Alright, so, I have internet access at a Honduras “Wendy’s.” But, it’s not legitimately Wendy’s because there is no dollar menu, nor can you buy just a burger, it has to be meal. So, I bought two meals, and one of them wasn’t what I ordered… oh well.
So, posting pictures on this blog is a nightmare with the super-slow internet. So, please look me up on facebook, just ‘Seth Rehmert,’ and I will add you as a friend. All the pictures I can upload so much easier to there. So please, add me and check out the pics.
Hope you all are doing well! Here’s a post I wrote just a few days ago:
Thursday,
January 24, 2013, 4:42 PM
So, we’ve been in Honduras for a
little over two weeks so far and I’m really enjoying it. The food here is
excellent. Las Papusas son mi amor. I may or may not have won the guys taco
eating contest last night and had no desire for breakfast this morning. I
didn’t push my body too hard, I just ate until it said, “Seth, no more.” I
really think God blessed it. I have had no complications since.
God is good, and He has been so gracious to me these
last few days. He’s really helped me work and love people in spite of some head
cold/sinus infection which has plagued probably half of O Squad since we
arrived.
All forty some of us are sharing the same washing
board, the same two showers, and three toilets. Many of us have not showered in
days. J There is no hot water
with the showers (yes, it wakes you up in the morning). I also have a new
appreciation for washing and drying machines. I have fed a wild monkey at the
park. I have been accompanied by wandering horses while watering the property. I’ve
seen yoked oxen pulling carts. Oso, one of the puppies on the property, ate a
loaf of bread that I bought causing a serious breach in our relationship. He no
longer sleeps at my feet throughout the night.
Riding public transportation has been fun. They
usually pack your bus chalk full of people, so I ususally end up standing for
most of the trip with little personal bubble space. Kids come onto the buses at
stops selling Mangos and chocolote. Traffic is nuts. It’s amazing I haven’t
seen a wreck yet. It’s really a free-for-all.
There are paid-guards at almost every gas station,
most packing 10 or 12 gauge shotgun with a collapsible stock. Why? Because gas
and pop are expensive in Honduras.
Your average worker in the field will make three to five dollars in a ten hour
day. So, a day’s wages is pretty much a gallon of gas.
Almost all of the stone walls have nails or broken
glass mortared on the top to keep people from climbing over. The windows on
almost every store are backed by cemented (prison cell) posts. We have two
guards at our residence 24/7 actually, and many guards I have seen so far pack
an assault rifle, a sidearm, and wear kevlar. I don’t mean to frighten anybody,
God is watching over us, but after arriving I learned that Honduras is
actually the murder capital of the world. Fortunately for us, 80% of those
murders are drug related. So, as long as we stay in the right neighborhoods
we’re alright.
The city is filthy in many places. Poor sanitation,
trash in the streets, people digging through trash for plastic bottles to sell
for recycling, you don’t have to go very far to find it. And some of the
mangiest dogs I’ve seen live here.
The ministry itself has been pretty
legit for me. I know most of the girls aren’t big fans of the manual labor, but
I’ve enjoyed it. We have moved mountains of rocks. Honduran soil in good places
is 50% rock, 50% dirt, and on Tony’s property I’m certain it’s 80/20. We have
unearthed rocks over 300 lbs clearing the property.
There is a ministry nearby that we
have helped out with that has specifically impacted me. It’s a shelter that
Mrs. Gracee runs that I’m going to leave unamed. It’s a home for young girls
and their children. Most of these children are the result of incest. Some of
these girls were personally rescued by Mrs. Grace shortly after they had been
sold by their parents in the sex trade. One of these girls, whose son is at the
shelter, is twelve years old.
Learning all of this really hit me.
Mrs. Gracee has worked to set thousands of these young girls free and has on
many, many occasions joined the police on the raid. She has literally changed
the lives of thousands of young women over the past 7 years that she has been
in Honduras.
There have been four assassination attempts made on her and the shelter she
keeps the girls in looks more like the Alamo.
She actually has two full-bred Rotwilers that are probably capable of eating a
person whole.
The kids at her shelter are so cute.
Some of them are mentally handi-capped and one girl is deaf. All of them have
been, essentially, given a safe place to live, receive an education, and -for
the mothers – raise their children. It was such a cool place and such a
powerful ministry. God has really used it in a powerful powerful way.
So, what did I do to help them? I
worked to make a huge cement gutter on the north side of their property for the
terrential rainfall that is common to Honduras. We cleared the ground,
mixed the cement (Honduran style), laid the block, and poured the cement. I was
also able to play with the kids some. J
All in all, it has been a great
experience. God has been teaching and growing the whole squad and the unity we
have is incredible. God is at work in us and working through us. As always, I
envy your prayers and hope to hear from you soon! Unfortunately, I only get
internet access like once a week and it’s always patchy at best. Love you guys,
God bless, and I’ll talkatcha later. Take care ya’ll.
-Seth
