Team Member - Bill Tolone

Bill Tolone, 71 years of age, is a veteran of nine mission teams.

He is a member of Saint Mary's Church in Bloomington, Illinois. He is a retired professor of Sociology at Illinois State University, where he taught for thirty-three years.  Prior to teaching at ISU, he served as a professor at Rockhurst College, in Kansas City, Missouri.

He and his wife, Carol, have four children, then grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Bill has been to Nicaragua twice before. He served on a Habitat for Humanity build at Tipi Tapa, Nicaragua in 2008.  In 2010 he joined the mission team from Wesley United Methodist Church in Bloomington, and was a member of the team which began the security fence project at the orphanage in Los Cedros.

His prime job this trip has been as the "chief grinder" in the bodega.  On the last day of this trip he hopes to try his hand at welding pipe sections for the fence.  As "chief grinder" he has supervised and trained many of our team members in the fine art of grinding pipes!

Ron Schaad, whom Bill met through Habitat work, was the person who invited Bill to join one of the construction teams. The first time that Ron offered, Bill didn't accept the offer. It wasn't until the second chance that Bill joined the team.  Bill said, upon taking up the offer, that "I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world"!

"You know there are a few things you put first, like family. But, for the good that we think we can do in doing Gods work, this really impacts the kids, the orphan children here at Los Cedros", Bill reflected.  "There is a chance to meet people of faiths and walks of life on these trips. This has been a very enlightening experience.

We learn how much more we have in common than the things that have appeared to make us different.  And, similar to the work of Habitat for Humanity, we band together to help the needs of others, not just focusing upon our own situations in life", Bill stated.

What was the most important aspect of this week for Bill?  He said, the evening devotions have impacted him, for "It is a chance for sharing with the other team members our own experiences ... it is disclosing how we feel about what we are doing, and how this relates from Nicaragua back to our lives in Illinois", he stated.

Bill has learned in life to "think globally, but act locally ... and wherever you are, you are acting locally"!

"I would highly recommend this experience to anyone who is able to do it.  The experience changes you in ways that you may not even anticipate, for the better in ways you may not ever expect".  Bill said that he has heard the saying that "we think we are building the project, but the project is actually building us"!

Bill said that he really appreciates the opportunity to go on these trips. He hopes he is able to do so even more in the future.