Greetings One and All,
Today is Wednesday, and we are more than half-way through the week. Hard to believe! Today was another very full day. Here is the report:
After a lively breakfast (as usual) in the VHouse, we were sadly once again late to the 7am devotional, although we were successful in our plan to get there before 7am, in order not to be delinquent once again. No one seemed to mind, as they were well into the discourse for the morning. The theme this week is `responsibilidad` and today focused on taking pride in homework and other activities and duties comprising the Mission for the children of El Hogar.
Today is Wednesday, and we are more than half-way through the week. Hard to believe! Today was another very full day. Here is the report:
After a lively breakfast (as usual) in the VHouse, we were sadly once again late to the 7am devotional, although we were successful in our plan to get there before 7am, in order not to be delinquent once again. No one seemed to mind, as they were well into the discourse for the morning. The theme this week is `responsibilidad` and today focused on taking pride in homework and other activities and duties comprising the Mission for the children of El Hogar.
Today`s morning excursion was to the Technical Institute where the group had a tour of all the buildings while Liz and Rich and Lazaro met to discuss a few things. The group then had the most wonderful treat to have Lazaro spend the better part of an hour talking with us about the Institute, the boys, and most amazingly, about his personal history with the early days of El Hogar and his life before coming to El Hogar. He spoke with love and passion and his commitment to his ministry here was clear to everyone. In a stroke of fortuitous and surprising forethought, Liz had put the audio recorder in her pack and got it out in time to capture most of Lazaro´s words. She is anxiously awaiting some free moments to check that it worked!
After a lunch of chicken and rice and potatoes, we rounded everyone up to return to El Hogar. There was lively discussion about the yet-to-be realized windows for the chapel, as well as the non-existant books and computers for the library and computer lab. Fifteen smart women can come up with lots of great suggestions. All were impressed with the beauty and spaciousness of the buildings and grounds at this new Institute.
Fifteen women can also tackle a multitude of multitasking activities and the afternoon was spent in pursuit of three efforts: one group (Team Green) of gardening aficionadas went to the local nursery to purchase shrubs, trees and flowers to plant in front of the newly painted and spruced up dorm building. Rumor has it they were there for 16-17 hours making many decisions sometimes several times over, and providing a week´s worth of entertainment to the very patient fellow who ran the nursery.
After a lunch of chicken and rice and potatoes, we rounded everyone up to return to El Hogar. There was lively discussion about the yet-to-be realized windows for the chapel, as well as the non-existant books and computers for the library and computer lab. Fifteen smart women can come up with lots of great suggestions. All were impressed with the beauty and spaciousness of the buildings and grounds at this new Institute.
Fifteen women can also tackle a multitude of multitasking activities and the afternoon was spent in pursuit of three efforts: one group (Team Green) of gardening aficionadas went to the local nursery to purchase shrubs, trees and flowers to plant in front of the newly painted and spruced up dorm building. Rumor has it they were there for 16-17 hours making many decisions sometimes several times over, and providing a week´s worth of entertainment to the very patient fellow who ran the nursery.
A second group (Team Fresh Air) stayed at El Hogar and continued with painting and touching up and using every last drop of paint from every can on the property. Tomorrow they will get yet more paint and continue with painting the walls until every last inch is satisfactory. I am told to report that the wooden lockers from the past couple days of painting are now happily installed in the bedroom, complete with child´s name affixed and clothing in place. ¡Gracias a Dios! This team can now move on to conquer new challenges.
The third group (Team Bed Care), modestly appointed with only Liz and Raul, went on a hunt throughout the city for new mattresses and plastic mattress covers. After an interesting stop at the local Honduran bank to do some money changing, this team arranged to have 48 new mattresses delivered tomorrow and experimented with heavy-duty mattress protection. It should be noted that after Team Bed Care was finished with their tasks, they encountered Team Green still at the local nursery pondering more floral options and discussing dirt and manure.
Seriously, the mattresses are a gift from the WE team, using the extra funds raised by all those soup lunches. The plants will create a beautiful garden in front of the dorm building, purchased with money that was spent in lieu of the standard pizza party that teams usually provide for the boys and staff. The plan is that on Friday afternoon, beds will be moved from the last remaining old dorm into the new dorm, new mattresses and pads (and sheets) installed, and the last group of children not yet living in the dorm will spend their first night in their new (fully painted) and beautifully gardened home. This will be a convergence of a week of much blood, sweat and tears, rotating project managers, and loving devotion to the completion of all these various projects.
Seriously, the mattresses are a gift from the WE team, using the extra funds raised by all those soup lunches. The plants will create a beautiful garden in front of the dorm building, purchased with money that was spent in lieu of the standard pizza party that teams usually provide for the boys and staff. The plan is that on Friday afternoon, beds will be moved from the last remaining old dorm into the new dorm, new mattresses and pads (and sheets) installed, and the last group of children not yet living in the dorm will spend their first night in their new (fully painted) and beautifully gardened home. This will be a convergence of a week of much blood, sweat and tears, rotating project managers, and loving devotion to the completion of all these various projects.
Stay tuned to see whether Friday afternoon indeed unfolds as planned. Other things we will be doing Friday afternoon is going on home visits, meeting with the dental team who is coming to install the 3rd dental chair in the El Hogar dental clinic (unloaded from a pick-up truck in one massive, unwieldy, and extremely heavy mass, and maneuvered under a canopied walkway and up two flights of narrow stairs by no less than 10 Honduran men), and perhaps distributing 100 shoes to eager children. Some say this is a Type A group, but don´t you believe it!
To back up about 24 hours, last night Dra. Barbra McCune came to the volunteer house to spend some time with the team talking about her work and life in Honduras as a missioner physician. We leaned about the health care situation in Honduras, her work with her rural clinic, and some stories of her experiences with patients. Thank you Barbra, for sharing your time and love for the people of Honduras with us!
Tomorrow we plan to visit the Farm, and in the afternoon, plant the garden and finish up the painting, and enjoy a Honduran dinner outside of El Hogar. Tune in for further adventures of Team WEep, so dubbed because of the pounds of collective tears shed daily, over heartbreaking stories of the children, inspiring and moving speeches from the staff, witnessing acts of repentance and forgiveness among the children, connecting with little ones who melt our hearts, hearing stories of Barbra´s patients, and also tears of laughter and appreciation, born of the bonds we are forming with each other.
¡Hasta manana!
Con amor y gratitud,
Liz
To back up about 24 hours, last night Dra. Barbra McCune came to the volunteer house to spend some time with the team talking about her work and life in Honduras as a missioner physician. We leaned about the health care situation in Honduras, her work with her rural clinic, and some stories of her experiences with patients. Thank you Barbra, for sharing your time and love for the people of Honduras with us!
Tomorrow we plan to visit the Farm, and in the afternoon, plant the garden and finish up the painting, and enjoy a Honduran dinner outside of El Hogar. Tune in for further adventures of Team WEep, so dubbed because of the pounds of collective tears shed daily, over heartbreaking stories of the children, inspiring and moving speeches from the staff, witnessing acts of repentance and forgiveness among the children, connecting with little ones who melt our hearts, hearing stories of Barbra´s patients, and also tears of laughter and appreciation, born of the bonds we are forming with each other.
¡Hasta manana!
Con amor y gratitud,
Liz
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