We start the blog by thanking God for the safe arrival of the remainder of our dental mission trip team members. Today, Dr. Charlie Wyont and his wife Karen, Dr. Randy Shelley, and Dr. Clarissa arrived in Quimistan. It was a very long day for them, but they are thankful for arriving safely.

The initial part of team when up the mountains again today. The first village we visited was Tierra Amarilla, a very remote mountain village. The first hour of travel up the mountain was on a very bumpy, narrow, mountainous dirty road. We road in our mission trip van for that part of the trip up. However, for the final 10-minute ride to the village, the road was far too steep and rutted for a passenger van to traverse. Therefore, the team transferred to the back of a 4-wheel drive truck, which then used a very low gear to get us the rest of the way there. Most of us on the team have not ridden in the back of a truck in many year! It was a rough ride, but the scenery was beautiful!

At Tierra Amarilla, the team handed out homemade dresses to all the girls in the school. The girls looked GREAT in the dresses! THANK YOU TO THE LADIES AT ST. JOHN’S UMC in Aiken for making these wonderful dresses. The team also gave the children a soccer ball. Following that, we had a hygiene clinic for the children, held a mini-VBS Bible story & craft, and then Dr. Patty did a dental screening on all the children there.

After our second 10-minute ride in the back of the truck and a van ride down the mountain, we immediately climbed another mountain going to the small village of Los Panales. There we held the mini-VBS and another dental screening. Again, a soccer ball was given to the school.

Around 2:00pm the initial part of the mission team joined together with the remainder of our team for a late lunch and then we were off to the Quimistan hospital to set up the dental clinic – unpacking our dental supplies, setting up the dental equipment, etc.

Later in the afternoon, the team attended the feeding of the Tejeras children (one of the poorest areas in all of Honduras). The team helped serve the children. After the children were finished eating, the team handed out clothing & shoes that people in Aiken had donated for the children. This included several additional homemade dresses for the girls that ladies at St. Paul’s UMC in New Ellenton, SC had made for the girls – THANK YOU TO THE LADIES AT ST. PAUL’S UMC for making these wonderful dresses!

Once the team finished setting up the dental clinic, we all went to Gloria’s home for a wonderful home-cooked meal.   Thank you Gloria! (Gloria was the cook for Honduras Agape mission teams for many years.)

We are all very tired tonight, but we thank God for another GREAT DAY in Honduras! We are very blessed to be here!

 

 

We spent the day in the beautiful mountains of Western Honduras! God has certainly made some wonderful scenery here for His people to enjoy!

After breakfast, we boarded the van and rode up curvy, bumpy, unpaved roads through high peaks and deep valleys to the small village of Teo. The school children & teachers were waiting for us. They welcomed us and presented us with artwork pictures that they had made just for us. What a treat!

We also brought a couple of gifts for them: a computer for the school and a soccer ball.

The team then held a hygiene clinic including hand washing, de-worming pills, teeth brushing, and fluoride treatment. Dr. Patty led a mini-VBS with a Bible story, a children’s song “This little light of mine, I will let it shine”, and a craft in which the children made a candle from craft paper. The last event in Teo (not including the inevitable soccer games) was a dental screening of all the older students by Dr. Patty to determine which students would be brought down to the mission team’s dental clinic later this week.

In the afternoon, the team visited Arena Blanca, a small mountain village not far from Teo. There the team also held a hygiene clinic with the children, held the same mini-VBS, and Dr. Patty did dental screening of the Arena Blanca older children (plus one very young boy who is suffering from severe dental pain).

 

Lunch today was a 4-part story all by itself:

• Gloria (the prior HAF cook) gave the team delicious homemade donuts to take with us during our trip up the mountain today;
• Lupe (current HAF cook) & Sandra made the team sandwiches for our lunch along with some bananas;
• As we were finishing our visit to Teo, the teachers there had prepared a wonderful meal for the team (chicken, potato & green beans soup, rice, and tortillas) with very large portions for everyone and very delicious; and then
• When we completed our visit to Arena Blanca, the teachers there told us that they also had prepared a homemade meal for the team in a local home. Even though our appetites were already totally satisfied, we certainly did not want to be ungracious by not eating the wonderful meal they had gone out of their way to prepare for us. Daniel did tell them to give us a “small portion”, but when the food came out, it was a feast for a king.

Both Teo and Arena Blanca really went out of their way to make the team feel welcome and to show their love and support to us. What wonderful friendship they displayed! While we came to serve, they truly did the serving to us today! Also, we thank AP student Marleni and her sister for their invaluable help today.  God was certainly at work here today through all of these wonderful friends.

Although our bodies are tired from a long day up and down the mountains, our spirits are very high. It was truly a wonderful day of serving and being served for Christ today!

A beautiful Lord’s Day in Quimistan! After a much needed restful sleep last night, this day began with blue skies and bright sunshine – God’s creation was much in evidence in Honduras today.

After a great breakfast, we headed to Tejeras for Sunday School. While I have told everyone that my Sunday School class in Aiken, SC is the best Sunday School ever, the Tejeras Sunday School is equally great – what fantastic enthusiasm and energy the children displayed singing and participating in the Bible lesson. It was so wonderful to see this from the children worshiping and learning about Jesus! After the Bible lesson, the Tejeras children were served a delicious meal.

After lunch, the mission team went to the Agape Promise youth group meeting at the new AP Learning Center. As the children arrived, Tommy took a photograph of each AP student to update their profile for the AP sponsors.

Later in the afternoon, the mission team visited Tranquilidad Home. Tranquilidad Foundation manifests the love of Jesus Christ by providing care, love, protection, and a home to the orphaned, neglected, and/or abused children in the Quimistan Valley here in Honduras. While at Tranquilidad, Dr. Patty (dentist), checked/treated the teeth of the children there.

In summary, another great day in Honduras! We truly saw the love of Christ in all the children we saw today!

After a very early start in the USA (up before 4:00am) and on-time flights, the first part of our team arrived safely in beautiful Quimistan, Honduras today.   After arrival and a great lunch, we had a wonderful day of renewing old friendships here as well as meeting and getting to know new friends and a few terrific Agape Promise students.

We brought a few gifts for our AP students from home as well as taking them shopping this afternoon for school supplies.   I am not sure whether the AP students or our mission team members enjoyed the afternoon more. We also got a chance to tour the new AP Learning Center – a super new facility for the Agape Promise students.

Although we are all more than ready for a good sleep here at Martha’s villa, we must pause a few minutes to say “THANK YOU GOD FOR AN ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL DAY!” God has been so great today!

I stare lifelessly at this empty screen… In total shock and awe from the sarcastic track that was laid down by Grandmaster B-RAD the Blog Overlord… I felt a certain mist fill my eyes as I thoroughly enjoyed the cryptic message he produced and even having to refer to my lexicon of DOOM to translate the quintessential adjectives of his vernacular aptitude… or maybe it was from the gut wrenching laughter of his poetry in motion and description of bloody flem rockets fired by Captain Buttbeard! Alas I have returned to the helm and assumed control of the Federation media portal.

Today is a welcomed down day for the adventuresome and exhausted group of Gringos. We ventured off in to the wilds of Honduras today, adventure say you… adventure say I. We caravan together to the parlous wilds, penetrating deep into the bush of south central Honduras, in search of the sacred Rio Alph once again.

Senor Mario at the helm of the land yacht today rolling coal through the valley towards San Pedro while avoiding enormous potholes, school busses and a near full frontal impact with a Mack truck! We cruised along the national highway for a short distance only to awaken the demons of the camino that began to shake and thrash our chariot of hope from side to side while Senor Mario sawed at the wheel screaming ARRR Matie… Shiver me Timbers! Onward we pressed towards the sacred rio and the fulfillment of our longing to once again release the primal scream to the gods of the gorge.

Six gringos and five locals paid the adequate tariff of 16 Lamas and a pint of blood to board the new and improved, (wink wink nod nod, yet to be OSHA approved) twelve string harp of the gorge. I took exception to this adventure electing to sacrifice myself as a living remnant of the team and report on the daily activities… therefore, we stood under the shady cover while enjoying a cool refreshing drink, pork skins and chowing down on some ice cream while those who choose to face death head on while wearing a seatbelt designed for torture, birth control or a new form of S&M bondage straps that world be used at some NSA black site prison. They climbed the totem pole, latched on for the adventure and put their full trust into the local engineers that calculated the correct load to span ratio.

In my lone judgement, the spectrum of flesh appeased the gods with the whirr of the steely strings and screams of terror or joy. In any case, it was difficult to comprehend with one lone exception when I heard Senor Jefe Scorpion King whimper, “I want my mommy!” They were soon released from their straps and rejoined the sane few to begin the second part of our adventure… scurrying between, beneath and behind the falls.

A small group were volentold to jump into the water and deposit an offering so that it might decrease the liquid tension that had arisen in the pool below as to garner safe passage for the souls who dared to challenge the overlord of gravity and water. We perched ourselves high upon the cliffs, straying perilously close to the edge and gain a better vantage point as they disappeared behind the mass of liquid substance crashing down upon the rocks at a breakneck speed. Thankfully they reappeared unscathed but slightly tattered.

Once they changed into a fresh set of clothing and inspecting their own bodies for leaches, we climbed back into the chariot of hope and ventured further up the mountain to summit the plateau and cruise around the lake until we arrived at a recommended Federation outpost and restaurant for lunch…

From the moment we arrived at that destination, we fell into a valley… literally and spiritually. I will not correspond to said events by this form of media, but I will say this. I believe that anyone of the nine other people on this team would and is willing to step it up for each other even in the most disastrous situation and that became apparent this afternoon. I am thankful for each one of them, for Maynor, Daniela, Mario, Pablo, Maynor Dos and all the supporters of this team. I am BLESSED to call all of them Friends and Amigos!

 

Marco Francisco

The past three days have been merciful compared to Tuesday and Wednesday, when we felt like we were wandering amongst the tombs with the heretics in the 6th circle of Dante’s Hell.  Thankfully there’s been a consistent post-noon breeze, sometimes gusty even, to at least mitigate the absolute oppression of the relentless heat, though the gusts have proven counter beneficial in one regard, and that’s when we’re maneuvering eighteen feet up on Deathtrap 3000 version 3.0 and 3500.  We don’t need any more red badges of courage after the kid-machete incident earlier this week, the ringworm/spider bite incident yesterday, and the nail through the foot incident today.  We don’t need a Deathtrap collapse with three blocks and a bucket of mook crashing down on either the mooker or some unsuspecting passerby or shade squatter.

We had a near incident yesterday with Deathtrap 3000 version 3.0.  One that resulted in Hondurans bailing from the scaffold like pirates over the rail of Buttbeard’s ship.  This led a determined Marco Francisco to construct version 3500 today to cheat death.  A new and improved version.  Complete with… wait for it… wood screws.  A definite upgrade in quality and stability to set some minds at ease.

Allergies have been bad.  Captain Buttbeard has been popping zyrtec like aspirin, and yesterday on the ride back down the mountain from La Montinita I hocked up a wad of bloody flem and hit him directly in the back of the neck.  We have been plenty productive though.  Since arriving on the job site on Tuesday we have removed the roof, cut and wired all the rebar to line the walls around the building, repaired the trusses we removed from the roof, laid block two levels up to effectively ‘raise the roof’ and today we began the processes of re-trussing.  We also built a wall inside to section off a room, as Marco Francisco touched on in one of his previous postings.  We haven’t been without work.  Thankfully we’ve received ample help from the local La Montinitans, including one particular fellow who wears a straw hat and has “reading eyes,” as H.P. Lovecraft described the protagonist through the words of the hobo in The Shadow Over Innsmouth.  Piercing eyes.  We think he’s a leader in the community, the way he works and directs, and the way the others look to him for guidance.  If we hadn’t the help of the La Montinitans we wouldn’t be nearly as far along as we are, so I’d like to give a sincere shout out to them, whether their eyes ever grace this blog or not.  Thank you for your help.  We hope you remember with fondness the time you spent with the loco gringos from America mixing mook and crawling over trusses like spider monkeys.

The doom is echoing down Main Street, and the workers are both headbanging and trying to figure out what exactly they’re listening to.  The sound of the children laughing and playing is echoing too, and we’ve ushered in a new craze with the Spanish equivalent of our expression of ultimate displeasure: PU CHI CA.  What started out as our way of communicating our displeasure with the locals and each other has turned into a revolution, and now, in addition to the doom, we get to hear PUUU CHIIII CAAA!!! every time a kid kicks a kickball or swats a beach ball twenty feet into the air.  Couple that with the doom and the “ARRR, matey, where’s Cap’n Buttbeard?” and you have your aural La Montinitan assault.

I feel it also necessary to mention that yesterday was a special day for two of our team members.  It was Jerry’s birthday, so we had all the kids sing happy birthday to him in Spanish and then ambush him in a mosh.  It was also a special day for Tom, who was initiated by Marco on behalf of the the Brain Trust, after considerable debate between the three standing members of the Brain Trust, into the Brain Trust.  He has been appointed the position of tumor. *A round of applause for Tom*

Humor aside, this trip has had me thinking about how we dealt with red badges of courage before Tom joined the motley crew.  Peroxide, alcohol, Neosporin and bandages go a long way in the land of daily bloodshed and bodily sacrifice.  Tom is the medicine man and without him who knows what infections we’d be fighting.

Tomorrow is our day off.  We are going to Mega Therion (the tourist version) and then we’ll eat lunch overlooking the black lake, which is fed by no stream and out of which no stream flows. We’ll continue with the rigors of intense labor under an unforgiving sun come Monday, by which time we’ll have hopefully finished shedding our dying skin.

Until then, adiós.  Namaste.  And DOOM ON.

 

Brad
Blog Overlord

 

 

I remember as a high school student in Biology class watching an educational short movie called “The Power of Ten”. In this ten minute movie the camera focuses on the human skin and then through micro and macro technology takes us from the world of bacteria into the cosmos and back again.

This week as ten followers of Christ take time to work in a small mountain village, the correlation between the movie and discipleship in a poor country forces us to reflect on the impact that ten Christians can have in an impoverished area… where life is centered on a day to day earthly existence instead of the heavenly kingdom of God.

While some of our group concentrates on the remodeling of an old schoolroom into a small medial facility, others witness to the adults and others play with the children. Ultimately, we all have a part in uniting them with the Father through our interaction in their daily lives.

What would result if the power of ten became a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand Disciples of Christ going out to all nations to spread the word?

 

Hodo the Magical Magician

 

It is apparent that there is something being stirred up besides the Mook around here… The Holy Spirit came rushing thru like a great wind to fill the people with the gift of God. I concur with Hodo’s words, I believe that great things can be done in the name of Jesus. The church began with just a small spark of that Holy fire in Jerusalem and spread like wildfire thought the world… Today we may feel like there are more firemen trying to extinguish that flame than people fanning it, but the history of Christianity proves that has been case from the very beginning… The difference is most Christians do not face the death for their beliefs as did the early Christians, Many have felt the Spirit move within their heart and believed, only to remain at the door… yet the Spirit calls us to do much more. We are called to go forth, into every nation sharing the good news and bring a sure and certain hope on the name of Jesus.  Missions is about reaching out to others… the Least of these, the ones who are with out hope, the marginalized and broken. As missionaries,  you often do not see the fruits of your labor, because you move from place to place, village to village never knowing what you planted has taken root and produced good fruit. We are called to plant the seed and God waters…

I think that is part of the movement going on with us this week. We can build a structure, but over time it will decay and eventually collapse, but building a relationship, bringing hope in the name of Christ will endure the passing of time and last for eternity. We have been moved  this week, we have been blessed by seeing the fruits of our labor, Four years ago we built a house for Rosa and her children in the mountain village that we are working in… four years ago Rosa was a shell of a person, no hope, no means of change, no worth, but today she is alive in spirit, filled with hope simply because some Gringos answered the call of the Spirt to go forth…Ten people can make a difference, but it only took one cross… one empty tomb… one loving God to send his Son for all of creation!

 

Marco Francisco

Our day was a productive day in the mountain village, nothing out of the usual from the surface… It can be difficult to rewrite the same events and find some way to add a little spice to them so that the reader comes back for more. It seems that most everyone knows that I like to write this with a lot of humor and double secret code words, but I do want to recount a particular highlight of the day. Yes we ate a wonderful breakfast, yes Juan Pablo too us on adventuresome ride up the hill, yes we made Mook, laid blocks, and sweated like a race horse, but there is more to share than just the usual report.

I or should I say we the team have taken notice to a young Honduran man though we do not know his age, but we do know his name… Jose. He is different in many respects, yes he is a hard worker, he is always waiting for someone to yell his name to bring some Mook or blocks, the menial task of being a ground man… Yet he is different. On the surface you may see someone with a disability, but Jose sees it as an opportunity… You may notice that he is undersized as compared to the other men in his village, but oh how he has a big heart… You may see others laugh at him or chastise him for the person that he is, but he never gives up and always carries a huge smile no matter how hard the task is for him to perform.

There was a time during the day that I yelled for him to get me something while I was on the death trap 3000 v 3.0 scaffolding, he took off running to get another bucket of Mook and as he rounded the corner he lost his footing and slammed the ground. I heard chuckles for the other locals as he dusted himself off and brought me the materials to continue laying the blocks. There he stood below me, huffing and puffing from carrying the 70 pound bucket and hoisting it over his head to me… He just stood there, panting and waiting… He is different you see. Rather than seeking a shady spot to hide from the relentless sun, he just stood there gazing at me, awaiting my next request.

God is in the details and He can teach us so much if we are willing to open our eyes to see. Jose’s peers only saw the broken and flawed surface of a young man who at no fault of his own was different… I saw a child of God who was willing to do whatever it took to help his community build and remodel a Kindergarten/Medical Center… I thought about that moment for the rest of the day as we worked. How often have I only taken someone for what I see on the surface? Did I treat them with more or less respect? Did I avoid them because I was uneasy about their limitations??? How would you react if confronted with this situation? For the rest of the day, every time I asked Jose to hand me a block or bring me something and someone else rushed to do the same thing to mock him, I used the materials that he brought me and always shared a kind and encouraging word in my best broken Spanish to lift his hopes like he had lifted mine… I would like to challenge you the reader to do the same. One of my favorite expressions is to do for others in Word, Action and Deed as though Christ our Lord was standing before you… Because He already is, you just have to look beyond the surface.

 

Marco Francisco

 

We are planets to each other

Drifting in our orbits

To a brief eclipse

Each of us a world apart

Alone and yet together

Like two passing ships

Peart

 

While lounging on the veranda and waiting patiently for another splendid dawn … this grand event is unfortunately still over an hour away at the moment. The daily process of meditation and dissecting the complex rhythm and rhyme of my set list was interrupted by these lyrics that are posted above. Nearly 40 years have passed since the ink dried on these words and yet they have given me a new insight, or at least reminded me of why we are here. It is a question that we all should ask. Monte Python even asked, “What is the meaning of life”? Scripture points out the fact that we were created for many purposes, but one is above all others. We were created for relationship… relationship with the creator and with one another. Not a novel ideal, but something with a purpose in the grand scheme of things. Once again God revealed himself by showing me that he is in control. We had several moments today when the relationships that was started several years ago between us and some of the locals are their children. Though we maybe worlds apart for most of the year, we eclipse one another every so often they both sides just stand in awe…

Following a hearty breakfast we again packed the autobus and headed towards the mountains for the Mook fiesta that had danced in our heads all night long. We were blessed to have Pablo aka Juan Pablo Montoya join us today as our driver and primo Mook master! The day began pretty much as we left off on Tuesday, the ladies building rebar cages that would be placed on top of the walls. The Hondurans lead the charge in this task while, B-Rad, Senor Mater, Marco and a few others began to build a new partition wall to separate the medical room and the kindergarten. The DOOM blasted from the portable speaker system that B-Rad is so famously know for constructing. We made fast work of the task and by lunch time the wall was complete. We then joined in helping the Hondurans put form boards on top of the wall and make preparations for the mother of all Mooking Fiestas!

By 3:45 we were out of water and strength, but the Mook had not been poured… Press forward was the command by Daniela, and press we did, thankfully under a clouding sky that brought a much needed break from the scorching sun. By 5:30 all of the Mook had been scrapped off the floor and poured in the forms… Manana we will remove the forms that were so meticulously placed and begin to lay more blocks to raise the roof.

We dined on pork ribs, beans and fried plantains for supper followed by a beautiful music selection picked by our own Hodo and the rainbow collation cow bell symphony. Rogain got a visit from her student that they sponsor thru the Federation. She was our guest at dinner tonight and I know they were both very happy and excited to spend so quality time together this evening. As I said in the beginning of this post its all about relationships. My prayer is that if anyone reading this blog or knows someone who has a strained relationship to do all that they can to repair it… because tomorrow may never come.

 

Marco Francisco

Our first full day in the land of honey dew began earlier than some planned this morning. Two of our rookies, Kalin aka Prince and Casey aka Easy Rider came bee boppin thru the villa at 5:30 am, fully dressed and ready for breakfast… and maybe even more important ready to head up the mountain to the job site. They may have turned their clocks back but their bodies were still on Eastern Standard Time. I was left with no choice but to set them straight… the disappointment that fell across their faces was as though I had taken their milk money.

After our tummies were filled with pancakes and fruit, we gathered for a devotion lead by none other than yours truly. I recalled a memory as a young lad on vacation in Minnesota several eons ago. While there we visited Lake Itasca, where the Mississippi river begins. It is no more than a small stream flowing from the lake. You could literally walk across the river… I did and I received a ribbon commemorating my accomplishment. Faith is a lot like that crossing stream and the same can be said about life in general. The longer we wait to make that crossing… the more difficult it becomes.

We loaded up in the auto bus, being physically and spiritually full for the trek in to the mountain. After arriving and unloading the tools Daniela began to bark orders in English… Spanish… and a mix of both. The roof came off in a flash as some locals scurried the rafters removing the tiles and passing them down to others to be recycled in the normal Honduran fashion. The remainder of the day was spent cutting rebar, bending collars to bind them together. Cutting slots in the existing concrete walls so that a strong bond could be made. A new foundation was poured inside the room for the new privacy wall that will be constructed tomorrow… MOOK! It’s what B-RAD traveled 14 hours and 1500 miles for…Two Working As a Team will once again echo through the valley below, B-Rad will be rocking the DOOM until the bloody flem appears!

I think that our overall excitement maybe got the best of several of our team members today. Tom aka Hodo was the first victim of circumstance, he was overcome with the emotion of the Brain’s gift from the hardware store… a calf bottle! He spent some time with Rosa’s kids at the school and the tears he shed with that reunion caused him to dehydrate. Glad to report he is ok after nursing him back to health with his new gift. folks the spirit of compassion is alive and well with us. He was not alone in his suffering. Loraine aka Rogain, Easy Rider and even Senor Jefe Scorpion King had a moment of weakness in the brutal afternoon heat. I am glad to report that all have recovered from their episode especially after dining on some tacos and kool ade. Thanks Hono for the devotional music, the cow bell sounded exceptional and thank everyone for sharing some God moments in your day.

Tomorrow we seek to play, pour and pack mook. Hasta Manana mis amigos.

 

Marco Francisco