Excited To Work!

Our day began with a breakfast of pancake and fruit. I have to admit, the coffee was very welcome. I needed that jolt of Honduran coffee after yesterday’s LONG day, the chaos of unpacking and setting up, and sleeping on a strange mattress with lots of unfamiliar noises. From the morning comments, there were plenty who felt the same way.

Even though we had a few groggy people this morning, everyone was ready and willing to dig in and go to work. Step one was to load the wood needed onto the military transport truck. Along with the wood, we took two generators, most of the power tools, the miter saw – a very welcome addition from Mark VonArb, hammers, batteries, and all tools necessary to build the homes. A large group of missioners then set out on the walk up to our home sites.

By lunch time they had the frames for two houses done and more than two walls sided. We’ve also met the mothers of the homes we are building. The three women kept saying “Gracias a Dios” that they were receiving new homes. They clapped and smiled – you could see the gratitude in their eyes and smiles, and, of course, with their words.

House 1 will belong to Raquel. She has a husband and 5 children. The children’s ages range from 12 – 21. Raquel works as a cleaning lady to help support her family. Her husband also works. They actually have a child in college, so education is important for them.

House 2 is for Roxana. Roxana sells candy outside the bus station to make a living. She is a single mother of 5 children, ranging in age from 4 – 20.

House 3 will be occupied by Belkis and her five boys. They range in age from 1 – 15. Belkis makes tortillas to support her family.

Back at the compound, two different crews were working. Tom Kellen headed a crew, working on vertical gardens. They tore apart the pallets from Then Feed Just One, and put them together into the shape of a cube. Tomorrow the agricultural branch of the military will bring fertilized soil and seedlings; together we’ll use 2-liter pop bottles that are cut in half to plant the seeds and seedlings. They’ll also be shown how to water the plants so they’ll be harvesting their first crop in a couple weeks.

The final work crew at the compound continued working in the library, where they finished sorting all the supplies carried in our black duffles. Linda then had them create the gift bags for certain special people who work with us here. Right now they are in the process of making gift bags for various families, which we’ll start delivering tomorrow.

We ate a delicious lunch of chicken and rice with small carrots and bits of corn, tortillas, watermelon, cantaloupe, and bananas. We had a mandatory siesta for 20 minutes to keep everyone out of the sun, I read some blog comments (keep those coming), and now everyone is out working on the various jobs. We try to be sure everyone gets to the house sites so they can all experience that. Hopefully, we’ll also get everyone to work on gift bags and the vertical gardens.

We are celebrating our first Mass at 4:30 (5:30 for you). We’ll pray that it stops raining there so you get relief from the flooding. I see we’re having shredded beef tacos for supper, always a group favorite. I’m hoping that the missioners can have a little “down” time tonight so they don’t get overwhelmed by this experience and truly can let it wash over them, absorbing it all.

Tomorrow we plan to continue working on the homes, plant the gardens, and begin our home deliveries of the gift bags. It’s an eye-opener for our students to see the conditions under which these children live and what they have to go through to get to school for a basic education. If at all possible, I’ll try to get the blogs up before late at night. Since I’m limited by my arm, I most likely will not be doing much work on our projects, and that gives me time for the blog.

Until Friday!