Honduras, Day 3: Monday

Monday the 22nd:
So on Monday a bunch of us got up to see the sunrise at 6 and do our devotions.  But...the front door to the porch was stuck shut so we had to look out the window a the sunrise and do our devotions in the dinning/living area.  It was a little disappointing, but there would be other days to see the sunrise.


After breakfast, we loaded up the vans and headed to our first clinic.  It was like and hour away.  The roads were dirt and we drove way up a mountain.  Actually, we drove up mountains every day.  But Honduran driving is crazy.  There are pot holes all over and we were always swerving to avoid them.  And we would pass cars when there were cars coming in the other lanes towards us.  There weren't lines on the roads to separate lanes and there weren't really any rules either.

So the clinic that day was in a school.  At first I think we were all a little unsure of what so do (cuz the MAMA staff were setting up and we were just standing around).  But we went out and started talking and playing with the kids.  We blew up some balloons for them and they loved them; although they ended up popping most of them.  Other people were braiding the girls hair or painting their nails or just trying to talk to the kids.  This one boy was talking to me and I had not idea what he was saying.

Then we all spread out and helped with different things.  A group went to do cement, and those of us at clinic either played bingo with the kids, helped with de-worming and vitamins, helped with blood pressure, worked in the pharmacy, helped measure and weigh kids or what I did which was help Emerson (one of our translators) measure hemoglobin levels.  That involved pricking fingers to get a drop or so of blood and compare it to a little chart.  The darker the blood the healthier.  So that is what I did all day.  And the little kids would cry and struggle to get away from their mothers.  It was really sad and I felt really bad for them.  So all day I pricked fingers.  And in the school it was so hot, even though we were in the shade.  Just sitting at a table I was sweating.  Anytime a breeze came through we windows, Emerson and I would comment how nice it felt.

When we had seen everyone (a total of 192 people) we began packing up the clinic supplies which we waited for the cement crew to come back.  A few of us went with Dr. Brad so a house down the road to see a woman who hadn't walked in 12 years.  She had some sort of really bad arthritis and he joins were all swollen.  All day she would sit in her little chair doing nothing.  Anytime she wanted to go anywhere, two people would have to carry her and to eat, others had to feed her.  It was really sad but she seemed content and she was very bright.  She and Dr. Brad talked in Spanish and he would translate what she said for us.  We sang her a few songs and she asked us questions.  It was really touching to see her.  Dr. Brad was able to give her some reading glasses and pain medicine but there wasn't much he could do for her.


Shortly after we walked back to the school, the cement crew came back.  That day, that had had to carry their supplies, buckets of sand, water, bags of concrete, shovels and hoes up a hill to the house they were going to do the floor at.  And it was up a hill in the sun and in the heat that I had been sweating from just sitting down in the shade.  I can't imagine how hard it must have been for them.  But they did it and they persevered.

Monday night is a whole story by itself so I will blog about it later.

Honduras, Day 2: Sunday

Sunday we our 'fun' day.  We went to a hotel that was right on this huge lake.  We went on a long boat ride on the lake and our tour guides pointed out interesting landscapes and trees to us (in Spanish, which Dr. Brad translated for us).  It was so beautiful that day and I got a lot of nice pictures.  After the boat ride, some people went swimming and the rest of us just relaxed, either tanning in the sun, or laying in a hammock in the shade.  Then we had lunch at the hotel which was really good.  

After the boat ride, about 9 of us went horseback riding.  It was so much fun and totally different than an American trail ride.  At first we were just walking our horses along the road, but then our tour guide, horse guy person was like "one, two, three!" and he took off down the trail.  So the group of us right by him, our horses just went cantering after him.  It was so much fun!  At first my horse had been so slow but not now!  We stopped at waited for the rest of our group to catch up.  They were happily walking, although very slowly!  We ended up making a big circle around the hotel.  At one point we got to this really big field and we could see the lake straight ahead of us.  It was so beautiful.  And my horse trotted down the entire field!  That was fun, although not he most comfortable in flip-flops and shorts. :)

Shortly after our horseback ride was done, we left the hotel and drove to this really big waterfall.  That was really pretty too.  There were people going over it on a zip-line and a couple of people at the top, standing in the water!  We walked down a trail to the bottom of the falls and got a little wet in the mist.  It felt great though.

When we got back to the MAMA house, we did a pinata for the village kids.  It had been a girl's birthday the previous day, and that day was another girl's birthday.  So on the way back from the waterfall, we had stopped and bought a pinata and candy for the kids.  A ton of them came.  We hung the pinata in the tree and sang happy birthday to the girls (in Spanish and English) and then they got the first turn hitting the pinata.  A lot of other kids tried too, then the leader of our group, Mike, got a turn and he and Dr. Brad ripped it open.  When all the candy fell, the kids swarmed and piled on top of Mike.  They were so excited to have candy.  Even one little piece brought a big smile to their faces.  They had so little and yet they were happy.

That night, we went to a church service in the village, a short walk from the MAMA house. Let me just say that that was one of the most amazing parts of the whole week.  We got there a bit late but the people there were very kind and helped us find seats.  The church was quite small and our group probably made up like half the congregation.  The seats were plastic deck chairs and even though they had fans, it was really hot.

They were singing in Spanish (of course) so we couldn't understand the words.  But they started playing a song that I recognized the tune of.  It was Agnus Dei, the Micheal W. Smith version.  I was able to sing along in English, while people around my sung in Spanish. It really struck me then that it didn't matter where you were or what language you speak, you can worship God.  That was just really amazing.  Other people in our group commented that it reminded them what heaven will be like.  When the singing was over, the speaker got up and started speaking in Spanish.  Suddenly, he began speaking to us in English.  I have to say that I was quite surprised.  I had expected to sit through a entirely Spanish sermon and not understand a word of it.  But he translated his entire sermon into English for us.  That was so amazing because what he talked about felt like it really applied to our group and to me personally.  He used the verses in Ephesians that talk about putting on the armor of God and talked about how we should (with God's help) break down the strongholds in our lives.  It was really neat too, because he was a guest speaker that day, not the normal pastor.

And their church was so different than the one I go to.  When the message was over, we were singing more songs and people would just start praying out loud.  Or when the pastor got up and prayed, other people would just join him in prayer.  It didn't have to be perfectly silent during a prayer.  People poured out their hearts and came forward to have other people pray for them.  The whole service really impacted me.

After the church service, we walked back to the MAMA house and talked about the day and what stuck out to us the most.  Then we broke into small groups and discussed James.  Each day, we would read a chapter of James and write down some things that stuck out to us from the chapter.  Then every evening, we would break into our small groups and talk about it or anything that happened during the day.

Honduras, Day 1: Saturday

Taken from my journal:

Saturday the 20th.  We woke up at 4am and were down in the lobby of the hotel at 4:30.  The shuttles from the hotel to the airport go every half hour so we were going to take the 5 and 5:30 shuttles.  But for some reason we couldn't go at 5 so the shuttle guy took 11 of us to the airport at 4:30 and rushed back the get the rest of us.  It was only 8 of us who were left, me, 3 guys, 3 guy leaders and one of the leader's 11 year old son.  And we had 25 suitcases to bring to the airport plus our carry ons.  We loaded up the shuttle but one we got to the airport, we were really weighed down.  Each of the suitcases weighed 30-50 pounds.  We got a few of those luggage cart things and lugged everything through the airport to the check in place where we met the rest of our group.  We had to wait in line a long time (and hour maybe?) all the while pushing and dragging out heavy luggage forward when the line moved. Once we got our bags checked, we headed over to security and over to the waiting area for our plane.  We had some time so we wondered around and got some breakfast.  Then we boarded and left the country!  The flight was like 5 hours and seemed to take forever.  I was really excited.

When we landed we felt the heat immediately.  We got our bags and met the group from the MAMA project.  A family from our church, the Moyers, had been in Honduras for a week already and they were at the airport.  We loaded up a truck with all the suitcases and loaded ourselves into two big vans.

The MAMA house was about an hours drive from San Pedro Sula and we spent the time looking out the windows and taking pictures.  The first thing that hit me about Honduras (besides the heat) was the mountains.  I thought we had mountains here in Pennsylvania but our mountains are hills compared to theirs!

Once we got to the MAMA house, we unloaded and got settled into our rooms.  The girls had one big room on one side of the house and the boys had one on the other side.  In between was the kitchen and dining/living area.

Then we went to the nutrition centre which was a short walk down the road.  We saw a very malnourished little boy there.  He was 3 I think but he was so tiny and his arms were so skinny.


Some people played soccer and the rest of us talked (or, tired to talk) to the kids and played with them.  They liked to have their pictures taken and loved to the themselves afterward.

Then we went back to the MAMA house and had dinner.  I don't really remember what we did Saturday night.  I think we just talked about the day and hung out.

Well...

So I didn't really blog today.  I tried like three times to put pictures on facebook of the trip but so far it hasn't worked.  I took today off from school (because I'm home schooled and I can) and unpacked and journaled a lot.  So much happened, there are so many memories and so much to process.  I would say I'll blog tomorrow but I'm not sure I will.  Probably by the end of this week I will and I'll do my best to have pictures up on facebook too.

Estoy en Casa

Hello friends....or should I say, hola amigos!  I just wanted to write a quick post to say that I am home again safe and sound and had a wonderful, incredible, amazing week in Honduras!  there is so much to say and so many pictures to share!  But right now I am so tired but I'll probably start posting stuff tomorrow.
Oh yeah, and MAMA stands for Mujeres (women) Amigas (friends) Miles Apart.

Adios Amigos!

This is going to be my last post for a while because today I leave for Honduras!  Well, today I start my trip but I don't really fly out until tomorrow morning.  Still, it's quite exciting!  I'm not sure how I'll ever get through today.  I still have some packing that needs to get done, those sections of the research paper to finish and my room to clean.  But still, this day is going to go by so slowly!


I just got a new camera so you can expect lots of pictures when I get back and I'm sure I will have tons of stories.  I am just so excited to see how God works and what He does.  This whole trip is for Him and His glory and it will be so interesting to see what He does through us.


Anyway, Friends, farewell!  I shall certainly miss blogging while I'm away and it will be very strange to have a week off from school, but I will absolutely enjoy the break.  Good bye and God bless!

Honduras!!!

So, I've mentioned that I'm going to Honduras numerous times but never really explained it.  On Saturday, a group from my youth group (haha, that sounds funny!), 13 youth, 5 leaders and the son of one of the leaders, are flying down to Honduras for a week.  We are going as part of the MAMA project (sorry, I don't recall what MAMA stands for) and will be stationed in the MAMA house.  Each day we will take a vehicle of some sorts to a different village and set a clinic for the local people.  I think there will be a dentist, general medical care and some sort of eye doctor.  We will also be making cement floors for people out of sand and dirt and whatever else you use.  We're also brings tons of stuff to give away too so we'll also be doing that in each village.


We're leaving tomorrow evening, driving to Newark and staying overnight in a hotel right near the airport.  Then our flight leaves at 8:50am Saturday morning so I'm guessing we're not going to get a whole lot of sleep.  We fly home Saturday the 27th and basically do the reverse, stay in the same hotel that night and drive home Sunday.


I'm so excited because I've never been on a missions trip before and it will be so eyeopening to see how these people live.  It will be a completely different culture, warm weather, Spanish instead of English and I hope a really good bonding time for our youth group.  And flying and leaving the country is just fun.  And I'm excited to see how God uses us and excited to be His hands and feet and show other His love (not that I can't do that everyday, but not everyday in Honduras!)