Sorry that it took so long to post!!
Honduras was our second month on the Race. When we found out our ministry contacts, we found out that our whole squad would be together again, minus one team. We would be staying at Puerta de Sion with Tony, an American Missionary who has lived in Honduras for the last 5 years or so. Puerta de Sion means Zion’s Gate in Spanish. It was a ministry that works with street kids in the poorest areas of Tegucigalpa. Tony and his wife, Nidia, have 15 boys and girls ages three to twenty years living on their compound. These kids are now able to go to school, have food, learn about Christ, and have the ability to dream of a future outside of the streets of Tegu.
During our time at Tony’s, we learned that most of the street population in Tegucigalpa gets hooked to paint thinner before the age on ten. This addiction continues their entire lives rendering them unable to keep a respectable job thus continuing the cycle of homelessness. These people don’t know anything different and only want a temporary reprieve from their lives in the dumps of Tegu; however, this only leads to worsening their current life and ruining their future.
Our first week in Honduras, Tony took us on a bus ride around the city to visit the ministry locations that teams would be serving at during the month. One of our stops was La Kennedy. This community is in a ravine behind a store/bus station. There are many families living down in the ravine in shacks made of nothing more than tin and wood tilt ups. Sheets are strung up to separate a family’s area from other people. The people are dressed in clothes that have been worn for many, many years and are completely threadbare. And the kids there are playing with toys that are so broken that they are completely inoperable. While walking around this community, I went into one of the “yards.” I was told this was the stepfather of two of Tony’s boys. As I’m standing there, he starts to have a seizure, foaming at the mouth and his skin temperature could have fried an egg in seconds. I was later told that this man had just come off a month-long thinner and alcohol binge. This man just represented the sin and the desperation that has encompassed Tegucigalpa.
While we were living at Tony’s, we were constantly surrounded by the boys and girls living on his compound. We were able to bond with these kids and get to know them on a personal level. These boys and girls were amazing. Because they had decided to live with Tony, they were required to give up thinner, go to school, and take on responsibilities on the compound. They were able to break the horrible cycle that many in Tegucigalpa viewed as “too difficult.” These boys gave me hope that no one is too far gone.
On another note, my next deadline is fast approaching!! In two weeks, I have to have $11,000 in my account. I am currently 900 dollars shy. Would you be able to help me reach my deadline. Allow your money to help be the hands and feet of God to those around the world!
