May 22, 2020
I am bored…. Not in a literal prose, but in a contextual sense. For one, it is different writing the blog from my home office without sweat dripping from my fingertips as B-Rad and I gather around the kitchen table snacking on ‘Jolly Ranchers’ and the spoils of Americana life… recounting the day’s events in the sarcastic manner as we do… woe is me right? Secondly, I am bored because it is a beautiful day outside and I am confined to my home… I am not sick, not in need of being quarantined as the world has all of us to be, I am not being held captive by some official restrictions, but I am hampered by my chronic foot issues that have been holding me captive (En mi Casa ahortia) for the day in the midst of all its glorious offerings. It would be a great day to do some yard work, but here we are. Fortunately that issue has not arisen in the land of Milk and Honey during our adventures, thankfully. That is the reality of today’s times, but in a virtual realm, I would be sitting at the table of slur writing and preparing the Blog for the Federation Portal.
Year 5 saw a dramatic change in team dynamics. Several longtime associates gathered, but there were several newbies also… My exploits and travel for the prior October ‘sighting trip’ promised new adventures with new opportunities of service. The plan was to build a kindergarten… (A word and theory derived in Germany, commonly used worldwide for young children to begin their educational adventure even earlier in life) just north of San Marcos. Alas, as the Federation’s proliferation with the locals had caused us not to have sufficient work for this trip. None the less, we were still able to make an impact in the small villages that we did visit; electrifying a school in the mountain community of Teo, painting a Federation school just outside of Quimistan and the bathroom addition of a church plant in the Tejerias community. Enough work for just enough people… but still a struggle in the end.
“How many times do you hear it?
It goes on all day long
Everyone knows everything
And no one’s ever wrong
Until later
Who can you believe?
It’s hard to play it safe
But apart from a few good friends
We don’t take anything on faith
Until later”
Presto, 1990, Peart
Writing a virtual blog has its challenges along the way… writing as thought I am there and yet I remain here for the time being. I remember an excerpt from the last book I read from Peart describing his journey of healing after the tragedies that he faced and ultimately suffered in and thru the late 90’s. Along that journey he discovered his, ‘baby soul’ and the things that he needed to nurture it from the torment of grief and how he did things to calm that baby, or as Addie says it, “Bay bay.” I would like to think of my inner soul as an ‘infant’ rather than a baby. For to me the baby part is still in relative relation to meaning as infant, just reminds me that people are acting as babies even in the age of adulthood… Childish at times and sometimes just plain baby like! My infant soul is angry today, maybe colicky… I don’t know what, but I know I am not in a good space internally. I have been working on this post for the second day now, not that I am not motivated, but with the inner turmoil in my spirit it is difficult to compose uplifting words… Ammmm!
Meanwhile… after another break…
Act 2 Scene II
The memories, or personal reflections from this trip include how to ‘steal’ power, bloodletting and monster grasshoppers. We had our usual Mooking affair so no need to go there… apart from watching a couple of rookies… primo mook packers in training at the Federation sponsored school. Lu Lu and Ques Pasa in concert with one another, or as B-rad once coined the phrase, “Two Working As a Team”. (There is an Easter egg in that one if you look hard enough) Mooking… If you have not got it by now… then you never will I presume.
Venturing away from the mooking fiesta at the school and just up and across Highway CA4, several team members are working at the Federation church plant beside the crazy… busy and dangerous road that is the primary transport route between San Pedro Sula and Santa Barbara in north central Honduras. Another latrine pit to be dug for the new bathroom… Much like putting the cart before the horse, eh? “Build it and they come”… when nature calls… where can one go? We are resolving that issue now. Along that journey, we came under attack from huge Kamikaze grasshoppers… (Karate Kid worthy) I have a photo of one of those things that landed on Hunter’s head… a lasting memory. Every time you turned around those pests would jump on you like a spider monkey! More aggravating than dangerous (hopefully). Maybe it is where the ‘Molly planted her Seed’… More on that in the subject in the near future.
While installing the roof on the new bathroom complex, with the traditional razor-sharp tin of course. I warned everyone handling it, “you need to wear gloves!” That must have gone in one ear of Officer Donnie and out the other and made a sonic boom as it left his simple brain. No more than we started installing the tin I heard, “Man that’s going to leave a scar.” Office Donnie lacerated his hand on the first piece of tin and now we are in full triage mode… Sometimes I just feel like my words go unheard… prime example here and now. Got Officer Donnie all squared away, and we completed the roof that day.
It is amazing how resourceful the people are in Honduras, taking the smallest thing in life, such as a 10 gauge piece of wire to bring change… I am not accusing them of being thieves, but after we wired the school with lights and receptacles, we stood at the service panel and questioned how do we turn it on? We had a master electrician on board, his name is Mater aka in his normal life Jerry, the licensed electrician is on the job, but still it was a question of providing the necessary… ‘Spark’ to light this joint up… answer? Jam a piece of heavy wire between the two terminals on the meter base and let ’er rip tater chip. “Let there be light” and with the flick of the switch the preverbal light came on across the community school. There comes a sense of accomplishment in not only completing a project, but seeing the dramatic change it makes in people’s lives. I think that was what has the infant soul a little on edge today… knowing that I am here and not there.
Meanwhile… during the blogging session that evening… Officer Donnie was awarded the prestigious, “AM of the Day” for his efforts to do something extremely noteworthy (or dumb enough) to become the primary target… or softer said primary topic of the daily blog. The trip this year was a good one, many items completed no matter what scale they were measured against… we still made a huge impact in the region.
If you notice the Daily Blog title is the name of the song whose lyrics I have quoted. I only noted the album title, year, and author as to give respect to my inspiration title under the lyrics. I do invite you to search that song out on Youtube, I prefer the live versions, they are so much more surreal because you can see the ‘busyness’ of the three members making such a grand noise and even if you’re not into them, listen to the lyrics and melody, I think you can feel my mood in my choices… My Infant Soul is restless until we gather in the place again… until then or the next post, Have a wonderful evening.
Marco Francisco Valle Valle
Honduras Agape 