Yesterday afternoon the groups continued to work on their homes. Much was accomplished. Of course, the competition was noticeable among the teams during supper and junta. Everyone thinks their team will finish first. But need I remind everyone, the first home done isn’t necessarily the winner. On Monday each team must do something special in their homes to give their home “character.” The points for characterization could tip the scale and even out the team with the most points for finishing first.

After supper we had a mass for Beau. It was for our team only and was a great way for us to come together as one team, and not various teams in competition. We also had our little junta to discuss which person on their team most portrayed Paul in his/her work ethic.

This morning started with a breakfast of French toast, fruit, and fried bananas for those who wished to try them. The military truck arrived at the same time we finished breakfast, so while they ate, the team loaded the roof tin, which arrived yesterday afternoon.

All houses will have their wood completed today and their roofs on. Jeremy’s house stopped their timer first. That meant all construction that involved wood was completed. At that time Bruce moved Jeremy to Mike and Doug’s house to help there. In the meantime other crew members painted the house inside and out, also completing that by lunch. That means the doors and windows are in, also. All that remains is to install the wiring.

This afternoon Bruce has a crew of 3 working on the wiring for Jeremy’s house, while all missioners not working on construction for houses 1 and 2 are painting. Houses 3 and 4 expect to be built this afternoon and have some painting done also. They also hope to build a few bunk beds this afternoon, depending upon how everything goes. If the painting crew at house 3 gets done, then they will all converge on house 1 or 2 and begin painting there. Believe me, things are moving rapidly.

I stayed back this afternoon to blog. If you have been following our journey, we are hoping on a few messages from home. From last night’s comments I could tell that everyone has already been greatly impacted by their mission trip. Jeff told us that the man in the house where he is working started to cry when he saw all the walls go into place. Then he stated that unless it rained, he planned to sleep in his new home that night. We all hope he did not because the temperature dipped down to 57 degrees (who knew in Honduras) and we had rain off and on all afternoon and into the evening.

If time permits, I will update you on the afternoon progress later tonight. Stay tuned for further developments!

Much celebration late this afternoon! Two homes are totally complete - construction, painting, wiring, doors, windows, hardware, etc. If we have time after Valley of the Angels tomorrow, we may possibly paint at one of the two homes that are built but not painted or wired.

Before we ate supper, a group of missioners tackled the bunk beds. Jeremy made a template bunk, and the guys made 4 bunk beds in less than 1 1/2 hours. It was very impressive. Now each family will receive a bunk bed, a surprise for their new home. We will also place a stove and gifts from the donated items inside their homes. When they enter their homes after the house blessing ceremony, the family will be surprised with the gifts that are inside.

Tomorrow we'll travel to El Guante to celebrate mass at San Rafael Church. It's the church that Paul, some of his siblings, and others from Le Mars laid tile in during their first mission trip. From their we'll travel to Valle de Angeles, where we will turn into tourists for a few hours. If time permits after our return home, we may do a project or two.