"Day 5 in Honduras, day 5 of cold showers. It's an elusive thing here at the hotel and I've given up hoping it's my turn. It's like pool water and feels good after being out in the sun and humidity, so it's not so bad. However, if I see another spider crawl across my bed, I'm going to lose it. (Yes, I have another weird spider bite.)"
I'll live. I just really got eaten up by... somethings the last few days. I'm thinking they're probably fire ants, not mosquitoes. And spiders are also a possibility. I have a weird bite on the back of my arm that is all bubbly. It's crusted over at the moment and sorta looks like poison ivy - which I've never had. We're thinking it might be an allergic reactions to something - maybe even a plant.
It was a rough start at the beginning of the trip. I wasn't feeling so great before we left and my doctor told me to just take it easy and get lots of water. We landed in San Pedro Sula around 1pm on Saturday and the headache hit not too long after. I may have been dehydrated, but with our travels it wasn't going to get any better.
We made it to the Heart to Honduras compound in Canchias right before dinner and we were really the only ones there. Right before we were going to head to the cabins and call it a night, the rain started - and didn't stop for quite awhile! Some of us went outside and saw a few large frogs jumping at the bugs that were flying around under the awning. The medium sized one was about the side of a softball. If it wasn't raining on me, I would have loved to have gotten video of that. Amazing!
The rain made the night very humid and our little room that the 4 of us were in was stuffy. We had the window open but the air wasn't really moving. Thankfully Kathy brought a small fan and offered to share it with us. I didn't fall asleep easily and by 2am I thought my head was going to explode. I was horribly hot and my head hurt so bad - I was almost in tears. I woke Kathy up trying to get some Tylenol and then our talking woke Joyanna and Darleen up. We started goofing around and I ended up laughing so hard. Around 2:30 I fell asleep and slept so soundly the rest of the night. It's amazing what friends and laughing can do for you.
The next day, Sunday, we made our way to Comayagua and went to church that night. The children sang a song for us and passed out postcards that had flowers or hats made out of construction papers. We loved them! Pastor Roberto skipped the sermon, and we ended up going to an er at a local hospital to give out tamales and hot coffee.
In the past month, both Pastor Roberto and another church member, Carmen, have had to go to the er. Sitting there and waiting, they noticed so many hungry and hurting people. They started taking oatmeal to the people waiting and praying for them. So on Sunday we joined them while they served tamales and coffee to the people waiting. Several people asked for prayer, but most of the people just smiled and looked really surprised. The best part is that we were helping them with an outreach. It just really felt like a win.
Sunday was a long day, so Monday was a short day. We worked on the house until 3pm, then headed back to the hotel to relax. We went to the square in Comayagua that evening, but unfortunately the fountain wasn't on. We did go to Baskin Robbins afterwards - always a treat. :)
Tuesday was another long day. We worked on the house until 2pm or so, then loaded as many people as possible into our van and went to a neighboring village where we'll do the fiesta tomorrow night. It started to downpour as we arrived in the village, so we had to wait awhile for it to stop. Then we split up into groups and walked around the village handing out bottles of water and fliers about the fiesta. The village is quite large, which took us awhile to get all the way around. We didn't end up getting back to the hotel until 5:30, which is when we eat dinner. So showers came after dinner - then off to church!
I loved the church service last night. First we did testimonies and (after 5 years, finally) I shared mine. (That's another blog I believe.) It wasn't as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be. It really just felt like talking to family. Then Darleen shared her testimony and two ladies from the church shared theirs. There was a common theme to our 4 testimonies - healing, from the inside out. Very appropriate since Gregg was sharing the Vineyard 5-step prayer model that evening.
However, before Gregg spoke, the church members asked us to come up one by one and draw a name out of a basket. When Pastor Roberto called the name, they came up with a gift for us. It was so much fun and we felt so loved on! I ended up with a beautiful pot, which was just perfect since I wanted to buy one this year. Jason got a pad of paper and a pen in a wood holder. I really wish I would have gotten pictures of everyone with their gifts - they were just perfect for each person who got the gifts.
After Gregg shared the 5-step prayer model, people came up for prayer and we got to pray for them. It was really just a great time of praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ. It was hard to leave last night and I just wanted to hug everyone!
Today we finished the house and have some free time this afternoon and evening. We're planning on just hanging out and maybe playing some card games. It hasn't been a difficult trip, but it has been quite hot and humid out and shade hasn't always been easy to find. (And I sorta missed the back of my right arm while putting on sun block, so it's stinging a bit right now.) I'm thankful for some time to reflect on the week so far.
Btw, Jason, Gregg, Joyanna, and several ladies went grocery shopping for the fiesta tomorrow and they haven't come back yet. Dinner is in about an hour, hope they come back soon. (Not that Jason will miss out on a cold shower or anything.)
Tomorrow we'll be preparing food all day for the fiesta tomorrow night. I'm not sure how many they're expecting, but I would assume at least 500, maybe 700? We'll hand out the food and cups of water, and then show the Jesus film, en Espanol (in Spanish). We're starting earlier this time, so hopefully we'll make it to Pizza Hut tomorrow before it closes and get some dinner. (We'd rather give out the food we prepare than eat it ourselves.)
Friday we say goodbye to Comayagua and head to San Pedro Sula where we fly out Saturday morning. Hopefully along our drive to San Pedro, we'll get a chance to meet our Compassion International child. :)
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