The PrediSan Staff

ALL IS WELL (note from Doris Clark)

I am so impressed with how well David Fann works with the students and with the other professors. He really has everyone’s respect! Also he did a terrific job of preparing the students for the trip. They were focused for a learning experience and for a spiritual experience. Well done!

The other accompanying adults seem to have a very energizing experience as well.

We had some debriefing this morning as well as a planning session for next year! New ideas are cooking. Kyle Huhtanen and Marcio David Matamoros (PrediSan staff) have been terrific working with them.

The group has taken off to the maket at the moment and plan to be on the road to Tegu this afternoon.

God Bless and my love,

Doris Clark
PrediSan Assistant Director

Long Weekend in Cedeco

Ok, Biagi here again, back from a long weekend in the mountains with the engineering team. We left Saturday morning and got back early yesterday to finish work on our project. Monday was a panicky-scramble to get everything done so we could be ready for our final meeting later today. It was great to spend our "Weekend Off" in the mountains with the rest of our team. The first thing we did when we got there was take out some of our pent up frustration by doing a little demolition work for the facility. It was great fun to do something other than sit still and type! The rest of the weekend was great, we got to spend time with the church there and play with the kids. It was a welcome change of pace. Today we are busy finishing up our work and business in Catacamas so we can begin our homeward journey this afternoon. We will spend Tuesday night in Tegucigalpa and are scheduled to be back to Nashville at9:30 Wednesday night. Hope to see you all soon!

In His name,
David

Mission good, weather merely annoying

David Fann said that there may be some cause of concern amoung you, considering the storms in the area, so he wanted me to give you the weather update. It rained really hard in Catacamas (where the computer dudes are working), but Las Delicias (where the rest of the group is in the mountains) didn't even get any rain. The weather reports are showing that most of the storm has passed and it's looking like there will be scattered showers and clouds until Tuesday and possibly later. Most of the tropical storm broke on the mountains on the western side of the continent, so by the time it got to their area it was just some good hard rain.

In my experience, this is very common. So, be at peace. They are fine and dandy. Also, when David called from the satellite phone yesterday, he told me that the solar crew finished their project and are rejoicing in the outcome! Now they are helping the reinforcement crew with the Cedeco building. It is a much bigger project, so they probably need all hands on deck. The computer guys are going up there to visit them this weekend, but will be back at PrediSan to train the staff with their new database on Monday. Of course, someone from that crew will probably give more information than I just did. Wow, these guys may just have some time at the end of their trip to relax and enjoy Honduras!

It came from the mountains...

Hey Folks, Biagi again. I had the opportunity this morning to talk with David Fann up in Cedeco via the radio. Fann said that the Solar Panel team had their Panels up and running and were already charging the battery. This means that the refrigerator is up and running too. All that remains is the rafter team's project which he said was going quite well. David also told me that they had celebrated Karla's birthday and that they are trying to get a cake up there to finalize the event. I let him know that several of you had expressed birthday wishes for Karla and he said he would pass them along. Everything else is going well, our projects here at Predisan are almost done and we are hoping to join the teams in Cedeco for the weekend. Well it's back to work, we will be in touch more later.

Again thanks for the support and God bless,

David

Now Blog This!

Hey all, Biagi here at the Predisan clinic in the fabulous (if not heinously warm) Catacamas! After lunch yesterday we said farewell to the Engineering team as our comrades in Geek-dom rode into the hills to begin their various projects. We spent the rest of the day working on our projects, coming ever closer to our not so distant goal. It is amazing how quickly time has been passing. Yesterday, only the second day of our trip, I realized that today was Wednesday, and that our self imposed deadline was nigh! At dinner we came up with the tentative plan to try to have our software finished and ready to use by Thursday or Friday morning at the very latest. This would give us the rest of Friday to train the staff with the new tool. Since Predisan is closed over the weekend we are hoping to be able to make it out to lend a hand on the various projects the rest of the team is working on. Unfortunately we feel that it will be necessary for our paths to diverge again as we return to Catacamas on Monday, while the Engineers will stay to finish their projects. We are hoping to use Monday to make last minute adjustments and help the staff use the Debut software in their normal environment. So now that we have planned out our week, I look at where we are now, and where we need to be on Friday, and it kind of makes me freak out a little. I am confident, however, that regardless of how much coffee we have to consume, or how many times I will have to pull my face off of my drool-laden keyboard we will meet our deadline and emerge victorious!
On a completely unrelated note I can't describe how nice it is to do something you love in the Lord's service. Engineers and programmers don't often get the opportunity to use their talents for the greater glory of God, and it feels great. I wanted to thank you all for your support, both monetarily and in the time you have invested in your prayers, worries and actions to make this possible for us. Please continue to offer your prayers for our safety and the success of both our projects and our witness.

Thanks again for all the love and support; To God be the glory,

David

A note from the CS Team

Hey, Bryan here for a quick update from the CS folks. Got here around 0815, got the KVM switch and server installed, then spent an interesting few minutes before 1000 copying the latest and greatest version of the code over from my laptop to the server. Met w/ Dr. Garcia this morning from about 1000 to 1100 to find out how things really work down here, show him what we had, tell him what we could change, and find out what needed to be changed. Some interface differences, some data differences, but nothing unexpected or too difficult to fix. He seemed very pleased with what we had so far and excited about what we were going to do, which is always good. My concern is that the person who enters all the data will need an interface that's *fast*, not necessarily look good. Fun part of UI design is not making things qool, but making them work seamlessly with what the user's expecting. Gonna meet with Dr. Madrid tomorrow, hopefully, but the rest of today will be spent coding and fixing things. Fouss and Biagi are working on Auto Thingy (yes, that *is* the real name), and Joe and I will be fixing and polishing Debut / Patient Tracker for the rest of the day. (and night, and however long the cafe con leche lasts) We four (Fouss, Biagi, myself, and Joe) will be here in Catacamas for the rest of the week, and hopefully will join the Engineers later, but we want to spend at least a day or two with the folks here using the system "in production" to make sure all the bugs are worked out. Bugfixing's hard enough, without having to do it remotely, and with a language barrier to boot.

In other news, the hotel is nice (about 500 meters from PrediSan), and the cafe (coffee) is most excellent. The only remaining question is how much the nice customs agents will let me take out of the country when I leave...

Day Two

Hello all. Elizabeth here. I am the designated 'blogger' for today. I'm sitting here in the Predisan clinic. Well, since we landed yesterday.... We all loaded up into an old school bus to head to Catacamas, but we stopped at a Texaco on the way out of town for snacks and a potty break. The road to Catacamas was bumpy in places, smooth in others. The landscape was beautiful and gave us a glimpse into Honduran culture. We stopped (about an hour and a half later) at a little roadside cafe to 'refuel' and give our backsides a break. I personally used my limited spanish speaking skills to buy some yummy pineapple bread. Oh yeah, Kyle had some money ready for us at the airport. We got 376 Limpere (sp?) for $20. That means its almost 19 limpere per dollar. After the break we travelled on to Catacamas. Finally we arrived to Predisan, said hello to a fellow Lipscomb friend that is here with the medical maymester group, and then headed to the hotel. Rooms were assigned, a traditional Honduran meal was eaten, a short devo, and then bed! I think we were all mucho cansado (very tired). :)
This morning, we had pancakes, and then loaded up our stuff and walked over to Predisan from the hotel and are currently double checking our supplies before we head up to Las Delicias.
We appreciate your prayers. Keep them coming!
P.S. Hi Mom and Dad! :)

Arrived in Teguc!

Well traveling is going well. We believe that all our luggage and materials are with us and have passed through security. We are on our way to Teguc and will be there shortly and hopefully come back in contact with our stuff. The plane trip from Nashville to Miami was smooth and the most of the team caught up on sleep. We grabbed a quick bite for lunch in the Miami airport and boarded the plane at about noon (EST). The team seems to be bonding well and we are enjoying many laughs together! We are all very excited about what God has in store for us. One awesome note I would like to mention to show God´s faithfulness is there have been many people interested in our trip. Flight attendants and other travelers have been intrigued about our project and I faithfully believe that we are being a testimony and witness for Christ. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we make our way up into the mountains. May God be gloried through our work for His Kingdom.

--- Kris Hatchel

Note from David Fann: Kris wrote this note on the plane...I just feverishly typed in an internet cafe while everyone is finishing loading the bus. All our bags arrived with us safely. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Aaaaaand.....they're OFF!

Angie Fann here. I just spoke to my husband, David Fann, who is on the runway in Nashville (in the plane, of course, not actually on the runway, lol). They are about to take off without delay. All bags got checked in perfectly and in order (thanks, Carla) and all students and faculty are accounted for AS FAR AS WE KNOW. *wink*

There was a lot of energy and excitement as we watched them go through security and wave goodbyes. I called my husband from my car to wish him well once more, but I apparently timed it when his cell phone went off going under the security x-ray conveyer belt. Oops.

I will let you know how their connections go and will update as soon as I hear word from Honduras. David will probably email me or blog from the airport Internet Cafe.

I just hope he doesn't say it out loud...."I need to go blog." Our language has changed so, with technology, hasn't it? Adios. --Angie

It's Oh-Dark-Thirty in the morning...

It's a little past one o'clock in the morning...which isn't so bad, except for the fact that the alarm is set for 4:15AM. Somehow, I doubt I'm the only one still awake.

Everything is packed, or at least everything I can remember. I am ready to get on the plane. I'll worry till then. I'll worry about airport security not allowing one of our bags on "Honestly, that is a charge controller for a solar powered system...don't worry about that timer, it doesn't do anything explosive, I promise!" I'll worry about someone oversleeping (most of all, myself). I'll worry about what things we forgot. I'll worry about things we need, that we haven't thought of. But once we are on the plane, the worrying will cease. Whatever we forgot, we'll deal with it in Honduras, can't do anything about it now. I will try to get some sleep now for the next couple of hours, but I know I'll be sleeping at about 30,000 ft tomorrow...make that today.

David Fann

Welcome to Lipscomb Engineering/CS Mission trip

I'm about to head over to the packing party that starts at 2PM. We have to be at the airport at 5:30 tomorrow morning for our long day of travel. My plan is for everyone is to add their own thoughts to how the trip is going. Check back later for more details on our trip.

David Fann