And we are home!

The plane got in ok.

After a brief meet up with our families, we all headed for home.

Thanks and good night.

Quick update

We are in Houston, through Customs and baggage recheck, finally. We are now holding carryout meals as we wait to board.

Home soon.

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I'm a horse! and we are traveling

Hello,

This is a place holder post.

It is Saturday and we are on the move.

As a side note: I am writing this while on the plane from Tegucigalpa to Houston. It may have an odd time date stamp on the blog as a result. United decided to give us free Wi-Fi, so I am trying it out. 

To start with, we breakfasted and checked out of Hotel Casal this morning.

We had some hours between checkout and when we had to get to the airport. So we did some driving and sight seeing.

First stop was a roadside cantina. Luis was caught in traffic, so we stopped where we had a good view and waited.

Luis and family caught up with us. See attached skyline picture taken while we waited.

Next stop was the Christ statue.   That one is worth a post by itself later.

We then went to the basilica. Again, please look for more later.

Along the way, Luis' daughter needed a lift. This week she has been the mascot of the team.

Early on, she realized she had most of us wrapped around her little finger. And we all had fun.  Today was my turn to give her a ride on my shoulders, dance a bit and have fun. This is also where I get the title of this post. 

The picture of her on my shoulders was taken at stop #3. That is the site of a larger church under construction. It has about 2-3 years left until it is complete. Right now it looks like a big construction site with little about it that looks like a church. That will change once they get to work on the main sanctuary. 

Moving along, we got to the airport and got checked in Ok. There was a minor issue with my bags. Security was curious about my tools so I got called over to open up and explain what I  carry.

At the airport we saw Corina again. Corina is married to another translator we know (another translator Luis!). Luis used to translate and cook for teams visiting Honduras. I am not sure what he is doing now. 

Returning to Corina, she has Crohn's disease. Various members of the church have helped her over the years with managing this. Back in January of 2014 they put together a deal to fly her to St. Louis and have surgery to help with this. She got top flight care. A year or so later and Corina looks great. She looks so much better that I did not recognize at first. Wow. I will see if anybody has a picture of her I can post later.

 

That's about it. After some waiting and shopping in the duty free shops, we boarded the plane as nd we are off.

And that brings us to now. We are at 30,000 feet over the gulf of Mexico, headed for home.

Have a good afternoon.

All the best from the construction crew headed for home.

Dinner and the Mariachis

At dinner, Rio had the Mariachis sing to his daughter for her birthday.

Side note

BTW- here is one of the Taxi's we used on these visits. They were kind of fun. They made me think of a 125cc rickshaw, but were fun and got the job done.

The Ceiba tree

A quick snapshot

Carmen and her new lights

Here is a picture from when we went to check on the light project for Carmen and family.

Note that Lou and Mark were prime catalysts on this so they are in the picture also.

That story will be a later post.

Main Sanctuary

Here is a nice shot of the main sanctuary.

Side view

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Here it is

It is done.

Do we have any guesses on what Lou and I finished for Pastor Luis?

Perfectionist Lou at work

Start work on Friday

Here is the main project. Done.

It is 57 x 16.6 feet, plus a ramp and a 4x4 notch to the side. The thin parts are about 4 inches thick.

Our aches and pains confirm that this was a lot of cubic yards of concrete to do.

Even with the Honduran guys showing us tricks, it was alot to do.

I for one wouldn't mind not lifting another bag of Portland Cement until I come down next year. ... maybe longer.

Friday post

Hello and greetings from Tegucigalpa,

Wow, it has been a fast week.

To begin with, we got up at our regular time and packed up to start our journey home.

Several of  us brought alot of stuff for the Feb dental team, so we have lots of room in our suitcases for coffee and salsa. That was my situation. And I tried to refill that space with good coffee. (Karen: Don't  worry, I know where I will store it. I think it should all fit...)

Before we left we had a few projects to finish off.

First up, Lou finished the wood working we had been working on.

The rest of us worked on more concrete. Along with the other work we have been on, Pastor Luis now has the start of a nice patio area. We got to dig footings and work on the rebar for two pillars that will support a roof for this area. That was a mix of repeating hard work and digging along with learning more uses of PVC pipe. I will post more on this later.

Then we had lunch. It was the best fried chicken and home fries I have had in years.

Then we went to visit a project we paid for. The other day I mentioned a lady whose story was worth a repeat. This chapter of her story ends on an upbeat note. She now has electricity and lights in her home. Pastor Luis helped her get into a program that will help her with the first few bills. We visited her and checked on the electrician's work. It looked good. The lights work and her children will not need a candle when they study for school. 

Next we visited the old Ceiba tree. It had been 3 years or so since I saw it, but that is not long for a tree that is well over 500 years old. It still is a cool place to stop.

Next it was time to say our good byes.  Remember, these are Honduran style so it took most of an hour.

Pastor Luis' fellow pastor drove us again. His driving seems to have mellowed a bit in the last week. I think he was in the oncoming traffic lane less than 10% of the time. We passed people on the inside of blind curves only 3-4 times. It was a fairly tame drive into Tegucigalpa.

We are spending the night in Hotel Casal.  It is something of a tradition. And they have AC and hot water for our showers!!! This will be a nice.

After a bit of clean up, we went to dinner. Our coordinator for this trip is also named Luis. His brother Rigo and their families went to dinner with us. We went to The Patio (that really is the restaurant name) and had steaks and kebabs. The dinner and conversation was really enjoyable. I got steak and eggs with a side of rice. It was very good. I could not finish it though.

We are now back in our rooms ( with AC!) and it is time to sack out before coming home.

In the morning, we will do a few hours of sight seeing before going to the airport at 11:00.   We are due to arrive St. Louis about 9:30 pm.

I think it is safe to say we are all looking forward to coming home.

Good night from Tegucigalpa.

Thursday post

Hello,

Sorry, no pictures right now.

It has been a long day and I am not sure where to start.

Right now it is about 9:30 and we just finished our evening meeting and discussion.

For me, the day started early. I was up and walking to the church by 0620. I had baking to do. I had promised to teach Norma and Antonia two recipes. Tuesday they learned how to make baking powder biscuits. Today they learned how I make cinnamon rolls.

So, this morning's breakfast included cinnamon rolls, biscuits and a couple of Tiger tails for Luis' daughter. Everybody seemed to enjoy them.

After breakfast we split up and worked on different areas. Lou and I worked on the project I asked you to guess about. The floor is in, the desk area is in, yet needs stain and sealant. Lou and I ended up spending darn near as much time designing and making the step up into it as we did on the floor!

Moving right along, you'll notice I have not said what that project is. Please add comments with your guess. I'll post the answer later.

Lou and I had fun. It is always interesting to work with another craftsman. I learned a couple of things.

The other guys . ..well they got exercise. Lots of exercise. The local Honduran team was working in the room we helped demolish yesterday.  It is becoming a large kitchen. It now has a lot more power outlets, they are set into the wall ( not just running in conduit ) and the walls are being stuccoed. 

That kind of work needs sand. Lots of sand, that has been sifted. Mark, Craig and Clark used a heavy duty screen to filter sand into wheelbarrows, one shovel full at a time. They were out in the street enjoying the sun, breeze(s) and people watching.  

For all that the sandmen had  great workouts, they also got to see more people. They have stories. Feel free to ask them about the street vendors, semi-truck hood and the aromatic trash truck.

Lunch was good.

We put down tools and headed for the hotel to clean up about 3:30.

We were back at the pastor's home for dinner about 5:30. Dinner was a very nice chicken soup.

Then it was time for Thursday night church. Craig did the sermon. Pastor Luis included us all in different ways.

It is late so I will close with the reminder to myself: Don't forget to write about the home visits and the lady whose house we electrified. She was very thankful and has a story we should tell.

Well, that covers the high points. I will fill in more details in a few days.

Health wise we are still doing fine. The blister count is holding steady.

Thanks for reading and please keep up the prayers as we get ready to travel home.

Good night and God Bless.

Thr. PM

We also got to watch the praise band practice.

If it turns out OK I will post video layer.

Next project

Anybody want to guess what our next project is?

Here we are hauling it into the church. Pastor Luis ( the welder) did his work and now it is our turn.

I'll post more Thursday.

Wed - concrete is done

Good news, the insane concrete work is done.

Here is a picture of the group of us with the Hondurans who taught and led us in this work.

As Mark Drury put it, " we were their confused under study".  Great summary.  They were both patient and skilled. Good guys, I will post more on them when I can type.

Wednesday up date

Again. This will be in segments due to the Internet situation.

Here is a picture of the concrete project as we near completion.

Done for Tuesday

Ever wonder just how dirty and scroungy we get doing this?

Yes, well see attached.

This is about it for Tuesday.

Things are going well.

Later, I will post about the home visits.  That topic needs some time and a computer so I am not typing with my thumb.  

All the best from the team in Talanga.

Believe it or not, this was a bathroom about 2 hrs ago

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Ever wonder what a demo project looks like?

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Today's construction is done, now for a bit of Destruction

Ok, it us Tuesday afternoon and we have mixed and poured a whole lot of concrete.

Now Pastor Luis needs an old bathroom torn our.  The plumbing is gone and it is down to bare brick.

Now we get to destroy a couple of brick walls.

And Craig is in heaven.

(later on, I suggest asking him for details on the flying hammer head )

Progress on the concrete

Note for the wives

Ladies:

All of us are doing fine.

So far:

We have Zero cases of Montezuma'a Revenge.

We have a  minor case of irritated skin from contact with wet concrete.

At last count, we are up to 7 blisters among the 5 of us.

And that is It for injuries and issues.

You can stop worrying.

Thanks.

The superintendent visited for lunch

We had a visitor join us for lunch.

Pastor Pablo Mora is the Superintendent of the Methodist Church in Honduras. He and his wife Claudette were able to visit.

It was a good visit that included a mix of serious conversation and music. Later, when I am home and have a better connection I will post video. I think you will enjoy.

Thanks,

Blair

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Still waiting and I am in the picture

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Here we are at lunch time

Mixing concrete like they do down here,  is hard work.

Here we are waiting for lunch to be ready.

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Then it was to work

Here is the work site as we get to it.

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Tuesday notes

Hello,

Tuesday was a busy and productive  day.

I am having connectivity issues, so this post will be broken up into several smaller ones.

For me, Tuesday  started early.

Norma and I talked and after some discussion I taught her and Sra

 Antonio how to make my (now) internationally famous biscuits.

So we started the day with a mix of US and Hoduran foods.

See attached example plate.

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Monday Dinner

Norma and Antonia are taking care of us.

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Tired missionaries

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Progress

I think we made more progress that ecpected.

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Monday Lunch

Norma and Antonia know how to cook!

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Re bar is ready

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Mix the concrete

Here is how you mix concrete around here.

For the shape, they call this a Volcano 

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Setting the rebar and wiring it up

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Monday's work

Hello,

This will have to be a fast post.

Pastor Luis has set up his cell phone as a hot spot. So I have to be brief and add only a couple of pictures.

Our task today was to work with some local concrete guys. We are putting in a concrete pad that can be used as a drive way and patio in the courtyard.

Later on I will post details on the guys we are working with.

Here is a picture of the area we started with.  After this, I will post a picture of the progress.

Please see attached picture of the work site.

Note that the work is by hand and great exercise.

We are all heathy, have a sore muscles and have a few blisters.

Thanks,

All the best from the team in Talanga 

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We are in Talanga

We are in Talanga.

Hello,

We got to Talanga ok.

More than Ok ... we were met at the airport by Pastor Luis, his wife Norma  and Luis  ( our local coordinator ) and his family.

After clearing Customs we went to lunch at El Pollo Supremo.  Readers from past trips will remember the time we celebrated Jim Fetsch's birthday down here. We did that at the Pollo Supremo also.  As before, the food was good and the company was even better.

After a great lunch and lots of conversation we headed for Talanga.

Pastor Luis arranged for the pastor of another church to drive us in their church van. Michael and his son Christian were quite nice and helpful.

What they did not mention was that Pastor Michael drives a 15 passenger church van much like Mario Andretti. The road to Talanga has been paved all the way out and is now a nice piece of engineering. 

The good pastor made excellent time. Several places he proved that where Moses parted the waters, he could part the traffic.  Cars got out of his way because that van was coming through.

We got to Talanga in record time.

We are checked in at Hotel LA Fuente.

A bit later we went to dinner at the parsonage and are with Pastor Luis and family.  Mark Drury summed it up well: They were really gracious hosts and made us feel very welcome.

We had a good dinner of savory beef in gravy with beans, rice and tortillas. Dessert was a bit of ice cream and then we came back to our rooms for bed.

That wraps up things for now.  I will post more as I can.  Thanks for reading and have a good night.

Blair 

Starting to descend in Tegucigalpa

After an uneventful flight, we're about to arrive. I don't know if the picture does justice to the view the mountains. They're gorgeous.

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About to board for Tegucigalpa

Here we are at the airport and about to board the plane.

Moving forward: when we get to Honduras I do not expect to post as much. While we were waiting in different air ports we had WiFi and time to post.  Once we get there, things will be busy.  I expect to post once maybe twice a day.  Please don't worry, we're fine it just that we will be working like mad.

Thanks for reading and please keep up the prayers.

Vaya con dios.

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Where was dinner?

To our wives:

In case you are wondering, see attached for where we went for dinner.

Gourmet American food . .  

And here we are about to enjoy it

And that's how our day went.

It was long, lots of waiting, time to talk and make friendships and some frustrations over our travel adventures and finally one sit down meal. 

Most of us has skipped breakfast so we were hungry.

And about it for telling about our first day pof travel.

Thanks for reading.

Good night and God Bless.

Further adventuring

Hello,

We are in Houston and ready to lay over for the night.

Getting in was interesting.

We kept hearing about how bad the weather was.

Then the landing was smooth and nice.

There were so many jets that _had_ to land that we got stuck in a line... to get the jet off the taxiway and to a terminal to unload.

Nuts. We waited for more than an hour and fifteen minutes to taxi to a gate to unload from the plane.

Some time ask Craig about the lost dental chair that was part of his luggage.  The man is working on his sainthood points...

Once we got our stuff the fun of getting to a hotel started.

We called the hotel and they sent a van. One hour later, we were still waiting!

One of the guys called on behalf of Craig ( who was still trying to find the missing luggage/chair ) and he was  told it was because of the flooding.

 

About half an hour after that we said "enough of this" and got a taxi.

Mapquest tells us it's less than 5 miles from the airport to the hotel.

Really? I don't believe that airport shuttle could have been having that hard a time to get to us.

So we hired a Taxi. 

The driver didn't think you could get all four of us and our luggage in his mini-van.( Craig caught up later once they found the missing chair.)

He was amazed how much we got into his van.

And we're  Off!!

And we ran into roadblocks for closed roads.

The taxi ended up retracing our path and then driving a very roundabout route to get here. It tripped our miles and drive time . .

On the way we got to see more of Houston and more closed roads for flooding.

And finally we're  here.

To give you an idea how much rain they really got, take a look at the attached picture. That's the side street beside the hotel. Moments before a Dodge Charger went down  this street with his tires pretty  much under water.

Wow I suppose they really did get a lot of rain while were trying to get here.

Any how that caps off the saga of getting to Houston.

Thanks for reading,

Blair 

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Welcome to Houston

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Moving on . . .

Time for the next leg.

The weather got us.

We are boarding the jet and plan to leave in a moment.

We will definitely not make our flight to Honduras tonight. We will be in Houston overnight. We already have seats on the next flight out.

So, our trip is moving in stages.

As type this, we've pushed back and started engines.

We're off.

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And we are back in the air !

Next stop, well . . . Houston. 

Eventually.

Oops we just stopped getting ready to leave and have been told to expect a 3 hour stop here in Tulsa.

More details as we have them.

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Welcome to scenic Tulsa, first stop on our odyssey to Talanga Honduras

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Hey, we got in the air.

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Captain Craig is sweating the details . . .

For a while there we were stuck on the ground, waiting to depart while the pilot and air traffic control er debated war route we would take.

Here is our fearless leader studying potential connections and flight options via I-Pad.

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Let the adventures begin. . .

Hi Luis,

This is Blair Milster with a quick heads up. Our flight out of St. Louis is having weather delays. We do not know how things are looking for catching our connecting flight. We will update as we are able.

Thanks,

Blair 

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Meet- Blair Milster

Meet Blair Milster:

Ok, why do I go to Honduras and help out where I can?

I suppose I am a Do-Gooder.  I like to help people.  Where I can, I help. Maybe it's Cub Scouts, mission work or collecting donations for charity auction with my son's school. I like to help. The Honduras trips are a place where I can make a bigger contribution. I  use my Spanish and general handiness with tools to help build a community and a church.  These trips are rewarding in ways that the other stuff isn't.

How are these trips rewarding?  That is a tough one to answer. On dental teams, I have translated for patients who are looking at us and comparing us to visiting angels. The eloquence of the Spanish is difficult to convey in English. 

I remember one trip, I got a chance to talk with the father to a child who needed a lot of work.  Dr's. Moore and Fetsch  had stayed late to work on this little boy.  It was after hours and we were all tired. They had been working non-stop for many hours.

While we were waiting, the child's Father took a minute to say "Thank you". We chatted a bit more.  He then went on to talk about how much our work contributed to the church in Talanga.  He used personal pronoun in the phrasing. Clearly he meant me. I pushed it off as being the dentists' work and I am just a helper. He clarified that he meant all of us on the team.

From his point of view, having a team come down and help pastor Lois did incredible things for him and the church he was building.  His comments summarized to: "Yes, you bring dental care and economic benefit with what you spend.  You also show that this church cares about people and God.  You don't just send money or hire somebody, you come here and work with us. That does tremendous things for us."

I look back on that and think of Jesus' parable of the talents. What are we doing with the gifts we have?  Me, I try to help where I can.  Helping with the mission work has the greatest impact, so I will do that when I can. I also help a home, in the shadow of the steeple.

On this trip, I expect to translate a bunch, relearn some Spanish I have not used much lately, get lots of exercise, see friends and help build a church community.

Meet - Mark Drury

My reason for joining this mission

 

By nature I am a skeptical person and somewhat slow to step out of my comfort zone.   I showed up for a few local mission projects,   It felt good to work with others to help spread the word of Christ.   I went to Joplin and found the same feeling and was able to see the tangible work which was done.

 

I am looking forward to a week of hard work and experiencing a different culture.  I am sure that I will find that I have more in common  than not and hope to make some new friends both from Sunrise and  Honduras.   In the nature of full transparency, I am hoping that working out with a shovel and wheel barrel is more effective than my YMCA membership has been.

Meet - Lou Milos

Lou's reasons to go to Honduras:

1. I have always been interested in serving on a missions trip

2. I can use my talents and abilities to help in this project

3. I want to experience and understand the culture and people

4. To better appreciate God's blessing in my life

5. To strengthen my relationship with Christ and to have a heart for others through service

6. To be open to learning whatever God has to teach me through this experience

    

   Thanks Sunrise for providing this opportunity. 

Meet - Clark Kessler

In his words:

My reasons for joining in this mission

  

Over the years,  Pastor Jim, Craig and others have enthusiastically shared results of Sunrise's connection with our brothers and sisters in South America.  Participating in this journey offers an opportunity to experience faith in an expanded light far from the norm or routine.   I am hopeful that new connections made will shape a broader perspective between us. 

 

As many of us feel the increased noise and distractions of today's world, I am excited for the chance to "leave it all behind" and focus on faith and community.  Getting our hands dirty in the construction of the physical church is a visual metaphor for building a broader foundation in my faith.

 

I've wondered where will this mission will lead.  Great question, let's find out!

Meet - Craig Boring

Craig Boring -

In 2005 I went on my first mission trip to Honduras and was forever changed.

I was able to meet the great people of Honduras, especially Talanga, and get to know them as friends and fellow Christians.  I have been blessed that God has allowed me to go back to work with our friends in Talanga numerous times over the past ten years.  Those visits are to work as partners in Talanga to spread the good news of Christ and to help those less fortunate  with Dental or Medical care.  It has been a privilege to work  along side Pastor Luis in that community.  His energy for helping people and to share the word of God is inspiring and contagious.  I also come back from my trips, full of the spirit to help more, not just in Talanga, but elsewhere.  Jesus instructed us in Acts 1:8 to witness to the ends of the earth, and Talanga Honduras is my way corner of the world that I put my faith and deeds to work together..

Team Picture

Good evening,

Here is the 2015 Sunrise construction team going to Talanga Honduras.

I will be posting more details on the team in the next day or so.

Thanks and have a good evening,

Blair

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