Day 4

Today was a crazy day. We went all over Chinandega. Our group came up with a couple plans to help Erick. Erick is the individual who has a welding business that we’ve been assigned to help. We felt like he needed something to show his potential customers about what he can do. Our group loaded up in a couple small taxis and went all over the city to take pictures of the work he has done. We put together a nice little booklet of about 15 pages with nice color photos that he’ll be able to show potential customers. Hopefully it will have a positive effect. We also purchased some raw materials so that he could put together some card/pen holders (pictured here) that he welds. The idea is to provide him with an inventory of finished goods he can sell and then used the proceeds to by more raw materials to make more products. Right now he has to get people to give him a down payment before he makes anything because he doesn’t have any capital. I hope this will get him going in the right direction.

The majority of the day was doing this. Our leader Dan Gifford asked a few of us to go out and do some priesthood visits tonight. It was like we were in another world entirely. One of the families we visited lived in a 1 room house that had 1 light and a dirt floor. They had some plywood to create the effect of rooms. It was truly amazing to see. Most of the roads in the city are paved, but when we get out into some of the areas outside the city the streets aren’t paved. The really interesting thing is that the children are happy. The young kids have smiles on their faces and seem genuinely happy despite their lack of material goods. I think that says a lot. I believe it really demonstrates the fact that most of us have chosen a conditional happiness. We will be happy when we have this, when that happens, or if I get that job. Happiness isn’t really conditional on these things, we just think it is. There is a great lesson to be learned from these children. Its late and I’m tired, more tomorrow.