My heart misses Hondo

Some of you have been asking to see more pictures from my trip so here you go..... I realize most pictures have me in them....but hey if you are reading my blog then I figured you would want pictures with me in them. I know it's a conceited assumption....but hey I'm only human right. :)

The kids and I spent more than an hour playing this crazy Honduran version of London Bridges meets tug-a-war. The girl that I'm attached to and I would created a "bridge" with our hands and the kids would march in a circle around us while we chanted a song. When the song was over we would drop our arms and whomever was in our grasp then had to pick a fruit. If the picked the fruit that had been predetermined (secretly) as mine then they went behind me. After all the kids had been "caught" by the falling bridge we have one huge game of tug-a-war. It was a blast! :)

This sweet ladies name is Julia. She lives at the old peoples home we visit. Her husband passed away a couple of years ago. She never was able to have children and has no other family so she moved into the home.

This man's name is Max. He is a self proclaiming hippie. He spoke with animation of the places he has been and the things he has seen. We were of course fast friends as I listened with rapture to his stories.

For those of you who have been avidly following my blogs for years you might remember my stories of Luvin. Jen and I made the decision to bring him back to Casa with us nearly 3 years ago when he had no home. His background was riddled with abuse, hatred, anger, and violence. Because of that he had a hard time transitioning into the home. He was a good 2 years bigger than the other kids. We were eventually forced to make the hard decision to take him to an all boys home where he would have more men around him. Well he is now back living with Jen. He still has his struggles but the tenderness I saw in him this trip still amazes me. AND boy how he has grown. He has more muscles than most grown men I know!

The kids at our house building site took the spare wood and began making play houses of their own. I loved watching the way they would talk about what piece to put on or what they wanted the house to look like. It was like they were building their dream home.

One of my favorite little boys at the "dump community" Andres. He never forgets my name and always wants to know when I will return. He is a sweetheart for sure! AND quite the worker. He can hammer 3 nails in the time it takes me to do one!

Our amazing team of girls rocked this week!

I had the privilege of doing this trip with 3 of my closest friends....you each are a blessing to my heart.

We did devotional at the "junk cross" with the kids from Casa (the orphanage where I used to work). A couple of the older boys led music and prayed over us....it brought me to tears.

Ok so I just plan ADORE her. I've never loved another the way I love her. God bound our hearts so tightly together that sometimes I forget that she isn't truly mine. My heart aches for her with every beat and my lips find themselves whispering her name in the most random moments.

My heart delights in you little one.

Video

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/40943737#40943396

Check out this inspirational video!

Wednesday

Today a small group of us had the pleasure of going to the dump to feed the people who spend their days working tirelessly in the midst of other people’s garbage in an effort to earn a feeble wage for their efforts. It is one of those experiences that you can never grow numb to, it will never become just something you do while you are in Honduras, or at least it shouldn’t. Driving into the dump you immediately feel dirty, you smell the stench of rotten food and things thrown away in the thousands of homes throughout Tegucigalpa, things that aren’t meant to be seen again, let alone dug through with human hands. And yet that is exactly what hundreds of people spend their days doing; searching, sifting, scavenging through trash in order to exhume plastic, cardboard, glass, whatever it is that they are responsible for collecting.

However, today at the dump was even more challenging for me personally. As we stood in the back of a truck and scooped out bowl after bowl of rice, beans and tortillas, we were enveloped in smoke. Every so often they burn the trash at the dump to make room for more waste. Today was a burning day. And there was no escape from the smoke. It burned our eyes, our throats and it covered us in a layer of stench and dirt that was recognizable from a distance. Our group spent 30 minutes at the dump today. 30 minutes. And for a lot of us the first things we talked about as soon as we drove away were the showers we couldn’t wait to take, or the cold water that was going to taste so refreshing. These aren’t luxuries that many of those workers were going to receive at the end of their long work day, a work day lasting far longer than the 30 minutes our group spent in the dump feeding. All day the men, women and children working there would be breathing in that smoke, smelling that stench and feeling that intense burning in their eyes and throats that I could barely stand for the 30 minutes I was there to serve them lunch.

Today being in the dump, at least for me, felt a little more real. Real in the sense that I endured their elements a little bit more. Real in the sense that I know how my body responded in that environment after only a few minutes. And real in the sense that I felt so appreciative driving away from the dump yesterday; for the opportunity to have gone and shared cold, clean water with those people and warm, nourishing food. In that moment it was also real to me how important it is to enter into to those places less appealing, less clean, and certainly less enjoyable because it is in those places that God has come looking for me time and time again.

The rest of us headed to Hospital Escuela. It is the "free hospital" in the city. If you have ever been to this hospital you know all too well how true the statement "you get what you pay for" can be. There is no such thing as a private room there. Instead most rooms have 10-12 beds lining the walls; filled with sick kids. The hospital often times is forced to reuse needles, tape, catheters, and other medical supplies because they don't have enough. I suppose when you are in pain and needing help you would choose the reused needle over nothing....but still it just makes my heart hurt. How spoiled are we in the states?? We take for granted the fact that we can walk into a hospital and receive good, sanitary, life saving medical treatment.

Our group split into two smaller groups at the hospital and headed to separate floors, armed with big bags of toys. My group had pediatric surgery and hydrocephaly floors. At each room we went to we handed out stuffed animals and toy cars. We played with kids, held hands with kids receiving treatment, talked with them, and formed bonds that surely wound their way into deepest parts of our heart.

After the hospital we headed to the airport where 12 more members of our team flew out. It is hard to believe that our time here is already over. My heart aches at the thought of going home already. I love this place and these people with everything in me.

Please keep praying over this place and the ministries here. I'll continue to put up a couple more blogs of pictures and stories even after I return home so keep checking the blog.

Pictures

Jen was a bit nervous using the chainsaw...but she rocked it!

Our almost all girl team ROCKS!

Our entire team at the Junk Cross. This Cross was literally built out of old car parts.

The finished product of our house building! :)

I ADORE her.

MANGOS!!!! I LOVE them.

Tuesday

Today we worked at the place where we have been staying all week. We have been staying with missionary friends of mine so we spent today building shelves, painting, cleaning, digging holes for hammock posts, and other such things. It was our opportunity to serve them today after they have served us all week.

After that we headed to KFC to meet the kiddos from Casa de Esperanza (the orphanage where I used to work) for dinner. We spent a couple of hours eating and playing in the play place with them! :)

And last but not least we had an Ohio State Buckeyes party. 4 of the missionaries here are Buckeyes fans so they came over to watch the game with us. We had white chili, red chili, corn bread, and buckeyes of course! :)

Sunset

Honduras has some of the most beautiful sunsets. God simply takes my breath away here.

Monday

The group split up into two separate teams today to build houses. We headed back out to the dump community where we had a carnival earlier this week. Each team built a home for a family. The houses we build are 16X16 wood one room houses. They take roughly 4-5 hours to build from start to finish.

Christina and Kristin braved the roof.

Katie played with kids all morning. They loved here....and I loved watching her with them. She was so patient and just delighted in playing with them so much.

Colby and some of our other girls braved the chainsaw for the first time today!

This was our house building team and the family we built for. We built for a sweet sweet family. A husband, his wife (who is 9 months pregnant), their 4 year old son.

After we finished building the two houses we headed up to the Jesus Statue. It is a huge statue of Jesus Christ that sits over-looking the city. The view at night is amazing. The team headed up there to have our devotional. After almost an hour of singing and devotional time at the feet of Christ we headed back home to get some rest. The team is starting to feel a bit tired and worn down.