July 23rd-Day 45
Saturday morning we were up at the usual time for breakfast, 7-8, and then we loaded the rest of the food we had bagged up onto the bus for the last food distribution in Mololoa. We hiked pretty far up the mountain, farther up than I've ever been to hand out the food to people who haven't received any food from TORCH this year. A lot of groups hit the houses lower on the mountain so it was our job to make it to the houses on the top. I'd say it took about an hour and a half to give them all out and we were finished with that but the fun was just beginning. The daycare in Mololoa was having Family Day where the families of all the kids and the families of the workers came to have lunch and see skits by the kids. Sean also had a Bible study with the ladies at the daycare. The skits by the kids were great. Seeing 3, 4 and 5 year olds act out a skit is tons of fun to watch. The most memorable one had to be Cinderella. They acted out the entire story and even had costumes to dress up in. They also all sung songs to us in spanish but they had also sang a few in english. After that we had lunch and then the youth of Mololoa had planned to play a soccer game against us gringos but the soccer field was being used for a league match so we didn't get to do that. Sean had his Bible study with the ladies that were there and we all had a great time. We then loaded up after family day was over and headed back to the mission house. Honestly, I have the feeling that we did do something else before heading to the mission house but I can't for the life of me remember.
July 24th-Day 46
Sunday we worshipped with the church in Mololoa. We got there about 9:30 and started service at like 10. Dr. Aguillera preached and proved once again why he's so awesome. After church we went out to the Valley of Angels again for a last chance souvenir shopping day. I ate at the jalapeno restaurant with Sean and Nathan. The shish-kabobs are just incredible there. We then walked around for a little bit and peaked inside a few shops knowing we really weren't going to get anything. We then left the Valley at 4ish and went back to the mission house were we ordered pizza and had a pretty relaxed evening. Mark and Lori Connell came up to the mission house to say bye to everyone since it was the last night for the group. We then had devo and sat around talking until it was time for bed. Sunday was a pretty calm day to just chill.
July 25th-Day 47
Monday we had to be leaving the mission house by 9:30 to get the Palmetto group to the airport so that they could get checked in and be on their flight at 1. Things at the airport went fairly smooth, much smoother than I've seen on past trips. A few of us had lunch upstairs while most of the group went on ahead through the checkpoints to go sit at the terminal. We then finished lunch and said bye to those that were left and they went on through to head to the gate and wait on their flight. Most of these guys I'll see once I get home but a few I won't like Erin, Jenna, Francisco and the Aguilera's. So I know that they all made it safely to the airport and hopefully they all made it safely back home. Tasha, Kate, Kaylee and I then left with Jenn Salgado. Tasha, Kate and Kaylee will be staying here another 2 weeks to teach english classes to people in Mololoa. They are going to have a 3 hour class each day at the church. I needed a place to stay for the night and Jenn was more than willing to let me stay with her. So we ran around with her for the rest of the day. We went and bought food and supplies for the feeding center and daycare. We then went up to Santa Ana to pick up Josue and then to Ojojona to pick up a couple of bunk beds. I packed the beds onto the truck and thought that it looked pretty good, the truck was loaded down....at least to gringo standards. Josue then comes out with another set of bunk beds and another mattress and we just had to pile them on top. So he taught this gringo how to pack a truck Honduran style. I bet the beds stood up 6 feet above the truck. We actually hit a set of power lines with the post of the beds on the way out of Ojojona. It was pretty crazy looking. Even Jenn thought it was a crazy. The good news is that we weren't electrocuted from the power lines thankfully, I would not have liked that again and we made it back to the house safely with all the pieces. We then put the beds together and started to go to sleep until Tasha decided she wanted to talk....all night. But it was all fun and I eventually got a few hours of sleep before getting up this morning.
July 26th-Day 48
We were up at 8 this morning and were leaving Jenn's house by 8:40. I had to be at the bus station by 10 to get a ticket to San Pedro. We sat in traffic for literally 30 minutes just outside of Jenn's house in Nueve Oriental where they are doing road work. The good news is that I got a bus ticket. Had to say goodbye to the girls, 2 of them I might not see again which is always sad. I'm sitting here at the bus station now waiting for my bus to leave at 12:30. It is supposed to be a 4 hour ride but we'll see how that goes.
Ok so it was actually very close to a 4 hour ride. I made it here to San Pedro Sula at about 5:30 and took a taxi to the airport. The taxi was fun. We had a stand-off with another car for about 5 minutes, which we won. Then as we were coming up to the exit ramp, a full circle exit ramp, we were flying. I thought he would slow down to make the turn but that wouldn't be any fun. The tires barked the entire way around the corner and it was great. So I've just been chilling here in the airport for the last few hours waiting for my plane to take me away at 1 so only a few more hours to go.
July 27th-Day 49
While I've got the time I'm going to guesstimate what is going to happen tomorrow. I'm leaving here at 1 a.m and should be landing in Ft. Lauderdale at 5:35 and then leaving there at 7 to go to Atlanta. I should land in Atlanta about 9:50 and my Dad is supposed to be there to pick me up. A 3-4 hour ride and I should be home by 3 tomorrow afternoon. So that is the plan for tomorrow and hopefully that won't change.
This trip has been incredible. Starting in Costa Rica, moving on to Nicaragua and ending the trip here in Honduras has been much more than I ever imagined it would be. I've met so many incredible people along the way from the states as well as from the countries we've been to. I've gotten to see the look of relief on the faces of mothers as they are given food when they didn't have any in their kitchen. I've gotten to see the tears of joy when we have built houses for families who had no place to call their home. I've been able to see the smiling faces of kids in many places because of the joy that a simple VBS can bring them. I've seen the worn out faces of gringos when they are completely worn out from serving the people in these amazing places. In a place where there is sooo much poverty, injustice, hunger, homelessness, and corruption, the Torch mission teams were able to show the love of Christ to thousands of people. Our hope is that through all the efforts this summer, that the people we have served will come to know Christ. I know not all of them will but if even one of them gives their life over to Christ then we have done an extraodinary thing this summer.
One last story to explain the blog title. The first Sunday that the Palmetto group was here, we went to the mall for lunch after Church service. My brother, Sean and I decided to skip the food court and take a risk. We found this little corndog vendor outside of the food court and my brother was like jackpot. So he bought one and took a bite and said it was the best corndog he'd ever had. Then Sean bought one and said the same thing. I won't lie, it took me a minute to get up the courage to get one since I didn't want to get sick from it but I did and I must say it was the best corndog I think I've ever had. So from that point on we started comparing everything to the corndog. On a scale of 1-10, the corndog was an 11. So if it was a corndog day then it was a good day, a corndog decision meant it was a great decision. This summer has absolutely been a corndog summer. It was a trip I was a little worried about at the beginning and as it neared I started getting more and more nervous but once I took that first bite I realized it was one of the greatest decisions I've made. I'd like to thank everyone that I was able to work with for making these last 7 weeks such a blast. It seems like just yesterday we were getting off the plane in Costa Rica and now it's all over with but what a ride it's been. But for everything we were able to do we give God the glory. God kept us all safe this summer, He provided us great places to go serve, He opened doors to new places, and most of all He showed us through His son what love is all about so that we can go out and show that love to those in need. I hope yall have enjoyed reading these posts and if there are any of you that haven't been to Honduras before, I hope these things you've read have stirred up a desire in you to come and experience this for yourselves and serve God and the people of Honduras in a way you'll never forget. From the San Pedro Sula airport and for the last time this summer, Peace Out!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
I just lost...
July 20th-Day 42
Wednesday we built a house out at the Valley of Angels, sort of. It was on a mountain above the valley, up in the clouds, and we could look off the mountain and see the entire valley out in front of us. It was pretty incredible. The family that we built for lived in a mud hut. The parents were old, in their 80's, and the dad only had one leg and was in a wheelchair and the mom was blind and they had 7 grown kids living with them in their house. They desperately needed a house. The view was incredible out in front of the house. The build went incredibly well. We were finished by 1 and went to eat lunch in the Valley. We had these awesome beef shish-kabobs, beans, plantains...It was incredible. We then went back to the mission house and just hung out there until devo. We went to the Jesus statue for devo which is always pretty cool and then back to the mission house for a game of spades and bed.
July 21st-Day 43
Yesterday the group I was with went to the dump. We started out by going to the supermarket and getting 25 loaves of bread, 200 banana's and 200 pieces of bologna. We then made the sandwiches on the bus as we went around to get water at the service stations. Usually it takes a few stops at the stations to get enough bagged water but we stopped at one place and they had more than enough water for us to buy. So we bought it and headed to the dump. Most of the people on the bus, roughly 15 of the 25, had not been to the dump before. We rolled up and we had bags of food on the back of the bus for a food distribution so we had to give off the sandwiches from the front door of the bus and boy did that cause a problem. They rushed to the door and it got pretty chaotic pretty fast. Only Troy, Jenna, Josue, Bryan Lopez, Pedro and I got off of the bus and everyone else stayed on. We tried our best to distribute the food as best we could but I'm sure there were people who got more than one of everything. We were in and out pretty quick and didn't have a chance to mingle with the people. Some of the guys that were sitting in a truck started throwing eggs at the bus and then started throwing them at the 6 of us who were off the bus. The hit Troy in the leg and Bryan in the jaw and the rest of us had egg on our hands and arms and clothes. I've been to the dump where we were able to hang out with the people for a while but that was just not going to happen yesterday. It was the craziest I've ever seen it there. So we left there and went to Cataluna for a food distribution. Most of the community is pretty ok to deliver food too. The hills aren't too steep and the houses are easy to get to, that is until you go to the back of the community to the little mountain I'd like to call "makesmewanttodie". It is a fairly incredible slope we had to climb to get food to the top houses. To climb it empty handed is impressive enough but we had to carry a few 30 pound bags of food with us which made it rather difficult. Knowing that someone was going to get food who didn't currently have food made it all worth it though. We gave out about 300 bags of food and by the end of the day we were all pretty tired and worn out from climbing makesmewanttodie. We then came back to the mission house and had dinner and devo for the last time with the group from Mayesville.
July 22nd-Day 44
Today we had to say goodbye to many more friends that we've made from the Mayesville CoC. They flew out at 1 a.m along with Aaron to go back to the states. Over this trip I've been able to work with tons of amazing people and the Mayesville group was packed full of incredible people just as the other Honduras teams, Costa Rica team and Intern team was. We've made great friends and hopefully these new friendships will not end just because we are going back home. When we said goodbye to them, we loaded up the bus and headed to Mololoa for our last house build of the trip in memory of Mr. Paul Simpson. The house site was ridiculous. I know it may sound like I'm complaining a lot about the hills we have been climbing but I'm really not, just trying to relay how incredibly steep they are. We had a few people that wanted to build end up going to the daycare to work because the path down to the house site was too steep for them and since the site wasn't far from the daycare, it made sense for them to go there. The build went great though. We built an 11x16 house because that's all we could fit between the rock wall and the cliff. We were done with this one by 1:30 and when we finished we went to Campero's pollo for lunch which is always great. After that we came back up to the mission house and threw a little frisbee and kicked around a soccer ball before dinner. Then we had devo which we just finished up and we are fixing to head to bed. We introduced quite a few people to "The Game" today so that has been incredibly awesome to watch. Tomorrow we are going to family day out at the daycare at Mololoa. The youth group at the church wants to play the gringos in soccer and we are also doing a food distribution for a section of the community out there. Tomorrow should be just as awesome as every other day I've been here. Oh and Emily, if you are reading this Sean says HI.
Wednesday we built a house out at the Valley of Angels, sort of. It was on a mountain above the valley, up in the clouds, and we could look off the mountain and see the entire valley out in front of us. It was pretty incredible. The family that we built for lived in a mud hut. The parents were old, in their 80's, and the dad only had one leg and was in a wheelchair and the mom was blind and they had 7 grown kids living with them in their house. They desperately needed a house. The view was incredible out in front of the house. The build went incredibly well. We were finished by 1 and went to eat lunch in the Valley. We had these awesome beef shish-kabobs, beans, plantains...It was incredible. We then went back to the mission house and just hung out there until devo. We went to the Jesus statue for devo which is always pretty cool and then back to the mission house for a game of spades and bed.
July 21st-Day 43
Yesterday the group I was with went to the dump. We started out by going to the supermarket and getting 25 loaves of bread, 200 banana's and 200 pieces of bologna. We then made the sandwiches on the bus as we went around to get water at the service stations. Usually it takes a few stops at the stations to get enough bagged water but we stopped at one place and they had more than enough water for us to buy. So we bought it and headed to the dump. Most of the people on the bus, roughly 15 of the 25, had not been to the dump before. We rolled up and we had bags of food on the back of the bus for a food distribution so we had to give off the sandwiches from the front door of the bus and boy did that cause a problem. They rushed to the door and it got pretty chaotic pretty fast. Only Troy, Jenna, Josue, Bryan Lopez, Pedro and I got off of the bus and everyone else stayed on. We tried our best to distribute the food as best we could but I'm sure there were people who got more than one of everything. We were in and out pretty quick and didn't have a chance to mingle with the people. Some of the guys that were sitting in a truck started throwing eggs at the bus and then started throwing them at the 6 of us who were off the bus. The hit Troy in the leg and Bryan in the jaw and the rest of us had egg on our hands and arms and clothes. I've been to the dump where we were able to hang out with the people for a while but that was just not going to happen yesterday. It was the craziest I've ever seen it there. So we left there and went to Cataluna for a food distribution. Most of the community is pretty ok to deliver food too. The hills aren't too steep and the houses are easy to get to, that is until you go to the back of the community to the little mountain I'd like to call "makesmewanttodie". It is a fairly incredible slope we had to climb to get food to the top houses. To climb it empty handed is impressive enough but we had to carry a few 30 pound bags of food with us which made it rather difficult. Knowing that someone was going to get food who didn't currently have food made it all worth it though. We gave out about 300 bags of food and by the end of the day we were all pretty tired and worn out from climbing makesmewanttodie. We then came back to the mission house and had dinner and devo for the last time with the group from Mayesville.
July 22nd-Day 44
Today we had to say goodbye to many more friends that we've made from the Mayesville CoC. They flew out at 1 a.m along with Aaron to go back to the states. Over this trip I've been able to work with tons of amazing people and the Mayesville group was packed full of incredible people just as the other Honduras teams, Costa Rica team and Intern team was. We've made great friends and hopefully these new friendships will not end just because we are going back home. When we said goodbye to them, we loaded up the bus and headed to Mololoa for our last house build of the trip in memory of Mr. Paul Simpson. The house site was ridiculous. I know it may sound like I'm complaining a lot about the hills we have been climbing but I'm really not, just trying to relay how incredibly steep they are. We had a few people that wanted to build end up going to the daycare to work because the path down to the house site was too steep for them and since the site wasn't far from the daycare, it made sense for them to go there. The build went great though. We built an 11x16 house because that's all we could fit between the rock wall and the cliff. We were done with this one by 1:30 and when we finished we went to Campero's pollo for lunch which is always great. After that we came back up to the mission house and threw a little frisbee and kicked around a soccer ball before dinner. Then we had devo which we just finished up and we are fixing to head to bed. We introduced quite a few people to "The Game" today so that has been incredibly awesome to watch. Tomorrow we are going to family day out at the daycare at Mololoa. The youth group at the church wants to play the gringos in soccer and we are also doing a food distribution for a section of the community out there. Tomorrow should be just as awesome as every other day I've been here. Oh and Emily, if you are reading this Sean says HI.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
The Cross Country Trek
July 18th-Day 40
Yesterday we built another house. We built out at Cataluna again and my team had a decent work site. We were able to get it square much quicker than on Saturday and as we started digging holes we realized that one of them was only going to be 4 inches deep because there was a boulder the size of a car right under the ground and in the front corner we had another rock the size of a V8 engine. We were able to get the smaller one out after about 15 minutes of prying on it. As we went to lift it out, a tarantula ran out from under the rock and we quickly took care of it. After that we were able to get all the post in with a little convincing and we were off to the races. The build went very smooth again and we were finished by about 2. We then went over to the other house and a few of our team helped them for about an hour and a half as they finished and the rest of us chilled or played with kids. Once we finished up we all loaded the bus and headed back to the mission house. We got back about 4:30 and had some time to rest and shower before dinner at 6:30. For some reason I was pretty sore after finishing the house. It was the start of another round of getting worn down. We kept the same build teams that we had on Saturday so my team worked great together again.
July 19th-Day 41
Today we built a 2 houses out in the La Tigra rain forest out the backside of the mountain that the mission house is on. Just like the last time we built at there, we had to build in a swamp like area. We got to the site and Mark Connell was behind us with wood for both of the houses, they were both right next to each other. When we realized we couldn't get the truck with wood up the hill to the sites, our hearts sank. We had to carry the wood and tools for both houses what we think was just over a half a mile to the sites. It was slippery and muddy the entire way. When we made the first trip there with some wood and the tools, Mark Connell took a few guys and started squaring up the house for his team and I took a few guys and started squaring up the one for my team. When we started digging the post holes, we realized we were digging more of a well. The holes quickly filled up with water and unlike last time we didn't have any concrete to put around the post. We packed them full of dirt and leveled them up and started up with the walls as a few of us started getting the floor ready. We had two more really great builds and two more families now have a home to call their own. Mark's team finished about 10 minutes before we did which was great. We were finished with them both by 3 and were back at the mission house by 4. So far on the 3 builds I've been able to get some fresh blood up on the roofs, both the Jensen girls, Erin, Ally, Jenna, and a few others. The girls have done a great job getting up there and roofing. Today we are all absolutely wore out. Carrying wood and the semi tough sites have taken their toll on the group. I know that I haven't been this wore out in a while. I'm not sick, my body is just wore slap out and that's not just me but a lot of people in this group. We've been playing spoons the last few nights and I'm sitting here at the table about to join in when I finish typing and it's easy to see that reactions times are fairly slow tonight. Tomorrow we have another full day. We have a team going to Mololoa to work in the daycare and kitchen as well as a group of 8 going to do some repair work and painting on the buildings out there. We have a group going to the hospital in the morning and then coming back to the mission house to pack up three loads of food to be given out on Thursday. I'll be leading another house build tomorrow out at the Valley of Angels, we are only building one tomorrow so hopefully some of these guys can have a light day to rest up a bit because I know most of them are completely worn out. So tomorrow should be another great day. The weather has co-operated with us fairly well, it's been a little warm but the rains haven't shown their face so far during the days we've been building. But this game of spoons seems to be gaining life so it's time for me to jump in. May the force be with you!
Yesterday we built another house. We built out at Cataluna again and my team had a decent work site. We were able to get it square much quicker than on Saturday and as we started digging holes we realized that one of them was only going to be 4 inches deep because there was a boulder the size of a car right under the ground and in the front corner we had another rock the size of a V8 engine. We were able to get the smaller one out after about 15 minutes of prying on it. As we went to lift it out, a tarantula ran out from under the rock and we quickly took care of it. After that we were able to get all the post in with a little convincing and we were off to the races. The build went very smooth again and we were finished by about 2. We then went over to the other house and a few of our team helped them for about an hour and a half as they finished and the rest of us chilled or played with kids. Once we finished up we all loaded the bus and headed back to the mission house. We got back about 4:30 and had some time to rest and shower before dinner at 6:30. For some reason I was pretty sore after finishing the house. It was the start of another round of getting worn down. We kept the same build teams that we had on Saturday so my team worked great together again.
July 19th-Day 41
Today we built a 2 houses out in the La Tigra rain forest out the backside of the mountain that the mission house is on. Just like the last time we built at there, we had to build in a swamp like area. We got to the site and Mark Connell was behind us with wood for both of the houses, they were both right next to each other. When we realized we couldn't get the truck with wood up the hill to the sites, our hearts sank. We had to carry the wood and tools for both houses what we think was just over a half a mile to the sites. It was slippery and muddy the entire way. When we made the first trip there with some wood and the tools, Mark Connell took a few guys and started squaring up the house for his team and I took a few guys and started squaring up the one for my team. When we started digging the post holes, we realized we were digging more of a well. The holes quickly filled up with water and unlike last time we didn't have any concrete to put around the post. We packed them full of dirt and leveled them up and started up with the walls as a few of us started getting the floor ready. We had two more really great builds and two more families now have a home to call their own. Mark's team finished about 10 minutes before we did which was great. We were finished with them both by 3 and were back at the mission house by 4. So far on the 3 builds I've been able to get some fresh blood up on the roofs, both the Jensen girls, Erin, Ally, Jenna, and a few others. The girls have done a great job getting up there and roofing. Today we are all absolutely wore out. Carrying wood and the semi tough sites have taken their toll on the group. I know that I haven't been this wore out in a while. I'm not sick, my body is just wore slap out and that's not just me but a lot of people in this group. We've been playing spoons the last few nights and I'm sitting here at the table about to join in when I finish typing and it's easy to see that reactions times are fairly slow tonight. Tomorrow we have another full day. We have a team going to Mololoa to work in the daycare and kitchen as well as a group of 8 going to do some repair work and painting on the buildings out there. We have a group going to the hospital in the morning and then coming back to the mission house to pack up three loads of food to be given out on Thursday. I'll be leading another house build tomorrow out at the Valley of Angels, we are only building one tomorrow so hopefully some of these guys can have a light day to rest up a bit because I know most of them are completely worn out. So tomorrow should be another great day. The weather has co-operated with us fairly well, it's been a little warm but the rains haven't shown their face so far during the days we've been building. But this game of spoons seems to be gaining life so it's time for me to jump in. May the force be with you!
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