Be What God Intends You To Be

Morning Devo

Day two is in the books. Today we went out north of the dump to build, I asked Tricky to tell me the name of the town but he said I wouldn't really want me to have him try and pronounce it, haha. I am beginning to get a little worried about the builds that are to come because we had another really easy site yesterday for a few reasons:

1. We did not have to carry the wood, it was already right where it needed to be. 
2. Aside from a few rocks the ground was relatively easy to dig and put posts into.
3. We had an amazing team! I did not hear anyone complain about rain or heat! Also everyone was giving their 100%.

Build site

Katie and Hannah leveling a post.

This hole was about triple the size around as a normal hole..

We may have found 1 or 2 small boulders in it. 

Getting the walls up!

These are some of the boys that helped hand us wood while we were nailing up the walls of the house. They were such great helpers!! It is amazing to see that we come down to help and the kids work so hard to help us.

Jose was a little short but he never stopped helping.

Me and Patti, she is the one who was able to raise money for his house. 

This house was made in honor of a friend of hers that passed away suddenly.

 Adriana and Hannah working on the roof.

Putting in the floor.

The build today was for a mother (I did not get her name) and her two sons (David -10 years old and Jose- 5 years old) I was able to play with the kids while the 4th wall was going up for about 20 minutes! I love building houses but playing with those kids bring me so much joy!

Patti and the family.

After our build we saw this rainbow!

Truett's first house build!

When we got back to the Mission House we got our official room assignments and had to move our luggage around to the new rooms. I am rooming with Lydia! I am excited to get to know her a little bit more. We also have 3 other girls in our room but they have not arrived and I did not recognize their names. 

Tricky Pat had the devo last night. He gave his testimony about how he became a Christian and his appreciation for this country and all that Terry and Margaret has done for him. Terry then came in and added a little bit to his devo. He discussed the job qualifications to be a Christian. He then discussed how the apostles really do not fit any of the qualifications that we came up with. Regardless of what we think we can accomplish or become God is able to do amazing things with us. He is able to mold and change us if we simply allow Him to be the most important part of our lives. 

With Thunder Comes Lightning

The official first work day for the advance team is under our belts! We started our day off with breakfast from 7-8 and then we on the road to our house build at 8:30. The house yesterday was in Limones in the rainforest. The build site was a pretty easy one, which of course no one complained about! We ran into a little bit of clay on one side which caused our posts to take a little bit longer then normal to set but with our amazing team we got it done!

House build site

 Top: Catie and friends working on a post hole.

Bottom: Hannah and Jared working on a post hole.

 Tricky and I took a selfie

 Putting up the walls.

We had a few friends on the build site today. 

 Melissa being a champ and getting up on the roof on her first ever house build!

Getting the last wall up, I was a bit short.

 A few of the kids who will be living in the house :)

The team and the family. 

We have a few rookies on the advance team this year and it was great to see their excitement as the helped drive nails, put up walls, put in flooring, and even climb up and get the roof done! I can't wait for the rest of the team to get here if we are all going to work as well as the new ladies that we had on the build site yesterday!

Once we finished the house Mark showed up and asked us to drive up the road and wait while his other team finished their house (This way their bus wouldn't have to drive the entire way back up the mountain from the airport). While we waited Mark took us to coffee farm, a man named Jesus planted it about 4 years ago. With the help of a group from Freed Hardeman Mark was able to give him a loan back in March to help grow his business! With this loan he is planning to purchase some equipment, this will allow him to be able to grow, roast, and package the coffee himself instead of having to send it off somewhere else! It is amazing to see the growth that this country has had since I first started coming down in 2004! While Mark was talking about the loan it was great to hear the good that comes from a loan verses simply giving people money. With a loan Jesus will be able to grow his business but he also will be able to put pride into the fact that he did and it is 100% his work!

The coffee farm planted on the hillside of a mountain! 

Amazing! 

Jesus also had a vegetable garden up at the top for the off season.

Jesus in his farm.

After the other team finished we loaded the bus and headed back to Villa Gracis. On the bus I ran into a woman that looked very familiar and it turns out I had met her daughter about 8-9 years ago on a TORCH trip! I also saw a guy who I went to college with at OVU on the Texas group that was back at the Mission House! Funny how small the world is that you can run into familiar faces in Honduras!

Our group grew by about 12 people today. We had Tyler, Katheryn, Truett (4 months old and already on his first mission trip!), and Brenda flew in. We also had the Costa Rica group arrive from their previous trip, ready to do some more work here in Honduras!

Terry lead the devo tonight. Our shirts this year came from some graffiti that he saw in Costa Rica last year that said mas amore por favor, which translates to more love please.  This is our theme for the trip and Terrys lesson. He talked about the apostle John, the apostle of love and the son of thunder. He talked about how when we hear thunder it is because there was a large bolt of lighting and how John was like a bolt of lighting. He was able to harness all of this ideas and love for Christ in his writing and spreading of Christ's word. He also talked about how on this trip we are hoping to get our own bolt of lighting for God going! We want to be that bolt of Christ filled energy no only here but everywhere that we go when we go home!

Today we are planning to build another house! With 15-20 houses being build on this trip I would say that is a great idea!

Guess Who's Back, Back Again!

Good morning! We have made it! It's hard to believe that another year has gone by and we are back in Honduras. Many of the advance team work up early yesterday morning to begin our travels to Honduras. Tricky and I got up around 3AM, met up with Catie and Hannah 3:30-4:00 and began our drive to Pittsburgh Airport. On the drive to the airport we hit a few road blocks: construction and Tricky missing exits, but nothing to worry about Tricky simply crossed the grass area in the middle of the road. I think it gave Hannah a heart attack when he did that, haha!

Bags ready to go!

3am Selfie

Our first plane took off at 7:15 toward Atlanta. Then from Atlanta we flew into Tegucigalpa. We have a total of about 17 people who arrived on the advanced team. After getting moved into our temporary rooms we were able to get the bank envelopes and the Barnabas notes all set up for when the full team arrives on July 2nd.

Katie and Hannah

Kentucky Team

Tricky gave a short devo about lying. He of course included his grandkids in the story. Good news, we know that Braxton listens to Larry's sermons on Sunday's!

The team was very tired and I think we were all in bed by about 8:30! Today we are planning on building a house, from what I have heard we have ALOT of houses to build on this trip!

Hello Coffee!

Home away from home <3

I have tried for so long to get a picture of this sucker!