Honduras Summer 2011 Day 5

Honduras Summer 2011 Day 5

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What an amazing day! I think it may be my favorite day in Honduras ever. We built 2 houses, but there is so much more to the story than simple construction More about that later.

We had 4 team members who were not feeling well today: Curt and Beth and both Hannahs. They are doing better now. Even though they could not go out in the field today, they were able to make a very significant contribution to our work. They assembled our food bags, which makes us ready for Thursday and Saturday’s distribution.

Our team is really making me proud. Everyone is working hard and doing so well. We are getting a lot of compliments on our work ethic and how we are going about things. Today, with the help of some Hondurans, we set a record for house construction: 2 hours and 1 minute! It was crazy fun!

We built 2 houses today and changed a bunch of lives. The first house was dedicated to Steven Gaither. We constructed it for a young mother and her beautiful little daughter. They had been living with other relatives in very cramp conditions. We had to wait a long time on the lumber, but the construction went well. It was so rewarding to watch the dedication of the house and to hear the prayer of blessing in Spanish.

The second house, like the first, was out in the country. We built it for a 75 year old lady named Anna. Anna and 6 or 7 others were living in a little house literally made of sticks. It had a few pieces of tin over the top. Inside there was one bed, and it had a piece of plastic suspended above it to keep the rain water off of it. There is no way that they would be able to stay dry during the hard rains. The house was probably 10 by 10 feet.

We built her our typical 16 by 16 house. Compared to where she was living, she moved into a mansion this evening. She was so grateful, and we were so thankful to be able to partner with God in this world to make a difference. It so humbling and rewarding. We plan to go back to take her some food and clothes. When we went into the old house, there was no food there at all. We also plan to take some of the mattresses we shipped.

I love being here, and we appreciate your prayers and support!