A Visit off the Compound

I’m blogging early today so you’ll be able to read it before bed. We had a different start to our day for the missioners.

We ate ham & cheese quesadillas and fruit for breakfast. Many missioners seem to like those. Shortly after breakfast we climbed aboard our buses for a visit to Hogar don de Maria, which is a home run by St. Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity. Currently, they house 24 elderly and handicapped people in one area, and 17 children under the age of 5 in another area. They also have a few single mothers who stay for a brief period of time.

The section for the elderly and handicapped is similar to a nursing home. They were doing various types of physical therapy while we visited. Others were reading or just sitting.

The children were mostly allowed to play with us. There is a small playground area in the back of the center where our missioners played with the children who were outside. Inside, there was a room that looked like it included several sensory activities for the children. Some of our missioners stayed with those children, who seemed to need more help.

Sister explained to us that these children all come from homes of violence. Perhaps their parents were murdered or the child suffered physical abuse at the hands of their parents. They work with these children in order to let them experience a loving environment in the hopes they will get better. At the age of 5 the children are transferred to a different institution that, hopefully, will continue to educated them and help them to become as successful as possible under their difficult circumstances. It was a tough message for many of our students to hear, since many cannot understand those living conditions.

The center is run by the Sisters of Charity, who depend on monetary and product donations to keep their center running. Sister told us that it is often difficult, but that God will provide and always has. She told the student missioners that show knows that they are giving people, since they came here to actually help and not just promise help. She also said they are our hope for the future.

We made a quick trip to a hardware store to pick up the tin screws we were lacking to finish the roofs. Also, a couple missioners climbed out of the bus partway up the mountain climb to do a project at a school called Virgen de Suyapa Escuela. Professor Jessica had asked us to put up hooks so the students could hang their backpacks.

Lunch – stewed chicken, tortillas, rice, mixed vegetables, and fruit – was served shortly after our return. Since most missioners had a little nap right before lunch, we went right to work after eating.

As I am typing this blog, almost everyone is at the home sites. Since it’s around 85 degrees at this time, they are waiting until morning to put on the final roof. Today’s projects are electrical wiring and painting, painting, painting. With only 1.5 days to finish our projects, the crews are pushing hard to finish strong.

We have built 21 bunk beds and 5 picnic tables. The vertical gardens are complete except for planting. All gift bags are prepared to be delivered. Tomorrow morning the final groups will do deliveries, and the rest of the bags will be taken to the office for the parents to pick them up.

We plan to celebrate Mass at 6 this evening. It is St. Joseph the Worker day; it’s also Fathers’ Day in Honduras. Fr. Matt thought it would be a good day to celebrate Mass. We’ll have supper at 7 and junta shortly after that. I’m surprising the team with a Fathers’ Day/St. Joseph the Worker cake tonight to thank them for all they’ve done thus far.

We have busy days ahead. Please continue to pray for us so we have the strength to finish strong. These can be some of the toughest days because we become quite tired after so many days of heat and physical labor that we are not used to. We welcome all your messages of encouragement.

3-18 Missioner Blogs

This is Scott and Drew. We just wanted to say we are enjoying our time down here. It really is an experience like none other. Neither of us have gotten sick so that’s good. We both miss you and Buddy and Drew also miss Kaitlyn. Can’t wait to see you guys on Friday! Love and miss you. P.S. We also miss Deven, only a little though.

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This is Lori and Adam. We are both staying healthy and loving our time here. I have held so many beautiful little kids/babies, and they all have beautiful brown eyes.  Once in a while one of the babies is a Mama’s baby, and they just cry when any of us try to hold them. Today we went with a group to deliver the gift bags. Thank you all for donating items to support this process.  It was eye-opening to be inside the houses.  Love you Tom!!  See you Friday!!

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Hola mi familia, this is Lexi. Get used to me speaking half Spanish, half English because I can’t keep it straight while I’m here. I hope Jordyn is enjoying riding the bus. The mountains here are beautiful and all the little kids at the school love giving hugs. I made a new friend named Genesis (Spanish G’s have an ‘H’ sound. She drew me a picture, and we both have the same favorite color too. Lisa is giving me hugs for you mom, and Bruce is making sure I am drinking enough water and staying healthy. I can’t wait to see you all soon and tell you all about it. Much love, XOXO.

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Katie and John-

Hello everyone! We are making great progress on the houses. It has been a wonderful experience so far. Hope everyone back home is surviving without us. The ten days is going fast, and we will be home before you know it. Can’t wait to see you on Friday. Love you all <3 p="">

Meredith and Tom-

Hi everyone! This is mostly Meredith talking, as you might have figured. Things are good here; the houses are going up fast. Today Dad and I stayed at the school and worked on the vertical gardens. The food here is pretty good, but I am starting to miss American food. So far, I haven’t gotten any bad sunburns, but my freckles are getting darker on my arms. The kids here are all very cute, and it will be hard to say goodbye. The trip is going fast. Dad says hi. Miss you all, see you soon!

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Sage and Dan-

Hey Y’all, things here have been amazing here, and the experience that I am getting is awesome! The kids are so cute and it’s going to be hard to leave them. Mom-Thanks for writing on the blog and for keeping us updated. I’ve been feeling a lot better since I was sick on the second day. Dad and I miss you a lot and can’t wait to see you. Love you lots! Dad is also wondering if he is going to be able to go ice fishing when he gets back. Eli- I miss you so much and can’t wait to read the hundreds of messages you’ve sent me. I was so excited when you wrote on the blog, and I can’t wait to tell you all about my trip when I get back.  Jade-Can’t wait to see you when I get back. I’ve been hanging out with Lily a lot, and I’ll have to show you pictures when I get back. See you on Friday!

Missioner Blogs 3-19

To all those from Kuemper who are following us, I want you to know that I visited the houses you built in 2017. I spent some time with the two sisters and three of the children, a one-year old and the two that are nine. If you do the math, you didn’t meet the youngest one. It was a great day! Mary Hunt

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Hello everyone, it is Katelyn here. There is so much I want to share with you all. I can’t even begin to put into words the immense love that the Hondurans give. Julia, I have a good mental list of everything I wish I’d brought, and you should bring. I am going to print off a picture with a letter and mail it to you, so you can give it to the kids when you get here (I will explain over the phone when I get back). Thank you for your post. I am so excited for you to experience the amazing things I have seen and done. Melinda and I would like to know how the track meet went yesterday. We actually might be in better shape than we thought from all the rocky hills we have climbed. I have been close to rolling my ankle numerous times, but so far so good. Do you guys think we will have the CYO meet the first Wednesday when we are back? Alexa, I have stayed away from the dairy and so far have not gotten sick! The remainder of the senior class, I hope you aren’t too bored without us! We will be back very soon. To everyone I left in my house, I am starting to miss you guys a little more. I think it is because the houses we are building are starting to really look like homes. I absolutely cannot wait to tell you about everything. It is going to be very tough to say goodbye to all my new buddies here in Honduras. Love you all lots. See you soon, Katelyn Langel

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Paulsen & RWS family

All is going great here. The things we have seen and done are unreal. Hope you don’t have any problems making it to Omaha. Drew can’t wait to show you all the stuff he got from the shopping day. He also really wants to go to McDonald’s after we get to Omaha. He has his whole meal planned out on what he wants to eat this weekend. Anyways, all is on track on this end, and we will see you Friday. P.S. Drew wrote all of this and the last one, and he enjoys talking about himself in third person.

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Hello to Mrs. Lehman’s class & especially Paige. I’m glad you are reading the blog. We are working very hard here. In fact, we think we will get all of the work done before the end of the day tomorrow. On Thursday morning we are going to decorate our homes to make them extra special for the families. Then, we’ll have a special home blessing before giving the homes to each family. We can hardly wait. Since you like to hear about what we are eating, tonight we had grilled chicken, rice, refried beans, and fruit. We surprised the dads in our group with a Fathers’ Day cake because it was Fathers’ Day in Honduras. I’ll see you on Saturday, Paige! I love you LOTS! Have Marshall, Cayden, and Mya do a great big Bickford hug.  Love, Grandma Bickford