Day 1
It’s June 8th, and our family takes off for an experience like no other. Travelling with a group of 24 people including our 5 was stressful, at least for me. Flight delays, missing baggage, wrangling kids, bathroom stops, and more add to the stress. The first day was quite the blur. Our flights took us from Charlotte to Miami, and then from Miami to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. We had a long (about 2 hour) bus ride to where we would be staying at the Hotel y Finca Las Glorias where we had an excellent view of the lake and mountains from a swinging bridge.
We arrived at our hotel I believe around 5pm (Mountain time) and quickly checked into our rooms and everyone crashed. The hotel we stayed at provided breakfast and dinners which was nice. They also had hammocks in the room which was cool. We had an orientation/training meeting that night to go over the do’s and do not’s when on the mission field. We also discussed the expected itinerary. This was a moment I learned to be patient with the process as most days we did not know what we were going to be doing until we were headed there.
Over the week we met some leaders and interns with the Children’s Impact Network as well as others associated with other organizations who we would be working alongside to assist during the weekend; Natalie, Spencer, Karen, Catalina, Hannah, Elyse, Melvin, and a few others.
Day 2
Sunday, June 9th, was quite the day. Every day on the trip started with personal devotion time, then group reflection time, and then breakfast.
This was the first day we would meet the children at the Honduran Life Center. It was so precious, children young and old, running up to us to give us hugs or to communicate with their best English and our best Spanish. After meeting the children, we all went to a local waterfall “Cataratas Pulhapanzak”. This was the most beautiful waterfall I had ever seen. I and others decided to hop in the water and splash around with the many children. This was a great icebreaker to get us out of our shell playing with the children. I even swung from a rope into the water. 🙂
After playing in the water, we all had lunch by the water together. A staple of many Honduran meals is chicken, rice, and plantains. We left to head back to our hotel and clean up for church. They have church in the evenings on Sunday versus many Americans having church on Sunday morning.
Church was amazing. The worship leader knew English very well and would go from singing in Spanish to singing in English in a heartbeat. I knew each song. “Agnus Dei”, “Come Now is the Time to Worship”, “Glorious Day”, and “How Great Is Our God / How Great Thou Art”, were some of the songs I recall. The church was packed. There was another organization there with us, “Salt and Light”, that focuses on building homes and other buildings. The church had huge fans around due to no AC. We are spoiled in the US having air conditioning everywhere we go.
After church was over, we all left to go back to the hotel. We had dinner and our nightly debrief and everyone was tired. I was asleep before 9pm as was many others. The next day, Monday, would have a lot of work ahead. More on that tomorrow!
