Today has been a day of wonder and amazement! I was so caught up in the work the first couple of days that I missed some of what was happening around me…I don’t think that only happens to me here but is something I struggle with at home too. Looking around today I noticed a couple of things that greatly impacted me:

-This place is beautiful! It has not been commercialized…if San Pedro Sula was in Colorado it would be a million dollar resort town. There are glorious views everywhere…mountains, streams, trees, wildlife.

- Apparently cows understand boundaries very well! Cows, as well as pigs, horses, dogs, cats, chickens and sheep freely roam around the streets…really wild to see!

-The best thing to ever happen to my prayer life is riding around as a passenger in our van! Every second on the road is precarious and feels life threatening. You have semi-trucks passing school buses on the shoulder of the road. You have old ladies riding motorcycles weaving between police vehicles and cows. You have sheep riding horses passing vans full of American missionaries! Just kidding on that last one!

-The children living adjacent to the new orphanage property have nothing and seem to have everything at the very same time. They are sweet, hard-working (work right alongside us!), well-mannered, playful, silly, polite and interested in everything we are doing. They seem like the best of the best of kids. And then you realize that every kid here is like that! And then you realize some more…they live in huts made of found items (cardboard, pieces of wood and metal). Their parents might be poor but they sure know how to raise remarkable kids! Doesn’t reconcile for me but the reality of the experience demonstrates something my mind can’t grasp so I suppose the experience is wiser that my mind.

-Learning Spanish, getting in good enough shape to play soccer, developing trade skills (welding, carpentry, cement) are required skills to pick up to make a person a little better at mission work…they aren’t absolutely necessary but man-oh-man would they be a great compliment to a heart tuned to God as a minister of His gospel.

-Did I mention the animals?! The cows actually stand up on their hind legs and run across the street when crossing…only chance they have to make it across without becoming a rode-side T-bone steak!

-Speaking of food…WOW! Amazing cooks, amazing flavors, amazing presentation of their food…delicious!

-Hondurans are proud people. Not arrogant and attached to false identities but proud. I can’t fully tell what they are proud of by Western standards but it seems to me they are simply proud to be alive, proud to have family and friends, proud to share their country with us.

-Believe this next one at your own peril: God is bigger than I had imagined…much bigger! He doesn’t just live in the U.S. He lives here; He lives everywhere! He is alive and active.

-Mission trips are as much for the people who go as for the people who are being served. I will be different when I come home. My family will be different when I come home. My community will be different when I come home. I hope that Honduras will be a little different as well. Yes I am but a drop in the bucket but I hope my drop counts for great things for His Kingdom!

Author Credit:
J. Ellis (Team Lead) – Woodmen Valley Chapel