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.