Rainy days in Honduras

You know, Honduras had gone weeks without rain until we got here. Yep, weeks. Dry as a bone. But since we got here it has rained every day. Rainy season began about a week ago and we can all say without a doubt that it seems to be working just fine. So, with that in mind lets talk about the day today!

Morning began again with the sounds of roosters and dogs. Do these animals ever sleep? City slickers like me are just not used to this stuff. Never the less, most of us were up before sunrise and were showered and dressed for the day way before breakfast. But it was a beautiful morning. The rain stopped late last night and the skies gave us a false sense of hope that it would be a dry day today. Oh well. Scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast got us going on the right foot. And refried beans too! Now we're talking.

Morning devotional was led by Steve Kemp, better known as Sparky. A veteran Torcher, Steve talked about his spiritual journey. He stressed the importance of being a Christian, not acting like a Christian. Good stuff. The troops set off to work in their journals during focus time and then we loaded our gear on the bus for the day. Today we were anxious to get out of the gate early and get to the work at hand. Today was going to be our first day of construction. On the docket today were 2 houses in the Valley of Angels.

We left right on time (first clue that something was going to go wrong today). The drive out was beautiful. The sky was overcast and it was nice and cool. Fresh. We met up with Carlos Toledo, the local preacher, who led the group out to the work sites. Joe delivered our wood and supplies right on time (clue number 2). We got to the work site of the first house that Nathan Reeves was heading up, and the work began. Randy Kluge headed up the other team that departed with Joe to the other site. As Nathan said, "I will never forget this day."

So many stories, so little time. The rain began about 2 hours later. It did not start off as a drizzle, it just went straight to pouring. And it never let up. It was wet, it was cold. You could see your breath. Chainsaws would't work. The truck got stuck in the mud. Trees were cut down to get it out. The teams couldn't communicate with each other. And it rained. All day long it came down. Teams returned to the Mission House soaked to the bone and looking for a hot shower and warm, dry clothes. It took all night to get warm again.

We went to Tim and Gena Hines' house for dinner. We had quite a spread and it was so good. We had an early evening devotional led by new comer Matt Wilkinson. He did a great job. Real Christianity. Taking what we know and applying it to what we do. Very appropriate for the team. After devo we loaded up the bus and went back to town. We broke our media fast to go see the opening night of Star Wars. Many of the group had never seen a Star Wars movie (what's up with that?) and some were so tired that even an action packed movie couldn't keep them from nodding off. But those of us that are faithful fans loved it and agreed it was the best one of them all. Classic good vs. evil.

We are waiting to see what the weather will be like before we decide what projects we will do tomorrow. For now we will remain constant in prayer about the storm and the rain. We are high and dry and have plenty of indoor projects on deck. Love you all.

TR