Today we would walk to the highest point at the compound before leaving for the job site. The hills are unbelievably steep causing us to wonder why this spot was better than any other to build this type of community. There are a number of missionary families’ homes on the way up the hill, and at the very top you find the water treatment for the entire facility. Its an ingenious design used to collect rainwater and is completely gravity fed so that the frequent and unannounced power outages don’t interrupt the absolutely critical flow of clean tap water to the hospital and the families. The fact that you can drink straight from the faucet this deep into the Honduran jungle is one of the most amazing features of this facility.

We head out for another hot day with temperatures into the high 80s and a humidity probably higher than that. At least now we are seeing the end of the light for our project and what a difference it has made. Were tossing around the idea of actually being able to finish up the whole project a day early and taking Friday afternoon and Saturday morning off to relax before heading back to La Ceiba on Saturday afternoon. At this point all of the woodworking is done save for a few trim details and the group is focused to paint and clean. Everyone has a brush, including Anna Nariz who is happy to help as she deftly maneuvers with her crutches and paints the borders around the windows.

We would get everything to about 95% and come back the next day to simply touch up the areas that we didnt notice yet. That night we would join all of the missionary families for a night of fellowship in the chapel. Everyone brings some sort of dish … Lizzie made some rediculously delicious graham cracker/oatmeal/iciing concoction. Why I did not get the recipe I will never know. They have a whole band with Dr Jeff playing guitar, one of their sons playing drums (quite well I might add), a keyboard player and Dr. Rosanne playing flute and singing with some of the others.

My dad would be the keynote speaker that night, which I knew would be entertaining because my old man can talk … a very social person and can make a new friend just about anywhere. While I figured I would know much of the material beforehand I was a bit surprised when we launched into a description of some major events in his life, that I knew nothing about at this point, which helped to develop the spirituality within him. I think everyone was duly impressed with his talk … even his (chronically embarrassed) son.The night ended with a few more games of cards around staff housing as we started to see our trip coming to an end. One more light day of work and then some rest and relaxation!!