As we compile all our pictures from our trip, we came across this video from La Isla School. We installed this swing set for the children, and this was the first time they were allowed to use it. It was just too precious not to share!
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Sounds of Joy
As we compile all our pictures from our trip, we came across this video from La Isla School. We installed this swing set for the children, and this was the first time they were allowed to use it. It was just too precious not to share!
Monday, March 18, 2019
Home, Sweet Home
We are back safe and sound from our Honduran adventure! There are some things we really appreciate about home: understanding the language, being able to flush our toilet paper (can't do that in Honduras - it goes in the trash can), and being able to brush our teeth with water from the sink and not bottled water.
However, there are some things we will really miss about Honduras too: the smell of Zaida's cooking as we return from a long day of work; mango juice and watermelon juice, and basically all the juices; and the brilliant smiles of Honduran school kids when we pulled up in our trucks.
This was an epic adventure, and we thank all of you for following along with us. We will leave you with a few pictures of our last day of sightseeing. Please continue to pray for the people of Honduras, for El Ayudante and the work they are doing, and for us as we try to listen to where God leads us from here! Que Dios les bendiga! (God bless you!)
However, there are some things we will really miss about Honduras too: the smell of Zaida's cooking as we return from a long day of work; mango juice and watermelon juice, and basically all the juices; and the brilliant smiles of Honduran school kids when we pulled up in our trucks.
This was an epic adventure, and we thank all of you for following along with us. We will leave you with a few pictures of our last day of sightseeing. Please continue to pray for the people of Honduras, for El Ayudante and the work they are doing, and for us as we try to listen to where God leads us from here! Que Dios les bendiga! (God bless you!)
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| Smiling pretty in front of Comayagua's Central Square fountain |
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| Silly faces... |
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| ...and they all came tumbling down! |
Friday, March 15, 2019
Fun and Farewells
Our last day in Honduras has been a mix of work and fun. This morning, some of our team worked in the clinic, some checked water filters in homes to make sure they were still working, and some finished the latrines we started earlier this week.
After lunch, we had a meeting to wrap up our time here and then we went to town. We climbed the church bell tower and saw one of the oldest clocks in the world. Then we bought souvenirs and enjoyed Comayagua's central square. We finished up with dinner at a local restaurant. Now we are stuffed and tired!
Since we need to load our bags at 5:30 a.m. and the internet isn't working well, we don't have pictures for today. We'll post some when we get home! Thanks for following our adventures and praying for us!
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Mountain Adventures
Today we drove almost 2 hours up into the mountains to a small community called La Providencia. It was a long, bumpy trip, and most of us stood in the back of the truck the whole time. We were able to install 8 water filters in this community! We visited with each family, shared the gospel, and gave them a Bible as well. Then we bumped back down the road for another 2 hours. Now we all feel like we've taken a beating! ☺
After an extremely quick dinner and changing clothes (and washing the grime off our faces), we went back to the church in La Isla for a family movie night. We showed The Prince of Egypt, served about 90 bags of popcorn, and passed out cups of lemonade. It was a fun night of building relationships.
Tomorrow will be our last full day here! It's hard to believe our trip is almost over. We will do some more work projects in the morning, and then do some sightseeing in the afternoon. We're all looking forward to some fun!
After an extremely quick dinner and changing clothes (and washing the grime off our faces), we went back to the church in La Isla for a family movie night. We showed The Prince of Egypt, served about 90 bags of popcorn, and passed out cups of lemonade. It was a fun night of building relationships.
Tomorrow will be our last full day here! It's hard to believe our trip is almost over. We will do some more work projects in the morning, and then do some sightseeing in the afternoon. We're all looking forward to some fun!
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| Holding cute puppies! |
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| Crossing a stream on our trek up the mountain |
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| Ready for the movie! |
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| Bouncing along the road |
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| One of the families that got a water filter today |
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| Working inside of a house in the mountains |
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| Everybody loves Daniel! (I'm sure you can see why!) |
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| These kids will have clean water to drink now |
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| Washing the sand for the filters |
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| The sand had to be washed 3 times |
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| With Pastor Jessica at La Isla church |
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| Installing the water filter |
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| Checking the flow rate of the water filter |
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| A deep conversation between the boys |
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Today was another busy day, but we'll try to give a few details tonight! ☺
This morning, we broke into groups for working. One group returned to the church where we poured a concrete floor yesterday. The first half of the floor was dry, so we finished the other half today. This is the same church where we attended services last night and will host a family night tomorrow night. They are very excited to finally have a real floor!
One group worked on building an adobe house. They mixed the mud for mortar and laid a row of bricks. Other teams will help complete the house for this family in the weeks to come.
Two team members traveled up the mountain to help with a mobile dental clinic. They helped take care of the needs of people who don't have access to dental care.
In the afternoon, part of the team worked in the Learning Center, playing games with local children. Some of the games were focused on learning English, and some were focused on math. After that, we all helped with Sports Camp. Thirty-two 9th grade students from a local school arrived on the back of a truck for our camp. These students get their PE credit by coming here to El Ayudante. We were able to share a devotional with them, and then we played volleyball. There was some stiff competition, but everyone had a lot of fun!
This evening, we heard from the director of El Ayudante, who presented the vision of this organization. He talked about the projects they have completed and the ones they are still praying about. El Ayudante currently serves an area of 60 square miles with hopes to expand. He asked for our support and prayers as they seek to reach out to as many people as possible with the gospel of Christ while meeting basic needs.
Now we are ready to collapse into bed for some much-needed rest before our water filter adventure tomorrow. We are going far up into the mountains to provide water filters for 8 families. We will leave early in the morning and won't return until dinner time! Be praying for our team as we meet these families and share God's love with them.
This morning, we broke into groups for working. One group returned to the church where we poured a concrete floor yesterday. The first half of the floor was dry, so we finished the other half today. This is the same church where we attended services last night and will host a family night tomorrow night. They are very excited to finally have a real floor!
One group worked on building an adobe house. They mixed the mud for mortar and laid a row of bricks. Other teams will help complete the house for this family in the weeks to come.
Two team members traveled up the mountain to help with a mobile dental clinic. They helped take care of the needs of people who don't have access to dental care.
In the afternoon, part of the team worked in the Learning Center, playing games with local children. Some of the games were focused on learning English, and some were focused on math. After that, we all helped with Sports Camp. Thirty-two 9th grade students from a local school arrived on the back of a truck for our camp. These students get their PE credit by coming here to El Ayudante. We were able to share a devotional with them, and then we played volleyball. There was some stiff competition, but everyone had a lot of fun!
This evening, we heard from the director of El Ayudante, who presented the vision of this organization. He talked about the projects they have completed and the ones they are still praying about. El Ayudante currently serves an area of 60 square miles with hopes to expand. He asked for our support and prayers as they seek to reach out to as many people as possible with the gospel of Christ while meeting basic needs.
Now we are ready to collapse into bed for some much-needed rest before our water filter adventure tomorrow. We are going far up into the mountains to provide water filters for 8 families. We will leave early in the morning and won't return until dinner time! Be praying for our team as we meet these families and share God's love with them.
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| Playing hand clap games with our new Honduran friends |
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| Taking a much-needed rest from the shoveling |
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| We shoveled 110 five gallon buckets of sand today... that's a 2-day total of 240 buckets!! |
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| Playing games at the Learning Center |
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| More Games |
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| And more games! |
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| Building the adobe house |
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| Laying the adobe bricks |
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| Playing volleyball |
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| Warming up for Sports Camp |
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| Mixing the adobe |
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
We are T.I.R.E.D!!
It's been a long, busy day and we're ready for bed! Instead of stories, here are some pictures. Maybe we'll have more brain power tomorrow! 😉
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| Giving out donation bags at VBS |
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| We filled 130 buckets of sand to mix concrete for the church floor |
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| We met our scholarship student, Bryan. |
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| Tired and dirty |
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| Giving the sermon at church |
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| Swinging |
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| Pouring the concrete floor at the church |
Monday, March 11, 2019
The Work Has Begun!!!
It has been another busy day! Today was our first day of working, and we are all tired! (Well, maybe not the students, who are out playing soccer as if they didn't spend the afternoon with shovels in their hands...)
We started the day traveling to a public school called La Isla, where we put on a VBS program as part of their school day. We taught about God's power, using the story of David and Goliath to show how God can help us accomplish impossible things. We had a life-size Goliath made out of cloth, and the kids threw bean bags at him to see what David was up against! The kids also made pouches with "stones" that reminded them that the battle is the Lord's. We finished it up with some Frisbee recreation and some singing and dancing. It was a lot of fun!
While most of the group ran VBS, four of our men installed a swing set for the school. The kids were almost more excited to see the swing set than to participate in the other activities!
We came back to El Ayudante to have lunch, then we loaded up the work trucks for our afternoon activities. There were three groups that went to different places up the mountain. One group began installing a pila for a family. A pila is a concrete water storage container, which helps the rural families have a safe place to store water for washing and household tasks. Two other groups began installing latrines at different houses. They made a concrete pad to cover the latrine hole, and framed in the piping for the latrine before covering that with concrete as well. All of the concrete work in Honduras is done by hand, which means mixing a lot of sand with concrete, then mixing that with water "volcano style" to create concrete. It's a lot of work!
This evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner with the medical missionaries here and then spent some time debriefing and preparing for tomorrow! Please pray for our day tomorrow, as we finish up VBS, install more pilas, pour a concrete floor for a church, and lead a local church service including a children's church. Please leave us a comment so we can know our friends and families are watching along!
We started the day traveling to a public school called La Isla, where we put on a VBS program as part of their school day. We taught about God's power, using the story of David and Goliath to show how God can help us accomplish impossible things. We had a life-size Goliath made out of cloth, and the kids threw bean bags at him to see what David was up against! The kids also made pouches with "stones" that reminded them that the battle is the Lord's. We finished it up with some Frisbee recreation and some singing and dancing. It was a lot of fun!
While most of the group ran VBS, four of our men installed a swing set for the school. The kids were almost more excited to see the swing set than to participate in the other activities!
We came back to El Ayudante to have lunch, then we loaded up the work trucks for our afternoon activities. There were three groups that went to different places up the mountain. One group began installing a pila for a family. A pila is a concrete water storage container, which helps the rural families have a safe place to store water for washing and household tasks. Two other groups began installing latrines at different houses. They made a concrete pad to cover the latrine hole, and framed in the piping for the latrine before covering that with concrete as well. All of the concrete work in Honduras is done by hand, which means mixing a lot of sand with concrete, then mixing that with water "volcano style" to create concrete. It's a lot of work!
This evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner with the medical missionaries here and then spent some time debriefing and preparing for tomorrow! Please pray for our day tomorrow, as we finish up VBS, install more pilas, pour a concrete floor for a church, and lead a local church service including a children's church. Please leave us a comment so we can know our friends and families are watching along!
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| Finishing the concrete for a latrine |
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| Life-size Goliath |
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| When we said "Up the mountain", we meant UP the mountain! |
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| Making a concrete volcano |
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| The kids at VBS |
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| The process of building a latrine |
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| Building the swing set for the kids at La Isla school |
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| Riding in the back of the truck - something kids can't do at home anymore. |
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| Eating dinner at the mission house |
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| Adults enjoying the rocking chairs on the porch after a LONG day of work! |
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| Our hard-working young men installing a pila |
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| Two of the El Ayudante staff members that lead the construction teams |
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| Enjoying the beautiful view on the way back down the mountain |
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| A well-known landmark in the area is Buffalo Mountain |
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| More concrete volcanoes |
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| A typical house in the area |
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