An amazing day filled with God-moments.
We started our morning at the Mission House with a breakfast of eggs, plantains, & toast. We packed up & started our return trip to Ciudad to help paint the outside of the Juan Wesley School.
One group arrived on time. The other group was delayed due to a slight mix-up in directions. However, this delay gave the passengers of Van-2 a fantastic view: Instead of a boring paint job, we encountered a noisy party of 30-40 students & teachers & our ½ our gang busily climbing ladders, painting the walls white & the blue trim all while the music of Chicago was blaring on a loudspeaker. What a fantastic paint party!
Humor? An old preacher once shared the legend that God had hired a painter to spruce up His heavenly home. Unfortunately, the painter had run out of paint before the job was completed & added turpentine to the paint to help it go further. God was displeased with the result & declared, “Repaint! And thin no more!”
Each of us made a point to connect with the students to help with our Spanish & to help them practice their English & to hear their hopes & dreams. To a man, we were inspired to see so many young people filled with optimism for the future.
We were served a delicious lunch of balleadas, followed by a soccer-drill as the kids tried to out-fox the old men at the soccer goal.
We then packed up & headed to Danli. During the drive we shared our impressions of the kids & the school & expressed how a simple investment could literally change the lives & futures of hundreds of kids.
Honduran Fact: Honduras & Nicaragua are home to the region called the “Mosquito Coast,” which became noteworthy in the U.S. with the 1986 film starring Harrison Ford. “Mosquito” does not refer to the insect, but rather to the Miskito indigenous people who inhabit the region.
Arriving in Danli, we were struck by the scene of an immense stream of migrants from Venezuela & Ecuador on their way to the American border. This was a gut punch.
We quietly shared a wonderful meal prepared by Carlos & tried to put everything we had seen & done into perspective.
Pastor Bill shared that night's devotion, focusing on Jesus' famous question to the Disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" We had an emotional discussion reaching a few conclusions - subject to amendment as the week progresses:
- This trip has provided each one of us valuable perspective - the suffering we may endure in its various shapes & forms is truly nothing compared to the suffering of those fleeing evil.
- This trip illustrated hope in different ways - Hope of those teenagers full of unbridled optimism & Hope with those mothers determined to live a better life.
- This trip, echoing Pastor Bill's devotion, emphasized that this world desperately needs each & every one of us to be the Light of Christ. Like our Candlelight Christmas Eve service, just when the world seems its darkest, Christ's light breaks through the darkness & offers a roomful of not only hope, but of love.
Blessings,
Your Faithful Honduran Bloguero