Wednesday Update - Skit, Moving Dirt, and Volleyball... oh my

Hola mi amigos,

Brandon here again for today’s blog update. We had another successful day despite some very sore muscles.

We started out the day with getting to participate in the K-6^th grade devotion time. We sang/clapped along during their time worship. And then Jake had asked if we would create/perform a skit about the story of Samson and Delilah. So we did just that. Carol narrated the story while Ben (Samson), Jenna (Delilah), Joe, and Brandon (the Philistines) acted out/repeated what Carol said. It was a big hit. The kids loved the story. Ben became quite the celebrity being called out by students as Samson.

Jenna and Leah taught the 4^th grade class today, which went well. While the rest of us worked more on the construction site. Today we had help from Darwin and Sara, and as usual they were a great help. We moved more dirt, but today went a little bit better since we decided to use the wheelbarrows instead of trying to throw the dirt over the already growing dirt pile. Due to the rain we had to construct a make-shift road out of wood and stone. It required lots of maintenance, but it provided a nice change of pace from the constant digging and throwing we were doing the past few days. We believe we are close to done with the digging. We managed to level off almost the whole area next to where the cafeteria is going. It’s hard to believe we were able to move that much dirt w/ just some shovels and a wheelbarrow. The only digging we may have left is digging some trenches for footings for the cement slab going there and possibly some piping. The Honduran workers got the foundation layer finished today so tomorrow should also include building some walls w/ cinderblock and cement.

After working we stayed at the school to play a little volleyball. About 5 students (including Alan and Darwin who helped as translators for us already) and one of the Honduran teachers showed up as did several of the American teachers. So we had a grand ole time playing us w/ the American teachers vs the Honduras team. The students won the first few games and managed to slip in one win at the very end.

We came back to the church to relax a bit before dinner, grabbed some showers, and relax. I watched and played a little soccer w/ some kids on the futbolita court. We then headed over to someone’s house and were able to eat on their roof overlooking a town square/park. It was a gorgeous night to be outside. And dinner was again amazing.  We had Baleadas (I think) which was kinda like a quesadilla but better.

We then got a tour of a house where some of the teachers live. The highlight for me was the doorways were quite low and kinda reminded me of a hobbit house, sans fully circular doors. Needless to say it was funny to watch some of the taller team members and Jake walk through the doorway. We then ended the night w/ some homemade ice cream made by a girl here in Honduras who is hoping to open up her own shop. We had oreo coffee ice cream and Reeses ice cream. It was delicious! In terms of hand dipped ice cream, I’d say in even rivals Whitey’s Ice Cream in the QC. And that’s saying something. Then after ice cream we had devotions and everyone is now heading to bed.

So yeah, that was our day. Lots happened, but for me it was nice cuz it wasn’t quite as exhausting as the other days. I’m still sore and tired, but I never hit the wall of utter exhaustion/energy loss like I did on several occasions. Plus it is really cool to know some more of the students, not just by name, but to be able to joke around with them and have fun. It really adds the personal connection to La Union.

Some prayers for us would be for continued endurance. I will say that I did not want to get out of bed this morning. I’m glad I did, but I had the break down moment where life felt terrible. Almost all of us are dealing w/ sore muscles or lack of energy. George couldn’t even work given his back and neck our just completely out of wack. So beyond just endurance, pray for healing as well. And most of all pray that we can continue to meet more students and people living here and to have an impact on their life. Tomorrow is our last full day of working at the school. We’ll again be sending some people to the classroom and some continue construction.

That’s all I got. So thanks for all the love and support.

Cheers!

-Brandon

p.s. Just one side note. It is a very small world indeed. There is such a large Michigan tie to this random town in Honduras. And especially Holland cuz I just found out some friends are related to one of the teachers. Such a small small world. 

p.p.s. Another cool thing we saw was how some of the teachers interact with their students in the free time. For example one teacher was helping her student fill out college applications. Very exciting to see these kids start to have dreams and goals bigger then staying put in La Union their whole life and then to see the teachers help these kids to attain their dreams.