Update Letter

2 May 2011

Dear Family and Friends—

After many years of dreaming and planning, we are finally down to the last few months before we move to Honduras to pursue our longtime call to serve overseas as medical missionaries. Over the last fourteen years, we have:
· gotten married and had three children
· finished residencies and fellowships that trained us for our work in Honduras
· taken and passed all the necessary examinations for board certification in our respective specialties
· paid off the last of our student loans
· worked for a few years on the medical faculty at Penn State University
· served in our local church and community and as faculty advisors for the medical student Christian fellowship
· and joined the missions staff of CURE International as medical administrator and orthopedic surgeon (Jay) of CURE Honduras.

We are now finally ready to go. We will be moving to San Pedro Sula, Honduras to begin the work we feel that God has been calling us to since before we were married. The first commitment term is three years. Our goal is two-fold: to bear witness to the love of Jesus Christ to the people of Honduras and to provide excellent surgical/medical care to the poor children of Central America. We are finishing our work as academic physicians at Penn State on June 27th. We will travel to Palmer Lake, CO to participate as a family in cross-cultural training from June 27-July 15th. We will then return to Hershey, PA for two weeks to pack up our house and say goodbye to the many wonderful friends we have made during our years there. It will be a time of excitement as well as tears—but we have been trying to prepare our children and ourselves for this day for a long time. We hope to leave around August 1st for Honduras.

Once we arrive in San Pedro Sula, we will hit the ground running. While we live in the apartment on the hospital grounds, we will be looking for a furnished rental home. In addition, Abigail (7) and Lillian (5) will undergo testing to determine which school they will attend. There are two excellent schools we are considering; the established international school has never had any students with a special-needs and the newer Christian bilingual school has staff experienced with Down Syndrome but no track-record for academics outside the preschool age. We are praying for wisdom and guidance to select a school that will be just right for all of our daughters through the years we hope to serve.

Many of you have expressed a desire to keep updated with our progress. We will be keeping a blog where you can keep apprised of our work at http://bridgemanhonduras2009.blogspot.com/. On the website, you can subscribe to receive emails when we post new updates. We are currently assembling a support team for both prayer and financial needs. Please contact us if you feel led to join our team. Contributions to CURE are tax-deductible and can be directed to our work by notating “Jay and Pauline Bridgeman” in the personal comment line. The website for donations is at http://cure.org/hospitals/honduras/. And some of you have expressed interest in coming down to visit us or assist us with your varied skills. We welcome your visit and your help. Let us get settled—and tell us when you want to come.

We are grateful for your friendship, love, and partnership in all our endeavors.

Love,
The Bridgemans—Jay, Pauline, Abigail, Lillian, and Charlotte
1007 Beech Avenue
Hershey, PA 17033
717-531-2635
Pauline.bridgeman@gmail.com
JaytBridgeman@gmail.com