Goodbye Team NGF

Team NGF 2013

 

There really is a pickup under there somewhere

 

When I dropped our first short-term missions team off at the airport this morning, Pastor Steve asked me if seeing everyone leave was going to be a downer. I laughed and told him I'd let him know later on as this is all new to us. On the ride back home, alone in the early morning light, I got my answer -- yeah, it's kind of a downer.

We had a great week...no, it was an awesome week! All of us, the team included, are exhausted, but it was so worth it. Now, after all the excitement and busyness of the past week, life will return to normal again.

I spent last night with the team at Hotel Casa Blanca in El Progreso. It's close to the airport and they had an early morning flight. As we sat in a group and debriefed, one of the questions that was raised was whether or not the trip had met, missed or exceeded expectations. For me, it exceeded my expectations. We had a number of changes in the original plan. We had several inconveniences, you know, the kind that happen on missions trips like roosters crowing outside your bedroom window at 3 am. We all got tired. We all got wet. We all got muddy. But, I am proud to report that this these guys passed all these test with flying colors. All the pre-trip training and team building paid off...and it showed. Thank you guys!!!!!

Playing pato, pato, gonso at VBS

I'm especially proud of my family. Because we split the team in two, Barbe had to transport half the team to one side of town while I spent time with the other half on the complete opposite side. Her first time driving here included the city and mountain roads. Not only did she do all that, but she made lunches, did shopping and helped prepare for VBS. Our boys also stepped up to the plate and hit home runs. Helping to translating and working everyday at the VBS, playing soccer with the kids in Oriente and just hanging out with old friends from Florida and new friends from here...they had a blast.



Several nights, a good friend of ours along with her daughters, cooked dinner for all of us, even going so far as to cook for our entire team plus our home fellowship group one night. The meals where delicious. When asked for a favorite meal, half chose the chicken and the other half chose the pupusas. Me...I liked'em all. 

One of the changes we had to make was that instead of drilling a well, we installed a water purification system at a grade school. In my next post I'm going to highlight this new project that Go and See Ministries will be working on with guys from two other organizations. We're pretty excited about this. I am still planning on drilling the well in Oriente, but the permit to do so was delayed. All in all, the change in plans worked out really well. Special thanks to Paul Hosier here in Sigua and Parkwood Elementary in Jacksonville, NC who really came through for us and helped make this project happen.

So stay tuned, after I've sorted through hundreds of photos and taken a very long nap, I'll write an entire post on what we did and are planning on doing with water purification here in Sigua as well as highlights from our week with Team NGF. Not to worry guys, I won't say a word about zip lining. What happens in Honduras stays in Honduras.