Va con Dios (go with God)

Friday...
I can´t believe today was our last day. On one hand it came so fast, on the other, my life back in the US is a vague memory. (I do remember I have two sons and a cat at least...) Part of the team went to Flor again. Leamarie spent the day working with the teachers there. (I haven´t seen her yet to tell her this but one of the boys spoke during the program the children put on for us at SBV and thanked her for teaching them math!) Margot, Jan K, Dorita and Julio spent the day with the La Cantera ladies. They had a wonderful day at a park up in the mountains. The ladies played and laughed which was a real treat for them

The rest of us went to SBV to finish painting Cottage 3. Remember yesterday when a little girl stepped in Minta´s yellow paint? Well, I poured yellow paint all over my right foot while trying to fill my paint pan. I am no longer allowed to do that. We got almost all of the cottage painted. There is just a little left for the next team to do. There is an outhouse triplex and the one on the far right is reserved for the teams. The children use the other two. Nuff said. So the other day the children were lined up to walk to the local store, called a pulperia. It sounds like pu-per-ia. Keith and I were standing there when the teacher asked me if we wanted to go. I turned to Keith and asked if he wanted to go to the pulperia with the kids. He looked at me in horror, NO! It turns out he thought pulperia meant bathroom! So, from that point on, our private bano was called the ¨Pooperia¨ Minta painted the name on the door today.

While we were painting, I happened upon a truly adorable sight. It was bath day for the little bitty girls. Their caretaker puts them in what we use as a storage bin filled with cold water. In they go to be rubbed and scrubbed. I walked in their room and there were 8 naked tiny girls playing until they were dressed by their caretaker. They could not have been cuter. The tiny boys were sound asleep in their cribs. As the mother of boys, it filled my heart to see these precious lambs sound asleep.

Great news for the St. Aidan´s folks! The windows for Cottage 3 arrived and are being installed! Thanks so much to the St. Aidan´s parish family for this wonderful gift.

The children put on a program for us. They sang some songs with great gusto. The teenagers put on two dramas. They were amazing. In the first one, Reina and Xiomara acted out the abuse so many of the children suffered before coming to SBV. The emotion on their faces revealed they were reenacting their own experiences. Then Paty, dressed as Jesus, came in and rescued Xiomara, the abused child in the story. Reina then explained the drama to us saying that they had all left their horrible pasts behind them and now look forward to a bright future because of the power of God´s love. Needless to say, there wasn´t a dry American eye in the house. Suyapa, a 9 year old girl, tearfully gave us her testimony. She described her life before coming to LAMB. She had no food, had to beg to get anything to eat, and had no place to sleep. Now she has all these things and so much more. She is Anne´s sponsored child. Anne was a puddle. These children are so eloquent in expressing how a life can be changed through the love of God and the people who serve Him. I feel so humbled by them all. Their strength and resiliency despite all they have suffered is truly an inspiration.

Tonight, our last night as a team, we had dinner and then celebrated Eucharist with Keith and Julio as celebrants. Our wine was sparkling grape juice! (Christians do not drink alcohol because alcoholism is a problem here. This was the wine Erika bought us to use!) Suzy and the head of the LAMB guest house joined us. It was very moving to share this with everyone. This is a very special place filled with unbelievable people. I feel so blessed that I am returning in April. My hope for all readers of this blog is that someday you have an experience as wonderful and miraculous as this.

Thank you for supporting us, praying for us, and following our antics this week.

Demos gracias a Dios! Thanks be to God!

Little Tatiana and Jocelyn
The children singing to us
Anne Suyapa and her brother Carlos
Our Pooperia!
Jocelyn and me - she is so precious. Always has a huge smile on her face.
Bill painting - no spot too obscure to paint for him!
Windows in Cottage 3!
Marie and Karen painting the green room.
Suyapa giving her testimony with Suzy translating
Roofing the school. The worker is standing on the beam with no scaffolding or any other safety net. Where is OSHA when you need them?
Precious lamb

Girls Night Out

Today was a great day for everyone! I had the great joy of observing Leamarie teach children and lead a teacher workshop. She asked me to take pictures so I was able to see her in action. She is the quintessential teacher, ably assisted by Jan G translating. It was great to see how excited and engaged the teachers were as she was demonstrating teaching techniques and materials. What a gift she is to those teachers.

Most of us painted the living room, hallway and kitchen area in cottage 3. We had to so some sanding first of course. We have gotten much better at it so got that entire space done before lunch. We started the day, however, with another conga line. Al and Keith were at the front of the line getting the blocks from the pile to pass down the line. They kept count. Monday we passed 300 cinder blocks down the line, today a mere 200. While we were doing that a new (I think he is new) staff member, Juan, came up. He is responsible for the agricultural efforts at SBV. They are trying to get a farm started, they are raising chickens and goats, and they want to have a greenhouse. It turns out that Minta is a master gardener. Suddenly the two of them took off all over the property, Minta furiously taking notes about all the things she is going to research when she gets home. She has ziploc bags of rock and soil samples to have analyzed. It was hard to tell who was more excited, Juan or Minta. It was clear to all of us that this is why God brought her to Honduras at this particular time!

Speaking of Minta... she was working in the little girls room (aka the Pepto room) painting the trim yellow. While she was concentrating on painting it just so, one of the little girls stepped in the bowl of paint! She had paint up over her ankle! Then she took her foot out and started walking! Minta scooped her up and rushed her to the kitchen to get cleaned up. The saintly men cleaned up the mess for her. We all got a good laugh. My only regret is that I didn´t have my camera at the ready to snap a picture of a wild eyed Minta and a yellow footed but serene child rushing by!

We left SBV a bit early so we could quickly shower and eat an early dinner. We had to get to the school at Flor for Girls Night Out. Margot, Anne, Jan K, and Dorita spent all day there again. They worked with the La Cantera ladies all day sewing and having a spa day - washing and styling their hair and helping them with makeup. Then they transformed the upper playground (a concrete soccer field) into a beautiful dining room. The tables were beautifully decorated. Our first task was to light the tealights on the tables. Last year the tealights were blown out by the constant breeze as soon as we lit them. This year, they innovated and floated them in small plastic cups with colored water. Brilliant idea... but... they were blown out almost as fast. Keith and John spent a considerable amount of time engineering a method to keep them lit for a least a while. The ladies arrived, all looking lovely. They were not the slightest bit concerned about the tealights because everything was so lovely. Margot, Anne, Jan K, and Dorita joined their guests at the table as we served them a delicious dinner of rice, chicken, and vegetables. There was a tiny glitch in that we also served their drinks which had been poured and conveniently covered in foil. After we got them all delivered we discovered it was jello for dessert! Oops. Find the cups, ice, and soft drinks. Start again. Soon everyone had something to drink AND jello! Bill was seranading the ladies with his beautiful voice and guitar. John soon joined him to provide harmony. Later Anne made it a trio and then one of the Honduran women made it a quartet! Wheeler and Karen were the floor show, cutting the rug with their dancing!

The ladies from La Cantera are so gracious and lovely. They were having such a great time. This is the second annual Girls Night Out which, I suspect, will go on for many years. These women deal with unbelieveable challenges under the worst conditions imaginable. Still, they could not have been sweeter. It is a real honor to serve them. Marie told me this was the best part of the week for her. She has a real heart for this kind of work.

I was able to get the shoe sizes of Sonia´s 5 children. Shoes all around in April!

Suzy recounted a funny conversation she overheard her third graders have. One said, "Suzy invented the Children´s Home." Another said scornfully, "No. She is the BOSS of the Children´s Home." "No," piped up a third, "she owns the Children´s Home." Suzy laughed and explained that she didn´t invent it, isn´t the boss, and doesn´t own it. "Well, you made up the name of it!" Suzy agreed with that.

Tomorrow is our last day. We all have heavy hearts thinking about saying good bye to the people we love. The SBV children will put on a program for us. The teenaged girls have been practicing a "drama" for us!

Hope all is well there. Hasta la vista!
Leamarie and the teachers
Leamarie teaching 2nd grade
Girls Night Out
Wheeler and two of the ladies. I think the one on the right has a crush!
Wheeler and Karen dancing
Sonia -the picture doesn´t do her justice. She is beautiful
The famous Girls Night Out singers

Character trait of the week...

Wednesday

This has been quite a day. We started out earlier than normal to get to the school in Flor, El Cordero. This is a school and daycare for the people in the surrounding neighborhoods. They range from very poor to extreme poverty. The school is now PreK up to 5th grade, adding a grade each year as the children age. There is a daycare program as well for toddlers. There are 220 children there and each one is adorable. Truly, the Hondurans are beautiful people. We got there in time for the assembly. After an opening prayer and some vigorous singing it was time to get serious. One of the teachers announced that the character trait of the week is Discipline. Then she asked, What is discipline? She pointed to one little boy who solemnly responded, No se. (I don´t know) We roared at that. A little girl, then, raised her hand, It is loving God. (Girls always have the right answers at school!) Next the teacher used pictures and a felt board to tell the story of when Saul (Paul) was on the road to Damascus! Julio gave a short homily too!

Our next event was going to La Cantera. If you remember those TV comercials showing excrutiating poverty...well that is La Cantera. It is shocking to see how people live. One woman, a deaf mute, was able to communicate to us using grunts and hand motions that she has no lights in her house. Dorita was moved to give David, a staff member, money to buy her a kerosene lamp. Anne had crocheted a bazillion crosses. She gave us all handfuls so we could give them to the people we met along the way. We came across a man and his little girl. We gave one to her and offered him one. He firmly shook his head and said NO. He was the only one to reject the offer. One wonders what that is about.

We made it to Sonya´s house. She is so gracious and lovely. She showed us how she and her sister make tortillas. They make 1200 tortillas a day and carry them on their shoulders around town selling them. They make about $7. At night, Sonya takes a treacherous path to go to high school. She is determined to be a good role model for her children and give them a better life. Her mother, Iris, looks so much better. Last April she was near death. Fr. Julio led us in prayer for her health and Fr. Keith gave her a blessing. She still is without the oxygen she needs, however. Sonya´s son, Esteven, is so handsome. We asked him how many people live in there house. He replied, 8 or 9. Well, we asked, is it 8 or is it 9? He smiled and said, We stopped counting! He was about to run an errand for his mother and I noticed he was barefooted. The road is a dirt road, there is raw sewage running down it as well as dogs and their leave-behinds. Not a good place for a young boy to be without shoes. I compared his foot to mine and told him I would bring him shoes when I return in April. Yáll don´t let me forget...Size 6.5 or 7.

Next we went to see the house that St. David´s and St. Aidan´s sent money to build. The former ¨house¨ was really not even a shack and was about to tumble off the steep hill it is on. Now, the family lives in a sturdy wooden, cement floored house. It would be considered unlivable in the US but in La Cantera, it is one of the best homes. There is no plumbing, an outhouse sits above the house up a very steep path. I can´t think about what happens during the torrential rains of the wet season.

As we were leaving La Cantera, a lady came out of her shack to ask us for a wheelchair for her mother. Apparently she has nothing and is unable to walk. She is trapped in that house without a wheelchair. Something for us to work on when we get back. It would be wonderful if we could bring one in April.

So, now the day gets weird... or at least the juxtaposition of activities gets weird. We went from La Cantera to a pewter shop called Giancarlo´s. It is jarring to do so but the only way we can fit it in the schedule. Giancarlo´s has beautiful things. I do power shopping, bringing back as much as I can for the art auction to raise money for LAMB. When we got back to Erika´s we had to set up another Conga line to get all our bags from the van into the house! After a quick lunch at Erika´s we went to Valley of the Angels for more shopping. Again I buy the place out for the art auction. There are such beautiful Honduran crafts. I love it all. As for the character trait of the week, I pretty much failed! I bought everything in sight. My only saving grace is that all those purchases will raise 2 or 3 times what I spent for LAMB.

When we got home we were greeted with shrieks and giggles. Margot had arranged for the 5 adolescent girls, Reina, Xiomara, Ela, Astrid, and Paty, to spend the night with us. The girls were making tissue paper flowers for the dinner we are giving the La Cantera ladies tomorrow night. Soon, the flower making devolved into making funny, crazy things out of the pipe cleaners! Astrid styled my hair too. No comment! We had a good dinner with the girls and then they were able to take warm showers and wash their hair! This is an unbelievable treat for them because they only have cold showers once or twice a week at SBV. Margot, Leamarie, and Jan G. are leading some sort of cathartic sharing program tonight. Several of the girls were sexually abused before coming to SBV. All were victims of extreme poverty. Most had no education when they came to us. To see them laughing and giggling is such a joy.

I wish I had the words to express what an amazing place this is and describe all the miracles that have taken place and continue to right before our eyes. Why can´t I have the ability Maya Angelou has to communicate... When we go to La Cantera we see the conditions our children came from (and worse) and what their fate would be if not for LAMB. I am so deeply grateful for all the support we receive to care for these precious lambs. My heart breaks for the children not in LAMB´s care.

A final word before signing off... my teammates are angels themselves. Karen, Jan G, Anne, and Keith laboriously and carefully bubblewrapped and packed all the items I bought today. They filled 4 huge suitcases! I am so appreciative of that labor of love. Also, a belated thank you to Peter Tennis, Margot´s husband, for giving each of us a Day by Day. That was so thoughtful and we all have enjoyed having it.

Sleep well!

Julio giving a homily
Adorable school girl at El Cordero
Handsome boys at El Cordero
2nd graders teaching a Bible verse to the school
Julio the rapper!
John playing. Will he be able to walk tomorrow...he tossed several kids up about 100 times!
One of the dinner tables with the girls
Bill and Astrid
The new house
Sonya making tortillas
Children in La Cantera
Keith playing at El Cordero
Me and the girls!

Jorge

Tuesday

Today was a busy day again. Jan K, Dorita, and Anne headed off to Flor. Margot came with us for the morning at SBV to spend time with the teenaged girls. The rest of us got to work putting on the second coat of paint in the bedrooms. The guys helped on the high places and worked on the wall. Leamarie had a wonderful day teaching a lesson to the Pre-K and to the 4-6 graders. After school she and Valerie led a teacher workshop. The teachers were so excited to receive the teaching aids Leamarie and several members of the Home Team made. Suzy told me that she has some of the older children teaching some lessons to the younger ones. She develops the lesson plans and helps them teach. Everyone loves it and Suzy says they are so cute.

Margot had one of her inspirations to invite the teen girls to Erika´s to spend the night. I worked on the logistics with Suzy and Toyita in the morning. The word about this surprise leaked out and the girls are so excited! Harper will come too. My thought was to let them take warm showers for a change! The girls have a microbusiness making soap. Minta bought coffee "flavored" and vanilla soap. We plan on buying out their supply. The bars are really lovely and purportedly last a long time. We will sell them at the Art Auction and,of course, the proceeds go right back to LAMB so the soap will generate financial support twice!

Suzy told me that Jorge, an outstanding young man, was having surgery tomorrow. He was born with a problem with his urethra and needed two surgeries to fix it. He had the first several years ago. Tomorrow he gets the second. Bill reported that Jorge has had kidney problems all his life. He joined us for lunch and we all gathered around him, laid hands on him while Julio prayed for his healing. Jorge seemed really pleased that we had prayed for him. He spent the afternoon helping us paint.

After a delicious dinner of paella, Suzy and her girls, Mari, Sallie, Elsa, and Lucy came by. Bill and Suzy played guitar and sang for and with us. Bill debuted the song he wrote for this team called There is a Place in the Country. Beautiful as are all his songs. Suzy led us in a devotional and then we chatted, she answered questions, and we sang some more. What a joy and privelege it is to spend time with her and her children. We will see Suzy again on Thursday because she has just become the 3rd grade teacher at SBV. The former teacher left so she is filling in and loving it.

Signing off now. We have a huge day and early start.

Sleep with the angels!

Hasta manana


Karen and Cesia Maria
The toddlers
John in the Pepto room
Jocelyn carrying the mattress
Jorge
Valerie and Leamarie
Leamarie teaching 4-6 grades
Leamarie teaching PK with Jan G as interpreter
Jocelyn carrying her mattress. She would NOT accept any help at all! She giggled all the way from Toyita´s cottage to hers.
Fanny
Elsa
Al painting
Bill and Yareli
Astrid, Paty, Xiomara packaging the soap they made to sell as a microbusiness.

More about Monday

I forgot to tell you about Leamarie´s day. I love to see her at the end of the day because she just shines, glows. She spent the morning observing the classes taught at SBV and then the afternoon working with the teachers. Jan G translated in the morning and Valerie in the afternoon. Leamarie had prepared materials for Math because she felt she could communicate best about numbers. It turns out that what she prepared was exactly the biggest need of the teachers!

Bill graced us with a poem last night that was inspired by Connie´s sermon about Abraham and the need for patience for God´s perfect timing. Bill is so talented and generous with that talent.

People are starting to arrive for breakfast. As usual, after a grueling day of manual labor, no one is hobbling around in pain. In fact, Julio says his leg feels much better that it ever has! I truly, sincerely believe God protects us from pain here. It is such a place of healing and joy.

Time for Morning Prayer and breakfast.
Hasta la vista! I´ll be back tonight.

Conga lines!

Monday...

The group split up this morning with Margot, Jan K, and Dorita going to Flor to work with the La Cantera ladies. Jan reported that they had a marvelous time. She was teaching the ladies how to make totebags. Half way thru the electricity went off - welcome to Honduras! Not to worry, she shifted their attention to preparing fabric for the next step. Soon the electricity was back on and off they went.

The rest of us headed out to SBV and immediately set up our first Conga line to get the cinder blocks from behind Cottage 2 past Cottage 4 and over to the kitchen. It didn´t take long for the new folks to get into the swing of the line - literally. The success of the conga line is all about swinging the block from one person to the next. Wheeler (age 88) took his place in the line. I tricked him into standing in the shade. Don´t tell.

By the way, girls from April trip. You are so busted. I told Wilmer that you call him Wilmer Caliente. (Hot Wilmer) I had no idea Hondurans could blush so deeply. And, Katie McCree - Matt (aka Abel) says hi.

Once we had plenty of blocks for the wall we moved into Cottage 3 to prep for painting. The men moved the furniture into the middle of the room and then we got the news...Guess what, April Team... we had to sand the walls! Just when we thought our scraping days were over. But truthfully, this was much easier than the scraping yáll did. There was plenty of dust but no adobe chunks falling on our heads. We had a light layer of dust covering us but we were, at least, recognizable. Our instructions were to sand and paint two walls. Tomorrow we will sand and paint the other two walls. We have to do it that way because the babies have to sleep there tonight so they had to move the furniture back. Guess what happens tomorrow. Yep, move the furniture back into the middle of the room! The girls room is pepto bismal pink. I had on my construction Barbie outfit and Karen said when I went in there I disappeared! All you could see was eyes. Another room is a pretty pastel yellow and the room Marie and I painted is robins egg blue. So am I now. Marie, as those of you who know her will guess, was pristine despite sanding and painting her fair share of this large room. Minta is the trim specialist and is planning her approach in between sanding and painting. We had a brief argument with Julio - fighting over who would go up the ladder to sand the top part of the walls. I won. I figured if he went up the ladder and something happened, Dorita would kill me. If she didn´t Fr. Paul would when he realized Fr. Julio wouldn´t be available for Holy Week. Self preservation on my part only, not concern for Julio!

In the afternoon, the children were out of school and started to join us. Some of the boys helped us paint. Keith learned how to use a level the Honduran way with tubing and water.

In the late afternoon, Gina, Seidy, and Wendy entertained us with their hulahooping prowess. Anita got into the act as well. They are really good at it so I told them to "Venga, venga" (come, come) or walk towards me while hooping. Then they had to walk backwards, stand on one leg, rub their stomachs and pat their heads! They can do it all with no problem except for the giggles that became debilitating sending the hoop to their feet. I started playing Thumb War with the kids. Soon I was playing with two kids at once. Not easy to do. Great hilarity over that one! I read Elias, my sponsor child, the book I brought him again and we played with the car. I love this relationship but it breaks my heart that all the children don´t have sponsors. I wish I could sponsor them all. They are so dear. Sergio has started calling Mami and Dunia has really bonded with me. Oh, how can I leave them...

OH Big News. I have the absolute power in the group now. I am the Hefe-rina Extraordinario. They have set aside one of the outhouses for our team and there is a lock on the door. I HAVE THE KEY!! Boy is everyone nice to me now. HA! But, I will wield my power with grace and justice. (probably)

Anne made a pot run (not that kind - ceramic) and we had a pot signing party tonight. Then we gathered in the living room for a warm, moving reflection time led by Keith. It was wonderful to hear each person´s story about how they got to Honduras. Demos gracias a Dios.

Me sanding walls!
The concert last night. Lovely.
Bill the Builder
Anita hula hooping
Hot Wilmer
Site of new wall
Thumb Wars
Glam gams,Minta!
Marie and her hat
Jan Geiger sanding with her left arm...not so easy