Team Folsom July 2007

Day Five:

Four shovels - $40.

Two wheelbarrows - $60

One cement mixer - Priceless!

We are all gloriously fatigued and very dirty after a full day of making concrete from scratch, excavating the rest of the patio, cutting, laying and tying rebar. Making a rebar web (makes the concrete stronger) was a good change of pace as it was under the patio cover and not so hot. Martin was briefly pulled from the cement making to help smooth the cement that was poured because our supervisor thought he was inured (his bad ankle and, he's not hurt). Now Denise is wanting him to use his new found masonry skills to build a patio in their backyard. Any other takers? We did have our first injury though - Zach has a tiny blister on one of his fingers that he keeps reminding us about. I think he got it from holding one of the walls upright.

Josue' (our supervisor) has been patient with us (working at a gringo pace) and a good teacher (showing us what he is trying to tell us). We are thankful for his easy going personality although I think we're starting to get the hang of this cement thing. Yesterday we mixed four loads of concrete in about five hours. Today we mixed six loads before lunch! Zach spent most of his time today working indoors washing down the walls in the bathroom and mixing some finer cement for the work being done in the bathroom. They are supposed to begin tiling the bathroom tomorrow. Martin, Denise and I are finishing laying the cement for the enclosed patio and will probably finish it late tomorrow or early Thursday (which means we will continue making lotso cemento tomorrow - probably another 10-12 loads).

When we arrived back to our temporary home, we were greeted by four students (Sabrina, Matt, James and Ruth) from Wheaton College just west of Chicago. They are here to do some research for Alfredo on the orphanages around Honduras. Alfredo planned for them to stay at a hotel down the road but to his surprise, it was full (that has never happened before). So, they are crashing with us for the week, staying in the two rooms on the other side of the office. They will have their meals at the hotel since they already had that arranged. We did get a chance to eat with them tonight and hear Alfredo do what he is great at - storytelling. Evenings here are spent with showering (Martin really stinks :-)), eating, resting, talking and having our team meeting. For our team meetings we are reading along with the River Rock reading calender and have had some great discussions springing from the book of Proverbs about God's wisdom regarding the poor and a proper attitude toward affluence.

As I am writing this, a distant lightning storm is putting on a great show, silhouetting the giant thunderclouds rising up against an almost dark sky - a greater show than anything humanity has so far created. Zach's "woooohhhhhh!" has been filling the room for the last twenty minutes - I think the only proper response other than "Thank you God". Speaking of the weather, it has been very dry here during the day with big white and black clouds forming and dissipating against a bright blue sky at an amazingly fast pace. Every night it has rained from just a little to a bunch (last night being a bunch) but very little during the day.

Thank you for taking the time to read our blogs - we look forward to the comments and check for them every night before we go to bed and every morning before we go to work - It keeps us connected with our family and friends up North and let's us know others are paritcipating in this journey with us.

Hasta Luego!

-Chuck