honduras (engineering predisan bridge) summer 2023 - aaron hardy's day nine update

june 28, 2023

last night was cooler than it had been, and our team woke up having slept better. the better recovery was well received, because the team was still recovering from the work from yesterday. the main tasks for the day were filling in the ramps leading up to the bridge, preparing the deck planks, and installing the hanger boards that connect the deck to the cables. the morning was also spent finalizing and checking the cables. it was great to see people in the community of all ages excited about the progress on the bridge and excited to help. i loved working on the deck planks for the bridge, because some teens from the community came over and wanted to help. i explained, with rough spanish and plenty of hand waving, that i was marking the places for holes on the plank and where the markings went. after a few rounds of pointing and guiding, they got really comfortable with the process. kasen showed up after a bit, and i showed her the process. after a while, i would help move the planks for them and give them the ok, but i became a spectator to the process. the same was true for drilling the holes in the planks. we would drill the holes on our own and the teens would help us move them. after a while, we showed them how to drill the holes and would check their work.

it was great to see them excited about the bridge and interested in learning how to build the part of the bridge. there were children helping to carry rocks from the river up to the ramps, and there were at least a dozen boys and men helping fill in the ramps. towards the end of the day, we paused and had some coffee and machetiada (a sweet bread) that had been prepared for us by other community members.

after work we went to the river to rest. the teens who were working came to the river with us. they knew of a canoe that is used to cross the river if the water is too high, and brought it to kevin, who had befriended them while working. a lot of the team canoed around for a while. later, after dinner, we had a birthday celebration for one of the teens in the community. it has been great to see how the team has connected with the community.

---

not a trip
category: student life
tags: "lipscomb missions, missions, honduras, engineering, bridge, predisan"

---