Me Encanta Honduras!

It is time for our final blog.  Today has been a day of mixed emotions for all.  We had a beautiful walk to the worksite this morning for the house blessings and give away.  Our home recipients were all overjoyed and emotional as they walked into their homes for the first time and seen all the work the missioners put into each and every detail. From the beds, to the hand built tables and benches, to the counters full of groceries, every house recipient looked at everything and expressed their gratitude what seemed like 100 times. One house even gave a speech that left no dry eye in sight. 

The team then returned to the school to enjoy time with the kids either playing or getting to hand out items like home-made skirts for the girls, rubber band bracelets, and t-shirt jump ropes. Adults then worked on inventory and getting all the rest wrapped up to let the students have more time soaking it all in.

We closed out with the best junta yet. It was open, caring and supportive. We had the opportunity to share a message sent years ago to a mission team on their last night.  The message from Mr. Dick Seivert hit the nail on the head.  All soaked in the words that summed up our experience and feelings so perfectly. 

Father led us in a commission where we prayed over and for each other.  It was a beautiful way to wrap this experience. 

We thank you all one more time for your thoughts and prayers, we felt them through this experience. 

Theresa and I would also like to express our gratitude for this exceptional group of missioners, they have reinforced to us the reason why we took over this program. We hope to see them all on a future trip!

Stuart Little

Well, here we were all prepared to start the blog with another awesome day, and we took a slight detour.  As Theresa and I are preparing to write this blog, Stuart Little, our new roommate mouse, ran across our bedroom. Hence the delay, all the women are currently moving bedrooms.  Pigeons last year were one thing, a mouse is quite another!

We did have a great day, as every day with this awesome crew has been!  We spent the morning wiring, roofing, and beginning the task of house decorating.  The students break up into 3 groups and strategize how to personalize the homes.  They did a great job!  They were probably one of the most competitive groups we have seen!  All in good fun, we will pull together tomorrow as one team to finalize this beautiful mission we are completing together. 

We celebrated mass tonight and spent a great junta giving shout outs to our teammates that have made impressions on us. 

We ended the evening with cake and a piñata for Nancy's birthday. 

Emotions are high, we know we are preparing to leave this beautiful country and its people.  This place imprints on a missioners heart, we look forward to sharing our stories with you! Thank you all for your support of this group and their decision to make a lasting difference for the people here in Nueva Capital. 

PS - from all the comments of the cold and upcoming snow, we would appreciate some winter jackets being brought to the airport!

 From Carolyn: Hello all you Bickford's.  I am having a great time here, it is a super group.    I have really enjoyed being able to do some of the hard work for a change. I look forward to seeing you this weekend!  Oh yeah. you too, Mary.  Mom/Grandma Bickford

Father's Day

 

Hello, I am tonight’s “Guest Blogger”!  I am uncertain if this is an honor or if I drew the short straw! My name is John Smith and in a previous lifetime (1984-1986), I served as K-8 Principal at Gehlen. I am also an Accidental Missioner, as while attending a presentation which Mrs. Bickford and Dick Sievert were doing for Fr. John McGuirk at my parish in Wall Lake,  I told Mrs. Bickford that if she ever got desparate for a chaperone to give me a call.  The rest is history as this is my 4^th trip to Honduras trying to keep her in line!

Today in order to beat the heat we had an early rising day.  We were up at 5:00, had breakfast at 5:30, loaded the truck by 6:00 and were headed to the job site!  Despite the early hour, the kids hit the ground running as there was much painting to be done, both inside and outside the homes. We wandered back to the school earlier than usual and following lunch, took a small siesta. We headed back to the job site to finish up.  An overcast sky and light winds cancelled out today’s heat, so we may have worked later today than normal. 

Tomorrow looks like the day will be spent roofing and wiring the homes.  In addition to this, the kids have been divided into teams to decorate the homes. I’m anxious to see how creative these kids can be.

 Besides the painting today, small teams of missioners made home visits to 27 families delivering goodie bags of items collected to families. These bags were the 80+ black bags that we took to Honduras from collections made by the students from the Gehlen Catholic Mission Honduras area.

It has been a treat to be with this Mission Group.  Parents and families of these young missioners should be proud of the impact they are making in Honduras and in their own lives!!

Tonight we celebrated a Honduran Father's Day on this feast of St Joseph.  Happy Father's Day all!