Day 3 - Gift of Joy.......

CLICK HERE are all of Day 3's pictures.....

It should probably go without saying from here forward that the day was AWESOME!  With it being our first official "work" day, we traveled up the mountain with a little apprehension but no less excitement.  On the way we picked up a new friend, Edson, who works for Lamb and helps the volunteer groups with the work projects at the children's home.

Currently the project at hand is a perimeter wall around the property.  Our job today was to begin the next 2 sections of the wall.  With the help of Edson, Mario, Angel and Ariel, we immediately got to work laying the foundation.  Keep in mind that we are here with no "machinery" for the basics of any construction project.  So, while there is no shortage of tools and skill, everything is done by hand.  We divided into 3 groups.  The first group was in charge of cutting, bending and building the rebar
grids for the foundations and pillars. The second was to mix the concrete and mescla which is a little different then running up to the new Lowes and grabbing a couple of bags of cement.  We had two piles - one with rocks (gravel) and another with sand.  We would take some of each and mix in a bag of cement and with shovels, 4 of us would mix them up on the ground adding water.  The process for the mescla was similar but we had to sift the sand through grates to clean it up before mixing.

The third group (which seemed to be the smallest group) was in charge of digging the trench for the next 2 sections of the wall.  Now, I have dug a trench before......My trench was dug in Mount Pleasant soil, and was about 10 feet long.  It was miserable, like really miserable.  So you can imagine our excitement and relief when today's trench was about 30 feet long, along a barbed wire fence, oh yeah, and through solid rock!!  So we got to chisel our way through while someone else shoveled the rocks away.  I tried every leadership trick in the book to leverage that one out, these kids are smarter than that...... No bueno.

In all actuality, the work was awesome.  We laughed and had a great time getting to know each other better as well as getting to know the guys helping us.  These guys have amazing stories and even more amazing hearts of caring.  Angel, who we later learned has an amazing voice, spends his days off traveling way out into the country to pray and worship with people who do not have the means to attend church.  He is also in his church's worship band.  Edson spent 3 year in the states studying with his wife Claudia.  Before moving, he sold EVERYTHING he had here in Honduras and instead of using that money to get ready for his new chapter, he took every cent and spent it on the needs of the youth ministry with which he worked here in Honduras.  He then did the same when God called him back home.

For lunch we gathered up at the church to enjoy the cool breeze amazing views of the valley.  After eating, Angel grabbed his guitar which is real treat.  Knowing that one of our group's family is from Columbia, he picked a few songs of Colombian singers and told us the stories of their background.  We were all once again struck by the fact that where most of us did not understand a word of the songs, the power, joy and meaning of each was not at all lost in translation.

After lunch we headed back down the hill and continued our projects and worked until the children got finished with school.  We wrapped up our projects and got to spend a little bit of time with the children.  More hide and seek, soccer and crafts with LOTS of laughter!

Our group time back at casa lamb this evening was definitely a special one.  Though we were all tired, sore and ready to relax and play some games before bead, the group lit up with stories of the day.  The overwhelming theme for all of us was how joyful the day was.  Where none of us would probably give up our day jobs to pursue a life in masonry, we all had a wonderful time.  The joy of the guys that helped us radiated through the group.  This was then of course carried on by the children.  We reflected on how cool it was that at the end of the day, when we were all so tired, hungry and sore, the joy in the children created an energy and joy in us that could not be measured.

We ended our group discussion giving the students "10 minutes" of quiet time to journal and pray on the day.  We challenged them again with the question "If God wanted you to do something different in you, would you let him?"  It was almost 30 minutes before any of them were done....

For me, I went to bed with an amazing amount of joy and honor of being able to spend time with these great "kids".  Every single one of them is amazingly gifted and in just 3 short days, I have gotten to see this first hand.  It is no surprise to me that God is once again using Honduras to center me in my faith, it has been incredible.

However, as I wrap up this recap, I will close with a line from "God of this city" (which is currently playing in my ear) - "For greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city....."