My Journey to Honduras!



Aqua Viva Internacional =Living Water International

First of all Honduras is a beautiful country. 

We arrived late on Saturday morning in the town of San Pedro Sula. Then we had to drive four hours to the city La Ceiba. Our stop in Honduras is Burger King... I think they were trying to ease our way into the country. 

Some our gang at BK

After the four hour drive we got to stay in this beautiful hotel.

The hotel was right on the ocean, I loved standing in the warm water. It had lots of fresh pineapple and we were able to take hot showers there as well. We started and ended our week there which was a very nice treat. 

Our team in front of the church

On Sunday we went to this church. Some of the staff/members of this church work with Living Water so they prayed for us and as we left they all gave us hugs and kisses. It was a great encouragement to start off the week. 

Then after church we had to drive another hour and half to a town called Seda. 

Sunset from the roof of our 2nd hotel 

The town of Seda.

On Monday we drove to the sight. So one expectation I had was that we were going to be working in a village, and that it would be a town like you see in "feed the children" commercials. We were in at a school in the town Descrmbro, Honduras, a agricultural town and some of the people are "middle class". I put it in quotes because I don't want people to think of American middle class. It is middle class for Honduras which means they mostly don't have electricity and maybe running water. By running water I mean they have a tank of water in their back yard. The primary water source for this village of apox. 3,000 is a river that serves as a dishwasher, laundromat & waste removal service for the community. The people of Descombro know that the water is unclean but only half of the community can afford to buy purified water and a lot of the students buy soda.

The school

One day these student practiced the drums from the start to end of the day.

The red doors in the back ground the bathrooms.

The windows of the school were covered in wooden planks. 

Inside a classroom. 

The teachers of the school cooked our meals for us while we were a the school. 

I was on the hygiene team which is more like the teaching team. For each class we did two hygiene, one bible story and then a craft. A hygiene story talked about how to wash their hands properly, how to treat diarrhea, what food to eat properly, how to keep water clean and how to use the pump properly. On the first day we talked about germs and we used glitter to represent germs. When we came into lunch with the drilling team, my friend joked that  "the drilling team was covered in mud and the hygiene team was covered in glitter."

On Tuesday our machine was broken so while some of the Living Water staff went to get new equipment we were able to walk around one of the villages the school serves. The school served up to 5 to 6 local villages but this was the closest village.

While there some house like this one (above)... they would sit right next to the mud hut house (below). I will admit when I arrived in Honduras I thought all the houses were going to be like the one below.

The biggest take away I will take away from the walk through the village was just how generous people were.

We stopped by one house that had a few coconut trees. The guy, who owned the house came out and asked if we want some and would not let us pay for them. Then he began cutting them down and taking his machete to cut them apart so we could drink coconut milk. His wife was there holding this little baby and I was saying how cute he was, in my most broken Spanish. She just came and placed him in my arms so I could hold him. I thought "whoa, she doesn't know who I am but she gave me her son." I love little babies, so this was a great moment for me.

I just loved all the horses.

A shot of the main road in the village

 On Wednesday we did what is called a good news bracelet.

My good news bracelet.  

Black- represents the sin that separates us from God.

Red- represents the blood of Christ that was shed for the sacrifice of our sins.

White- when we accept Christ we become white as snow. 

Blue- represents baptism

Green- represents the new creation God makes us.

Yellow- represents the glory of heaven. 

The day we made the bracelets the kids acted like we were passing out candy when we were giving out the beads. Some kids tricked us to giving more beads to It was great to see how receptive to the story of Christ and what it all meant.

I can't talk much about the drilling project as I mostly stood on the side lines and watched. But next year I would love to be part of the drilling team and get my hands, t-shirt, and pants dirty. 

Here are some pictures from the drilling sight...

At the beginning there was just dirt.

LOTS of hard work being done.

Never leave home with out your duct tape

One guy on our team had broken his foot so every day he had to wrap his foot with tape to make sure his boot did not get wet. Well his tape did not always hold up so I told him I had duct tape, of course it was bright pink, but it worked to protect his foot. I must say it looked quite stylish. It was just lucky I had it because I just threw it into my luggage at the last minute.

I know there were a lot of challenges for the drilling team, with broken machine parts, and the fact they kept hitting rock, rock they couldn't get through. So out of faith on Wednesday they had to send down some pipe and then attempt to pump to see if they could get water. God blessed us and we had water! My friend put it best... "Looking back we see this as a blessing in disguise (sometimes God has to slow us down for our own good)."

This was a great relief to all of us!

On Wednesday we also had our intense moment of being stuck on the other side of the border. To read more about that read my Shove comes to Push post. When we finally left on Wednesday we didn't know at that moment if we were able to come back and finish/dedicate the well. I wasn't so concerned about that but I hated not knowing if I was going to come back and see my students. I was amazed even with the barrier of not speaking Spanish how much I loved them and how much they loved us. Fortunately we were able to come back and finish the work we started.

At the end of that was water. 

Both the drilling and hygiene team at the pump. 

At the dedication of the pump. 

Lots of the girls gathered around me and I tried to put my arm around them all.

I can't fully explain how wonderful it was to be on this trip. I knew I was going down to serve them but I felt so blessed by the people I met there. It was a wonderful and amazing journey. I highly recommend that every one go on a mission trip. The best thing to do is find a cause, country, or another area you are passionate about and see how you can serve there. I can't wait to go back to Honduras and if God wants me, I will go back next year. 

When I left Honduras, I told Emmillo (the boss) "I am not going to say Adiós but Hast Luego (see you later)."     

I know these aren't the best pictures... but I am going to miss the beauty of Honduras. 

 

Video from Honduras

A short video my church put together to show during our service. 

A good overview of the trip.

More will come, I just got my photos back and I am writing a long post with pictures. 

Shove comes to push

Our wonderful leader Emmilio while we were in Honduras speaks English and Spanish but once he messed up on the phase when "push comes to shove" and said when "shove comes to push." That became our catch phrase for the week. 

But when shove comes to push you must depend on God. When I moved to Boston I felt this huge  dependency on God because I knew no one, I didn't have a church and I will still new in my faith. However now it is seven years later I have lots of friends, a wonderful church family to depend on.   This week I was really dependent on God. I know we are dependent on God for waking us up each morning and for giving us all we had but it is way different knowing this and feeling. Don't worry I was never in a life and death situation down there I just had reminders of my dependency on God.

We were dependent on God for the water. One question we were not allowed to ask was "what if there is no water?" We knew there was water; there was some technical survey that had been done before hand; also if you looked up all you saw were trees; and it there wasn't water in that spot Living Water would just find another spot to drill in. But we had some problems with the machinery. Some one on the drilling team will have to explain it to me better. But our machinery broke a few times and we hit rock we couldn't drill through. So we kept praying for water and by Wednesday after noon we had water (pic above). 

Also on Wednesday we did have a pretty intense moment. It could have been scary but God kept us safe! On Wednesday afternoon we were told we were going to have to leave the school early because their was a strike at the border. (Our school was in one district and our hotel in another district so we had to cross a border). They wanted us to cross the border before the strike go worse. So the original plan was Roberto, a driller, was going to drop us off at the border and then we were going to meet Emmilio on the other side. Well the strike grew worse into a riot so we could no longer safely cross the border. At first we thought we could sneak around it but that was no longer an option after awhile. Well at first we heard a practical joke that because of the riot we were going to have to stay the night in the school. But eventually we settled on going back to the hotel we had been staying at on Saturday night. It was pretty nice hotel and we got a nice hot shower and got to eat delicious pineapple. Maybe if we had been able to leave the school earlier we might have gotten stuck in the riot, then it could have been a life and death situation. But God kept us safe. 

So when shove comes to push depend on God.  

Reflection from Honduras

Me holding a Honduran baby... made my day.

Do you notice the coconuts?

Hey lovely readers,

I am still doing reflection on my trip to Honduras. I am also still waiting for my old school film to be developed but my friend took this picture of me and this Honduran baby. 

If you know me, you know I LOVE children so worked on the Hygiene team as a part of our trip. This means I was teaching children about healthiness: proper nutrition; how to treat diarrhea; how to wash hands properly; brushing teeth; and how to use the pump properly (picture in last post of pump). Then we did bible lessons. We taught two classes in the morning for younger kids and then two classes in the afternoon for the older children. Also we played hop scotch and did jump rope with the kids. I attempted soccer or futbol but I stunk. The younger kids, first to sixth grade, really touched my heart and working/playing with them really brought a joy to my heart 

One afternoon when machinery was broken our "tour guide" and translator took us on the tour of the village. (I promise I will have pictures.) In the village we saw a mix of houses some were nice-meaning 50% of homes had water, probably no electricity, and no A/C- and a few were mud huts. 

At the house in the picture, this guy had coconuts and he noticed us admiring them and he offered some of them to us and would take no money for it. Then I was admiring his little boy and his wife just came up to me and put him in his arms. Then as we were leaving the grandma offered us oranges. They were so generous.

On our last day all the little kids gave us hugs and kisses. Then at the dedication ceremony the little girls wanted to be close to me (picture in last post). I made an impromptu speech about how their faces will live in my memory forever and one little girl shouted "ours too (in Spanish)." I knew that when I was going down there I was there to serve them and but I felt they blessed me so much more. They opened their hearts to us and even though we were only there for a week I felt how much they loved us. I was so blessed by their love.

I was really touched in how much they gave and how loving they were. That is one thing I want to bring back with me now that I am in the states.

Love you all. 

Back from Honduras!

Hello lovely readers,

I am back safe and soundly from Honduras! People have already asked how was my trip and I have not been able to put into words, well not good words but it was an amazing experience and I can not wait to go back!

To explain my journey I must go back to Friday before I left. As I was finishing my packing I had this weird feeling that I may not come back from this trip and I was totally at peace with this. A few years a go my younger sister told me she would like to die a martyr, I was shocked by this statement because she seemed at peace with that idea. On Friday I felt that peace. Though sitting on this side of the trip I am glad I am back and I can spread word about Living Water International and I can encourage people to go on a missions trip. With this feeling in me I wrote a letter to my friends and family...

Dear Friends and Family,

I am about to go to Honduras. I know I will be all right but if anything should happen to me I want you to know I am completely at peace with this. I am going down to Honduras for God's work and in doing this I am happy if the Lord calls me home during this trip. I know you might be sad and miss me but I am up in heaven. I do not want any one to be mad at God for calling me home. This is His will and His will is perfect even if it doesn't make sense at the time.
....
Please know how much I have loved you all. My parents who have loved and supported me in all my dreams. I know my dreams may not have always been what you desired but you supported and loved me no matter what. To my sisters, I want you to know how much I have looked up to you and you have inspired me so much in both my faith and my desires to be a wife and mother. 

To all who have loved and invested in me. Thank you so much. Remember to HOPE in the Lord my dear friend reminded me that the Lord ALWAYS has our best in mind and so we can completely trust in him because of this. God will never just point the way he will walk beside us. 
...
I love you all so much. Please care for each other as I have cared for you.

I guess the Lord isn't done with me yet because I am here sitting on my bed writing on this.

Today while I was doing my quiet time I read this passage Isaiah 57:2 "Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death." I think this is what will stick out to me most rather in life or death to be in peace with God.

I am still processing my trip and all that God taught me on through this experience. I went old school on this trip and took a disposable cameras down to Honduras, now I just need to find a place that will develop film. Here are a few pictures borrowed from my friends. When I have my pictures developed I will post them.

The beauty of Honduras was a great surprise

The town in which the school was located.

Some of our beautiful students.

Yeah we have water! 

My gingerness really sticks out. 

The girls were so sweet wanting to be close to me. 

Our team at the pump sight. 

For my friends at church, 

you might like to know the money we raised during advent conspiracy 

went to pay for this well.  

Love you guys and thanks for all your prayer and support during this trip. 

1 More Week!

Hello Lovely Readers,

I am one week away from going to Honduras! I hope by now most of you know for a long time I have had a desire to go work with Living Water International to go help dig a well. I have raised support, gotten my shots, and bought some supplies (need to buy more). Now I have a week until I go!

I am sad to say that I have not fully wrapped my head around the fact that I am leaving. I have been in summer school, which I actually really enjoyed, and then went on a last minute trip to California to see my mom.  So please pray for my head and my heart to be prepared for this trip and all that will come. 

I have had some mix emotions facing me this summer. Even though school has been a fun learning experience it was stressful. Also just some emotional stuff has been going on, on the side. I have had major amounts of homesick. My mom has been sick of this summer and has to have surgery, hence the reason for my trip to my mom, to see her before surgery. 

My mom and I

While I was at my mom's I went through some of my boxes from my childhood to high school: found my old porcelian dolls; went through year books; and some of my notebooks full of stories. I also got to try on my Nana's wedding dress. My Nana was quite small, you can't tell in the picture but the back could not zip all the way up, but it was very fun to try it on. 

Me in my nana's dress. 

Also my older sister has been pregnant and I am realizing how much I miss my niece growing up and now I am missing my nephew. I know my dream was to live in Boston but sometimes I wish I could telaporte to see my family. Fortunately I can skype with my family so I talk to my sister and niece every two weeks. Today was great and I got to skype and see my nephew. (I love that part of technology). 

My niece looking at my nephew

With all this going on I have not really given my attention to this trip. Is that bad? Or is that just life? This week I am in prep mode for this trip. I know it is last minute prep but better than nothing. 

If you have been watching the Olympics you have probably heard this song:

I have really loved it.

Please be praying for my trip down to Honduras, not just for me but for the people we will interact with and the conversations we will have.  

I will keep you posted on my trip. 

Birthday Love

I love my birthday,  I know that sounds selfish when I say that because many people think when I say it is because I like gifts but that is not the case. I love it because I know it means I get a lot of my friends around me.

Over the years I have had great birthdays...

The day after 21st birthday I got baptized. 

Then on my 22nd birthday I went to my first Red Sox game.

It had just happened to be Lester's no hitter.

Two days before my 23rd birthday I graduated college.

My 24th birthday was not that big...

My bible study went to Rochester, New York the week before. 

I know it was not for my birthday but I still remember it as part of my birthday celebration.

We discovered the love of a jumping pillow,

probably our favorite memory from the trip. 

Then on my 25th birthday I did something I have always wanted to do...

Karaoke. 

My friend told me my 25th birthday was the last "big" birthday I get before I turn 30, I didn't like that thinking because I love my birthday and I can make them big if I want to. Well last night I had an early celebration to my birthday that was just as big and memorable as the others. As most of you know I have been raising funds for my Honduras trip in August. In March I wrote a post about what my birthday wish was.... "For my birthday I want people to give to Living Water International click here for the Donation page and if you want to learn more about Living Water click here. If you want to support me and my trip to Honduras please contact me, but as I am not 100% certain I will go I would like it more if you guys would directly give money to Living Water International." 

At that time I was not sure I could go on a trip with Living Water. But now that I am going I have asked people for my birthday to give me funds for my trip. Well there as been an out pouring of generosity. My birthday party last night was in order to raise support for my trip, I did I raised 585 dollars making my new total of support at $1,885, meaning I only need 115 dollars left to raise. WOOHOO!!!

Me with my fundraising poster

Outside the money raised it was a great success. As my place is too small to host a party my friend let me use her place to host a party, and my best friend made and bought all the food for the party. Then about 20 people showed up and every one had a good time. So I will put this birthday in the book as another "big" birthday. 

Some of my friends
sorry it is blurry

The cake my best friend made
in the shape of a water drop.

For more on my trip to Honduras follow my Blaire goes to Honduras Blog thanks for all the love, memories, and support. It has meant the world to me.