Just In Time

Things at the mission house began to wrap up quickly Wednesday and Thursday, thankfully.  Yesenia and crew showed up at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday to clean.  And worked until after 3:00 on Thursday morning.  Most of the day yesterday many little details were being taken care of.  Such as pillows, shower curtains. 

I worked most of the day moving into the new store.  Nicole and some of the kids helped me.  I thought when I loaded the car and left at 3:30 that I would unload and come right back so I could clean up some before dinner.  I was really dirty.

 There is always something that takes longer than expected.  Many of the store items had been placed in the dining hall because the shelves were being assembled in the store.  As Yesenia began to ready dining hall for dinner, the kids moved the store things closer to the store.  They put them on the porch.  But the way the wind was blowing, and with it raining, things were getting wet.  I began to move all those things.  Just as I finished and thought I would run home and change clothes, I got a call that the group was on its way.

I could hear the bus coming up the hill.  As the group began to get off the bus and walk in, I have to admit I was glad I was the one saying, "Welcome to the BRAND NEW mission house of Honduras Hope."  It was exciting and at that moment it did not matter how dirty I was.

I assigned rooms and everyone unloaded their stuff off the bus.

It was exciting to see lights and doors closed instead of the outside lights burning as men frantically worked into the night.

How exciting it was to see tables and chairs and people and a fire burning on a wet chilly night instead of the dining hall being used as a storeroom.

Even Tibbie was excited.  But I think she thought she was going to get some of Yesenia's good cooking.

More folks arrive today and tonight the new mission house will be full.

God has answered our prayers, not only for this mission house and the ministry it will sustain, but that it was finished on time and without accident to the workers.  Quickly, correctly, and safely was what I prayed every morning. 

Almost Finished

I waited all day.  I worked while I waited.  About 5:00 this afternoon, I could wait no longer.  I just had to go see the progress.  I knew the crew worked until after 11:00 last night and began at 6:00 this morning.  I could not believe the amount of progress.

There are doors and windows.  Toilets and sinks.  And mirrors.  All rooms have beds.  There is a lot of clean-up to do, but the details are coming together quickly.

And, the store.  Oh my goodness, it is going to be beautiful.

The store is so much bigger and so much nicer.  It has two windows.  Yay!  We get to start moving in tomorrow.

This was a beautiful surprise.  Thank you, Dorian.

The front porch of the store, another beautiful surprise.

There is another addition to the store that I know my friends from Mitchell, Indiana and other places will love.

We will get that first load of ice cream on Monday morning.

It will be finished, just in time.  Praise God.

Calmness

It is three days before the first summer group arrives.  Much work still needs to be done.  The lists are endless.  We are racing like rats on a running wheel.  Everything will get done.  It always does.  But, this Tuesday morning is a time of calmness.  Peace.  A couple hours of doing nothing.

I had a good workout and amazing prayer time this morning.  Prayer time that I allowed God's peace to completely fill me.  I have run some errands and taken care of some stuff and visited the job site.  Nicole and I are going to town after she returns from Teleton.  We will eat lunch and run some errands, some personal, some not.  For me, the next hour, until Haley gets out of school, is a time of doing nothing, relaxing.  Enjoying the quietness.  There is no one here. 

I thank God for these few precious moments of peace and calmness.   And, then, I will be ready for groups.

Update On The Mission House

I went to see the mission house this afternoon.  Progress has been made since the last time I saw it.  To see it this near completion, brought tears to my eyes.  Dreams are coming true.

Isn't this awesome?  And the first group arrives Thursday.  No doors, no windows, no beds.  Not a problem. 

And this is the new store.  It is full of homemade scaffolding as the ceiling is being put in.  The store opens Friday night.  Not a problem.  Sleep is highly overrated.

Everyone is praying and sweating.  The work crew is working from 7:00 a.m. to 10 p.m.  Of course, the person (Marc) who thought beans would cook in an hour, thinks there is no problem.  He is thriving on this being done at the last minute. 

And, by the way, there are mirrors.  No beds, but there are mirrors.

Shopping With Ana

The first groups arrive in less than a week.  There is a lot, and I mean a lot, to be done before the new mission house and the new store are ready.  Today, was spent in getting a few things ready.

A couple of years ago, Brayan started helping some in the store.  Last year Ana started helping and this year Jackson will be working in the store.  I want the kids to know there is more to working in the store than going to sell and hanging out with the groups.  I want them to know where the product comes from and how it gets priced and all sorts of things.

I asked Ana to go with me today.  The main item on the agenda was going to PriceSmart for drinks.  But, when we go to town and other things need done, we do those things, too.  Fortunately, we did not have too long of a list today. 

Ana changed out of her school uniform and ate and was ready to go before I was. 

Three or four quick errands in the mall and then to Larach.  We were in the check out at Larach and Ana says, "I sure do love snickers."  So I bought her a snickers. 

We got to PriceSmart and I asked her if she thought she could push a flatbed.  I told her if she didn´t think she could it was ok and it would be harder if she took it and then could not push it.  Of course, she said she could push it.  Talk about making wide rights.   I wasn´t so sure since she ran over me before we even got in the store.  Fortunately, we both were going slow and the flatbeds were empty.

We got 26 cases of drinks.  Ana does not mind working.  She jumped right in and helped me load the cases on the flatbeds.  She only got in a position she could not get out of once.  I helped her and we got to the checkout without further incident.

We then went to La Colonia to buy cookies.  I told her what I needed to sell cookies for and what the most I could pay.  She found some cookies we have never had before in the store.  She did a great job searching for the cookies in our price range. 

It was hot in Tegucigalpa and I knew before we left Santa Ana, there would be something cold to drink after we loaded all those drinks.  After we finished at La Colonia, I headed for Circle K.  Sometimes, I just need an American soft drink.  Ana wanted a Raptor.  No, I don't think so.  A 40 ounce energy drink at 5:00.   No Raptor, but I let her have the smallest frozen Mountain Dew.  One little sip and she was saying she liked the drinks from the United States.  I hope the night staff does not kill me for letting her have a Mountain Dew.

She learned just a little bit more about the store and we had a delightful afternoon in the process.

And Let The Summer Begin

I can't believe the "busy season" is here already.  It is always busy season for me.  It seems like the last group that left in August just left yesterday and the first summer group of 2013 arrives in a week. 

Everyone is scurrying.  Scurrying to finish the new mission house and store.  Scurrying to buy the last minute plane tickets.  Scurrying to get all the new products in and priced. 

The interns are here.  A really great group.  They are off having a team building experience before that first group gets here.

It is going to be a really awesome summer and the devil is scared.  I know he is because he is throwing a lot of darts our way.  More vehicles are broken than are running.  Luis is scurrying to get all the cars fixed.  If broken cars were the only darts, we would be in really good shape.

Our God is a great big God and He will deflect these darts and reign victorious. 

We will have groups here from June 13 to August 14.  Please pray for the groups, the interns, the staff and all the people to which we will minister. 

It will be another great summer in Honduras.

Terri

Time Clock

When Casa first opened, there were not many employees.  Karen worked with the kids and she knew who was working and who was not.  And she did payroll, too.  It was easy for her to pay people.  After a couple of years, we had more employees.  Karen worked with the kids and I did payroll.  I did not always know who had worked what day.  So we got a sign-in book.  There were a couple of grumbles about this, but soon everyone was used to this.

This system continued to work until recently.  There are two employees that are consistently late and consistently sign in the wrong time.  Karen and I are not blind.  We knew this was happening.  We talked about time clock. 

I began to check for time clocks at Office Depot and Larach and the places I thought would have one.  Then Matt and I began to check more obscure places.  We could not find one in Tegucigalpa.  Karen and I would let it slide for a bit.  But we grumbled among ourselves about these two employees being late and writing an earlier time. 

I began to look for a time clock again.  This time I looked at Office Depot on line.  I found one and ordered it. 

We wanted to have everything working for the pay period beginning June 1.  As I paid people Friday, I explained the new time clock and showed them how to use it.  It was taking about 15 minutes per person to explain adequately.  Some employees had used one before.  Some understood completely what we were asking them to do and some were really confused.  I have assured all of them, they can ask questions as long as they need to and they can come get Karen or I if they have a problem.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we did not get the time clock operational until today.

Yesterday, since the time clock was not installed, every single employee came and asked what they were supposed to do.  I said write in the sign in book. 

Today we could have filmed this and had a really funny sit-com.  Some people were here and working before the clock was installed.  So what were they supposed to do about sign in.  Could they use the book and start using the clock tomorrow.  One that is always late came rushing in five minutes ahead of his assigned time and then was so worried because the clock was not installed.  If he continues to get to work on time, I guess the clock will serve its purpose. 

Karen had put out a memo to explain the new time clock and the rules concerning the clock.  One person even told us that a memo was only for the purpose of correcting someone when they had done wrong.

The electricity has not been on for 24 hours straight in I don´t know how many days.  As I set the clock, we had another round of questions about the electricity.  Well,  I can see that might be a problem as many times as it goes off each day. 

I hope the transition from sign-in book to time clock goes smoothly and that everyone adjusts so we can spend our day worrying about something else.