We had a wonderful trip to Honduras serving the Lord and supporting the HOPE Coffee ministry there. My parents kept the kids for us so we could spend 6 days in Siguatepeque along with 3 other Americans who made the trip. We stayed at on the grounds of a seminary where Mark and Michelle live with their children. It was neat to see all the work God is doing through the Fittz family and the HOPE Coffee ministry.
While there we mixed and poured concrete floors for 2 families, helped one of the families harvest coffee, did some ministry activities with local children, and toured coffee processing facilities to learn about how it goes from berry to bean to cup. It was a very rewarding and eye opening experience on many levels. We took hundreds of pictures, but here are some of the highlights.
A view of the countryside, with coffee bushes in the foreground.
After just meeting Juan, who was so excited we came to help harvest coffee for the day.
Mark with Juan
Coffee berries on the branch. Each berry has 2 bean halves inside. Because only the red berries are picked, the harvesting must be done by hand. Amazing when you think of all the coffee that is consumed around the world - that is a lot of berries that are hand-picked.
Juan's family while on their lunch break.
The "before" showing the dirt floors in Juan's home.
Mixing concrete the hard way - with shovels and buckets. For each 80 pound bag of cement, we added 3 wheelbarrows full of sand and 2 buckets of water (brought up from the spring down below). We did 12 mixes to complete the floors in Juan's 3 room home.
Getting buckets of water to take back up the hill to mix concrete.
Juan's wife washing clothes down by the spring - using a rock, a bar of soap, and some water.
The newly poured concrete floors. What an improvement!
Juan and his sweet family. We really enjoyed meeting them.
The field where we played some softball with local kids on Sunday afternoon.
Kyle playing catch with a cute little girl who thought it was so much fun.
The kids all gathered together for some songs and a craft.
The second home we worked on is owned by a pastor and his family. We didn't have much interaction with them because they were harvesting coffee, but the pastor himself is also a mason so he worked on the floors.
We had a bucket brigade to transport the mixed concrete into the house.
Presley, John, Rick, Kyle, and Chris.
Touring the Cafe Cohorsil facility.
The whole team, including the 4 teenage boys who spent the week working along side us and translating when we needed it.
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