June 15 – June 27, 2011

1 Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

Part 1

Bienvenidos (welcome to) Team #11. This team did a lot of “Firsts” with BBM. They are the 1st all youth team to come to Honduras. This team of Home Schoolers who were led by David and Cynthia Pearson wanted to express their love for the Lord and wanted to serve Him in Honduras. When Pastor Giron saw how young this team was he said to me, “they are babies”. I smiled and said, “but they are youth who are saved and are here to witness Jesus to the Hondurans”. When we took the photo seen top right was when Giron noticed the maturity in this team and the ability they have to serve Jesus in any form. When this team arrived they had to frame in the ceilings for 3 class rooms and an office. While they were framing in the ceilings, Pastor Giron was laying up the last of the concrete blocks. Miguel the welder was installing the last parts to the steel roof and painting the steel trusses while installed. The Honduran team I like to call it (men who are hired by BBM) were behind us in preparations. They had a lot of work and pressure coming in order to keep team #11 busy. Sense the Honduran team was a little behind this team had to do things out of order in order to keep the project moving forward and to keep all these young teenagers working. While the team was waiting for the welder and Giron they were able to work with Juan in plastering the interior walls to give them a smooth finish. Others were sanding the already plastered walls so it will be ready for priming. The framing and plastering took a few days to accomplish sense there was so many class rooms to do. Plus each youth didn’t have any carpentry skills when they came but when they left they knew how to cut wood, hammer nails, paint, sand plaster, rough wire, and have fun in the mean time. This is why I chose the scripture at the bottom right. It depicts the attitude this team had while working, visiting, playing, sitting and waiting for something to do or sharing their love with the youth, children at the school, or even with the workers. I’m reminded when Miguel had his worker (Willy) who used to be apart of the body of Christ but walked away because he loved the things of the world more than the faith; watch and listen in how this team acted with one another and how they prayed and sang. He would watch intently and smile. I wonder what was going on inside his mind. Was he missing the faith? Was he remembering? We never know what seeds were planted with him.

Part 2

Finally what everyone was waiting for, the ROOF! I think we all know as soon as you install the roof on any project it means it is down hill from here to the finished product. The last team and this team had to fight rainy conditions and that meant every morning they had to sweep out the rain waters. If not they would be walking in a small pond in each classroom. So when it was time to install this roof it meant no more sweeping and everyone could continue to work on the project with out stopping for the rain. The size of this roof seemed intimidating but after the 1st few sheets were on the roof it was easy sailing from then on. In all it took one full day for this team to install the entire roof and cap. Amazing! While this was being installed I pulled out the primer and sent the rest of the team priming. Remember we did things a little out of order. We still had the rough wiring to do, finish framing of the ceilings, and sheetrock the ceilings. However with faith and experience in knowing where and when to skip some steps it turned out beautiful in the end in which you’ll see in following reports. As you can see in the next to last photo Joshua bending down in the rain drenched floors. This was even after we swept them. As things were moving along and things were getting done the teachers were getting more and more excited. Each one would come up in there own time and explore and feel each classroom. Some were going to be the 1st teachers in these classrooms and they were so excited. They kept asking us when we will be done so they can move in. What are the walls going to look like and the doors and windows going to look like? So many questions they had and as they walked down they would tell the others to go up because it is getting closer to being finished. Remember this school has had to move half of their grades to the afternoon because of the construction. Plus they also knew that when we would get this done we would be starting the cafeteria and that would mean more change for this school. It always reenergizes ones battery when you see and hear this kind of excitement. It motivates us to get more done so these teachers and students can have a real opportunity to teach and learn.

Part 3

If you have a mindset to be able to teach and a lot of patience a lot of work can get done and everybody learns something new. This was no different with this team. The boys and girls wanted to learn in how to do new things. Sanding and priming walls always seem boring until they see the final product after they have applied the final coat of paint and stand back and see the difference. If you look at the top photo you say oh hum. If you look at the second photo you would say wow! Paint makes a huge difference to the atmosphere. It says completion and is ready for white boards, desks and children. Unfortunately we have electrical and sheetrock work yet to be done. I must admit I was a little nervous in explaining in how I wanted the ceiling to be framed in for wiring and then how to run the lines and mount boxes to a group who hasn’t done electrical work. I was impressed by this group. They took off with the concept and with only one explanation. They knew exactly what I was looking for, placement and where to run the lines. I believe that electricity 101 was a success. This team rough wired all three class rooms and are now ready for sheetrock. This was a task in its own. As you can see in the last photo getting the sheets of sheetrock to the rooms was a difficult challenge. I would carry the drywall to the boys and two boys would carry it up on ladders to the boys on the second floor. Then they would move it to the last room where it was going to be installed. Now the problem wasn’t the 16 sheets they carried but the 50 more sheets the next team has to install. The problem we encountered was that the railing was installed ahead of us so we couldn’t use the stair well. The team was able to install the drywall in one room which allowed everyone to see what a room was going to look like with the drywall in place, windows, door, and painted walls. I think these projects boosted the confidence in this young youth group. They should be proud of there hard work in a short time. Teams save the project money and time. It is amazing that in one year and a couple months and this project will be completed. More teams means more lives changed in those who come and those they have impacted. It also means the projects are completed in a quicker time. Praise the Lord for these teams that are coming and doing His work!

Part 4

Like I said in the beginning this team did a lot of firsts. Not only was this team young but they all played soccer and played it well. David and the youth wanted for us to organize a night that they can play against my boys youth group at a rented court. I rented a private court for 2 hours that is near our home. We divided the teams with two USA teams of 6, and two Honduran teams of 6. On the USA teams we moved one of my boys to each of the Honduran teams and I played with my boys. Now I write this with a grin on my face and will not reveal who won the most games. All I can say is that David and I played pretty good for two older guys. The most important thing was that the youth could bond, smack the ball, and smack each other. After the game was ended in the pouring rain we all went next door to have ice cream cones and we loved watching the two cultures try to communicate with each other. It was a blessed night and one that both sides will never forget. In fact our boys were still talking about that night in how much fun they had. As you would think working all day, having devotions every night and playing night soccer would be enough for this team it wasn’t. They were invited to play soccer with the kids from the Fuerzas Armadas School. A teacher reserved an hour for the team and the kids to be able to play at a dirt field near the school. The teacher wanted to take advantage of this young group of teenagers to be able to play with the kids’ sense the school court was all blocked up with sand, stone and other building supplies. As you can see in the last two photos what a typical field is for most Hondurans. As the team was coming back I saw our team with tiredness and in front of them the children running and jumping in the air. It was funny to see. This is another way for our team to connect with the children of Honduras and interact with them.

Part 5

As we close the chapter on one team and prepare for the next team to arrive we can look back and see all that is accomplished when we put our hearts to the task and our hands to the plow and not turn back to see what we have left behind but plow forward in anticipation of the future. The top two photos show one classroom close to the finished stages and the second what the hallway will look like with the windows and doors installed. However there is more to the story and it deals with the people that are impacted as God works and moves with His precious Spirit in completing what He wants accomplished and that is lives changed. For days Pastor Giron would talk to Emilio a worker about coming to the faith and becoming a believer. While we gathered one morning to pray before we started work, Giron started to talk to Emilio about salvation and the need to come to the faith. I watched and saw his heart and interrupted the pastor and talked to Emilio about the Love of Jesus and the importance of having His love, His purpose, and His will in charge of his life. I could see that God was calling Emilio by his name and I asked him if he wanted Jesus. He walked forward and said Yes. We prayed that morning with Emilio as he came to Christ in that small classroom in the 1st photo. It didn’t end with just Emilio but watching young Manuel read his letter from the last team to him with such intent showed how much each person leaves an imprint on a young person’s heart. It is no different when a sponsor can meet his or hers sponsored child or children. Each team member was able to meet with their sponsored children. Justin and Kerri were able to meet all their kids. It was a time to connect and a time for the children to say thank you for the support. We know so many of our sponsored children look forward to the teams in anticipation that they will finally meet their sponsors and be able to say thank you personally. God is the thread that is woven in our connection with one another.

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