28.6.16

Martes 6.4

Today we built a house for Maria. It is one thing to build for a stranger that has been selected to get a house. It is another to have known the family for whom you are building. Maria works at Casa and has a family of three children. Since they didn't have a home, her children had to live with family far away. That is going to change tonight. After we finish our work, their family will be together under one roof.

As we were laying floors, Luis realized the center posts were not flush. Though the corner posts were perfect, the center of the walls bowed. I could see the how wheels turn in Luis's head as he tried solution after solution. Ultimately, he used the center beam of the roof as an internal stress member to shore the walls into their permanent positions. The solution is probably best explained with a sketch, however the typical reader of this blog is probably bored and confused by now. Let's just say, "We messed up and Luis came up with a way to fix the problem without tearing out a lot of work.

I was most impressed with the work I saw from Brayan. He has been with Casa since he was very young. He took it upon himself to say that being at home was not healthy for him and sought help. He has been in and out of Casa due to his age, but he works hard to be a good person. Today he is seventeen and working Matt, Nicole and Luis to lead groups on missions. Today I saw him humbly take instructions and boldly step into leadership rolls. He did both in almost perfect form. He listens intently and implements directions with the utmost precision. When instructing, he took time to explain the job and goals in order to impower the person he was instructing. We have seen Brayan grow up and it has been a pleasure.


Timoteo joined us for dinner to talk with Josue, Gordon and Alan about the work at his church. We wanted him to stay for devotion, but he had to get back to his community. Gordon did a great job of leading devotion. It was a good day in Honduras.

Karol and Kelin joined us for the evening again. It is nice to have them around every night. They are very sweet, loving and strong. I love their humor and whit as well. Karol showed me images of a beautiful wooden candelabra that she carved on a lathe in a workshop earlier that day. She is awaiting her professor's recovery from illness before she can do her semester presentation. Kelin and I continued to give each other a hard time. This time, she asked me to share piece of my frozen Twix with her. As we broke one of the bars, she ended up with roughly 80% of the bar.  This was NOT my plan. After sharing my intent to only share a small bite, she swiftly pointed out that this only happened because I didn't really want to share.

Dennis, Doni, Olivia, Jordan and I stayed up with the sisters playing Spoons and Speed. I was not quite the winner of any of the games, but it was good to stay up and fellowship.


“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:15 

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