By: Missy Waldroup
Jason and I recently visited Honduras again along with Patty. Patty is a dear friend who recently built a house with Provision in memory of her grandson, Tyson Porcella. Tyson tragically lost his life about 10 months ago at the age of 15. He was a precious young man, and loved deeply by his family and friends. This blog post is a travel-log of sorts from our time in Honduras in February 2022.
Day 1 – Monday: We flew into the new airport in Comayagua. It was beautiful. Arold and Rene’ picked us up and we drove 3.5 hours to San Marcos. We went to see Tyson’s house for the first time. Patty was very overwhelmed, but so thankful. She met Kewer and we spent some time describing for her exactly what the house HAD been. We had dinner, chicken tenders cooked by our Gina.
We went back to the house and visited, saw the Mejia’s new baby, Aiden, and went to bed.
Day 2 – Tuesday: We went to visit the family in their current house, and told them to be ready on Thursday, we were coming to get them! We went shopping in Choluteca for furniture. We bought a 3 piece living room set (they only come in 3 pieces), a dresser with mirror for the girls, and an armoire closet for the Mom’s room. We also bought sheets, more towels and household items. We went by the grocery store for some other things we needed, and ran a few mission errands.
Day 3 – Wednesday: (Kewer is the name of our Builder) We went to meet with Kewer’s Sister and Brother in law, to see if we felt led to build a house for them. His name is Jose, but they call him “Chepe’” and he works on our construction crew. Chepe’ has been a part of building every single house, except the first one. His wife is Dasny and they have a special needs daughter named “Abigail.” The grandmother was precious, her name is Norma.
Chepe and his wife have been living in one bedroom in their parents house with that special needs daughter, all sleeping in one bed. Kewer is building a house behind his parents house, and has given Chepe a small strip of land beside the parents house. He has designed an L shaped house – basically like an addition to the grandparents house, where Chepe’ and Dasny will have 2 bedrooms, bath, kitchen and living room. Then, they will have their own home and beds! We prayed with their family, and it was a BEAUTIFUL time. Patty and I cried – the grandmother raised her hands in the air, praising the Lord and began to sob with gratefulness. Kewer had already started on this house, with some foundation work, but by the very next morning, he had already begun breaking up big rocks that need to be removed, and had already had 2 palates of blocks delivered!
The budget for Chepe’s House is $10,500 plus some furnishings. The family will need…basically everything. To begin with, I would buy 2 double beds, living room furniture, some kitchen items, a closet wardrobe, table and chairs…basically a complete new start, as they don’t have anything except 1 dresser that belongs to them. The cost of furnishings will be around $2200 for all of these items, as well as sheets, towels and pillows.
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We left Chepe’ and his family, and went by to visit with the family in “House #2: Angela’s House” : Susanna, Andrea & Angela at their house. The dad was working, so he wasn’t home. But, the house looks amazing. We gave Susanna a gift of $100 sent by our friend, Stephanie, who helped give the money to build that house. We invited Susanna to come with us on Thursday to move the new family into “Tyson’s House.”
We left Angela’s house and made the rounds to visit House #3: Scarlett’s house. We saw the mom, Scarlett & Fanilu! I had purchased towels sets with washcloths for this family, and brought them some toys for the girls ; Encanto toys!
(The family put up that piece of tin behind where their new PILA is located, I’m assuming to block the wind from blowing her dishes and clothes she’s washing. Pretty smart!) The shower house and restroom are in the tin buildings beside the Pila.
We weren’t able to be there for when this house was blessed and this family moved in, so it was awesome to see them living there. It’s one of my favorite houses we’ve built, with a huge porch! It was the most challenging build so far, with being set on a ledge, but this family already owned that land.
We saw that the family did not have a couch, table and chairs, or any kind of dressers or storage for clothing. SO…We bought some more furniture! We were able to buy a dresser and mirror for Fanilu’s room, a wardrobe for the parent’s room, a couch, table and chairs, all new sheets for the beds and pillows! I also bought a few kitchen items. This family is so precious and well deserving. They are just beautiful. We will be adding a wood stove to their kitchen as well.
READ THE STORY OF ”ANGELA’S HOUSE” – House #2
Day 4: Thursday: We went to the market to get a few things we needed. Jason bought another pair of boots and we ordered a pair for Jonathon to pick up in May. Then, we headed to the mission and loaded up ALL the furniture and household items for “Tyson’s House” and headed over there. We set up and dressed all the beds, placed all the furniture, laid out her washing and kitchen stuff, and we even set the table. It was SOOO much fun to see this house put together!
After everything was ready, we headed over to pick up the family. The office staff came to the house to see it, and be there for a time of blessing. Karen, one of the office managers, made Chicken sandwiches for everyone and they all brought Cokes. We fed about 35 people! When the family came driving up on the back of the truck with all of their belongings, they looked like the Clampets from Beverly Hills!! It was so cute! Even the little tiny girl, Sohelen had brought along her CAT! Thankfully, that mean dog didn’t come with them! I wish him good luck.
The family was SO precious. The girls seeing their room with all of their new TOYS…their bedding, new dresses…it was UNREAL, like Christmas! One of the sons, Jordy, was having to work in Tegucigalpa (the capital city) because he owed some money where he had bought the family a new mattress. The other son, Handy (Andy, the H is silent), LOVED his room, which he will share with Jordy, and called his friends immediately. They have 2 twin beds, which is amazing.
The crowning moment was when the mom saw the plaque for “Tyson’s House” – stating that it was built in memory of Tyson. She and Patty cried and hugged.
We prayed a beautiful blessing over the family and this new home for them. God was very present! We hope he will bless this family in their new home.
Before, this family was living in a pink painted shack beside the Pan-American highway. It was HORRIBLE living conditions. They had 2 “beds” – only 1 of which had a mattress. Their only living room furniture was a broken plastic chair and a wheelchair, which the mean dog sat in. They had no table, and the kitchen only had part of a roof. It was a very un-safe situation, and they could have been made to move at any time if the government decided to clear off the squatters along the highway.
After we moved the family in, we took Kewer to visit another possible house project. Grace is a girl who travels to Honduras with us every summer, and it was heavy on her heart to do some renovations to the home of the young boy she sponsors, named Brandon.
At Brandon’s house, we scoped out the needs there, and Jason, Arold and Kewer made a plan to add a kitchen and close in the bathroom areas. We will move the existing kitchen and turn that space into another bedroom. The house is in really bad need of a roof, so that will happen first, along with new electrical. The budget for this project is around $9500 plus some furnishings. This family will need a new bunk bed set for the boys, as well as living room furniture, bed linens and some pots.
Day 5: Friday: We went to the mission and had our sponsored kids come to visit. We saw Marcia and Steven, along with Danny, who is sponsored by the Meade Family.
After we saw our kids, we were waiting on Stephany and Arold, and I went into the sponsorship office at the mission center and sat down to talk with the ladies who work in that department. Flor, Sindy and Carmen are WONDERFUL. They love the Lord and work so hard! Carmen asked me how we go about choosing family’s to build homes for. I explained how it had worked so far. She mentioned that one of the mission employees who works in the food bag/grocery department has a need. Solomon is a faithful worker at the mission and has helped up with food bags every year we visit. He has a house that he began construction on, took out a loan, but it wasn’t enough to finish the house. So, it has sat…unfinished…for quite a while.
We felt led to try to help Solomon with his project and help him finish this home for his family. They are currently living in a wooden shack behind the un-finished family dream home. The budget for “Solomon’s House” is $9500 plus furnishings.
Now, he’s in danger of losing the entire thing, house and land. He has no hope of paying the loan, or finishing the house without our help. So, we went directly over to see “Solomon’s House.” It’s actually a nice structure so far, with cement blocks. But, it has no roof, no floors, windows or doors. It also needs to have some blocks added to the top and cement headers, plus a roof.
The last thing we did on Friday was go distribute some food bags! BIG THANK YOU to everyone who gave for us to have money to give these blessing bags to needs families in the mountains. We actually ran out of bags, but these are SUCH a need. Each bag costs $10 and contains enough food to supplement a family’s garden. The contents include: Cornmeal, Rice, Beans, Sugar, Pasta, Coffee and Lard, along with a gospel track.
We are so thankful for this team! Arold Mejia, President of Good Samaritan Baptist Mission, Jason Waldroup & Kewer, the builder. These 3 are a power team, working for Provision and the greater cause of helping the Honduran people have safe shelter and a place to call home…one family at a time.
Thank you for all of your generosity in making all of this possible! Only because of your contributions can we live the dream God gave us. Thank you for trusting us to do this work!
Provision Homes for Honduras 