Good afternoon from San Marcos!

Good afternoon from San Marcos! We had a great day today working on the radio receiver. Everything is up and running correctly, and we can even transmit back to Mission Lazarus. The bridge project, however, has taken a different turn than we thought. Yesterday we designed a new type of bridge after seeing the site and talking to Jarrod that we could complete before leaving next Friday. Unfortunately, the design called for a large number of concrete pipes, and Honduras only has four in the entire country! But we will be able to more efficiently design a bridge and allow Jarrod time to raise funds for the project. Overall, it is a better scenario than we originally thought, and things are looking good for next spring. In the meantime, Jarrod has several other projects to keep us busy, including surveying of a number of fields on the ranch.
Today, as mentioned before, was incredible. The entire team trekked up the nearby mountain that is the location of the brand new radio. Two burros (donkeys) helped carry most of the gear up, while a few of us took turns carrying a five gallon jug of water that was completely empty when we left the mountain. Mrs. Whitney and Mr. Peugeot rode on unos caballos (Mr. Peugeot's horse was named Tortuga (turtle) and we deemed that an appropriate title). Mr. Whitney braved the trek up the hill amazingly and was hardly out of breath at the top (we were very impressed!). We spent the whole day on the mountain working on the radio tower. It was a great success at the price of a few toasted necks. Over the next few days, the radio team will install more radios in vehicles and other locations around the ranch, while the bridge team will begin surveying. The computer lab was also set up successfully, and is only missing a few parts that Dr. Pettit will hopefully bring on Saturday.

Hoping all is well at home and the other mission groups are having great success as well! As previously mentioned, our access to the internet is sparce (still better than the other groups) and we will try to update as frequently as possible. We will certainly try to write before the weekend is over. Keep posted for the next blog!