We've had a good first day and a half in Tela. We spent our half day here on Friday getting settled in, a brief visit to the school and buying supplies for Frank Spinks' project. Frank is painting an eight foot high image of the school's mascot, a scorpion, on a wall at the school. We saw a lot of friends at the school. Then we attended an All Saints' service and met more friends.
Today our driver picked us up at eight. We had already had a breakfast of fresh local fruit by then. The driver took us to a house a couple of blocks from our hotel where a woman bakes bread that she sells to restaurants. She came out to the curb and sold us a freshly baked baguette of french bread. We passed the loaf of bread around and shared it on our way to get some coffee. It seemed a fitting way for a mission group to start its day, breaking bread together. After coffee, we sent to the church and got Frank started laying out his painting on the wall. Then off to hand out rice, beans and clothing to church members in the poor area of El Sauce on the edge of a swamp. Then the same thing with some people who live in squatter's huts alongside the main highway. Back to town to pick up Frank. We had lunch at a local restaurant, then went to a large botanical park named Lancetilla. It's the second largest tropical arboratum in the world, but we spent less than 2 hours there, then back to work. Scott and I took over the painting duties. It takes twice as many people if you're not artists. The rest ofthe group went to the Garifuna village of Triunfo de la Cruz (Triumph of the Cross). More handing out rice, beans, and clothing to very poor people. By the end of the day, we had distributed about 200 pounds of clothing in three locations. The heroes in that effort were our two teenagers, Kinsey and Jody. they knelt in the back seat of the minivan and sorted through the suitcases to find the proper clothes for each person in the crowd and kept track of who had not gotten anything. At the school, we got enough painting done so that you can tell that there is an eight foot long scorpion coming.
There are some encouraging things going on here. The gardener's oldest daughter, Maria, has her own house. The woman for whom she works sold Maria a small house that Maria is paying off by working two jobs. Next Friday the church will see its first wedding in the current building which is 6 years old. Weddings are too expensive for most people here, so its good to see this happening. The school has had its accreditation renewed. The accreditation committee says that Escuela Espritu Santo is the best school in Tela, and that if they follow a few recommendations they could become a model school for all bilingual schools in Honduras.
Another big, but a bit less busy, day ahead of us tomorrow with services at two churches and maybe some more painting.
Peace,
Len
Today our driver picked us up at eight. We had already had a breakfast of fresh local fruit by then. The driver took us to a house a couple of blocks from our hotel where a woman bakes bread that she sells to restaurants. She came out to the curb and sold us a freshly baked baguette of french bread. We passed the loaf of bread around and shared it on our way to get some coffee. It seemed a fitting way for a mission group to start its day, breaking bread together. After coffee, we sent to the church and got Frank started laying out his painting on the wall. Then off to hand out rice, beans and clothing to church members in the poor area of El Sauce on the edge of a swamp. Then the same thing with some people who live in squatter's huts alongside the main highway. Back to town to pick up Frank. We had lunch at a local restaurant, then went to a large botanical park named Lancetilla. It's the second largest tropical arboratum in the world, but we spent less than 2 hours there, then back to work. Scott and I took over the painting duties. It takes twice as many people if you're not artists. The rest ofthe group went to the Garifuna village of Triunfo de la Cruz (Triumph of the Cross). More handing out rice, beans, and clothing to very poor people. By the end of the day, we had distributed about 200 pounds of clothing in three locations. The heroes in that effort were our two teenagers, Kinsey and Jody. they knelt in the back seat of the minivan and sorted through the suitcases to find the proper clothes for each person in the crowd and kept track of who had not gotten anything. At the school, we got enough painting done so that you can tell that there is an eight foot long scorpion coming.
There are some encouraging things going on here. The gardener's oldest daughter, Maria, has her own house. The woman for whom she works sold Maria a small house that Maria is paying off by working two jobs. Next Friday the church will see its first wedding in the current building which is 6 years old. Weddings are too expensive for most people here, so its good to see this happening. The school has had its accreditation renewed. The accreditation committee says that Escuela Espritu Santo is the best school in Tela, and that if they follow a few recommendations they could become a model school for all bilingual schools in Honduras.
Another big, but a bit less busy, day ahead of us tomorrow with services at two churches and maybe some more painting.
Peace,
Len
