After a Friday that hit 100, the cool breeze of the evening was welcome, but the ceiling fan helped the most. But fans don't work when the electricity is shut down to allow the water to rise in the pond for tomorrow's work thru the hydro-electric plant.
This morning, we met with the work coordinator, to plan for a landscaping project that should allow water to be tiled away from a courtyard that gets flooded.
The farm tour showed the working trade school shops of wood carving, wood furniture manufacture and repair and lathe work. The highlight of the tour, for me, was the welding and metal fabrication shop. The order of the day was building, painting and assembly of bleachers. We think they'll be used for a special ceremony when the IO committee, and family of the founder come on Monday. Lincoln welders serve the school side very well!!
"Pig Farm": Landrace, Yorkshire and some leftover Hampshire and Duroc made for a great product in just 5.5 months. We can learn again about nipple waters, drip spray and help keep the whole herd cool. Heidi remembers it being like Uncle Lyles farm, in Nebraska, USA.
The instructor for the Mechanics shop is state-side, so the teaching lab, while waiting for parts has several started projects. By the way, we may need to secure some gently used mowers and 4-wheelers to help with the chores.
The Swimmin' Hole: 33 of us headed to the river, chest-high for a water version of keep-away.
The trip out showed most of us helping ourselves to gawava, a tasty ping-pong ball-sized fruit. It's best when ripe, but seldom gets that far!!
On the return, I got a blast from my past, seeing the nations first automatic milking machine and parlor in action. It reminded me of my own time in the parlor. With work assignments for boys (and one girl) included seeing each baby calf in its own hut and all stages of heifer development. The mature herd was steady and 156, much like the premium Holstein herd of Boys Town, Nebraska, where work ethic, community pride and the connection to life cycles through animal husbandry were nearly identical.
Personally, finding PEPSI, cold in glass bottle took me back a few years, too. But I'm bounced back to the future when I realize the infrastructure in place since 1999, post-Hurricane Mitch allows wireless internet and this blog site with us.
Finally, as I post, whether young or old, I am amazed at the Power of God as presented through the spontaneous testimony of a young man named Cessa. Now 18, he shared that his family, including the mean stepfather has not ever visited him at the farm in 8 years. But to him his one true family is his reason for planning for college and then a lifetime career in the navy. I was proud to be included in his welcome to Adrianne, Heidi and I as brothers and sisters in his Christian family! Oh, yeah, it will be fun to hear Cessa's stories after he makes a special presentation of a wood-carved relief map of the school farm to the new President of Honduras tomorrow after church! Join us in prayer for our extended Christian family!!
Mark for the team
Saturday, March 13, 2010
A few pictures from Friday
3 AM - These smiles seem a little forced, but the excitement was real.
5:30 AM - More Awake, ticketed and ready to go.
12:30 PM - Arriving in Honduras! (Yes, we are 'glistening,' it was over 90 degrees when we landed)
The heat was a perfect excuse for ice cream!
We had a change to observe the countryside from the truck. (F150 if anyone is interested) Sorry I didn't take more of the beautiful scenery!
Our next round of pictures will be from the farm. We will be taking a quick tour this morning before getting to work!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Safely at El Sembrador
Hey guys,
So we left this morning at 3am to Cinncinatti and hopped a flight to Houston around 6:40. :) After a breif wait in Houston, we left for Tegucigalpa at 9:15 (central) and arrived here around 12:25. :) The flights went well. We were able to be near the windows for the spectacular views across the country. Our landing in Tegucigalpa was a little rough but went very well considering the extremely short landing strip :) We hit the ground and immediately we felt the brakes get slammed, lol. :) It was a good time.
We then proceeded to stand in line at immigration and fly through customs; finally, leaving the airport about 1:30 with our missionary host Jerry Murphy and all of our luggage. :)
As we left Teguc, we just stared out the windows trying to take in all of the sites and trying as much as possible to get a glimpse of understanding of the people that we would meet here (well, at least this was what I was doing, lol). We stopped at a gas station and soon discovered that they were actually out of gas. So we bought our drinks and snacks (Yuquita and Plantain chips, yum!) and left to find another station before finishing our 3 hourish drive to El Sembrador.
We stopped again around 3:30 at an old rest stop and met with some missionary volunteers that were just heading back from El Sembrador, had some ice cream and then we finished the length of our journey.
Traveling down winding, concrete, gravel, half-paved, no lined roads, we reached El Sembrador in Catacamas in time for dinner! :) They put us up in some very nice hotel style rooms in the confrence center and are even letting us sleep in until breakfast at 7:30! :) Woot!
Well, right now we are in the process of cleaning the kitchen and then it's off to debrief and settle in for the week/night. :)
Pictures will hopefully be coming in the next post! :) Thanks for all of your prayers!
-Adrienne - on behalf of the team :)
So we left this morning at 3am to Cinncinatti and hopped a flight to Houston around 6:40. :) After a breif wait in Houston, we left for Tegucigalpa at 9:15 (central) and arrived here around 12:25. :) The flights went well. We were able to be near the windows for the spectacular views across the country. Our landing in Tegucigalpa was a little rough but went very well considering the extremely short landing strip :) We hit the ground and immediately we felt the brakes get slammed, lol. :) It was a good time.
We then proceeded to stand in line at immigration and fly through customs; finally, leaving the airport about 1:30 with our missionary host Jerry Murphy and all of our luggage. :)
As we left Teguc, we just stared out the windows trying to take in all of the sites and trying as much as possible to get a glimpse of understanding of the people that we would meet here (well, at least this was what I was doing, lol). We stopped at a gas station and soon discovered that they were actually out of gas. So we bought our drinks and snacks (Yuquita and Plantain chips, yum!) and left to find another station before finishing our 3 hourish drive to El Sembrador.
We stopped again around 3:30 at an old rest stop and met with some missionary volunteers that were just heading back from El Sembrador, had some ice cream and then we finished the length of our journey.
Traveling down winding, concrete, gravel, half-paved, no lined roads, we reached El Sembrador in Catacamas in time for dinner! :) They put us up in some very nice hotel style rooms in the confrence center and are even letting us sleep in until breakfast at 7:30! :) Woot!
Well, right now we are in the process of cleaning the kitchen and then it's off to debrief and settle in for the week/night. :)
Pictures will hopefully be coming in the next post! :) Thanks for all of your prayers!
-Adrienne - on behalf of the team :)
On our way!
It is nearly 3AM and we are loading the car for the Cincinnati airport. By lunch, we will be in Honduras! Pray for good connections on our flights and that all of our luggage makes it. We are excited about what God wants to do in and through us this week. Thank you for partnering with us through your prayers!!
Nathan for the team
Monday, February 22, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
This month's issue of The Call
This month's issue of The Call contains a quiz to determine your level of mission's activity. Take the quiz here and submit your score to Jeri at the front door prior to Sunday night's Global Cafe`. The first two win free Global Cafe` t-shirts!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)