This month we are in Honduras working and living in a foster home. There are foster parents and foster moms, and the rest of us are tias (aunts). You’ve probably seen a lot of pictures of painting. We’ve been doing a lot of that these first two weeks. We’ve done two murals, chevron stripes, and redid a nursery (which was my personal favorite).
Thursday and Friday we were in training to take over for the staff during Semana Santa (Holy Week). We’ll be filling in for a lot of the staff while they get one of their two weeks of vacation a year.
We’ll be working Saturday through Saturday. We’ve been able to build relationships with the kids and family unit while we’ve been here and are eager to spend more time with them.
Every day we’ve gotten home-cooked meals, hot showers, cool temperatures, beds to sleep in, and amazing views to wake up to (not to mention a small pulperia (convenience store) on the corner), which has been very unexpected but much appreciated. I also feel like I’ve finally mastered the art of hand-washing clothes so that they don’t still stink when you’re done (shout out to Saul!).
The city we are staying in was rated the safest city in Honduras this year. We can definitely tell. We’re in a gated community with a guard present at all times. We have gotten to know a lot of the members of the community who live off our circle.
If you’ve seen pictures, you can tell this place is just gorgeous. With tree-covered mountains that are hidden by the morning fog. When the city loses power (as it frequently does) at nigh, the sky is covered with the most beautiful stars. We have rooftop access, where I frequently escape just to take it all in.
We’re just blocks away from everything we could possibly need: clothing stores (including second-hand), grocery store, coffee shops, other convenience stores, and, my personal favorite, a farmer’s market. Supposedly the farmer’s market is every morning, but the big one shows up on Sunday mornings. Ahhhh I just love supporting local farmers. You can get fresh chicken, fish, bread, lots of vegetables (including broccoli!), lots of fruits (including berries), homemade sweet treats, packaged sweets, etc. etc. etc.
We’ve made friends with a couple taxi drivers, a barber, the owners of a local coffee shop, and the workers at the closest pulperia. Most everything we need is within walking distance, but there are other mall-type stores just a short taxi drive away. There’s a place here called Mendels (which sounds to me like Mardels but is more like a Penney’s or Macy’s).
After this month we’ll be travelling by plane, which means I’ll need to purge a few things before weighing my bag at the airport, as I have collected quite a few more things along the way.
CULTURAL THINGS
I don’t know about the rest of the country, but what I’ve experienced in the town we’re in is that they pride themselves on their ability to be self-sustaining. They like that they don’t draw negative attention and everyone helps everyone, which, in turn, helps keep it a safer place.
It is culturally expected to that you greet someone with whom you make eye contact.
Honduras food is a lot of rice, eggs, beans, tortillas, queso fresco, a sour cream-like sauce, a red sauce, and fruits and vegetables. Yuuuummm.
Taxi drivers here have a flat fee of 20 lemps, regardless of where in the town you are going (which is awesome considering 22 lempiras = 1 US dollar).
WAYS TO PRAY
- Please pray for the government here, as the foster care system is corrupt. It is difficult to work with the country’s foster care system and therefore difficult for children to be adopted out of foster care.
- Pray for the staff, that they will have a wonderful time off this week to celebrate with their friends and families what the Lord has done.
- Please pray for us as we are learning the roles we will need to fill. Pray that long days would allow us to sleep soundly and wake up refreshed at the start of each new day this week.
- I’ve been learning things that ultimately come down to my identity, which seem overwhelming at times. Pray that I’ll learn to work through it in a healthy, life-breathing manner.
- Several of our teammates have been sick these first couple of weeks. Pray for health and recovery.
Thanks so much for supporting me prayerfully and financially. The Lord is doing AWESOME things because of you!
