FBC Raleigh Honduras 2014: 2014

Monday, February 3, 2014

Rick Offered a Message of Discipleship

Rick led the service today with a message of discipleship. The church in El Tambor was full of adults and kids. Groupo dos also offered two songs during the worship service.

Day 7 - Sunday morning breakfast

Sunday, February 2, 2014

True story… a few weeks ago, on a Wednesday night in the FBC Raleigh fellowship hall, a Centerpoint bulletin was left on a table with this handwritten note at the top of the page... "His name is Bob Kimball". No doubt, Bob had been at the piano leading the singing of hymns to start off the evening and a newcomer to the church asked someone else who he was. Bob has a way of making impressions on people, ... and making things happen.

Bob was the first member from FBC Raleigh to come to Honduras. When Hurricane Mitch hit the country in October 1998, NC Baptist Men arranged disaster relief teams and Bob joined a team from another church in 1999 to help out where he could. He continued to travel once a week for a few years, then recruited Jeremy Petty to join him. After their incredible year in Cedano, Honduras in 2004, they recruited a team from FBC Raleigh and the first full team traveled in January 2005.

This is the 10th anniversary of those trips and every year the ministry grows larger and stronger. Bob couldn't be here on this trip because he had to take care of responsibilities back home, but he was here in spirit, and in song, in prayer and in play.

God bless you my brother!!

Offering a blessing for this new home

Dios bendiga este hogar

God bless this home.

Greg and Kevin (Alexis' brother)

Why am I retaining water?

There are always such good inside jokes and funny moments on this trip.
Guess who this one is from?

Saturday, February 1, 2014

... and floor day

Rhonda, Kristen, Pastor G, Brad, Dennis, and Alexis also finished the floor today.

Day 6 - Roof Day

Day 6 (the 5th work day) marks that finishing touch of putting on the roof. Royce, Eddie, and Mike Greene worked on top and Jeremy, Greg, Rick, and Orfilio passed up the sheets of tin.

End of Day 5

Alexis, Vilma, and their kids and other relatives pose for a picture at the end of day 5 (4th work day). C channels are set in place and half the floor is poured.

The young man on the bicycle to the left is Kevin. He is Alexis' brother and lives nearby. He is a friendly, hardworking young man who helps keep mezcla mixed for us all day. As soon as we are finished he hops on his bike to ride to the futbol (soccer) field to play with his friends.

Girls line up for braids and hairbows

with Kristen, Rhonda, and Rachael...

(... and Dennis even got top braid one little girl's hair. We'll see if she wants a redo from a professional tomorrow.)

Friday, January 31, 2014

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

Thursday, January 30, 2014

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...

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

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.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

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

Monday, January 27, 2014

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!