Honduras!!

The whole group!


Hello All! I writing this to tell you a little about my trip to Honduras that I just got back from. I went with a group of 16 from WKU's BCM. We left January 6th and returned the 13th. I want to thank you all for your support, encouragement, and prayers. This is the best trip I've ever been on and now I have a different perspective on how I see things. To be honest, I did not want to leave, we do not realize just how blessed we are here in the U.S. Life in Honduras is very simple compared to life in America and the people seem so happy and loving towards each other. It was quite refreshing to get away from so much technology and worry about what time of the day it is and what needs to be done. Our group went to serve and love on the kids at an orphanage in Comayagua, Honduras.

A couple of different things to know about Honduras is that their driving is crazy! They are very impatient when it comes to driving and do not like to wait. A crazy law is that if you are turning left, you must get over on the side of the road to wait for any cars behind you to pass before you can turn! Also, you will see bulls, horses, donkeys, etc. on the side of the road grazing at grass or they may be just walking and hanging in the middle of the road. You cannot flush toilet paper and you have to drink water from bags because their water isn't clean enough to drink. I also have never seen so many guns in my life. There was always a man outside of a business, gas station, restaurant, etc. standing with a huge gun. Another culture difference to note is that you always see people outside, talking, kids playing everywhere in the streets, walking, it really had a community feel. Here in the U.S. you don't really see that many people out all the time and we usually keep to ourselves.

Our group stayed at the transition house which is where the kids can choose to live when they are old enough but they must be in school full-time or work and go to school part-time. The girls live at the Hogar de Ninos Nazareth while the boys live at the Farm. The three places are all separate from each other so we got in a bus everyday to commute between the 3. A typical day for me was to go to the Hogar at 8am, help teach English to the younger children then we would teach the younger girls (ages 7-12) a dance called Alegria which means Joy. Then I would go to the Farm for lunch and then back to the Hogar in the afternoon to teach the older girls (ages 13-18) their dance (shackles) and also just play with them on the playground. Then we would go back to the transition house and get ready for dinner, a couple of nights we went out to get Honduran food (which is really good) or made our own. After dinner, our activities varied every night. We played the boys in futbol (soccer) one night, which we got creamed at :( but we had fun playing with them. Then we got to play the girls another night, unfortunately we still lost but at least we scored this time! At the end of each day, we had a group devotion and reflected on our challenges and experiences that day.

During the first couple days we were there I had this verse in my head "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" Matthew 25:40. This was actually one of our devo verses I came to later find out. It made me think about how often we take so many things for granted and do not think about the least of these. I know most people often think you need to go somewhere to serve the least of these but I do not think people realize that a need is probably right in your own neighborhood at home, school, or work. It made me realize that I probably act much differently when I am serving on a trip to strangers versus my everyday life. To these people in Honduras, I am considered very rich while according to America's standards I am not. A good job for people in Honduras is working at a restaurant being a server or working at Wendy's. Most people do not even own cars and either walk, bike, or ride a horse for transportation.

On our last day, we got to visit a daycare right outside of Comayagua in a very poor part of town which is actually called Canada. My expectation was that these kids were better off because they had families, right? wrong! On the way there we passed many little shacks and tents people were living in. Hector, who started this daycare told us the story about how the daycare came to be and why he wanted to start one in this area. It was a really cool story and basically he said he saw a need and God kept providing. He called a couple of the kids over and told us their story which made it more powerful when you put a story with a face. Most of the kids at this daycare lived with their Grandma because one of their parents were dead and the other was in jail. The surrounding neighborhood did not have clean water and the only meal these kids usually ate was the one meal they received at the daycare. Hector told us they were able to put in a well to provide clean water for them although they are hoping to put in another to reach a nearby community that does not have clean water. A well costs 6,000 to put in to provide water for these people.

Some of the heartbreaking things to experience were the that they were tons of dogs running around, most of which looked like they were starving and holding on for life. However, throughout the week I came close to 3 girls at the Hogar. Their names are Mirna, Carolina, and Danya. These girls just constantly wanted to be around me, holding my hand, hugging me, taking pictures with me, and wearing my backpack. The kids at the orphanage just love it when you just love on them because they do not have parents to provide that for them. It's really sad to think that they do not have anyone to tuck them in at night, hold them, or sing them to sleep. The night we had to say goodbye, it was very hard because you get so attached in a small amount of time. I received a letter from Carolina and Mirna and a bracelet. In the letters some of the things they wrote me were things about themselves, they thanked me for visiting Honduras, hoped I was doing well with my family, told me that loved me very much, to please write them and send them pictures, and that they wanted me to be their very best friend. I have not gone a day without thinking of these precious girls and I hope to return and see them again in the near future.

Danya
Mirna and I

Carolina and I.

My challenge to you is to really think about what is important in your life? what are your priorities? I have felt such a discomfort about life here in the U.S. since being back because I feel so selfish because I do have so much and I cannot stop thinking about those kids in Honduras. While in Honduras, we saw the tragedy happen in Haiti on the tv and I could not even watch it. Now that I have actually seen people just trying to live simple with food, water, and shelter, it makes my heart break and makes it much more real to me. I have felt very frustrated since being back home because people here make silly things that aren't that big of a deal so important. The people in Honduras do not complain, they are very joyful and full of life. They do not need "stuff" to make them happy. So next time when you are thinking how bad you think your life is, I want you to ask yourself if it really is? I can guarantee you it's not and that it could be much worse.

I am attaching a video to help you see the kids and some of the things we did throughout the week.

I don't think the video is working on here anymore so here is a link to youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWqd9aUb4t8

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