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

More pictures from Sunday

Anne and Suyapa
Snacktime!
Mirza, Astrid, Ela
Kenneth!
This is me trying to get the kids as they slid down the slide at church!
Keith playing hide and seek
Karen and her new love Genesis
Ana K and Ela´s room. The teenaged girls live in Abel and Toyita´s house now on the property. Much better for them!

Sunday full of Grace

It is only 5:30 and we have already had a full day. Marie thought she would beat the system and get up early to take a hot shower. She let the hot water run for quite awhile to no avail. Finally she gave up and shivered through a freezing cold shower. Minutes later, her roommate Jan K. announced that she had had a lovely hot shower once she figured out the hot and cold faucets were reversed. Marie hopes she has taken care of her Lenten suffering now!

We went to Cristo Redentor, the Honduran Episcopal Church. There are about 50 congregants with the priest Connie, and Suzy and Sallie (!) playing guitar and Mari singing. We started with the Great LItany. Keith, the priest from St. Aidan´s, read the Gospel. Suzy translated the sermon for us exhorting us all to remember to be patient and wait for God´s blessings in His own time. We immediate gratification Americans paid close attention. Minta held and rocked Cesia Maria through most of the service. She was in heaven. After the service, while waiting for the van, I played with Sallie and some other children on the slide. I was a human bridge, straddling the slide with El Mano Malo that tried to tickle them as they slid shrieking between my legs. Lots of laughs especially when they managed to knock me off!

After church we stopped by to see Casa LAMB, the new guesthouse. It really is lovely, lots of room and comfortable accommodations.

After a delicious lunch of chicken noodle with a type of squash called pepian. The pepian was wonderful. Then off to San Buena Ventura! We arrived during the children´s rest time so Wheeler took us on a tour of the new construction. The school is amazing! Huge and will be great. There is still alot of work to do on it but wow. A couple of the older children came running to see us. Gina flew into John´s arms. She didn´t know he was going to be there today and was so very happy. John fell to his knees and completely enveloped her in a bear hug. Next thing we knew there were children everywhere! I guess I got a year´s supply of hugs in about 10 minutes. It was so great to see them all again.

We all had a great time playing with the children. Some of the boys and I played on the playground - they wanted to show off on the monkey bars! The new team members promptly fell in love with the children. It is funny to see how the Americans and the children pair up. I´m not sure who picks whom but it´s not long before an adult and a child have become attached. Thanks to Pat Klausman at St. David´s we gave out tons of brand new beanie babies! The children were so excited! Naturally, the little boys were playing with them like cars and whacking each other with them... Boys are the same everywhere. But they also hugged and cuddled them when no one was looking. One boy, who arrived in September, is Fabio and looks to be about 12. He was thrilled with his Toucan and walked around proudly showing it to everyone. I wonder if this is one of the first times he has gotten a toy of his own. Keith played hide and seek with the girls and, it turns out, does not seek very well! The girls were pretty much easy to see but he just couldn´t find them amidst many giggles.

We had great fun with the babies in the nursery. Oh my gosh. They are so cute. I was particularly happy to see Fanny, Paola, and Lester David. These three were rescued from extreme violence last fall. They are doing so well.

We are getting ready for dinner. Erika is fixing tilapia. Bill is practicing his singing and guitar playing for our evening sing a long. After dinner we will sort all the clothes and such we brought with us. OH! Great news for Anne and Margot. The lost suitcase arrived today at the airport! Danilo will go get it tomorrow. I am particularly pleased because it also contains all the homemade goodies Anne is famous for. (For those of you monitoring my Lenten no-dessert discipline... Fr. Paul gave me dispensation since we are all here working all day for the Lord. At least I think he said that...)

Tomorrow the work begins. Margot, Jan K, and Dorita go to Flor to work with the ladies at La Cantera. (La Cantera is the squatter´s village, extremely impoverished. We support several single mothers,families, and elderly women through the CAP program.)The rest of us return to SBV. We will be painting the inside of cottage 3 where the babies live and some of us will be building a wall around what is now the kitchen. This building used to be the laundry but now is the kitchen. It needs a wall built as a windscreen.

Boys on the playground
Margot and the babies
Fanny laughing! What a change from when she arrived at SBV.
Lovely Angelica
Nursery children
John and Gina
The school
Sergio and Carlos with their peluchas (stuffed animals)

More pictures from Saturday

Cesia Maria. Note how tiny her fingers are.
Aaron Joshue and Danilo
Hanging out at Erikas

We´re BAAAAACK!

YAY! We are back at Erika´s after a mostly uneventful day of travel, aside from the game of dominoes the guys played on the escalator... more on that later. We all arrived at the airport at the appointed time and were whisked off to our own check in desk by one of Delta´s finest! It was wonderful. All luggage was quickly weighed and checked in. We checked in 30 HUGE suitcases filled with clothes, school supplies, beanie babies for the children, teacher supplies, and more. Sadly, we retrieved 29 suitcases. I am ever hopeful that number 30 will find its way to Erikas tomorrow.

We had a quick lunch and headed off to Suzy´s for our first event of the week. See the pictures of Cesia Maria! She is absolutely precious and tiny. For those who don´t know the story, Cesia Maria was born 4 mos ago, premature, weighing 2lbs, with hydrocephaly. Her birth mother had no interest in the baby. She received a shunt to handle the hydrocephaly and is expected tolive a normal life. Social services called Suzy and asked her to take Cesia Maria. Guess what Suzy said... What she always says - Yes. Now at 4 mos she weighs 8 lbs which is STILL less than my boys weighed when they were born! We stayed about an hour. I played with Sallie who has shot up like a weed! Mari, Kelsy, Lettie were there but Elsa and Lucy were out with Tomasa. Aaron Joshue is adorable. I don´t have any pictures of him because everytime he saw me he burst into tears! I am sure it had nothing to do with me, a coincidental gas bubble perhaps! OK, so Minta got a great picture of Aaron Joshue -- in my defense she bribed him with a cool toy. Suzy now has 9 children at her house!

We returned to our Honduran home for a brief rest and a delicious dinner of meatloaf, baked potatoes, vegetables and ice cream! After dinner we played an icebreaker game, sang some songs to Bill´s guitar playing and then Compline led by new team member, Marie from Macon!

Tomorrow is church at Cristo Redentor, lunch at Erika´s, and the afternoon at San Buena Ventura , aka SBV. We are all pretty tired tonight but we look forward to a big day tomorrow. The weather is beautiful so I can´t wait till we get out to SBV
tomorrow.

Bonnie and Jess, we all prayed for Jessamyn tonight and added her to everyoné´s prayer list.


Sallie
Suzy, Julio, Dorita
Karen and Cesia Maria
Al, Dorita, Minta,Suzy, Julio, Marie

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