March 17 2012 Building An Instant House For A Needy Family

As North Americans we are used to instant coffee, instant service at the McDonald's drive through, instant videos on television, instant photos, instant e-mail on our Blackberry's, really instant everything.

I remember when we built out home 28 years ago in Leawood, Kansas.  I was so tired by the time it was all over because it took forever.  Nine months of going to check on it every day, Monday through Saturday for nine long months and finally it was completed.

BUT today I experienced a different feeling, the feeling of helping to build an "Instant Home".

My contribution to the effort was a warm body, Oscar Acosta, to help with all the building, home-made beans and my famous Carrot  and Chocolate Cupcakes and tuna sandwiches for snacks. My friend in "crime" Eileen Agurcia called on Thursday to chat and as usual I was able to talk her into coming to help me with a project and as usual she wanted to do something extra, so she brought the roasted chickens for lunch, the ice for the cold drinks, cold drinks and four more eager helpers plus herself.

Mark Connell is the leader of this rough band of Instant Home builders.  Our fearless leader!

Eight guys showed up from Auburn University to use their spring break helping others.

Those GRINGOS are the really white sunburned ones in all the photos.

At first the wood is dumped off and it looks a little unorganized, BUT it isn't.

Sixteen slotted boards on the left, sixteen slotted boards on the right, sixteen slotted boards on the back and sixteen slotted boards in front of the future house.  All remaining boards stay on the street waiting to be used.

Then holes are dug and the square posts are set on the corners and along the sides.  

Yes they do use a level.

Then braces are placed along the four sides.

Then they dig two more holes on each side for more side posts, using the slotted boards as a straight line.

The ground is hard so they use the long steel pointed things to loosen the dirt and then pull the dirt out with post hole diggers.

See the GRINGO?  Red hair, blue eyes... The other one is a GRINGO also.

Another GRINGO!

This is my friend Eileen Agurcia!  The really tall, skinny one.  I am jealous of those long legs!  She rides her Harley with no problem, meanwhile I have to stand on my tip toes to reach the ground on a motorcycle.

Many of the neighbor women showed up to watch the show.  This "colonia" (neighborhood) has no electricity. That means there is no television, so we were the show of the day.

GRINGOS working side by side with Hondurans to build this home for a single Christian woman and her four sons.

Now is the time to level the studs.

Two six inch nails in each floor stud connects it to the wall studs.

At this point, we are getting close to start working on the walls.

Even the young neighbor kids got in on the action!

Finally all the floor studs are in and now it is time to put feet on them.

Feet going on, notice the line of people working.

Finally it is time for the side to start going up.  At this point we have spent 1 1/2 hours and now we start to see quick changes.

Four people on the inside pulling the boards tight four on the outside nailing the grooved wood into place at each stud.

I turned around taking photos on all four sides and when I turned back around the side walls were already three boards high.

My friend Eileen Agurcia on her knees helping.  What a gal!

They did not cut any boards.  Doing three wall at once, the extra wood overlaps on one side of the front while it hits flush on the other side. The notched wood on one side wall overlaps to the front, the other to the back.

Before we ever got the side walls finished, Mark was notching the first floor board. Yes, the volunteer is using a "moto sierra" a chain saw.  That is the only kind of saw which was used on the entire building!

Mark Connell crawls up on the building and cuts the square posts off flush in the front of the house, with a chain saw.

Meanwhile everyone else is putting nails in the floor boards.

At the back of the building, he cuts off the square posts, but a foot above the side wall.  The roof will slant towards the front of the house and it has a one foot slant to an eighteen foot wall.

Everyone gets out of the way because you never know which way the wood post piece will fall.

Everyone back at work again nailing down more flooring.

See how the boards are sticking out on the left front of the house.  A few minutes later with the chain saw, they cut those extra edges off the front wall but in the meanwhile these uncut edges served as a ladder for the guys to crawl up on top of the house to frame in the roof.

The floor is in and now it is time to work on the roof.

And finish the back wall.

But first they have to fill in the triangles on the top side of the walls which are the result of the slope in the roof.

Everyone worked together.

I sat and talked with the neighborhood women and took photos.

Oh, where is the door?  And the window?  I bet you thought we forgot didn't you?

But we didn't!  That is one f the last things they do.  

They put frames around where the new doors and windows will go and then they cut with the chain saw.

Then they put the hinges on!

And then they test them to make sure they work.

So while the guys were on top putting the tin roof on, the others were cutting the door and the window.

And Eileen meanwhile had found a friend.

She shared her hat, while grandma watched on.

Then with the house finally built we prayed a dedication prayer and blessing over the house.

The workers and the family stood in a big circle....

And we all prayed...

The final photo before we said, "goodbye".

If you or your church group or your Lion's Club or Rotary Club want to sponsor a house, they cost about $1,750.  You can send the money r you can send a team and they bring the money for several houses.  This house took about 4 1/2 to 5 hours to build.

March 13, 2012 Sorting Hundreds Of Used Eyeglasses

I know this looks like a modern art mosaic using eyeglass frames!

But it is not!

This hodgepodge of eyeglasses represents VISION for about 400 poor Hondurans.

My friend and fellow missionary, Janet Reeger Hines invited me out to dinner at her place and while sitting there minding my own business enjoying the country view replete with country sounds and the feeling of peace, her sister Mary Reeger Masterson says to me, "I have several hundred pairs of eyeglasses, do you need them?"

Asking me if I need eyeglasses is like asking a chocoholic if he needs a slice of Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Sheet Cake.  Of course I need eyeglasses!  Some years we have as many as 36 eye brigades in small villages or in poor communities of Tegucigalpa.

This year I have only 18 days of eye teams scheduled, but I am positive that number will increase as the year goes on.  It always does.

People in the United States buy new eyeglasses and deposit their old ones into boxes at the optometrist's office and then people bring them down to me.  We share them with a group from Vida Abundante Church here in Tegucigalpa which has a clinic called ZOE.  They and their volunteers sort, read and package the eyeglasses for us to take out to rural village eye brigades.

Thanks to Mary Reeger Masterson and to whoever donated the eyeglasses to her, around 400 poorest of the poor will have the opportunity to see clearly and to read.  My childhood friend Linda Bell from Little Rock, Arkansas also emailed me last week and says she has another1,00 pair of eyeglasses from her Lion's Club to donate. Her club has helped SMART Medical Teams in Honduras for years.

March 11, 2012 Every Once In A While I Need To Relax

Everyone needs to take time out to regroup and relax.  

My friend and teacher Bob Harrison teaches that when we take time off and relax it is kind of like pulling back a sling shot.  

That time which you pull back and pull away gives you much more force and energy to beat the giants. Look at the view from my favorite place to relax! This is the inside garden and the water fountain. When it rains, water flows down the water chain and into the pot. 

When it is cold and it sometimes is, there is an under roof chimney to warm up beside.

This is the perfect room to relax with friends new and old or to just spend time with God.

This is the view to the back porch area where there is a fire pit, an outside open air patio and seating for many.  Today I took time to relax with my friends Janet and her sister.  It was a nice pull back time.  It was a nice time to rest, reflect and get recharged.

The iron work is a necessity in Honduras.  It keeps the bad guys out.  But allows the noise of the birds chirping in.  The roof covers from the tropical rain and heat, but the nice breeze of the mountain air flows through.  Take time to pull back and relax and hear from the Lord.  You might be surprised what He has planned for you!

March 9, 2012 Wheelchair Giveaway In Maraita

Five people received new wheelchairs today!

Look at the ANCIENT borrowed wheelchair which one of them was using!

Thanks to Congressman Renan Inestroza for planning and implementing the wheelchair giveaway and thanks to Free Wheelchair Mission for donating the wheelchairs!

February 26, 2012 El Pedegral, Tegucigalpa Wheelchair Giveaway

This man and his entire family were thrilled with his new wheelchair.

Many times when we arrive to give away a wheelchair it is a community event.  All the friends and neighbors are so excited to see someone be able to become mobile.  

Thank you Free Wheelchair Mission!

February 15, 2012 Feeding Grieving Families After The Prison Fire

Last night there was a terrible fire at the prison in Comeyagua.  

Hundreds of prisoners were killed in the blaze which probably was intentionally set.

Tonight, some friends and I are making baleadas for the family members who are sitting in tents outside the morgue in Tegucigalpa

Marcy Herbert Fenn, pink shirt on the left and her girls helped make the baleadas.

Erlinda is pressure cooking the beans for the baleadas.

Marcy and her daughter are putting them together.  

First you take a tortilla, spread it with a thick layer of beans, then add scrambled eggs 

and a bit of cheese, then it is all rolled up and placed in plastic wrapper with a napkin inside.

We loaded all 200 of them into the car and we went to the morgue.

We took a table and placed it under the UNICEF tent.

COPECO had a tent there also.  It was full of people taking information about the presumed dead.

I almost forgot the hot sauce... Almost every Honduran likes hot sauce with their baleadas.

Very quickly the baleadas disappeared.  

My arm was still in a sling from breaking it when I feel on December 28th at the La Colonia grocery store.  The floor was slick with water from a freezer and I fell.

Not fun, but it has not kept me from doing ministry.

Almost all the baleadas are gone, so it is time to go home.