July 2011 Mission trip Day Six:

We gathered together with our missionary Barbara tonight in an Italian Restaurant in San Pedro--Hasta la Pasta--reflecting as we did on all that had gone on in the village today. Several of us continued to paint the Church of San Lucas--satisfied as we worked in the difference it was making. It had been several years and the walls were peeling and the doors looked rather beat-up. A professional painter would have said we needed more and better prep work, but we did what we could and it seemed to make a difference.

Several of the men continued to work at the home of a family whose house had been damaged recently in a large storm--hurricane force winds in places--which took off the roof of his all-to-modest home. Marzilla and Sayla and their four children lived in a little wooden house about 12 x 12 feet--on 12-15 inch stilts because it was in a flood plain. He told me that the stilts were coming off because there was a better bridge over the river and a kind of mound which kept high waters away. At this home, unusually, the masons and their Northern Indiana helpers were building all three of our specialties: pilas (cisterns), latrinas (obvious), and hornos (ovens). Marzilla was very appreciative. A hard-working man who makes the bus trip into San Pedro whenever he can find a security job, he has been without significant work for a while and his heart, as he expressed it, is filled with gratitude for those who have helped him live though plena misericordia--"full mercy"--of those who are charitable. When the pila and horno and latrina are built, of course, Marzilla still needs a roof--and our group, through the generosity of friends and the Diocese of Northern Indiana, was able to fund the 12 pieces of corrugated tin he will need to complete the construction, once the walls are taken off, the little stilts removed, and the place put back together again. Marzilla worked along with the Indiana crew--in the heat and sweat of the day. Then in the evening we saw him in a crisp white shirt and security service hat, walking toward Zapotal, 3-4 kilometers, where he could get the bus for San Pedro. Marzilla's oldest daughter wrote us a very lovely thank you note expressing their faith in God to provide for them and wishing God's abundant blessings for us and our families. The family is staying with another family while their house is redone--but as you might imagine, there was no shower available--only a pan of water pulled out of a pila and poured over the body. In this region we have seen many such "showers" while driving by. suppose that 150 years ago, most people in the world lived like this--pit toilets, water from cisterns--many from unhealthy water, and wood-fired stoves. I grew up with a wood stove on the farm, but not like the open air device we have seen in Honduras. (note: it is mostly in the small towns and encampments of the poor in along the edges of the city where conditions are so primitive--but there are hundreds of thousands in Honduras who live like this. The population of Honduras is expected to reach 9 million in 2015, according to the most recent reports.)

We had a surprise pizza party for the boys and a few of the girls who were working so hard to help paint the church. Everyone is very pleased to be working with the boys - they are trying very hard to keep making progress. It looks like the church will be finished before Sunday.

So there we were, sitting in an Italian restaurant in a big city, having just laboured in the sun painting and building--and now eating pasta. It is hard to know what to make of it all. The newspapers are filled every day with analyses of what is wrong--why things are not working as they should--but getting those who have the power to do something is always fairly difficult--and for those of us who are not very powerful, knowing what our personal responsibility is, is not easy either.

Back to the Green Frog--another day in Honduras.

JES+