Honduras Day 4, Wednesday

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Words are woefully inadequate to describe what we saw and felt today; more on that later.

We had another wonderful breakfast at 7 a.m. I managed to run 3 miles before that. I am finding that running at altitude is a little harder than running back home.

After a good breakfast we took off for the warehouse. We had a young man ride down with us, Manuel. He is 13 and became my buddy today. He is the son of Rosa, a lady who used to work at the mission house. Many of us got to know Rosa last summer.

The ride into the city was smooth this morning. We think it was because of the presidential inauguration. Maybe the people had the day off? We were glad to get to the warehouse and back out before anything happened. We were a little concerned that streets might be blocked off, etc. We had no problem, and we guess everything went well with the inauguration. We saw some fighter jets fly over this afternoon and then heard some noises that we hope were fireworks.

The build today was challenging. Solid rock in a couple of places. We had to reduce the house from 16 feet wide to 12 feet because of the rocks. It took us an hour and a half to set the posts. We also had to cut a tree down and remove it. Sadly the tree fell on Dan’s backpack and crushed his camera. Believe it or not, it still works!

Once the posts were set, everything came together pretty well. It was an uneventful build for the most part. We interrupted it around lunch time to travel to the dump.

I have never seen anything like what I saw today at the dump. I’ve seen picture and heard stories, but being there in person is simply shocking. I was pretty well stunned. People live there, and they compete with buzzards, dogs, and cattle to find food and items they can sell. The sights, sounds, and smells are beyond words. I felt like weeping.

We took a bunch of food and passed it out of the back of a pickup truck. I’m not sure how many we fed, but it was quite a few. Men, women, girls, and boys all lined up to receive a hot meal and a drink of fresh water. I took lots of video and hope to have a DVD ready for Sunday morning.

After our time at the dump, we returned to the building site. As we were finishing up the house, dozens of people gathered, as they always do. A little boy and a little girl were playing with a couple of our hammers and nails. Suddenly we heard this terrible scream from the little girl. We looked and saw blood dripping, at a fairly rapid rate, from her finger. The little boy accidently hit her. We had a nurse on site today, so she took care of everything.

After the girl calmed down and was bandaged up, I presented her with a Dora the Explorer doll. This doll has a little history. Some of our little girls at church had a little dispute about the doll a couple of weeks ago. It was funny for those of us not parenting them! Anyway, the Dora doll is now in the hands of a sweet little Honduran girl who had a very rough day. There are some photos below.

Today’s house we built in memory of Clint Gorman, Teresa Birtles’ father. The young man receiving the house has a wife and 2 children. His name is Murlon. He works at the mission house as a maintenance man. He is very sharp, friendly, likeable, and speaks a little English. We did not get to meet his family today, unfortunately.

After dedicating the house, providing him with a bag of Bryantsville corn, and a bag of goodies, we went to the special needs orphanage. Wow. “First the dump and now this.” It was pretty tough. We plan to install a water treatment system there in the summer. We need about $2,000 to do it.

The Lord continues to bless us as we are striving to live out Matthew 25:31 and following. Truly we are serving the “least of these” in the name of Jesus. They are truly grateful, and so are we. We are very grateful for those of you are praying for us and have made it possible for us to build five houses this week.

Please keep praying for us. Thanks!

Honduras January 2010, Day 4