We (Joe, Greta & Christina) traveled to Honduras with 15 other people to represent the Grace Presbyterian church at the HOI Ranch for the week of July 21, 2001. We flew into Tegucigalpa, Honduras, which is the capitol of the country, on the afternoon of the 21 ^st. The airport is the third shortest runway for jets in the world and the landing was a memorable experience. From Tegucigalpa, we were bused to Juticalpa where we spent the night. The bus ride was about 3 hours long and started our trip into the Honduras countryside. It is interesting how HOI initiates the missionary group to the Honduras culture. We spend the first night at a hotel in Juticalpa, which has a hot shower, fairly deceit accommodations and a window air conditioning unit. Then we are bused to the Ranch from Juticalpa, which is a fairly rough ride for about three hours. We spend the second night at the Ranch, which has no TVs, no telephones and no air conditioning. This integrated us further in to the Honduras village culture. We actually stayed at the Ranch for the next five nights, but every morning we would leave for the village, which is located about 1 hour and 20 minutes from the Ranch over some very rough roads. The village, El Quebrachal, consists of about 362 people and 63 family houses. They have neither electricity nor telephones. Their main mode of transportation is by horseback. It seemed like, over a three-day period, we were transported back into time about 300 years. Although some things at the village were more modern than 1700 vintage, most of the surroundings represented a village of the 1700's in America. One of our group members had been to some other third world countries, and he indicated that this village was the poorest that he had seen.

During our four days at the village we helped the villagers put up 16 roofs and mudded about 7 rooms. The roofs were constructed from framing materials such as small trees and limbs and some scrap lumber. The tin and nails were provided by HOI through Grace Presbyterian Church's contribution to HOI for the model village program. The mudding of a wall was performed in three steps. The first step was to mix the mud and clay with water, which was usually performed by a villager. Then the mud/clay was carried by hand to the wall where it was placed into the wall lattice. The wall lattice was constructed from small trees and scrap lumber that were crossed to form a square lattice. The mud/clay was placed in the lattice square. About half way up the square, a rock was laid onto the mud/clay and then mud/clay was packed around it. This provided support to the wall structure. After some molding by the villagers and drying, the walls became very smooth and solid.

On the last day at the village, the team organized a Fiesta for the villagers. Watermelon and drinks were provided and a photo was taken of each family. The family photo and Family care package was given to each family, A personal note from a member of the Grace Presbyterian Church congregation was placed in each of the Family Care packages. The personal notes were written in English and translated into Spanish. The villagers had a wonderful time dancing and celebrating with the mission group. The villagers were all wonderful and delightful to know and the time spent with them was always a good experience.

The 2001 Honduras Mission group flew out of Tegucigalpa, Honduras on Saturday July 28, 2001 and landed at Ronald Regan National Airport at about 10:00 P.M. Saturday night. The trip had been emotionally and physically challenging, but very rewarding. The Honduras Team 2001 was one of the best teams I have ever known and it was a real pleasure to get to know them all.

Best Wishes and God Bless.