Photos 05/2017

Cause for some reason photos are not uploading... I feel this is my problem every time I'm here!

You thought your coffee grinder was bad! This guy is grinding coffee!!!

 

  

The weekend in La Esperanza

So Cristina wanted me to rest on Saturday which I did. I had set my alarm and didn't realize it was in Miami time so it woke me up way early. So a nap was also due... around 3 I went to Cristina's store and hung out there. I had forgotten how much people stare and without a group with me all of the stares are focused on me and me alone. It can be very unnerving. I miss being able to hide with in the group.

Norma's son brought more mushrooms! I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that Cristina had bought some mushrooms. These mushrooms are native to this area and only grow when the rainy season has been good. She cooked some up to go with the chicken. These mushrooms are red and look like all of the artistic mushrooms seen in paintings and sculptures. Well and now we have more mushrooms! I am normally a hater on mushrooms but these aren't too bad, and they are picked in the forest!

Sunday was a day!

First we traveled to a church and Marvin preached. It was a small chapel. And we were given more mushrooms! Then we drove to San Antonio to drop of rosa and Perot Carlos, the chapel is at rosas mothers house. Marvin preached there twice a month. Lots of mountain roads! 

Then Cristina, Marvin and I went to San Juan and had lunch at a cute little comedor which is a little eatery. We talked and visited. Then we went back to San Antonio and picked up rosa and her children and we went to Valle. These roads were crazy and I wish we had a Go pro for the end of the truck. Some of these road angles I have only seen on roller coasters!

There Marvin preached on Galatians taking about what not to do and the fruit of the spirit.

the picture below is of the Sunday shook at this church. The servic starts at about 4:20 and the the children below have been ther since 1pm! They go for Sunday school/ discipleship. They have been given children's bibles from Samaritan's purse. I can't believe the children go there for 4+ hours!!!

As the service let out the children started running to marvins truck they wanted to make sure that they got a ride home! As we left Marvin had about 20-30 people in the back of his truck! We were so lucky that it had stopped raining for this trip. Four wheeling out there is serious!

After making our various stops dropping people off we made our way back to San Antonio and dropped rosa and her children off. They invited us to their church service but we were exhausted and we will try next week!

Sunday was a very long day and Monday will be our day of rest. 

Prayer requests:

Health for Marvin, Cristina, and I as we travel to different villages and shake a lot of hands. :)

That as Cristina, Marvin, and I talk that we will be able to think of ideas to raise money for the ministries here.

And of course safe travels everywhere!

Until the next post! I think I will be going to the prison on Tuesday but we will see. We have a big day on Wednesday traveling to different villages and taking in the schools.

¡Adiós!

 

 

The Lone traveler

Well who would have thought I would be going to Honduras without a team? This trip to Honduras will be a a lot of firsts for me.

First checking in and not being given a seat. My trips are booked through a travel agency for nonprofits and I normally get a decent seat either a aisle or window and sometimes I randomly get economy plus. None of this happened. I kept asking for a seat, I didn't even have an option to upgrade and I totally would. Right now I will pay to about of pain. So after our boarding time I was finally given a seat. A middle seat or as another guy called it, "the conversation seat".

When I boarded, I got to my seat, it was like someone played a prank,  the amount of space between the two seats was so tiny. It looked to be about 6inches but as I measure it it appears to be 12 inches, judging with my fingers and my arm..my feet are longer than the space between front/back seat. And since it's an  older airplane, they added charging outlets so less space under the seat. My backpack barely fits side ways and doesn't fit length wise, so that means absolute no leg room for me my knees are in the seat ahead of me and of course the person lowered their seat so it's practically in my face. So my knees are screaming and all I can say is this is going to be a long day. And I immediately used my spending money on upgrading my other seats on the flights cause I guess that's how American Airlines does it. You got pay extra for the preferred seats!

Then to Miami, I could not just leave my luggage with the team and go explore, I had to lug my heavy backpack and bag sound the whole airport. And then there was no one to talk to, which was probably good cause I was tired and not in a pleasent mood.

My flight from Miami to Tegucigalpa was a better experience, no one sat on the aisle seat so the middle seat guy moved to the aisle and I found out that there is less leg room on the window seat dure to the charging pack for the outlet. So I awkwardly sat with my legs in the next space over. I kept repeatedly thinking, "why can't southwest fly to Tegucigalpa?" 

The guy on aisle was a dentist from Boston who was coming for a brigade. He was worried about the heat. I told it wasn't as bad as the Dominican Republic but he said they were by the ocean so maybe it is as bad. 

I was one the last ones to get off the plane and of course the one time I am not with a team the line for foreign travelers is longer and slower. So by the time I got out of customs Cristina and Marvin were waiting for me and they thought I had maybe missed my flight.

The trip to La Esperanza was longer then I remebered, more pot holes and we stopped more. I miss the bus but I didn't miss the bus. We stopped at stand on the side of the rode about an hour and half from La esperanza and we got some edible flowers, hopefully in a pic below or the next post. They cost $.50! Cristina says they are good with eggs we will see. Another reason to stop there was for the fresh piña! The lady ended up chopping up two different ones to prove the two different kinds of pineapple were tasty, and they were!! I am hoping Dennis will buy some when he comes up on Saturday or we will have to find some good ones at the market. I don't think the pineapples in America ever get this yellow.

Once we got to town Cristina and I stopped at Walmart. Now it didn't have a big sign saying Walmart but the plastic bags do and they charge for the plastic bags! The one time I really need my reusable bags!

And that was it to my long travel day... I feel like I did not need to do as extravagant as a post cause I have no team but there you go!

 

The rest of Honduras 2016

Monday

Well today ended in bang. We have no electricity in the church and I used the flashlight to find my toothpaste. As I was brushing my teeth i kept thinking this toothpaste taste gross.... I kept brushing... It wasn't foaming so I figured it was because it was new toothpaste. Then I looked at the tube and saw I had used hydrocortisone cream instead of sensodyne. Lucky for me my mom taught me to never swallow the the toothpaste stuff. So after everyone laughing at me, making me laugh spitting out the water, I finally rinsed my brush and brushed my teeth with toothpaste.

That was the cherry on top to my very clumsy day. It started out great I woke early and was packed to go to the village of carrazel by 7:30. Cristina made me some Camille tea for my stomach and I relaxed while she got ready. After getting to base camp I walked into a room of students on wifi, it saddened my heart how much they stick to their phones and the necessity of the Internet. I pull my phone out to take pictures and that's about it. I update my blog once a day and that's my internet consumption. Anyways some of the team was not packed, we weren't leaving till 1 so I went with Cristina to the supermercado and bought food for the team for the next week in the villages. It was fun except there were no prices on the food so you have to go to the computers on the aisles to scan the barcode to obtain the price. Very annoying when you have to scan 10 different brands to figure out which is the cheapest plates. 

After lunch we prayed for each team going to the villages. Then the Dolores and carrizal team left with the bus. We stopped off at Dolores first then onto carrizal. We arrived and the church is very nice. They had rigged the back of it with a curtain by the stage with us sleeping on the stage eventually putting up a tarp also. After we had some of our stuff put together we were led to Norma's house. At first it was no big. Deal then it kept going hiking into the jungle/ Forrest, through the coffee fields and more forest. At one point I sorta fell/ ran down the mountain definitely twisting my knee. The whole team missed it cause they walked way ahead with Norma's son. I was salon g with Norma. After me falling and slipping a couple of times Norma gave me a stick to use to walk with. Every house I came to I figured it would be her house but then we kept walking and walking some on nonexistent path, Norma knew where she was going so we kept walking. And I kept trying out my steps to see if this next one would be when I totally biff it. We finally made it to Norma's house where we had pineapple tea and cake but they call it pan- it was definitely cake. Norma kept offering me to sleep/ rest on her bed but I felt fine with my knee hurting a bit. We hung out at Norma's until dinner was ready. Spaghetti with rice, tortillas and beans. Interesting meal... The girls and I started discussing how we were going to go back up the mountain now that it was dark. We then found out that a neighbor was going to drive us back. We still had to hike to where the neighbor was m, but boy oh boy was the back of that truck fun!!!!

So we return to the church with a candle in front lit and I use the wrong toothpaste. Long day and now for bed!

Well I accidentally delete my Tuesday and because it was so long ago I can remember...

Wednesday may 11-may 15

Well as the days pass in carrizal it has been hot and interesting. Wednesday after school we did lesson plans for the the next day. In the afternoon we visited a lady who is unable to come to church because of her rheumatoid arthritis. After the hike to her house I understand how she cannot leave her house. It was a definite hike. All the while of going down I just kept thinking how are we going to get out? Thursday was similar to Wednesday we visited a girl with dwarfism. Her head is so big she has a chair to help hold her head up. We visited with her family and then hiked back to Norma's house. This hike was not has had as the first day because the steep coffee plant area was skipped. When we were heading back one of the girls was bit by a dog while taking a short cut through the ladies house/land. We got back to the church and I was able to use my first aid kit. I told the girls something was going to happen beachside they had a nurse in their group. Friday morning I was awoken to the pipe on the toliet exploding with water going everywhere when one of the girls was about to take a shower. We had no running water and no toliet use for about 2 hours. One of he girls had never use the bathroom in the Forrest before. One of these days camping will have to be a precursor to going on a mission trip...Friday we had school at the church because the teachers had a meeting. About a group of 30 showed up we were able to go over the English we had taught them and the songs. And then they played in our little area around the church. Friday afternoon I got a migraine/ cold, so the group went on a hike with the pastor to different houses inviting them to church on Sunday. Through the last few days a group of children have begun to come to play/ hang out with us. Bri has really enjoyed it and Alison has also. Saturday we had a relaxing morning with some of the children showing up. In the afternoon we hiked and visited a few more families inviting them to church and letting the children know that we are going  to sing a few of the songs that they had learned in English. Saturday closed with us having dinner at dusk and all of us counting up our bug bites.

Sunday was great! We had church, the kids sang the songs, we sang a song, and Tashie gave her testimony. After church we hiked to Norma's and did not take the shortcut. There we had lunch then she taught us how to make her pan(sweet bread- pueblo style). It was interesting definitely no measuring. And a lot of weird stirring techniques, including slapping the dough with the spoon. It was interesting to see the way they cooked the bread in the pueblo oven. It was a nice day with overcast and cool. After dinner and once the bread was cooked we hiked back up into the mountain no shortcut allowed. As our last night in carrizal we were excited to head back to base camp and see the other teams.