So much has happened this month and unfortunately, I was a bit of a failasaurus and didn't keep up with blogging as I had hoped to, so I will just let you in on some of the highlights! 🙂 Team Fire Starters spent the month at Abierta Puerto Ministerios (Open Door Ministries) in Tocoa, Honduras at an orphanage, girls home and feeding stations. It is interesting- most of the things that happened were unexpected occurences or unexpected meetings with some pretty great people! Here's a glimpse into some of the things that took place:
1. Sleepover parties! We had 2 Sleepovers at the girls home. It was awesome! We watched some great movies like Madagascar and We bought a zoo, ate popcorn & brownies, had a dance party and did our nails! Just like sleepovers during the good ol' days 🙂
2. The Tilapia tank. Check out my other blog (http://sarahperrotto.theworldrace.org/?filename=the-tilapia-tank) to read allllll about that one!
3. King's Palace. During one of our ATL (Ask The Lord) days, we spent some time praying as a team, asking God to direct our day. Through a series of crazy events, we ended up with 8 bananas, a free pair of flip flops and 2 successful hitchhiking rides- one ending up at King's Palace- a Chinese restaurant here in Tocoa. My team leader, Jackie, speaks Chinese and immediately began developing a relationship with the Chinese owners. They HUGELY blessed us that day with a delicious free lunch! Since then, we have had the opportunity to continue to build a relationship with them and share Jesus with them! They have even agreed to make us some “real” Chinese food Monday night before we leave Honduras! Please continue to pray for this family- that they will come to know the love of God 🙂
4. Our Mormon friends. One day, while Bryan and I got ourselves SUPER lost trying to find the feeding station, (for more on that excursion, check out this blog http://sarahperrotto.theworldrace.org/?filename=lost-by-his-grace) we met 2 awesome Mormon missionaries- Elders Beaulieu and Thompson. Over the course of a few weeks, we had lunch together several times, got to know each another and shared our beliefs. We really enjoyed meeting some other Americans and I know they enjoyed speaking English with us. These guys are awesome and were just so open and real with us. We believe that God may be calling Beaulieu to go on the World Race after his trip (he stalked our blogs before we even gave him our blog addresses. (Clue #1 that he may be a future racer 😉 haha). So, please also keep praying for these awesome guys- that God would protect them while they are here and that He would continue to reveal His will for their lives!
5. Kansas Team. A team of 10 from Kansas came while we were here. It was great to work alongside them building bunk beds for one of the casitas, developing relationships with the kids and going out for baleadas together! It has been hard at times this month to know exactly what to do or what needs to be done, so having some structure in our days and coming alongside them was great.
6. Hitch hiking. Thanks to our lovely squad leader, KK, hitch hiking has become a Fire Starters team norm. This month, I have hitchhiked at least 20 times (only in the bed of pick up trucks- safety first. In case you find yourself in a sketchy situation, you always have the tuck and roll!). During one of our hitch hiking adventures, we found ourselves in the bed of a truck with a guy who had just gotten off work. In broken Spanish, I had the opportunity to share the gospel and God's love with him. Although it was just a short ride, I am grateful that God gave me the opportunity to plant a seed in his life through an awesome, adventure ride!
7. Muddy, river roads. Apparently hurricane Sandy brought her tourrential downpours to Honduras. It rained hard for about 3 days, leaving the streets an absolute mess. Meg and I certainly made the best of it though. One day, we walked from the orphange to the girls home (about a 30 min walk on a normal day) and trudged through calf deep flooded streets while attempting to pet the random herd of cows on the side of the road. I must say though, I've greatly enjoyed walking to and from the girls home with my teammates. It's given us some time to really get to know one another, sing some worship songs and see random things on the way- like the parrots and monkeys in cages at the local drug lord's house!
8. Honduran fiestas. For Kaitlyn's birthday, we had a traditional Honduran fiesta at the girls home complete with dancing, singing, cake, a pinata and a few drama performances! The girls were all sooooo excited and planned for days. One of the dramas they performed was Lifehouse's Everything skit. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA). This skit makes me cry even when I don't know the actors on random youtube videos, so watching these girls who I have grown to love greatly perform it just opened the floodgates!
9. Trujillo! On one of our days off, we took a team trip to Trujillo for a day at the beach! It was nothing like good ol' Carolina Beach, but was certainly nice to be at the beach and relax for the day! (For those of you who don't know, Trujillo is where Christopher Columbus landed on his 4th journey to the Americas- pretty important, I know!). It was beautifullll though- mountains on one side, beach on the other, and of course, our day included delicious ice cream from Sarita's.
10. Baleadas. THE MOST DELICIOUS FOOD EVER! Baleadas consist of a tortilla with beans, cheese, meat, pico de gallo, sauteed onions and hot sauce. It is like a quesadilla on crack times a million. There is a local baleada stand that sells 'em for about 75 cents a piece. By far, the most delicious thing I have eaten on the Race so far. 🙂
I can't believe we only have 4 days left here in Honduras! This month has completely FLOWN BY! On Tuesday, we will begin our journey to Nicaragua. We will be serving at a Young Life camp just north of Managua. I am soooo excited to be back in the Young Life world and to serve at a camp for a month doing the dirty work of digging a ditch and working in the coffee fields. Please be praying for our team as we travel and get settled in to our new ministry. 🙂
