Work Begins in Earnest

I think Juan is enjoying his job of being the “Time Leader” way too much. This morning began with his “wake-up” music through a megaphone. I can’t believe he packed a megaphone, but I do believe he’s doing a great job. We are also called to meals with music – most of the time with the music played to start a horse race. When Juan has a job to do, he makes sure that he does it well! Thus, Susan, Jordan got to enjoy reveille to wake up this morning. Maybe Juan will turn him into a morning person.

We let everyone sleep in until 6:30 a.m. Breakfast of scrambled eggs, ham, and beans was served at 6:45. Since the house wood had not yet been delivered by the time we finished eating breakfast, everyone went to work on our other projects. Bunk beds and picnic tables began to form in short order. Several missioners emptied the donated materials from the black duffles. And, Joe and Tom undertook our new project alongside the agricultural military representatives – vertical gardens. It was fun to watch them brainstorm ideas and then actually put all of them to use.

In between all of that, students played with the children, tried conversing in Spanish, were reminded to stay hydrated, and noticed all the things around them. The delivery truck showed up with the wood for our three houses. That wood had to be stacked to avoid any warping. (Bruce, if  you’re reading the blog, we want you to know that this is the wettest wood we have ever received.) We think they brushed on the green treatment stuff right before loading it into the truck!

I hope the photos I’m including today will give you an idea of all the projects that took place solely on the school grounds. At 5:30 we all came together for Mass, our first of this mission trip. It was impromptu and come-as-you-are, which Fr. Matt said is basically how we are doing everything here.

I’ve heard several comments of how delicious the food is. Lunch was tortillas with beef and rice. Supper was Linda’s favorite – enchiladas. We’ve been having watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, and bananas throughout our meals. Someone told me that Lucas is eating meals, but I think he is also eating plenty of peanut butter.

We had our junta outdoors tonight. It was a little cool, and the lights kept turning off. From what I’m hearing, I think our mission trip is off to a good start.

Tomorrow we are getting up thirty minutes earlier so we can begin making the families’ gift bags and framing up the houses. We’ll make sure everyone stays hydrated as we work in the sun tomorrow. Hope you’re enjoying the blog. We are definitely enjoying your comments, which are read at the end of junta each night. Thanks, all!

Sorting materials

Working on the vertical garden

Setting plants and drip irrigation in place

Stacked up bunk bed parts

Close look at the vertical garden

Carrying pallets into place

Getting everything even and solid before planting

Putting in the plastic bottles

Taking a break in the shade

Pat teaches the girls how to set up the bunk beds

Working on beds

Building picnic tables

Garden work

Honduran children also like to help

Empty concrete pads, awaiting our houses

Carlyn and Matyas practice for Mass. Erin enjoys the music.

Bunk bed work crews

Visiting a classroom

Unloading wood for houses

Unloading house wood

Daniel checks out the garden site

You can never have too many helpers

Making sure the wood is cut to the correct size

Using pallets and empty pop bottles to make a garden

Using a past picnic table to cut wood for a new one

Sorting donated materials

Joe gives directions for cutting the bottles

After pallets are rebuilt to hold bottles for the garden

The agricultural military agree on the garden spot

The guys await their next instructions