Wed July 29 from Danny O'Neel

Hello to Menlo from Danny O’Neel…
I’d first like to share something that just occurred to me: evidence that God works in mysterious ways. In this case, it’s the convergence of three unrelated situations.
1) Mrs. Liggett asking me to write on the blog this morning.
2) The non-trivial heat & sun and my considerable fatigue.
3) God making it quite clear to me that this blog is very important… something I should take seriously… something I should probably spend all morning doing… in the shade.
In contrast, my friend Casey Eason is out attempting to cut rebar. The ironic thing is that rebar is made specifically to not break, so needless to say, Casey has also been blessed with an enjoyable task. I realize that the word “complain” may come to mind, but Steve specifically told us that a “complaint” and a “statement of fact” are different. The former is not permitted, but the latter can in fact be insightful. Of course, Steve isn’t here right now anyways, he’s off on his way to Honduras to meet up with 3 interns. You may have heard about ongoing riots in Tegucigalpa that are currently complicating the interns’ attempts to travel to Nicaragua. We’re also missing 9 or 10 other people who are currently working at another site. I am not there. This is because I was there yesterday and sweat about half my body weight in the shade-less and H2O-free area. It was heaven to return for lunch and of course, the pineapple. The abundant, luscious, juicy pineapple. You think it sounds good, but you can’t imagine. It’s like spending a month in the desert and then suddenly finding yourself in an air conditioned room filled with 2 liter bottles of water. Unfortunately, lunch might be a little difficult today because I have been asked to give my testimony, and also have promised Tom to eat two little green peppers, twice the normal (but still incapacitating) amount. I’m honestly not sure which test I’m looking forward to less. I’m praying that I don’t have to eat the peppers and then immediately stand up and try to speak, because that just won’t work.
In addition to food (which is the most important) the other dominating aspect of the day here is the construction. For better or worse, the Guatemalans have wisely assigned us the less technical jobs. This means we are hauling rocks and dirt for cement, carrying awkwardly long pieces of wood right through the kitchen, and tying rebar. Thinking about it now, it’s definitely for better, because even tying rebar proved a little bit too technical for me on day one. (In my defense, yesterday I was told that my ties “está bien,” which is a significant improvement. When not tying rebar, people are often shoveling rocks and dirt into buckets and hooking it onto a pulley rope. Then a team of 2 or 3 on the third floor pull it up. If the construction site was a society, the people pulling the rope would be the oligarchs. It is unquestionably the hardest, yet best job. For people not like John Liggett (i.e. pretty much everyone else), your turn pulling the rope goes something like this:
1st pull: Hey this is fun.
2nd pull: Definitely more satisfying than shoveling.
4th pull: I could probably do this for a while.
6th pull: It’s not as bad as it seems.
10th pull: Alright my hands kinda hurt…
20th pull: When did they switch out the smooth rope for barbed wire?
30th pull: I might accidently jump off the edge this time.
I haven’t pulled in two day s, but my hands still hurt. A lot. Unfortunately, I think I’ve been writing for about twice as long as I should allow myself to rest. Therefore, I think I will travel back up to the third floor and tie more rebar, and hope my efforts to avoid the shame of failing inspection aren’t futile. Once again, I must resort to prayer.