Honduras 2010 - Day 2

Mission Trip to Honduras

Day 2

Thursday June 3, 2010

I apologize in advance for the length of this blog post.  It is admittedly too long, but I am trying to recap my entire Mission Trip in just 8 posts (one for each day I was there), so that means that the posts will all be a little longer as I want to include as many pictures and stories as I can. 

However, I have made the pictures smaller to save room, so click on any picture to enlarge.  (I have still yet to figure out how to post the pictures side-by-side?)

For a recap of Day One click here.

We headed out early in the morning.  That's Angela, myself and Bill in the back seat of the white pick-up truck.  Our destination - the small remote village of El Zapote.

Rick and CJ occupied the front seats.  It takes about an hour to get to El Zapote, even though it's only about a ten mile distance away.  The terrain is very rough, so it's a slow, very bumpy, trip.

Leading the way there, Grant and Keith rode in the front of the Rhino, while Decker held on for dear life in the back.

We stopped in the nearest town, Yamaranguila, on the way to El Zapote.  Pictured below is a big church that sits in the "town square." 

Across from the church is a little store, called a "Pulpería".  We got some soft drinks and snacks for the day.

These sweet little guys watched from nearby while we made our purchases at the Pulperia.

We finally arrived at the church in El Zaopte!  It was rather surreal to be there and see how far along it had come since last year when we were laying the foundation stones and pouring the floor slab.

I love the arched windows and door!  Isn't it quaint for a little remote Honduran village church? 

Eventually there will be doors and shutters on the windows....but that is still yet to come.

Here's a view from down the road, looking back up at the church

I climbed up to an adjacent hill to get some photos of the church from a higher vantage point....and tried checking my e-mail from my phone while I was up there.  Believe it or not I actually had service!

Here's some photos I got from atop the adjacent hill...

Vista de Valle (the name of the church, which means "Valley View" named so after my Home church - the church represented by our group)....it truly has a view of the valley!

Inside the church, you can see the roof trusses and underside of the metal roof panels.  When we left last year, the walls were only about waist height.  It was so great to see how far the construction had come in the last year!  (Construction in Honduras is a slow process).

As you can see, the metal roof wasn't quite finished, but that was on our to-do list while we were there.

I love the view through the windows!  Isn't it breath-taking??

Trees stand over top the church and large mango-like fruit grows from the trees...

At one point, one of the Honduran men climbed high up in the tree to pick some of the fruit.  Can you see his silhouette in the top/center part of the photo below?

Also growing , are banana trees - see that bunch of green bananas right past Decker's head?  Fresh Honduran bananas are yummy!  Little known fact: Some Chiquita Banana's are actually grown in Honduras too!

Starting the week off with our to-do list in mind, we had brought the materials to finish off the roof of the church.  Here, Bill helps Vicente (the church's Pastor) unload the metal roof panels.

But....uh-oh!  You can see the despair on Keith's face (he's the one sitting on the roof talking on his cell phone in the photo below) as he realizes that not only do the panels we brought to finish the roof not line-up to what is already on the roof, but the store where Keith bought them doesn't have the right ones in stock.  Okay, scratch finishing the roof while we are there - oh well.  There's plenty to be done otherwise!

So, instead of working on the roof, we ventured down the road to the little school in El Zapote.  We brought "Salvation Story Bracelets" with us and we hoped to share them with all the kiddos in the village.

After permission from their teachers, we lined the kids up and passed out the bracelet kits.

Each bead on the bracelet was a different color and stood for a different part of the Salvation story....I explained each color and corresponding meaning to the kids as they added the beads to their bracelet (Angela translated for me)

The kids seemed to understand and we even had them repeat each color / meaning back to us in hopes that they would remember them after we were gone.  We also encouraged them to wear the bracelets and share with others what they mean.

After making bracelets, we re-taught them how to play "Pato, Pato, Gonzo!" (or Duck, Duck, Goose!).  Some of them remembered from last year.  They had a blast with it!

After playing for a while with the kids, we headed back to the church (where our vehicles were parked with supplies) and decided to go visit some families in El Zapote.  We had brought Family Hygiene Packs to pass out as we visited them and shared the story of Jesus with them.

Here's Keith carrying a duffel bag full of the packs as we started our hike down the mountain to visit the homes.

From L-R: Me, Keith (you can see his head peaking between our shoulders - he's the missionary that lives in Honduras), Rick (our Team Leader), Decker & Bill (Father & Son), Angela (our translator) and CJ (the other lady on our team besides me)

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to visit families we go....

Can see that little house in the center of the photo?  Not many of the houses up in the mountains are close together.  Most are spread out with a short (sometimes not so short) walk from one to the next.

That's me, sitting on the porch, showing this family the "Salvation Story Bracelets" before we handed one out to each of them.

I love this shot that Grant captured, just the hand with the bracelet. 

As we were walking from house to house, we pass several beautiful scenes of the mountains, but we also come across crops that people are growing.  Here's a pineapple - looks almost ready to pick, doesn't it?  Mmmm......Fresh Honduran Pineapple is to die for!  It's so de-lish!

Here's a field of coffee plants!  Strange to think that coffee beans grow on tree-like plants.

Along the road, we saw these two little ones and shared some bracelets with them too.

Since we were up in the mountains, where the air is a little more thin, we had to stop and rest on several occasions.....here's Rick taking a break.

Another house.....

We gave this family a Hygiene Pack too.

And along our way we went....

When we arrived at this home, we knocked and no one answered the door.  We assumed that no one was home, but when Pastor Vicente peaked in the window, he said "They're sleeping."

Come to find out, the family wasn't sleeping, they were just scared that we were from the government!  They said every now and then that some "white men" come around with clip boards asking lots of questions about property and such and they were scared to answer the door at first.  Vicente quickly explained who we were and then they gladly talked with us.

Here, Angela translates as the men share about Christ with this family.

Then I share about the bracelets and give each person one

And off we go again.....

When we arrived at the next place, this little bitty guy caught my eye and I had to pick him up!

Aren't these kiddos precious?

And this lady was certainly proud of her meat grinder. 

I shared about the bracelets with the kids and a few adults at this house too.  We also took time to pray for a man there.  His family said he used to be able to talk just fine, but over time, the man started to loose his voice and now he can barely just whisper.  I'm not sure what was wrong with him, but we prayed for health and healing.

With the little broken Spanish I know, I asked the kids their names and how they were doing. 

This man asked for a bracelet too!

That's me with all the kids at this house (not sure if they all live there or not)

I absolutely loved this little guy!

He loved looking at the pictures on Bill's camera

See the preciousness in his eyes?

Oh, how I wish I could have brought him back with me!  Isn't he darling?

After a long day of hiking to homes, visiting with folks, passing out bracelets, food packs and hygiene packs, we decided to call it a day and head home.

Thanks for recapping this journey with me!