Friday was a rough day. I felt terrible all day long. It was like the sickness renewed it's attack overnight and gave me all it had on Friday. To add to it we had a house build on rock mountain. We built in Santa Ana and it was a tough one. I literally built on a huge rock so digging the post was ridiculously difficult. I sometimes think that God must have known when He created the world that we would be building a house in places like this and why couldn't He have made the ground a little softer in these places. I wonder if He is having a good ole time watching us pound away at these rocks. Either way, hard or soft ground, we had a mission and it was to build a family a house, and that's exactly what we did. I personally didn't do a whole lot except direct people to do things bc I was really sick. My 43rd overall housebuild and I barely lifted a hammer but the result was the same. One more family in a house and that's what it's all about.
Saturday I felt much much better. The doctor gave me some different meds that started working Friday evening and Saturday was better. I wasn't 100% but anything was better than Friday. We packed up the remaining load of food we had and went to Mololoa to distribute it. We thankfully had a truck to haul the bags of food up the mountain but it's still difficult to get them to the houses. It was another very productive day and it was also the last work day of the summer for this group and for me, which made it pretty bittersweet when we were finished. We went to the peace monument for a little while afterwards and the back to the mission house.
Today we worshiped in Mololoa and I had a first. I'm not a song leader, never have been. Never done that before but since I've sorta given others my sickness the last few days, we were short on people to lead singing. So I got to do that at church this morning and it was quite an experience. After that we went straight to the Valley of Angels where about a dozen of us decided to go on the zip line. It was 15 lines that took about 2 hours but it was a lot of fun. We went to the top of one of the mountains that surround the valley and rode the lines all the way to the bottom. It was soo much fun. After that we went to Dr. Aguilera's house where his Nephew grilled steaks for us for dinner. It was an amazing dinner. Steak and beans and tortillas and pico and ice cream. We had devo there and have just gotten back to the mission house to pack up for our trip home tomorrow.
I'll go ahead and say that tomorrow will be a bad day. Any time you have to leave a place you love, it is a bad day. This trip has been incredible. I've worked with amazing friends and made incredible new friends along the way. Everyone I've been blessed to work with has been amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better team of interns to be a part of or better groups to work with. People say a lot that their heart stays here when they fly home and I can honestly say that. For the next 9 or 10 months my thoughts will be here, I will wish to be here, I will look forward to nothing more than the day I land at Toncontin airport again. My heart stays here though, with the people I've met and the ones I know are still in need. With the people at the dump who are hungry everyday and the kids who grow up knowing nothing but that atmosphere. With the people who pray everyday for a house and will have to wait day after day for their prayers to be answered. With the mothers who worry about whether or not they'll have food for their kids tonight. With the parents who earn $2 a day and wonder how their families will continue to survive. My heart is here with them. There are billions around the world living on $2 a day. No matter how much time you spend serving them, trying to ease their pain, we are never going to relieve all the pain and suffering. But one thing is for sure, we are going to give it our best shot until Christ returns. I hate saying bye to people here but the sadness is always lessened by the hope that I'll be back, that God has more plans for me here. That hope will help me tomorrow and if God wants me back here again, I know I'll be coming back soon. We try to reach people through service, by serving others you are showing them the love of Christ not by beating them over the head with a Bible. First comes meeting their needs and they are open to hearing about the gospel, about the one who inspired you to help them. These past few weeks we have been able to do that. To meet the needs of others in hopes that they will be open to hearing the gospel from the missionaries and preachers we work with. We may not see the results of our labors but we can trust that God is using the works of our hands to reach their hearts. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my adventures this summer. It's been a blast and Lord willing I'll be doing it again next year...or maybe sooner :)
Our flight leaves around noon tomorrow and we will be getting back home around midnight or just a little afterwards. If you would please pray that we all have a safe trip back home tomorrow then that would be awesome. I know we would all appreciate it. God Bless!
Monday, July 30, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Don't tell me it's almost over...
Ok so I know I've gotten lazy with updating the blog. It's been a long week but a good nonetheless. Sunday we went to church in Mololoa. With 69 gringos we packed the place and the sidewalks outside. After church we went to lunch and then Didasko. If you remember a couple weeks ago I posted about the financial struggles that Jorge Castillo, the director of Didasko orphanage, was having. Palmetto Church of Christ and Mayesville Church of Christ decided to raise money specifically for the orphanage and together they raised $8,000. So we went out to the orphanage and decided to see their specific needs and which ones we can meet. Our leaders met with Jorge and the money is going to be a huge help for them. I'm not sure exactly how it will be used but it will help tremendously.
Monday we went back out to Mololoa and built 2 more houses. We had another long trek up the mountain but finally made it to the site. Then after carrying the wood down to the actual house site we got started. My team had a house right on the edge of the mountain, like if you fell, you were going all the way to the bottom unless a few rows of barb wire caught you first. It was intense but we got the house built.
Tuesday the group I was with had a few different things to do. First off, we went to the grocery store to buy bread, meat, bananas, cookies and water for over 200 people. We then made the sandwiches and headed to the dump to give them out to the people that live and work there. For those who have never been there, it is quite an experience and a place I love to go. Of course it smells terrible but you are giving food to people who literally have nothing. It's a place I wish we could go everyday. The little kids come running from everywhere all dirty and jumping over piles of garbage. It's a really tough place to go but it's a place that sorely needs hope. We fed just over 200 people. You want so badly to take the kids out of that place and put them somewhere where they will actually have a chance at a decent life. It's really awful. After that we went to the hospital for about an hour and then back to the mission house.
Wednesday I was with a group that packaged up food and went to Tres Rosas to deliver bags of food. It is a really, really mountainous area. We gave out about 225 bags roughly but it was a tiresome thing to do. After that we went to dinner in Santa Lucia and then back to the mission house.
Today we built another house out in El Peliguin which is in the La Tigra rainforest. The site was a little ways off the road so wood had to be carried but the build went pretty quick. We had the house built in 3 and a half hours. By 1:30 we had met up with the rest of the team that was delivering more bags of food in the area and we stole about 70 of their bags and went ahead of them to give those out. We were able to do a lot of great work today but I must say that I'm pretty tired.
We have also had Dr. Jorge Aguillera conducting medical clinics everyday this week. He has been working tirelessly in different communities seeing as many people as he can. I'm not sure how many he has seen but it is well up into the hundreds. It's awesome to be able to work alongside someone like him who has such a passion for meeting the medical needs of people.
Since Sunday I've been sick. First it started with my stomach and then it moved to my chest and head. My sinus' have been killing me and I've been coughing like it's going out of style. It's been a long week to say the least but today I feel I've turned a corner and am getting better. The bad thing is that a few others have picked up this cold, or whatever it is, from me. Tonight we are going to the Jesus statue after dinner so that should be fun. Today is Thursday and the thought is starting to creep into my mind that in just 4 days I'll be headed back to the states. It's hard to stay focused on the work at hand when you know it's going to be coming to an end for you soon. I want nothing more than to be able to stay here much longer but everything eventually comes to an end. I'm now on the home stretch, today marks exactly a month that I've been here. It's time to finish strong. It's amazing how quickly time goes by. Our team shrinks tomorrow. The Mayesville group heads back home in the morning and that leaves about 25 or so of us for the remainder of the trip. It has been a blast working with them again this year and hopefully things work out so we can do it again next year.
Monday we went back out to Mololoa and built 2 more houses. We had another long trek up the mountain but finally made it to the site. Then after carrying the wood down to the actual house site we got started. My team had a house right on the edge of the mountain, like if you fell, you were going all the way to the bottom unless a few rows of barb wire caught you first. It was intense but we got the house built.
Tuesday the group I was with had a few different things to do. First off, we went to the grocery store to buy bread, meat, bananas, cookies and water for over 200 people. We then made the sandwiches and headed to the dump to give them out to the people that live and work there. For those who have never been there, it is quite an experience and a place I love to go. Of course it smells terrible but you are giving food to people who literally have nothing. It's a place I wish we could go everyday. The little kids come running from everywhere all dirty and jumping over piles of garbage. It's a really tough place to go but it's a place that sorely needs hope. We fed just over 200 people. You want so badly to take the kids out of that place and put them somewhere where they will actually have a chance at a decent life. It's really awful. After that we went to the hospital for about an hour and then back to the mission house.
Wednesday I was with a group that packaged up food and went to Tres Rosas to deliver bags of food. It is a really, really mountainous area. We gave out about 225 bags roughly but it was a tiresome thing to do. After that we went to dinner in Santa Lucia and then back to the mission house.
Today we built another house out in El Peliguin which is in the La Tigra rainforest. The site was a little ways off the road so wood had to be carried but the build went pretty quick. We had the house built in 3 and a half hours. By 1:30 we had met up with the rest of the team that was delivering more bags of food in the area and we stole about 70 of their bags and went ahead of them to give those out. We were able to do a lot of great work today but I must say that I'm pretty tired.
We have also had Dr. Jorge Aguillera conducting medical clinics everyday this week. He has been working tirelessly in different communities seeing as many people as he can. I'm not sure how many he has seen but it is well up into the hundreds. It's awesome to be able to work alongside someone like him who has such a passion for meeting the medical needs of people.
Since Sunday I've been sick. First it started with my stomach and then it moved to my chest and head. My sinus' have been killing me and I've been coughing like it's going out of style. It's been a long week to say the least but today I feel I've turned a corner and am getting better. The bad thing is that a few others have picked up this cold, or whatever it is, from me. Tonight we are going to the Jesus statue after dinner so that should be fun. Today is Thursday and the thought is starting to creep into my mind that in just 4 days I'll be headed back to the states. It's hard to stay focused on the work at hand when you know it's going to be coming to an end for you soon. I want nothing more than to be able to stay here much longer but everything eventually comes to an end. I'm now on the home stretch, today marks exactly a month that I've been here. It's time to finish strong. It's amazing how quickly time goes by. Our team shrinks tomorrow. The Mayesville group heads back home in the morning and that leaves about 25 or so of us for the remainder of the trip. It has been a blast working with them again this year and hopefully things work out so we can do it again next year.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
I really don't like concrete footings under a house site.....
Friday began a new part of the trip for me. I was the only one staying to work with the next group and they were arriving around noon. I road downtown on the bus and waited for about 3 hours at the airport until they landed and jumped into the extremely long customs lines. One good thing about going to the airport is that you never know who you're going to meet. I met who runs a youth camp near lake Yojoa which is about 3 hours from Teguc. We talked a lot about the things he is doing there and the things that he hopes to do in the future. He gave me his info and said that they are always looking for people to come help out so who knows what will become of that but either way it's nice to meet others who are living out their passion. When the group finally landed we went to lunch and then back to the mission house. We didn't really do any work but got settled in at the mission house. I was able to weasel my way out of being in the 30 man room and into a 4 man room in the nice upstairs building with just 1 other guy. We'll see how long this lasts but right now it is great.
Today we had two house builds in Mololoa. With this group I'll be in charge of a build site each day we build. So I've got 20 gringos looking to me for direction which is fun but hectic at the same time. Just as the last house I built in Mololoa, this site was way, way up the mountain. I thought the last one was far up but the one was up past the other one. The best thing was that the site was right next to the road, the worst thing was that the site was ridiculously small. The people had built a retaining wall and then filled it with dirt up about 5 feet. Then they put a ton of concrete the next 2 feet, and then 6 inches of dirt. So here I was thinking that this thing was going to be great. A small site but it seemed to be full of loose dirt which makes post hole digging sooo easy....I quickly found out that wasn't the case. We chipped and whacked at concrete for quite a while and finally were able to put the post in. There were plenty of blistered hands after that. I got frustrated with a person, Honduran, that I wish had not been there. Not some of the young guys that always work with us but another that I won't name but he had seen a house built differently and thought we should do it that way. Thankfully we had a few other guys that had never built before but they helped out tremendously since they were contractors and had an idea of how to build. They understood I was the go to guy and pretty much ignored the other dude and we were able to finally get some things fixed that had been done wrong because that dude had been going behind me telling people to do things a different way. Frustrating to say the least. I finally told him to back off and stop bossing people around and he did a bit but not completely. It turned out to be a nice 12 x 16 house though, with what I'm assuming is the first Torch awning over the front door to keep water from coming in. It was pretty sweet. One of the greatest things about working here is that when you deliver a bag of food or build a house you get to see pure joy on the face of the person receiving it. I was frustrated today and the lady we were building the house for must have noticed. She was a really sweet lady and pulled me aside for a second and said, in english, "God bless you for what you are doing, you are doing a wonderful thing for my family and we thank you and praise God" and she said it with a huge smile on her face. That was all I needed to turn my day around. That's what it's all about right there. Serving in a way that people praise God for what we are doing. I won't lie, I was a little surprised she knew english but it was a great pick-me-up. From then on it was like nothing could get me down again. We finished up about 2:30 and headed down to the daycare for a special presentation by the staff and kids. The other build team finished up at 2:45 so by 3 we were all at the daycare and ready for them. It was family day and since Palmetto Church of Christ sponsors the daycare and kitchen, they try to have a family day that we can go to while we are here. The kids had been practicing a skit, The Good Samaritan. It was absolutely hilarious. 2-5 year olds acting this skit out and really putting all their effort into it was great. They also had been practicing some songs in english and sang them to us. It's awesome to see how much of a difference we are making in not only the kids lives but also the staff and the families. They had cake and coke for everyone and we played outside with the kids for a little while. By now they all know who I am so when I get there they are ready to play, it's great. After that we loaded up and came back to the mission house and we've been here since.
I'm still trying to get psyched up for the next few days. It's still hard but it'll get better. We have a lot of great things planned for this week and it will all be fantastic. There is another group staying here at the mission house with us and they have said that they are going to just work alongside us as part of our group. That will make 69 of us which is a pretty nice sized group. We'll be able to do a lot of things but more importantly show the love of Christ to the people we will serve. Tomorrow starts my last full week here and it is shaping up to be a great one.
Here's a great picture of the kids singing today
The house we built. The house site was so small, not much room to maneuver.
This was moments before the Good Samaritan was beaten. The two on the left with the gold bats were the robbers and the poor little guy in the middle right was the samaritan.
Man down, MAN DOWN!
Today we had two house builds in Mololoa. With this group I'll be in charge of a build site each day we build. So I've got 20 gringos looking to me for direction which is fun but hectic at the same time. Just as the last house I built in Mololoa, this site was way, way up the mountain. I thought the last one was far up but the one was up past the other one. The best thing was that the site was right next to the road, the worst thing was that the site was ridiculously small. The people had built a retaining wall and then filled it with dirt up about 5 feet. Then they put a ton of concrete the next 2 feet, and then 6 inches of dirt. So here I was thinking that this thing was going to be great. A small site but it seemed to be full of loose dirt which makes post hole digging sooo easy....I quickly found out that wasn't the case. We chipped and whacked at concrete for quite a while and finally were able to put the post in. There were plenty of blistered hands after that. I got frustrated with a person, Honduran, that I wish had not been there. Not some of the young guys that always work with us but another that I won't name but he had seen a house built differently and thought we should do it that way. Thankfully we had a few other guys that had never built before but they helped out tremendously since they were contractors and had an idea of how to build. They understood I was the go to guy and pretty much ignored the other dude and we were able to finally get some things fixed that had been done wrong because that dude had been going behind me telling people to do things a different way. Frustrating to say the least. I finally told him to back off and stop bossing people around and he did a bit but not completely. It turned out to be a nice 12 x 16 house though, with what I'm assuming is the first Torch awning over the front door to keep water from coming in. It was pretty sweet. One of the greatest things about working here is that when you deliver a bag of food or build a house you get to see pure joy on the face of the person receiving it. I was frustrated today and the lady we were building the house for must have noticed. She was a really sweet lady and pulled me aside for a second and said, in english, "God bless you for what you are doing, you are doing a wonderful thing for my family and we thank you and praise God" and she said it with a huge smile on her face. That was all I needed to turn my day around. That's what it's all about right there. Serving in a way that people praise God for what we are doing. I won't lie, I was a little surprised she knew english but it was a great pick-me-up. From then on it was like nothing could get me down again. We finished up about 2:30 and headed down to the daycare for a special presentation by the staff and kids. The other build team finished up at 2:45 so by 3 we were all at the daycare and ready for them. It was family day and since Palmetto Church of Christ sponsors the daycare and kitchen, they try to have a family day that we can go to while we are here. The kids had been practicing a skit, The Good Samaritan. It was absolutely hilarious. 2-5 year olds acting this skit out and really putting all their effort into it was great. They also had been practicing some songs in english and sang them to us. It's awesome to see how much of a difference we are making in not only the kids lives but also the staff and the families. They had cake and coke for everyone and we played outside with the kids for a little while. By now they all know who I am so when I get there they are ready to play, it's great. After that we loaded up and came back to the mission house and we've been here since.
I'm still trying to get psyched up for the next few days. It's still hard but it'll get better. We have a lot of great things planned for this week and it will all be fantastic. There is another group staying here at the mission house with us and they have said that they are going to just work alongside us as part of our group. That will make 69 of us which is a pretty nice sized group. We'll be able to do a lot of things but more importantly show the love of Christ to the people we will serve. Tomorrow starts my last full week here and it is shaping up to be a great one.
Here's a great picture of the kids singing today
The house we built. The house site was so small, not much room to maneuver.
This was moments before the Good Samaritan was beaten. The two on the left with the gold bats were the robbers and the poor little guy in the middle right was the samaritan.
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