HEY GUYS!!!

This week has been one of the most eye opening weeks of my life. I really don't want to leave. I have completely fallen in love with some of the kids here. Specifically Carlos and Steven. They are such uplifting kids! They always have a smile on their faces, and they are always quick to greet you with an "hola!' or "buenas dias!" I really love the culture here. The people are so friendly! Dago and Dilia are some of the most inspirational people that i have met. I can really tell that they love what they do. I will be very sad when we leave. Anyways, today Betsy and I got to wake up early and ride the bus with Dago to go pick up the school children from around town. I loved watching the parents walk their kids up to the bus, handing them their lunch box, and giving them a hug and a kiss. After that, we ate breakfast and headed out to the work site. Today we put rocks into our beloved hole... for some reason... i'm not really sure why. We just kinda do what we are told! Also, we did a little bit more digging so that we could get the plumbing all hooked up and ready to go! After that, we got to drive around the neighborhoods and deliver bags of food to some of the families that needed it. I had a lot of fun seeing their faces light up when they saw that they would be blessed with free food for a week. Elissa and I got to spend some quality time with Dilia :) later tonight we get to open up our encouragement bags!! This is always one of my favorite parts of mission trips.

I am eager to come home to see my family, but I will miss the kids, the fellowship, the culture, THE FOOD, the funny looks that we get while walking or driving down the streets, the good laughs we have had, and most of all, the hard work we put forth to bless a local family with a brand new home. OH! here's something cool we did today... Right before we started working, Phil and Val had us each right down a prayer on a piece of paper for the family, and stick it into the walls of the house. I LOVED doing that. I sure hope to be returning here one day in the near future. I've found a second home here in Azacualpa, Honduras.

Like always, MORE PICTURES!!!

You can always count on me to ruin a good picture ;)

If you hadn't noticed, the roads here are complete crap.  So it's pretty interesting getting around. But I totally love the view that you have from where ever you stand in this city. Any where you look, you see mountains.

So this was pretty sweet.. Pastor Mike got to assist in the baptism of 6 members of Dago's church on Sunday. It was so cool to witness. I think Mike really liked it too :)

Just something you don't see on an average day en los Estados Unidos (The United States)

Again... Me being my awkward self posing next to an aqueduct.

Cheering on the Mayan "ball players" in the bleachers! 

Had some very great discussion time in this circle. Couldn't have asked for a better group :)

Betsy and Marinda (the art experts) brought canvas and paint for everyone. I loved that! Even though mine was less than pleasant.

 Well thank you all for following us on our wonderful journey this week. I can't wait to return again one day. See you all soon :)

Alyssa Lappe

Crazy Awesome Week

When I entered the Des Moines International Airport a week ago, I didn't know what to expect much less what I would see when I arrived in Honduras. I knew I would see poverty unlike anything I could have imagined. I also knew I was going to see different landscape but what I didn't expect to see was the amount of work that group of 12, primarily college students, could accomplish in a week. Before this trip began, I knew we would be working in a feeding program in the children's home we were staying at. I also knew that we would be building a house. I didn't know that in building a house Mike, Caleb, Justin, and I would have to dig a hole that was nearly 12 feet deep. This was our big project for the week. When we arrived at the job site, we were told it needed to be about 8-10 feet deep. As we hit around 6 feet, the depth changed because we were told that we needed to hit sand so that the water, the hole was for a septic system, would drain. This project consumed the majority of the guys time on the trip. When we were back at the children's home, I had a chance to speak to the children that stayed there. It was amazing to see how positive these children were. They were constantly smiling and laughing. A few kids gave me nicknames. To one girl who couldn't understand that Hunter was my name, I was Honduras. To one boy who I told batman was my amigo, I became known as superman. Being around these children has been a blessing. It reminds me of why I love kids. Their energy, their joy for life, their finding fun in simplicity, everything these kids did was a shock. They were content with having so little when I've recently been focused on whether an xbox or playstation sounds like a better purchase. God has laid these kids in my heart. I would love to see them again. For this reason it will be hard to come home, but for the fact that my pals won't take pictures of me while I'm relieving myself on the road it will be nice to be home. It will be nice to see my family and friends and be able to have air conditioning but I will never forget what I have seen in Honduras.

Blessings,
Hunter W. Thorpe

Hello!
Posting on our last day in Azacualpa! Yesterday we got to relax most of the day and it felt great. We started the day by going to baptisms. The area where the baptisms were held was absolutely beautiful and it felt nice to wade in the water. We got back, ate lunch, and relaxed all afternoon till dinner and church! It was so interesting experiencing a Spanish church service. I had no idea what they were saying, but it was still enjoyable! My favorite part of last night was staying up till 1 AM with Phil and Erin. We talked about a bunch of stuff! It is so odd to realize its our last day here. We just got back from delivering food to families around Azacualpa. Erin, Justin, and I stood in the back of the truck as we drove. Don't worry! It was safe! Riding in the back of trucks is something completely natural here! Although, we got a ton of stares from people. We made one last run to the general store after we were done so we could get some soda to keep us awake tonight! Our goal is to stay up all night, but I dont think I will make it. But we all get to sleep tomorrow anyway. Although I am not a fan of the Atlanta airport (long story), I am looking forward to air conditioning, some American food, and an ice cold Coke with ICE!!!! I'm really excited that we get hot dogs for dinner tonight. I'm going to miss so much about this place. People are so grateful and its pretty cool how there are no rules. Like when all of us were riding in the back of the truck, we drove past a police officer and he just smiled and waved. I also cant get enough of the beauty of this country. The mountains take my breath away every time. And the sounds of the tropical-ish animals. And how the rain clouds roll in every night. I wish I could bring what I miss about home to Honduras so I would never have to leave. This trip was such a blessing. All the people here are thiefs. They stole my heart, but I have no intention of trying to get it back. I hope you all enjoyed our posts this week. Although we said a lot, there is still so much more that is indescribable. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to take in as much as this country as I can in these last 13 hours.
See you all soon!!
-Ellen

PS- We have all fallen in love with the kids here, but 2 that I adore Carlos and Steven (his name is also Carlos but they call him Steven to keep them apart). They enjoy teasing all of us and playing jokes. If you could carry more than 50 pounds in your suit case, I'm pretty sure we would all be coming home with brothers or sisters.

Gangam Style!

Matching is the best!

Washed my own clothes on a wash board!

Leonardo had to help Phil catch a chicken

Just riding in style! 

its our last day:(  and its such a scorcher... like im sweating so bad as we speak. and jamming out to some music of course.  So i dont have much to say today cause its just sad but i am ready to come home. I miss my parents i guess;)  But something that i just absolutely loved today was doing the plumbing with Phil. I think out of everything ive done here that has been the most rewarding for myself. Like we put all these pipes in.. mostly phil. haha but we put them all in and when we turned on the water it actually came out of the pipes!! Like this will be the first time that family has running water in there life... like how crazy is that? I cant even imagine life without that. It just made me feel really good that we could do that for them and it made them so happy. it was just great. hope you all are staying safe up thurrr with all that rain and nasty weather. Ill be seeing you in the states sooon!

Erin

Monday June 24 2013 1452

Just because I love her:)

Hola!

Today we find ourselves at the end of our trip, which is bittersweet. I'm excited to go back home to family and the comforts of home, but I am going to miss so many things about Honduras! Everything is so beautiful, the food is amazing, and more than anything I am going to miss these adorable kids. I have had so much fun playing with them! They taught me this really cool game that is kind of like ring around the rosy and a fun clapping type game. We actually just finished our last feeding program with the kids, and it broke my heart to say goodbye to all of them.

We also had our last day of construction, which felt really good! We all got to write a prayer to the family in the house and stick it in the bricks of the house, which was sooooooooooooooooooo cool! I really can't think of a more deserving family to build a house for, and feel so blessed to have been a part of building their future home.

Tonight we will be delivering bags of food and toiletries to sixteen families in need. Then we will have our last lesson and an encouragement circle, so we will most definitely be making the most of our last day here!

Tomorrow we will be spending the day flying home. I feel so incredibly blessed to have been apart of this mission with this absolutely extraordinary group of people! We will see all of you soon!

Lots of love, 
Marinda

Two of the sweetest little kids! They are brother and sister and will be living in the house we have started building.

Betsy and I hanging out with the neighborhood kids at the construction site!

Hand clapping game!

Ring around the rosy type game!

All the fabulous ladies!!!!!

Our super awesome group!

SUNDAY FUNDAY

Sunday Funday!

Today we witnessed a few baptisms in a river which was pretty cool. Pastor Mike got to help out with those too. Its been a while since I have personally updated this so there's a lot here.

Being here in Honduras is so awesome! There are so many things that I have learned about myself, and about my relationship with GOD, that I am anxious to build off of. We have witnessed some of the worst living conditions on this planet but we have also experienced genuine love and joy. It really

makes me think of all the things that we take for granted at home.

Thursday: Thursday was awesome we went to the Mayan Ruins in Copan and had an awesome tour guide. He knew a lot about the culture and the lifestyle of the Mayans and there was definitely more information than I might have expected. Also, a couple of us had "ham" burgers that we are pretty sure  were either "horse"burgers, so that was interesting. There were many cool things about the Mayans and at one point our tour guide started talking about aliens and he kinda lost his credibility. We also went into town to look around and look at shops and stuff only to find out our tour guide owned one of the shops we were in, that was kinda cool.... and kinda creepy. We then took our journey back to Azacualpa and we had some difficulties when Hunter woke up from a nap and had to go to the bathroom while we were descending a mountain in our bus. There was no close formal restroom....no bathroom on the bus....so he went outside while traffic was passing. Pretty hilarious! We got back to town after three hours and all of a sudden red and blue flashing lights were going off behind us. The police were "playing with their lights" needless to say we didnt stop to see what they wanted. We were all pretty beat when we got back and had a short lesson and went to bed.

Friday: Friday was a tough work day. We started out by checking how far our hole had been. It rained and was really muddy and difficult to dig. I was so dirty that day. We are digging this whole that at first was only supposed to be 8 ft deep which is difficult anyways, then we got notice that there was 2 more feet to go ..... that was discouraging to say the least. ALSO I MIGHT HAVE A HERNIA! That's a medical issue I havent dealt with ever so thats exciting. We also tried raw sugar cane. We all found our niche on the job site. Some of us were playing with neighborhood children others were building a house while others were digging a hole. It was pretty tough work. I took a shower outside in the rain "water straight from heaven". We came back from that and attempted to have a lesson. It didnt work out too well because everyone was tired. We went to bed and that day was finally over.

Saturday! : Today we woke up and went to work again. We finished the the hole and started putting walls up on the house. Lunch was awesome. It was so good. We took the kids to the waterpark for the afternoon. It was so cool to see that and you wouldnt expect to see the quality and cleanliness that the water park provided. Along with that there were no lifegaurds and no rules. There were people jumping and diving and flipping wherever they want to. Phil provided some humor to the kids there as the biggest white guy there doing crazy things down the slide and it was also Hilarious! We played volleyball with a lot of the kids there even if we didnt know them. They all seemed filled with joy to have someone giving them the individual attention they dont get everyday. We came back from the pool and had dinner and did some lesson stuff. We had great discussion as a whole group and then the males had good discussion after lights were out. Pretty Awesome!

Saturday June 22, 2013 2018

Hey everyboddddy! So our electricity went out last night so that would explain the lack of blogs being posted, but we are back in full forces. WE FINISHED THAT HOLE TODAY! now we just have to dig some more for the plumbing. but its done!! Only took about 2 and a half days. The house is coming along nicely too. The walls are getting pretty high! Ive never done anything like this before but its so great.. my body doesnt exactly agree with that statement though. Its pretty much screaming at me to get back to my normal day to day laziness. Luckily we got a break to day and only had to work a half day so we could take all the chitlens to the pool! It was awesome seeing as i love to swim. Something i noticed about the pool they had NO rules.. like anything goes. we went down the slides head first, one person right after the other, trains and on our FEET... not me personally im too much of a chicken for that. But they just do whatever they want in the pool. Flipping off the slides and bringing in their own toys. I wasnt used to that at all! But it did make for a good time:) A little blessing from God last night when it rained really hard and cooled off sooo much that i got chilly while sleeping that night and had to cover up with my blanket! loves it. Betsy and I got a little sneak peek of them practicing for the worship service tomorrow. It was pretty awesome. They have such beautiful singing voices and something about it being in spanish made it that more beautiful AND the fact that kids from the home were  participating also added to the experience. So many amazing things and people down here. Its really been an eye opener. We got to paint some canvases with the kids last night and after we were done they were going around with spoons to put all the extra paint back into the bottles. to them paint is considered a luxury, something that never would have crossed my mind. Crazy how little they have but how happy and joyous they are for what they do have. As opposed to us who have everything yet take things for granted.  I think that is all for now!  by the way.. i messed up the time on the last blog it was actually 2200 not 2300... sorry.

I THINK ILL CHECK IN TOMORROW.

Erin

thats just us chillen in the pool.

Playin some game with the kids. one of the few things they know in english. Betsys face just gets me. 

Exhibit A of them just like doin their thing! 

Exhibit B 

And just a picture that makes me giggle. Pastor mike attempting to stand going down the slide.