Honduras Day Three

This is Ryan Gura experiencing the thrill of reporting back home to our failthful supporters and especially loving family members tonight.

Today we began our first day of work at the Jungle School.  Our project is centered around fixing the water line which has broken leaving the school without a water supply.  The group arrived on the scene eager to begin contributing with our valiant labor skills in any way we can.  The Jungle School atop a rather steep hill creates a tough environment for hauling the sand necessary to create concrete.  Being such scholarly individuals, our group was able to establish a very effective assembly line system to maximize production.  The actual trail leading to the water source is above the school and winds through difficult jungle terrain.  The boys (Brian, Jesus, Nick and myself) dedicated two hours of picking through the slanted wilderness to create a passable trail.  We were paticularly proud of our efforts with the finished product drastically reducing the possibility of an untimely fall into a nearly endless abyss. The first couple hours was probably the hardest labor I have ever experienced. I have to tip my hat to Nick, Bryan, and Jesus for the extraoridinary task of hauling multiple bags all the way up the hill without any break. WOW!

I only thought the trail was hard work until I began carrying bags of sand as the seemingly infinitely strong girls had been doing the entire morning.  Nobody complained and were all genuinely enthusiastic to be able to make such a difference to the kids that have become like family to our group.  The saying "an honest hard day´s work" has never been more appropriate than what we experienced today. 

TheJungle School is a special place especially during the day when the kids are around.  As soon as they were released for recess they proudly began commandeering our work and were even fighting over who could take the next bag.  After being around the children for the first time and really beginning to comprehend their lifestyle, I have become so impressed with the copassion and quality of their charater.  This same principle also applies to our group and the efforts put forth to interact with the children.  The relationships have developed so incredibly that Brianna Shaw was given a delicately hand drawn picture representig the faith and inseparability of the meaning behind our efforts.

Following the exhausting work day we headed to the river to experience some Water Rafting!! I know this activity was not included in the itierary, but I can safely gurantee it was carried out with the utmost emphasis on safety.  We began by taking a swim throught the rapids and jumping off rocks into the refreshing water below.  Nikki was able to conquer her initial fear of jumping and enjoyed an experience which had previously been fearful to her.  There were several measurable rapids including one which ejected Shelby Grates and myself from the boat.  No harm done to either of us though as it was probably the most exciting part of the trip.  Everyone had a geat time and we were so happy to share such a fun afternoon with each other facing the "vicious rapids".

We concluded the evening by eating at the comically named El Gordo Restaurant and enjoyed another fine meal of Carne Asada and Chicken. All of the food has been carefully and excellenly prepared resulting in no sickness from anone in the group.  Im sure that will make you parents rest a little easier.

The day to day experiences we have been a part of have been incredibly touching with each day bringing a distincly new aspect to appreciate.  As Harper noted there is a critical balance between the countryside and the city.  Each has been fascinating to me so far and Im proud to say I am truly to see what experience tomorrow will bring though hpefully not accidentally stranding Kyla by asuming she had already left the mountain Ooops!  Our morale as a group is just amazing with everybody getting along so well.  It has been so enjoyable to become closer to the people I have spent four years in school with and Im confident that everyone else has enjoyed it as well.

It has been a pleasure being able to write on the blog tonight.  I hope my post has been enjoyable and a good representation of what we have and are contiuing to do.  Make sure to continue following our adventures and if your child has not been keeping in touch, dont worry we will care of that and you will be hearing from them soon.