Days in Zolano: 23 Days
Days of Ministry: 14
Cockroaches fallen on my Face: 6
(Those still alive: 0)
Cup of Cokes: 20
Nights of Church: 14
Games of Settlers of Catan: 8
Movies Watched: 2.5 (because no one wanted to finish Wonder Woman…)
Bug Bites: 67
Number of kids lifted into the air: Too many to count
Games of Uno played: Don’t want to think about
Honduras was an interesting country to have for our first month. Though we had the most loving host, only one person on our team spoke enough Spanish to translate. Pastor Gregorio and his wife Francisca were the most passionate people about their ministry and us as racers. They would love us, serve us and feed us so well it became a run on joke with our team.
This is because the first week there, our scheduled ministry had to be cancelled. We had the first week off to be with our host as they served us more than we deserved. Which in itself was a lesson we had to learn to accept. But it was a lesson we needed to learn, that as followers of Christ we need to serve even when those who receive do not deserve it, but that’s a blog in and of itself.
We were so happy when children’s ministry started the next week. We had the amazing opportunity to help with Pastor’s branch of His Hands for Honduras which helped teach young children to read, write, and grow in community together. We led hours of dance parties (though most of it was us jumping around and the kids staring at the weird Americans) and played and distracted the kids so the teachers could take a break.
We also worked with a ministry called Compassion Kids. At both of these ministries we had the opportunity to feed the children. Our Pastor told us that for many of these kids, these were the only times of the day they received a full meal. Zolano has a high impoverished community where the first priority is to have a roof over your head. Pastor Gregorio’s ministries are such an integral part of his community and it is amazing to see his heart and passion for the people of Zolano.
Outside of Ministry, we had a lot of time to grow as a team and learn to just be still. It was a hard habit to break because in the States we want to just keep going and going or you are doing something wrong. But in Zolano, we could visit a house and sit and drink coffee and talk for hours without any plans of stopping. It was amazing. We played a lot of cards, both together and with the Host and his family.
My favorite memory from Honduras was our second adventure day. We drove two hours to a hotel on a lake. All we had on our minds was kayaking, swimming, and eating, then the rain came ruining our plans. But there was a pool table and that’s all we needed. Me and Pastor and his son Joshue, oh Joshue, played some version of pool for hours. We never had a real conversation, just laughter. It was great.
I will miss Honduras and our first Host family. I will miss all the kids that refused to listen and just ran around and climbed on our backs. I will miss the down time with my team and our host laughing around the table. I will not miss the cockroaches falling on my face while I slept though, that could not happened again and I would be happy. But everything else was an experience I would never want to forget.
But for me to stay on the field I need help. I need to reach $13,000 dollars by the end of February and I’m about $1,000 dollars away from staying on the field. So if you fell led to donate or know someone who would please share my blog so they would be able to follow my story!
Love y’all!
