Friday

For the last day, we worked in San Francisco de Yojoa.  With a lot of hard work and dedication towards the world record, the construction team finished in the blazing sun with a total of 49 houses and 442 bags.   They reported back to the team that this was by far the poorest village of the week.  Many of the houses were made out of sticks and black plastic.  The medical team had a busy morning and was finished working by lunch.  They gave a total of 887 deworming pills this week.  It's neat looking back and seeing how many lives we touched in one week, and the contentment we receive from giving some time to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Madison Trauger from the TEAM

Caracol Potrerillos, Cortes

Thursday January 14,2016
Caracol Potrerillos, Cortes
           The community was a new one for us, and for MAMA.  They were incredibly appreciative, patient, and very anxious about our arrival.  The medical team saw between 160-180 men, women, ,and children.  The medical crew told us how serene everyone was.  The community was, overall, healthy. There was a 96 year old woman who walked down, with her cane in crocs!  We passed this same woman on our way to our third house walking back from the local market. Joe H. got out of the truck so we could give her a lift home.  As grateful as she was she was walking back down that hill after we finished house number three and drove past on the way to house number four!  We had a total of 96 bags today breaking yesterday's record of 92! ( that's a lot of concrete!)  We also found that there are fresh water crabs in the local river.  It was an exhausting, rewarding, faith filled day.  God has been with us every step of the way and it has been remarkable.
Karen Hohenstein for the DRE Team  

Wednesday

Today was a shorter drive, about an hour to the Casas Vieja Santa Cruz De Yojoa community. Many people were lined up again today waiting for us to arrive. A lot of the families were very large. One grandmother brought her 5 grandchildren because her daughter was in the hospital having her sixth baby. We saw a mother in her twenties with five children. When Carmen and Ruth were giving them deworming and vitamin pills Carmen asked if she wanted to take pills home for her husband. She said no because he was in the hospital with a broken leg from falling out of a tree. When the women had left the clinic Vivian, another volunteer, went after her and gave her a pair of shoes with a small amount of cash in them, the women cried and thanked her. We had nearly 300 people go through the medical clinic today with more than 50 seeing the doctor. The two concrete crews had a "world record" as they poured 10 house floors using 91 bags of concrete. Everything went so smoothly that they finished by 2:30 and waited patiently for the medical clinic to wrap up before heading back to the MAMA Mission House for another one of Isabella's delicious dinners. Thanks for your continued prayers for us and those we meet.

Eva Yoder for the Team.

January 12, 2016 Santa Fe San Franciso de Ojuera SB

The paved highway took us to our turn to a bumpy snake like road.  We took in the beauty at each curve admiring the hills, fields and trees. Today is a sunny and beautiful day!  When we arrived in Santa Fe the school had many families lined up waiting to greet us.  If you do not arrive early you may not be able to see the doctor.

Having been in Santa Fe before I recognized the town helpers. Also this was the town Nolvin was from.  CWC had helped him and now he has a job picking coffee. There were many children and pregnant women. We had a nonstop line from our arrival until lunch.  The families are beautiful and peaceful.  After signing up people move to the blood pressure station which Eva Yoder staffed.  Next stop was vitamin A and deworming with a bonus of a gummy vitamin and a car or princess sticker.  Ruth Hohenstein and Carmen Diaz staffed this.  Most children were very cooperative but the babies weren't thrilled with the vitamin A.  Eileen Riley, Madison Trauger, and Darwing Sabillion Castro drew blood and checked iron.  That's when the babies and toddlers sang!  Our director, Karin Elena Timpel Bonilla records information about the children as they get weighed and measured by a member of the community.  Rafael Fernondez and Josue Adonay Stabillon Castro gave families a micro nutrient pack and information on how to use the nutrients.  Finally in this room families travel to Barb Rice and Vivian (Rafael's daughter) and received shoes, clothing, small stuffed animals, little cars and a variety of items we had collected.  It was a joy to watch their faces when they received these gifts.

The clinic also had a dentist, a doctor, and a pharmacy.  Our count today was about 160 with about 59 seeing the doctor.  While the clinic was going on the other members of the team were working on concrete floors.  There were two crews: Kermit Yoder,Tim Nyce, Ed Wyse, Kevin Reily, John Riley, Tim Weaver and Hoesa Luis also Wilson  Elvis Crut, Chris Trauger, Jake Rice, Don Rice, Karen Hohenstein and Joe Hohenstein.  They had a new world record of mixing 84 bags of cement beating yesterday's record df 78.  Most of the crew went to bed early!  It was noted at one house a child walked around with a pet white rat.  Also their was a sixteen year old boy, an old guy, and another man from the homes that helped the teams very much.  One man who had seven bags wanted even more!  Another man's wife was in the hospital having a baby.  The crews had a great day!

See you soon and keep praying,
Ruth Hohenstein

A greasy day

Today was our first day working in Honduras.  We traveled to Ponciado, Las Vegas, a location that was fairly high up a mountain near a mining community.  It was very foggy when we got up this morning, but our drive was rain-free.  However, upon arriving it began to rain.  The clinic was set up in a school and about 75 people were seen.  The numbers were down a little from what was expected because it is in the coffee region and people were working in the mountains picking coffee.  The teacher was very helpful to the MAMA team as they set up the various stations.  As I talked with him at the end of the day I discovered that his wife is living in Quakertown, PA with their little girl who attends 1st grade there.

The construction groups divided into 2 teams  to work more efficiently.  We were hoping to do 8-10 floors.  The rain made walking difficult and the team I was on had a long downhill walk to the first house.  The ground is red clay and when it rains it becomes a greasy mess - very difficult to walk on. After doing the first house, we walked halfway back up the hill to the second house, where we had tremendous assistance from the home owner and his uncle.  We climbed back up to the main road and were picked up to go to the next house in a pickup.  Heading down a hill, we slid into the ditch/bank because of the greasy road and had to exit the pickup and push it out.  We carried our tools halfway up the next hill to the house and the pickup turned around and headed back up the hill we had just come down.  He was unable to make it up the hill and we had to walk to the truck, push him up the hill, and then return to our house.  Between the two teams we did 8 houses and 78 bags of cement by hand.  It was satisfying to have home owners join in with us.

We finished at 4 pm, packed and ready to return to the mission house.  However, the 2 vans were parked in a grassy area and they were unable to back out because of the greasy conditions.  The first van slid into the ditch and we were able to get it out using the pickup and plenty of 'manpower.'   The second pickup also needed to be pulled out to the main road before we could leave.  It was an uneventful ride home and we arrived at dusk.  Showers felt great and Isabella the cook had prepared a wonderful meal of spaghetti, meatballs, plantains, and salad.  We talked about loving God and loving others in devotional time and finished with the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.  We give thanks to God for safety, the opportunity to share our gifts, and the incredible hospitality of the community we were in.  It will be an early night for most tonight and we look forward to tomorrow with anticipation - and hopefully no rain.      

Posted by Tim Weaver for the team

Great to be back!

We arrived!  Perfect flights and connections and all our bags too. It is a return trip for all of us except new team members Kermit and John. We were welcomed by the MAMA staff and the guys moved into the brand new wing-  lots of space and bathrooms. All 4 couples have their own rooms.  Such a blessing to have this great mission house to call home while we serve.
Isabel treated us to a delic fried chicken dinner including the jalapeño peppers and amazing fresh pineapple.
We organized all of our donations to take to communities. Lots of croc shoes, beanie babies, matchbox cars, coloring books&crayons to share!  Thanks to all those who donated!!
We are ready for tomorrow!  7am departure time- get started early so we can get the 10 floors done!
Look for tomorrow's report....
Thanks for praying us thru our travel day!
Barb for the team.

Team Number 30!

Our 30th team will arrive in Honduras on Sunday January 10, 2016. 

The 16 team members are:  Joe and Ruth Hohenstein, Karen Hohenstein, Jake and Barb Rice, Don Rice, Tim Nyce, Ed Wyse, Kermit and Eva Yoder, Tim Weaver, Chris and Madison Trauger, Kevin and Eileen Riley and John Riley. 

The cement crew is planning 10 floors a day!  Pray for their energy.

Also prayers for health and safety!

Writing from Honduras soon,
Barb for the team