Work Day #2

What a day.  We hauled rocks and dirt to fill in the floor and started laying block for the walls today.  These pictures just show a small part of what went on today.  Picture five kids shoveling fill dirt at the top of the hill on the dirt road,  a chain of about five guys throwing rocks up the steps, around the corner, over the wall, and into the floor area, a group of young boys putting rocks into wheel barrows, a group of 15 kids hearing Bible stories, a crew mixing mezcla, Honduran ladies cooking lunch on a wood stove, Amalia washing clothes on a washboard on the pila, and a team of two oxen pulling a cart of food supplies up the hill for the community. 

Work Day #1 - un buen dia

Today was our first work day.  The village we are working at is Tapatoca, about a 45 minute rocky, slow ride through the mountains.  At these higher elevations the temperature is cooler and we had shade, so that made for a very comfortable day.  We met the family members, Candida Amalia (mother), Marvin Damian (son, age 20), Carmen Maria (daughter, age 17), and Jose Lorenzo (son, age 12),  They all worked with us throughout the day, along with other extended family and friends.  Amalia is very grateful for the help we are providing her family and all of the people we met are friendly and welcoming. 

The home site where we are building is a bit challenging though.  The house is on a hill and we had to lay 5 courses of block on two sides just to prepare the foundation.  In addition, we have to move the stack of 800 blocks down the rocky road about 50 feet, lift them up to pass them through a barbed wire fence and then restack them inside the house.  So while we normally complete 5 courses of the walls on day one, today we just prepared the foundation, will finish that tomorrow, and the begin work on the walls.  The house is adjacent to an existing house so we will only have 3 walls to complete and still expect to finish by the end of the week.   We have fewer Honduran workers than normal so our team is mixing mezcla (cement) with shovels and carrying it in buckets from the sand pile to the house.  Hard work, but the shade and joyful attitude of all involved made for a great day. 

Dennis led the team with prayer (in Spanish) and we all began the day by carrying block.  Then Keith, Ron, Beau, Tom, and Tommy began to lay block with Pastor Carlos, while Dennis, John, Jeremy, Joel, Suzanne, and Alexis mixed mezcla, carried block, carried 80 lb cement bags, and buckets of mezcla, down the road and up and down the rocky steps to the house.  (Did I say rocks again?)  Steve ran the block saw to make the endless number of special cuts needed to work with this unique building design.  Sadly, we learned that channel block will be able to be purchased in the future so Steve's long-earned skill set of running the block saw may be in less demand after this trip.  Maida provided translation so we could interact better with our Honduran amigos.  She also helped Suzanne and Alexis lead a bible school class with the kids (and adults). 

We have plenty of pictures and video to share but will have to wait till we have a better Internet connection to upload them.

Fue un buen dia.  Dios te bendiga. 

Arrived safely in Honduras

Our flight today took us from RDU to Atlanta, then we arrived safely in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  As you may know, there has been some political unrest because of the recent presidential election and inauguration in Honduras.  The team felt confident that we would be safe and we appreciate all of your prayers for our safe journey.  We arrived in Tegucigalpa around 1:00 PM and had no issues going through customs and collecting our luggage.  Although the flight was full, the airport was surprisingly not crowded. We loaded into the van and a new Kia truck and made our way to the Mount Horeb camp near Choluteca.  The transcontinental highway that we travel on has been under construction for the past year, which at times has turned the 2 hour 45 minute trip into an 8 hour trip.  Thankfully, ours today was only 3 hours 20 minutes.  We also had two national police officers ride with us from the airport back to the camp as a precaution.  

After a great meal of rice, beans, plantains, and tortillas we had an orientation session and evening devotion.  Early to bed now for our first work day tomorrow.

Gracias!

FBC Raleigh Honduras Mission Team

Boarding at RDU

Keith, John, Ron, Steve, Beau, Joel, Tom, Suzanne, Jeremy, Alexis, Tommy, Dennis

Departing from RDU

Thanks Bob-O for getting us to the airport.  We will miss you this year!!

Commissioning Service at FBC

In the words of Mother Teresa, we will be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in our faces, kindness in our eyes, kindness in our smiles, kindness in our warm greetings.  In places of great need we will be the light of God's kindness.  To children, to the poor, to all who suffer and are lonely, we will always give a happy smile.  We will give not only our care, but also our hearts.

Alexis is on her way to NC

Our trips has begun... 

Alexis arrived in NC. 

Honduras family we will be serving

10/31/17 - From Ginger and Mike Greene, to FBC Honduras Team:

Good morning First Baptist Raleigh,

We are excited about your returning to serve the Lord with us.  Interestingly, we went Friday morning to assess for projects and God found yours.  So when we saw your email we knew this was all in God's timing.  God's timing is always perfect.  

Your project is in an area called Tapatoca which is actually going out of the ministry campus to your right.  You will be traveling up a beautiful mountain road for about forty-five minutes to serve this precious family. 

Candida Amalia Espinal, age 40, is the mother of the home

Marvin Domian Hernandez, son, age 20

Carmen Mania Hernandez, age 17, daughter

Jose Loanezo Hernandez, age 12, son

Amalia makes and sells bread to provide all three of her children an education.  Isn't this awesome she can do this for her family.  During massive rains here this year her house got washed away.  They have started to rebuild with the funds they had and have now ran out.  This house will be a little bit smaller than the houses we build. We will also build her some steps to be able to get to her home safely.

Where you are going is basically the end of Tapatoca.  These people have not been exposed to North Americans and are very quiet and subdued people.  Mike and I were the first North Americans these children here have been exposed to.  You will be the first team to work in this area for North Carolina Baptist Men.  

We are here to make this week a blessing unto the Lord for all of us.  Please remember you are the hands, feet and voice of Jesus for the first time to these people.  So also since you have such a large team there is opportunities to evangelize and bring the lost to Christ.  This could be the beginning of the plant of a new church in this area because there is not a Christian church here.  So this is where we will worship Sunday at the home of Amaila.  Please invite all around to worship with us on Sunday. 

This is going to be an amazing week and every project is so different and this one is going to be a special one.  We cannot wait to see what the Lord does through each of you this week.

God Bless,

Ginger Greene

www.ncbmhonduras.blogspot.com

The Team

Our team this year includes many returning veterans, plus two new additions.  

Steve Brown - TL

Jeremy Petty

Dennis Ellis

Keith Lewis

Tom Childrey

John Baldwin

Joel Brown

Tommy Stone

Suzanne Sanford

Ron McCollum

Alexis Dobbs - new

Beau Jones - new 

FBC Raleigh's Honduras Mission

We are excited to plan another mission trip to Honduras this year.  We will travel from January 29 to February 5, 2018.