Farewell to La Florida

Everyone rose a little sad this morning, knowing it would be our last day in the village of La Florida. Tacha and the other cooks made french toast for breakfast. We loaded the 39 and a few extra bags to take to La Florida. That meant we all had to squish into the bus, but we did not mind today.

We spent a couple hours digging more trenches and laying some pipe. Some people even starting covering the pipe. They still have close to three weeks of work to complete the water project. We only got to be a small part of it.

At ten we stopped working to have a small celebration. The leader of the water project for the community, the president of La Florida, the paternoster, the leader of the village women, Angel, and I gave speeches. I basically read in Spanish the speech that Seivert had written. I made only minor adjustments to it. I am going to put it here in its entirety. For our blog readers, I will write the English version only.
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(Today I would like to read a message to all of you from Richard Seivert, Director of Gehlen Catholic Mission Honduras & Mission Honduras LeMars, and me. Please excuse my poor Spanish.

To the wonderful people of La Florida, Comayagua, Honduras, Central America.

Greetings from Gehlen Catholic Mission Honduras, Le Mars, Iowa, U.S.A.

On behalf of our team and our families, friends, schools, churches, clubs, and communities, Gehlen Catholic Mission Honduras says THANK YOU to the wonderful people of La Florida.

Thanks you for welcoming all of us into your life through this water project. The kindness and love yopu have extended to each of us has been felt in the homes of hundreds throughout our communities in the U.S. Make no mistake: the bond that has been forged between the people of La Florida and our team is strong, and Gehlen Catholic Mission Honduras will continue to help you in whatever way we can.

Special thanks to the president and committee of La Florida that has given our group the change to work side by side with you - two countries - all Americans.

Special thanks to Angel Paz, Francis Seivert, and Julio Rivera for their prepatory work for this team. Thanks to the Rotary Club of the central U.S. along with International Rotary for their trust, faith in Mission Honduras LeMars, and belief in this project - their financial support has made this possible. Thank you to Fr. Bonilla, Tacha Alverado, and the wonderful people of Esquias for their support and hospitality - we always know our teams are taken care of. Also thanks to Carlos for driving us safely each day.

We have one other request for you. As our team leaves Honduras tomorrow and returns to our homes in the U.S., we ask you to welcome the next group of young people from Springfield Catholic School of Springfield, Missouri. Please welcome them into your lives like you have our group.

On behalf of our team and our families, Gehlen Catholic Mission Honduras, and Mission Honduras LeMars, we promise to pray for you and your entire community. May the bond that has been created in the ground of La Florida between our two peoples, last forever. God bless all of you.)

The villagers surprised our birthday three with two cakes and a happy birthday song in English. We all got to eat cake and drink soda. The cake was delicious.

The weather was quite cooperative this morning. It was in the nineties by the time we returned to Esquias. We now have cloud cover with possible rain on the way, but we are hoping for nice weather to take our group photo in twenty minutes. After that, we hope they get lots of rain because it is sorely needed.

We are celebrating an Easter vigil mass here in the compound at 5 p.m. We will try to have our meeting after that. We have lots to process tonight to get ready for our return. Supper of hamburgers is planned for 7. If needed, we will meet again. We are also trying to prepare for our return. A pile of our clothes, shoes, and other items is piling up next to me in the salon.

Tomorrow we will rise around four forty-five, eat a little, and load the bus. By six we should be on our way to the airport. The plane leaves around noon and we should be in Omaha around eight. We are anxious to see our families there and at home.

I will write the final blog upon my return to Le Mars that will wrap up our trip. As soon as possible I will get done with the new trip on our website. That page will include up to 250 photos from our mission trip. All missioners will also write a reflection which I will put together into a reflection book for them. Finally, I will create the PowerPoint presentation for our mission trip and we will set a time when we can all come together to view it on the large screen. I look forward to that day.

Please read our final entry on Monday. Thanks for being with us through this blog,. Look for the Springfield trip to start shortly after.