Sweet Reunion

Our return to Los Pinos was a sweet reunion. Many of our ladies gathered at the church ready to celebrate the women who work as their teachers. They carried foot baths, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and trays full of fresh pineapple and watermelon. Also, in boxes hauled up the mountain, were stacks of vbs materials that Janae, Mary, Chris, Anna, Ellen, Matthew, Jeanette, and Daniel worked late into the night preparing coloring books and tiny plates on popsicles that had the face of a blind man on one side and a seeing man's face on the other.

By the time we reached our build site, a house for one of the teachers at the church, we found that someone had already dug the holes for our posts. AND THEY WERE PERFECT! The fact that our wood had not arrived was not perfect. After thirty minutes of slapping fire ants and and joking around the truck arrived and we went to work alongside many Hondurans. Their stamina put us to shame. 

Enthusiasm was contagious inside the church building at Los Pinos. Women laughed and hooted as they shared stories with one another. Billy and Cisco had a Bible study with a family during the revelry and, to hear him tell the story, the women were all going so crazy with laughter that he thought there must have been a Bunko game going on. Actually the Honduran women came prepared to share a lesson of their own and blessed our ladies so much that they never had time to do all they had planned. When God writes the script the story always winds up better.

Chris stood on the roof of our almost finished home, hammer in hand, ready to pound roofing nails into layers of tin. Clouds were beginning to darken in the sky threatening the downpour to come. It was 1:30 and we were three hours faster than Saturday. By 3:30 we were praying with a family of four inside a fully completed home. Don Cole brought in a picture of the family that donated the money for the house along with a brass template that the family proudly chose to display on their door front. 

Back at the church VBS was in full swing. Over a hundred children sat side by side in the auditorium listening to Ramona translate Edna's stories. Our ladies had their hands full trying to keep everyone and everything in order. The children were fidgety and eager to get on to the crafts but came away knowing the story of Jesus healing a blind man by rubbing dirt on his eyes. 

A family across from the church building held a special place in Cisco's heart. The mother had a skin condition and was covered in large bumps kind of like the skin of an ostrich. Her three daughters are now sixteen years old and younger. Two of them spent the day at the church while one stayed in the home. When Cisco asked about her the mom told him she was in the house and hadn't come out of it for weeks. Cisco asked permission to visit her and went inside to talk. After a few minutes conversation Cisco asked if the family had food for the night. She said, "no." Cisco told her if she would come out with him that he would get food for her and the family.

As Cisco and the young woman's daughter walked the dirt road to the pulperia (store) she pointed to the pink hat Cisco's niece had begged him to wear and asked if she could have it. Cisco told her he'd been asked by many people and how special the hat was and that he couldn't just give it away to anyone because it had to be someone really special. They continued to walk and she asked again. He said that he couldn't. They bought a huge pepsi and some snacks and headed back to the home. After speaking with her a little more it was time to go. As he got up to leave he removed the cap and placed it on her head. She looked up at him puzzled and said, I thought you were waiting to give the hat to someone special. He smiled as he left and said, "I just did."