Cucumbers and Smiles

Last week we had nineteen people here from Topeka, Kansas. Not one of them had been here before. Sunday we worshipped at Sector Ocho. It was great. The church building in Sector Ocho was built by a Torch team several years ago. Over the years, the building has aged and weathered and not quite as tight as it use to be. The group came with money to replace this building with a block building. Bright and early Monday morning the walls of the wooden building came down and digging began on the footers. I took a group of people up there to work and then left. When I got back Monday afternoon, I could not believe the footers were not only dug put mostly poured.



Construction continued all week on the new church building. The roof was put on yesterday so church could be held in the new building this morning. In addition to a new church building, this awesome group built 4 houses, distributed food, worked in a feeding center, did a clothing give away, and visited the hospital, blind school and Mi Esperanza house.



Friday was my regular day to go to the fruit market for Casa de Esperanza. Some of the ladies from Topeka were joining me on this fun outing. The clothing give away and the construction of the last house were happening in Los Pinos. Timoteo had asked if we could bring some food as well as he knew several that needed food in that community. Since Friday was the last work day for the group, there really was not time to buy food in bulk and repack. Marc asked if we could stop at Dispensa and buy rice, beans, spaghetti and sauce.

Before we headed for the fruit market, we stopped to buy 100 bags of rice, 100 bags of beans, 100 packages of spaghetti and 100 packs of sauce. This was an experience in itself. Five gringas counting all of this food and placing it all in carts. At the checkout, the checker had to scan everything and then we had to get it in the car. Of course, we had to stop at another store to complete the buying of the rice and beans. We are in Honduras and nothing is simple.

At the fruit market, we walked around and had a coke. After our fruits and vegetables were purchased and packaged, the cart boy was trying to figure out how to get all the packages on the cart. The lady I had purchased from was waiting on another customer and was selecting the best cucumbers. The cucumbers are so big and pretty and they taste so good. The ladies here at Casa de Esperanza can use cucumbers in many different things. I began to think out loud and say we never buy anything fresh for food give aways. All of a sudden, the ladies with me were asking how much cucumbers cost. I looked at my receipt and saw cucumbers only cost three limpira each, or fifteen cents. We were all reaching in our pockets and combining our resources and then ordered 100 more cucumbers.

When we got back to Los Pinos, Timoteo was happy to see we had food to pack. When he realized we had one cucumber for each bag, he was extremely happy. We quickly put these bags together and Timoteo and a lady that is a member of the church in Los Pinos were distributing the bags. People that are hungry are always grateful for food, no matter what it is, but Friday when they realized there was rice, beans and a cucmber, there were many smiles.

One cucumber. Such a simple thing. I think we can easily start including cucumbers or carrots a bit more often.

Terri