Go Honduras, Day 2

7/13

We wake up and come down to a delicious breakfast of eggs, black beans, salsa, queso blanco (yummy salty cheese!) and plaintains.  I love eating breakfast in Central America.  It has made plain scrambled eggs boring.  Today, we headed out to "the country," headed out for some land that the Waldrons own.  Now, yesterday I thought that riding on an old school bus on Honduran city roads was pretty bad.  Now I have experienced something even worse!  But man, was it a blast.

We set out for the country on the school bus, then switched to revamped military vehicles, painted in green and owned by Mission Upreach.  We needed these vehicles for the last few miles out to the Waldron's property.  There are not enough seats on these trucks for all of us, so half of us were standing in the bed bracing ourselves with the rails that extend over the back.  So, imagine the roads that I described yesterday, except this time it is a very steep path that is more like a hiking trail.  There are horses, sometimes with riders and sometimes without, mosying back and forth, and seeming to be uncertain of which way to go.  When we go around a curve, there are no rails.  It takes us about 20 minutes to travel about 2 miles.  I can't help but laugh and smile the entire way because of the people that I am with and the beautiful mountain landscape.  How do they cultivate coffee on the side of a mountain?  They do!

When we reach the Waldron's property, I am overwhelmed with joy when I see so many people already having fun.  There is a baseball game taking place.  Jennifer tells me that "the gringos" won the first game.  Many people are also playing volleyball.  I get a glimpse of Cody making a good catch for a ball that would have been a foul otherwise.  There are several kids running around, a couple of them "playing football" with Adam.  Jerry and Phil are busy at the grill cooking chicken for 130 people.  Margie is cheering on some kids that are playing corn hole.  Soon enough, Jessie comes up to me and asks if I would like to go on a hike around the property led by Donna.

So off we go!  Donna shows us her lime trees and we pick two bags full of limes.  The back of the field is covered with growing corn and bean plants.  Donna tells us that the caretaker of her land asked to plant a small section of vegetables.  Somehow, this translated into the entire field, including cutting back a mango tree to provide sun for his beans.  Oops.

We also found some creatures!  Alan took photos of a grasshopper about 5 inches long, bright yellow.  We also found a nest in the ground full of frogs.  Donna said that most kids run away when they see a frog, because there are some that are poisonous.

It is near lunchtime by the time we get back, and we all gather around to pray together.  We have delicious grilled chicken, some spicy veggies, rice, fresh tortillas and lemon tea.  Someone also found two big bunches of bananas that we grilled.  I ate with some of the staff of Mission Upreach-- Ashley, the staff RN, who was being picked on by their resident medical student, Field, who was saying jokingly that she would have to take orders from him.  "Yeah, right... baby medical student," I said.  "Sure she will."  I also met Diane from D.C., who is Puerto Rican and speaks fluent Spanish, and Jaye, who is Linda Sue's sister.

After lunch we set up for church service under the tents.  Most of the service was in Spanish, and it was quite easy to sing along to about half of them, since they were some of the songs we sing in English.  "Open the Eyes of My Heart" and "When We All Get to Heaven" were two of my favorites.  Phil's sermon was translated into English by John "the tour guide."  The first part was about how wonderful it was to be together.  We had 7 nations represented out of everyone there.  He quoted Revelation 7:9 -- "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice."  He said that thinking about how it was going to be will make him excited.  Language won't matter.  No one will be embarrassed about how they worship.

The second part of the sermon was devoted to the beginning process of the selection of elders.  The church that was there has been recently planted, and they have 4 interim elders.  Phil passed out papers to each member of the church and asked them to write in who they would like to be considered as elders, guiding them with what it says about elders in the Bible, such as in Acts 6:3.  After the voting had been completed, we concluded worship with some more songs, and then we started breaking down tents and such.

Now that I am having time to reflect on the week like this, I must say that for how busy Phil and Donna are, they are quite calm and collected.  I get a resounding message that they are at peace and being filled by the Lord by being in Santa Rosa and doing what they do.  Phil was so calm and settled when he preached his sermon in fluent Spanish.  I want to be that confident in the Lord one day.

The rest of the day was followed by rest in the afternoon, since a lot of us had played pretty hard at sports!  We had dinner that night of some more chicken (I think) with vegetables and smoothies.  (Truthfully, this is when I stopped journaling in real time because all of us started getting really busy the next day.  I am going to try my best to remember some key points of each day.)  Donna concluded dinner with some schedule clarification for Monday, then Sunday (I believe) is the first night that we had our group devotional in the back corner of the hotel.

Adam led a couple of songs, and I was impressed by how well our teenagers sing.  Hey you parents of teens!  You have raised some great men and women.  I saw them do great things within this week, which I hope to describe some in this blog.  They are going to do much for the Lord with their lives.

I don't really remember what we talked about that night, but I think the major reflection that Jerry was asking for was what we saw on the trip from San Pedro Sula to Santa Rosa that was striking.  Many people mentioned the poverty, the trash along the road, and the roads themselves.  Yet I can't really get over how humble and inviting Hondurans are and how much they are willing to share what little they might possess.  They have something different than we do to share about love, kindness, and, essentially, being Jesus.

Go Honduras Adventures! --- Day 1

Well, it's time to revive the blog for quite a few reasons.  First, I would like to write about my time in Honduras with my Campus View family while it is somewhat fresh on my mind.  Also, I am going to have to write out my thoughts if I am ever going to process moving to Houston and working at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center!  My name is Jessica, and I am MD Anderson.  That's how I am supposed to introduce myself now.  :)

So, I will start off with what I while in Santa Rosa de Copan.  I only wrote for a few days, and then I got so busy that I either was too tired to write or just didn't have the time.  Here's what I wrote so far:
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7/12
Oddly enough I have not been nervous or jittery about anything at this point.  I guess I have been keeping busy enough not to have any time to reflect... maybe that would make me nervous.  I guess we'll see by the time I have finished writing.

Left Athens.  Left America.  Entering San Pedro Sula.  Will come back to America.  Back to Griffin.  Leaving for Houston.  Current plan?  I guess it is a permanent move.  We'll see.

I don't think my lack of nervousness has anything to do with the fact that I don't care, because I do.  I hope it has everything to do with the fact that God's plan is THE plan, and He cares about me and will protect me.  With all the work I have had to do for everything, I feel prepared.  When I left for Guatemala, I was terrified.  Maybe this is old hat.

What should I expect for Houston?  Big.  That's all I can think about.  I can see myself tearfully driving down the road, a dull ache in my stomach.  But not yet.  I think the ache is more for my parents.

Will I like it?

7/12, Arrival in San Pedro Sula

 

 


 When I get to international customs on arrival anywhere, that is about the point where I get tired of the airport.  We waited about an hour in line to get processed, and by that point, someone from our group has finally made it through to pick up all of the luggage at the baggage claim.  At the terminal entrance we meet John -- for all intensive purposes, our "tour guide" for today.  (Really, he is in charge of transportation for Mission Upreach.)  We are waiting for someone to arrive on another flight, so we exchange money with one of the employees of the terminal.  I trade $40 for 800 limpias, and this is around the time when I realize that there are some people in the midst of our large group that nobody recognizes.  Did they come with John?

Well, I guess I'm gonna find out...

So I won't go into the details of this conversation, because it just makes me annoyed.  When you ask somebody, "What's your name?" and he responds with "I'm nobody," then that's a pretty good clue that you need to get away from him.  After about two minutes of this, I was able to discern that he wanted money, seeing as he appeared when our group was with the money changer.  Finally, for what seems like decades, I hear Adam say to Bryant, "Go rescue Jessica.. We need to pull her away."  Bryant comes around and throws his arm over my shoulder, and we walk out of the terminal to load our bags on the bus.

I'm treated to a lunch of a chorizo baleada by Jennifer, who somehow ordered two of whatever she wanted.  The baleada is a giant, freshly made tortilla that usually has some type of meat, eggs, sour cream, and black beans within it.  It is a common food staple in Honduras.  This meal cost $3.25 in American dollars, including a giant bottle of water.



A baleada, from Wikipedia

"Me gustaria un agua, por favor," I say to the lady at the kiosk.  She gives me a questioning look, and points to the bottle of water.  "Yeah," I say, and I pay for it.  I guess my Spanish-speaking skills are pretty funky.

After lunch we get on the bus.  There is really no way to describe the entire scenery in writing.  At least I don't have the capability to do that.  Here are some things that stood out to me:

• Magnificent mountains covered by luscious greenery, spotted here and there by little towns with huts made of mud or tin.  No building looks like another, and they range from open mud shacks in the country to flats in towns.
• While driving through the country, you occasionally pass a "true" house, meaning one made with stone or brick, with glass windows and a trim land surrounding it.  Usually, houses are just surrounded with trash or brush... or chickens and cows.
• One of the striking differences is the construction of a mud or tin flat surrounded by trash and barefoot children, but with a satellite dish fixed on top of the flat.
• And then there are the roads.  These deserve a whole paragraph or two for themselves.

So.  The roads.  Imagine riding down a gravel road on a car.  Sometimes it can be pretty frustrating and bumpy, right?  Now add steep hills, potholes, places where the road tried to be pavement, and really lax rules as to what side you are on, especially when passing.  Oh.  And you do this all on an old school bus, which we stopped for because we needed a new tire.  We took four hours to drive about eighty-five miles to Santa Rosa de Copan.  All of our luggage was strapped on top of the bus, and a couple of hours down the road, we hit a violent downpour.  Luckily, most of our luggage did not get wet, as far as I know.

Now, I don't mean to be all dramatic about the bus.  To be honest, it is what I expected.  The roads in Guatemala are the same.  I wanted to paint this scene, because guess who was adamant about riding the bus?  (Some road in a smaller bus with air conditioning.)  Miss Lillie.  She sat in the front seat of the bus the entire trip and would not have it any other way.  Quite impressive for someone who is 82.  At 82, I will be sticking to a comfortable 10-mile radius of my house, being driven around in the nice fluffy backseat of my cadillac.

I think we arrived at Hotel Elvir at about 8 pm.  We rushed to take the luggage off the top of the bus and then stowed it in our rooms.  We met with the Mission Upreach team during dinner, which was potatoes, veggies, spicy steak (I think), and tortillas, with a sweet strawberry smoothie.  Phil Waldron talked a little while, followed by safety statements from Donna, who met with each team leader about what to expect.

After cleaning up, pretty much everybody crashed.  If you think about it, we spend around 16 hours traveling (left for the airport at 6 am, Honduras is 2 hours behind us, then we arrived at the hotel at 8 pm).  Everybody rested well!  Hotel Elvir is quite nice.  I felt like I was on vacation because we hadn't really done any work yet.
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 OK... I think that is enough for tonight.  I think I will take it a day at a time so I don't have extremely long posts.  Hope you enjoy the next week of reminiscing about Mission Upreach!  :)