Our squad arrived in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, after a successful four-hour bus ride and border crossing from Nicaragua. Then, each team went separate ways with its ministry host for the month. It was difficult to say goodbye to our squadmates, but fun to be with just our team once again.
Our ministry director, Melissa, picked us up and told us about the organization that we are working with called Misión Caribe (Caribbean Mission). Their mission statement is to plant churches, grow leaders, and serve communities. They currently have eight church plants in Honduras, one of which we are serving at for the month in El Paraíso (Paradise).
We stayed at their missionary house for a glorious two days filled with multiple bathrooms, couches, fresh food, Wi-Fi, a guitar, and lots of space. We even went to a huge shopping mall, where the silver shine, air conditioning, and free crêpes felt very foreign.
Melissa and her husband, Miguel, drove us two hours to our ministry site. On the way, I got to see beautiful mountains and houses built perilously on hillsides. We were introduced to our ministry hosts for the month, Mike and Teresa, whose home we are staying in. They are a North American couple working to serve the community and develop local leaders in the church.
During the first week, we assisted with a variety of things including: English classes, youth group, discipleship classes, and house visits with the local pastor, Mauro. We were able to help Teresa lead Sunday school as well. Anywhere from 30-50 kids have to fit in a tiny room, so it can be very chaotic. We made signs with lyrics of songs on them and taught them to the kids. We also played games, read a bible story, made crafts, and helped them learn a bible verse.
The ministry that took most of our time was teaching English to students from first to sixth grade. Sometimes, we had to teach by ourselves. Other times, we had a partner or two from our team. It was my first time teaching in my life, and I enjoyed it a lot. I taught the alphabet, verbs and animals. We played Charades and sang Old McDonald Had a Farm.
The kids were fairly well-behaved and eager to learn English. One class asked me to extend the lesson because they wanted to know more. One favorable aspect was that they were fascinated with our skin, eyes and hair. Groups of kids crowded around us during recess and asked for our autographs.
Another fun part of this week was experiencing various adventures. Giovanni, a man who works at a local grocery store, is highly interested in tourism so he helped us to go on multiple trips. We climbed a small mountain, which had a huge cross at the top and a beautiful view. We hiked the property of a farm, drank locally made coffee, and received free massages.
One day was full of activities like milking cows, riding horses, fishing for tilapia, harvesting coffee, and hiking to (and up!) a waterfall. I had to skip a few things in the morning because I got very carsick on the curvy roads to the site. However, after I recovered, I caught a fish, plucked coffee beans, used a machete, and trudged through a beautiful forest. It was a blast!
Thank you for your endless support and encouragement. I could use prayers this month for discernment and wisdom when deciding how to serve best in my daily life here. Love ya!
