Surreal As the plane began the descent into Tegucigalpa, the smile and excitement was contagious among all team members. We made it through customs without any problem, and all luggages were accounted for, and the bus was outside ready to go. A small stop at Pizza Hut then we began the journey into the real Honduras. We left the big city and slowly began to see what the majority of Hondurans call home. The cameras came out because who really lives in such little houses, What’s up with the mess of electrical wires on that pole, and do people really walk or ride those buses to get around? And did I mention we are passing on a blind curve (now about the driving we have the best driver)We made it safely to the most beautiful mission house, got our room assignment and like true world travelers took a survey trip of the small village where we will now spend the next week.
In our survey trip we found a store, bought our first “return the bottle” Coca Cola, then headed back for a long night of sorting toys.
With all of that it still has not hit us that we are no longer in the United States; we are a world apart. Maybe by tomorrow we will be able to wrap our head around the fact that we are in another country?
Word of the Day: Bienvenido/ Welcome
Day 1.
We wake up, some of us had not realized that our phones did not update so we set our alarm for an hour to early…oops!
Ok now the time thing is sorted out and it’s actually time to get up and go.
Stop one of the day is a small church in the village of Opimulca the Spanish two class is ready for our first program. Will, Ryan, and Caleb have the stage prepared; the speakers don’t work; Ok no problem we can still do this. We sing and at first the kids don’t know what to think of a way to happy Spanish teacher, three beautiful white girls a corky tall gringo and another gringo that looks like he can destroy us if we try to get to close! Ok so the songs are actually fun, now we are getting the hang of this. All right Caleb fixed the speakers, the girl get behind the puppet stage we can do this. Thank God it’s over now! Time for gifts.
Second stop, a Church in Morimulca. Huge crowd! Well we chicken out and instead of singing with the sound track we invite Kari Jobe to sing with us (ok the recording that is) Caleb has the opportunity to preach; then we pass out gifts and head out for what was a strong spiritual battle.
For our third stop, we arrived in a small community Paso Real, the idea is to pass out clothes, shoes, and toys. However before we do this we want to give the people the opportunity to hear about an even greater gift the gift of salvation. Pastor Keith, form Tennessee, brings the message; five minutes into the message and the crowd shifts completely to one side because the sun was unbearable. We find a shaded area and now we are set. All though the people are listening we can sense the coldness to the message, their eyes are on the preacher but their minds are somewhere else. The message is over an invitation is made Brother Antonio from the mission recaps the message for the crowd but no one is interested in what he has to say; so in order to appease us they send their kids to answer the call! Marina stands and says to them don’t send the kids to be saved you have missed the point; however she is not going to miss an opportunity to share the gospel with them on a more personal level. She gathers the kids and takes the time to explain salvation to them and two little girls make a profession of faith. We give out the clothes, shoes, and toys. And head back filled with excitement for what was accomplished today and also burden for the souls of the people of Paso Real.
Word of the Day: Ese(for our kids this is any word you want it to be)/That
Day 2 – Sunday
Today was a very exciting and accomplished day for everyone! We went to three villages and the hospital. To start off the day we took a long bumpy ride to a village in the middle of nowhere. There were many children in this village and they were such a blessing. While Will went with the evangelistic group he came across an amazing opportunity… Riding a donkey! Well his dream was thrown out the window when we announced we had to go to the next village. But to Wills advantage, there was a donkey in the second village! He got the amazing opportunity to ride it! *You must get him to tell you how he asked to ride it!* In the third village JJ and Will went with the evangelistic team again. Another dream of Will’s came true at that village! Another donkey was available to ride! Will and JJ both got to ride the donkey with pride!
While Will and JJ were on their adventures the team that worked with the kid got amazing blessing from them. It is amazing how just some songs and a puppet show can put smile on their beautiful faces!
At the night service we sang without Kari, we did a good job and now we are waiting for our next opportunity.
Word of the Day: Yo monte un burro (I rode a donkey)
Day 3, Monday.
Today started very early, we had devotions at 5:45AM and were on the road by 6:30AM our trip would last three hours only one hour was on the paved road; the last two was up a steep dirt road. We made it safely to our destination a little soar but other than that well.
We are getting the hang of this thing now, our puppet show was very good today, at the first village the kids were so excited about the puppets, they laughed and giggled and sang along with the songs; we had the best time. After our show we walked up to the small school Destiny, Mary’l, and Jessica (aka JJ) all had a little friend to hold their hand and take them around the town. An impromptu game of London Bridge Is Falling Down made for a great time. We also were delighted by JJ’s awesome shuffling skills.
The second stop of the day was fun we had our show again, this time Ryan stayed back to be part of our show, he did a great job filling in for Destiny while she was out with the door to door team.
The last stop of the day was supper fun, at this stop Destiny was the only student left to help with the children’s program, Mrs. Marilyn made her give an impromptu interview I think she pass with flying colors, Way to Go Destiny.
Word of the Day: Chocala/ High five followed by fist bump.
The second stop of the day was perhaps our favorite of the whole trip; we were welcomed by the smiling faces of the children of The Good Shepherd Children’s Home. As soon as we got off the bus a little boy Christian took Ryan by the hand and disappeared; Will was asked to stop playing soccer after he intercepted a pass and litterally hand dribbled the ball to the goal. Mary’l, Destiny, and Jessica played kick ball, in a skirt...the game was Destiny's best game in her life! Mrs. Marilyn was showing the children her pictures on her phone and was asked by a little boy if she had any children of her own and when she said no he let her know that he was great at English and that he would be a good boy to have. At the end of our time there we did not want to go I think some of us cried, others passed out pictures; we now have left part of our heart at the children’s home.
