I am speaking Tomduran (special version of Spanish) not Honduran...

Sorry it has been almost a full week since I last wrote.  Also sorry that this is going to be a long one. We had one thing right after another with this team, so I never had a chance to write anything. This team was a youth team from Hagerstown Maryland. Their focus was orphanages, VBS, and concrete work. Let's try and break this down, shall we?
ORPHANAGES - this was covered on the last update.

VBS - We took off to a public school in the area to do VBS.  The team put on a puppet show, sang songs, and did crafts.  The show was all on a CD so no one had to learn spanish.  They just had to move the puppets with the words spoken.  No problem right?  Well, if you don't have electricity, it can be a problem.  Part way through the program, the electricity went out and stayed out for the entire day.  That meant the puppet show had to stop. So we did a craft. The craft was an awesome one.  It was clear plastic sleeves used for scrape booking with foamed pieces of fish and ribbon, etc to create an underwater theme.  The children LOVED it. It was a rather complicated craft, but the kids had a blast doing it.  It would have been perfect, except for the small detail of not enough staplers to close the plastic up.  The youth leader had forgotten to get staplers.  She had one decent one and one crappy one. It took FOREVER to finish the artwork. Note to self.  Ask the leader what craft they are going to do BEFORE we leave the campground. We had a couple of staplers there, but didn't know we needed them.

Since the electric was off, Tom thought that
we could pull the van into the courtyard
of the school and run the boom box off
the battery of the van.  It was a great idea.
He got the van in and hooked up the boom
 box and we gathered all 200 plus kids
out to the courtyard and we sang
all the songs.




The kids LOVED singing and using the hand motions and it was fun to see them all so happy. We sang the songs over and over again.

After school was over, Tom tried to pull the van out.  It seems that it was a REALLY tight fit going in.  When trying to go out, the angle was a little different and he ended up getting too close to the one side of the cement wall.  He was within about 1/2 inch from the wall.  He told all the kids to push on the side of the van that was closest to the wall so he wouldn't slide into the wall.  They did; and he did (slide into the wall).

This is a picture of the wall and the van. Note how they are touching....

The front of the van was hitting the gate to the school.   They ended up breaking the gate down in order to get a little more room to move the van.  The problem was the van was laying up against the cement wall on the other side so any movement at all would cause a problem. Tom tried chiseling the cement wall away from the van. At this rate we would be there a REALLY long time....

So the next best thing would be to pick up the van  and move it. Soooooo, that is what they did. Several of the guys got to the back of the van and literally picked it up and moved it over so it would not touch the cement wall.  This gave Tom the 1/2 inch back to go through the gate opening straight.  There was a second problem however.  Going straight meant Tom would drive right into a VERY deep trench. Sooooo, large boulders were picked up and carried out so when Tom did drive out, he could go over the trench. The van and the kids who were also stuck inside were released.

  

A few went back to repair the gate and all is well that ends well (except for the van). So at this point, Tom and I are tied with damaging the "new" grey van.(sigh).

Later that night, it rained like it does every night in Seguatepeque. This time we were all in our hotel rooms and the noise of the rain hitting the metal roof was very soothing.  Then came a knock on our door as I was getting out of the shower.  It seems one of the kids was running (he still insists it was more like a jog...) across the second floor tile.  He slipped on the wet floor (the rain went through the metal in some places) and fortunately broke his fall with his face.  UNFORTUNATELY, he broke his nose and chipped a tooth. Had he put his hand out he probably would have broken his wrist.  It seems this was the second time he ran across the floor, only slipping the first time.  (I guess some kids do need to be hit over the head with a 2 x 4 to get it). Soooo, we got to find out where the hospital is in Seguatepeque. The ER staff were wonderful and kind. We got back to the hotel very late. As you can see from the picture, we were VERY concerned about his injuries...

The following day, it was off to the dentist to consult about the broken tooth. Our thoughts were the dentist would check him out and then ask us what we wanted done.  We were not permitted to go into the room with him, so the youth leader and I sat in the waiting room and visited.  As we were talking I began to realize I was hearing a drill in the background.  Sure enough, that is what it was. Andrea and I just looked at each other and thought, Holy Cow! When he came out of there, he had a tooth that was straighter than his original tooth and it looked great. Whew!!!!

Each day, after VBS the kids worked on the worksite.  Some helped lay concrete, others mixed concrete, sifted sand, and dug Laja.  Laja is an extremely hard rock which the church property is built on.  Laja is used as a solid base in which to literally build the buildings.  It needs to be chipped and then pounded into fine pieces.  It is a horrible job.  But these kids hung in there and did it. Everyone EXCEPT the youth pastor, Andrea.  Pastor Rigo said she was too weak and wasn't permitted to do it. When Rigo wasn't around, she insisted on trying it...He was right. She couldn't do it...

Everyday after work, the kids played volleyball.  One time it was the Hondurans (Tom was Honduran) vs the Americans and the Hondurans ripped their butts.  It was embarrassing. The entire work team, both Honduran and American came to look forward to these games.

The ladies of the church prepared all our meals for us at the church.  This meant that we did not have to go to any restaurants, and with the new water filter system installed in the church, we didn't need to worry about getting sick from the food or the water. It was wonderful.  The teens seemed to enjoy all the Honduran food the ladies fixed and Andrea and I even helped with making pupusas, tortillas and plantains.

On the way back to the campground from our stay in Seguatepeque, we stopped off at a waterfall park to swim and zipline.  Everyone had a blast.  Even those afraid of heights and water conquered their fears long enough to enjoy the view.
There were 11 of us that actually went into the waterfall and underneath it.  Talk about a sermon series!  We had to trust each other and our guide as we could not see ANYTHING due to the constant pounding of the fall cascading down over our heads.  We had to breath through our mouths and not our noses or we would drown.  We had to feel our way with our feet, backwards, through the various cracks and crevices of the rock beneath us. It was frightful for some, exciting for others. And stupid for still others who thought we were crazy for doing it.

The team said their goodbyes on Friday and then on Saturday, we said our good byes to Monica, who was with us for 3 weeks. I must point out here, that the game of FARKLE was NOT played AT ALL this time.  So much for farkle being the work and witness game of choice.  It looks like MAFIA has won out....We celebrated Loyda's 41st birthday at Pizza Hut and then we drove back to Teguc.

Sunday afternoon was spent chill in' with our feet up, watching mindlessly into the television and drinking Monte Verde coffee. Hmmmmm, the simple joys of life!!!!

Matthew 25:35-40

Today we went to the orphanages. The first one is called Las Mujeres, which is for girls ages 12 to 18 who are "at risk".  This is a place where girls who have been abused and/ or abandoned are taken.  Most are very hostile and untrusting of people. Here the team took the fresh vegetables, hygiene items, etc.  They sang songs, did a drama and decorated flip flops and colored.  The girls seemed to enjoy the attention.  There was a 13 year old girl who had a 20 day old infant. It was so sad to see a child with a child. We went to lunch in a mall and had Honduran food. ALL the teens liked it.  Couldn't believe it.  Not one of them complained or just didn't eat their food. It was amazing. Then we went to the orphanage for infants to age 12, both girls and boys.  This one was hard.  There is a 12 year old boy in a diaper and in a crib.  He doesn't speak and he doesn't walk.  He just sits there.  But there was a girl on this team who took the time to play with this boy.  She slowly won his trust and she played catch with him.  It was beautiful to watch. With the exception of maybe one or two babies, all in this room were handicapped and all were in diapers.  The smell was horrible.  We all took turns loving on these unloved, castoff children of Honduras. Each of us took a child who could not walk on their own and just held them.  The ones that could manage to smile, did.  The others who couldn't smile showed their pleasure in other ways.  THIS is what we as God's children should be doing.  This is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 25: 35 - 40. "…And Jesus will say, I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me." This team WAS the hands of Jesus to these handicapped abandoned children.  I was so VERY proud of them.





I wish I could post pictures of what we experienced today, but the people who run the orphanages told us we were not permitted to post any pictures of the children on the internet.  I will be able to post one of us surrounding the girls in prayer as you cannot see any of them specifically, but I really want to post the ones of the handicapped children smiling and cooing as they are being held.  These will be priceless memories for me and the team.

This update is a serious one today.  We cannot experience what we did today and make light of any of it.  As one of the teens said tonight as we were debriefing the day, "It is hard to imagine what we saw because this doesn't happen in America.  There isn't a child in America that isn't wanted by SOMEONE…" How true. How very true.

Birds DO fly through open car windows

We had gone to the market in the morning to get fresh pineapple and bananas and had left the windows open to the van, since we were going to the airport in a few hours. Tom, Monica and Efrain had gone before since I ad to get the lunch cooked.  Manuel had asked to drive so he could feel useful.  I said no problem.  When we went to get into the van to leave, Manuel opened the door and just stared into the van.  He said, " you are not going to believe this." I looked in and a bird had pooped on the passenger seat of the van. 

 I accused him of already knowing that since he had asked to drive. So, back upstairs to get a scrub brush and upholstery cleaner. What a great way to start off the first day of a new team. The team was the last group of people to come out.  But they were dressed in bright yellow T-shirts so finding them wasn't a problem.

After we got them back to the campground and fed, Andrea (team leader), Tom, Monica and I went shopping to get fresh veggies, diapers, baby wipes, deodorant, and hygiene items for the children and teens of the two orphanages we will be visiting tomorrow. We have tried to prepare the group for what they are about witness, but I doubt that anything will prepare them for it.  These are very depressing places. The orphanages have requested no pictures be taken, due to people posting pictures of children on Facebook. So I doubt that we will be getting any photos, but we shall see.

On a totally side note, we received word that our beautiful "Twisted Beauty" Locust tree sustained damage during the big storm of last week.  This tree was almost as tall as our home.  Our house guest thinks it can be saved. This was a very unique looking tree and it makes me sad that it suffered damage, BUT at least our house is fine.

The house for sale across the street wasn't so lucky and sustained significant damage.  I am very thankful that we might have to replace a tree and not our home. This little white house was built in the 1800's.... 

Saying english words with an accent doesn't make them understand it any better

We got the rest of the team today.  They came in on the flight they were actually supposed to be on. We had the left over mac and cheese and the sloppy joes for lunch (again). The teens have been playing soccer ever since lunch.  Where do they get the energy? Most haven't slept for 24 hours. And it is SO HOT!   These guys play a game called Mafia.  They all get in a circle and try and guess who are mafia and who are commissioners. To me, it is a stupid game, but whatever.  They enjoy it.

Today was the first day of work.  We are packed like sardines into two vans and the work site is about an hour and 15 minutes away from the campground.  So far it has rained HARD every night, all night, so the campgrounds are really wet and muddy.  We have to drive through the cane field muddy paths to get out onto the highway. We got to the work site and were greeted by a very excited Pastor.  He is THRILLED to get a new "real" church. Ok, so it is a youth team trying to build his real church so I don't know how high his expectations are… BUT, whenever this team leaves, the money they brought to buy the materials will live long after the team has left.  There are a bunch of kids at this site and it is very rural and poor.  

The children had a blast playing with bubbles, coloring, painting and playing american football and soccer.  Did I mention it is REALLY HOT??? The team went through 15 gallons of water while we were there. That's a lot of water. All have said they have NEVER sweated so much. Getting team members plugged into work is always difficult the first day. This was no exception, especially since we were only doing small sections of the wall at a time. But, the team worked hard and had a good workday. Another night of Mafia…ho hum. Where are the farkle players?

Second day of work - work went much better.  We seemed more organized and there was more for this large group to do.  Many of the teens learned to lay block and were building the walls of the church (I don't think earthquakes move too much in this area and I think they will use stucco to cover what they did…). More children showed up today which is normal.  

This time they painted finger nails, played A LOT of soccer and used crayons on paper plates.  It would seem all the art supplies they brought grew legs and walked away. Note to self, assign someone to watch this stuff!  Six dump truck loads of dirt and sand were delivered and now all of that needs to be hand shoveled into the church to level out the floor.  We now had plenty of work to do. Wheelbarrows and shovels flying all over the place. They definitely went home tired today. Of course, it rained tonight so all that dirt will really be nice and heavy in the morning when we finish it. The kids worked hard and they are hot, sun burned and tired. When I got back to the campground, Efrain told me I had a flat tire. Sure enough, another tire on the grey van was flat.  He took the van to get it fixed and will bring it back tomorrow morning.

Third day of work - Efrain brought the van back and said the tires were really bad on the van. He plugged the tire that was flat, but said there was another one that was losing air.  After dropping off everyone at the worksite, Tom and Efrain went into San Pedro Sula to buy 4 new tires. When they came back, Efrain told me the tires were a "bodega for clavas", which means, a storage room for nails.  While he was gone, I was talking with one of the guys at the worksite. 

We heard a noise and an egg dropped out of a tree, hit a metal roof and SPLATTED on the guy, hitting him in the chest and face.  It was a rotten egg.  The smell was enough to gag a maggot. It was hilarious.  Although he was trying hard not to puke himself from the smell. I ended up taking his shirt and washing it out.  Who knew a small bird egg can make that much of a horrible smell.  This was by far the hottest day yet. There was no breeze and the sun was brutal.  We went through 20 gallons of water today. We took everyone to the mall and they got to walk around in the air conditioning for a little while. They got a cultural shock when they saw how little it is.

Friday - This is the last day of work. They finished putting all the dirt into the church for the floor.  It ended up being 8 dump truck loads of dirt.  It was all shoveled by hand into the church. The children grew in numbers because word got out the Gringos were there, which means to them, "free stuff". This team was different, which I really liked.  We had asked them not to bring candy and gum.  Their teeth are rotting out of their heads from lack of hygiene, so they brought bracelets and stickers and gave them out instead.  The older kids were clambering for the soccer balls the team had brought and were really disappointed that they were given to the pastor for use with the kids that actually went to church.  We divided the team into three groups, one group passing out the items, one group getting the kids lined up and one group security.  Otherwise we would have the same kids going through time after time and a fight would have broken out.  It worked well. We left and went to a huge mall for lunch.  IT was a zoo.  Everyone else who had money had the same idea. Taking 34 people to a mall is a unique experience in itself, so we were the entertainment for the Hondurans. Then it was off to shop at the local market.  Except, the market was closed due to a special celebration that was going to be happening later that day. The few merchants that were standing around told us to go to the central park and we would find shops there.  Central park in San Pedro Sula is normally not a place we would take a group of gringos, but Efrain assured us there were plenty of police and it would be safe. They didn't have many shops, but the team seemed to be happy and managed to spend a lot of money anyway. We have been to 3 supermarkets, each time cleaning them out of vanilla and coffee. Today was no different, but everyone finally got what they needed.

Saturday - Off to Tela.  We left at 7 in the morning and drove to the beach for a day at Punta Sol, the national park in the middle of the Caribbean. The boat ride over was exciting for them as the boat drivers tried to make the ride as enjoyable as possible (meaning, they went really fast and it felt like a roller coaster).  I don't particularly like the feeling of my stomach in my mouth, but the kids loved it.  Only one felt a little sea sick, which was good. The weather, of course, was cloudy ( go figure, we are at the beach), but these guys are from Oregon so they said it was perfect, as it is almost never sunny there.  They got to see a bunch of howling monkeys in the trees and one actually almost peed on them.  It was very funny. They enjoyed the water and the ride back to Tela. We drove back to El Progreso and ate dinner at a typical Honduran restaurant.  When all 37 of us walked in (Efrain and family went too), a disc jockey started playing current American music.  The kids loved it, but the adults, not so much; especially when some of  the music they were playing was the "explicit" versions of several tunes.  The kids started going up and requesting songs and they sang and sang and sang.  The restaurant was certainly entertained by the Gringos that night.

Sunday - We went into San Pedro Sula for church in the morning and Efrain's church at night.  The youth Pastor, Greg, preached. As soon as he got up to start, the heavens opened up and it poured.  I mean it poured.  Have you ever heard heavy downpours on a metal roof? He started yelling into the microphone and Manuel, who was interpreting for him, was also yelling. THen, the power went out.  No microphones, no lights (except for my cell phone and Efrain's).  It was funny! I guess either God or Satan didn't like his message that night.  He kept persevering and the lights did come back on. Back to the campground and Tom and I promised to play Mafia with them. Tom tried to kill two of the favorites in the game right away. They got upset and convinced everyone not to kill them. Then they had Tom killed. Well I got to play the game anyway even if Tom didn't. They warned him not to mess with them.  We headed to bed after midnight. Some of them stayed up all night. If you don't follow what I'm talking about, not to worry.  We played the game and didn't get it...

We said our goodbyes Monday morning at the airport as we fed them breakfast. It is always difficult to say goodbye after a very close and emotional week together and knowing you will probably never see the majority of them again on this earth.  But we thank God for the opportunity to spend this week getting to know them.

We asked the kids what they thought were fun moments on the trip and these are a few of the comments they had:

The youth pastor, Greg, has a fetish with buses.   

The public transportation is old, savaged school buses from the states.  He took more pictures of the school buses than he did of his teens on the trip.  He plans on making a book called, "The Buses of Honduras."  Anyone want to pre-order??  I didn't think so.

I must be truthful.  These teens were by far, the hardest working kids we have ever had.  Usually teens start strong the first day, and by the end of the week, they forgot why they came.  These guys worked hard, never complained, and didn't argue or bicker with each other.  There were even siblings here and THEY didn't bicker.  Where did Tom and I go wrong when we were raising our kids???? BUT…..I have also NEVER worked with a group of teens that talked more and DIDN'T listen to ANYTHING the adults said than these guys. Holy Smokes!  They were terrible about that.  And I told them so.  They seemed so proud….

Two of the teen boys decided they would take showers in a second dorm area where teams RARELY stay.  They found a door open and decided to use the shower there.  This is the story through the eyes of one of them. They were in the showers at the same time 
(no, this isn't a Sandusky story. They were in separate showers) and one of them started screaming.  The shower curtain was torn down and the guy was jumping up and down and trying to get out of the shower stall. (got the mental picture yet?) The one asked what was wrong and the other said there was a tarantula in the shower with him (Betty Neighborgall, does this sound familiar?) 


They both got out of there pretty darn fast. For the one, this must have been terrifying but for the other, it had to have been hilarious. You decide.
Monday - We got the team loaded on the plane and we got to work.  Monica, the girl who is staying with us for 3 weeks, spent the day cleaning all the vehicles, inside and out (BLESS HER!), Tom got the banking done and I cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, in between loads of sheets and towels. We have a mouse who REALLY enjoys flour and bread, so I bleached everything.  Manuel, Tom, Monica and I then went shopping and dinner in San Pedro.  It was a nice, QUIET, evening. As we were leaving the campground in the van, Monica said, "wow, the quiet is really nice." Yes, Monica, sometimes, it is the best part of the day….

Shoes are SO over rated

The continuing saga of the vans.  If you recall, when we got back to Honduras, the grey van was in storage and it wouldn't start.  Tom got a new battery for it and it ran for a few days.  But after a few days, every morning it would need to be pushed down a hill in order to pop the clutch.  But once it started running, it ran all day.  The team left on Wednesday without incident and the grey van was taken to the shop to figure out what was wrong.  We discovered it had two batteries (who knew). The batteries are located under the passenger seat and middle seat of the front of the vehicle (again, who knew). So Tom bought another battery.  Now, it would seem that the alternator has a dead thingy in it (technical term) and they cannot get just that part. Sooooo, a new alternator is required.  It costs (are you sitting down?)$1,000.00 US DOLLARS!!!!!!!! For an alternator!!!!! Holy smokes batman! But, good news is we can get a 20% discount. WOW. But, what are you gonna do. The next problem is we need to drive it to San Pedro Sula TODAY to get prepared for the team that is flying in there on Sunday. But, it will all work out somehow.  

Sigh…. Tom gets home from the bank and comes upstairs to eat lunch.  Bob pulls in right behind Tom and tells Tom that he has a flat tire on the red van.  You guys all know the drill. Yep, it is going to be one of those days.  BUT, we are blessed, because we got up this morning!  We have food to eat and a place to stay.  It's all good.

The grey van is finally done (6:00 pm) so needless to say we never made it to San Pedro Sula today.  we will be leaving at 6 in the morning tomorrow morning and driving straight to Costco to get food for the team that comes on Sunday morning.

We left at 6:45 in the morning.  No problems getting to San Pedro Sula.  We went straight to Pricesmart to get groceries. Then to the campground to get settled.  It is well over a hundred degrees here. Boy is it hot!  We needed to go to the bank and get money so we went to the little mall in El Progreso to the bank, ate dinner, and went to the grocery store for the things I couldn't get at Pricesmart.  We were driving out of the lot when two security guys flagged us down.  They told us we had a flat tire. Yep, ANOTHER flat tire, this time in the grey van.  It is dark and we try to find all the parts to change the tire.  My first thought is someone did to us because they saw us get so much money from the bank (the police in me).  I am looking all over, but no one seems to notice us.  The security guard comes over and helps Tom with the tire. I stand guard by the locked van.  We did feel very fortunate (perhaps a God thing) that the guards told us about the tire while we were still in the lighted parking lot (it gets dark by 6pm here).  The spare wasn't in great shape, but it did have more air in it than the flat one did. But hey, at least we HAD a spare. And Tom has had so much practice changing tires that he has it down to a science.   Back to the campground to start cooking for tomorrow's arrival of the next team.

I went to take a shower and went to look for my shower shoes.  Not there.  In fact, not one pair of our shoes that we left in our closet are here.  I came down wearing only flip flops because I had left my work boots, tennis shoes, shower shoes, extra flip flops, aqua shoes here so I wouldn't have to carry them back and forth.  Tom had shower shoes and tennis shoes here. All gone. Sooooo, when the team comes tomorrow morning, I will greet them in my flip flops and will have to go buy something that I can wear to the worksite. UGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH. Ok, say something positive about this. Hmmm, at least I have money to buy shoes. Now I just need the time.

6/24/12 We went to pick up the team from the airport.  We have Monica Holloway from our church staying with us for 3 weeks.  She will be helping out with two of our teams.  She came off the flight, but no one else did.  We waited, and waited.  She said there weren't people on the plane from Oregon.  They were suppose to be on the same flight with Monica. We asked at the counter if they had missed the flight.  We were told they are not permitted to tell us that.  All they would say was the flight was here.  I called Bob to see if he had a number for one of the team leaders.  He said he thought they weren't coming until tomorrow.  I told him they were suppose to be here today.  We get Monica and go back to the campground wondering what happened.  Tom asked Monica if the plane was full or not.  she said it was.  This team is 28 people.  you would miss that many on a flight.  I went and got my calendar, along with all my paperwork.  Everything I had written down said they were coming on Sunday, the 25th. Hmmmm, Sunday is the 24th.  Oh, my bad.  They will be here tomorrow at the same time.  We took Efrain and the box truck and two vans for Monica and one piece of luggage.  Oh well, she got the full treatment. We got back to the campground to 3 pans of homemade mac and cheese and a huge pot of sloppy joes. Guess what we are having tomorrow for lunch? Anyone?  Monica is trying to adjust to the heat here.  She asked how long does it take to get used to the heat?  I told her, when I get used to it, I will let her know.

Some of you know that we have a problem at the campground with squatters.  They have been here for several months.  At first, they completely blocked the road leading to the campground and stated that we did not own the land, that they did and they were taking over the campground (Maybe they took my shoes……)  Anyway, Efrain took the ownership papers to the Mayor's office and showed proof of ownership.  The "leader" of the squatters had to sign a paper stating that if they came on our property or tried to take it over, they would be jailed. He signed the paper and went to jail for the evening.  The next day, they were all back blocking the road leading to the campground. BUT, they let Efrain and anyone else who wanted to go to the campground go by.  It seems that there are about 3000 people who live among the cane fields.  They say that they are the rightful owners of the cane fields.  The Sugarcane producers have not shown any paperwork stating they properly own the land.  So, the mayor is not kicking these people off the land.  We are talking about over 10,000 acres of land here. These people are talking about taking up the cane and planting African Palm trees for the production of Palm oil.  This is going to get really interesting. A lot of the razor wire on top of our walls had been torn down or had fallen. Tom spent the day re-securing the razor wire on top of our walls. There are a couple of small spots that don't have any wire, so we will be looking into getting those taken care of soon.

This is what my crunch of the van looks like

We headed out to the job site Thursday morning.This is a new job, which is at the base of the dump in Danli. The project is a house for a pastor. This is a VERY poor area. While heading up the mountain, we saw homes made from pepsi crates, and steps made of tires. One of the girls in the van yelled that she saw a tropical bird in a tree. Then, shortly later, she says, Never mind, it's a chicken." We have gotten a lot of mileage out of that one. It has been raining so the smell of the area wasn't the best, but the group got a lot of work done that day.  

Friday proved to be a very challenging day getting WAAAAAAAAAYYYYY up the mountain to an area called El Parasito. It had rained ALL night previous to our leaving, so we were concerned about the mountain roads being muddy and slippery.  We were right to be concerned.  They were.  Our vans would not make the trip, so we had two men from the church we were going to work on come and get us in their pickup trucks, along with our black pickup.  Bob drove the black pickup while Tom and I rode with the others in the back.  This time it was a two hour trip standing up in the back of the pickup.  The rest of the group rode in the backs of the other two pickups.  The "road" was horrible. VERY muddy. I watched one of the trucks take a hairpin curve on 3 wheels.  It didn't give any of us a warm and fuzzy feeling. Of course, it started to rain while we were going up. There was one section of very steep mud that we had to come down. The first truck to go down slid into a VERY LARGE rut and slammed into it really hard. One of the guys riding in the back of the truck injured his ribs.  The rest of us who watched it happened still had to go down the same road. We did though and were VERY happy to have it over.

No good picture to show the deep ruts, but this one would show the narrow road.

one of the concrete floors in the house in El Paraiso

The job was to pour a concrete floor for the pastor's house. This team had paid to have the house built and had come to put on the finishing touch. We were greeted by the pastor and many of his congregation excited to have us and ready to go to work. We worked all morning with them mixing the cement and pouring a floor for the new house. We had made arrangements for the women of the Parasito church to cook our lunch and we would reimburse them the expense. We had a typical lunch, chicken and rice with tortillas. It was delicious. When we tried to pay the ladies they refused any money. They said it was their way of showing appreciation for what we were doing. That may not sound like a big deal to you at home, but trust me that was a sacrifice of food they needed for their own families. We had no choice but to be gracious and accept their gift so as not to offend them.



After working all day on the mountain, we were ready to leave.  The heavens opened up and I mean opened up. It poured.  All of us were thinking the same thing.  How in the world were we going to get off that mountain. One of the trucks that brought us up, broke a spring when it hit the large rut (and injured the guy), so a different man brought his truck to take us down.  We loaded in all three trucks. While we were in these 3 trucks, we were all thinking the same thing. How are we possibly going to do this? One of the guys in our truck said, "I think we need to pray about our trip down."  We all agreed, so our truck started praying out loud. After he was finished, we felt better (NOT great, but better).  Then we were told we were going down a different way.  OK, that sounds great to us; but wait a minute. That means we don't know what is ahead….. Is this good or bad??  Anyway, we started down. The rains slowed down and we looked over a cliff and there was a complete rainbow.  It was beautiful.  Someone said, "God heard our prayer.  It is going to be alright."  We all started to relax and enjoy the ride.  The rain had stopped, but the road was a muddy mess. A little bit later, we started passing through mud slides.  Now that isn't good. Would we be able to get through?  About that time, we see a grater.  Yes, you heard me.  A VERY LARGE GRATER, the kind you see at a large construction site.  The grater was grating the tiny muddy road in front of us! How in the world did that thing get up there and at that precise moment in time???? We all knew the answer to that question.  It stopped at a point in the road where we could get past it (Not a small feat on these paths) without any trouble. By this time, there were only two trucks.  We couldn't see the last one.  It was the one with the teens in it. We went the rest of the way to the river we needed to cross.  The rain started up heavy again. The river was swollen and running quickly.  We are told to get out of the truck; that we would be walking across a foot bridge to the other side.  The trucks would leave us at that point.  Now Bob and Evelyn are in the black pickup.  Paul (leader of the team fro the states) tells Bob that Bob would drive the pickup adjacent to the river and cross at a bridge "down there."  It was the same bridge that we used to get across in the morning. Thing was, Bob had no idea where he was.  Paul said, just follow the river and you'll get to it.  We were concerned that if there was a problem, we would be separated and couldn't help Bob.  Paul said, "no problem, he has a cell phone." Hmmmmm, again not the warm and fuzzy feeling.  I pictured them floating down river somewhere, with his cell phone in his hand….. 
 
We crossed the foot bridge and got to the other side. This was a suspended bridge out of an Indiana Jones movie. Wire and rope strung across the river with wood pieces placed in between to walk on. The waist high wire to hold onto as you went across was barbed wire. Are you kidding me!!! Barbed wire to grab if you fall. Large empty areas between the slats also were a joy to see.  We walked to our vans that we had parked and Paul told me to load up my van and go on back to the hotel.  He said there was no point in all of us saying for Bob and the other truck.  We told him we had no idea where the other truck was with the teens in it.  Just about that time, we see them literally drive by us!  They did not see us along the side of the road.  It was hilarious.  I pointed out the van and said to Tom, "there go the kids!" Tom started towards the street and yelled at them.  The driver heard him and turned around.  I went on ahead and by the time Tom got his van loaded, Bob and Evelyn had showed up.  All was well that ends well.

Saturday we went back up to the house we worked on by the dump and finished pouring a temporary cement floor for the parishioners to use outside the pastor;s home.  The congregation took down the old roof and supports at the old location and moved it to the new location. The group also worked on the electric for the pastor's home.  Some of the teens showed the children in the area how to play baseball.  They used a thin board and a tennis ball.  It was cute to watch.  Saturday night we went to a church service where this team had worked on the roof of the church last year. It was a good service with lots and lots of music. 

Concrete slab for church

Sunday we started back to Tegucigalpa.  On the way home we went off the beaten path and went up to see a pastor and his family.  They were so happy to see us.  This group had helped build his church as well back in 2009. This pastor has an adult daughter who works in the fields of a farm with a machete.  She has bad veins in her legs and about a week ago, one of those veins exploded and she almost died from the blood loss. The gaping hole by her ankle is grotesque and she is far from being ok. She must take injections due to all the blood loss. Just watching how she is living would tear your heart out. she has no shoes, other than flip flops, so she does not have any support at all. One of the women in  the group took off her own shoes and gave them to the woman.

The woman in the black shirt and white pants is the one with the vein problem.

So many things we can be truly thankful for that we take for granted everyday. 

Well, we FINALLY got back to Honduras.  Tom and I changed our flight from Wednesday to Sunday so we could start AND finish our new patio and sidewalk.  Anyone who said I was the driven one of the family can now say Tom is.  Well, at least on this particular project he was.  But, thanks to the help of a couple of our grandsons, son and friends, we got it done and it looks nice.

One of the changes that came with the United- Continental merger is now United does not serve ANYTHING (other than water and soft drinks) for free on international flights.So we got to the airport at 0415 and left Columbus for Houston at 0555.  We get to Houston and had a little over an hour to get something to eat. Boarded the second leg of the trip and got to Honduras on time.  Manuel was there to pick us up and he took us to his parents house to eat lunch and see Berenice's new baby girl, Paulette. Got a few things done for the next group coming in and cleaned our apartment. Out to the store to get some food for morning and we had dinner at CoCo Baleadas (oh how we missed those baleadas!!) and then home to crash.

6/11/12 - Time to get serious about getting ready for the team that comes on the 12th.  The Work and Witness house needed cleaned, and 2 other portents needed cleaned.  The grey van needed picked up from storage, groceries needed to be bought, laundry needed done, serious money needed to be withdrawn in cash from the bank, and we needed food for us to eat. Tom went to the bank and 3 hours later he came back with no cash.  The bank withdrew the money for him and then decided that he wasn't a signer on that particular account, so they had to put the money back into the account (one would think they would have checked that first, but….). Next, we went to get the van from storage.  The van wouldn't start. This is a Nissan Hiace, which is not sold in the states.  We couldn't find the battery.  It wasn't under the hood.  We looked everywhere.  Finally , one of the guys at the storage place said he thought it was under the front seat.  Another half hour was spent trying to figure out how to get the seat unhooked so it would rise up. Gosh, there is a LOT of stuff under that seat; the oil stick, the oil reserve, the transmission fluid thingy, the battery, etc. Huh, who would a thought?  But, no jumper cables. So we leave to go back to our house to get them. Then, back to the van.  Between the bank and the van, it pretty much killed the day and we were still not sure the battery in the van would last.  I still had all that cleaning to do AND go grocery shopping for the team. I saw the lady who lives across the street and asked her who cleans the church.  I asked her if she could get that woman to clean the 3 places for me because I had officially ran out of time.  She said she would ask.  Got the groceries at Pricesmart, which is like a Costco. Tom and I ate a hotdog there (no food in our place) and a group of Mormon missionary teenage boys sat down beside us.  They started asking us questions and we asked them questions and a couple of hours later, we leave Pricesmart after promising the boys I would have them over for dinner sometime in August.  After unpacking all the groceries and doing some work to prepare for the team coming we headed to a hardware store for needed plumbing parts because one of the apartments had a broken toilet seat and it was leaking. Well too late for that. The stores were closed by the time we got there. Another wasted trip and chore to put off till tomorrow.One of the toilets the team needs to use was out of commission. The day is shot and we still don't have any money (we kinda borrowed some from another account to buy what we did). Pizza Hut for dinner (we don't eat fast food at home!)

6/12/12 - The team arrives today. I get all the linens out and the house set up (the lady got it cleaned late the night before) with tables and chairs.  There are 22 of them. Tom and the District Superintendent go back to the bank to get the much needed money. While they are gone, I take the grey van (new to us) and go get fresh fruit at a local stand. While I was backing up to get out, I hit a truck with a low trailer (OBVIOUSLY didn't see it). The crash was deafening to me.  I get out of the van and go look at my busted tail light.  There were 4 Honduran men all standing there looking at it too. Boy did I feel like an idiot.  I asked them if the truck was ok; they said it was.  BUT, they were pointing out to me that my tail light and the large dent in the back door were not ok. Geeee, so GLAD they pointed that out to me. I get back to the house and cut up all that fruit I bought; probably sticking the very sharp knife a little too hard into that fruit….  Tom comes home and I tell him what I did.  His response was perfect.  He didn't laugh.  He didn't yell.  He just looked at me and said he was sorry. Now THAT is a great husband!!!! Off to the airport to get the team and Bob and Evelyn.  They came in on 3 different flights. Manuel takes all the luggage in the pick up and leaves the airport.  I get 12 people into the grey van and Tom gets everyone else into the red van. The grey van won't start. (sigh). No jumper cables.  They are in the pick up (since that was what we used to jump it the first time).  We went up to a few people to see if they had any cables; nope. no one carries those.  I called Manuel and asked him to come back and jump the van. He does. After we get everyone back to the work and witness house, Bob and Tom go to buy a new battery for the "new" van. Oh yeah, the red van's transmission was slipping, too.  But, after it got warmed up, it seemed to be fine.

Oh forgot to mention that two people on this team didn't make the flight in Ohio.  When the girl (she is 16) presented her passport to board the plane, they refused her because her passport was due to expire in July. So, she and her dad DROVE from Dayton to Detroit right then to get another passport.  The airlines called the passport office for them in order to get her an appointment. NOTE TO EVERYONE WHO TRAVELS ABROAD!!!! You are NOT permitted to fly if your passport is due to expire within 6 months of your departure date.

6/13/12 - we left for the mountains.  Everything went well. The plan was to get to the hotel, eat a quick lunch, then go to the work site to work half a day.  Well, it started raining right after lunch, so work was out.  That gave me this opportunity to bring everyone up to date on our travels so far.