this is my squadmate, Jochem's, blog that will give you a general idea of what last month looked like… THANKS JOCHEM!
Myself and four ladies from my squad ended up in Antigua, Guatemala three extra days because two girls were not feeling well enough to travel back to Tegucigalpa with the rest of the team. For that reason, I didn't get back to ministry in Honduras until May 13. This is month 9, and it was different than any other month because for the first time, we were all together as a squad. Yes, all 50 of us at ONE location. Hard to believe it's possible, but we did it. We camped out at Zion's Gate Ministry with tents and sleeping bags. The beans and rice were plentiful, and there was always someone to talk.
Zion's Gate Ministries was founded by Tony Deien about five years ago. Tony is a fantastic guy who does some real and raw ministry in the surrounding Tegucigalpa area. Tony's main ministry is in the streets of Tegucigalpa. He talks with young boys on the streets or that are hanging around the dumpsters- usually very high on paint thinner. He invites them to live on his property (where we stayed), where he shares the love of Jesus as well as offering them motivation to live a life worthy of their calling. Tony's job is VERY difficult, as though the boys have a better life on his property, they still often make bad decisions such as staying out past curfew, fighting, or using drugs.
We did a plethora of activities this month at Zion's Gate. While I was still in Guatemala, my team did manual labor working on a garden. This may sound or seem easy, but you try digging in the dirt in Honduras. Rock after rock after rock, this took patience and hard work. The day after I returned, our team had “our day” with Tony. We got to take one of the boys, Carlos, into town and enjoy time with him. We enjoyed time at a grocery store, lunch at the mall, and then visited Carlos's mom who live in Los Pinos- Sector F. This is an extremely dangerous area of Tegucigalpa where murders are very common. This is where Carlos was from and where he was raised.
We spent three days at Heart of Christ Ministries in Talanga, Honduras. Heart of Christ is a ministry that takes in 10 year old-18 year old girls and their babies. They have had babies due to rape or incest. Joseph and I got to do some labor such as installing barb wire and building picnic tables while the five girls on our team took care of babies. We had a great time with the girls playing hide and seek, doing hair, and going to the pulperia.
After getting back from Heart of Christ, we had a few more days of hard labor, which included helping pour concrete at the bunny house, which is a business that one of the boys on Tony's property is starting. Great idea and great income potential! More hard digging, breaking huge rocks, and party music while we worked away!
We were blessed to be able to go to the mall once a week to shop, watch a movie at the cinema, and grab some internet. Tony was able to bless us with a squad trip to the beach. It was a beautiful, secluded beach that bordered Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador. The beach and scenery was beautiful, so fantastic! We were able to kick back, relax, and enjoy God's creation while getting our bronzeeee onnnn.
One last thing I wanted to mention. The day before we left, we were able to go to thetrash dump outside of Tegucigalpa. We were only there for about 20 minutes because it started to storm really bad when we just arrived there. Scenes at the dump I will always remember. Swarms of people surrounding every trash truck that came, sorting out rubber, plastic, and cardboard. NO ONE stopped working when it started raining, even when it was POURING rain. I only got to have one real conversation with two ladies who worked there. You can check out the picture below.
There you have it! Honduras in a nutshell…an amazing country with fantastic people and tasty food!
