White men can't chicken fight.

Saturday morning we headed home to Teguc. The church we belong to here had a Father's Day celebration for the father's in the church and invited our team to go too. It was the funniest thing to watch.  They had all the guys playing games.  One was called the "Chicken fights."  They tied a balloon around each man's (and two women)ankles with string and divided the large group into two teams.  The object is to break the balloons of the other team before they break yours.  It was so funny.  Of course, no one knew each other from the different cultures and trying to remember who was on your team was hilarious. Several broke balloons of their own team mates. This would be a great game for youth back in the states (or adult kids).  Another game was water balloon volleyball. The group remained in the same teams and 4 were placed on each side of the "net." (a string tied between two trees). Each pair of team members held the end of a towel between them.  The water balloon was placed in one of the towels and that couple had to swing the towel to get it over the net. The other team had to catch the balloon in their towel and throw it back without breaking the balloon.  It also was a great game that people back home would love.  After more games, they had a guy come in to cook dinner on the grill. There was a member of the church who made silhouette cut outs of everyone on the team. This was a unique gift to remember the night. Some were right on the money and others....not so much.  You can guess which category I fell into.

Sunday, we had to say goodbye to Jeff, our son, and Rick, who flew out a day earlier than the rest of the group.  We took them to the airport while the rest went to church.  Then it was off to Coco Baleadas and Wendys (for those who didn't want Honduran food; whimps) for lunch and then shopping to the Valle of the Angels. This is where Tom gets his haircut.  The guy is the best ever and he charges $2.50.  That's it!  By the time it was all over, all but three guys got their hair cut there, so they can go home looking' good for their women.

Monday morning we took them to the airport and said goodbye.  The difference with this group is we will be seeing all of them next sunday at their church.  It is really nice to be able to do that. Then, came the real work.  I did 13 loads of laundry Monday and 4 on Tuesday. Tom ran around all day doing Bob's "honey do" list. The plane ride home for us will be a great place to sleep.

This will be the last posting until June. Enjoy the unusual weather wherever you are living and remember to pray for us and Honduras when you think about us.

Tom and I want to thank each and every one of you guys for your love and support for us.  your kindness to the people here in Honduras has not gone unnoticed and God WILL reward you for it.

Blessing to all.

I think they are a bi-racial couple...

I got shook down today!

Today is already Friday.  Boy has this week gone by fast.  No issues with the "Marriott" this time.  No bug stories, no spiders, rats, tarantulas, etc. We do have one guy who seems to be an accident waiting to happen.  The first day of work, he was walking by a window opening just as someone was putting a large piece of wood form through the window opening.  He got nailed right in the bridge of his nose. The second day, he and another girl were stacking block and his finger got in the way of the block and it got smashed.  We were thinking it might be broken, but then, what can you really do for a finger?  We decided nothing, so that is what we did; nothing.  Later that day, he was told to be careful of the barbed wire around an area.  He said no problem, he can get under it and then he got his hand caught in it.  Must be a man ( and someone's child) because he doesn't listen either…

The team is getting pretty discouraged because today is the last work day and they aren't getting as much done as they had hoped.  No team ever does.  There is always something else to be done.  But they are working very hard and are getting a lot done so they should be very proud of themselves.  Yesterday they did get to go back to the place they worked last year and got to see some of the children they had bonded with.  That was a blessing for both the kids and the team members.  The pastor's daughter, who Betty had REALLY bonded with wasn't there and Betty was VERY disappointed that she didn't get to see her.  Today, the pastor had someone bring them all the way down on a motorcycle just so his daughter could see Betty.  boy was Betty surprised when she looked up from jumping rope and saw her standing there.  There were many tears and it was emotional for the two of them.  The time spent together was way too short, but a blessing none the less.

I got shook down for extortion today.  Let me explain.  There is a large parrot here named Loraina. She is VERY loud and is permitted the run of the "Mariott."  Normally she stays in a tree close by.  Today, while I was cooking in the kitchen, I hear Lorain's voice.  I turned around and she is standing on the ground by my feet.  Behind her is one of the two cats that live here.  The cat meows at me to give her some food. Loraina puffs up her feathers and makes a noise and I swear she said, "you heard the cat, give her what she wants."  I tried reasoning with the bird.  I explained that I don't give cats people food.  Loraina looked at me and opened her mouth ever so slowly and made a different sound.  This time, she said, "If you like your toes (I was in flip flops), you'd better give the cat what she wants." So I walk ever so slowly around the bird to the refrigerator to get the cat some cheese.  The entire time, the bird keeps her body between me and the cat.  At NO TIME did the bird allow me to get close to the cat.  I put the cheese on the floor by the bird.  The bird eyes me and then makes a sound at the cat and then the cat goes around the bird to the cheese.  It was amazing and so funny!  Of course, Tom had the camera so I didn't get a picture.  The bird and cat stayed with me in the kitchen for at least 20 minutes. I like all ten of my toes so I kept giving the cat food.  The owner walked by and glanced in my direction and kept walking.  He backed up and looked back in the kitchen at me, the cat and the cat's henchman.  The owner said, "ah, no."  He walks quickly away and gets a stick and comes back for the bird.  The bird walks over to the stick and I swear he looked back over his shoulder at me and smiled.  The owner told the cat to come on and the cat followed him out.  The owner told me the bird is the cat's security guard.  And with that, they were all gone.  I haven't seen the bird since. I'm not sure if the owner put her in "time out" or what.

Today is the last work day.  The team is very busy pouring the floor of the church and working on placing the last bond beam for the placement of the roof.  They have worked really hard and all will be coming back with some serious sun tans (and peeling for those who won't use sunscreen).

No matter how old they are, kids NEVER listen to their parents!!

No matter how old a child is, they STILL don't listen to their parents! Tom's son Jeff came down a few days ahead of the team so he could spend some time with us alone.  We needed a third driver so Tom felt it would be a good opportunity for Jeff to practice driving here before the team came in.  Jeff was SUPER nervous at first, but settled in quite nicely.   On Sunday, another team member came in early as well. Yesterday, the team was to arrive around noon.  We needed to rent a pick up truck due to all the supplies that we needed to take with us.  We are heading back to the place we have been several times previously where we bathed in a bucket and were without electricity for most of the time we were there. I bring all the food, cooking supplies, utensils, etc etc etc as well as all the tools we will need for the construction project. Anyway, We had Jeff drive (along with Rick as co-pilot) over to a Burger King, which is directly across from the airport.  We gave them money and my cell phone and told them to have lunch there and wait for us to call them. Once we called them, they were to meet us at a gas station on the way out of town.

Tom and I go over to pick up the rental truck and check on the team' s arrival.  The team is on time and working their way through customs and immigration.  The truck, however, wasn't there.  The rental company in which we had reserved a truck didn't have one (Does this sound familiar? This is the third time this has happened to us). They are calling everyone they know to find us one.  The team, in the meantime, has come out and are looking for us.  I tell them to go stand outside in the beautiful weather and wait for us to deal with the rental.  The team was so glad to get in the warmth of the sunshine, that they didn't mind at all. Tom asked where the netting for the truck was.  I told them Jeff and Rick packed it so he needed to call Jeff and  ask him.  Since they were sitting across the street, it would only be a second to get it (or so I thought).  Tom goes off to call Jeff and then comes back and doesn't say anything.  So I ask him where the netting is.  Tom says, "Oh, Jeff has it."  So I say, "is he coming over to bring it or are you walking over to get it "and Tom says, "Jeff isn't there anymore.  He decided to go to the gas station and wait there."  Are you kindling me?!  Is that what we told him to do???? First of all, why would you sit in a vehicle at a gas station when you could be sitting in an air conditioned restaurant? Secondly, is that what we told him to do? Nooooooooooooo. So now Tom has to get in the van and drive down to the gas station, get the netting and then fight the traffic back to the airport and pay to park again. KIDS!  

We finally got on the road about 1:30pm.  We get to the "hotel" just before the sun sets, which is a good thing.  As we are telling the team about what they can and can't do (like you don't throw toilet paper in the toilet, it goes in a basket beside the toilet), one of the team members states that "you need to put the toilet paper sunny side down" because she doesn't want to look at it in the basket. It was pretty funny; wish I had thought of it.

As I unpack the snacks that the team has brought to share, I see a bag full of coffee.  Seriously?! Someone brought coffee to the coffee capital of the world?  Who would bring coffee INTO the country instead of taking it home?  Turns out it was the pastor of the team.  Marty brought Starbucks coffee INTO Honduras.  I asked him why he would do such a thing.  I told him Starbucks USES Honduran coffee IN their coffee.  He says, he knew that because he read it on the box. oookkkkaaayyyy. He just wanted to be sure he had coffee to drink.  Obviously, he doesn't know he is working with the BEST work and witness coordinators in the world.

This morning, I was hanging in my room and saw a very large frog watching me from the shower. This is the same room where last year, Tom chased a humongous spider around the room.  And then later, the electricity went off for a few hours. Yep, it's good to be back…

Seriously, a dog came up and peed on me today!

After being married for over 20 years and knowing my husband since 1987, I found out yesterday that his grandfather died from eating sour cream... really???!!!  He actually told this to Manuel's mother while we were eating dinner one night this week.   When we were in charge of work and witness teams in the states, we had a "number 1 rule" when on these teams.  That rule was "tom lies."  Because Tom can lie with such a straight face, people believe everything he says.  You can probably ask some of the old team members what the number one rule on a work and witness team is and many would probably remember and say, "Tom lies."  when we were walking out of the restaurant, Tom had said something to me that was derogatory.  Manuel's mother told me in spanish to give him mantequilla (sour cream) tonight when I got home.  It was funny.

Yesterday was "one of those days" for me.  I got up at 4:45 to take Bernice to a doctor's appointment.  Yes, you read right, 4:45 in THE MORNING. Let's hear it for socialized medicine. We had to get to the clinic by 5:30 so she could be in line for when the doors opened at 7:00.  I get to the car and Manuel is with Berenice.  Why didn't I just give him the keys to the car last night?  Well, I am up so I drive. When we got there, there were already about 50 people in line waiting to get a number to see the doctor.  One of the things they do here is give preferential treatment to pregnant women (although that seems to be every women in Honduras) and seniors.  Berenice's number was 2.  I thought, great, we can get in and get out. WRONG.  Once they opened the doors to the clinic at 7:00, we filed in and sat on benches in a very narrow hallway. And we sat.  And we sat. And we sat.  A nurse was sitting in the room where Bernice was to see her doctor and she wasn't calling anyone in for anything.  By this time it is 8:00 (we had been there since 5:45). Another woman started talking to this nurse in spanish and pretty soon her voiced started to raise and she was yelling at the nurse and talking VERY fast.  Obviously something was wrong. Berenice gets a disgusted look on her face and asks the nurse a question and then gets up and starts walking outside.  She turns to me and says the doctor is NOT coming in today so she has to go and wait in the line outside to get ANOTHER  number for a different doctor.  You have got to be kidding me.  Why didn't I just give Manuel the keys to the car and let him take her??  I am an idiot.  Berenice goes and gets in the other very long line and when she gets up to the window, she is told she is in the wrong line.  She needed to get in a different line.  Berenice tells her what the problem is and the person at the window still tells her to get in the other line (the other line is for the doctor that isn't there).  So she gets in the other line.  she gets up to the window and the person tells her she doesn't need another number, that the other doctor there would "work her in" with the same number.  

Ok.  She has number 2.  That would mean the doctor would take his number 1 and then the other doctor's number 1 and then number 2 and so on right?  WRONG.  The doctor took the first 5 of his patients and Berenice and the other women just sat there. Wow, this is going to be a long day and I have so much to do to get prepared for the next team.  I told Manuel that I was going home and he could go with me and come back for Berenice (what I should have done all along.  Did I mention I was an idiot?)  So, I get to a light and wait for the traffic to go.  I need to turn right.  The traffic light changed and I turned right.  I get pulled over by a police officer.  He says I needed to wait to turn right.  Wait for what?  The second coming of Jesus? He takes my license and gives me a ticket.  Here, when you get a ticket, they physically take your driver's license and then you have to go wait in a VERY long line (the norm here), pay a fine and get your license back. This is SO NOT RIGHT!  I am pissed.  I asked Manuel what I did wrong.  He said, "nothing."  He said he would have turned as well, but not if there was a policeman there.  He said the police just enforce whatever they want so whenever there is a policeman in the area, he doesn't do anything.  No wonder the traffic is so bad here. (again, if I would have just handed Manuel the keys, I could be in bed right now. What an IDIOT!)

Ok. I have to figure out where I need to go to get my license back. Tom calls Miguel.  Miguel says he will see if he can get us a discount on the ticket.  A discount????  How about not paying AT ALL since it is crap! Miguel and his family is coming to dinner anyway tonight, so we can talk about it then.

Later in the day Berenice says she needs to go to the store and so do I so Manuel, Berenice and I go to the mall to the grocery.  This mall has free parking but you need to get a parking ticket stamped inside the mall or they charge you to park there.  It is stupid, but hey, whatever.  The FIRST thing I do is get the ticket stamped.  There is a picture on the front of the machine that shows you which way you must insert your ticket.  I follow the picture (You see where this is going don't you?)  I try to leave the parking lot.  The guy says I need to pay.  I said, no, I stamped the ticket and showed him where I stamped it.  He said the machine won't take it. (So what? The arm of the gate is up, all he needs to do is wave me on).  He insists on making me pay.  I insist that I won't.  I told him I would go back and have it stamped again so I turn around and go back in; the guard was trying to give me another ticket to go in.  I think the look of murder on my face prevented him from doing that.  I tell Manuel to go get the ticket stamped.  He does.  He hands me the ticket and it is stamped in the EXACT same way I had stamped it.  I told them it is the same. Manuel says, "no it isn't".  Berenice says, "yes it is."  so Manuel says go out a different way to a different guy. HEAVY SIGH…… So I go out a different direction and the guy just took the ticket and raised the bar to let me out. FRUSTRATING!

There is a saying here in Honduras when you have a bad day.  They say "the only thing that didn't happen to me today is for a dog to pee on me."  I know what they are talking about.  It is fitting.

Berenice and Manuel ate dinner with us later that night.  Tom announces to them that when I got home today, a dog came up and peed on me.  They just looked at me and laughed.  What is the number one rule on a work and witness trip??????

Seriously?! Tom parked there!

When we met Miguel for our tour of the market, he told us to park here and he would have a police officer watch it for us.

Tom and Miguel doing what they do best. Cops are the same all over the world.

Serious???!!! No one was killed in this fire??????

We had the privilege of touring the worst of the burned out areas of the central market fire that are still standing. As we were taken deep into the hallow shell of what was left of the main building, we couldn't help but choke on the burning plastics which still continue to smolder. They have been putting water on this area of 21 days and it is still smoking.

Over 732 private businesses were destroyed, which the papers say put over 20,000 people out of a job.

The cause of the fire will probably remain a mystery; although there are a couple of possible scenarios.  The first, and the one that makes the most sense to Tom and me is the local gang which runs the area, demanded "security" money (this is true).  About 40 businesses refused to pay the money anymore (also true). Amazingly, the fire just so happened to destroy the area where the people refused to pay (along with others).  The second scenario (and the one that will probably be the official cause), is almost everyone was plugged into the electric illegally (also true). Just go to any third world country and you will see the scariest electrical system; wires coming and going from everywhere, with no structure.  We did find out today that in the central area, the city owns the land and does not require anyone to pay for rent or water, but they do expect them to pay for electric (which most do not).

This church is directly across the street from where the original fire started.  The fire was so intense that it completely melted the STAINED GLASS windows of the front of the church.

 These pictures are just a few to try and show what it looks like right now.  The market is set up with all like items in the same area.  For example, all shoes are sold in one area; all meat in another spot and so on.  The intensity of the fire was really bad where all the plastics were sold. Many stores only sold plastic bags and plastic plates and plastic chairs, etc.  The first picture I posted is in the plastic area where they can't get it to stop burning.  The smell was SO pungent.  Now try to imagine an entire store of plastic burning...

The above picture shows that business is usual for some of the merchants already.  this gives a whole new meaning to smoked meats... I took this picture looking down from where the plastics were still burning. So, who wants a fresh grilled tongue??? The special flavoring might just be smoked plastic.  Makes ya hungry doesn't it?!

And lastly, this is a picture of one of the police officers that are assigned to stand guard down there.  No one is permitted into the area where the fire completely destroyed the block as people were trying to steal all the iron and copper.  Now there are about 20 officers standing guard while the workers use heavy equipment to get the twisted metal removed.

Seriously? We get a tour of the burned out market tomorrow

An update to the Market fire: Thanks so much to those of you who have asked about the market fire and how we are going to help these people. We have taken a step back and are breathing for a moment to make sure we are using the funds in the best possible way. In that regard, we will be meeting with the District Superintendent to see how we should best handle this situation and to make sure all the monies are accounted for and distributed fairly. Once we come up with a game plan, we will let you know. So those of you who want to help, hang in there. If you wish to collect money for certain people you personally know, that can continue as we would make sure those specific people would get what you want them to have. I will take pictures tomorrow (if there is anything to take a picture of)and get them posted.

Seriously!!!!! We might be able to get a NEW VAN!!!!!!

A gentleman has approached us with a challenge. He and his family had the unique opportunity to travel the Honduran countryside in one of our 1996 maroon vans; you know, the ones that Tom keeps putting back together with duck tape. Anyway, this wonderful man has offered to do a "matching grant" sort of thing with anyone who might be willing to contribute to a new "fun van" fund. That's right. For every dollar anyone gives towards the "fun van" fund, he will match it up to a certain point. This point will definitely get us the new van we DESPERATELY need. so if ANYONE out there has a couple of bucks they can shoot our way in order to get this new van, PLEASE consider it. You can send the money to the Upper Valley Community Church, 9111 Fry Court, Piqua, Ohio 45356. The check can be made out to : UVCC-Honduras and pin the memo section put "fun van fund". Those of you who have been here know how much we really need this van.