18 May, 2019

A epic battle of wills engulfed the heavens above as each faction intertwined all of their might to gain the upper hand against eaches own sworn enemy… this is what ensued in the early hours of the morning across the Quimistan valley as the struggle between Kichigonai the creator of night and day versus Chaac the deity of rain turned into complete chaos. Together they dueled relentlessly over the control of the night sky and even further… the supremacy over one another. Each one of the gods was desperate to impose their will upon a land and people that had sacrificed many virgins in a futile hope to appease them… for some, the sacrifices was to win favor in these false deities only to serve as a stepping stone for self gratification and desires… for others in this valley, the sacrifices were to calm their gods mighty wrath upon her people and the land. Back and forth you could hear the rumbles of the two heavenly bodies crashing off the mountain faces… causing the ground to tremble as these mighty foes battled. Each of these ancient deitys were in full control yet in a blind rage… full well knowing that destruction and chaos in this realm of mortals would created fear in the presence of enemies… All of this culminated with Chaac slamming his mighty sword of lighting to the earth in such dramatic fashion that it shook the entire valley to its core. The serene sound of silence was broken as Chaac pour out a torrent flow of liquid life force across the parched landscape, nourishing the vegetation that had screamed for vengeance against Kichigonai and his cruel and ruthless treatment over the land of milk and honey.

Marco Francisco Valle Valle

17 May, 2019

There’s a scene in Mission: Impossible – Fallout when Ethan Hunt comes face to face with his ex-wife, Julia.  Except in a dramatic twist, her new husband, a charismatic do-gooding doctor, is also there with her and doesn’t know the history between her and Ethan, so Ethan has to pretend he’s somebody he’s not to protect his cover as an IMF agent, with Julia standing right beside him.  It’s actually a fairly complex scene and an impressive acting sequence by Tom Cruise.  When Julia’s new husband tells Ethan about his and Julia’s life, as doctors that travel from Sudan to Kashmir, etc., Ethan responds perfectly by saying, “it’s quite a full life.”

This whole trip I’ve been thinking about Cruise saying that because when I’m here I feel that.  I feel like doing this work gives me a fulfillment I couldn’t find anywhere else, and that I’m blessed to be here doing it.  And to remove the selfishness from it, I like to think it brings a fulfillment to those we come here to help as well.  

Yesterday was a one off for me, venturing solo into the treacherous concrete jungle that’s San Pedro Sula via CA4 AKA Carretera de la Muerte (Highway of Death) to pick up Lama from the airport. Driving an hour west on CA4 with a mere 5-6 near head-on collisions, two child police army checkpoint search & seize brigades, and one dead body in the road is nothing out of the ordinary in this thresher. A leisurely drive up the turnpike for Super Mario and Minor 69er. Minor eased the anxiety by plugging his iPod into the dash and blasting Cradle of Filth, and W.A.S.P.’s Golgotha.

Alas, Lama arrived safely in one piece, and with all her belongings. She was so beat she missed all the fun on CA4. Ammmmmmm.

The rest of the Motley Crue returned to Teo to continue with the Mooking Mission. The Art of the Mook, we call it. Similar to the manner in which some artists dabble in wood or clay. Or oil. We do that with mook and it is beautiful.

Michelangelo’s father was a wealthy man… he had no understanding of the divinity in his son, so he beat him. Viciously bludgeoned his child. No child of his was going to use his hands for a living, so Michelangelo learned not to use his hands. Years later, a visiting prince came into Michelangelo’s studio and found the master staring at a single 18-foot block of marble, and he knew the rumors were true that Michelangelo had come in every day for the past four months, stared at the marble, before leaving to go home and eat dinner. So the Prince asked the obvious, “what are you doing?” And Michelangelo turned around and looked at him and whispered, “Sto lavorando.”
“I’m working.”
Three years later, that block of marble was the Statue of David.

Dimebag, Lama and I spent an hour on the volcano turned Tommy Lee monument saucerhead mushroom pile of mook that would have made Michelangelo smile down on us from above. If he was with the heavenly father before gazing at his marble, he spent the afternoon today marveling at our mook.

Marco Francisco has already given an honorable mention to our withdrawn comrades, but I would like to end by taking a moment to give one more shout out, as they were instrumental in helping us plan this trip and raise the funds for it.  We mentioned in our summary blog from last year’s trip (Blossoms Will Sprout From the Carcass) that 2019 might yield a team minus some of our core.  Kay Hayes AKA: Que Pasa has officially stepped down from this work.  Ascribing now to the Donatist position, she rejects the idea that the sacraments work ex opere operato (“from the work worked”) and the idea that lapsed priests can’t put faith in crisis.  We have told her to read Augustine and get past it but she is stubborn.  She claims she’s finished for good but we won’t stop trying to bring her back with us.  Wanda Sapp AKA: Quanda had a conflicting trip to the Holy Land, and Tom Schardt AKA: Hondo the Magical Musician is still recovering from a post-op.  Our hearts are with all three and it saddens us that they can’t be here with us.  Nevertheless, we know that they are with us in mind and spirit, and that strengthens us.  If any of you three are reading this, know we miss you, but also that we thank you.

Goodnight Federation communication portal readers and informants. Marco Francisco to resume the helm of this propaganda portal forthwith.

B-Rad

16 May, 2019

Adventure land never looked so good from a far… today we prepare our minds, our bodies, our very soul to endure the punishment of a Largo camino a ninguna parte. Praise the Lord the kidney belts arrived this morning to protect our internal structures… to off set the physical torture of the hour and a half session or journey… you decide, you pays your money, you makes your choice. Note, the complaint department is closed for remodeling. Not all is lost in the sea of misery, along the way your eyes can be drawn to the intrinsic landscape while occasionally becoming a witness to the creative genius of our Lord.

We began the morning session by repairing and building up another layer of blocke on the old section of bathrooms. Juan Jose, Mater, EasyRider and Houdini worked with locals on this project, all the while B-Rad finally accepted his calling to offer a sacrifice to the pile of dry Mook mix… the world has begun to right itself once again. Marco laid out the plumbing system for the new bathroom… note there are no photos of this action for legal reasons. A breif rain delay after lunch almost cancelled the block party… but Ahau proved to have the greater power over Chac on this day and the work continued until we found a good stopping point… usually when all of the Mook that has been mixed has been put to good use and none left laying to spoil.

Arriving at the Federation compound just as Ahau slipped below the tree line we gathered in the mess hall to dine a delicious cuisine of pork and cheese quesadilla, chemul and jalapeños. We completed our evening task by sharing stories and moments from the day and praying for the team, the community we serve and our families… I would like to dedicate this post today in memory of a friend and former co-worker who passed away early this morning. God speed Gary fender-Bender, “Only want to see you dancing in the Purple Rain”.

Marco Francisco

The restless night has passed with the breaking of a new days dawn… fatigue has a strange effect on ones body. Why is it that when one is truly exhausted it deprives itself of sleep? A question for the ages many have asked, yet no remedy has been found… not even in the tasty sleep gummies.

Our second days journey to Teo began with a quick breakfast, devotion and load up to journey to the farthest reaches of Federation infiltration in the northern frontier of Honduras. Today’s tasks included finishing the foundation prep work and constructing the rebar frames that give much added strength to the structure. Most of the team was busy doing various tasks from cutting the rebar to cutting the tie wires that hold it all together. I broke out the new Machina that I copied from the hidden technical drawing and spy photography from last years trip. The locals even Oooo’d and Ahhh’d at the site of the simple machina that had been upfitted with ball bearing drives… less friction equals a smoother ride!  

The day began slowly as the motley crue assembled the frames into useable instruments of mass construction while playing the symphonic harmony of the metal bending overtones of wrath… better know as DOOM!  The task was great at hand for today’s project list… build 11 metallic structures of various lengths, fit them into the correct holes, fill the holes with a mixture of Mook and rocas…  There lies the paradigm shift I have been noticing all week.  After fitting a couple of frames we were ready to roll out the Mook wagons filled with the secret ingredients and get this Mook fiesta on!  I presumed again… wrongly as it turned out that B-Rad the former blog master would lead the charge and be delighted to delve into it face first… much to my surprise and chagrin he declined the opportunity to lead the charge of the Mook brigade… AM…. Early in the morning I had given him the task of erecting the metallic frames, he chose to remain on the specified task at hand. By days end all 11 frame had been constructed, installed, Mooked into oblivion and all of the footing poured ready for a block party tomorrow.

My unnecessary concern passed away as the Crue not only completed the tasks at hand, but finished up 1 hour ahead of quitting time… Sweet.  We can get into the compound early… shower before dinner… extra time to communicate with families… suddenly off in the vague distance that sound that drives every child loco… the Ice Cream truck chimes echoing in the valley… Dios Mio!  And who was leader of the pack on this expedition… Senor Pastor Rey of course!  Finally we packed up the tools, and the autobus and began the perilous journey down the mountain finally arriving at the primary compound where a delicious meal awaited us.  Manana we will return to the scene once again and hopefully B-Rad will return where he belongs… basking at the shore of a hot steaming pile of Mook. All Hail… the Mook.

Buenos Noches,

Marco Francisco Valle Valle

I awoke this morning singing this classic by Mr. Walsh in my head… at a point in the second verse, he reminded me, “Time to change the batter”. That statement may not effect you in the same light as me, but the work we completed, or shall I say started in Teo yesterday I think validates my point…

Teo is one of the satellite Federation outposts in the northern frontier that is located just a hop , skip and a jump from the Guatemala border… or that is at least their claim to fame. A quaint village filled with a tightly knit people that are willing to share resources, sweat equity and on the proper occasion… rice and chicken. We have served in this community several times over the past 9 years, most of the time the work has been done concerning the school. The Federation has spent several lamas and supported teams to uplift the building and grounds. In my estimation there are more than 100 students on the grounds at any given time.

Mario Inc. Provided transportation for the team in a highly modified Toyota autobus. The combination of its Diesel engine, granny root snatching gears and a seasoned driver such as Super Mario, the team successfully navigated the treacherous mountain highway… or glorified goat path with more potholes than an average highway in Iraq to our destination. Wilmer played a supporting cast member and wingman role by transporting our tools to the job site… another blog in itself.

Upon our arrival we were greeted by president Juan Jose… not the Honduran president… but the beloved community president whom certainly has considerably more support and affection than the afore mentioned. Before we could even draw our wrecking bars out of the tool chest… children began to greet us with a wide array of drawings and hand written messages to welcome us to their community. We were instructed to join with students, teachers and parents around the picnic tables for a more formal welcome. I suppose in my mind’s eye, this event was a moment of transition… a new batter stepping to the plate while the crowd cheered for our success.

Our mission… should we choose to accept it or not… was to demo an existing 4 stall outhouse structure, demo sections of another outhouse and begin the process of constructing a functional bathroom for the teachers and students. By mid day all of the demo was complete, Mater and Jefe pulled a series of strings to outline the footprint of the new buildings while B-Rad, Easyrider and Houdini removed large rocks, concrete segments and shady foundation sections to prepare the site. Dimebag got her hands dirty as well pulling nails to recycle boards, and driving a Wilkes county backhoe… pick shovel for those in need of translation. Senor Pastor Rey did quite a bit of constructive shade squatting… he has to ease into this type of environment… we do not want a repeat performance of last years episode…

As the red star sank precariously lower in the evening sky, the highest points of the mountain range surrounding the village began to shade us from its oppressive rays. We gathered up our equipment in preparation for our return journey to the primary compound… in search of a cold shower and a warm meal. We shared stories of the days adventures and we consumed the chicken and veggie medley that had been prepared for us. Sleep is needed and rest is required to maintain the proper energy level… easier said or written than achieved. The heat wave that has fallen upon this valley brings the internal temperatures of our humble abode near triple digits. That makes falling asleep a disgusting adventure turning every few minutes so the fan will dry the sweat off your body more than simply cooling you off.

Buenos Noches mis amigos.

Marco Francisco Valle Valle
B-Rad

Someone told me before our team left out for Honduras this year it would be different in a ‘Dynamic’ way. Not really sure by what they meant nor did I ask them to give me a full exposition to the meaning, but after we gathered to caravan to the condors nest… I had been feeling a paradigm shift during the assembly process of this team… that shift seemed to calumniate in a rather quirky kind of way… different meeting location, cars with ample room to sit and room for more luggage, snacks, Federation propaganda… you feel me.

Three key members from years past gave notice of their absence early on, Quepasa and Quanda had planned on visiting the Holy Land this spring… definitely a bucket list check. Tumor AKA Hondo the magical musician was rumored to have retired after completing Rosa remodel , but I think he would have came if not for some health issues discovered last winter.

As for the trip, it as uneventful as ever… Drama Lama will not join us until later this week due to her book signing commitments arranged by her agent, so no real big issues to and fro. I could spend a few paragraphs slamming Delta, but for the sake of being positive minded (Shout out the Stewart Smiley self help tapes) I will refrain my distain.

Maynor, Super Mario and new translator David picked up the dynamic dirt crew consisting of (Senor Pastor, Mater, B-Rad, Easyrider, Houdini, Dime bag and yours truly Marco Francisco El Jefe) from the aeroporte in the autobus provided by Mario Inc. Again… uneventful ride, no 3 wide in a blind curve.

Arriving at the primary Federation compound around 2 pm local, we snacked on a meal prepared by Lupie an Suappa. Afterwards most of us crashed in the sweltering mid day heat of Honduras… Local weather reported 106 feel like temps… Tomorrow we travel up to Teo to start remodeling and building a Bano Nuevo, that is new bathroom for the Spanish challenged while I ponder and consider this new dynamic feeling… As George Carlton once commented, “It feels like, ‘vu deja’… the strange feeling like none of this has never happened before”. Stay tuned for more rhetoric from yours truly.

Marco Francisco Valle Valle

Our last full day in Honduras was another great day!  The dental team again provided treatments for several Honduran children.  Today we treated children from Milpa Arada and El Jicaro, two very small, remote villages.  We also treated several additional Agape Promise students. 

students. 

Others in our team traveled to Pinalejo to visit students in the Instituto Privado Bilingue Santos. The teacher there wanted some of our team members to come so the students could practice their English language skills.  It was a wonderful visit!

Late this afternoon, we finished dental treatments for the children.  We then began inventorying our dental supplies and equipment to determine what will be needed for next year’s trip.

In Mark 9:35 Jesus said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Tonight, at dinner, was our mission team’s effort to follow Jesus’ teaching by serving dinner to all the Honduran team members that helped us this week.  The first to get served were Lupe & Suyapa, our wonderful cooks for the week that worked about 15 hours every day to cook and do laundry for us.  Then we served the children of our Honduran helpers; our drivers who safely took us up and down steep & windy mountain roads; our translators who helped us talk with the local people; Dr. Tino and his family that help Honduras so much; and some Honduran students who were with us during portions of the week.   

We also served Maynor and Joselyn.  These two were most critical for the planning and leadership of the entire mission trip.  They did a fabulous job leading and helping us all week. 

After all of our Honduran teammates were served, the youth on our team (Danielle, Ben, Sarah, and Daniel) insisted on serving the adults of our team.  Thank you, youth!  The youth added so much to the success (and fun) of our team this week!

The sunset this evening here in Honduras was BEAUTIFUL!  It was a visual reminder of how great God has been to us this week in Honduras.  THANK YOU GOD!

God blessed Honduras today – He brought a much-needed rain to the very dry, parched land here.  He also provided cool temperatures for our work here; the high temperature today was in the upper 70’s, very cool for Honduras.  (This explains why some of our dental patients you see below were wrapped like mummies while in the chair.)  Thank you God!

Today was the second day of our dental clinic.  Dr. Laura from Quimistan (mentioned yesterday) was a part of our team again today. We started the day treating children from Laguna del Carmen, a small mountain village.  These children came down the mountain in the back bed of a small pickup along with a teacher and a few moms.  They are so precious! 

The remainder of the dental day was devoted to treating Agape Promise students.  In all today, the dentists saw about 25 additional children. 

When the children come to the clinic, they often have to wait around for several hours until they can be seen.  Our teenage team members have been great at entertaining the children (and themselves) during their long wait times.  Besides playing soccer (even in the rain), they played games, made balloon animals, and some even practiced their braiding skills on each other.

While the dental clinic was going on, some of our mission team went back into the mountains to Milpa Arada and El Jicaro to do a hygiene clinic and then VBS (Bible story and craft) for the children.  ( A third village was on the schedule, but cancelled due to the slippery road conditions caused by the rain.) They also gave the last of the home-made “mission dresses” that we brought to young girls in El Jicaro.  Thank you to St. John’s UMC ladies for making these dresses!

This evening, we invited some very dear Honduran friends to have dinner with us including Sandra & her husband, Gloria, Maynor’s wife & daughter (Jessy & Arleth), and Sam & Roxanne.  It was wonderful to be with all these friends again.

Thank you, God, for another beautiful and productive day here in Honduras!

Today was the first day of our three-day dental clinic for children.  The dentists treated children from the age of 6 and up.  Several of the children came down from two mountain villages today. One of these (Nueva Esperanza) is so remote that it has no electric service while the other village (Los Panales) just received electric service access at the end of last year.  However, the children were full of joy and were truly children of God. 

Also, several Agape Promise children that live nearby also received dental treatment.  Around 25 total children were treated by our dental team today.

Besides the 3 dentists on our mission team (Dr. Randy, Dr. Charlie, and Dr. Patty), we had a Honduran dentist help us – Dr. Laura.  She was supported by our Honduras Agape Foundation through her high school, college and dental school education.  Helping our team this week is her way of giving back to the young children being treated this week by our team.

While our core dental team was providing the dental treatments, a few team members attended the Tejeras Kindergarten school class this morning.  They also attended Sandra’s afternoon children’s Bible lesson program.

Also, during the day, some of our team had the pleasure of taking a few AP children shopping that they help to sponsor.  When asked what they want, they don’t head for toys, games, or candy, as you might think.  Most often they stock up on needed school supplies or clothing.

One great joy today was the delivery of one piece of luggage that did not arrive with the team members that came yesterday. Delta Airlines delivered the trunk to us today directly to Quimistan by way of taxi!

This evening the team had a great treat – Gloria (former cook for HAF mission teams) invited the entire team to her home for a delicious chicken dinner and dessert.  Gloria is a very special lady and an excellent cook!

The team is now relaxing and enjoying a much needed restful night.  Thank you God for another great day today!

God granted safe travels to the remainder of our team – Dr. Randy, Dr. Charlie, and Karen left Aiken well before sunrise and arrived here in Quimistan this afternoon after a long, tiring ride.   It is good to have our entire dental mission team here now!

While they were traveling to Honduras, the initial part of our team traveled back up into the mountains to Los Panales, a small village which has about 80 students in their school.  We were pleasantly surprised to see the children all lined up to give us an extraordinary welcome, with signs, applause, and singing! 

Danielle read the Bible story of Noah and the Ark (as “Noé y el Arca” in Spanish) to the children.  Our team then taught them a children’s song about Noah.  The children quickly learned the song and sang it with gusto!  It was wonderful. We then did some crafts with the children focused on Noah. 

Members of our team played games with the children while Dr. Patty & Jessica were doing a dental screening of the children to determine which ones needed to come to our dental clinic later this week.

From there, we went to two other small villages, Milpa Arada and El Jicaro where Dr. Patty & Jessica screened additional children for dental issues.  (We will hold hygiene clinics later in the week for these villages.)

This afternoon, after a brief lunch for our newcomers, the team began setting up for the dental clinic which will start tomorrow morning.

The team took a break from setting up the clinic to attend the feeding of the very poor children in the Tejeras community.  Our new team members brought two trunks full of children’s clothes, which were distributed to the children.

The team is now settling in for the night so we will be ready for another wonderful day tomorrow. 

Thank you God.