God is in My Tomorrow

Another year has come and gone. I can not believe that I am typing this blog on my bed back home in the USA...This year probably went faster then any year I have ever spent in Honduras. We had such an amazing team, one of the the best teams that I have ever worked with!

On our final work day we broke off into 2 house builds, a hospital/dump team, and a group that went to Didasko to finish the renovations on the playground.

I was on, you guessed it, a house build. This house build was not just a house build though, it was Tricky's dedication house. I have been traveling with Tricky for the past 14 years to Honduras. He really is like a second father to me so building this house in honor of everything he has done for the people in Honduras was special to me.

Jerret petting the donkey at the build site. 

Measuring out for the posts.

High side wall crew!

Gwen did double duty holding down the boards for my side and the other side!

The life of a short person doing the high wall. 

The house we built was out near the dump again, that seemed to be the community of choice for this years trip, all but 3 of our houses were built out in that community. We build the house for a mother, who was expecting, and her 3 children.

Me and the Trickster

Jarret working on the floor.

I LOVE having kids in Honduras!

Cassidy was so excited!

I told you all he worked HARD today!

Tricky was different on this house build then any build I have ever seen him work on. Over the past couple years we have kind of weaned Tricky into becoming a crew leader because people don't want him to over work himself, which he totally would because he is stubborn, haha. On this house build though it was as though he was a little kid again, he wanted to be a part of every portion of that house. He worked on the posts, the walls, the floor, the door, the window, EVERYTHING. He did all of it and the smile on his face thought this house build brought a smile to everyone else.

This is Walter. He is one of the boys who will live in this house.

He had so much fun helping me make the floor!

He took my work gloves. Doesn't he look cute! 

I wish you all could have seen the excitement he had when 

I let him help nail in the floor!

 Working on the final wall

The family

I don't think Tricky ever thought that someone would choose to build a house to honor him. The work he does was never for anyone but the people of Honduras, in fact it wasn't his choice to start coming to Honduras. He started coming because his son couldn't come at the last minute and he didn't want to waste a plane ticket! I told you all he was stubborn. God has a funny way of showing people what they are meant to be doing. I believe that is why Mikey couldn't go on that trip all those years ago....if Mikey had gone Tricky would just be Pat. If Mikey had gone the 116+ houses may not be standing in Honduras. If Mikey had not gone I wouldn't be able to consider myself a daughter to Tricky and Robin because I really don't know if I would be as close to them without our trips together. I am so thankful that Mikey wasn't able to go on that trip and that Pat took his place. God knew what He was doing. He knew that Pat needed to GO! (Funny how that works in with the Go theme this year.)

The crew

The house

The other house build. We went and helped finish/pack up tools after our house was done.

Me and Jonathan. 

I heard a saying from J-Lo this week and I feel like it is one of the best things that anyone could live by. I don't know what is in store for me in the future but I do know one thing, God is in my tomorrow.
If God is in my tomorrow, your tomorrow, anyones tomorrow, there is no need to worry because He's got this. God may have plans for you that you can't even comprehend but that doesn't matter because with Him you can and will do the impossible. So as I close out another amazing trip, what is your tomorrow looking like? If you can't say with certainty that God is in your tomorrow then I would think about changing it. God is in my tomorrow and I plan to GO and use Him in everything that I do.

Push the House Off the Cliff

Today was probably one of the most difficult builds emotionally and physically that I have ever helped with. When we first arrived at the build site the house we had to clean out the old house. The inside of the house had cement floors, 2 mattresses, an old fridge that they used as shelves, and a few tables. We packed all their belongings the best we could and put the big items off to the side.  

The house when we began.

Once we got everything out of the house we started to take down the old house. To do this we knocked out parts of the wall and then took the chainsaw to the support beams. The guys then got behind the house and began to push the house. We literally pushed their old house off the side of the mountain. Any time we have a take down it always gets to me a little bit more then when the house site is already clear because we are destroying their home. I don’t know how I could let a bunch of strangers come and just push my house off the side of the mountain and trust them to build me a house to sleep in that night.

Once we pushed the house off the mountain we began to measure for the house. This house was smaller than other houses because we couldn’t fit a 16x16 house. Instead the house we build was about 13x16. However, Yoni had a really good idea to do an add on to this house since it was going to be smaller than normal, so we built a little outside kitchen area.

Ready to start setting posts. 

Mark broke through the concrete. 

Setting the posts was also a challenge because there was a cement flooring. Normally with a cement flooring we do not build a floor in our houses but today we needed to because where their house was water was running off the road and right through their house. With the new flooring the water will now run underneath their house.

Remember that hammer that hit Jo Dawns face? We killed it. 

Don't mess with Jo Dawn!

Getting the last wall up.

Me and Beverly <3

Me and Will

We put up the two side walls first and started the floor. Once we had some of the floor done we were able to put some of the items back inside the house and put up the 3^rd wall. After we had all the walls done Yoni began working on the extra addition to our house. It was amazing to see how Yoni’s mind worked and was able to envision this kitchen….which Jonothan called a chicken at one point in the day (haha he is still learning his English).

Bet sweeping out the sawdust.

Another Jesus moment we had at the house was after we opened the donation bag for this house. The bags are packed randomly but inside of this bag was 2 sets of sheets (They had 2 beds) and a bunch of 6 month old baby boys. Which is how old the nephew of the lady we built the house for was. 

Inside the finished house!

When we finished the house we did the prayer and dedication. I wish that I could let you all hear Yoni pray. I don’t know 90% of what he says in his prayers but they are some of the most beautiful prayers that I have ever heard. He is constantly thanking God for everything, the house build, the family, the Americans, the day, the nails, the hard work, His love, etc. He prayers for literally about 10-15 minutes each time he does a pray.

While cleaning out their old house we found this picture of the lady's 

husband. She must have lost it for a long time because it brought her to 

tears. We hung it up right beside our dedication board. 

The family

The outside kitchen...

 or chicken as Jonathan would say!

The house is finished!

 After devo tonight we had the reading of the book of Hezekiah, which for those of you who do not know is basically a book of inside jokes from trips. To all of us it is hilarious, to you all it probably would be a bunch of rambling that does not make sense. Then we had Mr. Bob tell his story. He is a Vietnam Veteran and what he went through would bring you to tears. I thank God that he spared his life and I get to have him be a part of these trips and my life.

It is crazy to me that we are in our last day. Today I am sure is going to be a difficult day for me. More than likely this is going to be Tricky’s last house build. Miss Sarah raised money and we are building this house and dedicating it to Tricky. I will be sure to take many pictures.