Honduras Blog
Our month in Honduras looked a little different than the other months on the race. When our host picked us up, we piled in the back of his pickup truck and drove about an hour and forty-five minutes away from the main city, Tegucigalpa. Forty minutes of that trip was driving through rough dirt roads going deeper and deeper into the mountains. When we made it to our ministry location (The Leadership Centre/Leadership Mission International) we were warmly welcomed by about 30 young women and our hosts super cute three kids and beautiful wife. It’s a college for women. There they complete three years of leadership training and then are given the opportunity to partner with them to start their own business. And since we were legit in the middle of nowhere, we learned to live the simple life. What do I mean by that? Well, there was limited power because they used solar panels. It’s crazy how those only work for certain hours of the day! We also had limited access to water, which meant no showers sometimes. (And when you’re doing aprox. 5 hours of manual labour a day.. that’s stinky) There wasn’t a grocery store close by so beans, rice and tortillas it was! Breakfast, lunch and dinner! So as much as that sounds crazy, it was actually one of my favourite months. (I know I say that every month) But living this way all month taught me a lot. It taught me that you don’t actually need a lot to survive. Sure I’ve heard that a bunch of times, but I’m not sure I’ve ever actually experienced it before. There are so many people around me right now that live on so much less and it was a great reminder for me. I also learned that these people that live in this community may not have it all but they’re some of the happiest most generous people I’ve ever met.
Anyway, we were living and “working” at a school but we only ended up going into the classroom twice. We were actually working with the maintenance guy most of the month. At TLC they support themselves with almost everything they eat. They grow a lot of the food they eat, they have animals that contribute to their meals and they have a huge coffee farm on the property. We spent the month following Steven (the maintenance guy) around. We ended up doing a lot of manual labour and pretty much worked our butts off for three weeks. Every morning we would wake up eat breakfast at 7, have devotions with the girls at 7:30 then they would be assigned a job for morning chores and work for an hour on whatever they were assigned. There were jobs like tending to the animals, (ie. collecting eggs or feeding the pigs) working in the gardens, collecting fire wood for the fire stove in the kitchen, working in the coffee fields or other small jobs around the campus. Let me just tell you.. after working in the coffee fields for a few weeks, I have a whole new appreciation for coffee. We also had access to fresh coffee whenever we wanted and I may or may not have gotten completely addicted. Oops! But that’s beside the point. My team worked really hard this month and I’m really proud of them. And when I say my team, I mean the team I am leading. This was my first month team leading and it was honestly so awesome. Besides not having any contact to the outside world, it was really great and we had Alexa, one of our squad leaders with us which helped make the month that much greater. We did hit some challenges with getting sick this month though. I think everyone on my team except me, got sick with some sort of stomach virus. But we ended strong and everyone is fine now.
This month was really great for me personally. Being disconnected from the social media world and being able to focus on all the awesome things God was doing right in front of me was probably the greatest thing. It gave me a chance to get to know my host Joseph and his family on a really cool level. One thing the Lord showed me this month was how a family can function and serve God in all that they do. Joseph’s family were so awesome to be around. All that they do is done in love and I believe God picked them to be a part of this journey I’m on and to be an example of what my family can look like maybe one day. I’m thankful for the conversations we got to have with them and the time they sent with us this past month. They pour so much into the girls on campus, the staff, and the community and it was awesome to come alongside them as they continue to share Gods love in so many different ways. Sure, most of the time we spent shovelling chicken crap and planting trees and working in the coffee fields but I was reminded that somebody’s gotta do it! And like when Jesus washed his disciples feet, there’s no job more significant than another. We are not any more special than those we meet on the race. We got to be a part of something great that God is doing in Honduras and that’s all I care about. I’m not sure if its because I had so much time to spend with the Lord and process through things, but He was able to show me some pretty amazing things this month and even though it was challenging and there were some days that I wanted to give up because my body was so sore, I really enjoyed my time in Honduras at TLC. I’m also freakin’ out a little bit because this next month is our last month on the race. Yes you read that right.. our LAST month! Crazy, I know. But I’m excited. I’ve been praying huge prayers over my team and as I continue to lift them up I am expecting Him to answer them in his timing of course.
Please join me as we are praying that we would stay focused on what God is doing in Nicaragua. Pray for those we are coming home to at the end of next month. Pray that this month would be the best one yet. And pray for those Squad mates that are now at home, that the Lord would continue to use them and mould them into who he’s created them to be.
Month ELEVEN here we come!
Until next time!
Court
