Sorry it took me so long to post again, but things have been super crazy wackadoodle in my life, starting with going on a family camping trip and ending with unnecessary boy drama. And I kept meaning to post about my third day in Honduras, except that I didn't know if I wanted to. I briefly considered just skipping over this day and talking about day four, but then I thought I better at least acknowledge that this day happened.
To be completely honest, I had an awesome and completely exhausting day that ended in a mid-week freak out and feelings of inadequacy followed by sweet, sweet sleep at 9 o'clock in the evening. You see, sometimes I feel like I'm really super not good enough to be on a missions trip and I want people to like me, and occasionally I feel like I screw up even though technically I didn't really do anything wrong. The inner-workings of my brain are seriously astounding, I assure you.
My freak out mainly stemmed from feelings about my past trip to Washington DC when I was a senior in high school. I went with the girls in my small group, and even though I had a mostly positive experience, there were some things that happened there to make me feel like I didn't belong with them. And those feelings made an appearance, albeit a totally brief one and the very next day I was totally fine. So I'm not going to transcribe what I wrote that day, but instead tell you some fun things that I remember about that day.
Like mixing concrete until every muscle in my body ached at the mere thought of picking up a shovel ever again. And I didn't mix near as much as the other guys. This totally aided in the fact that I was checking my eyelids for cracks well before I ever normally even consider drifting off to dreamland. I shoveled and wheeled wheelbarrows full of concrete to various places in the building.
I even tried my hand at flinging mortar on the walls, but the room was crowded and the Hondurans were way more efficient than I could even pretend to be. So mostly I worked with the concrete. But that didn't stop me from getting the mescla (mortar) thrown at my face and down my shirt. Which was AWESOME, by the way. I definitely recommend trying that experience. It was so great, that I actually ended up doing it again Friday (but that's a story for another day).
Anyway, I think the most amazing thing about the entire building project is the bond that the building crew has with the Hondurans they work with. I think sometimes we get really caught up in the mission and getting stuff done that we forget we're actually working with people. These people have personalities and rather large senses of humor, which they use liberally throughout the day. I loved every minute of being with the building crew, and I think I could have worked there the entire week and been fine. There is such camaraderie between each and every guy (or girl, as was the case sometimes) that is just so incredibly special. It's honestly something that you don't find often, and I'm completely blessed to have been able to share in that bond. Out of all the things that happened in Honduras, working with the building crew was definitely my absolute favorite part.
The Mechanic looks overexcited about his bag of cement. :)
ReplyDelete