Home Again

Just a footnote to let all followers of this blog know, we had an uneventful trip home yesterday with three of us arriving back in Franklin about 9pm and the other 4 about 1:30am.  We all left San Pedro Sula just before noon (with temperatures in the 90's) and flew to Houston where we had to take two different connecting flights home.

We'll sort through our thoughts over the next several days but we have to count this as a very successful and fulfilling short-term mission trip.  The project that we participated in was well-designed and all parties involved, both recipients and traveling team, benefited from the experience.   We're grateful to all for your support and prayers.  Thank you all for this opportunity to "Go Into The World to Love and Serve the Lord".  We gave it our best shot and had a lot of fun at the same time.  Thank you.                                                               dan

Tuesday April 27

Our last full day in Honduras!  We started early from Copan because we had received a call that the Bishop of Honduras would like to meet with us.  After devotions and an early breakfast we were on the road back to San Pedro Sula.......a three hour trip.

We arrived at the Cathedral complex in San Pedro Sula in time for our 11am appointment .   We met with Bishop Lloyd Allen in his office and had a short and pleasant visit.  We then headed back to our hotel to relax and pack before our final team dinner.

Dinner was a special occasion as we invited
Reverenda Barbara, her driver, Freddy (our driver & interpreter) and his family to join us at a nice local restaurant.  There's not much to say except that the food was good, we ate too much, and a good time was had by all.  It was a great way to say thank you to the people who had been helping us throughout this entire mission trip.

Copan Ruins

the bird man of Copan

street scene in Copan Ruinas with mototaxi

Our work was done so now we're having a little fun.  Immediately after church on Sunday in Delicias we left the San Pedro Sula area and headed north to visit the Mayan ruins at Copan.  We had rooms for two nights in the colonial town of Copan Ruinas and tickets to the archeological site on Monday.  We took the advice a to get an early start before the heat of the day became extreme, but we were wilting by 11a.m.. Our next stop was lunch and a tour of a very nice Bird Sanctuary and Avian Rehabilitation Center.  A few of us got very personal with the Macaws and as a result left with (well-deserved) torn shirts and mutilated caps.

Probably the most enjoyable part of the day was the strong thunderstorm that came through Copan in the evening.  Streets were flooded and electricity was out throughout the town.  Even some of the ground floor rooms in our hotel had water running across the floors.  The best part was that the temperature immediately dropped about 10 degrees.                                                                                             D

Sunday April 25, 2010

Today we attended church services in Delicias and said adios to some of our new friends.  The service was a little different than what we are used to at home.  For starts, the 9:30 service really started at about 9:55.  Then at one point during the service a dog wandered in and took a nap under the pews.  Kids came and went, mothers nursed their babies, and the LOUD sound system drowned out the chattering children.  We really did enjoy the enthusiasm of the singing and the very sincere and active passing of the peace.

We participated during the service with Brian reading a lesson in Spanish, and Dan reading the Gospel in English after Reverenda Barbara first read it in Spanish.  At the conclusion of the church service Dan & Kim presented gift bags from our Daughters of the King in Franklin to the Daughters in Delicias.

Saturday, 24 April, 2010

The family water tank.

Jose, our master stove-builder and Jack-of-all-trades gathering coconuts for our break.

Coconut Milk Break

Another Stove!

We had a little unfinished business so we decided to return to Delicias today and finish the last 4 stoves for which we had purchased supplies.  This was the hottest day yet so we started earlier and were able to finish in the early afternoon.  We are enjoying our sense of accomplishment as we were able to complete 4 water tanks, 11 latrines, and 15 stoves.  Our team also rebuilt a stove that was not heating properly and demonstrated to local contractors how to prevent the same problem in the future.

We have also really enjoyed working beside and for some very hard working but economically disadvantaged families.  We are impressed with their work ethic and ingenuity to accomplish a task with the crudest of tools.  We have probably learned at least 100 things that you can do with a machete, including cut holes in metal roofing, score and bend small metal rods, and fell medium-sized trees and trim to fit as roof supports and cross-beams.

Tonight we are rehydrating and relaxing in San Pedro Sula.  Tomorrow morning we will again particiate in church services at San Lucas Church in Delicias with the people that we have been working with all week.

Dan, Brian, Dave, Kim, Don, Bill & Mike

Friday 23 April

Can i say another hot one today?  At 8pm local time our weather report reads 90 degrees F and feels like 104 degrees).  It had to be 96-98 at our work site today.  We had to rework our budget for bottled water and buy a few more cases.




Morning Devotions at the Green Frog Hotel

Kids leaving school at Delicias

i

Mortar Mixers














Don, the Bricklayer

Your Dollars at Work













Bill, the candy man.

Thursday-San Pedro Sula

Kim, the Pied Piper of Delicias, Honduras


Another hot one.  Today temperature was 34 degrees centigrade.....we just knew it was really hot.
We've finished our 5th latrine, 9th stoves and 4th water tank so we have been busy.  We definitely enjoy the end of the day when we can cool off and relax.  We have to head straight back to our hotel from work because we do not want to leave the impression that all Americans dress and smell as badly as we do at the end of the day.

top to bottom: hiking up to our work sites, Brian and Kim with one of the recipients of their work,
a family anxiously waiting to use their new stove.