"The Kids Are Amazing"

The title of this blog came from Chris Dobesh.  The second day of  hard work showed the kids true colors.  They worked their tails off!  Nothing got in the way, not blisters or the lack of a traditional bathroom.  You can tell our kids are from SD and used to camping. 
The highlight of the day was watching after only one day with the little ones, how attached the kids are to them.  Lunch plates were filled to maybe a quarter of what they normally are so they could share the leftovers with them.  We're finding it hard to balance not offending the cooks with a passion for sharing the bounty.
We made lots of progress on the trench which will bring water to one section of the village.  Villagers from a  neighboring community came and helped in hopes that by showing how hard they worked they could be the recipients of the next water project.  We'll see if that materializes.  We will be taking some of our donated items to them  Monday.  They are in need like everyone else here.
Unfortunately our trip to the malnutrition center has been canceled.  The roads are impassable due to rain.  So tomorrow we are going to serve food at a center similar to the Cornerstone that serves children.  We'll take some of our supplies to them also.  Tessa is taking her job of photgrapher seriously so we'll have many photos of our visit to share with you tomorrow. 
The picture of the team is from the top of the mountain that houses the holding tank for the water that will flow by gravity to the village.  The view from the top of the mountain is breathtaking.....don't worry Pesickas a lot of thought went in to getting Tessa up and down safely.
More tomorrow....
Mary, Karrie and  Chris
PS  Dick called and the food we packed is on it's way to Honduras and from what we've seen it can't get here soon enough!

Hola!  Today we worked again with digging trenches for the pipeline to go through. Today I did not get to work in the sade as much as yesterday but I only managed to burn my ears! We worked and a met a few little kids in the village, they were so cute giving us flowers and laughing at us. We then had mass in the little school house with all the workers. In the past two days i have also managed to break both of my 1.5 liter water bottles. Awesome. We are now back at the compound ready for a hot relaxing night! I miss you and love you all! <3 see you soon! LOVE YOU! :)   ---Rylee H.

Hello Miller family! Today was just a strange day to me. We worked on digging trenches again today and this time is was a little more difficult to dig because the road had 34 million rocks in it. We met more kids today and had Mass in the school. We got in a little fender bender on the way back to Esquias; it was not a big deal, we just got backed into. Carlos (our bus driver) was not very happy. Now we are just sitting around, napping, showering, eating etc. I think that we will go to the park a little later to play with the kids. That's all for now! Love you!

--Jordan M.

Hello from Esquias! Today was successful and in more ways than one.  We got farther on our digging project, but also got more interaction with kids.  Aside from throwing cicadas at us (which are huge!) they loved us! I got flowers like petunias in my hair from them and we got to give them food from our lunch which they loved too.  I am not going to lie... I am sore! Mostly my knuckles which are a little puffy.  But its all worth it :) Well adios til manana! Love you!

-Elizabeth

Hola mi familia (Griffith's). Today was another hot, but successufl day. Everything is just different here, but the scenary is gorgeous! We hiked to the top of a mountain and words and pictures can not capture the moment. Mom you would have loved the hike! Dad's doing good. The food is actually pretty good, and the people are happy all the time it is very humbling.  Hope all is well and keep us in your prayers.

Love Nicole and Dad

Blogging from Honduras from for the second time. I am really working on my tan, looking nice and gold right now. Today was not as hot as everyone is making it sound, ok it was, but i got to work in the shade!!! I worked with some guy whose name was  Hernadez, he was 17, and a way harder worker then me. We did get alot done how ever, and Jordan Stratman also helped about half way through the day. The food we had for lunch was so good, but i did not want to eat because the people of the village were waiting for us to get done to eat. Tonight we are going down to the park and hopefully I can get over to the store to do some shopping. Well talk to you later!

--Dom

Hola madre and padre (Justin and Veronica Kusser)! This is the first time I have had the opportunity to blog.  To start off I still cannot believe I am in Honduras. Everything here is so surreal.  The people are so welcoming, and everywhere we go people are always sitting outside waving and smiling at us.  The work is hard, and yes mom you can say I told you so because I  am very sore after only two days of work, but this has been an amazing experience thus far.  Tonight we are going to the park to play with the kids and probably going to have another delicious supper of tortillas and rice. Mom you would be very jealous of all of the fresh fruit here, and dad the coffee is  amazing! Unfortuanely we are unable to get to the malnutrition center tomorrow due to bad roads, so instead we are going to visit an orphanage. Saturday we are back to work, and sunday we are going shopping in the Valley of Angels.  Well that is all I have time for! Love you lots!

--Katie Kusser

Buenos dias everyone! Honduras is such an amazing place; it has only been two days and I already feel like I am at home!  All of the kids are adorable, and the people are very welcoming.  My dad says it is really hot.  I just want to leave with assuring everyone that we are all fantastic!

--Witt Dobesh

Hi again! It's Jake.. Today was day 2 of work and the sun was shining bright. Working in shade is cake compared to with the sun right on top of you. Although I really enjoyed today because I actually felt like I was working hard. I feel like I'm on the movie Holes, except we're not digging 5x5 holes. haha. We took a break from working and walked up the mountain to see the well. The view was absolutely amazing. I took a video and pictures so I can share it back home. The showers are feeling better and better. Even though they are only 1 minute showers, they are cool and extremely refreshing. Last night we got to go play with the kids at the park, and they were crazy! haha. They stole our flashlights and were running  everywhere. This kid named Dennis really seemed to like me. He came up to me and showed me like 5 different hand shakes and was climbing all over me. He loved taking pictures and looking at them. The funny thing is Jed, my little brother, looks almost the same to all the kids here. ha! Well, it's about that time. I'll be trying to do this everyday.. Much love to the fam and friends! Be home soon!

 -Jake Sully

Hola everybody! For starters, I miss you all a lot! Everything's so different here... we have to throw our toilet paper in the trash can. Not to mention every day one of us has to clean it out.  The showers are different too. I was freaking out for my first 60-second, ice-cold shower, but it really was not that bad at all.  It felt so good after being so dirty and sweaty all day. It is SO beautiful; the vegetation is unreal. The colors of the flowers are so remarkably bright and the air is extremely humid. Today we went on a hike (don't worry Mom, I rode in the truck) and the view was crazy. I took lots of pictures of it, and everything else too. It's only day 3 in Honduras and I have over 750 pictures. And that's just on my camera. I've been snapping pictures on Mrs. Casey's camera along with everyone else's throughout the day. So yeah, I'm doing my job. Today I made some friends: Fernando, Emerson, and Jole (sp?). Our friendship started when they all came up to me and handed me flowers they had picked. Then we played and took LOTS of pictures for the next 2 hours. They are seriously so, so adorable. After each picture I took, I would show them and they would smile from ear-to-ear and just start laughing hysterically. Emerson's laugh is the cutest thing I've ever heard. I took a video so you guys could hear it too. Then, at lunch today, I started eating and saw all the kids watching us. I called little Jole over and he sat on my lap and finished my plate... and Elizabeth's... and Jake's. He just didn't want to stop. I can't wait for you to see pictures. I've been getting some good ones! Well, I love you all and can't wait to share with you the experiences we've had! Keep following the blog! Adios!

-Tessa Pesicka

This is is my first blog. At first I thought I didn’t belong at this trip. I felt out of place and wanted to Be done. But as it went on my body became aware of what was happening and I feel great. The first two days have been pretty crazy, early mornings, hard work, shocking poverty, and cool people to meet. We have made great progress with the trench and we all seem to be doing well with health.

The people I have met are pretty cool. They are surprisingly well off though with good clothes and their bodies looking to be in good shape…probably the hard work. The food is better than most American food, haha. So far we have had  fried chicken, steak, and a lot of rice for our main stuff. I’m in my place for sure but I can’t wait to see u all. Love you mom dad kelly kaci and kaylee, see u soon!

-Jay D Coop

Hey everyone!  Today was day two of work, and it was definitely WORK!  We continued to dig the trenches today.  A few of us got stuck on the side of the road digging, and it was all sand and rocks; we figured that the rocks we were digging up were the infrastructure for the road, so hopefully the rain won’t wash out the road now!  I also got to meet Nicole today who was so so so shy, but she let me hold her and I could tell we had that unspoken connection J We also went down to the local park today and met a ton of kids!  They are so fun to play with and try to talk to!  I am absolutely loving it here, but I do miss everyone, and I can’t wait to see you all soon!

Love and miss you lots!  Love, Dani

Hey everyone! Wow! What a great day. This is Mom and Caitlin. It was a hot but productive day of work. We really connected with the people of Picacho today. Words cannot describe how precious the kids are. We were able to hike to the top of the mountain where the holding tank is. It was rewarding to see how the project looked from above. There are so many things to share already- can’t wait to tell you about them! Moira, please log onto Caitlin’s Facebook and tell everyone to check out our blog (and maybe post the link). Know that you are all in our prayers and thoughts. We love you so much!!