After spending my month in El Salvador in very close quarters with my teammates, Honduras was a huge breathe of fresh air. Literally. Look at all that space-
Our host for the month in Honduras was the Beard family at their ranch, Rancho Oasis for Youth (check out their website at http://www.ro4y.org/ ). Rancho Oasis is located in the mountains above the town of Ojojona, which is about an hour away from Tegucigalpa. Their family consists of Jon and Marillyn Beard along with their five children. One of my favorite parts of Honduras was getting to know the Beard family and how well they welcomed us into their family. Since we lived on the Ranch with them we got to spend a lot of time getting to know them. Their kids often accompanied us while we worked on our projects and they invited us over for a couple of bbqs and fresh mango smoothies. Their children are fantastic and I loved getting to know all of their fun and distinct personalities.
Me with four of the Beard children looking out at Tegucigalpa after church one Sunday.Our time at Rancho Oasis was spent helping out wherever there was a need around the Ranch. After a short tutorial on some of the tools, we were given full access to their workroom to use anything, including the power saw and drills.. Our projects included filling ditches, mixing salt water to kill weeds, sawing 2x2s to put on a riding area fence so they could fill the area with sand, building a fence around their soccer field, helping the Beards stain their flooring, and learning how to take care of goats.
The fence we built- the two sides we did on our own aren’t exactly straight, but they get the job done.
Hannah staining the Beard’s floor.
Our time in Honduras happened to coincide with Easter. The week of Easter in Honduras is known as Semana Santa, during which everyone has Thursday- Sunday off from work. However, since the Beards have many animals on their ranch, someone still has to take care of them. In order for the Beards to give their staff the full amount of time off, they trained us to take care of all of the animals. We learned how to take care of the chickens, milk goats, bring the goats out to the fields to graze, and clean the stalls. Our training time allowed us to get to know a member of their staff Oscar. Not only did Oscar teach me a lot of Spanish, he is also one of the most patient and encouraging people I have ever met. Anytime we made a mistake or simply completed a task with much less efficiency than he could have, he always responded with “esta bien, buen trabajo, or muy bien” (it’s okay, good job, or very good). In addition to simply enjoying taking care of the animals, it was an honor to be able to serve such an incredible person and allow him to take a break from all his hard work that he does so joyously so he could spend more time with his family.
Photo by Katie Horst
Rancho Oasis believes in a holistic approach to ministering to Honduras. In an effort to minister in this way, every Tuesday Rancho Oasis holds a trade school where local Hondurans make beautiful jewelry that they sell in an etsy store (check it out!- https://www.etsy.com/shop/LasAguasVerdes#reviews). As a part of their day at the school, they always have a bible study to help encourage their students spiritually. While we were there my team and I got the privilege of leading this short devotional at the trade school and share about our lives and things we’re learning.
Another outreach that we were able to be a part of at Rancho Oasis was a Friday bible study with the local children of Ojojona. Every Friday our host Jon would drive down from the Ranch to Ojojona in his van to pick up the kids who wanted to come and bring them back up to the ranch with him. With the kids we sang worship songs, shared a bible story, played a game, and most importantly played soccer (utilizing the newly installed fence). Although a couple of the kids only ever called me “gringa,” it was fun getting to know and love the kids of the community we were living in.
Although I was super excited that spending Easter in Honduras meant being able to serve our host and their staff in a unique way, I didn’t know what the actual holiday would look like for me. Easter is my one of my favorite holidays for so many reasons. First of all I love the traditions of my family. We go to the sun rise service, fill a living room full of Easter baskets that we take to a local homeless shelter, we eat a brunch feast together, and we play games a little too competitively. But Honduras reminded me that the thing I love most about Easter isn’t determined by where you are. What I love most is the whole point of Easter: that Jesus Christ rose from the grave. Without that truth, we wouldn’t have a reason to celebrate Easter. Without that truth we wouldn’t have a point in celebrate anything. This year, even though I didn’t celebrate in the way my family typically does, I still was able to celebrate the resurrection with my family in Christ. My team ate breakfast at our hosts house and then spent the morning outside with them reading scripture, singing worship songs, and partaking in communion together. At breakfast our host asked us what our “favorite resurrection related bible verse” was. I’ll leave you with the few verses I chose that are really just my favorite verses in general.
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith- that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. ~Philippians 3:8-11
