Potential excursion visits and transportation

We met with two bus / van owners and finalized prices this morning. We then spent the rest of the day looking at potential excursions. A few options but nothing definite yet.

This has been a great trip and well worth the quick trip!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Re: Awesome Sabbath and great info

Sounds good so far. Hopefully you find good excursions as well. How's
the shopping prospect.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 24, 2010, at 11:46 PM, greghatch@sbcglobal.net wrote:

> I made it to Choluteca at about 4 pm. I met up with Manuel and a
> pastor from Tegucigalpa that was helping Manuel. we met at a hotel
> and I checked in.
>
> We then went to the school site and walked around. They have 9 acres
> of land and it should be a beautiful school. They have 700 students
> currently jammed into a small building.
>
> We then went and visited with the Pastor for the district, Juan
> Colindres. He was excited about the possibility of VBS and medical
> and will help coordinate all of that.
>
> After sundown, we met with the manager of the hotel and agreed to a
> contract! Manuel visited all the hotels on Friday and this was the
> best one based on what he showed me. Everyone will be happy with the
> hotel and the price. Pool, AC and good food. God really led in that
> situation and we have a great deal!
>
> Tomorrow we will finalize transportation and Excursions, God willing.
>
> I will post pictures when I get back.
>
> I am excited about the trip already!
>
>
> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Awesome Sabbath and great info

I made it to Choluteca at about 4 pm. I met up with Manuel and a pastor from Tegucigalpa that was helping Manuel. we met at a hotel and I checked in.

We then went to the school site and walked around. They have 9 acres of land and it should be a beautiful school. They have 700 students currently jammed into a small building.

We then went and visited with the Pastor for the district, Juan Colindres. He was excited about the possibility of VBS and medical and will help coordinate all of that.

After sundown, we met with the manager of the hotel and agreed to a contract! Manuel visited all the hotels on Friday and this was the best one based on what he showed me. Everyone will be happy with the hotel and the price. Pool, AC and good food. God really led in that situation and we have a great deal!

Tomorrow we will finalize transportation and Excursions, God willing.

I will post pictures when I get back.

I am excited about the trip already!


Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

On the way to Choluteca

This trip will be an adventure. The trip to Tegucigalpa was no problem. Customs was a breeze.

Anwar picked me up. He speaks a little english and I speak a lttle spanish. We went to the bus terminal, but they weren't running any direct buses to Choluteca. So, we went to the other bus company that wasn't direct and would take 4 hours. Not a problem and I got on the bus.

I hadn't paid yet and Anwar comes on the bus 5 minutes later and tells me to get off. He talked with his boss at the Mission office and they didn't want me to take that bus. So, anwar and I are driving to Choluteca.

We stopped to eat at Pizza Hut of all places! His suggestion, not mine.

He is a very nice guy and is an accountant in the Mission office.

Greg Hatch
Managing Director
Alvarez and Marsal Business Consulting
700 Louisiana Street Suite 900
Houston, TX 77002
Mobile 832.492.4023

**************************************************************************************
This message is intended only for the use of the addressee(s) and may contain information
that is PRIVILEGED and CONFIDENTIAL. If you are not the intended recipient(s), you are
hereby notified that any dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited.
If you have received this communication in error, please erase all copies of the
message and its attachments and notify us immediately.

This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.
**************************************************************************************

Final night!

We finally made it to our hotel in Villahermosa after a detour from our uninformed driver. It took about 30 minutes longer than it should.

We ate dinner and had worship. Afterwards, we had our final meeting and discussed the early morning tomorrow.

Since Eliel and Antigoni were late, they had to do the chicken dance! Antigoni had to teach Eliel and it was entertaining!

We are having our final Uno game as is our tradition. We pray for a safe flight tomorrow and return home.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

A rainy start in Palenque

We were greeted with rain this morning when we woke up. The Weather Channel is NOT accurate for Mexico (and neither is Accuweather)! It said there was only a 30 percent chance of rain starting at 10 am.

Regardless, we got a good early start to the day with our tour guides. We walked through Palenque in the rain (my favorite thing!). Everyone enjoyed it, in spite of the rain. One of our groups met a VERY interesting character on the tour. She was a little crazy and had been living there for two months. She had too many mushrooms one day and was walking around naked. Eliel got a picture with his new friend we will post when we get back!

After we got done with the museum and the gift shop, we are headed to Agua Azul and we hope for no rain!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Maranatha Idol continued

Since we had a few team members lat Friday morning, we had a great performance of YMCA by Bobby, Antigoni, David and Ashley. We will post video when we get back. Well worth watching!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Agua Azul

The group had a great time in Agua Azul. We made great time getting there. You can see the pictures of the waterfalls--there are seven of them.

Cesar and Cole got in the water. You can see the picture I took of Cole jumping off of a rope into the water. If it was warmer, we would have had a lot more join them.

Everyone got a good chance for shopping and food. We are now headed back to villahermosa for the evening.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Fair at Palenque

They were having a fair and festival in Palenque with some dancers. A couple of our group joined in!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Flav's new glasses

With his glasses and hard hat, claudell looks like Flava Flav. He found some new glasses tonight!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Nacho Carne

No words necessary.......

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

On the road to Palenque

After a long week (or two for some of us) of work, we are on the way to Palenque for our excursion. We are looking forward to warm showers at last!

As you can see, we have a few tired members enjoying a comfortable bus!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Church service in Ixhuatan

We are leaving the church in Ixhuatan after a very nice church service. We had a Sabbath School led by Neale and Pastor Billy had the worship message.

Cesar translated for us again and has gone above and beyond the call of duty with that this week.

The members gave each of us a keychain and a toy as a token of their gratitude. It is very touching because it is an expense they didn't have to go to and that they don't have to give. We will try to take up an offering for chairs to send to them.

As always, a very touching goodbye with lots of pictures and smiles!

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Romeo and Juliet

We are imposing penalties for those who are late to the bus. Eric and Mayra were late today so they had to renact Romeo and Juliet for us! Well done
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Ray on the way to work

No other description necessary.....

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Hello and goodbye

We said goodbye to the first week team. After they dropped the six of us staying for both weeks at the campground, they headed to Palenque for their excursion.

The second week team arrived on Friday night--except for Cole and Charlene. They arrived late Saturday night. So, we have our full team and our headed to the job site.

We did our typical introductions and orientation last night. This group is a little different than most in that all but one are from Houston. So, wee have less getting to know you than usual.

The campgrounds are beautiful. We have a river running through it and we hear the water all night. We will not have many comforts this week (no mirrors, hot water, etc), but we all have the right attitude to start out!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

We got done with the church today! We got all the block done and the roof on. We will put the ridge cap, steeple and sign on tomorrow and get the church ready for Sabbath tomorrow. Awesome job by the entire team!
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.

(Post for Wednesday, March 17, 2010)

A very muddy day. It rained all day, but we got done with quite a bit. We got done with all the side walls, tore the scaffolds down and set up for the end walls. We got all done with 15 on the front and almost in the back.

As long as it doesn't rain tomorrow, we should be able to get done with all the block and maybe all the roof. Very pleased with what we got done especially considering the rain.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.

(For Tuesday, March 16, 2010)

 

Got done with 11 courses minus one block and got half poured.  Team is working well and everyone has been on-time--no embarrassing skits (which people have to do when they are late to the bus)--unfortunately.

 

(For Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - Morning)

 

Last night--played Mafia and had fun.  However, it rained ALL night and is drizzling now.  We pray that it slows to a light drizzle so we can work.  There was a waterfall crossing the road this morning that we had to drive through!  The bus also got stuck as it let us out so we pray it gets unstuck.

 

Update on the above status.......It rained lightly all morning, but we were able to work.  It is slower with the weather, but we are thankful to be able to push through it.

(Post for Monday, March 15, 2010)

 

Another successful day!  We got the sixth course completed along with the re-bar and cement/grout pouring and part way through the seventh course.  (Rachael's note:  Sorry there isn't more information.  He only had a couple minutes of cellular signal to give me an update.)