Despite the prediction for rain today, we had another day of sunshine in beautiful Honduras. We are warmed by el Sol, and especially by the bright eyes of the beautiful children at the Juan Wesley School (we are unable to see their smiling faces because they wear masks). Our school routine was a little different today since we rotated in and out of the kitchen to help women from the church make semitas to deliver to residents of Ciudad Espana as an invitation to church…500 in all! Semitas are tasty bread pies (coated in sugar). Some of them would be baked in an outdoor, wood-fired oven. There was also baking going on in another kitchen at the school as women prepared baleadas (home made tortillas filled with refried beans and cheese) for our lunch. YUM!
While we’re talking food, I haven’t mentioned the drinks we’ve had…last night, Cindy served a freshly-blended cantaloupe jugo. What a tasty blast of vitamin C! Tonight we were treated to tacos…the pico de gallo had corn in it and the guacamole had hard boiled eggs. Both were delicious! Olga, the Principal of Juan Wesley, and her son and daughter joined us for dinner, brought cake for dessert and stayed for a rousing game of Sorry.
Back to our afternoon service project. While we may never get used to the steep mountain curves and narrow road to Los Pinos, we have fallen in love with Pastors ….(husband and wife) and the congregational members who came to work alongside us (or, better yet, directing our efforts!) It was truly God-ordained that Milton should need a service project for us and translator (& van driver par excellence!) Carla should suggest the Dios Viviente Church has the materials for a new kitchen. A brief shower stopped work today for a few minutes…giving us a break, cooling the temp. a bit and leaving a pleasant breeze. The foundation is nearly finished along with the pila (cistern) and a layer of cinderblock extending the outer wall. It will be so much easier for the church to serve the children once the project is completed. We were each presented with a thank you mug which included the church name and Luke 9:48 on it. This team will remember the hard-working, dear people of Dios Viviente! We look forward to our leaders keeping us updated on progress…how nice it would be to come back for a ribbon-cutting ceremony!
Melissa’s devotion focused on Psalm 33. Being over the hump day, we could lament about being tired or thinking about leaving this beautiful country. It was fun to share a rose(positive experience), a thorn (not-so-positive experience), a bud (something we’re looking forward to) and strawberry (random thought) during our nightly debriefing.