Before coming to Honduras I had been in contact with our future host for the month. He was super awesome and we had discussed a meeting place and time for when we arrived. We were set. I even knew what truck to look for. So when May 30th came around, our squad was running behind schedule (like always) coming into Honduras. After a 10 hour bus ride we had arrived in Tegucigalpa. Most of the other teams had already arraigned to stay at a hostel for the night and were heading out in taxis right after we had arrived at the bus stop. I looked around the bus stop for our host but he was nowhere to be found. I had tried to call him a few times and there was no answer. Great. What do I do now..?
As I paced back and forth, my mind was going 1 million miles a second. Half of my thoughts were “what are you going to do? Where are you going to go? This is one of the scariest/highest crime rate cities in the world and you have 6 people to find a place to go asap.” And the other half of my thoughts were; “Lord, I have no idea what I’m going to do right now. Please lead me. Please help me. I know you’ve already got it figured out. Please just guide me where I need to go. I have full trust in you.”
Now if you can imagine the craziness going on in my head, I continued to walk around the bus terminal to look for our hosts big white Ford truck. But it was nowhere to be seen. One of my teammtes must have noticed the terrified look on my face or seen the smoke coming from my ears. She calmly asked if she could try calling him. She tried and someone answered but they only spoke Spanish and I was 99.9% sure our host was American. Katie and I then decided we would go together to find wifi to try to email him, while the rest of the team stayed with our bags at the terminal. When we got around the corner, we spotted a little restaurant that looked like it might have Wi-Fi. We went in to ask. That’s when everything changed. When we walked in, we were welcomed with a super warm (English) greeting. I asked if they had wifi that we could use to contact our ride and he said “sure come on in! What can I get you? A coke? Something to eat? Here have a seat!” So as I sat and ordered a coke, he asked what we were doing and if he could help us with anything. Still a little frazzled, I politely said “no Thankyou I’m just trying to get a hold of our host that lives here in Honduras. But Thankyou so much!” We then started to chat with him about our trip and how we’ve been away from home for 9 months now. He thought we were crazy for traveling the world for that long. After a few minutes Katie and I had quickly made the decision to try to find a place to stay before it got too dark. We asked our new friend if he knew of anywhere we could stay for a reasonable amount for a night. Oh my! Of course he knew of a place! He literally got on the phone that second and started calling his people. And sure enough! He had a place for us. But the problem was we needed a room for 7 girls that was IN our World Race budget. He said “wait where are your friends?” We then explained to him that we have a lot of luggage and they were at the bus stop still waiting with our stuff. Well he thought we were crazy to just leave them there, so he told us to go get them and bring them all to his restaurant. As I walked out, I said I would be right back to pay for my coke. Just before I left he said “I know you’ll be back! I trust you. You’re a good girl, I can see it in your eyes.” Sure enough we returned with all of our crap and the rest of my friends. He welcomed us again and made us feel so welcome. (And made fun of how much stuff we had with us) As we sat and chatted with him for a while, we talked a little more about where we were from and where we had been on the race so far. His daughter helped us figured out our hotel for the night. And then we realized we just needed to get a ride there. So of course he wanted to help us some more. He went out onto the street and riled up two taxis and took the rest of him in his car. Just as we were putting our stuff in the cars, our host called. I explained to him that we were going to a hotel and that I was so sorry for the confusion with the pick up times. Thankfully he seemed really understanding and said he would see us in the morning.
When we pulled up to the hotel my jaw dropped. (Actually all of our jaws dropped) All I could think was.. Um I think he’s misunderstood our World Race budget. But as we got out of the cars, all with our jaws to the ground in awe of what had/was happening to us. He reassured us that he was going to get us a special deal. Sure enough! He did. He hooked us up! And not only did he help us with checking in, we exchanged numbers in case we needed his help again. When he left we all gave him a hug and thanked him over and over for helping us out. He ended up calling about an hour after we had gotten there to confirm that the room was okay for us. All I could think to myself was “Wow. God is so good!”
So, as a first time Team Leader (TL) I was thrown into a challenge right off the bat. But through it all, I had an unexplainable sense of peace knowing that it would all work out. I was sweating like crazy! (Even more that normal!) But every time something happened to us that helped us get a little closer to where we needed to be, I could see the Lord’s hand on us. There was no way I could have figured out how to get my team somewhere safe for the night all by my self! The Lord gave us David. The Lord gave us an awesome hotel to stay in for a night. And the Lord gave me patience and peace through it all. I think this was a great way to start out Team Leading! Was it challenging? Heck yes! Was it hard? Yes. Did I want to cry? Yes! Did I cry? No! I told Katie as we were walking to find wifi, “the old Courtney would have just sat down and started crying. But the new Courtney isn’t going to.” It was what I needed to start this season on the right path. It was the perfect reminder that I can’t lead this team on my own. I need to trust that God has us in His hands and will continue to as long as we all willingly follow him with open hands. And I don’t think its just because I’m in Honduras, God can help us and guide us with cool stories like this wherever we are as long as we are constantly turning to Him for guidance and direction.
I’m thankful for the people God places in our path like David. And I’m thankful for my awesome teammates that help support me and make this job easy.
Please join me as I pray for each of my teammates this month. There is just over a month left of this amazing journey and I have a feeling God has something awesome planned for each one of them.
Thankyou for your continued prayer and support! It really means so much to me!
Until next time!
Court
