January 25, 2013- It’s our day off and we left to go to the market at the “Valle de Angeles” (valley of Angles) at 1:00pm. The Valle de Angeles is right next to the tilapia farm we’ve been working at all week. We got there with the expectations we would get internet at this nice Italian restaurant. Change of plans. The restaurant was closed. There were all these shops and we walked around and bought little souvenirs. This was a very touristy area compared to where we’ve been so far. My whole team bought a ring with the Lord’s Prayer (in Spanish) with our fun money. I also got a map of Honduras because im collecting a map from every country I go to. Elissa, Pamela, Kellie, Julia, and I wound up finding another Italian restaurant we all got pasta and the linguini I got was so good. It’s nice to switch it up after eating rice and beans every day. There was word on the streets there was a little internet café on the other side of the market. After we ate we headed there and it was 20 lempira ($1) to get the internet code. I could only use the internet for a minute because we were pressed on time, so I quickly uploaded my last blog and ran out the door to catch the bus back to Zion’s Gate.
January 26, 2013- Today we went to the city dump. We had debrief in the morning with our ministry contact Marcos, who explained not to wear jewelry or fancy clothes, no makeup, no cameras. Over 2,000 families live and work in the city dump. People build their houses out of tires, plastics, and scraps they find. My team cooked spaghetti to hand out to the people in the dump. We decided as a squad to fast for lunch. When you get there its nothing like you would ever expect, there’s tons of people digging their way through the trash. There are cows and dogs eating the trash, and tons of birds flying overhead. There are pregnant women and babies walking around barefoot. The stench is like a million garbage cans rotting in the sun. The wind constantly blows debris and dirt into your eyes. My heart was breaking for these people and I thought…Why them, and then the question that hit my heart was why me? Why am I so blessed? I just prayed over this city and the people that are struggling so hard that they call the dump “home”. They raise their families here and this is how they live generation after generation. There was a heavy sadness everywhere, I couldn’t escape it. I spent time with a man that was digging through the trash and found a charm that said “Pray for us” he was asking me donde? So I got someone who knew a little more Spanish. Kellie wound up translating and talking to him and he was telling us how his son turns one tomorrow and he can’t afford to get him any clothes for his birthday. He pointed into the distance to where his home was. Kellie told him that love is way more important to give his son then clothes or anything monetary. Kellie prayed over him and his family in this hard time. He gave us the charm he found in the trash and I will remember him forever, the sadness in his eyes, the rips in his clothes, and the brokenness of his heart. The bus ride back was really quiet I overheard a conversation Tony was having about the government corruption here in Honduras. The government hasn’t paid the police or the teachers in over 3 months, that’s why the police are demanding money at checkpoints now. The teachers are going on strike and the education system is getting worse. People are getting desperate for money. There is so much sadness in the country and its only getting worse. As a squad we talked about how hard it was today we were all in tears about how God needs to do something big in Honduras. How the corruption needs to stop and the Hondurans need to take a stand. We had a girls night/ boys night and all the girls did and lock in movie night, while the boys went camping. I had a blast painting our nails and watching movies. It was a great way to unwind after such a heart breaking day.
January 27, 2013- I woke up in an adventurous mood. Some of the girls and I caught the public bus to go to an arts and crafts store called YIP in Tegucigalpa. I probably should of spent the day doing laundry but I didn’t. We hung out in Tegucigalpa, got food and internet and headed back to Zion’s Gate around 4:00 because we wanted to come back for the soccer game; it was the American’s vs. the Hondurans. Whoever loses has to give up their favorite shirt. The American’s lost by one point so most of our world race shirts were traded to the Honduran boys. They were really thoughtful though and gave their jerseys to the ones who played against them. We found out that we are going to Teresa’s private beach property for our end of the month vacation. Emma’s mom and Erica donated so that the boys could come with us (Thank you all for making that possible!)
January 28, 2013- Today Love story stayed at Zion’s Gate for ministry. It was nice not having to haul all over town in the wee hours of the morning because the traffic here is terrible. We painted murals on the rocks coming into Zion’s Gate, Its starting to look really fun and colorful. I did two that I liked a lot I did a blue ombre rock and another one that I wrote “El Rey” meaning the king in Spanish. I loved working on the compound because during my lunch break I did laundry. Roar finished the rabbit cage today, and it looks awesome, they did a really good job. I actually got to take a warm shower after ministry because the tanks were refilled today and also heating up in the sun. Oh it’s the little things! I walked to the Pulperia and bought little Anderson an ice cream cone. It’s always nice to bless the boys here at Zion’s Gate. The kids found out that their grandma who was sick had passed away today. I hated to see them grieving it was so sad. I sat with them and prayed over their healing and their strength in this time of mourning. Love story is designated to do Unsung Hero’s this month so we had debrief about how that’s going to look. We are searching for other missionaries in the country we are going to and try to link them up with each other and the world race. We will be spending about 50% of our ministry time working on that project and every month it switches to a new team. If you have any ministry connections in El Salvador please let me know.
January 29, 2013- We all woke up with the expectation that we were going to split into two groups and feed over 1,000 people in two different communities. At our meeting our plans completely changed. Kat and Jeremy had a scavenger hunt called “Treasure in Tegoose” There were 3 categories we had to complete to win. Pictures were 1 point, physical items were 3 points and videos were 5 points.
Physical Items:
Green mango
Guava
Can or bottle of Dr. Pepper
Spanish Bible
Bag of flavored marshmallows
1 handmade craft that says Honduras
1 pair of oven mitts
Slice of quatro leche cake
Meat “carne” empanada
Street vendor plaintain chips
Nutella
Photos: (none of which can be on the squad)
Clown
American
Picking nose
Monkey
Statue of the president
Animal pooping
3+ people on a motorcycle
Old man with a hat
Posted blog screen pic from today
Picture of a stranger doing a photo bomb
Every member of our team dressed up
Videos:
Teammate singing or dancing and stranger’s applause
Stranger on video saying “this is the world race” in English
Worst Spanish speaker on the team asking where the bathroom is in Spanish (donde el bano)
Stranger saying “yo nessisito poo poo”
Team flash mob
Stranger saying YOLO in an English sentence
Spinning a strange child around
Video of your teammate farting in public
Giving an ice-cream cone to a child
Teammate hugging a homeless
Sing “baby baby” by the Biebs with a stranger
Ok, so that is a lot harder to do then you think but we had a blast doing it! I’m pretty sure we had the best flash mob thanks to Pam’s creativity. We sung “daylight come and me wanna go home” in the food court of the “city mall” in Tegucigalpa. People were looking at us like we were crazy but we got an applause at the end. We had to be back at Zions gate at 1:00 to turn in our physical items, pictures and video. Love story came in 4th place but we had an amazing time. Once they were done announcing the winner (Team Noria) we had free time the rest of the day. A few of us jumped back on the bus and went to the mall to just shop around and relax. There been a lot of really bad brush-fires up in the mountains here because it’s been so hot and dry. There are no fire-trucks in Tegucigalpa. I had a great shopping day with Grace and finally got a REAL pillow at this store called Lady Lee best $5 I’ve spent thus far on the race. Some of the squad went to go see a movie; other just had a relaxing internet day. I got to talk to my whole family today which was awesome. We caught a bus back around 6:00 and we happened to be the only people on it. They turned the music up really loud and put the party bus lights on. World race party! We had a really good worship session and we took communion tonight, super missionary style with grape juice and tortillas.
January 30, 2013- Oh that pillow did wonders to my night sleep. We headed up to the local school for an “Answer the Call Ministries” seminar. It was nice to sit in a desk and learn, it’s been awhile. After we ate lunch we all had a Zion’s Gate property clean up. We filled up about 6 full black trash bags and 2 barrels full of trash. The littering in the country is insane, people don’t even think twice. There’s trash everywhere and it’s always blowing around everywhere. We had chicken quesadillas for dinner and then the Americans had a rematch for the soccer game. We rented a space in doors to play and we won! The Honduran boys were upset and either walked or hitchhiked home. It’s a known fact they don’t like to lose. We are headed to the beach tomorrow and it’s a 4 hour ride. I’m only packing my bathing suit, sunscreen, my eno hammock, a sleeping bag, and my pillow!
January 31, 2013- We all woke up early to go to the beach we were ready to go at 8:30 but the bus didn’t show up until about 10:00 it was a 4 hour bus ride. We got to the beach and we were supposed to take a little boat to the island but it was so shallow we walked. It was about a 15 minute hike with all of our gear through the muck and the mangroves. There were pigs and cows roaming freely on the beach. When I got to our camp site I set up my hammock and walked down to the water, there were a ton of sand dollars everywhere. The kids in the local village were taking things out of our hands and running away with them. One of the kids took one of our purses, spilled the contents all over the ground and spit on it. We wound up designating people to watch the camp at all times for our safety. I few other squad members were getting stung by jellyfish. It was nice to get in the Pacific Ocean, it feels like pool water. The beach here is beautiful you can see the mountains in the distance and the farthest mountain range is El Salvador. We sat around the camp fire, played cards, and ate hotdogs. This is paradise after a long month of moving rocks. Teresa blessed us big time with letting us stay here. Some of the people on the squad had never been to the beach before. There were a ton of shooting stars, and a lot of the squad slept on the beach to just encompass this whole experience. The crabs go crazy on the beach at night and you can hear them all around. There was a nice cool breeze, it was so incredible to be in my hammock, and this is the best night sleep I’ve had in a while.
February 1, 2013- I can’t believe it is February already! I woke up at 6:30 to roosters crowing. It’s just a blessing to be able to wake up and walk the beach. It was low tide so we went sand-bar hoping. I think we had to be about a quarter – half mile away from shore. It looked like we could swim to the mountain ranges on the other side. We were informed that high tide was coming in soon so we had to hurry back. The beach was so salty, everyone was so dehydrated. Donnie showed up on the beach and it was nice we got to see him one more time. He said he would keep us updated on Teresa’s tilapia farm (I’m holding you to it Donnie). We took our fifteen minute hike back to the bus; it was treacherous with a sun burn. I chugged down like two Gatorades I bought at a Pulperia when we got back to the bus. We stopped a lot on the way back so it took a little over 4 hours. A couple of Tony’s boys got to see their dad who owns a Pulperia, they only get to see him like twice a year when they are passing through the little town. We also stopped at this gas station/ restaurant to eat and use the restroom. The beef and rice was so good! Going to the bathroom was an experience though; there were no toilet seats, and no toilet paper. Good thing we just got done camping and came prepared. We got back right at 5:00 and there was a line out the door to the bathroom to use the shower. I decided to pack all my stuff up first which was torture because I had terrible sunburn. We had a little goodbye debrief for Tony and said goodbye to all the boys. It was so heartbreaking leaving this place. I made a promise I would come back one day. We also found out that our debrief would be at the beach in El Salvador and our ministry would be in San Vincente.
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Until next week…
