Hey friends!!
So my first month is officially over, and I am currently in Guatemala serving at a new ministry, with my whole squad of 30 people. (I will post a blog about that soon) but I’m first going to sum up the end of my first month in Honduras…
Ending my first month of ministry was hard to say the least. The day before we left, I got to go to the nearby city, San Pedro Sula. It was about an hour and a half away, and we piled into the van with the girls. All the girls were all dressed up with their hair curled, looking so cute. This was also the first time I actually did my hair all month. Haha, & it felt good to for once. As we were driving down the bumpy road out of the village, Pene Blanca, we made it onto some regular paved roads. This was my first time all month actually leaving the tiny village we were staying in. We then went to a large bilingual church, called City Hope. Getting to worship with the girls in church was so amazing. And just being in an environment with a body of believers in some church I will probably never attend again was powerful to say the least. It just blows my mind how these people are from a very different culture, but sharing the same love I have experienced. It also really made me think about how this city they are living in is so dark. It’s actually the murder capital of the world, and some crazy, very dark things are happening every single day. But these people, and many more, are being a light to the city.
After church, all the girls and us went to the mall, A REAL MALL PEOPLE. Haha it was weird to be in a city, but then a mall. We went to Pizza Hut, and as we sat in a private party room, we enjoyed pizza, and just time together. It was also one of the girls birthdays, and so we celebrated that, and then headed back to Pene Blanca.
The following day, we had a Halloween party at school where we played fun games, made food, and they all came dressed up in their costumes. In this culture Halloween isn’t celebrated, but since their mom celebrates it, we did, and all the girls love it. After school They had a party at their house we were invited too. I probably had the most food I have had all month. We had some bomb nachos, cupcakes, and even smores. We got to hang out with the girls and just spend some quality time together. They then put on a dance show for us in the living room. It was cool to see the girls who danced in their element, & loving it. Then the tough time came, the goodbyes. I knew I had learned so much from these young girls this month, and they will never truly know. Seeing tears on their end, but also on my own was hard. My heart hurt in that moment. God why does this have to happen? And how will these goodbyes get easier? Am I really doing any good? But I just remembered how even though goodbyes are hard and may never get easier, it was valuable time together because we all learned things from the past month. Joy, compassion, patience, time, new skills, and most importantly love. These girls will always have a special place in my heart. It broke my heart to walk away, but the girls of EFP will always be in my heart.
As my team prepared to leave that night and pack, we reflected on the past month. The shoutouts of our month, how we grew together, individually, the good, the bad, and everything in between. I couldn’t do it without these 5 AMAZING people. (You can read more about them and their blogs in the left column of my home blog page. it says all their names & bios.)
To anyone reading this, keep the girls I worked with the past month in your thoughts and prayers. They have huge hearts, big smiles, and loud laughs.
P.S. Sorry for the bad grammar 🙂
