Honduras Spring Break 2012

Friday, March 16, 2012

Friday's Photos

Evan holding Jesus's hand

View from the Jesus Statue

Melvin y Joni

Isbill playing with the ninos!

Huge spider.

Today we had the chance to start breaking rocks to build a wall for Yoni and Melvin and their family! (Yoni is 21 and has been virtually raising the rest of his siblings since he was around 14). It is to keep them safe from their house flooding in the rainy season. Yoni is an incredible young man and has had so many opportunities to go astray where he lives, yet has been so loyal to his family and thankful to Mark and all that he has been given in his life. He loves learning to speak English and teach Spanish and we got to talk a lot together today back and forth, it was awesome! Yoni and Melvin (who is 15) broke rocks at a rate probably ten to twenty times quicker than we gringos were capable of! haha. But they were very gracious and showed us how. It was crazy - we used hammers/mallets, metal points/punches, sledgehammers, and steel rods. As Terry called it "Flinstone" style. We also went to the Jesus statue here in Tegucigalpa overlooking the city with a beautiful view. My battery is running out so I'm going to keep it short but I am so thankful for another day here, to be able to serve God by serving Yoni and learning so much from him and his family and his story and attitude toward it all. I can't believe it's already Friday! Tomorrow we're building Abraham's house and I am very excited for it.

-Barrett

Friday, March 16

Today, we got started early! We picked up a new vehicle and drove out to MonaLoa to Melvin's house.

We were building a retaining wall for Melvin's family to keep his house safe from the river due to his proximity. We basically had to bust rocks and dig way down. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun. Once again, Melvin and his brother, Joni showed us the best way to bust the rocks. They were incredibly knowledgeable on useful skills and efficient. Even with busting rocks, they knew the best way!

A little bit of background on why we were even building the wall. Eric Connell, Mark's son, said he would buy soccer cleats for Jonathan Martinez, Melvin, and Joni. Joni said he did not want cleats, but he wanted the money for his cleats to go towards building a wall to protect his siblings. When Mark told me that story, I was humbled and blown away. Such an act of selflessness when he has so little. I am so consistently inconsistent with everything including my relationships with my brothers and sisters in Christ. To see loyalty on that level and unconditional love was such a glimpse into His love for His people. I was honored to be able to help Joni. He worked along side us all day. He taught us Spanish and in turn we taught him English. He was very patient, spoke slowly, and worked with us when we could barely convey our ideas.

Joni decided we could not finish the wall today because it would take some special engineering because all the water. So, we then went and got some souvenirs. Then Mark took us to a great smoothie place called Super Jugos. I walked in and the man started speaking really, really fast. Mark wasn't in there so I did the best I could. He was telling me that they couldn't serve any smoothies because they had no straws. I told him, "The Gringos don't care about straws; we just want a smoothie por favor!" So, we finally got some and they were delicious: fruit, milk, ice, and lots of sugar.

Headed up to Villa Gracia and figured out we are no longer alone up here! There are a few executives here from Aguazul (big water company in Honduras since everyone has to buy water) and some more Gringos from Nashvegas. Ate a delicious meal prepared by one of the sweetest ladies on earth and headed to the Jesus statue.

The Jesus statue overlooks the south part of the city and is simply stunning. Mark always points out that while it does look like any US city the darkness hides the pain, suffering, and poverty. Jesus's backside is to the dump. Mark's son pointed out that the people at the dump must think that Jesus turned his back on them both physically and spiritually. Thank the Lord that He is faithful. He PROMISES us He will never forsake us, even in hellish conditions at the dump. What a reassuring promise.

Building day tomorrow for Abraham! Very excited and humbled to be apart of His work and allow a family to have a place to stay that is safe and will provide some relief!

Drew

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Thursday Update

I don’t know who reads this because a lot of it is redundant from other people’s posts. But, this is my (Terry) perspective of today.

Today was a pretty incredible day. It wasn't extremely physically demanding like other days but it was eye opening to see the stark reality of the Hondurans. We started by going to the grocery store to buy sandwich ingredients for 300 sandwiches that we would take to the Tegucigalpa city dump. Mark sent us into the grocery store by ourselves, which was quite a learning experience. After we made the sandwiches we bought 300 tangerines and 300 bags of water and with a loaded van we made our trek to the dump. The dump is where about 300 Hondurans live among the garbage waiting for new trucks to arrive to find anything of value. The majority of them sniff glue to alleviate their hunger and because glue is cheaper than food. The pictures truly don't do justice because pictures don't have a taste, smell, or filth. As we arrived I really couldn't believe that people like this existed in our world. Most of them were high on glue and covered their face with a ski mask just to protect themselves from the filth and bacteria. The crazy thing was the see the dogs, vultures, cows, flies, and humans all scrounging through the trash searching for the same things. We stayed for about 30 minutes handing out sandwiches to the mob of “untouchables.” As we left, I was filthier from the 30 minutes we were there than from the work we had done during all the previous days. I can truly say that my eyes have seen the depths of poverty.

After we left we went to Mona Loa (a local slum village) and handed out school uniforms to the kids and then played footbol with the boys. Soccer was matched up gringos vs. Hondurans. We were hanging with the 10 year olds but when the guys closer to our age came we didn’t score another goal.

Today was great just seeing the faces that we came down here for. For me (since I don’t speak Spanish) I can’t love them with my words only with my actions. And while this has been a humble blessing, I haven’t seen the reality of the Honduran life. Today was an opportunity to see that, and it was a real blessing.

Most people wouldn’t consider this a vacation but it has been the perfect retreat from the student life. And while I love being a student, I have learned a lot about the world by getting away from the American dream life. The great lesson that God has been teaching me is that each day is a gift (Psalm 118:24) and we haven’t been given tomorrow or next week. In light of this, God’s grace has a new value and new motivation.

Tomorrow we will be building a retaining wall for our new friend and brother Melvin. Please pray for sustained joy in Christ.

-Terry

Thursday, March 15

So I was down yesterday (again) in recovery phase from catching the bug. Much needed. The rest of the guys went out to a home for teenage girls and mixed and poured concrete - very very tough manual labor - not quite quikrete like it mostly is in the States! Today (Thursday) we visited the dump, had a chance to hand out school uniforms for boys and girls in a village named MontaLoa (spelling?) and handed out some school supplies and finally got to play some el fútbol with the kids there! I’m too tired and overwhelmed to describe it all in great detail, but the day was packed with so many things. We bought enough bread, meat, cheese, oranges, and snack cookies to feed 300 at the dump, as well as water. We made the sandwiches and headed out. No amount of words will ever be able to capture the dump. The smells, the faces of the people there (all wore things all over their face to prevent all the nasty dust/sun/bacteria/everything you can imagine in a dump out the best they could) are fresh in my mind. They literally almost rioted trying to get food - it was nothing I could ever imagine. As Mark said, the humans, vultures, cows, and dogs there are literally equal - all scavenging to stay alive. Most of the people there scavenge for anything they could possibly make money off of. They go so hungry they often huff glue to get high to make the hunger go away. We were all completely taken aback and I still truly haven’t processed it all and not sure if I ever will be able to. No human should have to live this way. Somehow through all the confusion and brokenness and complete devastation, all I have the power to say is God is in control, somehow and some way. As Mark said today, seeing and even reading these things we shouldn’t feel guilty to the point where we can’t carry out daily life but we shouldn’t walk away walling it all off either (truly once you’ve seen it you know of this - you can’t unsee it), but we should genuinely ask ourselves how we can examine our lives and make changes, definitely pray, and do what the Spirit leads us to do. Going out to MonaLoa was wonderful! All the kids in the village ran up with their mothers (who had mothers) and we were able to give them shirts, pants, and skirts for school uniforms they need! This is all thanks to a generous donation and made possible through the women of Mi Esperanza ministries. The looks on the faces of the mothers and children were so wonderful to take in. What a blessing to be able to take part in. We also handed out school supplies AND got to play el fútbol (soccer) with the kids on a dirt field! It was so much fun, but they took us gringos to school on the field (and every one of them was probably 16 or younger), some playing in sandals! These people continue to amaze me at every corner. I said I couldn’t type much but already have haha. What a blessing of a day, through the ups and downs! To God alone be the glory - it is the only way I can explain any of this and connect the loose ends of what we have experienced and will continue to. Pray for the people here to have their physical needs met with spiritual needs (Jesus) being the center of all. Pray for each of us to examine our lives in each of our contexts and the way the Spirit leads. Pray for realization and grace that God has come to dwell within us to give glory to Himself, through the sacrifice of Jesus! (How crazy and mind-blowing is that?).

No me gusta el vómito,

-Barrett

“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:24-25