Monday, June 1, 2009

My Journey Begins!











Well, I am here! Kate dropped me off the at airport last night at 10 pm. I got into Altlanta at 6 am, then flew on to Tegucigalpa at 10am. It was not as beastly hot as it was the last time I landed here. And it was much less hectic going through customs and getting my luggage by myself than it was with 17 women.

I saw other groups on the plane and heard them saying, "Don't let anyone carry your bag for you, keep track of your own bag." just as I was told when I came here the first time.

Tony greeted me at the airport with 4 bright smiling faces - all boys anxious to help me with my luggage. Thankfully I had 2 suitcases and two carry-ons so everyone got to help. The boys were thrilled to watch the planes fly in and out.

Then we drove into Los Pinos to drop each of them off. The roads are so windy and mountainous it would be quite a hike for them to walk home, but of course they normally do. I was happy to officially meet Carlos, a boy Tony has been working closely with for the past few weeks. He lives at the VERY top and chooses to walk an hour, each way, EVERY DAY, to come to church.

After we dropped them off, Tony and I went to lunch at a little strip mall. I had 2 cheese tacos, a chicken gringa (made with flour (white) tortilla) and of course, soda. I warned Tony that I need to be able to fit into a bridesmaids dress for Kate's wedding when I leave here!

Right now I'm sitting in Tony's new office. It has real desks nice soft office chairs. It looks like a real office space these days. A teen - Gerald - is outside washing Tony's car meticulously. He started by scrubbing the inside roof and now, at least an hour later, he's working on the inside of the wheel wells. Never in my life have I seen a car cleaned so thoroughly. I have seen this boy before, he was one of the older boys who did yoga with Kate last year.

Tony asked me today how it feels to be here. I told him I don't know if it just hasn't sunken in yet, because it feels perfectly normal.

Well, I'm going to try to figure out how to add pictures.