is that the knee is fixed! I will be on crutches for two weeks without putting pressure on my leg (that will make leading worship in church and a Quinceañera ceremony next week interesting). The actual cost of surgery was $1600 usdollars ($20,527 pesos). We have already spent $370 usdollars on previous doctor visits, blood tests, medicine, and travel expenses. I go in for a follow-up visit next Tuesday where the Doctor will explain a little more in detail of what he did. I really like this doctor and have a high respect for him and his work. He told us that he will not be charging us for rehabilitation after surgery (Praise the Lord!). So, the continuing costs will be a minimal (travel and meds--if needed).

Thank you so much for your prayers and for those of you who have helped financially. If you haven't had a chance to help and would like to, you can see how here.

Blessings to you all!

Knee Injury Update

Click here to see the first post.

We went to the 2nd opinion Dr. last night for my follow-up visit. After doing a little research on the internet and seeing the two different Doctors, I've learned a lot about knee injuries and the many different areas where a knee can be damaged. Again, he said the ligaments are good (collaterals and cruciate). The swelling is down and there is less pain (probably due to the anti-inflamatory and pain killer he put me on???lol). He did not rule out the meniscus (which was the first Dr.'s diagnosis), but said I should rest some more before doing anything else to let the Medial Collateral Ligament heal completely (the first Dr. did not mention anything about that ligament, but the 2nd Dr. did a more thorough exam and found that it was damaged a little--as if I had stretched an elastic band too much). Apparently, this is nothing serious, it just needs about four weeks to heal itself.

What I conclude is:

1. Medial Collateral Ligament: The 2nd Dr. is right about it needing to heal itself. I give this a 100% chance of being right.

2. Medial Meniscus Tear: The 1st Dr. is probably right about this and the need for repair with arthroscopic surgery. I think what I've researched supports what he says even though his diagnosis was not as thorough as the 2nd Doctor's, I give this about a 99% chance of being right. Especially for this statement and others that I found in the link above: "Weight bearing and rotation at the time of injury tend to cause meniscal injuries." Remember that I landed on my leg fully extended and it rotated.

3. Anterior Cruciate Ligament: Niether Doctor said this was what was wrong. However, that's what they said 20 years ago about my right knee and once they looked at it through arthroscopic surgery 9 months after my injury, they immediately found that it was torn. I found this in my research..."The most common mechanism for ligamentous knee injuries is an inward, medial force usually accompanied by some external rotation and flexion (as when being tackled in football). In such cases, the medial collateral ligament is usually injured first, followed by the anterior cruciate ligament, then the medial meniscus." This is similar to what happened to me. I would give this a 5% chance just because of my past experience with the missed diagnosis of my right knee.

4. Posterior Cruciate Ligament: The 2nd Dr. rose concern about this because of 1--pain in the back of the knee when I extend it and 2--the way I fell on it, hyperextending and twisting. He gave me a pass to have an MRI done to see if this is a possibility. However, it is a very uncommon injury and usually occurs with blunt force like a car accident or Football. I researched this here. I would say there's a 1% chance of it being this.

The Plan...

• I give more weight to the first doctor's diagnosis because his specialty is the knee. The 2nd doctor's specialty is the back, but does work on knees; it worked well to have him as a second opinion and would explain a little bit of his doubt as to what could be wrong.
• I will not have the MRI done because of it's cost and the two doctors contradicted themselves on the quality of what can be seen in them. The first doctor said you can see ligaments, but many times the parts of the meniscus is hidden.
• Monday morning I'll go to town to get my blood tested in preparation for surgery.
• That afternoon, I'll call the first Doctor and let him know the results. As well as asking him some more questions. An important question I have is if he'll not just work on the meniscus, but look around and see if there is anything else that is damaged (ie: ACL, PCL, etc.).
• If he says he needs to see me one more time, I'll go. If not, we'll set a date for surgery...hopefully this next week!

Thank you for your prayers, I'll post again about this after Monday.

Knee Injury

It was my first time back to the youth group with the Students. We normally have about an hour to hang out, play games, and talk. We were playing volleyball and I jumped up to hit the ball, fully extending my left leg. When I came down the leg was still fully extended and it twisted out of place, then right back into it's place. That hurt! It started to swell up minutes later so I had someone get some ice for me. After about 20 minutes, I started to feel light-headed, so I had Brad Pembleton who was visiting us, take me home. I rested the leg, put ice on it, and elevated it for a while. It continued to swell.

My first chance to see a Dr. was the following Friday. Great Doctor. He tested my knee twisting it around trying to bend it ways it shouldn't bend and found where the pain is (go figure). He immediately called it a Medial Meniscus Tear and wouldn't know how severe it was until he was able to look at it with an arthroscope.

I began to do some research on the internet and found a couple of sites about Knee Injuries and Meniscus Tears that supported what he had explained to me. I had pretty good confidence this guy knew what he was talking about. It is his specialty.

Twenty years ago when I blew out my right knee, I never got a "second opinion" and when the Dr. finally did the arthroscopic surgery, he found out that it wasn't just a sprain but an ACL tear, much more serious! I waited 9 months to have that surgery because of the original diagnosis.

So, I decided that I would have a "second opinion" this time and we went to see him last night. Great Doctor also. He took out of my knee over 50ml of water to take some of the pressure away--one reason I was unable to bend it very well. He found that the medial collateral ligament was slightly damaged, but nothing serious. He hesitated to say that it was the meniscus and asked me to come back in two weeks after taking some pain and anti inflammatory medication.

Is the first Dr. that good to know that it is the Meniscus and there is no need for a second visit, but surgery is needed to find out more?

Is the second Dr. taking wise precautions in case surgery is unneeded?

If I go with the first Dr., I could probably have surgery next Monday which would give great time for healing before all the Christmas and New Years events.

If I go with the second Dr. and later suggests that I need surgery, that's pushing surgery back to the first week of January...that's possibly another two months on crutches!