Day 5

This morning got off to an interesting start - we had our Covid tests. The clinician actually came to the hotel, which made it lots easier for us. Some of us were a little worried, but we did not need to be. All tests came back negative, so we'll all be returning on time.

Upon our arrival at Santa Teresa de Jesus school, we went right to work to finish what Bruce called our bunk bed kits. We made the tops and bottoms of the bunks, stacking them together along the wall. In the bottom bunk section we laid the 4 legs and then the ladder sides and rungs. The bolts must be left locked inside the principal's office so the students don't take them as toys. Bruce trained Ruben, one of our house receivers, as to the process of assembling the beds. Hopefully, Ruben will be there to help every family that receives a bunk bed this year.

We met members of all four of our families this afternoon. We presented them with gift bags full of donated materials. In the photos below you can see each family member receiving their donated gift bag. They will receive more items after their homes are completed. Each family will then receive a chair, broom, dustpan, plates, cups, silverware, wall clock, a tortilla maker, and other household items that we either carried with us or purchased here. These items will be presented to the family members on the day they receive their house keys.

We did travel back to the house sites to see if anyone was repairing the concrete floors, but no one was there, again. That has been very frustrating because we know that the four houses would have been totally built by our team had we all been able to be here.

The military returned late in the afternoon to retrieve the tools we were using. They took them to our secure storage area so they'll be ready for next year, when we'll again be able to bring a full team.

There was no school today; thus, we saw only a couple children in the morning. John had brought a few shirts with him, and we carried some of the bracelets many of you make for us, as well as some that said I love my school. Once we started handing those items out, children magically appeared until our items ran out.

Tomorrow we'll take a little tourist day to explore a different side of Honduras. The five of us have enjoyed our time together in Honduras, but we've realized that this is nothing like a real mission trip. We've missed the craziness of hundreds of students all around us as we built the beds. We didn't here children chattering throughout the school buildings, which were pretty much empty this week. We definitely felt the lack of hugs, especially those mob hugs from children swarming through the school gates twice a day. We truly pray for an end to the pandemic so we can once again truly share in the lives of the Hondurans.