Day 3, Tuesday

It was another good day in Tegucigalpa! We have internet now! I posted the first two blogs earlier today at Mark Connell’s house. I was also able to make a quick call to Kedra; sure was good to hear her voice. Since we have the internet now, I can call her on Skype after I get this post finished.

I hear that I missed a good snow back home. I hear more may be coming. You know I like snow, so I am conflicted. I must confess, however, the 80 degree weather is pretty pleasant. I’ve run a little each morning. It’s been about 60 degrees at daybreak.

We built another house today. It was the best build that I’ve experience in my short building career (last summer and this week). We were finished in about 2.5 hours! We had lots of Honduran help again. Wow, they are amazing! The site was somewhat easier than yesterday. We walked down to it, instead of climbing up.

The Hondurans brought all the lumber in, and they tore the old house down before we came. Some of the photos below show the old house piled up. It was a few pieces of tin supported by some boards. You will also see in the photos the family’s “kitchen.” It is a few pieces of tin, a wash tub, and an open fire. It’s hard to imagine living like this all the time.

We built in the same slum where we built yesterday, Mololoa. Mololoa is on the northeast side of Tegucigalpa. It is an area with a lot of gang activity. It is not the safest area to be, but Mark explained that the gangs actually protect TORCH workers. He said it began when TORCH built a house for a person associated with a gang. The gangs realized that the Gringos who build houses are good and helpful. There has never been a problem.

We went to lunch with Mark and a bunch of the Honduran boys who helped us. We ate local fare. It was good! It was a porkchop on some kind of chips and salsa, covered in some kind of sauce. I have a photo of the restaurant’s sign below.

After lunch we spent some time in the warehouse organizing and taking inventory for this summer’s trip. We also got some more corn and other supplies for our build tomorrow. It was a good way to spend some time.

We are staying in the mission house where we stayed last summer. For $15 a day we get two yummy meals and a nice room for sleeping. It is very comfortable and has a 24 hour guard.

Tomorrow is going to be a rough day. We are going to build a house near the dump. We will take a break and go feed people at the dump and then come back to finish the house. Then later in the afternoon we will go visit a special needs orphanage. We hope to install a water treatment system there during the summer trip. I think it will be hard seeing the people who live at the dump, and then I expect the kids in the orphanage will tear my heart up.

Please keep praying for Help for Honduras ministry.

Honduras January 2010 Day 3