Honduras Day 3 - Making Concrete in the Shade

It is never a day that we are super excited about, but it is a day that has to come as part of every Honduras trip...the Concrete Day!   And while it is not easy, this day was one of the easier ones that I can ever remember.   Perhaps Donny was easy on us because there were only 11 of us, but we also had some help with the weather and location.   The weather was overcast all day, with maybe a sprinkle of rain every so often.   And we had plenty of room to get two "volcanos" of concrete mixing going at the same time, and this place was under a roof with shade.   So it was about a perfect as you can get for concrete day.   

I never can remember the recipe, but I think it is 9 buckets of sand, then half a bag of cement.   Add 9 more buckets of sand, then the other half of cement.   Then we flip the pile left to help mix the cement and sand, then we flip it back.   Finally we dig into the pile and turn it into a volcano, where we add 2 and 1/2 buckets of water.   Then begins the slow circular team work of scraping the sand and cement into the middle with the water to slowly form the concrete.   The Hondurans gave us Eduardo on the Gringo volcano team to keep us moving and to help not mess up anything.   Eduardo seemed to know exactly when to break the dam and let the water flow out causing a rush of shovels flipping the mixture so it did not run down the hill.   

While we did one volcano, the Honduran superpower olympic team of Dana and Obed would work on the other volcano.   And slowly but surely, we finished 12 bags of cement to help pour the flooring for a family in the ChaChaQuata area.   I was fully involved with 4 volcanos, but that was about my limit, as my back and hands were aching severely.   Glad for Davis and Eduardo and Brandon!   Anabelle was one that kept the sand buckets and concrete buckets moving each time they were needed.   

Eduardo brought three kids from the church to help us that afternoon, and they did great.   But we forgot cups for the water jug, and they had nothing.  I found some gatorades in one of the trucks and told Donny they could just have them as they were probably one of our guys that already had their water bottle also.   I later realized those gatorades were for Obed and Eduardo, but they are a different level of human that do not need water like us gringos.   So they were fine.   

Of course, we had fun with the kids at the home and visited and prayed with the family that lived here.   More little dolls were distributed (look at the cutie in the tutu below), and fidget spinners, and punch balloons.   The mom made me laugh when I showed one of my magic tricks, and she whispered the secret to the oldest daughter.   I quickly told her to not tell my secrets which got a big smile out of her.   

After returning to the daycare, Davis and Belle went out into town to get some Granitas and explore the city a bit more.   The previous year, I tried to go out more with Anabelle, but this year was just trying to let her go out more with the other young people.   Davis and Maddyn seemed to be getting along really well as interns, or so it seemed to me watching from afar.   I will also say that the ham and cheese sandwiches after concrete day are probably some of the best you will ever eat in your life.   Jeffrey met up with our guys in the city and came back to the daycare for dinner with us that night.   

That evening, we had a Bible signing party for some gifts to some of the local church leaders...we will present them at a meeting on Tuesday.    And finally, we had a chance to practice our skit before the school presentations on Monday.   Tomorrow we will worship with the La Cano group in the morning and the El Pino group in the afternoon!   As the Hondurans say often "Gracias a Dios", as he blessed us with shade, a breeze, and a slight rain to keep things cool on our long painful Concrete Day.