Excerpts from my Journal

After being back a week now I'm back into the routine of working etc. and Honduras seems really distant. Like it happened a much longer time ago and not just last week. Its ironic to me because when I resolved to go on the mission originally I thought I was doing it to reach out and help the people there and maybe to teach them something but in the end it was I who learned from them and from the other members of our team and what people are capable of when put in unusual circumstances. The people of San Jose live under conditions that we would certainly consider harsh. Most live in hovels with dirt floors, no plumbing, no electricity, inadequate health care and limited opportunities for education. Yet I can tell you that God is unmistakably present there. I don't think I have ever felt as close to God as I did while I was there. The people of San Jose are aware that they don't have the advantages we do yet they don't complain and they support one another and they are very closely knit. I almost envy them their innocence - their unguarded openness and their lack of pretensions. I am not naive, I'm sure there are bad elements there as there are in all places, but I can say that whatever there is that is bad there is overwhelmingly outshined by the kindness and generosity of the majority who we came in contact with.
Following are some excerpts from my journal from day one. I will try to post excerpts from the following days as I have time.

DAY ONE - Friday 6/8/07
This was going to be a long day! Up at 2:30 to catch the flight to Houston. We arrived at the airport at 4:00AM. I can't remember if we ever had the entire team assembled in one place before but here finally was everybody together. Alisa, Dave Dellinger from Bellefield Church, Mike, Kim, the Kuriger contingent - Sandy, Ashlea and Billy, Erik, Kelly (who had received here passport only hours before and of course yours truly. Also there was Irene Frederick to help us check in. What a pleasant surprise! Before we went through security she led us in a heart felt prayer. Isn't it funny how all feeling and emotion is magnified when you know you are on the verge of something extraordinary? That's how that prayer felt to me. Thank you Irene.

I will not bother with details of the flights. Suffice it to say that it was a long ride. When we arrived in San Pedro Sula we were in another world. No one spoke english and our contact was not to be found. We hauled our 1000 pieces of luggage to the front of the airport and started looking for Medardo, our contact from Shoulder to Shoulder. We finally connected with him and started our ride up the mountain to San Jose. Here was our first contact with the Honduran people. Accompanying us were our translators whom we got to know very well. Johanna- Medardo's daughter, Gabriella (Gabby), Yudi, Carlos and Paolo. All aged 14 except for Johanna (18). Also accompanying us were 2 policemen with machine guns. It was a long, hot, bumpy ride up the mountain and our truck kept breaking down but we were all exhilarated so it didn't really matter. Finally our truck would go no more so we went to switch trucks and Kim took a little tumble. She was scraped up but in one piece so first aid was administered and we continued on our way. There was no place for 10 people to sit so Mike, Kelly and myself stood up the rest of trip up the mountain holding on to a rail attached to the cab of the pickup truck, facing forward and yelling "Ola" to countless Honduran children we passed on our trip up. I think somebody has a photo of Mike with his arms outstretched doing his Leonardo DiCaprio "I'm the King of the World!" impression. (You had to be there). It really was a surreal experience sailing up the mountain bumping and bouncing around that dirt road. Kind of like the Steel Phantom at Kennyood but without the harness. Then all of sudden there we were at Shoulder to Shoulder Clinic just like in the pictures. We had our carryon bags but all of our luggage was still in the broken truck and did not arrive for several hours. When it finally came we all set up our beds and then gathered at the picnic tables along the side of the clinic where we were soon joined by several local children. Sandy, Kelly, Ashleah and Alisa started drawing pictures with them and more kids kept coming in. I think we had at least 20 or more that showed up. Where were their parents? This turned out to be a common sight. The kids just roamed freely at any age and whoever was in the vicinity would look out for them. Some of these kids would turn up in the talent contest later in the week. We also met Don Fidel that night, the president of the health committee. I had the guitar out and he played it a little. He spoke no english so I tried to talk to him in Spanish. I think he might have actually understood some of what I said. Either that or he has mastered the polite smile while thinking "what is this crazy Gringo trying to tell me?"
I was really feeling sticky so I went to take what would turn out to be the coldest shower of my life. How can water be that cold and still be flowing? As soon as it hit me it knocked the breath out of me and I gasped hard thereby introducing some of the dreaded local water into my mouth! We had all been vehemently warned by Dave and Alisa not to let any of the untreated water in our mouths or eyes. My natural way of taking a shower makes this kind of difficult, especially when the water temperature is approaching absolute zero. However I did eventually attain some semblance of cleanliness and so I returned to the porch where we had a sleepy debrief and all turned in. We had been up for 20 grueling hours. Since there was no electricity and therefore no light, we all wore these LED headlamps that strap to your head. They look pretty goofy but work great. I climbed in under my mosquito netting and tried to go to sleep although it was still pretty warm and Carlos and Paolo were chattering in Spanish. I got some earplugs from Dave which helped alot and proceeded to get a pretty good nights sleep - until the roosters started crowing at 3:00AM.

Next Post - Day two