Honduras || January 8th, 2015

So I actually woke up when I meant to this morning! Nicole and I went out on the porch again and spent some time with the Lord. This morning the Lord really put this verse on my heart:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9 NIV)

After another yummy breakfast and packing up all the supplies, we headed to our last village, Santa Ana, which was another short drive away from the ranch. We set up camp on the porch of the village school, which was nice because we could physically separate the large animals from the small with a fence and gate! 

I was about to start the day with a big doggie spay with Dr. Todd, but our first horse castration showed up while we were prepping! And I was the next in line for a castration! So Dr. Todd and I passed off the spay to Jacob and Dr. Natalee and went to prep the horse. 

I'll spare the dirty details, but Dr. Todd showed me how to do it on one testicle (or "juevos" is the slang spanish term for balls) and then he let me go alone on the second! It's hard because you're leaning over the rump of the beast, squatting down, but also, pretty fun because everything is just so much bigger than a dog neuter! Also, we literally use a tool called an emasculator. It clamps down and also has a cutting feature all in one. Dr. Todd told me I did a beautiful job and we let him wake up! If you're interested.. a video will be at the bottom of this page.

We just leave the juevos on the ground for the dogs to eat.. or in this case.. the chickens!

For a while I just helped anyone who needed things handed to them during surgery, etc. But while I was castrating, Dr. T and Sylvalyn had done a kitty spay and c-section. There were four kittens and sadly only one survived. But so, so cute, little (pequeñito), and fragile. 

Then before lunch, Dr. Todd and I did a cat spay! Well.. really I should say I did a cat spay with his supervision. He let me do pretty much the entire surgery and was so patient and helpful all the way through. The cat lived and now I've already done my first kitty spay! 

After lunch it was pretty slow. Just a couple more spays and one more horse castration. The horse was interesting because Dr. T could only palpate one testicle, and the veterinarians don't like to castrate if both are not present. However, the owner communicated that if we didn't castrate the horse he would sell it for meat. Hearing this, Dr. T told us to get it down with sedatives so she could take a closer look. Once she had him on his back she was able to find a tiny, underdeveloped testicle and Jacob removed that one. Then Catherine, the pre-vet undergrad from Auburn got to do the other one! It was a fun one to watch. 

Nicole and I took a quick break for a photo shoot. Mainly to show off the landscape.

Once everything started slowing down, we passed out the hygiene bags to the kids again and prayed with the people who were still there.

 We packed up and headed back to ranch. We played volleyball for a while, went and organized the supply closet, did some shopping at the ranch "store" and then had one last yummy dinner. After dinner Nicole and I led devotional together, which was great! Then we played more card games and then headed to bed. 

The last two days were travel days. I'm planning on writing a finale of sorts with pictures from those days and just a wrap up of the trip. But this was the last day of work! The four days of work flew by so fast.

Honduras || January 7th, 2015

Another fun, dirty, crazy day here in Honduras. This morning I meant to wake up with Nicole again to spend some time with Jesus, but my body said no and I slept in a little! We ate another yummy breakfast, packed up our stuff, and headed to San Martin.

San Martin was only about a 5 minute truck ride away, if that. Set up camp and got to work. Today I threw myself into the large animal group. It was finally my turn to castrate a horse! Until the horses for surgery showed up we dewormed a ton of horses. Similar to the dogs, I would squeeze liquid deworming medication into the horse's mouth. However, horses are bigger than dogs, so that's fun. I was glad to get more horse handling experience, especially with these horses that are not as used to human interaction. Heriberto, the ranch hand who helps us with the horses, pretty much only knows how to say "This horse is crazy" in English. 

Sylvalyn, a first year at A&M, deworming.

One horse for castration showed up and Zach was first to do one (I was second). I watched him and Dr. Todd, another vet from Kansas, castrate with the emasculators. Yes, the instrument we use is called an emasculator. Pretty nifty thing actually. So the next one was mine! When mine showed up I was super excited. We got him down, roped up, and then Dr. Todd started looking for the testicles and discovered it was a cryptorchid! So both of his testicles were still in his abdomen. So no castration for me. And then no other castration horses showed up the rest of the day.. but that's ok! I dewormed a few more horses and observed some of the spays and neuters.**

I also snagged this picture with a kid with a Texas shirt on! He was really confused.

The real excitement of the day was when I decided I could use the free time to play with the kids. It started with just playing with a blow up ball in a circle for a while which was fun of course. Then we moved on to "Pato, Pato, Ganzo" aka Duck, Duck, Goose. 

We also made bead bracelets with the kids. Each color of bead represented something different related to the Christian life. Black, sin. Red, Christ's blood. White, washed clean and pure by Christ's blood. Green, growing in Christ. and yellow, the streets of Gold in heaven. We had some of the kids read a little about each of these and it was really neat to see them listen and understand! And they loved the bracelets of course. At one point too they asked me about my phone, and so I took it out and they insisted on the pictures and wanted to see mine as well. 

Then more and more games and futbol, of course, to end the day. Before we left a cart pulled by oxen came by!

We actually walked back to the ranch because it was so close. 

Once we got back we decided we wanted to play more futbol. So the group of us played a quick game of soccer and volleyball before dinner which was so, so much fun. And hot. And sweaty. But fun.

Dinner was a yummy spaghetti with a Honduran twist, aka it was spicy and not really Italian tasting. We played some cards and actually learned a fun new one called Uker. Then some of the workers here at the ranch performed for us! They had a violin, guitar, shakers, and a turtle shell!! I was really into the music. 

Then we had our devotional and now I'm laying in my bed writing this and watching Nicole swat away bugs attacking her face because she's wearing a head lamp. Overall, another solid day. And I cannot thank the big guy enough for this opportunity.

Love you all. Pray that I don't get eaten alive tonight.

**in the middle of that sentence I hear Nicole say, "Sarah, there's a caterpillar crawling toward your backpack." So I had to stop typing, freak out, and then ask her to get it outside. I'm not proud of it. It wasn't even a cute caterpillar though. You would have to be here to understand.

Honduras || January 6th, 2015

Today this blog comes to you from a colorful hammock on the porch of our dorm. The rain is adding some nice background music as well. 

Nicole and I decided to get up early this morning to have our quiet time. We came out to sit on the rocking chairs on the porch and found one of the vets, Dr. Dan, doing the same thing. We all sat and read our bibles for a while and then started to talk to him about his past experiences here and what we've already learned and loved so far. Then after that, got some coffee and food in me and we were off again.

I normally would just say, we packed up, drove to the village, and started setting up shop, but today, a large part of the adventure took place on the drive to Ocatol Numero dos. The road to the village was muddy and hilly, a great combination. We're in a land cruiser with two benches facing each other in the back. Every bump and hole we're being thrown into each other, there was serious risk of us getting stuck and having to jump out to push, but overall, it was just pretty fun. Even the driver was laughing. Oh! And at one point we crossed a river about 3 feet deep! Quite the experience. 

Said river with the other car about to cross ahead of us.

Finally, we get to this large soccer field and small building, which we later found out was a school. Set up shop and the dogs started showing up, including some adorable puppies. 

I took that photo when things were slow after I had dewormed a few dogs and horses and my teammates were helping with the spays. I was sitting with a few of the children along with Jacob (the first year from KState who speak very good spanish), talking with them and looking at their drawings. One girl, told me "My name is Stephanie" in really good english, so then she and I both taught each other words for a while; she wouldn't let me leave either. I mean she told me I was "muy bonita", how could I not love her. All the kids were darling. 

A few cows showed up, so I went with a couple of the guys to deworm them. They would rope them around a tree and we would inject the medication into their neck. I got to do one! It was exciting and kinda terrifying all at once. 

Jacob deworming a cow before my turn.

Then! It was time for another spay! This time I worked with Dr. T who let me do most of the surgery. So cool. I'm already going to be a pro by the time I get to surgery next semester. Just kidding... I need much much more practice, but I have the rest of my life to get better! It was a little stressful surgery because one of the ligatures didn't hold and we had a bleeder, but Dr. T found it and fixed it up right quick! and then I got to close her up as well. Here are some pictures! 

My classmate Emily with her first spay dog.

Nicole with her first uterus! A pyometra! (Infected uterus, with pus- yuck)

We were just about to leave and we found out a bull with an infected prepuce was coming to get looked at. A few minutes later a massive bull comes down the hill and two men on horses are trying to rope it! It was nuts for a while. 

Finally, they got it roped around a tree, sedated a little, and Dr. T went to work. Unfortunately it was too unhappy to let her do anything, but she confirmed an infected prepuce. They gave the owner some antibiotics and hopefully that will work. But at the end of all this, the bull snapped the rope and we all had to run away super fast. And then all the men laughed at us. We forgot it was sedated, but better safe than sorry!

After trekking back through the muddy hills (just as much, if not more, fun than the first time), we arrived back at the ranch and had to wash some towels for tomorrow. We used the wash boards and water system here at the ranch and that made me EXTREMELY thankful for my washing machine. 

And now I'm sitting in the hammock trying to decide if I'm going to take a nap or read my book before dinner. It'll probably turn into a little bit of both. 

Dios le bendiga. 

God bless.

Honduras || January 5th, 2015

Wow. Today was absolutely incredible. I'll probably say that every day. Just warning you.

So first, I woke up around 5 am with Meaghan and Nicole to go milk the ranch cows. I can now cross that off my bucket list. At night, the ranch hands separate the cows and their calves. Then in the wee hours of the morning all the cows are put in one pen and the calves in another next to them. One at a time the ranch hands let a calf in, then! the calf finds its mom and they follow it to the mom. It's a really interesting and efficient system. I was horribly, horribly slow at milking compared to these guys. It was just a cool experience, and it didn't hurt that the calves were insanely adorable.

After that excitement, we ate breakfast and had a morning devotional with all of the ranch staff. We sang worship songs in spanish which was really fun, especially the ones that have english equivalents. It was also just awesome to worship with other people that yes, may speak a different language, but still worship the same God. 

Then we were off! Today we drove about 10 minutes to Ocolta Numero 1. That's the village name apparently. We set up shop in this clearing with a large tent for small animal surgeries and the large animal crew set up under the trees across the clearing. Some of the villagers were already there with animals waiting for us. It was a little chaotic at first deciding who was going to do what. I jumped right in with deworming dogs and cats. And by this, I mean squirting liquid deworming medication in dogs' mouths that are not used to being handle. Now that's an experience. I successfully learned a phrase in Spanish today... "Abre la boca, por favor" or, "Open the mouth, please". The owners would hold, and we would squirt. We also had to guess the dogs' weight to dose which was super tricky since all these pups were extremely skinny. 

Here is Sylvalyn, a first year from A&M, squirtin away.

Once that began to die down, I started working with the vets doing the small animal surgery (spays and neuters). I prepped a female dog for Dr. Natalee (Beck) and then was able to assist her with the surgery! Mind you, I've seen many spays while working and shadowing in clinics, but never have I been able to scrub in! We also had decided to squeeze this one in right before lunch... never a good idea. It ended up being a fairly complicated spay (according to Dr. Nat) so that was unfortunate, but obviously still really cool! At one point, I was acting as a human retractor. So many hands in that little dog. And of course, toward the end of the surgery it started raining. We finally finished after having to make a massive incision to find the whole uterus and struggling to keep the intestines in (sorry, graphic). Dr. Nat and I were then able to eat lunch. Delicious. Again. I'm going to gain so much weight on this trip.

After lunch, a group of us went with the pastor from HOI (Honduras Outreach Inc.) to a couple different houses in the village. These families had requested a visit from us to pray over them. I was blown away by this experience. Sadly, I couldn't understand everything because of the spanish, but got most of it. I honestly don't think I can put it into words how awesome it was to just sit with these people and love them. Language and culture barriers aside, and just rest in God's love for us. Amazing.

Once we made it back to the clearing, we helped clean up, played a little soccer with the kids, and handed out hygiene bags we had made for them! They really appreciated it. We hopped in the trucks, took a selfie, and headed into town for some supply shopping.

Back at the ranch for the night we played some volleyball, hammocked, ate dinner, sat around and sang songs and jammed with the guitar, played games, had our devotional,  and now I'm sitting in bed, listening to the cows again about to go to sleep.

I cannot say enough how blessed I am to be here and to be part of a profession that allows me to utilize my passion to glorify the Lord. I'm not good at it, I make mistakes, but if I was perfect, I wouldn't need a savior.

Love you all, Dios le bendiga! (God Bless you- I learned that today too)

Honduras || January 4th, 2015

Our first full day in beautiful Honduras! We started out with breakfast at the hotel and then headed out for a walking tour of Juticalpa. Snapped a street selfie of course. 

Stopped in this square near the Catholic church.

And then went inside for a little before Mass begun. The colors were incredible. I also loved that they had Christmas lights up on the alter.

The city was so different and so interesting. The buildings were colorful, the people so friendly, and sadly, pretty dirty.

We then hopped back in the van and headed to "the ranch". By this I mean, Rancho El Paraiso. The views again were spectacular. Honduras is so mountainous and lush with vegetation! Most of the way the road was paved; when we started getting closer to the  ranch, it was a dirt road, with lots of pot holes and mud. You can imagine how fun sitting in the back of a 15 passenger van for that! No really, it was pretty fun. 

Finally, we made it to the ranch, settled in, ate a super tasty lunch (Rice and chicken... I think we're going to eat a lot of rice and chicken. And I'm ok with that), and then Ali, our group leader, gave us a tour. 

So the ranch is run by Honduras Outreach Inc. There are multiple dormitories, a kitchen, dairy barn, a clinic, kindergarden, and even a souvenir shop for locals to sell their goods to us at the end of the week! It's really an incredible organization. So many different church groups come through here doing various things. We happen to be a veterinary group, but they've told us about groups coming to work with kids, build furniture, human medicine, etc. Also, usually, there are multiple groups here at the same time, but it's just us this week! Here are some pictures from the tour:

The whole group by the entrance (minus our friends who got here this evening).

Nicole (my roommate) and a large tree.

Signs from all the different groups that have been here.

Nicole and I by da river.

Seriously. God knew what he was doing with Honduras.

After the tour we decided to play some volleyball which was so fun. Finally figured out a way to put up the net. Meaghan and I figured we could squeeze some modeling in while working that.

We ate dinner, had a devotion, greeted the rest of our team (yay! they finally made it!) and then headed to bed. I'm currently typing this next to the open window (with a thick screen- don't worry mom) listening to the cattle moo. 

God is so, so good. I can't be thankful enough for this opportunity to use my passion to share His beautiful and unconditional love. Thank you for reading this and supporting me. I know you're not reading this till after I'm back, but I still ask that you would pray for this place, these people, and that the seeds we planted this past week would grow in His love.

I took a nap here today. AWEsome.

Made it to Honduras.

Warning: there are no pictures. Im having trouble uploading.

I'm typing up this first segment on the plane and already titled the post... So I hope I didn't jinx it! It was an early morning for us out of Houston! The international terminal was very busy and chaotic, but all six of us Aggie's made it through security and on the plane.


Ok, we actually made it. It was probably one of the craziest landings I've ever experienced. Not scary, but just different! Most of the descent was right in a valley and the airport is right up next to buildings.

We made it through customs without a hitch. They actually had these super cool finger scanning things which was fun. We met up with our group leaders from Honduras Outreach, ate our delicious lunches (thanks mom!), and then piled in the van.

We started our drive to Juticalpa, and I was lucky enough to earn the awkward jump seat thing in the aisle. But I was close to the window so I was able to really enjoy the views. Which were gorgeous by the way.

We stopped for a quick restroom break and snack at this little outpost. It was pretty funny because when they explained why we were stopping they told us we would get a drink and a "piece" of cookie. Luckily, I got a whole cookie, which was yummy.

Finally we made it to the hotel in Juticalpa around 6:30pm and had some time to settle into our rooms before dinner at 7. Dinner was delicious. Chicken, veggies and rice with a really yummy gravy. After we just sat around and talked for a bit then all headed to bed.

What a day! We're hoping that the rest of our team will make it to the ranch tomorrow. Lots of cancelled and delayed flights. Goodnight everyone! Thank you again for your support. Whether financially or in prayer, it's very much appreciated.

Last Day in Istanbul!

What a day! We woke up and had a wonderful traditional Turkish breakfast up on the rooftop terrace. Then were off to explore the Old City of Istanbul!

First stop was the Basilica Cistern. This underground water collecting area was surprisingly beautiful. It was built by Justinian in the days of Roman rule. It was massive and had many, many columns and brick arches. There were only had a few lights as well as spooky music... So it was quite the experience. 

One of the Medusa heads found in the cistern.

Then we walked to the Archeological Museum of Istanbul! Many interesting relics of very early civilizations, beautiful ceramics and tiles, and finally a room full of very large sarcophagi (my plural word for sarcophagus.. Maybe it's right?). 

No clue.

Lauren found another friend!

The bathroom at the museum... Classic Turkey.

After it was time to shop! We headed straight uphill to the Grand Bazaar! (Really... When we asked for directions he offered the easy way or the short way... I picked short). It was nothing like I expected! It was covered and just lined with shops. 

View of the Bazaar from our lunch spot.

I've learned my mother is the queen of bartering. It all makes sense now. We then found (well Trip Advisor helped us out) a cute little "kiosk" or street vender inside the bazaar. It was so yummy! So authentic. Lots of meat. Lots of yummy meat. It was fun.

We headed back to the hotel to pack up a bit, get off our feet, and have a drink on the rooftop. And now I'm currently writing this on the ferry to dinner! However, the plan was to see one more mosque before heading to the ferry. Unfortunately we ended up sitting in a cab in awful traffic for quite some time, were dropped off at the wrong mosque, and then had to walk about 2 km to the ferry. It was quite the experience to walk through real Istanbul. 

For dinner, we are meeting a friend from Kingwood who is doing mission work here in Istanbul. We grew up in youth group together so it'll be great to catch up and see him again. I'll finish later!

---

Now on the ferry heading back to the Old City. Dinner was lovely! (And tasty as usual. It was so great to see Andy again and see the area he's living in. He's doing amazing work here in Istanbul. 

Now to head back, finish packing, and get to bed early! Our flight leaves at 6:20 tomorrow morning. So we're leaving the hotel at 3:45! Yikes.

I'll post one more time tomorrow when we get home! Then I'll be sure to give y'all a link to all the pictures when I get through them all!

It's hard to say goodbye to such amazing places, but we're excited to get home.

Love,
Llewy