Coloring books with Rachael

A Walk in the Woods

This is a beautiful area of mango trees behind the home and church where we are serving.  The family that lives in this area allowed the church to meet in their yard until the church building was just recently completed.

Power tools

Rhonda and Rachael, drilling holes in the C channel (caneleta) that provide structural support for the roof (el techo).

Day 5 - Eddie starts off on the wall

Eddie starts off the day with a little saw work on the wall.

End of Day 4 (work Day 3)

We finished all the block on the 11th and 12th courses and the gables, so the block work is complete.  We all noted today that the kids are becoming more relaxed and interacting more.  Alexis continues to take great care of his new home and Vilma seemed overwhelmed that her new house is finally becoming a reality.  She also has started interacting more with us.

Pastor Amado from Colonias Unidas came to work with us today.  It was great to see him.

Another highlight of the day was that Maria and her family from Cedano came to see us.  Jeremy couldn't have been happier.

Pastor David, Pastor G, and Orfilio

Team Ellis on the wall

It's not evident from the photo, except for the veterans who would notice the angled gable string in front of us, but this is on the top of the scaffolding, laying the final block on the front wall. 

Gracias por ayudarme, Rhonda.  You did it!

 

Brad, Royce, and Eddie on the wall

End of Day 3 (2nd work day)

We finished 5 more courses by the end of the 2nd work day.  We had cleaned up the site and were preparing to leave but Alexis (the father) was still working around his new casa.

Scorpion and Iguana encounters

We had some excitement when Orfilio found a scorpion in the block pile.  He and Pastor G neutralized it by removing it's stinger and then Orfilio and Kristen had some fun playing with it.  Rhonda kept her distance and then tested how fast she could run in her new boots when her (unnamed) brother offered to give her a closer look (in a totally calm, non-threatening way).

The iguana sighting was a bit more tranquil because he was sitting at a safe distance away in a tree. 

Video mas tarde...

Coloring with the kids

Coloring books are a big hit with the kids.  Thanks Kristen, Rachael and Rhonda!

Roberto and Belki from Monjaras visited

Roberto and Belki from Monjaras visited us in El Tambor today.  They are a beautiful young couple that we met 10 years ago on the first FBC trip to Honduras.  Their daughter is now 6 years old and Jeremy is so excited that she has finally warmed up to him.  They asked us to say "hola" to Roberto Loco (Kimball), Pastor Juan (Eidson), Keith (Lewis), Tomas (Childrey), Jennifer (Huggins), Bill (Loomis), Chris (Ford), and Mark (Prakke) who served with Jeremy (Petty), Kristen (Ellis) and Dennis (Ellis) on that 1st team. 

 

Layla welcomed us to her home

Layla is a 94 year old lady who lives in the village of El Tambor where we are serving.  She is very thin and frail but was completely alert and talked to us for a long time.  She has no kids and no family to care for her so various people in the village try to do so.  We offered her some of our gatoraid, sandwiches, and chips but all she wanted was shrimp. 

Jeremiah - God Bless You My Brother!

Jeremy gathered the kids in a friendly game of futball.  He put on some flashy footwork, but the kids still won.  So far no punctured balls on the barbed wire.

And in case anybody is wondering, this was after he put in a solid day's work.  God bless you my brother for your multiple talents.

Day 2 - end of day group photo

Group photo at the end of day 2.  Hard work and tremendous teamwork from everybody. 

Notice the banana and papaya trees in the background.  The village of El Tambor is located west of Choluteca, in the foothills, but also relatively close to the Gulf of Fonseca.  We drove through the middle of a huge sugar cane farm and saw that operation up close for the first time.

 

This is el papa, Alexis and one of his daughters.  He worked alongside us all day and took tremendous care of his newly forming home.

Day 2 f

Day 2 e

Day 2 d

Day 2 c

Day 2 b

Day 2 a - saving spots for future photos and photos

Day 2 - Starting work on la casa de Alexis y Vilma

We had a great day today.  We met the family of Alexis and Vilma and their 4 girls and started construction on their new house.  They currently live in her mother's house so this will be the first place of their own.  The house is in the village of El Tambor (the drum), which is part of the territory of Monjaras, but not in the actual town of Monjaras where the first FBC team worked 10 years ago.  Pastor David from Monjaras greeted us and remembered us from 10 years ago, so it was great to have that connection.

We have lots of wonderful pictures and videos and stories to show and tell but will have to upload most of those later when we have a faster network connection.

Thanks for your prayers and support.  We take that with us every day and hope that you are enjoying the snow in NC as we enjoy 100 degree weather here.  We have had some cloud cover, shade, and nice breezes, so it has been pleasant.

Mas tarde (more later), adios!

Team Uno

Arrived safely in Choluteca

Not sure, which was the most eventful, the landing or the drive down to Choluteca.  Both had their moments of excitement.  Nonetheless, we arrived safely and had a delicious meal prepared by Jose's wife and then a wonderful time of devotion and preparation for beginning our work in the village of Monjaras tomorrow.  Buenas noches!

All aboard for Tegucigalpa

You forgot what...?

Malaria pills, bug spray, inhaler, and underwear.  

Guess who. 

Team 2 Departing RDU

Team 2 is ready for our 6:00 AM flight to Atlanta where we pickup Rachael and then on to Tegucigalpa. 

Nothing like "Home Sweet Home"

Team 1 arrived back in Raleigh at 10:00 PM Thursday night, 1/23/14. 

Team 1 - Welcome Home!

Who is that hiding behind Philip?

Is that Allison?

Joel looks pretty excited to be back and he hasn't even seen Allison yet.

Cleaning Up, Packing Up, and Ready to Depart

We left Choluteca at 7:00 a.m.  It was a beautiful 3 hour drive north into the mountains to Tegus to the airport.

The Dedication

 

 

The Honduran/American construction team gathered for the dedication service.  Words of appreciation and encouragement were exchanged.  A Team 1 tradition of 'washing the feet' of the Honduran construction members took place (John 13).  Pastor Darwin said a prayer of thankfulness and blessing for the Sunday school building.  And keys were presented to the locks on the doors.  A special ending to special week in Piedra de Agua. 

Beautiful Honduran Children and Youth...a blessing

 

These are inspiring beautiful children with names like Dehiz, Elmer, Jose, Edwin, Eduwado, Meylin, Yeslin, Csvi, Junior, Christian, David, Fransico, Vanessa, Maria, Wilson etc.! 

 

Floors and Roof work today

 

Today the team poured the floors with 7 plus piles of concreto.  Mixing the concreto is all done by hand...and back.  Budd and Tommy raked and smoothed the floors.  Ron and Keith fixed the galvanized metal roof material to the supports.

Apply twice daily

We were all expecting the normal Honduran 'hot and dusty' weather.  This year it was hot but it never made it to 100 degrees.  There was a nice breeze most every day but we still had to apply the 30 spf for protection.  We look forward to returning to the current polar vortex freeze that will welcome us at home tomorrow night.

Day 6 - A New Legacy for Luz y Vida

 

Luz y Vida church has a quality legacy.  But any time the children needed to meet separately for sunday school time they either met in the soccer field across the street or in the wooden lean-to beside the church.  After 5 days of construction they now have two 16 x 20 rooms for the children.  The adults meet in the church.