Cement, cement, cement

In all of the details of the medical clinic it seems that I have almost totally neglected our construction team and the work that they have accomplished this week. On our first day we poured a new roof for the first floor of the church that will also be the floor of the church's second story. That was fifty 95 lbs bags of cement. My neck was fried by the sun and many of our backs were a little stiff on Tuesday morning.

Since we were able to finish that job far faster than our Honduran hosts had planned we needed something else to do and since we still had another 50 bags of cement it seemed like the natural thing to pave something else...so we did.

The courtyard at the Pena de Horeb church is nothing but a giant mud pit. When it rains heavily it becomes an absolute quagmire and then mud and dirt is tracked into the sanctuary and it just becomes a filthy mess. So, why not pave it? So Tuesday we spent the day loading, hauling and dumping about five truckloads of the richest and most beautiful topsoil to level the courtyard in order to pave it. (There is not a single one of you reading this who would not want this dirt in your yard, garden, flowerbed or farm. It was that good.) While this was not the most exciting work that we had ever done, those of us who were able to go and load the truck were treated to some fresh drinks from coconuts that had just been picked from the tree. It didn't taste quite like a Dr. Pepper from Sonic, but it was cool, wet and it hit the spot.

After spending the day Tuesday leveling the courtyard we spent Wednesday mixing cement and pouring it. What was amazing to us was how the local church members turned out to help work on their church. Each day we worked we had church members volunteer to help us. One gentleman - Eduardo - was there everyday working shoulder-to-shoulder with us. He spoke no English and most of us spoke no Spanish but it was important to Eduardo that he have a hand in the improvements that were being made to his church. It was important to him.

To see some pictures of the clinic, construction and the other sights of Honduras click on the link below to go to the photo album that is posted on the Crossings website.
http://www.crossingsokc.org/serveandvolunteer/MissionsOutreachMinistries/MissionsPhotoAlbums/tabid/429/Default.aspx


Soli Deo gloria,
Michael