Update...

They've found the missing plane. It crashed into an 11,000 ft tall mountain at a level of about 9,000 ft. So far no helicopters have been able to go in and search for survivors. Someone we know was actually the one to spot the plane and from what we understand it is doubtful that anyone survived.

One of my little projects has been to get Ritha and Ice's teeth fixed. Dentists here are really bad at their job (maybe there is one good one out there that I don't know about, if so, I'm sorry...). Ritha has gone to get a cavity filled and instead of drilling out the decayed area, they simply inserted a composite into the hole... There is an American dentist here who has been training a P*puan woman. Right now, as the American dentist is on furlough, she's running the show. Ika is great. She teaches all the patients how to properly brush their teeth and makes them understand the dangers of eating beetle nut and smoking. Today I took Ritha's younger brother to have his teeth checked. He is 14 years old and has never before been to a dentist. Well, he's got four teeth that are beyond repair, and a bunch of cavities. Ika also fixed one of his front teeth that had been broken off years ago. Ice has virtually no molars left in her mouth; to eat bread she rips it into pieces first and basically sucks on it as she's got nothing to chew with. Today we did impressions for fake teeth. I really feel that having a healthy mouth affects ones life quite drastically. Can you imagine feeling pain every time you ate? That's quite normal here. Many people are missing lots of teeth in their mouths which does nothing for ones self-esteem or make it easy to eat... Abscesses are a common occurrence as well and can lead to death.