They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are 11 pictures from my first month on the World Race. These are some of the highlights and most important moments to me of January, 2019.
I took this picture on my way to Atlanta for Launch. Seeing the city lights sprawled out like pools of silver and diamonds on black velvet always takes my breath away. A picture could never do it justice, but a clear sky during night flights is something I always pray for so I can admire the view.
We passed this field every day on the way to ministry. I’ll remember the cute black cow with cream-colored ears, the giant tree in the middle of it that must have been growing there for generations, and the view that made me smile every day.
There’s something that always spoke to me about beautiful things where they aren’t ‘supposed to be.’ Who told these flowers that they could take root in a crack in the concrete and bring color and beauty to an otherwise lifeless place? But then I suppose no one told them they couldn’t.
Who doesn’t love a good fiesta? The residents at the special needs home for adults we worked with certainly love their parties! I’ve rarely seen such enthusiasm and joy in my life, and over a simple pinata, a cake and some music.
You may say there’s nothing exciting about a zucchini, but there’s something about being on a coffee plantation on a mountain that’s adorned by a simple home and worked by kind people who tended the garden themselves that makes a rather ordinary vegetable a much more important thing. Just ask Megan, she’ll tell you.
This was taken from the back of a pickup truck on the way to what was perhaps the best church service I’ve ever been to. After spending the drive there admiring God’s creation, I was blown away by how this group of people did church! It was a pretty ‘Wow’ day!
While in Valle de Angeles, we had the honor of witnessing a birth. The birth of MEGA PUPUSAS!! Our hosts opened a pupusa restaurant to help fund their ministry, and we were there for the opening weekend. We ate the first few trial pupusas, and many others after that as well! (Pupusas look like pancakes, but they’re like thick tortillas made with corn flour and usually filled with cheese, pork, or a mix of both.)
The Angels Home Foundation is where we spent our month doing ministry. As our host told us, these are the forgotten people of Honduras. Swept under the rug, ignored and unwanted by society. It was a challenge, but a distinct honor, to let these people experience love from people who came not to work, but simply to be with them.
This view was one increasingly familiar to me over the past weeks as I sat outside exchanging smiles with Yolani, helping Daili get the laundry, or sharing a still moment with Maria who works there. Those ladies live there 24/7 for 2 months, then go home for 8 days. I have an incredibly strong admiration for Maria and the other ladies who work there; I don’t think I can put it into words.
I walked this road several times a week, but this particular day made me stop to take a picture. I was struck by the contrast between the golden evening glow in the valley and the darkness of the mountain shrouded in clouds. It calls to mind when our hosts said that the valley, being a tourist area, looks nice and some of the shop owners are well off, but there is a lot of poverty in the valley area especially in the mountains that people both don’t get to see or look for. Not even the missionaries coming there for souvenirs.
I hope you enjoyed this little walk through my month. I certainly enjoyed looking through all my pictures and picking the 11 that meant the most to me! There’s plenty of things that didn’t make it into this post but I’m sure there’ll be future blogs about that. Thank you for joining me on this journey!
