There is SO much I am looking forward to telling you about the last few days, but right now I have so much running through my mind that I will wait until after I am back to share it with you. However, I do want to keep you updated and share some photos with you. I spent a few days at Escuela El Sembrador. My time there was wonderful and I was able to be at the graduation and find out more current information about what is going on at the school.
I came back to Tegucigalpa (the capitol city which has been my "home base" for the trip) yesterday afternoon. This morning we visited a ministry to children in Tatumbla. The kids sang, recited Bible verses, played a game, and then they had Sunday school. And they had a meal after Sunday school.
The first place we visited is a school called Academia Los Pinares. The mission of Los Pinares is "The mission of Academia Los Pinares is to inspire and prepare students to be responsible to God in heart and mind through authentic, oustanding, bilingual education offering U.S. and Honduran accredited curricula from a Christian Biblical perspective.” WGM is one of five missions who are involved with Los Pinares. Many of the students of go to Los Pinares do not come from Christian homes, but their families send them to Los Pinares because of the excellent education. This creates a wonderful opportunity for ministry!
In the afternoon we visited the Kids Club at Roca Fuerte Church.
Project Manuelito is a ministry of Amor y Vida (Love and Life) Church. It works with children who live on the streets of Tegucigalpa, and provides them with a home and an education, but more than that: teaches them about God's love for them.
I spent time out there in 2009 (about a week if I remember) and I visited there more briefly in 2010. It was wonderful to see the ways the ministry has grown and to see many of the same children. The Honduran school year has ended, but they were having review sessions, so I was able to peek in on a couple of those, and one of the girls gave me a really good tour.
I may not have felt particularly tired yesterday, but today the wave of exhaustion has hit. At least it did so on the ride back from Manuelito! I have already heard and spoken more Spanish in the last day and a half than I have in the last four years! I can certainly tell that I am rusty, but I have been able to understand and communicate all that I have really needed to so far.
Arrival might not seem like much for a day, but trust me...it is. My day began at 2:15am when my alarm woke me. By 1:00pm I was in Honduras. Thank you all so much for your prayers! My travel went without a hitch! Both flights were on time, and immigration and customs were a breeze. I even met a couple of interesting people on the way. God has really blessed me.
I was picked up by David and Debbie Hawk, Laura Griffin, and Kelly Solheim. I spent most of the day talking and laughing and catching up. Supper was typical Honduran food- beans, rice, tortillas and cheese (Yum!).
I am still running on adrenaline, but I need to get to sleep soon because tomorrow I will have a full day- we willl be visiting the Manuelito Project! My plans for the trip are mostly the same, but they have changed a little, so things will be a bit different than I had previously written.
The closer I get to going, the more excited I get! Even though it's still too early to pack I've been trying to get things together so that when it comes time to pack I won't forget anything or be running around like mad trying to get everything together. I wrote a letter telling you more about my trip, and it should be on it's way to you in a day or two. I've also been working on a special letter that I will try to get back to you as soon as I can after I get back.
And I've been looking for ways I can share my trip with you, both while it's happening and when I get back. Check back here soon because I'll be telling you how you can keep up to date with what is going on!
3 Fun Facts About my Trip
1) I'll be flying into and out of Toncontin International Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The runways are shorter than most international airports, and surrounded by mountains, which makes landing their quite difficult (and often impossible if it's been raining hard). Here is a video someone took of it.
2) There could be 50 degree temperature difference! It's hard to say what the weather will be like in two weeks but right now it's 25 degrees Farenheight here in Oklahoma, but it's 72F in Honduras.
3) It is just over 1600 miles between Tulsa, OK to Tegucigalpa. Looking at my schedule, I will be travelling 450 miles in Honduras (and in reality I think it will definitely be more because that only accounts for the major trips to visit ministries, not for day trips to visit ministries in Tegucigalpa. So....that's 1600 miles each way, and 451 miles in Honduras...and that means that I will be travelling 3850 miles in 8 days.
