The Day Is Done

We  completed our digging project for the day.  We were served a fantastic lunch of fried chicken, rice, tortillas and fresh tomatos and salad.  It was delicious! You'd be proud to see how your children ate light and then shared what was left with the villagers.  The ride home was a little quieter than on the way up.  Everyone enjoyed a refreshing cold shower followed by a much needed siesta.  Then we dove into the bags filled with all the wonderful donated items to be given to those here who are in need.  As the saying goes, many hands make light work.  We had everything sorted in about an hour.   Before dinner Fr. Jim celebrated Mass for us and the support team. Today's Gospel of the Road to Emmaus took on special meaning for us as walked the road in El Pichaco alongside our new friends.
We look forward to tomorrow as the project continues.
 Mary, Barb and Karrie

Hey everyone back home! I miss you all! J It is so amazing here! The plane ride here was so scary (mom you would have freaked). We drove way up into the mountains today on gravel and in a bus and mind you there were no guard rails haha I put my life in the hands of our bus driver Carlos. Mom and Dad I am proud to say now that I am not the worse driver in the world. Come to Honduras and you would be bagging to have me back haha! Well got to cut this short but I love you all and will see you soon! P.s. Ice cream has never sounded better! –Rylee H.

Hola everybody! First day of work finished, and already too many stories to tell in one night. All of the people are so welcoming to all of us, making us food, and guiding us through our work. Even though feels like it’s 100 degrees out, we have been lucky with rain at night and shade while working during the day. Being in Spanish 3 is very helpful here, being able to translate and speak some sentences to the kids, but not every phrase or vocab word can be caught by us Spanish kids, leaving us a little clueless sometimes! Mom and Jen I miss you guys like crazy (especially Jen’s random weirdness) and Dad and I can’t wait to see you guys next week, even though today I feel like I could be stuck here for weeks and be excited! Haha tell Grandma I am thinking about her as her surgery comes up on Tuesday and that she is in my thoughts and prayers each day. Lots of Love J -Catherine G.

Hello everyone! Hope all is well back at home. I miss everyone more than you can imagine! Especially my family.. Sky, JP, Jed, Nan, Grandma and Grandpa Schock, and Grandma and Grandpa Sullivan: Hope you guys are doing well and I want you to know I miss and love you guys a lot!! Don’t think I forgot about the 2 most important people in my life.. mom and dad, I miss you guys so much and I wish you could be here with me. I’m thinking about you every second! The work is pretty hard, but today the weather was incredible and there was a lot of shade. It’s so hard communicating with the people, but I think they’ve somewhat accepted me as their own so they are very welcoming. The vegetation is so amazing here! It looks like a movie and I love everything about it. The only thing really sore is my hands. Holding the pick axe is some pretty tough work.. worse then picking weeds(don’t get any ideas) haha. Well, I got to go.. I’m trying to win in cards! Haha Love all you and miss you tons!! –Jake Sully

This first blog post will have to be my shout out blog post due to the amount of people that I promised shout outs to. Here it goes....I would like to give a shout out to the Miller family first and foremost. Miss you guys a ton! This country is hard to get used to, and so far it has been a difficult adjustment but I will be just fine. MOM STOP WORRYING. Second shout out goes to Rocky and Gary, I have not met Juan yet so I don’t think that I will fall and love and stay here. Although I did meet a man, Marcello or something like that, he did serenade a number of us girls with his Enrique Iglasias songs, which I enjoyed! My last shout out will go to Coach Shaw, I didn’t forget about you! I am pretty dang sure that you would love it here! I hope the kids at school don’t drive you insane, I will be back before you know it to get things under control. Well my turns are being skipped in this new card game called Pitch, which Mr. Dobesh pretty much has to play for me. This is all for now! Love you guys! Hope to blog again soon! J -Jordan Miller

Hey Family!  This is Dani!  Today was day one working in the village in Picacho!  We woke up at 5:30 AM and got to work by 8.  We worked until 12, and after that, some of the village people made us lunch of the BEST fried chicken, rice, tomatoes, and Sprite.  I got sunburned on my arm and neck today which came as no surprise since I sprayed the sunscreen with no direction and am the most pasty one here.  It has been pretty humid here, but not as hot as I expected it to be.  Today at work we shoveled deep trenches where they will place the waterline.  Working with the Honduras people was challenging and frustrating at first because of the language barrier, but after one of the workers started singing Enrique Inglasias, it was all good from there.  Everyone here is extremely friendly and will stop whatever they’re doing, and they will smile and wave even to our bus.  Tonight we also went down to the playground where about 8 kids followed us.  We gave them our flashlights and they didn’t want to give them back.  The people here are so extremely hard working and happy.  The joy is definitely contagious!  Just wanted to let you know that I am doing fine and everything is going great!  I miss you guys a lot and I can’t wait to see you!  FYI…my camera died this morning, but Tessa and Mrs. Casey are taking lots of pictures, so no worries J  Love and miss you all LOTS!!

Hey everybody!! Dom here and I have to say flying is the coolest thing ever!! Seeing the ocean from the plan was also pretty cool, at some points it looked like we were upside down looking up into the sky instead of down into the ocean. I slept like a baby last night, which was kinda odd because I couldn’t sleep at all the first night. I have learned to love the bus, it is the only A/C that we have! We worked today, and I got to talk a little to a guy named Piro, and he was so cool! We also went down and played on the play grounds with the kids. As we walked down it was so cool because one step out of the gate I was greeted by a little boy and he carried asked me to carry him to the play ground. While on the play ground we played soccer with some of the boys, and one of the smaller boys got up on my shoulders. This made my trip so far!! When we had to go he would not get off, the girls literally had to pry him off.  Well I better get back to our game of Pitch, Jay needs my help. Blog Later!!!

Hey everyone! This is Mom and Caitlin. We had a great first day of work today. It’s a lot like last year, Dad… hard work, lots of pick axing hard rock, delicious food, short (but refreshing) showers, adorable kids, and lots more. Mairin, you would love being outdoors playing with the kids here. Declan, there was a little boy named Emerson who reminded us of you. Moira and Ciara, hope track is going well- tell Scott we’re getting a workout digging in the mountains! Aislinn, hope all is well with you too. Liam, got to see Elbie (the little blind boy from Esquias) and he rode on Caitlin’s shoulders at the park.  Brendan and Dad, hope you’re holding down the fort okay. How is the Ramen Noodle supply? We have so much to share with you already. Know that you are in our thoughts and prayers and we love you so much!!!

Hola mi familia! It’s Jordan S. here and I definitely got a lot of Spanish practice in today! Our first day of work went really well. We got up at 5:30 (Yawn!) and had breakfast before we got on the bus. We went to Picacho and started our work for the water project. We were digging a trench for the pipeline to be laid in all morning. It was very humorous to see the STM kids and adults struggling to communicate to the villagers, none of which spoke any English. We all learned some new Spanish words as well as how to gesture to what we mean. We finished our work day with a delicious lunch of rice, fresh tomatoes, and fried chicken! Yum, yum! We spent the second half of the day sorting all of the donations that we brought down. Everyone is definitely glad to be done lugging those heavy black bags everywhere! We got to go to the park in Esquias, where we are staying in the compound, and meet a few of the local kids. We are looking forward to another day of work tomorrow, so wish us luck and keep us in your prayers. I love and miss you, mom, dad, and Cassidy! Hope you are all doing well!!! J

Hola padre, madre, y hermanitos! Hola amigos y amigas y Landon! I guess I am one of the last ones tonight to get to blog, but my memories are growing with my time here…and it’s only been a day.   The days are long, but yet go so fast.  One minute I was pulling a sheet on because I was cold, then we were working, and then we were playing games and eating supper.  I can’t wait to show you all my “Junta” bracelet.  It’s when we all gather and tell about the significance of a bead that we choose to represent our day.  (the beads go on a bracelet).  For example, Jake today chose a red one because he saw two red snakes which was one of his worst fears!  I really like that part.  Well the work is hard here, but the people make up for it.  I bet we can blog again soon! I love you and miss you family! Elizabeth   P.S.  How are my fish?:)