Folsom Team April 14-17, 2007

Day 1 in John's words:

Greetings from Honduras,

From the moment we landed, this experience has been incredible. Soon after we came bouncing down the runway (literally) we were met in the airport by the director of La Providencia, Alfredo, and Jack, his 8 year-old son. We then began the 2-hour drive to Siguetapeque. What a drive. From dodging the burros on the right, and the semi trucks coming at us head-on in our lane from the left, we were still able to look out and be amazed at the beauty of the country.

When we arrived in town, Alfredo took us directly to the orphanage site and gave us a complete tour of the medical clinic (formal dedication was celebrated just last week), where 20 surgeries were performed in just the last two weeks. We also toured the first orphans home that is nearly completed. It is absolutely amazing to drive down a washed-out dirt road past shacks that pass as homes, you then come upon La Providencia that is going to be able to provide these people with medical care that they could never possibly receive otherwise.

We then drove to the apartment that will be our home for the next nine days.

We met Guadalupe who has since developed into our dearest, closest friend. Of course, that may be because she is the one that has been making us the most incredible meals for the past three days. I love Guadalupe. Did I mention the food? I really love Guadalupe. But I digress.

After dinner and a great devotional discussion about dying to self and making ourselves available for God to use us, we called it a night. Hasta Manana, Amigos.

Day 2 in Stevie's words:

The start of the second day, we headed out for church, of course with full stomachs from another amazing meal prepared by Guadalupe. On the way there, we spotted a monkey in a tree outside a house. It was pretty exciting. On the way back I had my camera all set to take a picture, but to my disappointment, the monkey had left the premises. I now keep a keen eye on the trees hoping to see another one. Anyways, the church is located on the side of a house that belongs to one of the members. We began with a bible study and then sang some worship songs. We then had the service which discussed Jesus as the light. After each sermon, the members have communion and eat together. We had soup with rice, beef, plantains, and potatoes. After a few games of ping-pong, we headed out to see the waterfall. On the way there we stopped to eat at a restaurant where they were known to have amazing fish. Not being a big fish lover I decided to try it out. I soon wish I had gotten the buffet when the food was brought out. On each of the plates were literally a whole fish, that looked like they had just been caught and fried. To my surprise, they were as good as everyone had said they were. After we all finished we got back on the bus and drove to the waterfall. When I first saw the waterfall it took my breath away. God is truly amazing! We got down to the bottom of the waterfall and began our journey through the waterfall. There were many times I wanted to turn back, but I knew that all I had to do was trust God. We all made it through and sat in a cave underneath the waterfall. Words cannot describe what we went through. We got to jump off a couple of cliffs into the water, with one being around 30 ft. high. We also got to experience Jack's first jump which was also very exciting. The trip to the waterfall will never be forgotten. When we finished there, we drove back to the apartment where Guadalupe had tamales waiting for us. We all ate a lot, but it didn't really look like we made a dent in the bath tub filled with them.

Days 3 and 4 from Phil's perspective:

For the first time in my life, I'll try to keep it short. After breakfast both days, we made it out to the orphanage site where we are preparing the area and laying concrete for a driveway that will serve as the back entry of medical clinic. We have had a great time getting to know the Honduran workers and learning a little bit about laying concrete. We'll likely finish the driveway tomorrow and move on to a different job on Thursday. At lunchtime, we (OK, I) play soccer with the locals on a field that is about a 20 degree angle and includes trees, post and other interesting obstacles. It is quite the exhilarating experience for any experienced soccer (or futbol) player. On Monday night (to keep with the food theme), we had pastries with chicken and potato, which were about as good as it gets. Unlike the tamales, there were none left at the end of dinner (even Douglass (PWM's accountant) took part in the festivities). And, finally, tonight was one of our favorite nights, as we had the honor of babysitting Alfredo and Jennifer's five children so that Alfredo and Jen could hit the town. Let me tell you, babysitting Daniel, Carolina, Maria Louisa, Jack and Marisol is an experience that you would never forget! After the babysitting and dinner, Alfredo shared his testimony with the team, and I hope that everyone reading this has a chance someday (preferably on a trip to La Providencia) to hear it first-hand. Trust me, it's like nothing you've heard before. Good night from Siguatepeque.