What does a month spent in the Honduran mountains look like? Well, you’re about to find out (if you continue reading, that is).
Most of our time this month was spent with our ministry contact and host, Pastor Sebastian and his family. Sometimes this meant playing with Abi, Pastor Sebastian’s six-year-old daughter, other times it was helping Norma and Sarita (Pastor Sebastian’s wife and 18-year-old daughter) with meals in the kitchen, sometimes it involved goofing around with Yefferson (pronounced “Jefferson”), Pastor’s 16-year-old son, or just hanging out with Pastor himself and his whole family. Together, we shared many laughs, hugs, jokes, food, and memories.
On off days, we usually went into either Gracias, or La Esperanza, about an hour bus ride away, either way. Pastor and Yefferson usually came with us too. We would eat lunch, go to wifi cafes, and walk around the various shops in the area.
One of my favorite memories is of the day we went to a natural hot spring with the whole family, which even involved a water slide. AT, Yefferson, and Donaldo (Sarita’s boyfriend), and I spent a good part of the day racing up to the top of the slide and seeing who could slide down the fastest, or craziest.
Another was sharing Thanksgiving meal with the whole family. It may not have been exactly like Thanksgiving in the States, but in a way, it was still home and I was still with family.
And of course, playing with Abi in her house was always fun (minus the biting sand flies). She patiently taught me how to cook, clean and decorate in her playhouse. She might have even taught me a few more Spanish words.
Another fun thing we were able to experience while in Honduras was learning the Honduran process of coffee roasting. Two of the members of the church, David and Angelica, invited us to their beautiful home so Angelica could teach us.
The first step of course, is picking the berries. They looked a lot like cranberries.
Picking the berries was a lot of fun and made me nostalgic for Upstate NY where I grew up picking all kinds of fruit. Not to mention, it was around Thanksgiving and the cranberry-looking berries gave me an even greater craving for some home-made cranberry sauce.
After the berries were picked, they were laid out in the sun to dry. This process usually takes a few days.
Once dry, the husks are much more ready to come off the actual coffee bean. We sorted through the dried beans to take out any of the remaining husks and any black or rotten beans. The more thorough you are in this cleaning process, the purer the coffee and thus, the better it tastes.
The dried beans were finally ready for roasting when we finished cleaning them.
Once the beans had started to roast, we used a gourd to scoop out the flaky outsides of the beans. This was a lot like separating chaff from wheat – just a little Biblical analogy for you (thanks, Joey). After scooping the beans, they were simply poured back into the pot and the unwanted flakes were able to drift away in the breeze. Again, the more thorough you are in this separation process, the better the coffee will taste.
It took about an hour to roast the coffee to completion. The smell was glorious.
So glorious I couldn’t resist tasting a bean…or two.
And of course, we had to sample some of our work.
Not to toot my own horn or anything, but it was absolutely delicious.
My team with our squad leader, Kylie, and Angelica, David and their daughter, Litzy.
My team had so much fun immersing ourselves into Honduran culture in this exciting and unique way. We are so thankful for a truly unforgettable experience here in Honduras.
Changing gears a little bit….
….X-Squad is headed for Asia today! Just 4 layovers, 76 hours, and 5 planes from now we will be in the Philippines! I can’t tell you how excited I am to actually be overseas for the first time. My team will be working with “Threads of Hope,” a ministry dedicated to keeping families out of the sex industry by providing avenues of sustainable living (i.e., selling home-made bracelettes). We will be joining four other girls from another team (the other half of their team will be participating in “manistry” month with the rest of the guys on the squad) for the month. We are all extremely excited about this new adventure.
Please pray for continued safety, love, grace and unity for my team and squad this month and that ultimately God will be glorified in everything.
On another note, thanks to your faithfulness and the Lord’s goodness, I am fully funded to complete the World Race! Praise Jesus for that! From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU all for the ways you’ve shown your support of this journey, financial and otherwise. I am forever grateful and look forward to sharing the rest of this adventure with you!
Blessings & Prayers,
Emily
