Honduras
Despite feeling sick and a bit blue at the start of this month, I can already tell that this month is going to be an amazing and memorable one.
Our entire squad is together, living at a place called Zion’s Gate, about 15 minutes up a mountain outside of the capital city, Tegucigalpa. Our contact is an amazing man with an amazing heart, Tony. He has literally seen and heard of more heartache in this city in a few short years than most American’s see in their lifetime. Honduras has the highest murder rate per capita in the world, and literally nobody here has lived untouched by violence or poverty. There is a 60% unemployment rate, minimum wage is equal to $0.80 an hour, and it is not uncommon for whole families to go days without eating.
We are sleeping in our tents and sharing two showers and three toilets with about 50 people in a coed bathroom. Conservation of water and electricity are a constant concern, so we are living by the “if its yellow, let it mellow” philosophy. And we wondered just how well we would get to know each other…
We eat all of our meals sitting around the common room on the cement floor, and split up dishes and bathroom cleaning among our teams. Living with us on the property are several boys, from elementary age to teenagers, all rescued from a life of extreme violence and poverty for a chance to go to school and follow Christ, if they desire.
Our ministry opportunities this month are going to be incredible. We are going to be teaching English and music in the poorest local schools, doing a total home make-over for a family in the slums, and doing various types of outreach with children and teenagers in slums….arts and crafts, sports, music, games, etc. We also are privileged to be the first group allowed by the government to work with a group of street children that have been rescued and taken into controlled housing.
I am looking forward to a month of reaching the people we encounter in the slums, squad worship, and waking up each day to the gorgeous mountain ranges we overlook!
