Dos Dia en Cholutec (excuse my Spanglish) Day 2 in Choluteca

Today was our second work day in Choluteca.  Diane and I started the day again with a Ladies’ Bible class. We moved the pews out on the front porch of the church and before we got started we had a good size crowd of children.

 

 

 

beans for breakfast!  They are good!!

 

I spent some time teaching them some American Bible songs.  They seemed to really enjoy doing songs that had hand motions.  I taught them “God made the big, big sun”.  I sang “Jesus loves me” with hand motions and they sang it in Spanish.  I joked that I was Diane’s warm up act!

 

 

 

He was cutting teeth and enjoyed chewing on my camera! How do you like my Zumba scarf???

 

A group was finishing up the preacher’s house (which is right beside the church), so Diane was competing with the chainsaw and hammer sounds.  She continue speaking about “raising your child & planting the seed”.  At the end of the lesson, she gave each of them a packet of sunflower seeds and some nail belts that we found in the warehouse. These had been used in a VBS because someone had written “Growing God’s Garden” on them.

 

 

 

 

 

After our lesson, Diane and I finished nailing up one of the last walls, hauling in wood and picking up scraps around the property.  Both house teams were getting close to being finished by around 4:00 pm.  We accomplished so much today.  Not only did we finish these houses, but we were able to put in a sky light in each house. 

 

 

These little guys enjoyed helping us.  They moved rocks that weighed almost as much as they did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also were able to make a nice flower bed that was edged with large rocks and some of the men got a great start on a latrine for the preacher and his family.  We ended the day with a dedication and prayer at both houses.  There were few dry eyes!  Tomorrow is the last day to work in Choluteca.  I love how we have been able to work with the local congregation, get to know the people there and show them the love of Christ!!!

 

 

 

This is Steve Johnson from Bell Shoals Church of Christ dedicating the house and presenting a plaque to the family.

 

 

PS:  Our medical team saw 600 patients in 2 days!!!

A good honest day's work!

Diane delivering the lesson, with Hannah translating

 

 

Today started early because we had to eat breakfast and be packed and on the bus by 8:00 am.  We headed back to Agua Agria and endured another bumpy, dusty bus ride.

View of the school from los banos

 

We arrived about 45 minutes later and found many people already crowded around the school.  The village actually closed school for three days because of all of our projects this week. (VBS, medical clinic, clothing giveaway, and Ladies’ Bible Class)

 

 

I had decided to help Diane work with the ladies.  She focused her lesson on “raising a child up in the Lord”.  Hannah, a young girl from Freed, led songs for us in Spanish and translated Diane’s lesson.  We had a nice size crowd of about 15, which included the preacher’s wife, Soshi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  She spoke English fairly well and we enjoyed talking to her.  She is due to give birth to a baby boy in about a week.  On a side note, the ladies decided to buy baby gifts for her, and we presented them to her today.  She cried with happiness and surprise when she got all of the gifts! Diane’s lesson went well and she gave each lady a t-shirt for their children. (See picture)

 

 

 

 

I mentioned yesterday that this community has gotten a full-time preacher for the first time.  This happened because of the generous support of two churches in Florida, Bell Shoals Church of Christ and South Trail Church of Christ.  They also raised the money to build a house for the preacher, the associate preacher and a Sunday school room. 

 

 

After lunch, Diane and I joined the team that was building the preacher’s house.   This house wasn’t a normal “Torch” house.  It actually will have two rooms and a third room will be a Sunday school room/office.  Our team worked very quickly (with the help of some of the locals) and we got all of the walls, and most of the floor and roof put up.

 

As I mentioned yesterday, we had a team doing a VBS class, a medical clinic, and another team working up the hill on the associate minister’s house.  They ran into some issues and were not able to finish today.  We are all scheduled to go back to the jobs we went on today.

 

 

(A side note: We made the news again.  TV cameras came because of the work we are doing & the head of the town said they would bus in many more people tomorrow from villages that don't have access to medical care.  Thanks to Dr. Hasha Patel who came from Brandon, Fl!  We also have two pharmacists, a nurse and two physical therapists!!!  It is so wonderful that they come and use their skills to help the people here!!)

 

I mentioned already how hot it is here, well, I either got used to being sweaty, or it wasn’t as bad today.  Most of the day was a little overcast, so that helped.  We finished around 4, went and had dinner and finished the evening with a devo.  We will be back on the job leaving tomorrow at 8 am sharp.

 

PS: We are still hoping the container will arrive before this team leaves.  They had specific things they got for the preachers at Agua Agria. (Furniture, baby bed, etc.)  I’m sure if it doesn’t arrive, someone will make sure they get it.

 

Good night for tonight!! Xoxo PJ

Lord's Day in Cholutec (Where the devil goes to get a hot cup of coffee!)

Okay, I currently have internet and I will try to make this short and sweet.  We spent yesterday picking up the team at the airport. We then went to the warehouse to pick up supplies to take with us to Choluteca.  Our container has not made it, but we picked up things left over from other teams.

HAPPY 54TH BIRTHDAY TO MY HUSBAND, NICK!!!
 

 

Our team arriving on Saturday.

We then spent a wonderful 3+hour school bus ride to Choluteca.  It was slow and boring and believe it or not, we didn’t stop for one “potty” break! We got to our nice ranch style hotel that we stayed in last year.  Considering it’s about $45 per room and four people can fit in a room, it’s a pretty good deal. (Breakfast is also included!)

My view while waiting at the airport in the truck.

 

 

 

 



A view on our long bus ride.



 

 

 

 

We got our room assignments and then headed out for dinner.  A new mall had just opened a few days ago, and we headed there for dinner along with everyone else in town!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waiting to leave for dinner

 

Today, Sunday, we headed to church to worship with the Agua Agria church of Christ.  This church is in the small village of Agua Agria, and probably as the crow flies, it’s only about 15 miles away.  You have to realize that you get there by driving slowly down a rutted dirt/gravel road.  That means that it ends up taking about 45 minutes to get there.

 

 

 

A little hike down the "road" to church

We enjoyed the service, but as you will see we were hot.  Just imagine going to church when the temperature is 90%, the humidity is about 100% and you are sitting in a room and the only ventilation is an open window and an open door.  Church lasted about 2 hours and then we spent another hour standing outside and talking while our group leaders worked out the details for our week. 

 

 

We ate lunch out and then we came back to the hotel, unloaded our supplies, sorted the clothing we had and broke down all of the medications that we had with us.  I personally counted 50 Motrin and put them in a baggie with a label that said “donated by the church of Christ”.

 

 

We will be here four more days and here is the list of work we will accomplish:

1.       3 day VBS

2.       3 day ladies’ Bible class

3.       Medical clinic

4.       Clothing giveaway

5.       Build 2 houses for the preacher and his associate (The new preacher who is supported by the Bell Shoals Church of Christ.)  For those of you who have come and built houses before, this house is a special design with 2 rooms.

6.       Build a Sunday school classroom onto the church.

 

I may be busy and not have much internet, so I may not be posting every day while I’m here.

 

Keep us in our prayers!! Much love! Patty  xoxo

PS: Please don’t be too harsh on any errors I make!  I don’t have enough time to proofread this!

 

 

Praying for Our Container!!



People always think that it is hot here, but in we stay up on the mountain and it is quite pleasant and can even get cool!

Many of you know that we shipped all of the supplies we collected by cargo ship in huge containers.  That’s really the only way to send supplies down.

 

We had two rooms of "stuff" to be sorted. The other room had 5 times as much!



Diane taking a before picture.  When teams leave they often leave the stuff they have brought on the trip. (food, sunscreen, shampoo, clothes, shoes, etc.)

 The containers arrive and you have to pay for them and then you have to cross your fingers that they will be released.  I don’t really understand all of the ins and outs, but from what I can it seems a little corrupt and shady.

 

 

A group was playing soccer on the grounds.

 

 

 

This bluff looks over the mountain.

 

We had found out yesterday that it was here, but not released yet.  Two Torch teams have already left and they never got their supplies.  It doesn’t mean that they don’t get to work, but they just don’t get to use all of the supplies that they specifically collected for their trip.  That will be the boat we will be in if it isn’t released by tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

There were four of us here today, and our plan was to organize our supplies and pull the things we were going to take to Choluteca on Saturday. 






more stuff to sort




 

 


Since it wasn’t here yet, we spent the day organizing left over supplies from past groups.  The supplies also consisted of dirty clothes and muddy shoes (yuck) left over from previous teams.    We spent the day working hard sorting and boxing up left over odds and ends.

 

 

Our fearless leader, Terry, arrived this afternoon and we enjoyed catching up with him and he helped us finish up. Villa Gracia, the place we are staying, had a function going on tonight and wouldn’t be cooking for us, so we decided to go into town to a nice sit down restaurant.

 

 

We gave some kids a ride down the mountain.

 

 

(We won’t really have that opportunity we the whole team arrives.)  We ate at Hacienda Real and it was beautiful and specialized it Honduran grilled carne (meat). 

 

view on the street down in the city

 

La Hacienda Real



Please pray with us that our container gets here.  Things will be fine if it doesn’t, but it would be better if it did.  Either way, we pick up the rest of the team around noon and then we will head to Choluteca.

 

 

 

That will be a 4-5 hour trip by school bus. (Sounds like fun doesn’t it?)  We are heading toward the coast, but before you think this is a day at the beach let me explain.  Choluteca is described as the place where the devil goes to get a hot cup of coffee! Another words, hot, humid and NO CENTRAL AC!!

Until next time!! oxxo PJ

 

 PS: I had some other really nice pictures, but the internet suddenly slowed down and my pictures aren't loading anymore.  I'll try to add them tomorrow!  Good night!!

Buenas noches!!

Welcome to Honduras!!

 

or Bienvenidos!  That is a saying we have down here.  The saying is used anytime something doesn’t go as planned.  Out of my 7 trips down here, something has happened almost every time. Those would be stories for another time.

 

 

This year, my day started when the alarm went off at 3 am.  Nick and Taylor drove me to the airport, which was nice and saved me $$$ from not having to park my car for 21 days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Nashville flight to Miami was uneventful. The Miami flight  to Honduras was going well too until we were getting ready to descend. 

 

 

 The pilot announced that we had a mechanical problem and we were FLYING TO SAN PEDRO SULA, which was about 25 minutes by air.  They implied that everything was okay, but they wanted a mechanic to check to make sure it was okay.  We landed with no problem in San Pedro Sula. No one panicked because the pilot was calm, but we couldn't figure out why we were landing in a different place.

 

 

 

We landed with no problem and my friend and I were getting a little concerned because someone was supposed to pick us up in Teguc at 11:30.  We tried to brainstorm and figure out how we would contact them if they weren't at the airport to pick us up.

I'm kind of tired after sitting on the tarmac for 2 hours. (not the most flattering pic!!)

 

We had no idea how long it would take, but  the pilot made an announcement to keep us informed.  They passed out water and ONE GRANOLA BAR. (Most of us had been up since 3 am, and it was past lunch by this time.)

 

Well, two hours later, the pilot announced that a bug (We think the actual insect type) had interfered and was messing up some of their controls. They flew to San Pedro Sula to be on the safe side because it is a much easier airport to land in.  (You have to have special training to land in Teguc.  It's like landing in a cereal bowl that is surrounded by mountains. )So, to make a long story short it is dinner time and we really haven’t been able to do any work today.



finally in the long customs line

 

 

Finally in beautiful Honduras!!

 

 

 

Tres casas!!!!

Okay, I know I have been really quiet on my blog.  There's a reason for it...I have been busy raising $$$$$.  I leave early Thursday and I'm currently working on house number 3!!!!!!



I can't believe it myself!  I have saved all year, sold jewelry, and had contributions that have included time, help, and $$$.

I have one last thing to do before I start backing.  Tuesday night I will have my jewelry on display at my church before my usual Zumba (r) class.  All of the $$ that is given will go toward a house.  I'm beyond excited....I'm basically sitting back and letting God do the work.  I have been sharing my amazing story and that has inspired others!!!


I will work hard to keep my blog every day while I'm in Honduras.  I hope you sign up to follow me or be notified by email.  I know everyone wants to see pictures and I will share as many as I can.  The internet is always so slow there!!!


Please be sure and leave comments....that's my only real connection to home while I'm there.  (Phone calls are way to pricey!!)


MUCH LOVE!!! PATTY

 

Hello Summer 2013

I know it's been a long time!!!! I'm officially on day 3 of my summer vacation.  YAY! It's already been busy.(see list below)

1. Making jewelry (see picture)

2. Zumba training (see picture)

3. Teaching Zumba

4. Trying to raise money to build a house in Honduras.

5. Going to hot yoga classes

I know this all sounds like a lot, but it's all good.

I leave for Honduras June 20, but until then I'll be enjoying my time working on the list above!

Stay tuned, I'm working on a special last minute fundraiser to raise $$ to build a house in Honduras. My already working toward this goal by sharing with others and it's paid off! Someone at church has donated homemade wood bee traps for me to sell. I get to keep half of the profits!!! Also, I had someone approach me about teaching Zumba to kids at their daycare and they also want me to teach to make a bracelet!!!!

THE MORAL TO THIS STORY: GOD WILL PROVIDE!!'