Orocuina

So, this past week we took a trip out into the rural area of Honduras, to a small town called Orocuina. We left Sunday around 12:30 and the trip was supposed to take about 3 hours. It was the 4 of us team members with Barry Horst and Nathan Bert.

About an hour into the trip we heard a strange rattling noise in the back right tire. So we pulled off to the side of the road to check it out. It didn´t take long to realize that the axel had slid back and now the tire was rubbing against the back bumper of the car. So...we called home to Kimberly Horst and told her that we would need her to bring us some tools so that we could fix the axel and continue on the trip. Til Kimberly was finally able to get the proper tools and find a friend to come with her, it was about 4:00 when they arrived. Then of course we had to wait for them to fix the tire.

The other problem we had was the heat! Tegucigalpa is cold compared to the weather south where we were going. It was probably in the 90´s or 100 degrees in the sun. Needless to say we had a miserable time waiting in the hot sun for 5 hours. Til we finally got going it was about 5:00 and we still had two hours to go. At about 6:00 it started to get dark. Traveling at night is never a good idea in Honduras as it is extremely dangerous. Furthermore, as we were now out into the rural area it is far more dangerous. And the last part of our trip was on a dirt road for 30 mins. The last hour of our trip to Orocuina was rather scary. But we made it safely.

In Orocuina we stayed with host families and did some evangelism in the streets. The houses there are a lot less modern than here in the city. We had an outhouse for a bathroom, dirt floors, cold bucket baths, and a fireplace for a stove. And lots of bugs and spiders living inside the house! The heat down there was almost unbearable, we went to bed every night soaked in sweat. And sitting around during the day, even in the shade...you just sweat.

Today we returned to Tegucigalpa. Unfortunately, on the way home we had more car troubles. This time it was something in the engine and the car completely shut down and wouldn´t start up again. So Jenny, Gina, Leo and I hitched a ride on a bus back to Tegucigalpa. And Barry and Nate waited for a tow truck to come and get the van. We arrived back safe and sound about noon. But I don´t think any of us will be riding in that van again any time soon! All in all it was a good week and we learned so much by living under those conditions for a few days.

Below are some of our pictures from the trip. The first two are from the car breaking down...THE FIRST TIME. The other pictures are from our stay in Orocuina. The roads in Orocuina, as you can see, are not even dirt roads, they are just big rocks in the middle of the road that you drive over. And the last couple of pictures are of our house and host mom in Orocuina. Enjoy!

Bus incident!!

Last week we did street evangelism with Mike and Shaun´s parents. This was something uncomfortable for the whole team especially trying to go door to door in a different language. We learned a lot about allowing God to work through us and not relying on our own abilities. It was truly amazing to see God work throughout the week. 8 people received Christ during this time and we give all the praise to God. We also connected these people and many who didn´t receive Christ with cell groups from the church that we attend in hopes that they can continue to grow in their walk with Christ.

This week we´ve been working with a dental team from the States as translators and helping in anyway we can. Each morning we take a taxi to a hotel where the dentists are staying and then we travel on a bus with the dentists to the work site which is about 40 mins outside of the city. On Tuesday, Jenny woke up and was not feeling very well but decided to go anyway thinking that she would get better as the morning went on. However, by the time we reached the work site, she was actually feeling worse and was pretty upset. So, while everyone was getting off of the bus I was trying to calm Jenny down. Finally, Jenny and I were ready to get off the bus. But as I stood up, I notice that the bus driver had gotten off and the door was shut. I quickly ran up to see if I could open it. But I could not. And there is no lever in the front of the bus to open the door, you have to have the key. Unfortunately, everyone else was already up at the clinic and the bus driver was no where to be found..... we were locked on the bus!

First, I tried to climb out the window but believe it or not I couldn´t fit. Actually, I probably could have fit but it would have been very difficult to get out because those windows are really high up off of the ground. Besides even if I could have managed to get out there was no way Jenny would have been able to get out. Then I noticed that the drivers window was slightly bigger than the other windows. So, I was able to squeeze out of his window and grab onto a ledge on the house right besided the bus and I was able to swing myself to the ground! Then it was Jenny´s turn and she slowly squeezed out through the window and let herself down onto my shoulder and I then let her down to the ground.

Also, rather amusing was that Gina showed up just as Jenny was climbing out of the window and she got to witness the whole event. It was rather amusing although Jenny didn´t seem to think so at the time. But needless to say we got out and had a wonderful day working with the dental team!

Lolita

This post is mainly for my mom and for all of you who really like the story of Lolita whistling at me. Lola only wakes us up about once a week now and only when she hears other people awake. She gets really excited and starts sqwaking and talking and whistling. Now she really likes it when I scratch her head. We're buddies.

New lunch!

We had a new experience yesterday at our house. In the morning while we were getting ready for our last day of language class, I was washing out our water bottles at the sink in the kitchen. As I was washing them out I noticed some kind of meat sitting on the counter beside me. Mami Gollita came into the kitchen and I asked her what it was. And she said, "meat....what do you think it looks like?" So I said, "tongue?" (with a disgusted look on my face) and she started laughing and I realized I was right.

Then we got home from language class at lunch time and the tongue was frying on the stove. Fortunately, we have to provide our own lunches so we were having peanut butter and jelly. As we were finishing our sandwiches, Mami Gollita brings over a plate of tongue and rice for us to share. Wasn't that so generous of her??? So Shaun ate most of it and Gina and I each tried a small piece just to say we've tried tongue before. It was not the most pleasant experience of my life.

Birthday Party at the Park

Our host mom turns 60 today so on Sunday we went to the park to have a cookout for her. It was freezing!!! And by freezing I mean it was probably 50-55 degrees and raining. I know that doesn't sound cold but when you're used to 80 and sunny its freezing! We were there from 10-3!! It was a lot of fun...food, pinata, cake, soccer.....you can't beat it!


Now for the pictures:

First is our family and our host mom with the cake.
Second, Shaun and Walter fighting over the ball in a wild game of soccer with the men of the family
Third, The pinata with Gollita (our mom) and the family
Forth, Walter grilling the amazing food
Fifth, Jenny pushing Sofia on the swings

Honduran Culture

Aside from language training. We have spent the majority of our time doing culture study. Often times that includes spending a few hours every Mon, Wed, and Fri afternoon walking the streets and talking to people about differnt topics. Such as education, security, religion, and economics. Here are a few pictures about some of the "cultural" things we´ve experienced. This first picture isn´t part of culture study. This is just us remembering part of american culture. We finally recieved our Christmas cookies from Jenny´s mom in the middle of January!!!

Locked out or in?

This past week was rather uneventful. At this point we have sort of gotten in the groove of going to class each day for 4 hours in the morning and then we have culture class or talking to people on the street each afternoon.

The other day we went to use an internet cafe. Our one brother had come over to ¨house-sit¨ at our house. (There always has to be someone in the house and our host parents were away and we left to use the internet cafe, so our brother came over to house-sit). He was supposed to stay there until we got home, but when we got home he had left. We rang the doorbell numerous times and nothing happened, we also tried knocking on the door...still nothing happened. After waiting on the front porch for about 20 mins, our neighbor from upstairs let us walk through her house to get to our room located at the back of our house. Unfortunately once we got into the back hallway where our room was we realized that we still could not get into the main house, because the back door of the house was also locked! We could get in our room. However, now we were locked in because you have to go through the main house to get back outside. Needless to say we found it rather humorous later on that we had been locked out of the house and then locked in the house!!

Yesterday Jenny and I got to go to the first soccer game of the year of the Honduran Professional league. Montagua, a team from here in Tegucigalpa (the team we were routing for) played against Real Juventud from Santa Barbara. Montagua was a better team, and hit the post once and had a couple of great opportunities to score but failed to do. The final score was 0-0...kind of boring, but it was fun to see the national stadium and experience a Honduran crowd. The ¨student section¨ was hysterical. They sang the whole game, sometimes about the game, many times making fun of the opposing team. They also set of fireworks and started a few fires in the stands. One guy tried to body surf down the fans and flew off and landed on the cement stands...he was probably drunk. The best part was when they gathered around the police and started singing songs to the policemen! The cops didn´t find it too amusing...but we thought it was funny.