Photos! Operation I Can See 2016

Wow!  What a trip.  View 500+ photos here.

Children of Love blog

Buenos noches from Children of Love...day three has been the busiest day yet. We started with a wonderful breakfast of pancakes and plantains with home made tortillas. We started early again today, as there were quite a few people ready and waiting at the gate. Most of our patients were children today, but we still had plenty of adults and teens. We had so many aha moments and it was heartwarming to see when the glasses truly accomplished our goal of Operation I Can See. Your prayers have been greatly appreciated...thank you.
It was so humid and hot...but our group of Americans were troopers, and sweated through our day. Everyone of us so grateful to assist this great need in Honduras at the end of the day. Lunch was delicious and the gals in the kitchen kept bringing snacks and fresh limeade from limes grown on the property.
Dinner was fried chicken, cucumbers as big as a forearm, sliced tomatoes, rice and beans. After dinner the kids finished making Valentine's Day cards and just played and took selfies and pictures, laughing nonstop at the silly poses and faces we all made.
Every night we end with a circle of prayer and singing..my Spanish is getting better every day. Mama Doris has arranged for the children to start English lessons and they are all really excited. The night ended with Tia Miri and Tia Kristen sharing a past paddle boarding experience with us and they have agreed to show us all how to get the rental fee cheap.
Tomorrow starts early as we will go with the children to take donuts and coffee to the hospital at 5:30. So, good night, sleep tight and don't let the spiders bite....Tia Becca and Tio Jim Speer



Sent from my iPad

Tuesday January 26th blog post

Hola from Honduras!

Tia Miri here, reporting from the home front of beautiful, sunny La Paz.

This morning started out around 9pm last night when the rooster started crowing. I think his biological clock may be a bit off, but I'll try to describe the day as best as I can. For the first few hours of our "day" our group sat around in a circle on the outside patio, shared some snacks and reminisced about the day. One by one, people tucked in for the night, and from the morning discussions the majority of us were woken up by one of the three things: 1.) Gwen screaming "Pastor, Pastor, Pastor" when she walked in her room and saw a huge banana spider sitting on her pillow, just waiting for her to go to bed 2.) the rooster crowing and 3.) the rooster crowing. Becca Speers was even teasing Gwen that a spider your pillow in Honduras was the equivalent of a chocolate on your pillow in a five star hotel in the States.

After our morning coffee and multiple hugs and kisses from the kiddos, we had a delicious breakfast and opened the eye clinic before 9am, due to the rising temperatures and the already posing line outside the gate. A very grateful 181 patients received glasses throughout the day from our team. Our very first patient had goosebumps because the difference in her vision was so drastic. She was very, very pleased, and it was a great start to the day. We also had a few patients that had near perfect vision but insisted they needed glasses. So some non-prescription lenses made their vision "perfecto" in their eyes which is all that matters, right?!

The clinic eventually came to a close. We had another delicious meal by the cooks here and then started winding down for the night. Games, songs, selfies, more hugs, and a goodnight prayer, and now here we are back in the circle just waiting for the rooster to crow, so our day can start all over again.

Tia Miri Lehenbauer

Monday evening

From: Sylvia Wacker

Good day!

Lots of smiles, lots of glasses!

And a little lesson in cooking.

They are live from La Paz!

Click the links below to watch today and throughout the week!

January 23 - 30  Operation I Can See

Live Monday!

Photos       Live and Recorded Video Youtube Channel

It's the end of our first full day of being at Children of Love.  All of us probably enjoyed seeing our beds last night after a longer than planned trip via air.  We spent approximately two hours waiting on the tarmac in Atlanta, in a long line of planes, all awaiting de-icing, due to the snow that was falling.   But we finally arrived on the ground in Tegucigalpa on Saturday, around 3 pm.  The landing by the pilot, was met as often happens with the entire cabin of passengers breaking out in applause, in that the landing in Tegucigalpa is a bit challenging.  Check it out on youtube if you want a feel for it.

At the airport we were met by Beck Lehenbauer from Oviedo, who had arrived earlier in the day, and ended up waiting about four hours for us.  The bus and pickup from Children of Love met us at the airport, and we enjoyed the 1 1/2 hour drive across the countryside to La Paz.  It's amazing how that trip has improved since my first visit here about six years ago.  What used to be a pothole filled road for much of the drive, is now a modern four lane highway for the majority of the route.

As we approached Children of Love we saw that the children will standing in formation for us, ready to sing God Bless America as we exited the bus.  It was a welcoming sight after a long day.  This was followed by a short program by the 18 children, and a delicious Honduran meal of . . . .hamburgers and french fries!  Ha!  Not the usual meal down here, but specially prepared for us.

We learned that the water at the complex was not working when we arrived.  So Jim Speer and I did a little investigative work to try and figure out what was wrong.  Due to some great drawings and photos of the water system, left by a group of volunteers who left last week, we were actually able to diagnose the problem (a broken and leaky valve) and make temporary repairs on Saturday night.  The permanent repair came Sunday morning.

The mealtime and evening songs and prayers by the children are always a highlight of these trips.  And their hugs are infectious.  It's truly a blessing to get to know these children. and our prayer is that we can give to them as much we receive.

On Sunday morning, we were greeted by a breakfast of French Toast made by the boys at Children of Love.  Worship was held at 10 am, led by Pastor Junior Martinez, who has now been here a little over a year.  Pastor Martinez preached on the Epistle lesson from Corinthians and made note of the fact that each one of us is an important part of the body of Christ.  It was a well done, Christ-centered service using the Lutheran Spanish hymnals that are here.  The nice thing about liturgical services is that you have a pretty good idea of what is being said and sung during much of the service, even if your Spanish is limited.  After the service, Pastor and his wife invited us over to his home for dinner on Thursday evening, which we look forward to doing.

After worship we walked downtown to the open air market, which is open until 2 pm on Sunday.  We bought a few fruits and vegetables, and yes, a few souvenirs were purchased as well.  Later on Sunday, we prepared the chapel for our eyeglass clinic which takes place tomorrow from 9 am to 5 pm.  There is a lot that takes place to give over 100 eye exams each day for the next several days, so a lot of pre-planning goes into transforming the chapel into an eye clinic.

Rebekah Scanzillo, a member of our group from Kentucky and also good friend of Miriam Lehenbauer, gave haircuts to most of the girls on Sunday afternoon, in that her vocation is a hairdresser.  She did some wonderful work, and gave a gift to these young ladies that they normally don't receive.

That's a whole lot of details about our last day and a half.  But there is an awful lot that cannot be put into words.  

1.  We are so blessed with all the material blessings and opportunities we have in the United States.  We are truly rich compared to most in this nation.

2.  Regular prayer and singing is such an uplifting experience, when done with a group of 20 children.

3.  Eldora Campbell, Jim & Rebecca Speer, Miriam Lehenbauer, Rebekah Scanzillo, Kristin Gleitz, Becky Lehenbauer, Sylvia Wacker, Gwen Beck, and Renee Lehenbauer are just wonderful folks with whom to spend this time with.   You're really called upon to leave convenience, and be flexible and willing to do a little bit of everything here.  This group really are the hands and feet of Christ in this place.

That's enough tonight!  Blessings to you all!  Thanks for your prayers!

-Pastor Lehenbauer

Safe Arrival in Honduras

The Atlanta group had to wait for de-icing before taking off in the snow and were about 3 hours delayed today but everyone arrived safely in Tegucigalpa.  Pray for a week filled with opportunities to tell people about Jesus.

January Mission Teams

Our work crew had a productive trip last weekend with repairs to the water system, well and miscellaneous other tasks.  Thanks to the crew for your time and expertise!

The Operation I Can See teams are leaving from Florida and Georgia today.  Pray for safe travel for the nine people from Christ Lutheran in Perry Georgia and the two from St. Luke's Lutheran in Oviedo FL.