The Welcome Mat is Probably Still in a Box
As you probably know, Allen and Trish’s return to Gracias means they have moved into their new house. Kind of. It’s still a work in progress, but they are living there.
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| Allen and Trish's new house. Formerly Russell and Iris' house. Formerly bedrooms for the older Sowers kids. Originally intended as a bunk house for teams - but never actually used for that! |
Russell, being the stellar son that he is, did a ton of work on the house to make things nice for his parents. Awwwww! Everything was nicely painted and cleaned, although there are still some small construction projects to complete. Russell even gets bonus “good son” points for finding a large mirror, which he hung above the bathroom sink.
Even though Russell and Iris lived in Allen and Trish’s current house for several years, it was not built for the purpose of becoming anyone’s full-time residence. The house was constructed to be a bunkhouse for visiting teams, and the finish level was pretty rough. The fact that Russell took the time to make it prettier is not lost on Trish.
Coffee, Anyone?
The coffee harvest is still going strong. Russell is anticipating that they will get between fifty and sixty thousand pound of coffee this year. Russell has previously explained that it takes several years before coffee plants reach their top yield. The 2014-2015 plants are currently producing a lot. Weatherwise, 2019 was a dry time in Gracias. Even though this wasn’t an ideal year for coffee, the harvest is good.
People are working on the coffee harvest from sun up until well after sundown. There are about sixty people currently picking coffee. In the evenings, Russell and some of the regular crew work to clean off the fruit part from the coffee beans and start the all-important drying process.
I've Got Nothing Funny for this topic, so . . . Motorcycles!
Since that’s clearly not enough excitement, twenty-one motorcycles have recently been purchased for the use of pastors. Some of those have arrived and are in the process of getting distributed. The remainder of the motorcycles are still in the big city until someone can get there with a big truck to bring them back to Gracias.
Shipping (Containers) and Handling
Both of the shipping containers have made it to Honduras! The Florida container has made it through customs and should arrive in a couple of days. The inspector was very thorough, which means the carefully packing of the contents was pretty much torn apart. The Sowerses are hoping the workers at the port are as skilled at repacking as they are at inspecting. That is completely out of their control, but please pray for this. The container from Maryland just arrived at the port. Both containers are expected to make it to Gracias before Christmas.
Getting two full containers at the same time is a ton of work, and it’s a time for “all hands on deck”. Organizing 9000 backpacks, especially those designated for specific children, requires a system. For those of you who packed boxes or worked to load a container, that’s part of the reason the packing boxes are labeled with colors. The guys can make a red pile, a blue pile, etc…
On January 22, the first team scheduled to distribute backpacks will arrive. There’s a lot to accomplish before then. Meanwhile, the coffee harvest, unpacking in the new home, and end of year paperwork continues.
H2O--Oh, My!
Honduras is coming into the dry season. That means that Allen is working to make sure their water tanks are topped off at all times. A lot of water is going out, due to the coffee harvest. Since it’s the time of year when they never know when the next rain will be the last rain, it’s crucial to keep the tanks full. When the dry season hits, they will go four months without getting any water.
- posted by Christi
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