Day 1

Well, we made it safe and sound to La Ceiba, Honduras! The journey was smooth and easy. I sat next to Stephen Kelly on the plane during his first ever flight. He did great! Ben Kinnebrew saved the day at the bus terminal after we landed in San Pedro Sula by interpreting what the attendant was saying to me. No hablo espagnol. Way to go Ben! There was a lot of hurrying up to wait, and after was seemed days, we pulled in last night around 6:30.

The Pettengill home here is great. There are two dorm-style rooms upstairs filled with bunks. The girls have it made and the guys are crammed eleven in one room. That's what I call bonding! We all fell asleep by 10:00 and were up by 5:45 to make ready for the day today. After breakfast (a traditional cereal and milk buffet) we headed out to Armenia Bonito, a small community just outside of La Ceiba. It is a poor village that the Pettengills spend most of their time in, and everyone was very excited and welcoming! The village itself is nestled in the foothills of a beautiful mountain range called Pico Bonito (beautiful peak). It really is a stunning backdrop and almost seems an antithesis to the poverty of Armenia Bonito. After arriving, we were divided into two groups. One worked on a cinder block house while the other went to a separate site and began digging trenches to lay the foundation of a new home in the community. It was hard work (although I must admit I did very little as Mike Pettengill and I had to go back to La Ceiba to run a few errands and take care of payment for our snorkling trip on Saturday). Ben Noble was a veritable force! Katie, Samantha, and Julianne spent a lot of time with the children and helped a few local women in the community bake coconut bread over and open fire. The worksite where the digging was taking place was filled with the pleasant aroma of cilantro emitted by nearby plants. It added quite an authentic touch to our work.

The second half of the day we hosted a kids club for about 25 children of the community. It was a lot of fun! Our team put on a skit about the story of Samson. John Goings delivered a stunning performance as the hero of the story while Katie played the controversial Delilah. Randy narrated the skit in Spanish (quite well I might add), and all the kids had fun laughing at all the silly gringos. Afterwards, we split up into groups and made paper bag Samson puppets. Hilarious. The day ended there, and we headed back to the Pettengills for cold showers, black beans and rice, tortillas, cole slaw, and watermelon. Mike then led a short devotional, we cleaned the dishes, and now we're vegging out, playing cards, reading, or blogging. It was a great first day and even better indicator of the week ahead.