A Whirlwind Vacation
Honduras: Day 1
Honduras: Day 2
Honduras: Day 3
Free Day: July 31, 2011.
Yesterday I think I freaked out for nothing. Today was just what I needed to show me how ridiculous I was being. And while there is truth to my words, things always seem worse when you are completely exhausted.
We started out with church this morning. I don't know whether I like it or not. I loved when we sang "Ancient of Days" and "Come, Now Is The Time To Worship" in Spanish. But when I was ready to sit and listen to the sermon at about the 5th worship song, I feel like we sang 5 before it was over.
The building was hot and stuffy, and even though we were sitting by the window, sweat still poured. But the experience of being an a house of worship in another country is something that I think everyone should try at least once. It seems to put things into perspective - we are literally ALL God's children. It doesn't matter what language you speak, where you live, or what you do for a living because God loves you and wants you to know it. I grew up knowing that we were all children of God, but things like that don't seem to really sink in until you see it in action.
And it was definitely in action, because this little church in one of the poorest parts of the world is pulling together funding to help sponsor a missionary in India! That just blows my mind. These people don't have a lot and yet they are making sure they are giving to someone else. That is seriously amazing.
The pastor that spoke this morning was American. He had been living in Honduras and it was his last week here. He preached about being for the mission and doing good deeds out of love. He said that you can do all the nice things in the world, but if you do not have love then you have done nothing. This seems to be a recurring theme throughout this trip to me. Do the right thing, but make sure you are doing it for the right reason. And if you do not have love in your heart for what you are doing, then it doesn't matter. I don't want to forget this when I finally leave Honduras. I want all of these things to stick with me. I want to be constantly reminded to be loving towards other people. And that will be fun for me, since I am not a people person.
After church we split into two groups. Some of us went to the Valley of Angels to go shopping and the rest of us went to see the Cristo El Picacho statue. I chose to go see the statue because I'd heard the gardens were beautiful. And plus, the statue is so large that you can see it up on the hill from town.
There is a large park where many people were picnicking, playing some form of soccer, talking, laughing. It really just shows you that people are basically the same all over the world. We like the same things, have similar interests, families, hopes and dreams. Watching people from other countries and cultures interact just really makes me think about how funny our own culture is, and how lucky we are to be living where we live.
What is hilarious unto me is the fact that the Honduras would try to practice their English with us. We are obviously American, since our skin is pale in comparison to everyone else, so people would say "Hi!" excitedly in our direction. My favorite moment, though, was this cute little Honduran boy, who was probably 5 or 6, who kept saying "Bye! Bye!" in our direction. His mother told him, in Spanish, that "bye" is "adios" and what he really needed to say was "hi."
On our way back to the bus we passed a zoo. TheMechanic and I begged to go inside and see the animals, and one of the other ladies wanted to accompany us. It cost us 10 Limpiras each to get inside (which is roughly $.50). Inside, the zoo was a little dilapidated and run down. The animals seemed as though they were incredibly bored, as many of them were pacing back and forth in their cages. However, the monkeys were completely entertaining. You could get so close to them that you could actually reach out and high five their little monkey hands. One monkey had even escaped from his cage and was sitting on the roof of his enclosure watching zoo-goers pass him by.
Also, there were animals in this zoo that I never thought I would see in a similar setting. There were raccoons, bunny rabbits, guinea pigs, white tailed dear, and goats. Seriously.
Tomorrow I don't know exactly what is happening, but I may be able to take a trip to the trash dump. I'm sure that will be crazy and hectic and emotional. Some people still live at the dump, but most people just work there now. Although, I don't really know how much better that actually is. I know that the people there will smell horrendous, but I can't even really comprehend what it will be like since I live where I live and I am who I am. It's just absolutely phenomenal that I am privileged to be here and experience this. My eyes are being opened wider everyday. I could not really ask for more right now.
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