BUCKET!!!!!!!!!

Guess what it is raining!!!!! Will we ever get to the Jesus Statue???!
San Miguel is beginning to recover but is still keeping us from our "planned work" in the community and we are still working in relief mode. Thursday our team working out at San Miguel spent the day moving MUD and calling out, literally, to God to keep the rain away from this community and He did, the day went with out rain! The team worked hard all day digging out feet and feet of mud and digging trenches. The church suffered a mud slide that came down from the mountain above. The group formed a BUCKET brigade and got after it and moved MUD..LOTS AND LOTS OF MUD..BUCKET became the word of the day as buckets traveled up one line full of mud and down another empty with amazing prescion.
Another job at San Miguel was to dig out a house that was filled with mud from the mud slides and we put in a new wood floor for the family of 9 children which got them off the ground and give them a dry house. They also built this family bunk beds for all the children with all new mattresses. When the mud slide happened it literally came in from under the walls and dumped tons of mud into her house and covered everything. She had been living at the church relief shelter.

We also brought in relief for the families in the way of clothing, medicines, baby supplies and food. A lot of these family lost everything in the water damage. So we headed for the warehouse and packed up boxes and boxes of STUFF...That many of you sent, thank you!! We then spent the day clothing, giving shoes and supplies to the families in the shelter and the community. It was set up like a store in the church and each family could come and shop. This allowed the people to keep their dignity, instead of having to just take anything, it was personal and fun! It was much needed relief, and hope for those who lost so much. At the end of the day we also brought in Church's Chicken for all the families....They were very excited about that....No rice beans!!!..

We have been wanting to build but the water damage has prevented that from happening and the restructure of the river was presenting us with new problems. The main road into the village enters in the middle of the community and on both side everything goes up. The only bridge across to the road going up to the left side was destroyed yesterday by "that big machine" digging in the river.
It appeared this would continue to keep us from building the houses we had planned to build in San Miguel, but Mark decided that no matter what, we would build a house on Friday if we had to carry the wood on our backs.....Pharaoh..Let my people go!!!! I wish I could give you a picture of how difficult this would be!!! The climb is looooooooong and straight up...Not a job any of us wanted to have to do, but where willing. So last night in Devo we cried out to God again to help us and He answered our petition. This morning (Friday) when we arrived at San Miguel the river cooperated and was shallow enough for our wood truck to cross!!! The truck went up, not without a few problems, but the wood made it to the site and today we built another house in San Miguel!!! It was another beautiful day of sunshine. Not only did we build a house but we also finished digging out the church building, the bucket brigade was back..
The children continued to enjoy our most popular BINGO games, they LOVE that prize bag.
This game attracts kids by the droves who sit on the ground with rocks and play bingo for HOURS!!!
Today San Miguel had a very large "VBS" it was a funny and an exciting time of skits, songs and games!!! The children had a great time and there were a lot of them!!!
In the midst of all this we meet amazing people, fall in love with beautiful children, and quickly become attached to the community.

Meet Melvin....This little boy stole my heart and the hearts of many very quickly..I first met him in May when I first arrived in Honduras and attended worship in San Miguel. I was just taken by this boy who had beautiful eyes but at the same time a bit of sadness in them, can you see it? Not all Honduran children are open to new people and Melvin would linger at a distance as I tried to make contact with him. Over the past several days I have played with him, taught him to blow bubbles with bubble gum and just enjoyed being around him as he has opened up to me.
Today I found out more about Melvin's life. He is 8 years old and is one of 5 children. His father died of cancer 8 years ago and his mother died about 5 months ago. His oldest brother who is 18 takes care of the family now. His brother works and goes to school, so the 3 youngest are home alone during the day. He has a 16 year old sister who also attends school and a brother and a sister close to his age. I was shocked because Melvin does not look like an orphan but he is, this certainly explains the sadness I see in his eyes. My heart was broken for this boy. I tell you this story to say.. Life here is at best difficult and life can be harsh and cruel. How can a family of 5 children loose their parents and have to survive on their own? I was reminded of the verse that tells us "God prepares works for us IN ADVANCE"...I truly believe this a a divine appointment for our group to be in this place at this time!!!!
Good things are happening!!!