Tuesday...

Tuesday was a hard day...mentally and physically, but primarily mentally. We woke up around 6 and ate breakfast, then we split into two groups again. Some went to finish the building project and the others proceeded to make food bags. I was not on the buildsite so I know less about what went on there...I do know that a very sweet lady with an amazing faith in God, who has been ailed with diabetes which has greatly affected her ability to walk (she can still walk, but with difficulty) now has a safe, warm, bug-free home with a wonderful set of steps that allows her to walk down a mountain with much more ease than she had before. 

The food bags I know more about...a ton more about...actually more like 3 tons more about. That's right, 3 tons of food...well that's what we're figuring. My math is as such: We made 400 bags which weigh about 15lbs each, so 6000lbs of food=3tons. We had huge bags of rice, beans, flour, and coffee 50 or 100lbs each. We then divvied those into smaller bags to the tune of 400 each. We also had boxes of spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, boullion cubes, salt, sugar and vegetable oil. We had some serious teamwork going on for all of this...for the bagging of the rice and beans and flour and coffee and then the mass bagging of all of the items to make the 400 bags. It was chaos and tedious and fun all at the same time and in the midst of it we had our devotion/worship time and it was very sweet. 

After the food bags were completed, we loaded onto the bus and headed to the elderly home, which I don't remember the name, but it is one of the most amazing places I have ever been, not structurally or aesthetically, but the amount of heart and soul that the Senor has put into the place is incredible. The man who runs the home has been serving since he was in his 20's and now has this home where he cares for the elderly, and not just any elderly, but the ones who have been forgotten by everyone else, who have been on the street and abandoned. He takes them in and rehabilitates them and cares for them and gives them dignity and peace for their final years. The establishment is humble, but very nice and the men and women there seem to be very happy. It was unlike most elderly homes that I have visited, in that the residents were sitting all together in a multi-purpose area that serves as their dining room and entertaining room, rather than just laying in beds. They seemed to be pretty involved in their surroundings, but that doesn't mean that they weren't delighted to see us. A very moving sight was to see our teammate Judy and a lady that she immediately took up with and the two just held onto each other the whole time we were there, even when the woman was served her lunch, she had Janet feed it to her so she could still be in Judy's arms. They couldn't understand the language the other was speaking, but they just sat there and laughed and smiled and held each other the whole visit. It was heartbreaking to say the least. After we served the residents, we served the people in the street who had gathered in their usual spot for their lunch. These people, we are told, started out as one person who came as an addict that no one wanted to help and the Senor did not turn him away, but served him lunch. That person told other people (mostly alcoholics and addicts) that he knew a man who would not turn them away, and so more and more came, and now he serves between 20 and 30 each day. The man's heart has touched these people in such a profound way that when they return their plate from their meal, they thank the person who served them, and thank their God for providing it, it's very precious. 

After we peeled Judy and her friend away from each other, we headed to the dump...with a surprise...we had to make 400 sandwiches on the bus. AHEM. ON THE BUS. Ha! If you haven't experienced Hondurian drivers, then you might not understand the full effects of this task. If you have experienced Hondurian drivers, then you will surely sympathize with us when I say huge tubs of mayonaise and slimy bags of bologna and some...bumps in the road. Aye aye aye. Somehow, by the grace of God, we were able to set up three stations on the bus to complete the sandwich process...one bread hander, one mayo spreader, one bologna stacker, one cheese placer, and one sandwich bagger and we were one well oiled sandwich-making machine! The sandwiches were finished and we were on our way to the dump. Hmmm...what to say about the dump...there really aren't words. It is, well, a dump. A huge landfill full of the trash contents of the city, and among the huge mounds of trash were hundreds of people, children, cows, dogs, vultures and trucks. Some of the people live there and some of the people work there. When I say work, I do not just mean they work for the city and bring trash, I mean that their livelyhood is founded on how many plastic bottles they can pick out of the trash (which contains everything you can imagine and worse) and gather to sell to the recycling companies. We helped a man dig through the trash to find bottles for his bounty and asked how much he would get for them...$2 is what it converted to in American dollars. His bounty was 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide...an entire days work for $2. Mind-boggling. The entire experience was humbling. Picking through trash to help people earn a living...flashing sandwiches and water and oranges at people who normally fight with vultures for a meal, and asking them to form an orderly line...? Trying to play games with children (like we had been able to at the worksites), and witnessing them have no idea what we were trying to do. They are workers. They help their parents dig through the trash. That's what they know. They don't know our games.

 As a parent, I can't even tell you what that does to me. 

ugh, just writing about it stirs up the same emotions I felt yesterday. It was a HARD DAY. 

When we arrived back at Villa Gracia, we were told that three people needed to go with the bus to the neighborhood of Los Pinos and the Iglesia de Cristo to pick up members of the congregation and community who would be joining us for a pizza dinner at the Jesus statue (for those of you who do not know what this is, it is exactly what it sounds like: a giant statue of Jesus which overlooks the city...it's breathtaking). I was fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity to be one of the three to pick up the people, and after the elderly home and dump, it was a moment of refreshing that God provided in his infinite wisdom. We arrived at the church and 80-ish men, women and children piled onto the bus with us...piled on. We were packed.. three to a seat, and some in the aisle. It was hot, it was tight, it was sweaty, there was horrible traffic and many sudden stops and bumps and do you know what? These wonderful, beautiful, amazing people started singing. Singing their hearts out to their God with huge smiles on their faces. And not just the children, the women and men also. All of them just singing and clapping and smiling, while I cried like an idiot in the aisle and they gave me concerned looks. But it was a complete and udder joy that overtook me. A reminder after an extremely depressing day that our God is faithful, and the joy of the Lord IS OUR STRENGTH. 

The evening was as beautiful as the bus ride. All of our new friends were so gracious and thankful and welcoming and it was beautiful to be able to share a devotional/worship time with them again. I suspect in the end that they are the recipients of only a tenth of the blessing that they have given to us. 

It was a hard day, followed by a sweet night of refreshing. An awesome reminder that our God is our comforter, our deliverer. He is mighty to save. He makes all things new. 

Until tomorrow...love to all.