Day 1: The Trip Down South (longest of all, I promise)

As we depart, I've officially butchered the "you, too" phrase.  "Have a nice flight!" the lady said.  Yeah, I replied "you, too...if you ever fly sometime..."  Dork. 

We met another group going on the plane with us, but to another town in Honduras.  They were with "Living WaterS" instead of Living Water.  Actually, the international section of the airport was swarming with mission teams going to different countries for different reasons.  It was pretty cool to see the people of God out helping other people. 

From the airplane, I decided to use the recycled oxygen as inspiration, and wrote some poetic lines about the scenery:

When you fly
The clouds are the foam on the sea of the sky
And the earth below is a coral reef
Scribbled upon with lakes and roads
Marbled below you.
And you're suspended as if from some giant hand
In a mobile over the crib of a mer-child.

I also noted that the ocean, from the plane, looks like the skin of a football or lizard, leathery and uniformly lumpy, but that didn't fit into the motif of the poem. 

When we arrived in Honduras, we were greeted by Yadira (pronounced Ja-deer-a), a lovely local woman and one of the people who was going to be with us all this week.  She is beautiful in a way that shows a stunning character and a gentle, accepting nature and faith.  Emilio was our driver, and we had been warned to prepare to sing when he drove.  We weren't.  We were prepared to sleep, but he wasted no time in asking Brian to lead his team into worship through song.  Poor Brian was at a loss, but we eventually eked our way through a few tunes and learned some new ones.  Emilio spoke with a carribean accent, so we had to make sure to listen closely to what he said.  I could see he was planting seeds for our growth and was unashamed to be that fool who, when "el espiritu de dios es en mi corazon, yo danzo como David." 

So now I list Emilio's two (we missed the third one, a tree growing out of a tree) "that your eye haf never seen"

1. A school bus "repurposed" as a house:  There was a huge living quarters scrapped together from various pieces of tin and other metals, complete with an entire wing consisting of the shell of a (still yellow) school bus.  He told us that truly one man's trash is another one's treasure. 

2. A Pepsi sign that out-lived a bridge: As we were crossing a bridge over a massive river bed, he directed our eyes to the left.  There was the base of a bridge, the road that had once gone over it had crumbled away, thus necessitating the one we were crossing.  Then we looked to our right, and there stood, in the middle of the river, a column with a massive Pepsi ad on top.  Why, he wondered, could they not make the bridge with the same quality as they made that sign, which had withstood every storm the nation had weathered, when the bridge was so shoddily made that it had crumbled away?  It's a matter of priorities. 

As I write this, I sit in the hammock on our balcony, overlooking the beach.  I wonder at how blessed we are, like most Americans visiting third-world countries.  This resort is considered "3 star," but the lobby is cooled by fans, the lobby ceiling leaks when it rains, and the toilets ran all night.  We're so spoiled that even on a mission trip where we were sent to work, we get to spend time on a beach in a resort, where the food is tremendous and the view is spectacular.  I was shy at the buffet because of a headache I was nursing, but everything I ate was wonderful.  They had a garlic and buttered herbed noodle dish that I plan to try at home. 

It's warm here.  Though the actual temperature is in the 80s, it never feels cool, even in the breeze.  The humidity is always high, and the rain makes it worse.  we came in the rainy season, which means the morning is gorgeous and the afternoon stormy.  We didn't get a chance to do much on the beach last night because of our friendly pop-up storm.  Another blessing: David and I get to room together!  Not that we're making this our romantic getaway, but it is wonderful to be able to talk with him, roll over and sleep on his shoulder (when it's not too warm in the room), and experience this journey together. 

Today is Sunday, and we are going to the church that Yadira and Emilio both attend.  He warned us that there is a sister who worships through blowing a horn, and if the Spirit is moving and he doesn't hear that horn tooting away, he is more distracted than if the horn was there.  Emilio has a childlike faith that shines through constantly.  After our miserable singing (miserable because I had to lead--I closed my eyes and pushed through it), Emilio asked if anyone wanted to share a story. 

Brian shared wonderfully and made a point that we see poverty as a lack of stuff (material), when most truly poor people see it as a lack of opportunities, in a social and psychological way, which is much deeper than the easy fix of more money, more stuff.  Give the poor money, and it only reinforces that they can't provide for themselves.  Give them knowledge of a trade (like he saw with Compassion International, which met real physical needs and taught trade skills as well), and you'll see them not just survive, but blossom beyond just making a living in their villages.  Kids from impoverished villages in Ethiopia blossomed into doctors and lawyers, and they bring their experiences to bear in their lives incredible fruit through the grace of God. 

This is a lot to think about as I start my week.  I wish I had transcribed what Emilio said, it was things like "I need to hear you sing so I can know where your heart is before God" and "If you do not praise the Lord, I do not know what He has saved you from." 

This week is going to be AWESOME. 

Back on the Grid

I'm officially back on the grid after the week in Honduras (which was AMAZING and I can't wait to tell you all about it), and the subsequent day of recovery (after a night of extreme weight loss that I probably won't tell you all about). 

Keep your eye out for posts from each day, which I hand-wrote but didn't get a chance to type up while overseas.  I will be adding pictures as well, after I edit them to make them look cooler. 

This one comes courtesy of Brian Holt, the team leader and only person wearing sunglasses.  Left to right, we have Bob (or Bobert or Bobish), Abraham (our foreman), Brian, Alfredo (kneeling), Davin, Michael, Danny (back), Kelly (front), Edwin, me, and David.  I would tell you that's the finished well we're standing at, but that might ruin the suspense.  Oh, wait. 

Yes, the well is finished, though really that was the secondary objective of the trip.  More an excuse than anything else, as hopefully you'll see through the subsequent posts.  God's work isn't task-oriented, though it involves tangible ways we see His hand. 

Honestly, the biggest theme of this trip was growing our faith.  God took each of us where we were and showed us and spoke to us to bring us to a more demonstrative faith--one where believing and doing are sides to one coin, and the coin is in God's hands to use.