Day 1:
We flew into San Pedro Sula close to lunch time and were picked up by Jim, and Henry and Cindy Lowman. Then we went to a Wendy’s in El Progresso for lunch and watched some of the Netherlands/Uruguay game. After that we rode in the van for 4 hours into the mountains to the Lowman’s home, which they call “the farm”. It’s located outside of La Esperanza in Yamaranguila. On the way there we stopped at a big roadside fruit stand and looked around at the bananas and pineapple. After that we stopped at a touristy place with a butterfly greenhouse and big 3-story treehouse. Once at the Lowman’s, we settled in and had dinner and orientation. Each morning before breakfast we had personal time with God. I went outside their home and sat along their back wall. Those were good, cool mornings.
Day 2:
We prayed and prepared for the trip out to Lenca village called Santa Maria. We also organized all the medical supplies we would be taking. Some people went to La Esperanza to gather more supplies. Later in the day, we all went to the “invasion” in La Esperanza, which is a neighborhood where a lot of people who had no place to live were given land by the government. It’s like the slum of La Esperanza. When we arrived we began walking down the dirt road between the homes and the children came out to be with us. That was our first ministry of the trip, and it was amazing. Many better homes had been built for them by the missionaries, but many were still basically made out of scrap metal and wood. Some of us helped a kid carry bricks to their backyard, and we also raced while giving kids piggy-back rides as we went to their soccer field. Their goals were made out of wooden limbs. Some of the boys were playing marbles in the dirt. Many of the girls got their fingernails painted by the women in our group. And most of the guys played soccer with the boys. It was a lot of fun playing soccer with them. There were a bunch of puddles in the bumpy field, which made playing a little interesting. One little boy’s name was Isaiah, and he was one of the stars on my team. Another boy, who was probably between 9-13 was on the other team and his name was something like Ochla or Othla. He was pretty good, and he played hard, and a bit dirty when someone took the ball away from him. He tried to trip me when I took it away J I could tell he was a little mischievous, which isn’t too surprising from an older kid. Kristy was holding some boots for someone, and he wanted to take them. I got to talk with him some and had somewhat of a connection with him. I told him I didn’t speak much Spanish when he said something that I didn’t understand. Haha, then he started teasing me and trying to confuse my color vocab. But I’ve got my colors down, so he couldn’t fool me then. Although he did get me when I asked him his age. He said cincuenta, which I at first thought meant 15. Then after Luis laughed, I knew I had been fooled. Cincuenta means 50. Anyways, I think he liked me. When we were getting ready to leave, I told him goodbye. Before we left though, there were a few kids on the back of one of our pickup trucks. They kept saying something about not being able to be pulled off the back of the truck, which was some kind of challenge. So I lifted one of them up off the truck and spun him around and flipped him upside down. The whole time giggling and laughing our heads off. That might’ve been my favorite moment of the trip. I don’t know if I’ve ever had so much joy while playing with kids. There’s such joy in many of these kids and their smiles are so contagious! There was small boy too that I carried to his house. He liked playing with my “barba”.
Day 3:
After breakfast, we packed everything into the vehicles and drove for a couple hours farther out into the mountains to a town called Monte Verde. This was where we stopped to have lunch and then begin our 2.5-5 hour hike to Santa Maria (a Lenca Indian village without roads or electricity). Initially, the trail was a dirt road, but it quickly turned into a narrow trail with steep uphill and downhill slopes. Halfway there, it began pouring down rain, which made the muddy and steep trails crazy. It was a lot of fun though. Most everyone got soaked. And my backpack on the mule got soaked as well with my clothes in it and my Bible. But we just had to tolerate wet clothes for a couple days. When we got to the school, we set up our stuff and changed into clean, wet clothes. Then we ate some dinner and went to bed.
Day 4:
We split into groups and did a medical and dental clinic and construction project. During our stay in Santa Maria, there were always kids at the school watching us and we played with them whenever we weren’t working on construction or clinics. I worked on the construction project. There was a family living down the hill from the school that lived in a house made from clay and wooden limbs with a dirt floor. Our project was to help them build a new home on an existing concrete slab. First we shoveled two piles of dirt onto the concrete slab. Then we removed the big rocks and mixed in a bag of lime. Pastor Jorge and I worked on one pile together. It was hard work mixing the lime, dirt, and water together. After making a weak concrete for the mortar, we helped carry adobe blocks (dried mud and straw) from a nearby house over to the site along a grueling muddy path. That was the most difficult job of the trip. It really was very difficult to carry them one at a time up and down the steep hills to the site. I was exhausted just after the first one. All the homes were connected by windy, steep, and muddy paths sometimes less than a foot wide (much different than the roads we’re used to). I fell many times. It really takes skill and experience to hike around without slipping. It was a piece of cake for the Lencas though. They made the brick-carrying and hiking look easy. The men would carry them on a shoulder or their back and the women would have a satchel looped across their forehead and over their shoulders to their back, where the brick would be. I carried one before lunch, and one after lunch, and then we made a relay system which was a little easier. But we only did that for one block. When we were bringing blocks back to the site, Pastor Jorge, Bernardo, and a few other guys were working on laying the blocks and mortar on the concrete and making very sure that they were level. I was very impressed with how hard Jorge worked. It seemed as if he was building his own house, with the care that he had. Later that night when we were sharing, he shared about how he asks God for strength and he reminds himself that he is working out of his love for God. He was really encouraging to me.
We also played soccer with the locals that afternoon. Gringos versus Lencas. Usually the Lencas win, however, we beat them 4-0. I’m pretty sure it was because we had two really good Honduran guys on our team though. That was a lot of fun.
Day 5:
A small portion of our group hiked to Agua Caliente, a nearby village, while the rest of the group worked on construction or washed lice out of girls’ hair. In Agua Caliente we installed a bio-sand water filter in Bernardo’s house, and one in a church. Bernardo’s house was a single room with a concrete floor, two beds, and a stove. His wife made a cup of coffee for Jose, which was interesting to watch. Before then, I hadn’t realized how much coffee Hondurans actually drink. That’s pretty cool. I thought they just grew it and exported it. The locals roast the beans over the fire and then put the grounds in a small cloth pouch. And then they hold it over the cup and pour hot water through it. That’s all you really need to make decent coffee.
After we finished installing the filter in Bernardo’s house, we went to the church where Carlos currently lives. He works with the Lowman’s and wants to be a FIFA trainer in the Middle East to share the gospel. The hike out to Agua Caliente took around an hour and was pretty exhausting. Like the hike out to Santa Maria, the trail was either steep uphill or steep downhill the entire time. A lot of the geography in Honduras actually reminds me of the foothills in Colorado. No snowy peaks, but much larger hills than the Ozarks. Even the trees look similar. The things that throw you off and make you realize you’re not in Colorado are all the banana trees, pineapple, sugar cane, and coffee. Anyways, during all the hikes, we used mules to carry our luggage and heavy stuff. But the thing to remember about hiking near mules is to keep a good 15 feet between you and them if they’re in front of you. They fart. All the time.
Finally, we played a second game of soccer with the locals. But it had been pouring rain beforehand, so the field and trails up to the field were soaked and muddy. It was still really fun, slipping around and trying to see the other side of the field through the fog. We got soaked as rain poured down again during the game. We won that game as well, but it was much closer (2-1).
Day 6:
We began hiking back to the van right after breakfast. The hike seemed much easier and quicker than the hike in, since it wasn’t pouring down rain. This time it took us 2.5 hours. Once we got back, we ate lunch and drove back to “the farm”. When we arrived, it was time for the local youth to gather and have worship and a message. So we participated in that, which was at the farm. All the kids that come to that are sponsored by the missionaries to continue in their education beyond 6th grade. The government only pays for their education up until that point. That is a major ministry that the Lowman’s participate in. One girl, Dunia, is trying to get the Walton scholarship to come to John Brown University. Pray that she gets that. That would be awesome.
After youth group, we all ate a nice fried chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and corn. It was so good. Then we had a meeting and packed our stuff for the drive out the next day to the beach by the airport.
Day 7:
Right after breakfast, we left for the beach. But before arriving, we stopped for some lunch at a touristy place with pizza. I bought a mug , pencil holder, and cool pepsi bottle from there. Shortly after that, we came to the hotel at the beach and had the rest of the afternoon to relax and swim around. It was a lot of fun (I always say that, don’t I? Maybe I should say it was beyond enjoyment). Then we ate dinner at a cool restaurant and debriefed about the trip afterwards.
Day 8:
We left early after breakfast for the airport in San Pedro Sula, said our goodbyes, and flew back to the States. The end.
Reflections:
At the beginning of the mission trip, we prayed a lot for unity among the team, and I was really encouraged to see all the team and missions staff become really close. It was awesome!
I was expecting to be overwhelmed by poverty and disease like the pictures you see. Just like the stories you hear of people being radically impacted. But I wasn’t overwhelmed. I’m not sure why, but I think I already had an awareness and compassion for it before the trip. However, I noticed through the week that my view of the material poverty there changed. Initially, my sympathy went out to many of them because of their lack of material things and the comforts that we enjoy. But towards the end of my time, I began to notice that they don’t need most of the material conveniences we have. There are improvements that they need in their life to keep them healthy, such as good drinking water, concrete floors, and sanitation. But other than that, most conveniences that we have would just be changing their culture and way of life and be making their life less simple. Many of the disorganized homes we passed along the road didn’t need much change. In the eyes of many Hondurans, those would be nice homes. And they would be very comfortable living there. I was aware of this separation between Westernization and needed change before the trip, but didn’t have any practical applications or visualizations until now. This is a point in which helping can hurt if we try to fix more than is really needed. Just because we don’t feel at home in a house without air conditioning, doesn’t mean that they feel the same way. At what point are we just turning them into greedy Americans who are consumed with comfort? We need to spend time in the culture and begin feeling comfortable there before making judgments about what are the appropriate improvements to make.
After arriving in Santa Maria the first night, the awareness of the parasites, diseases, and mosquitoes in the area was a bit unsettling. But it didn’t take long to acclimate (give in to the dirt) and become comfortable there. We stayed in a few different buildings with concrete walls and floors that are used for school there. The people living in the nearby huts seemed to be pretty healthy by outward appearance. They eat less food than we do, which I think influences their small stature. I’m sure, at times, they struggle to get enough food each day.
I loved being around the kids there. All the kids were amazing and so cute. They loved to smile and were such a joy to play with, and tickle. I would’ve loved to spend more time with them. Those were my favorite moments of the trip. And they’re all so small! One kid, named Pancho (Bernardo’s son), was 7 years old and looked like he was no more than 4! Another kid, Juan, always had the biggest grin on his face. His friend, Noel, and another kid, Isayes, were enjoying my tongue-clicking and were trying unsuccessfully to mimic it.
Towards the end of the last day in Santa Maria, I was beginning to get a little discouraged. I felt as if I hadn’t done enough to show the Lenca people the love of God. What I thought was lacking were good friendships. I really believe that relationships are key to a full display of the gospel, and that is something that is so hard to develop in only three days and with a limited knowledge of Spanish. Developing good friendships is one of my strengths and is something I really value. So when all the physical needs are getting met but no real friendships have the chance to develop, I feel like there’s much more that could be done to show them the love of Christ. Also, the week after we left, another team was coming in to finish the construction project. So yet another mass of gringos coming to smile at the people, ask them their names, and tickle their kids. Ok, I know that God can use that. I feel that during my time there, real connections with the people were made. And I trust that God did receive glory during our time there as we sought to join Him in the work He has already begun among them.
This also inspires me to learn a lot more Spanish. I’d like to return sometime, and when I do, be able to build stronger friendships. So hopefully I can eliminate the language barrier and spend a longer period of time with them. I also decided that Spanish is a beautiful language. I was listening to the staff at the farm pray in Spanish, and it was very beautiful. They weren’t speaking so fast that I couldn’t differentiate the words, and there almost seemed to be a rhythm to it.
During that last day when I was beginning to feel like I wasn’t doing enough, I decided that I would give away all the extra clothes that I wouldn’t have to have on the way back. Why should I keep them? They need them much more than I do. I was going to do that until that night when Henry talked to us all about that very subject. He told us that many of the people in Santa Maria have become beggars because of the all the stuff given to them. So that whenever a group comes into the village, the villagers immediately get excited and focused on the clothes they may get, rather than being open to building relationships. The book, When Helping Hurts, discusses all this really well. It seems to be a popular book right now, because I keep hearing from different random people about it. I’m reading it too, but haven’t picked it up in awhile. So anyways. When I was getting ready for bed that night, one of the villagers was hanging out at the door of our building. His name was Armando, and I think he was kind of close to my age. I had just caught a moth that was flying around my headlamp and was taking it outside. In attempt to make conversation, I asked him what the moth I was holding was called in Spanish. He smiled and told me, but I’ve since forgot. Then he asked me if I had shoes I could give him. “Un momento,” I said. So I went and talked with Ryan, one of our team leaders. He suggested that I talk with Henry. So I explained the situation with Henry, and how I really didn’t need that pair of shoes anyways. He told me to tell Armando to come back in the morning and talk with him. So I had Ryan translate that for Armando, and went to bed. I prayed about it before bed and came to the conclusion that I should probably not give the shoes to him, but also tell him why. Why we aren’t more blessed than them. Because it’s not the material things like shoes or clothes that define being blessed. It’s knowing Jesus. And we’re not there to be their providers, but to build friendships as equals. But Armando never showed up in the morning. I wish he had.
One expectation I had going into the trip was to receive a clearer picture of my purpose in missions. I’m not exactly sure that I got what I wanted. It still seems unclear where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing. But I’ve realized that we don’t need a clear call to bring the gospel to the needy. It’s the duty of every Christian. One thing I’m sure about from this trip though is that I’ll be deeply involved in missions and will be a part of going to the mission field on a regular basis if not long-term. I’ve been reading a new book called Radical, by David Platt, and it’s been revolutionizing my thoughts on following Christ and contrasting it with the American dream. For those of you already reading it, Chapter 8 is one of my favorite chapters.
God places us where we are now and commands us to serve Him and spread His love to those who need it around us. We are to bloom where He plants us and through the opportunities He gives us. Honduras was an opportunity given to me to glorify Him and I believe He still wants us to continue spreading His glory in Honduras. This isn’t just a week-long bloom. Cheezy phrase, I know. He provided over the amount I needed to go, and I think He may want me to continue serving Honduras, simply because He granted me the opportunity to serve and love those people and learn their needs. This is something Charlie has been sharing with me too. I know that God would be glorified if I went there and shared His love with them. Is that all I need to consider? I guess the other question that I ask is whether or not God would be even more glorified if I went elsewhere. But that may or may not be a question that needs to be asked if we just take the opportunity God has already presented us with and run with it. If He wants us to glorify Him elsewhere, then He will direct us there as we begin to run towards His glory in Honduras. And now as He’s placed me in Tulsa to finish up a master’s degree, I need to serve Him here in whatever way I can and use my experiences in Honduras for the present.
