Hades in Honduras!

Today was one of the most humbling experiences that I have ever had in my life.  Today I helped build my second house.  Let me just say it this way,  if hell is anything like where I was today, (and I’m sure it’s much worse) I don’t want to go.  Of course, I don’t want to go anyway!

 

I'm sad to say that I'm having technical difficulties and I can't upload any of my other pictures tonight.  This was the youngest daughter of the family we built for.  She is smiling and happy about her new house!!

 

Today’s plan was for two houses to be built and before we left the mission house, we heard that our “house” was close to the dump.  We arrived at our location and it didn’t look too bad, but as we walked to the site, we saw a different story.  I know my pictures will not do it justice, but we basically walked into what looked like a dump with shacks made with whatever materials could be nailed up to make walls. 

 

 

From what we could tell the dump was right over the hill and the people in this village walked to the dump to “work”.  The smell was awful and there was black stinky mud and fetid (Is that a word?) water everywhere.  Also, before we could even get started, we had to tear down the shack that the family lived in.  The four men in our group got started with that, while the rest of us got started moving the massive pile of about 120 pieces lumber through nasty, stinky, slippery mud.   

 

I was getting discouraged at this point because it took two of us to carry 2-4 pieces at a time.  Finally some of the Hondurans started helping us and they would carry 3-4 by himself.  It was a long process, but it got better when some of the locals put down some wood over the slipperiest parts.  It didn’t matter too much because we said we were all initiated when we stepped into the sewage water!!! Disgusting to say the least.

 

The family consisted of a mom, dad and three children.  The dad helped us from the beginning to end.  The children played and were so happy about their new house and the mom kept a smile on her face the whole time.  She was a beautiful young lady, who kept thanking us and God for this blessing.  When we were finally finished and we said a prayer, she told us that she had been praying for many years for God to help her family!!!  Today was an emotional day for me!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I consider myself blessed in many ways. 1.  I am blessed to be able to come to Honduras.  Coming to Honduras enriches my spiritual life more than anything I’ve ever done.  2.  I know God blessed me by enabling me to raise the money to build the houses.  3.  This trip also helps me to realize how blessed I am to live in a country like the US.  I know we have problems in the US and we have poor in the US, but let me tell you, we are rich compared to most people in the world.