Day 5 ~ Emotions

Today was spent experiencing heart-rending scenes of surreal poverty, but also sharing and receiving the joy that service brings.



We started out the day returning to the community where we passed out food bags yesterday. We ran out of bags before we could get one to each family, so we had promised to come back. As we descended down the trail, familiar faces started to appear. There were games of hacky-sack, nails were painted, toys and stuffed animals were given out.


We also spent some time talking with Mothers in need of new houses. One house was comprised of a concrete block wall from another house that simply had a structure of wooden frame and tin attached. We are always amazed at how these sweet people can take whatever they have at hand and make it work, but in this case, the tin was all recycled from other houses, and had many holes for rain to poor through. Another remarkable thing about this community is the fact that last year their small church house was rebuilt. It was obviously the pride of the community and they were excited to open it up and show it to us. These mothers and families had chosen to ask for a new place to worship before new homes for themselves.




Next we went into the Tegucigalpa dump to serve lunch. It's so hard to try to describe with words or even pictures what it's like in that place. Swarming hordes of vultures, flies, cows, dogs, people, trucks, and bulldozers shock your senses as you drive in. We got off the bus, and several of our team passed out a meal of beans and tortillas, while the rest of us took bags of pure water and handed them out. We shook hands, played ball, and did our best to bring the love of God. After we got back on the bus, it was pretty obvious that we as a team needed to take some time and process what we'd just experienced. We sang in the echo of the basilica, and then talked about how the dump impacted each of us. Some described it as Hell on earth, and wondered at how these people have the courage to continue living there. We were encouraged by Jen as she told the story of Hagar when she was pregnant with Ishmael and she'd been kicked out of Abraham's camp by Sarah. God took care of Hagar's needs and Hagar named that place Beer Lahai Roi, saying "You are the God that sees me." God sees those people's struggle and we did too. We know that other teams like ours will continue to return to remind them of that.


Our afternoon was spent walking in the community of Los Pinos and carrying food bags to the families there. Los Pinos is a place that we've returned to many times over the years, and there were many happy reunions! After handing out our bags, we gathered with the people in the Iglesia courtyard to share popcorn and cotton candy.

In the evening we enjoyed a delicious meal from Taco Loco, then crepes belga from La Creparia! Our team is seriously committed to serving the people of Honduras in the name of Jesus. Almost as serious is the commitment that some of our team members have to playing soccer, which was proved as more than 15 went to play indoor soccer at 11:00 PM! No broken noses or busted lips this year, so it was a definite success.

P.S. forgot to mention that we spent part of our afternoon yesterday touring the campus of the wonderful Mi Esperanza ministry. Mi Esperanza operates under the assumption that if you put tools in the hands of women to enable them to care for their children's needs, then those children will be healthy, happy and educated, and that's a powerful way to affect change in Honduras. Mi Esperanza teaches computer and business skills, sewing and beautician classes, and also provides micro-loans so that graduates can start their own businesses. They support the ministry with a shop stocked with purses, skirts, dresses and other things produced by the students. So our team had a blast shopping with purpose!