In a matter of days, Jason and I leave for Honduras! I'm excited, but I haven't even started to think about packing. To be honest, I have bags in the closet of the things I normally take to Honduras. There's a zip lock in the bathroom with Imodium, Tums, bug spray, spray sun block, allergy medicine, band-aids, chapstick, etc. I also have a supply of large zip-lock bags in the bathroom for other items. My summer clothes all in one place, so those are ready to be rolled up and packed into 2-gallon zip lock bags. I just grab and go, it's like packing to go see my Florida parents.
However, this trip is like no other trip we've ever taken. We booked our own plane tickets, we booked our own hotel (actually, bed & breakfast), and other than the trips to go see our sponsor children, we'll be planning what we do each day in San Pedro Sula. Honduras has become like a second home to me and I'm so excited to do more exploring this time, instead of being part of a trip that's pre-planned by someone else. We have two friends coming with us, whom I met on my last trip to Honduras last October. Martin is from Pennsacola, Florida, and Chris is from Chicago. We're meeting in Atlanta and then flying into San Pedro Sula together. (They're also staying at the bed & breakfast.)
The first full day we're there, we'll meet Jason's sponsor child, Henry Enok, for the first time. He's six years old and we may be his first sponsors. We're already picking out toy cars for him. We'll take him and his family to lunch and then go to a mall that hopefully has an arcade where we can play for the afternoon. He's at HO-329, where we were last October. Martin and Chris are coming with us and we're hoping to see some of the other children who grabbed our hearts 6 months ago. (I have a balloon pump and balloons for Bayron.)
After we leave HO-329, we'll take a quick trip to HO-372 to see a well in progress. Not just any well, but a well that the team from our October trip, along with our churches and families, raised over $10,000 to help build. We fell in love with the children and the staff at HO-372 and wanted to do what we could to make sure the kids have clean drinking water. It'll probably just be a hole in the ground, but we'll be pretty excited to see it.
The next day Jason and I are going to HO-334 to visit my sponsor girl, Ana Melissa who is 13 years old. I got her first letter since I met her at the water park last October and she feels bad that she was so shy and didn't say much. I want her to know that I got to know so much about her in that day at the water park, and that's what means the most to me. I'm sure she'll be more comfortable around me this next time and we'll have a chance to talk more. We'll also take her family to lunch and then go visit another mall. Taking a 13 year old girl to a mall is completely different than taking a 6 year old boy. :)
Martin and Chris will go visit Martin's sponsor child and then take him to Zizima, the water park we went to last October. Chris' three sponsor children will meet them at Zizima that afternoon. Jason and Ana aren't water park people, so that's why we chose to do the mall instead. (And I'll be happier away from the bugs that got me last year at Zizima.)
The next day we're hoping to go out to Copan to visit the Mayan ruins. The day after this Chris and Martin go back to the states and Jason and I are planning on going to a Baptist church in San Pedro Sula. I'm looking forward to singing well-known hymns in Spanish. We have the rest of the day together to do some shopping, or who knows what trouble we'll get into. Ha. Actually, I'd like to visit an orphanage while we're there, but I'm still not sure how to set this up. Transportation and communication are still issues for us. Touristy stuff is easy to arrange, trips to places with more poverty, not so much.
So here's the reason for this blog... we're looking for donations to take to the projects we're going to visit, and also gifts for Henry and Ana and their families. Here's a list of suggested items for the projects:
Crafts:
Construction paper
Crayons or colored pencils
Glue sticks
Small children’s scissors
Drawing Paper
Lots of stickers
Photocopied coloring pages
Bubbles
Balloons
Toys/Games: (gently used or new is great)
Long jump rope
Balls (soccer, basketball, tennis, inflatable beach balls are great too)
Pumps, extra needles
Frisbees
Memory
Uno
Flash cards (math or English/Spanish)
(If you want to buy a game other than those listed above, make sure there's instructions in Spanish.)
Cars
Trucks
Books (with pictures or very easy English words)
Puzzles
Anything else you might think of would be great. Send me a message if you'd like to drop off any items or I can come pick them up. We have time to run around and pick up items this Saturday, May 4th, and Monday evening, May 6th.
Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement!!
