Something Old
It's been nearly a year since the conclusion of the Honduras trip I restarted this journal to record, and I only got through the fourth day. It's just too normal for me not to follow through with these sorts of projects. Anyway, I wanted to take a moment to revisit some of the highlights of the days that will never receive their full due:
February 25th
This was the first day that we spent working on Celan and Marta, a previously homeless family's, new house. Much of the work in the beginning of the day had to do with bending and cutting rebar, which was a bit beyond my realm of expertise. I gave it the old college try. In the afternoon we carried boulders to brace the foundation border that we would be pouring later on. Hey, anyone can carry boulders, but some can carry the really heavy ones and I couldn't do that. I remember it as one of the lighter work days. One highlight has to do with nightmares. Pastor Chris Lewis and myself had had a few nights worth of bad dreams. The team gathered around us and prayed, gratefully bringing my nightmares to an end, though I think Chris still had some bad dreams. I also observed how Mike Weimer, a local cow man, built a relationship with a fellow cow farmer in Zambrano. It's amazing how cows bring people together. That evening we played cards, which, as I recall was great fun.
February 26th
Being a Sunday, we spent this day on tourism and church. We traveled to the capital city, Tegucigalpa and then beyond it to a place called "Valle de Angeles." It was a scenic little town that was clearly geared toward tourists. We all bought our souvenirs and ate at a restaurant called "Virginia's Popousa's." Popousa's (sp?) are like gorditas, and these had bacon drippings in them. We ate them along with a dish that featured onions and cabbage and a bit of spice. It was reddish for some reason. Val had said that Hondurans tended to like bland food (to the American palate anyway), and I would say this is true. Even their ice cream was a little odd tasting. I think it was a lower quality chocolate. Food is not Honduras' strong suit like it is in, say, Mexico. We also visited an international English speaking church that was a small part of a much larger Spanish speaking congregation. The pastor was from the Pittsburgh area. Small world, eh?
February 27th
This day began early. We were up and at 'em at 5:00 am. We spent hours driving on non-roads up into the mountain village of Las Botijas. What a bumpy ride! We eventually reached a point where the van could go no farther and walked the rest of the way up the hill to the mission home of a truly remarkable family. The husband's name, I remember, was Aaron. The family name escapes me. Their mission was to develop a training center for local pastors who are generally poorly educated, if at all. We were there to pour the back porch of their house, which had been built from scratch. We did not have the mixer with us, which meant exceptionally hard work, but it was very satisfying at the same time. At the end of the first day several of us were discouraged with how little had been accomplished, or rather, how far we had to go the next day. We spent some time doing door to door evangelism, Pastor Chris and I speaking through an interpreter. It was much less intimidating that I feared, owing largely to the hospitality of the Hondurans...and the presence of the Spirit, of course. We stayed overnight with the family, so we would be ready to work bright and early the next day. It was the only night that Rachel and I got to share a bed on the trip.
February 28th
Daisy's 4th birthday! Aaron's wife had the gift of food. For supper the night before she had made lasagna, salad, and breadsticks; for breakfast she made breakfast tacos of a sort: tortilla shells stuffed with bacon, potatoes, and shredded cheese. It was the best food we had on the whole trip. We continued to work hard, very hard, and by the end of the day the porch was completed. We were greatly assisted by some Honduran day laborers. It was remarkable how quickly things went, considering how slowly they seemed to go the day before. After our work was done we were taken on a tour of the incredible farm that Aaron had built with his wife, daughter, and three sons. Their commitment amazes me. They moved shortly after hearing the call, passed relatively quickly through a few ministries, settled in Los Botijas, built a home and a farm from scratch, and still continued to minister effectively. The variety of crops and the agricultural innovation were fascinating. The drive home was another bumpy and long one making us glad to reach Casa Santiago again.
February 29th
For our last full day in Honduras we returned to the home of Celan and Marta to pour the outer foundation of their new home. Aided by the cement mixer, and with the benefit of a now experienced team, we completed our work fairly quickly. I even graduated from "water boy" to shoveling gravel. After the work was done, we spent some time sharing gifts that we had brought with a needy Honduran family (over a dozen people in one small house) and playing with the kids. Mike showed everyone how to hypnotize a chicken. I'm sure that we were more blessed by this time than they were, but it was good to share the love of God in tangible ways with these people. We spent some time debriefing the trip in the evening. I had planned on doing this, but Val came prepared, thus making my life easier.
March 1st
We began our journey home fairly early in the morning, making the long drive back to San Pedro Sula. While we had no trouble getting to Zambrano, we were stopped by the police this time and everyone had to hand over our passports. We were dismissed unharassed. We had lunch at the airport Wendy's (2nd time at Wendy's on the trip) and began to say our good-byes. One special privilege was to be able to leave all of our leftover cash to the Schubert's and their ministry, money which we knew would be well spent. While the plane from Texas to Honduras had only been about half-full, the plane back to Houston was packed. We had a several hours layover in Houston, long enough to have a nice dinner. I had hoped for a good steak, but the airport restaurant didn't have any. Imagine that, no steak in Texas! Our flight was delayed somewhat, but we arrived back to the Pittsburgh Airport around midnight. As we made the drive back with the good men of Salem United Church of Christ behind the wheel we tried to sleep but couldn't. It was good to be back home, but what a grand adventure it was. It helped confirm the direction of Rachel and I's life.
Something New
Today is my 31st birthday, and as such I have decided to take another go at this blogging thing and try to chronicle this somewhat important year in my life and the life of my family. I'm heading to Liberia in less than two weeks. My time as pastor of Seneca EC Church will be coming to a close, and we'll be moving to Ambridge (near Pittsburgh) this Summer. I'll be attending seminary full-time beginning in the Fall. Daisy will be starting kindergarten.
These posts will hopefully be daily, brief accounts of the day's activity and a few reflections on what has transpired without sharing too much detail. When I say brief, I'm thinking Gettysburg Address brief. Why say in thousands of words, what can be just as easily said in a few hundred (if that). I think tightening things up might help me keep up. If you happen to stumble across this, let me know what you think. Hopefully, I'll see you again tonight. Godspeed.
