Today we split into two groups and went our separate ways. The larger of the two groups returned to Santa Clara to continue working on the foundation of the cafeteria and classroom. Heavy bovine traffic was encountered on the road to Santa Clara but we eventually arrived. As usual the weather was hot and humid. Throughout the day, rocks were hand carried from a nearby field for use in the building’s footer. Concrete was poured in a portion of the footer before the threat of rain caused work to come to a halt. While in Santa Clara, several members of the group had the opportunity to visit some homes and see several of the new stoves the Honduras Agape Foundation has recently funded. These stoves have proved a blessing to the their owners because they are not only 75% more efficient but greatly reduce the amount of smoke within the homes. The young folks also took the opportunity to snuggle with some of the little ones they encountered on their walk.
The second and smaller of the two groups began building desks and benches for a local elementary school. This is a first time effort for HAF team members. With the help of a local woodworker in Quimistan who graciously allowed us the use of his shop, we partially completed a desk and chair. During periods of down time, Christa and Cecilia made friends with a cute three year old girl.
The two groups reconvened for dinner and that evening gathered for a good old fashioned “soap and shampoo sorting”. Here, we sorted soaps, shampoos, body washes and other hygiene items donated from back home then placed them into pint sized bags for distribution to local townspeople later this week. A good time was had by all. We continue to remain in good health and spirits and look forward to what tomorrow brings.
Today was to be a somewhat relaxing day, in that there was no difficult toilsome labor to be done.Our schedule included a “late” breakfast at 8 AM, several hours of preparation, and then I would have my debut as a helper in a vacation bible school session for some kids in the community.When I woke up, I couldn’t remember what we had going on late in the afternoon, but I told myself I would find out at breakfast.(It turned out we were going to visit the Sunday bible classes of the Agape Promise kids, and then they would come back to Señora Martha’s place for dinner and a skit we would put on).Everyone loves seeing the kids in our group.I’ve never been a big fan of praise songs ever since my mother would play the VBS tapes on repeat on long car rides when I was a kid, and I was probably not the most enthusiastic singer.What I lacked in energy, however, Arden and Mrs. Eberhard, specifically (along with many of the others), made up for with their energized dancing and perfection of those catchy little kids’ songs.I think the kids enjoyed the service, which included several spirited vocal solos from the kids in the community (they were just invited to come to the front and sing Christian songs that they knew).Afterwards, we broke off into three separate groups, a coloring group, a game group, and a crafts group.I don’t know exactly what went on at the other two groups, however, where I was stationed, the kids made bracelets with colored beads to remind them of the various elements of salvation (that is, a yellow bead signifying heaven, where we go when we are saved, black beads symbolizing sin which separates us from God, red beads symbolizing the blood of Christ which is our saving grace, white beads emphasizing the cleansing act of Jesus’ sacrifice, and green beads symbolizing one’s spiritual growth which comes from reading and sharing the truths of the bible).The kids seemed to enjoy it all, and I saw quite a few of the kids later on in the day with their bracelets still on.I’m sure they will be all the rage in the city of Quimistan, and all the kids who missed out will be begging their friends to let them borrow their bracelets for their next stylish evening on the town.And hopefully they will use them as a tool to spread the message we tried to instill in them throughout the community.After we ate our lunch and lay around for a bit, we prepared for a skit we were to do later in the evening.After a bit, we went and visited the Agape Promise kids at their bible class, which was located at a kindergarten that was not in use on a Sunday afternoon, and they returned to Sra.Martha’s Kitchen where we played around with some bouncy balls and Frisbees before putting on a skit, witnessing a song and a skit of the kids’ own, and serving them dinner.After dinner, our day is usually pretty much over besides the occasional spirited game of Uno or volleyball, but what happened after today is what compelled me to write today’s blog.In fact, I am quite positive that what happened just minutes after the kids left the compound will be one of my most vivid memories for the rest of my life.
We were hanging out with the kids outside the compound, not wanting them to leave, as they began to pile into the backs of trucks and vans, as a storm began to whip up in the distance.“Hay luz en el pueblo” (there’s light in the village), I heard one of the ladies say before we sent them off, thankfully getting them away before the impending tempest.That storm never reached a very climactic level besides some loud thunder and some bright lightning bolts coming from a few miles away.As we headed in from the storm once most of the kids had left, we began to collect our food onto plates and sit down, talking amongst ourselves, when we heard a huge crashing sound.At first I thought that it was a nearby lightning bolt and thought myself lucky to be inside, however, I heard horrified cries from my friends, that there had been a car accident just outside the window, that someone had crashed into the ditch next to the wall of the compound, and we all ran outside to see what we could do to help.There were three people in the car, two men and a boy.The boy and one of the men escaped unscathed, but the third man, named John, was not nearly so lucky.His jeep had apparently flipped three times before facing backwards upside down in the ditch on the opposite side of the road from where he’d been driving.I can describe what happened next as no less than a miracle, as some of the people around helped pull the man from under the car, we scrambled for first aid supplies and a telephone, and our translator hurried back into town to talk the mayor into sending an ambulance out as quickly as possible.Nonetheless, the ambulance took over 30 minutes to get there, even though the red cross was only a mile away from the compound, and on the same road.Mrs.Turnipseed, Arden, and others quite miraculously performed the necessary first aid to keep the man in decently good shape until the ambulance arrived.I honestly believe that if he had wrecked 500 meters away from the compound in any direction, this man’s fate may have taken a turn for the worse.As it is, however, he eventually was carried off in the ambulance, and we were left with an intangible but important reminder of how dangerous this place (and roads in general) can be.We thank God that the kids had been taken away from the compound by the approaching storm, and hope that you’ll continue to hold us in your prayers.I personally realize now how much we really need them, and continue to pray for this man’s own well-being. We are all fine, however, and prepared to face the challenges the next day has for us.
Today’s events were very strenuous and we worked extremely hard. You all should be proud of us. We are. Actually, I’m just kidding...sorry. Today was actually our day of recreation. We started the day with an extra hour of sleep. Needless to say, I was very excited and grateful for that privilege. After breakfast, we toured the new hospital in Quimistan that was funded by Mrs. Martha and Mr. Gary. It was a excellent facility and I was very impressed with the work that had been put into it and its outcome. Although most of us will miss the grand opening on June 22nd, Mrs. Roxanne and Cecelia will get to see it. Another treat of the day was that we were able to visit the two houses that had been worked on last summer. I, personally, was not on that trip but it was a great experience to see the work that my friends had done and see the grateful looks on the families’ faces. After lunch, we attended some massage therapy sessions. We started the experience with some aroma therapy followed by a hot rock treatment and culminated the experience with a hydro-therapeutic massage. Translated in Honduran, this means: traveling through a cow pasture, scrambling up boulders on the side of the waterfall, and sitting at the base of the waterfall with the spray pounding on our backs. It was a very relaxing experience. We were all impressed by Mrs. Roxanne’s leap of faith off the second tier of the waterfall into the cold water below. There was some screaming but I think she rather enjoyed it. We did our community service of the day by collecting a huge bag of trash from the area surrounding the waterfall so that others could enjoy the wonderful view. Throughout the day, many of us exercised the availability of a volleyball net, some better than others, but here in Honduras everyone is a volleyball star. A little boy staying in a house on the compound played with us, although I believe he thought us to be a little insane when we started making up our own additions to the volleyball rules, some of these rules being the use of feet and running in circles while the ball was on the other side of the court. A college student from San Pedro Sula who was a part of the Quimistan Valley Scholars program joined us for dinner and a couple games of volleyball and soccer this evening. We learned that he was studying to be an engineer and was very grateful for the opportunity to further his education. All in all, today was filled with many new experiences and team building. Although we did not strengthen our actual muscles with physical labor today, we did strengthen our bonds with the community and each other. And as Ardyn reminded us in her devotion this morning, that is one step toward agape love.
The only Spanish words I knew before I arrived in Quimistan were taco, burrito, and Ricky Martin. However, over the last few days I have learned a few more words and phrases. For instance, frijoles means beans and I’m pretty sure I will remember this word for the rest of my life. Between the refried beans at the majority of the meals and literally spending all day planting beans with a pole on the slope of a mountain, I believe I have had enough beans to last for an eternity. This morning Annalise, Lauren, Miss Beth, and I trekked through the jungle, or in my case rode on the back of a motorcycle, up the side of a mountain to plant beans for the community in Santa Clara. Unfortunately, the hard-working Hondurans that we worked with thought that we were too slow. Due to this, they only let us hand them beans. This taught me that the Spanish word for lazy is perezoso. While we slaved on the hot slope, the rest of the group finished digging the trenches for the foundation of the classroom and carried 350 bricks up the hillside to the house that is being built. As we are expanding our Spanish vocabulary, the children of Honduras are also learning a little bit of English. For me, the most rewarding part of the day was after we walked back to the truck and a little four year-old boy was waiting for us. As he saw our group he piped up and said, "Hello, how are you?" This "adopted" son was able to travel back to Quimistan with us. On the bus ride back to Quimistan, he fell asleep on me and everyone was silent as they watched him sleep. Although a few of us are learning a little bit of both English and Spanish, we are reminded that love is a universal language.
P.S. Feliz CumpleaZos is another word we learned today as it is Donald’s nineteenth birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DONALD! :) God Bless, Cecelia (17)
Today dawned bright and exceptionally early, especially for those of us who were unfortunate enough to have gone without sleep. After a traditional breakfast and devotion we departed for the village of Santa Clara, a town much smaller and more secluded than Quimistan and undoubtably less accustomed to gringos. It was there that our work began. We split up into groups: Ardyn, Donald, Brian, and I pick-axed and shoveled the rocky ground to create footers for the preschool, Eric, Lila, and Sam planted beans in one of the fields, and the rest of us carried bricks from the kiln to the house being built (or as the case turned out to be, played with the kids, otherwise known as building relationships).Santa Clara is up into the mountains, so though the temperature was never cool enough to justify an end to my habitual complaints, it definitely wasn’t as hot as in past years. During the lunch break Ardyn demonstrated her beastly soccer skills which are, to say the least, impressivo. In the afternoon, Donald, Lauren, Roxanne, and I rode with Andrea, Maynor, and two doctors to another small town, Banderos, to visit a bimonthly health clinic there. The clinic was held in a one room school house which we learned had 54 students spanning six grades. The doctors had a list of names of patients, and with Andrea’s help I checked them in. There were about thirty names listed, but we also accepted about fifteen kids who were not on the list. There were two pregnant girls who looked no older than fourteen, a boy who had gotten his neck sliced by a wire in a bicycle accident, a man who had massive road burns on his legs when he was hit by a truck, and many others in desperate need of medical attention. After about three hours the small, hot room was inundated with impatient patients, and we had to start turning away those who weren’t on the list. All of those who received an exam were given bottles of the pills they needed, whether it be Tylenol or the sadly all too common tapeworm medication. During the often long breaks in the line, Andrea explained more to me about the Honduran culture than I have picked up in the last two years here. Even though we were all split into separate groups and we may not have necessarily been with our friends, we were all working toward a common goal, and not the soccer kind. -Christa (17)
We are here! After an easy flight and an always exciting drive to Quimistan (we had to put the door back on the van first), we arrived at Sister Martha’s compound mid-afternoon, safe and sound but very tired. We spent our afternoon and evening settling in and making plans for the next ten days. (Know how to make God laugh? Make plans!) Those plans include constructing a school in Santa Clara, planting beans for the school, conducting a Bible school for Martha’s Sunday School children and in Banderas, and distributing school supplies. We also met with Maynor as well as Andrea, a college student in Rhode Island who lives in Quimistan and will be our translator. Many of our team members are returning for a second, third, or seventeenth time, with two of our members here for the first time. We are all excited about doing God’s work here! One final note: This trip blog will be done by a different team member each night. We will attempt to show in our words and pictures what has been accomplished as well as to give our personal insights into our mission here. Blessings from Honduras, Beth
The HAF Summer 2009 mission season got off to a fun start as half the team left Aiken at 4:15 a.m. to meet a 6:45 a.m. flight out of Columbia.
The group included several interesting life forms, such as a parrot (Cecelia), a monkey (Annalise said she was a bear, but she looked more like a monkey to me ☺), an aquatic creature, possibly a shark (Krista), as well as Lauren and Donald, with Beth acting as “mother hen”.
They were to meet up in Atlanta with the other half of the team, including Brian, Eric, and Lila who all drove from Aiken; Sam and Roxanne, who flew in from Miami (I’ll let them tell that story); and Ardyn, arriving from Canada.
We trust their journey to Quimistan was safe, and pray that they enjoy their time in Honduras as they discover God’s Plan for each of them. The thoughts and prayers of friends and family at home go with them as they spread Christ’s Love to our Honduran neighbors. We anxiously await progress reports as the events of their trip unfold!
