Half the World

Half the world talks
With half a mind on what they say
Half the world walks
With half a mind to run away

Half the world lies
Half the world learns
Half the world flies
As half the world turns

Half the world cries
Half the world laughs
Half the world tries
To be the other half

Half of us divided
Like a torn-up photograph
Half of us are trying
To reach the other half

Lyrics: Neil Peart

I heard this song on my iPod on the way back to Santa Clara this morning and it, as all great songs do, makes you think and see the world through the artist’s eyes and music. Neil’s point in the lyrics is close in comparison to the words of Solomon in the 3^rd chapter of Ecclesiastes when Solomon talks about everything having a light and dark side in life… Although I’m not sure Neil wrote this song using that literature as a guideline, I would like to think he did.

The third day at Santa Clara started under the threat of rain… we were not disappointed. We gathered together in the school building and waited it out for about an hour or so. The clouds broke and the busy bees resumed their tasks.

Team Mook paused the mooking on the new bathroom and put their plumbing hats on to prep the drains and supplies for the baby pilla and sink. Then we built a small pilla in the corner of the room under the skeptical eye of HaHa. I don’t think he liked the way we approached our construction method by dry stacking the blocks, but after driving re-bar through the core holes and packing them to the hilt with mook, we gained his approval and he said “Perfecto!” We did complete the roof, but sadly due to the rain delay we did not pour the floor.

Team Zilla continued to ground and pound the latrine pit with a new convert in Coop. They rallied around their leader and took turns digging while others on the team moved the fill dirt by wheel barrow across the playground to start a new garden. Thanks to Lorie, Mads and T Mac for assisting. The Team committed to work through the heat and humidity of the day trying to complete the pit at the prescribed depth… Sadly after all their hard work, they came up about 6 inches short of the goal; it was not because of lack of effort, again the rain delay hampered the teams goals for the day, but God will send others to complete what we have brought along so far.

Daniela and his group completed the new Justa Stove in the kitchen area, YA!!!!! This will assist the teachers who prepare the meals for the students, and it will remove the harmful smoke fumes caused by burning wood. Chris, Russell and Daniela installed a smoke stack thru the roof. Loraine, Becky, Kay and Pat also assisted where they could, but their greatest contribution may have been connecting with the children all week and sharing the love of Christ with them, which is the heart of our team.

Half the world lives
Half the world makes
Half the world gives
While the other half takes

By our baptism, we are called not to conform to the world, but in to the ministry of Christ our Lord… in His suffering and in his glory. Remember your Baptism and be the other Half that makes rather than the half that takes…

Mark

Foreboding Doom

Mook packing

Lorie and Madison trying their hand at
mook slinging. They have nothing on HaHa.

Tracey with the kids

Michael is in ecstasy in the hole

All these pictures were taken yesterday.

Hunter and co. dug 5-6 feet into the rocky earth, pulling out rocks the size of soccer balls (and maybe bigger).

Mark, Jerry, Brad and HaHa plastered the bathroom wall with mook.

Chris, Russel, Lorraine, Pat, Kay, etc. all but finished the stove. They left with only eight blocks to lay and a chimney to install.

Sorrow forever awaits on joy.

Brad

The First Mook of the Season

As the darkness relinquished its control and gave way to the beautiful new day at 4:11 am this morning, the birds of many different feathers began to sing praises to the One who provides for all of their needs. And we, being created in the image of God should do the same and yet rather than relinquishing control of our lives and trust in Him the same way that the birds of the air do, we boastfully think we can do it on our own… What a blessing and joy today has been, serving our Lord and the people of Honduras, making differences in people’s lives while bringing glory to His name.

The long wait is over… The planning and preparing have come to an end and today is when the rubber meets the road, today we share the Gospel of Christ in our words… actions… and deeds. After breakfast we piled into 2 mini vans and traveled to Santa Clara to begin working on the White Dove School renovation projects. We divided into 3 different teams once arriving. One team lead by Daniela, and assisted by Chris, Russell, Loraine, Becky and Pat began demo work in the kitchen and made preparations for the Justa Stove. Team 2 Lead by Hunter-zilla, Nick, Graylan, and Wilbur joyfully pounded on the ground with picks and shovels to dig a latrine pit for the new bathrooms that were already under construction by a Honduran man, whose name I can’t pronounce, much less spell, so we just called him HaHa. Team 3 consisted of the master Mooker, B-Rad Triplett, Jerry ‘Dusty’ Kilby, Tracy ‘Mac’ and Mark ‘El Blocke’ Reavill. Team 4 had a short mission of refurbishing the swing set at the school, they were Kay Passa, Madison, Lorie, and Coop.

By the end of the day, much progress had been made on all 4 projects. The demo was completed and a new top was poured so that the Justa Stove construction can begin in earnest. Team Zilla thrust their way through 4 feet of rock laden soil setting up round 2 of ground and pound tomorrow. Team Mook completed the upper layers of blocks on the new bathrooms, although they had a couple of minor setbacks (A scaffolding crash and communication error with Senor HaHa) but all in all, according to Daniela, our workmanship and quality was the talk of the town. The swing set was sanded, cleaned and repainted and new chains and seats installed. The children from the school should be able to enjoy it tomorrow after the new paint job has dried.

The first mook of the season

As the evening storms loomed close by, we packed up our tools and equipment and headed back to Villa Celia Defina to a welcomed shower and a wonderful meal prepared Ms Sandra and Gloria. The wait is over, we are back! Viva Honduras!

Mark

The Great Escape


Gazing modestly at the sunrise over the clouds

Passing over the Gulf

Give him a blonde wig and he’s Dee Snider

Group picture at Santa Clara

We stopped by on our way from the airport
to scout out jobs. This will be our work site
for the first few days.

Today has taken the wind out of us. We need to recharge our batteries, turn off the engines and get ourselves back to neutral.

Hunter has found his therapy in herpetology.

Blogging will kick into full throttle tomorrow. It’s time to listen to DOOOOOOOOOOOM.

Brad

Hope Deferred Makes the Heart Sick

The trains are moving slowly across the yard.

Coiled tungsten filament

Mixing inert gasses at low pressure

Featured on the front of this year’s t-shirt is the light bulb of hope. It was originally designed as artwork for Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s F# A# Infinity, though by who specifically I’m unsure (probably Mr. Efrim Menuck). On the original design a Russian word could be seen written across the top of the screw cap, but instead I wrote in “Esperanza” – the Spanish word for “hope.”

Until ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! was released, and the subsequent tour was underway, the members of Godspeed were opposed to printing t-shirts and selling merchandise at their concerts due to their anti-consumerism ideology, and in fact they encouraged fans to design and print unique Godspeed shirts of their own. So, I have done just that for this year’s mission team.

Remember, hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.

In haste,

WUMC Youth & Tra la la band

Day 7 April 12th, 2014 By the Sea

By the Sea……

Today the team took a little time for fun with the Agape Promises kids. We took 21 of the kids with us to Tela for a grand day at the beach. The weather was perfect! The bus ride with rather long….3 1/2 hours one way! The good news is that it was so worth it (the AP kids had a blast) and lots to see along the way.

We swam, walked, talked and played the day away. We ate lunch under our straw huts with the kids and return for more fun in the sun.

We arrived back at the ranch to a delicious barbeque provided by Sandra and Gloria. Steak and french fries hit the spot!

We are all a little sad to be leaving for home tomorrow. We have had such a wonderful time and met so many new friends!

Day 6 –April 11, 2014

A very long and productive day!

Busy day today!!! Erected the swing set at The Light of the Valley school just outside of Quimistan. Traveled back up the mountain to complete the screens on the school at Arena Blanca. Yes…Completed!!!! Distributed glasses to the children, which was a hit! The biggest, and brightest smiles you have ever seen. A lot of hugs given, and a tears were shed as we left. Surly the presence of the Lord is in this place. Then to the Tejeras, to feed the children. I don’t mind telling you that this truly tugged on my heart. To see these children walking to get food by themselves, on this very dangerous road without parental supervision. And looking into their big, eyes and beautiful faces, as food was given to them. Just really hit hard!! Especially when all the food was given out, or so I thought. I looked up and a little head peered around the door. I approached her and gestured, asking if she had eaten. She shook her head no. She was then verbally asked in Spanish, and she confirmed she had gotten there to late. We quickly scraped a bowl of food and a glass of juice. Just enough. God was definitely in this place!!!! The roof to the building is to be completed tomorrow. This is the place where the picnic benches are to be delivered, and these will greatly enhance this program. Ate at a local restaurant, played soccer with some of the AP kids. Then ended the night watching a movie with all the AP kids! A great day was had by all!!!

Here we go again!

Today we went back to Arena Blanca. After the long drive up the mountain, we were greeted by screaming kids all happy to see us. We stayed at the same school as yesterday, and installed screens while others played with the kids. Every one of the children got bubbles, and we did the whale craft too. The local women made us some tasty chicken soup for lunch, and then it was time to go. We took the bus to another school close by that the team had been to last year. We saw the classroom that we helped to build last year, and we also saw the swing set. We were given some sweet rice pudding by the teachers. After that, we played with the students for an hour. They had so much energy! When we had gotten rid of our energy, the tired team loaded into the bus and headed back to Quimistan. We finished painting the tables we built during the week and ate a wonderful dinner of chicken tacos and macaroni and cheese. Today was a fun day of construction and play!

If you got bumped into God’s path, then you are blessed

Today we went to Arena Blanca. It is a mountain village a little over an hour from where we are staying. The road to get there is winding and bumpy (luckily no one got car sick). The scenery was beautiful. The mountain sides are full of coffee plants and lush vegetation. After the rain we got last night the temperature was a pleasant surprise. The girls described it as brisk. It made the work at the school house pleasant before lunch. When we got there, all the kids came running towards us! There were about 60 kids ranging from 1st to 6th grade. They meet in two classrooms. 1st, 2nd, and 6th grade students met in one classroom and 3rd, 4th, and 5th met in the other. When we got there, the guys put in a swing set for the kids that HAF donated and rescreened the front windows of the school. The girls spent the day playing with the kids in a whole bunch of ways. We threw tennis balls, played a little bit of soccer and volleyball, and drew on the chalkboard. Then we took a little break for lunch. Then we played and worked again. When we finished what we needed to do for the day, we left and it took another hour to get back home, but we stopped and took a picture by a waterfall. Then when we got home we, finished painting the tables and we ate dinner, then played cards. We all had a wonderful day filled with so much love and joy, because of the amazing God we have!

Day 3……..Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It’s Off to Work We Go!!

Day 3

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho it’s Off to Work We Go…..

What an amazing day! We started off at Los Hornos school. We treated over 160 children and teachers with deworming medication and fluoride treatements. We also lead hygiene clinics that included proper hand washing and teeth brushing. Afterwards we read a bible story and did a craft with the children. They rewarded us with hugs and smiles and warm applause. They also gave everyone a Coca-Cola. Life is good!!!

After lunch we worked on tables for the Tejaras feeding program. We were able to make 8 tables and have one coat of paint on 4 of them. Very excited to see the finished product. The team all got along well during the process. We formed a bit of an assembly line. Fun times; but super hot today.