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| Christ is....4 La Romana !! |
| La Romana Christian Missions |
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| With the hospital experiencing a rapid expansion since the opening of the new Emergency Room and the addition of four new medical mission teams designating Good Sam as an annual stop on their schedule the need to increase hospital facilities has been stepped up. Expansion that has always been in the plan has been accelerated to meet this demand. The operating suite in the emergency room has been completed increasing the number of operating rooms to three. Two additional surgeries, planned for construction after the third floor rooms were opened is now in full swing and will be in operation before May this year. Operating rooms themselves won’t answer the demand. The hospital needs to be filled with the necessary equipment to support the surgeons. The following list of equipment is needed as soon as we can ship it. We are planning to ship a container early in May. The container will ship out of some where in New England. The exact location is yet to be determined. We are looking for all items on the list. Funding is also needed to pay for the shipment and any customs fees there may be. Usually the funding required is about $6,500.00 If you can locate any of the items please contact info@laromana.org as soon as possible with the item description and where it is now located. Donations may be made through Paypal or by mailing your check to GSMC, 800 Main Street, Suite 126, Holden, MA 01520. Make the check payable to GSMC and mention ‘Container’ on the memo line. The following link will provide a list of the much needed supplies. http://www.laromanamissions.org/Oct10/ |
| Martha Lamar Wow...what an emotional last few days. Our dear friend, Martha Lamar, who was the head cook and hospitality person at the dormitory died late on Monday night. It has really sent a shockwave through the whole ministry here in La Romana. As I stood at the wake yesterday afternoon, there was crying, some wailing and generally a lot of discussion about the woman that Martha was. I'd like to share one of those conversations with you now. One of the most interesting conversations was with a group of translators. As many of the teams know, Martha was the head cook and in charge of making sure that the dormitory had everything it needed when teams were visiting. Having more than 60 teams this year, you can understand how much work this was! She helped to coordinate the cooking for the teams during the day which meant that she not only had to have breakfast ready for upwards of 90 people by 7am but she also had to have their lunches ready by 8am so that they could load them on the bus for the day! It was a lot of work but she did it lovingly and I don't think I ever saw her complain about doing it. So, as I was standing with a group of doctors and translators at the wake yesterday, they began talking about Martha and her influence on their lives and work. They mentioned that all of them noticed the change in flavor of the food on Monday (she was in Santo Domingo on a ventilator that day). Each of them said that the food just wasn't as flavorful and all of them attributed that to Martha not helping with the cooking. Incredible. She even added her special flavor to the food each day. I marveled at that comment because more than once I have complained about how boring ham and cheese sandwiches were after almost 12 years of seeing them daily with the team lunch (I started bringing my own lunch each day a couple of years ago). How callously I said that! Here was Martha and Tata 1 and Tata 2 and Margarita getting up while it was still dark to make sure we all had a delicious and filling lunch but my comment was only that it was boring! Oh how I wish I had considered the labor of love put into those ham and cheese sandwiches. And, I'm sure they didn't LOVE ham and cheese after putting together so many sandwiches each day for 12 years or more. Who would? But yet, they did it anyway and with a lot of care. They also made rice dishes and empanadas for the teams and staff. It was this rice that lacked flavor on the day that Martha died. So I guess my thought for the day is this: first, consider what you say before saying it. We have no idea where another person has been or what they have lived through or even what their motivation (or lack of it) is for this very day. There's a well-known saying about walking a mile in someone else's shoes, and I think that's pretty important to remember before we begin critiquing a situation or a person. Second, we should be telling the people around us that we care about HOW MUCH we care about them. If you wait until just the right moment or wait for a special time to really express how much you love them, that moment in time may never come. There wasn't a person at breakfast on Friday morning in the dining hall that thought this would be the last time they saw Martha's smiling face in the kitchen. No one could have expected that and certainly no one thought they wouldn't have another chance to thank her for her service. Finally, friends, PLEASE remember that how you live your life really does affect those around you. The "flavor" you add to your world may be sweet and savory or it may be bitter or bland. What flavor do you want people to remember about you? When you are no longer part of this world, will your flavor be missed? Each of us has such an important place in the lives we have been given, even when you aren't sure what that role is! It is so easy to be overwhelmed or troubled by daily events and it is really easy to lose your joy in life as things just get in your way. Don't let that happen. Continue to be light in the darkness, hope where there isn't hope and a smile where there are only tears. We really can make this world a better place. Martha did and so can you! Kristy |
Our friend has gone home, she will be greatly missed |