Bags and Buildings

Our first morning of work began after a breakfast of eggs, ham, tortillas (we get those a lot!), and fruit. Some missioners loaded the wood on the military truck, while others prepared for gift bag building. Once the wood was loaded and the military personnel had eaten their breakfast, we made the slow upward drive to the three house pads.

No time was wasted at the house sites. Immediately the men pulled out tape measures to check if we had any square pads and made adjustments according to the measurement of each one. I do believe that one of the concrete pads was exactly 20’ x 20’. The other two were variations of that measurement!

The guys unloaded all the wood and supplies from the military truck and a flurry of activities ensued. Some cut wood, others measured wood, still others began marking the concrete and bolting the wood base to the concrete. Before long the frames of all three homes were in place. They even had time to play with a couple of the children who love to be with them no matter where they are.

Meanwhile, Linda had the other missioners in the school library putting together the gift bags. She obtained a list of families from Prof. Jessica, the principal of the school, and the missioners chose the supplies they felt those families would most need. Tomorrow we will begin delivering those supplies to the homes. One child from the family will lead us to their home, where we’ll present the gift bag to them. The missioners will have a great time acting like “Santa Claus,” although most of us wouldn’t be as thankful for bars of soap, shampoo, lotion, and other household items. The families will also receive clothes, shoes, and toys.

Kevin presented the statue of Mary that Jerry Traufler carved to Prof. Jessica. I saw tears of joy when Pro. Jessica saw the beautiful statue, which she plans to put in place in the new school being built in this area. The new school is named Santa Maria, so it’s a perfect statue for them. The first thing Prof. Jessica wanted to do was take a group photo with the statue and the first children who will be attending that school.

As you can see, we’ve accomplished much in our first half day. As I type this, all the other missioners are at the house sites, nailing on the siding. Bruce claims that one of the houses will be totally sided by the time they return to the compound later this afternoon. I plan to check on them soon. Marta and I are going to have all the missioners walk down the “block” to a small pulperia so they can enjoy a Coke in a bag and a small bag of chips. Even though it’s not very hot, it’ll be a fun treat for them today. Thanks for all the comments. We hope you’ll keep them coming! Until tomorrow …..

Fr. Jim Sichko and Carolyn pose for a selfie on the plane while he hold Pope Francis' skull cap. He is taking the Mission Honduras LeMars newsletter to Pope Francis to show him what our groups are doing.

After lunch siesta

Doing chores

Jeremy Sitzmann issued a challenge to Bruce and the other missioners. In case you did not read his comment on the blog, he challenged Bruce to do 20 push-ups in each house, and the rest of the missioners were to join him for 10 of them. He will pay $60 for each day they complete the challenge. I did do a video of today's push-ups; however, it is taking one of them more than 10 minutes to upload. Thus, Jeremy may have to accept that I have taken an oath of truth. I did witness Bruce doing 20 push-ups per house. All missioners did at least 10 or more with him. If you don't see the video here, it's because our internet "chip" cannot handle so much memory. By the way, Bruce did admit that he has not done push-ups for many years, so it's not an easy challenge!