The early bird catches the worm

We have a guy on this trip you all need to meet. Those back home in Sarasota know him and will understand everything I am going to tell you. His name is Randy. The man is a workaholic. He knows it, even talks about it on a regular basis. He is usually up by 4:30 every morning to work. Poor guy, I feel for him. Full speed ahead for this guy but usually turns into a pumpkin by 10:00. Our schedule has been driving him crazy. Not early enough. Not fast enough. Lasts too long. I am sure you get the picture. So, because I am so nice, I decided to plan the day with Randy. And what a day it was!!!!

We were up and WORKING at 6:00 am (yes, I agreed to this). The whole team was there and we sorted and packed food for 250 families. We used an assembly line and knocked out the project in less than 45 minutes. Totally amazing. Randy was beaming as the team worked in the early morning hours. 7:00 breakfast (first time on the trip everyone was there for breakfast - kitchen staff was caught off guard from this bizzare event and had to cook more food for us!). The packaged food was then loaded onto the bus and we scrambled to get ready for the day. We were determined to be out the gate before 8:00.

Nathan, Joe, and Gena Hines headed up an 8 person team that went to Nueva Oriental to build a house. There is a woman who lives there that has 5 children and her husband was killed during Easter week; being hit by a bus. She was devistated and had no means to build the house that her and her husband had planned. She was living at her sister's house and we decided that something had to be done. It is amazing what can happen when you are working with a purpose. The lumber and supplies arrived and literally 5 hours later a brand new house stood on her lot. The house included a wooden floor, paint inside and out (Gena says Nathan is not allowed to pick out the color of houses anymore). It was a unique color of blue (all the guys liked it)on the outside and white on the inside. Tim arrived with mattresses, chairs, and a giant water barrel. The women cried, "Thank you God!" so many times that the team lost count. Everyone in the village was happy for her, she is a wonderful mother and neighbor.

The rest of us went to the warehouse to grab paint and brushes, we were heading back to the Valley to paint the houses we built earlier in the week. Before we went to the valley we went to San Miguel, another colony we have been working in for about 2 years. A church was planted there last year and is in a great location. We used the area just below the church building as a staging area and passed out the food boxes we prepared. Randy shuttled food up to the top of the ridge using Joe's Land Cruiser while other team members carried boxes by hand. John Wallace used our construction wheel barrel to wheel bags of food up the steep hills in rapid order. In less than 2 hours 200 families had food delieved to their doors. We left 50 bags of food at the church building for the minister to pass out to the members there. Some families were so desperate for food that they actaully ate the food right out of the bags when they were delievered. I am sure many prayers were answered today.

Early afternoon we arrived at the Valley of Angels. 2 paint crews tackled the job of painting the houses. Both were well off of the beaten path. We painted in a fury because every indication told us that rain was coming again (have I told you that it has rained down here?). While the paint crews were working another team of Super Bufftrucks went to the church property to do demolition work. With sledge hammers in hand the team busted the top section of a giant concrete well that sits on the front part of the property. It has to be removed because the entry to the church building will be at that point on the property. To say that these guys worked hard is an understatement. Lesser men would have fainted from this task and would have ran way, but not these guys. Awesome work.

At 4:30 everyone met at Carlo's house for the VBS and adult Bible study. Small crowd again today, maybe 40 total. Dan Mann taught the adults and Anibal Tamacus, our translator from El Salvador, led the VBS. Games were played and refreshments were consumed and it didn't even rain on us. Now that is what you call a good day. We wrapped up the day with dinner at the Mission House. We had a great meal tonight (baked chicken, potatoes, and corn on the cob)which really hit the spot.

After dinner we had planned to go play basketball tonight but the rain came and we could not play (have I told you about the rain down here?). Oh well, a quiet night on campus is not a bad thing. Tonight we are having split devos. Guys down stairs and the girls up stairs. Devo will start in just a few minutes so I have to run so I can be there on time.

What an awesome day today. we got so much done today, all because of Randy and his scheduling. Of course, his new nickname is "Slave Driver." But hey, that is OK, especially down here in Honduras. Good night everyone, one more blog to go before we leave for our retreat. Hope your week will be as good and rewarding as ours. Peace.

TR