October 21 and 22, 2012 Our final report had to be delayed because the internet was down on Sunday. After a very nice breakfast we went to Tejeras, the small neighborhood built along the highway right of way of the very busy road between San Pedro Sula and Copan. HAF learned about Tejeras when some of our members discovered the children foraging for food at the city dump. HAF now provides a church school lesson each sunday morning along with a nutricious meal for the children who live here. We came to observe the program and to examine the meal to see what was provided. Each child received a plate with spaghetti noodles, chicken, beans, carrots, and bell peppers plus one tortilla and a drink. HAF provides a similar meal for these children several days each week through the generosity of sponsors. After lunch, we visited the Sunday afternoon session of the Agape Promises program. There are fifty children sponsored in this program, which provides Christian education and encouragement and assistance to continue in school. The program was a lively lesson about Gideon defeating the Midianites with only 300 men chosen by God. A nutricious meal was also provided to these children. In the late afternoon, we went to the inaguration of the indoor soccer field mentioned yesterday, which included a church service. This was a special treat because we got to see a lot of people that we knew from the community. We were also treated to a very nice meal as part of the festivities. We were told that one of the first activities will be a match between the youth soccer teams of one of the local evangelical churches and the catholic church. On Monday morning we went to San Pedro Sula by Busito and flew home, arriving in Atlanta on Monday afternoon, people from our plane were the only ones in the lines at immigration and customs. It was a great week. We were truly blessed with good weather the entire time and Maynor made sure we went everywhere and saw all the groups that we had on our list.

October 20, 2012 We began the day visiting with the teachers of the Agape Promises program. These four ladies, including two who are in high school, are dedicated to teaching the Word of God to our sponsored children and encouraging them to stay in school and do well. The program now has fifty sponsored children and several more children regularly attend the lessons. Afterwards, each of the team members who sponsor a child had a chance to visit with them. The university students came to visit with us later in the day. These two young ladies were in the AP program. Laura has been in AP since before Maynor started working with us. Both plan to become dentists. The program takes six years. One of them, Iveth, is in the first year and Laura in the third year. After talking with them about their courses, we were all convinced that they have the intelligence and the drive needed to finish their studies. They both look forward to a time when they can come back and help in the Honduras Agape dental clinics. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Later in the afternoon, we went to the birthday party for Jocelyn, one of the AP teachers who is a junior in high school. She is yet another wonderful example of an AP student who has grown into a teacher. She was very pleased to have us come to her party. The team had dinner at Goyita’s restaurant and we marveled at the new indoor soccer facility that the Mejia family has built on the other side of their home from the restaurant. This facility looks like something I would expect to see in Aiken. The field came from the USA and is the latest artificial turf, with sand base and small rubber pellets mixed in with the grass. The first phase of construction for this facility is now complete. Plans for the next phase of construction include exercise equipment and a game room as well as a second floor area to enjoy fast food and watch the soccer games. This may become a favorite place for mission teams to visit and relax.

More Photos from the Planning Mission Team

October 19, 2012 We went to Nueva Esperanza to look over the school and check on the needs of that village. We passed through Rio Chiquito on the way and stopped on the way back. There was a grader working diligently between Nueva Esperanza and Rio Chiquito. Nuevo Esperanza and Rio Chiquito have a joint water project and the need to purchase land where their water source is located in order to protect their water from logging. Although the exact figures were not available during the meeting, it appears that they may have saved just about half of the money needed. Rio Chiquito was one of the towns that Dr. Tino and maynor had suggested they may be a good candidate for a future Holistic Approach Village (HAV). They have a water board and patronato and seemed to be eager to meet with us. They were forthcoming concerning their progress toward saving the money needed for their land purchase and the negotiations in progress. They have three volunteer health workers ready to train and are on the road to Nuevo Esperanza, so they are quite handy, as much as villages way up in the mountain can be. Laguna del Carmen was part way back down the mountain and a left turn plus a ride across yet another mountain trail. It was also suggested as a good candidate for a future Holistic Approach Village (HAV). These people were well organized and the both the community center and the school were neat and clean, although several repairs were needed. The school has a new water tank, which was provided by the Rotary club. They have cleared ground for a proposed kindergarten building, even though they do not yet have the funds. We have now visited all the villages where we have been working lately and we are all happy to be off the road, as we will spend Saturday visiting with Agape Promises teachers and students and the University students. We also plan to have the evening meal with Jose Alfredo Mejia and his wife Goyita. We have known this couple since the earliest days of our activity in Quimistan and are really looking forward to this opportunity for fellowship. They own the Don Fermin restaurant and will be inaugurating a new soccer facility next to their home on Sunday afternoon.

Photos from Las Dantas

School at Las Dantas

Community Meeting in School at Las Dantas

Water Source - Spring - at Las Dantas

Path from Water Source back up to Las Dantas

October 18, 2012 We started the morning with a trip to Santa Clara. There we met with the leaders of the White Dove School, who showed us the growing campus of a bilingual, Christian school. We also watched with joy the kindergarten children, when asked in English, writing their names and performing simple addition for us at the board. We also watched third graders, again given instructions in English, reducing fractions and solving equations. We also met with the leaders of their parent’s organization. One of these ladies said her family moved to Santa Clara in order to place their child into this school. Another family moved their child from public school, placing the child in second grade rather than fourth. The child is now well beyond the level of those in public schools. These families are very pleased with the opportunity this school is presenting to their children. About noon we continued to Acequia, where HAF had paid for desks. The teachers there fed us lunch to show their gratitude. This is a large school which teaches first through ninth grade. They have eight teachers and an impressive amount of activity going on. There is a room with computers and the solar system is painted on the walls. They are in progress of adding toilets, which has been partly funded by the red cross. Next we went to Las Dantas, to look at a village which has asked for help on a water project. This village is way up in the mountains at the end of the poorest road we have traveled so far. To begin the trip, we had to ford a river, which in times of heavy rain prevents travel by the road. The people in the village were very excited to have us come because no one from another country had ever visited the village. There are fifteen families in the village and they all come to get water at a spring. They have one small dam to collect drinking water and a lower pool is used for washing their clothing.

Photos from our current Trip

SUNRISE IN HONDURAS

SCHOOL IN TEXOXINGONLES (TEO)

SCHOOL RESTROOMS IN TEO

CATHOLIC CHURCH IN TEO

CHURCH OF GOD IN TEO

SCHOOL IN EL VENADO

BAKERY IN EL VENADO

SCHOOL PLAYGROUND IN LA MONITANITA

KITCHEN IN MILPA ARADA REBUILT BY EARLIER MISSION TEAM

TEACHERS AND STUDENTS TILING THEIR NEW KITCHEN

SCHOOL IN JICARO

SOME 'STARS' OF JICARO

October 17, 2012 Today we visited La Montanita. After meeting with the leaders of the village, we met with the students who have been able to continue their education beyond the sixth grade, with help from HAF sponsors. The parents expressed their gratitude for the foundation doing what they cannot afford to do for their children, and the young people expressed a strong desire to stay in school. It was really heart-warming to see these young people who wish to get an education. We also met with pastors from all the churches. The Catholic representative was the first one to speak and told us that they all get along and share the materials they have received for training their children. When asked about the need for additional Bibles it became apparent that some of the pastors had shared Bibles so that members of other churches could have them. This is truly watching God at work. We stopped by Milpa Arada to check on the progress in the cocina (kitchen) at their school and found the teachers working at laying tile in the floor. It will look really nice when completed and will serve all of the community.

October 16, 2012 Today we had a nice drive over the mountains along a road which provides a very good view of the Quimistan valley, which is a wide, relatively flat, fertile plain. I had not noticed the beauty the last time I was on this road due to cloud cover. The mountains and the road are very steep. We visited Texoxingales (or Teocingales), where we met with the church leaders, Patronado and the president of the water board. There are two churches in Teo, Catholic and Church of God. The people get along together well and are very interested in working together to make good things happen for their community. They are very grateful for the Bible study materials we have provided for use in teaching their children. The catholics would like to have the Latin American version of the children’s chatecism, which is taught in four age groups. When we asked about their school, we learned there are way too many children in each classroom. We were given a very nice lunch of chicken soup, with rice, potatoes and cabbage. Next we visited El Venado. There are three churches in this village, two of which are different versions of the Church of God and the other one is Catholic. The new Church of God needs Bibles, but the others stated that we have already provided enough for each member. This village has one school room for all grades kindergarten through sixth – the other room in the building is where the teacher lives. They would like to have another classroom to separate the kindergarten from the elementary grades. This village also requested a small generator as power source for nebulizers. They do not have Justa stoves. Many also do not have latrines. They stated that there is a problem with water entering the holes.

Oct 15, 2012 We arrived in Quimistan after an uneventful trip a little past 1pm, Honduran Standard Time. After a nice lunch, we met with Dr. Constantino and Maynor, to discuss the medical mission activities and our schedule for the week. The main purpose of this trip is to gather information which will be used in our vision conference to establish plans for our 2013 mission activity. Two very interesting items we learned include that a Red Cross representative told Maynor that there has been a marked improvement in respiratory health recently due to the people having Justa Stoves. We also learned that the ladies in La Montanita, who started sewing with HAF assistance, and then grew into a bakery business, have been noticed by USAID, which has donated ~$3000 to help them improve their bakery facilities. God is good and has rewarded these ladies for their hard work. I view this as confirmation of HAF's micro enterprise development activities in La Montanita. After our meetings we had the evening meal and turned our attention to settling into our quarters and getting ready for a much needed shower and a good night's rest.

To Mega Therion

Today marked the beginning of the end of the 2012 mission trip to Honduras. To celebrate the completion and the success of the experience, the team took today to walk across a swinging bridge, shop, and trek through the wilds of the Honduran mountains to swim at a beautiful waterfall. The day ended with feasting on pizza for supper.

Abby, one of the girls from the Aiken team, had suggested the swinging bridge at the beginning of the trip. The bridge is reminiscent of the bridges seen in movies (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Romancing the Stone, for movie buffs), with the wood planks attached to ropes, or in this case, cables, that crosses a river. This bridge was well kept and several people crossed it while we were there. In fact, we watched as a woman holding her baby practically strutted across the bridge, never loosing her balance once.

After the swinging bridge, the next stop was a souvenir store that contained quite a collection of merchandise. Hammocks, clothes, paintings, and backpacks are just a few examples of what the store carried. The girls were only too happy to spend time in there. Lakey bought some cigars for Stan the man.

Once the shopping was completed the team returned to the ranch to quickly change into bathing suits and then began the main event of the day: the waterfall... the "March to the Great Beast."  This activity was highly anticipated throughout the trip and did not disappoint.  After a brief hike through the jungle, the team reached the waterfall. Almost at once, Alex and Dane were jumping from the highest jump point at the waterfall, which is approximately thirty feet. Jennifer jumped from that spot as well but the rest of the team stuck with jumping from a mere twenty or so feet. After we had all swam 'til our hearts were content, we were about ready to leave until Brad decided that he wanted to climb to an even higher tier of the waterfall. There were three different falls, with the third being approximately 90 feet in height.  Brad began climbing a trail beside the 90-foot fall that went straight up - a trail that much resembled the trail Sam and Frodo climbed in Lord of the Rings to reach Cirith Ungol. Soon Alex, Aaron and Jarred followed Brad further up the mountain to see what was at the top of the waterfall while Jennifer, Lorie and Lakey waited anxiously at the bottom (with their hearts in their throats). Everyone returned to the ranch safely and enjoyed pepperoni pizza that Sam and Daniel brought back from a trip to San Pedro Sula.

Meanwhile, while the team was embarking on all these activities, Mark and Jerry returned to Gloria’s house to finish up as much work as they could on it. They placed more pins in the roof so water would not leak. That marks the end of the day and the 2012 Honduras mission trip. 

Brad, in the pouring rain, climbed through the river of mook to come out clean on the other side

Thank you for keeping up with the team’s progress. We will see you all tomorrow at the airport barring the tropical storm that made its way to Quimistan at 7:30pm tonight delays our flight.

Lorie & Brad 

Tejeras Mosh Pit

As the construction phase closed out today, I think we all can say, "muy bien" or translation: "very good." The crew at Gloria's home worked fervently to complete the pour on the rear veranda, or in southern speak - the porch. Stanley led the charge as usual; Jen, B-Rad, Hans and Frans, along with our adopted friends from South Carolina Team Aiken N Hurtin', joined at the mook pile for Mas Mook Siesta! Fighting grueling conditions as usual they persevered and came through like the champions that they are.  All the while our trusty and faithful bus drivers sat in the cool shade of the home and watched Futbol' until time to go to the restaurant at eat fried chicken... Again!

After lunch, the team divided into maybe three separate and distinct parties. Mater, Carl, Stan the Man, Jen, B-Rad, Hans and Frans returned to Gloria's home to continue the Mooking Siesta and complete the second phase of the Pila. Once the mook was placed, Stan the Man, who is only 5'-5", had to lie across the Pila to shape the concrete. The dude has some serious abs, but several team members had to assist by holding his legs to prevent him from face planting the Mook. B-Rad and Frans continued to pound in Gloria's bedroom creating a new access to her brand new, and well deserved baño (bathroom). They completed that task with a vengeance that would surpass Superman busting through a brick wall!

Team two, consisting of Ajax, Aiken n Hurtin', Coop, Jeff-Ray, Arooon, Lorie, Narnie, and Joe left the mess hall with bellies full of artery busting chicken. Folks, Colonel Saunders can't touch this doom of the grease that is oozing out of this pollo (chicken). They headed off to Santa Clara to deliver the communion set to Arturo and visited the children who were located there.

We completed our day at the Tejeras... For those who are not familiar with this area, let me say this... We should consider all that we have been blessed with, my friends. They literally live on the side of the road in shacks, and not just any road... this would be like I-85 at rush hour. Semi-trucks blasting through at half the speed of smell, while these precious little children of God play precariously just yards from the highway! There I met Kevin for the first time. He was the little boy that was severely burned about a year ago while collecting plastic bottles in a trash pile. Thank God someone in San Pedro Sula had connections in Boston, Mass to save three of his limbs. He lost all his toes and the fingers on his right hand, but showed no signs of pity. He was this vibrant litte boy that had accepted the cards that life had dealt him and he carried a beautiful smile that only God could supply. After feeding the children, which is part of Sandra's ministry, Chris Jericho broke out the the soccer ball and mayhem ensued... Let's Get Ready to Rumble! A 60 versus 1 Mosh Pit broke out as the children introduced us to a new Honduran game called Rugby Soccer! Chris succumbed to the relentless pounding as the children drug him down and started the ground-n-pound method of removing said soccer ball from his hand. Chris scraped his knee during the melee and the Type O Negative oozed from his wounds, which required more first aid action.

The day was completed with a wonderful dinner provided by Gloria and Sandra. Devotions and blessing were led by Jarred and Mark, who delivered a powerful and emotional devotion based on the scripture from Paul's letter to the church in Philippi. All you bloggers, please read chapter 3:4b-13 and consider or weigh out the choices in your life. Everything in life is but rubbish compared to a relationship in Christ Jesus. Consider this: we are blessed and yet we want more. I have seen a lot of sad things here this past two weeks, and yet there is so much joy in the eyes of these children. I am blessed to have been a part of this team and I hope to share my experiences with many, many people.

P90X ain't got nothin' on Stan the man

Futbol or drying paint?  What's more boring?

 Pounding... Mas pounding!

 Ground-N-Pound

 That looks like the chicken leg we ate for lunch

Mark

Aiken & Hurtin'

Today was yet another hard workday on the job sites.  To begin Mark had finally gotten two new tires, tubes, and pedals for a little boy’s bike attached, tuned them up, and cleaned up the bike before giving it to the boy.  He really enjoyed the new additions and had a new-found sense of pride in his bicycle.

We then mixed several loads of cement to complete the setting of blocks for Gloria’s pila and new bathroom.  With the bricklaying finished we were able to build up the substrate levels patting it down with a homemade Acme tamper (Toyota flywheel with a rebar handle), and mix even more concrete.  With this done we were able to begin pouring in concrete to form the floor for the outside patio in the back.  We were able to complete about one third of the concrete floor in the back.

On the other side of the home, once the walls were finished, several members were able to extend the roof to cover the newly formed bathroom.  With that done the wall between the joining bedroom was ready to be somewhat demolished to construct a new door.  Unfortunately this was not completed but some strong headway was made before the workday was over.

On the other job site at the school more concrete was mixed, of course, as well as some brick laying for the kitchen.  The members also plastered the walls of the kitchen interior.  Many breaks were taken due to the amount of native Honduran workers participating who are all very eager to get a shovel in their hands and sweat on their brows.  During this down time some of the kids got to play basketball with a soccer ball with Michael and used a tree as the basketball hoop.  Also during this time Jeff played tennis with some of the school children using a rope as a net while the others threw a frisbee back and forth.

Spear chucker interpreter takes a break in a future Jacuzzi/Pila 

Mark and Jerry fixed a bicycle for a kid, completing an ongoing project of theirs  

Hanging out before mixing mook; Mark sporting the sombrero

Virgin mook shoveler shoveling mook
Anna redeemed herself .  She gets "most improved" award... girl worked her butt off today

Jarred, Mark, and Brad

Doom

After a weekend of relaxation and some minor celebration we returned this morning to our work of service, another Monday spent in deep in the Northwest of Honduras. 

The trip so far has been a remarkable experience.  An opportunity to explore a new country, to meet new people and to witness a culture that is unique and unlike our own.  As per a typical day, our morning began with a 6:00 am wake up call, and breakfast at 7.  The meals have been mostly exceptional, served to us by two lovely hostesses, Sandra and Gloria, and have featured jalapenos and peppers constantly, even for breakfast.  Unfortunately the language barrier has prevented us from truly getting to know Sandra and Gloria, though if two nicer women exist in Honduras they would be a sight to behold.

After breakfast, we divided into two separate groups, off to two separate job sites.  One at Gloria's, and the other at a school, off in a separate village from Quimistan.  And that was the group I joined today.  

Though school was not in session today, several neighborhood kids still ventured to the site to help us mix concrete and to share in our breaks as we played football, futbol, and good ole fashioned American baseball conducted with a plethora of sticks and broken plastic pipes for bats, and a small sized hollow plastic soccer ball for a baseball.  The games today were as competitive as always with the kids eager to pitch and to take their turn at the plate.  Because of their relative unawareness of the official rules, I was able to manipulate the officiating in my team's favor, which was clearly necessary as my team fell behind early and struggled at bat.  As we tried to launch of comeback, one of my young teammates, Mauriceo, got a hit but stumbled as he ran to first and ripped open a a pinky toe with the toenail nearly detached.  After an immediate pause for First Aid Kit attention, the young Amigo eventually returned in the inning and got another hit, placing him at hero status in my eyes.  We've witnessed a lot of violence on this trip.  The first aid kit has come in handy.  

At that point, we paused for lunch.  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as always.  The hardcore work at the school site was intermittent today, and filled with breaks and pauses to play sports and interact with the youngsters.  

After work we ventured briefly into town for ice cream before returning to the Villa to rest for an hour and then go off to a fancy and delicious supper.  At dinner we were joined by out hosts, Martha and her husband Gary, our translator Maynor and his wife Jesse, and our beloved compadre in work, Stanley.   As we waited for dinner we enjoyed the air conditioning and a big screen television where we found "The World's Fastest Indian" with Anthony Hopkins in English with Spanish subtitles.   After dinner, Stanley told me that we would have the opportunity to meet his family tomorrow, to which I replied, "We are your family now, and you are a part of ours."  And that has been the true and often unspoken blessing of this mission.  

Though this trip is only for a short period, it is a reminder that we are all in this journey through life together, as different as a bunch of Gringos from Wilkesboro and the fine people of Quimistan can be.      Not only do we live out our own lives, we in a way live out the lives of everyone around us.  With the ability to help those in need, pick up those who have fallen, and save those who are lost.  

Most of the hard work of our journey is done now, with only a couple days left on site before a day of rest, but our work will always continue, and the size of our family will continue to increase, especially in the number of Hondurans.


Pictures of today's work:

Jarred and Jerry laying block for the pila behind Gloria's house; Abby (cut off) doing demolition work on the old pila

 The first, and likely last, picture of Anna working

 Jarred and Jerry laying block; Dane observing

 Progress in the front of Gloria's house, at this point Mark began sloping the block

 Arnold with some locals

Jeff with some school kids

Michael Cooper
Ambassador, WUMC  

Spider Monkey

This blog covers the events of yesterday.  Internet went out last night on the ranch because of a storm, so we couldn't post it until today.


We woke up and headed out to do Bible School at two different schools. First we went to Nueva Esperanza, where the Wilkesboro group roofed three school buildings last year. We all piled into the back of two sketchy pickup trucks to take the hour and a half journey up the mountain. After the hot, dusty ride, we made it safely to the school. We played with the kids for a while and then started the Fruits of the Spirit Bible School. All the kids came together for an opening program, then they divided into two groups to travel to the four different stations: games, drama, art, and music. Brad, Alex, Abby, Jerry, and Stanley did arts and crafts, where they helped the kids color a picture. Brad went to sleep:

Dane, Anna, Jennifer, Lorie, and Maynor assisted with games. There were three different games: one with a towel, ball, a balloon, a sack race, and freeze tag all teaching the kids about patience. Josylin and Cooper sang and danced with the children in music.
In drama, Jarred, Aaron, Chris, Joe, Arnold, Daniel, and Mark told the story of Jesus healing the paralyzed man. They had the children act out the story and asked them questions about the story. Sam was the bell between each of the activities by making the rooster crow. After the kids cycled through all of the stations, everyone sat down for a lunch of chicken and rice served by the teacher. We packed up and headed back down the mountain to do Bible School at the second school.

Nueva Esparanze is about an hour and a half from Quimistan. It's up in northeastern Honduras close to Guatemala. The journey to and from is a long, tedious one. The road is curvy and covered with potholes, and it's very narrow so cars can have trouble passing each other sometimes. On the way back down the mountain our group happened upon an accident that had occurred a matter of minutes before we arrived. We're not sure of the particular details of the accident, but we do know a pickup truck had flipped multiple times before hitting a bank. The truck had been carrying three or four people in the back of it, most of whom had minor injuries. One man had a broken nose. One woman was in pretty bad shape with a crushed leg... they rushed her to the hospital just as soon as the first of us arrived on the scene. But we were more or less the first responders, and as soon as our group arrived we immediately found a first aid kit (Scotti Stevens would be proud) and some of us began doctoring wounds and passing out bottles of water to all the people that had been involved in the accident. Considering the nature of the accident, wounds were fairly minimal - a lot of scraped elbows and some hits to the head. The people involved were lying in the road and beside it, some in a daze, trying to come to grips with what had happened. It easily could have been much, much worse. The man driving the truck saved a lot of lives by steering the truck into the bank rather than toward the drop-off on the other side of the road. It wasn't a pretty scene, but our group's response wasn't a surprising one. Chris Lakey was very proud today. This group has worked and sweated and fought and cried and grown up together over a lot of years, and our response reflected that. 

Jarred helping a kid involved in the accident

After arriving a little late to the second school, due to the accident, we started our second round of VBS. This time we divided the children into four groups and did the same rotation as described above. This VBS was done at the same school we've been working on over the past six days.




Abby & Brad

Death Trap 3000

Another HOT day.  I believe temperatures reached around 95 degrees with humidity making it feel like 115 degrees, but that did not stop us from accomplishing the task laid before us.  For the past four days we have been in the business of tearing down and rebuilding... (sounds a lot like what God does with us, taking the old and making it new.)  Tomorrow we get to take a break from the building, hauling, and digging.  Tomorrow we head up into the mountains (NE) to visit a site where we replaced roofs for a school last year.  There we will do a VBS for around 50 students and hopefully we will eat some doughnuts and drink some coffee.  In the afternoon we travel back down the mountain to the school at Milpa Arada to do a VBS for around 140 students.  It will be different from the last four days, but it will be a good change.  I have witnessed a lot of things on the several mission trips that I have been on and I must say, these college student still amaze me.  Their willingness to stay on the job until the job is done blows me away.  Yesterday the adults on Gloria's site came in bragging about how in temperatures that reached around 95 degrees (real feel 112) the college students made a huge impression on them.  My friends, if our future as a Church and as a nation depends on students like these, we will be OK (of course God is the one who gives us the strength.)  


Today at both sites we accomplished laying more blocks.  But what amazed us the most was the crazy way that the Honduran people build scaffolds, which is taking as many scrap pieces of lumber and nailing it together (some of the students because they are from the south termed it "redneck" scaffolding and "Death Trap 3000".)  The Honduran  people are amazing to watch work.  They are the ultimate in recycling.  However their work ethic and craftsmanship is amazing.  Each of us have been trying to learn their language and at times get a good laugh out of the Honduran people when we miss pronounce their words. So far we have had a great trip.. .the team has come together and God is in control.  We will accomplish whatever it is that God has planned for us and then the rest we will leave for the foundation.  

Death Trap 3000

 Mortaring on Death Trap 3000

Laying block behind the house, where the pila will be relocated

Peace, Chris               

Mook

Both groups left to go to Gloria’s house to see the progress that was made. Then the school group headed to the school.

The school group had a slow start. The girls played Frisbee with the kids, while the guys shoveled dirt. We made cement to start building the kitchen’s storage room. By the end of the day a lot of cement was made to mortar five layers of cinderblocks. Several buckets of cement had to be carried to work on the top of the building. We hung out more with Christian, getting to try a whole bunch of new fruits. 

We left work a little early to make sure we made it to the “Walmart” before it closed. Anna and Abby completed the mission to buy shoes for Oscar.

Jarred and Dane mixing concrete

Anna with kids at the school

Abby with kids at the school

The team at Gloria's house, which, just to make clear, consists of Mark, Jerry, Stanley, Brad, Aaron, Jennifer, Cooper, Lorie, and Alex, continued laying block today.  Most of the work centered around the front of the house where the bathroom will eventually be, but the footers were dug and the ground layer of block was laid behind the house as well, which Jerry headed up.  The team worked in shifts mixing concrete in the blazing sun.  Mark laid over 90 blocks today, measured, and leveled.  Jennifer and Brad - Two Working As a Team - worked as masons packing in mortar between the blocks.  The process is slow, but we're making headway. 

 Lorie and Mark are sifting gravel in this picture.  Before the concrete can be mixed, the gravel has to be sifted to weed out rocks, to smoothen the mortar.  This is the "old world" way of doing this.

None of what we're doing would be possible without these three.

The following pictures show the latest stages of the evolution of the wall:

The wall has reached the point where we're having to build benches to stand on, since the masons at work can no longer work on both sides of the wall due to its height.  At some point a door will have to be constructed via demolition from the inside of the house to create an access.

The heat index today was 112.  Tomorrow it's supposed to be 118.  Wish us luck.

     

Anna, Abby & Brad