Holla! We made it to Tulonga Honduras! Our ministry this month is working at an orphanage called “Heart of Christ” in rural Honduras. Our ministry hosts are amazing. Papa Lee and Momma Gracie are two Americans who run the Orphanage and host several WorldRace teams throughout the year. Momma Gracie and Papa Lee have such an amazing heart for the women and children of this community. In Tulonga there are many women who are abused and sometimes they are sold into sex trafficking. Momma Gracie and Papa Lee work with the local authorities to try and bring Justice to these people. Many times Momma Gracie will house single mothers in the orphanage to help them escape the violence they are facing at home or on the streets. As a World Race team our role is to help Momma Gracie, Papa Lee, and the rest of the staff to teach the children their school work, help them with basic care, and to just love them. “Heart of Christ” also takes care of two girls with Cerebral Palsy. I chose to work with these girls on our first day of ministry along with Brittany and Hallie. So this month I will be helping care for them along with my other squad mates. Our role is to help teach the nurses aid who Is on staff better strategies on how to care for them. These girls need special attention and exercises so they can build up their strength and mobility. Having never worked with CP patients before, this was super challenging for me, and as the only RN on the team I feel compelled to do the best I can to work with them and try and build up their strength. Working with these girls is a lot harder than I thought. It can be very draining at times, but it’s also so rewarding when you can make them smile or laugh.
God is teaching me so much about how I need to be more confident and step out of my comfort zone. Im usually not the person who offers to pray or who is super outspoken in their faith but this month is slowly changing that. Every other day we have a Bible study with Momma Gracie and boy does she challenge us! She will literally call on us at random in the middle of bible study and ask us what we think or how we feel about whatever it is we are talking about. Im learning about how to be more in tune to the Holy Spirit and what that looks like in my life. So I’ll keep you posted on that! 😉
Our living situation is very nice by worldrace standards! We have dorm type rooms with bunkbeds! There is no running water but they collect the rain water in “Pllas” and then we haul the water up to the large barrels by our bathroom. We take bucket showers and “flush” the toilets by filling up cups of water and pouring it in the toilets until they flush! We have jugs of drinking water so that is super nice, but I do miss ice!! Its rainy season here so it rains just about every day which is good because we won’t run out of water! There is electricity at the ministry but the dorm rooms don’t have any so we use flashlights at night. The food has been pretty good. There is a cook on staff at the orphanage so she cooks for us. We eat a lot of rice and beans with homemade tortillas! They are so good! For lunch today we have chicken tostadas! It was my favorite meal so far. The food is very authentic! So far I have seen a cockroach the size of my palm and a tarantula! The bugs don’t seem to scare the kids at all, but they sure enjoy watching the “gringos” scream and run!! I’m starting to pick up a little Spanish which is kind of fun. I’m really enjoying my time here and the people are very friendly. I especially love that at 3pm everyday everyone stops working to take a coffee break and socialize. Keep my team on your prayers as we do our best to love these people and bring the hope of Christ to them!
