I purposely am not posting about my "vacation". It was nothing that I expected and many things I didn't expect. Thank God for my mother. Let's leave it at that.
I did get to meet some of the people who are sponsoring me that I've not met before. That was nice. Wish I could have caught up with others.
Left Colorado Wednesday night. Accidentally got to the airport almost 3 hours before my flight. Normally I wouldn't mind being early, but this time it meant extra time in the cat carrier for poor Jett. Got to Honduras at noon on Thursday. I wasn't sure what to expect from the people who had to approve Jett to leave the airport. The were nice as can be. They needed help to translate the records to make sure she had her rabies shot. I paid the 500 lempiras and they said "cheque" which means okay, or everything is in order. I always love that word. Karla says it a lot. But I have never been happier to hear "cheque" before. With some kind words and a small payment, Jett and I were free to go home!
Lourdes and Jairo were at the airport to meet me. They were shocked at all of my luggage. I had 2 suitcases (each 50 lbs on the dot), a big backpack as my carry on and Jetty as my personal item. We lugged it all to the car and by the time we payed the attendant at the airport parking lot I already felt at home.
I did have some moments of panic later in the evening when I began to question if I can keep Jett safe and healthy here. It is hard to keep her from drinking the water from the sinks or shower or the water that drips through the ceiling every time it rains. I guess I will have to just wait and see what happens. I am scared she will drink the water and get sick :(
The first thing I did when I got home was sweep and mop the floors. A lot of cockroaches died while I was gone and they were all upside down on my floor. I found out later that my neighbor had a fumigator at her house so she asked them to blow the fumes into my window too. Thus the abundance of dead cockroaches. I hope this will mean less live ones in the future!
After the house was clean I unpacked all of my stuff, put pictures on the walls and my knife set in the kitchen. That felt nice.
I was homesick when all of the work was done, missing my mom. So I called her and she reminded me that I was exhausted, hadn't slept in 2 nights, and assured me I would feel better when I get to see the kids in the morning.
Of course she was right. Yesterday morning I got up and got ready for Lourdes and Jairo to pick me up. It was so nice to wake up with Jetty next to me. I read my devotional and it was about being homesick! That little message from God was all it took to remind me that I am in the right place.
I think some of the kids were surprised to see me come back to the breakfast program. So many people leave, I don't think they expected to see me so soon. But they were happy to see me, especially Marlin and her kids, Misael and Meylin. All three of them ran to me with their arms open for hugs. Lourdes said that Marlin was faithful in running the breakfast program while we were gone. The kids had a long time of prayer and lots of singing before breakfast. Finally I know most of the words to the songs. I am still learning the hand motions ;)
I was excited to give Marlin her birthday present - a bible. Her eyes welled up with tears and she was completely silent. But her smile said it all. She gave me several big hugs and said thank you later, when she could speak. Now she will not have to borrow a bible from the church. Eunice said that just last week Marlin was asking about buying a bible, but it was too expensive. I think she loved her gift. I certainly loved being able to give it to her.
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| Beautiful girls dressed for Indian Day |
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| The garb of traditional dancers, with beads and ruffles. |
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| Kenya kept asking to get her picture taken. She was very proud of her costume. |
It was Indian Day, a national holiday, so some of the kids dressed as the native people used to and entered contests at their school. Kids from the breakfast program got first, second and third place in the contest! They were proud of their costumes and wanted their pictures taken. Some of the girls were dressed as dancers, with traditional white dresses. The dresses are all the same, but they add embroidery to make the dresses more special, and then wear things in their hair and long beads around their necks. Other girls were dressed as Indians, with little leather tops and a sort of loin cloth/skirt. They had special sandals that were simple and flat, made of leather. To me, Meylin's costume was the best. But by applause she got second place. She had long, fake braids which she loved. Keep in mind she doesn't have much hair because her mother was sick with Lupus when Meylin was born. She wore those braids all day, even after she took off the rest of her costume.
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| Meylin in her second place costume |
After the kids left the breakfast program Jairo offered to take me shopping. I forgot that I had given my ID to someone so they could pick up a package for me. (I think the package my friend, Bill Frausto, sent is finally here.) Apparently it is a big package, because the person who went to get it for me came back empty handed saying he needs more money before they will release it to him. Anyway, Jairo and I went shopping and it wasn't until I was at the check out that I realized I only had my credit card. They wouldn't let us buy anything without ID and Jairo had given the same guy who had my ID all of his money to change it to Lempiras. So we left the store empty handed. I felt bad for wasting Jairo's time. He said he had a strange feeling that something was going to go wrong, and figured it had to do with paying for the groceries, but he didn't want to doubt my ability to buy groceries so he tried to push the feeling aside and said nothing. I told him next time I would not be offended if he asked!
When we got back to the church Marlin, Don Juan, and Lourdes were going through food from another load that was thrown away by the grocery store. I thought it was appropriate that we were digging through food from the garbage on my first day back, since that is what I did as soon as I got off the plane last time. I did appreciate that this load was clean and not smelly, unlike my first experience. All that could not be used for the breakfast program was bagged up with people's names and we delivered it on the way home.
Lourdes and I had a long talk as we waited for Jairo to finish a marriage counseling session. She was happy that I got to spend so much quality time with my mother and enjoy my mother's company and support while I was home. Lourdes always helps me clarify my own thoughts about things, so I really enjoy our conversations. She is able to point out things that I wouldn't see on my own. I always feel reassured after talking with Lourdes. It is such a huge blessing to be able to sit down and talk with Lourdes and Jairo on almost a daily basis. I asked if I could become a disciple of someone (have a mentor), now that I am officially here full time. I asked Lourdes to decide who she thinks will be best for me. I will also be joining a small group.
Jairo is looking for a vehicle for me. He said he doesn't want others to know it is for a gringa, or they will charge more. He said he will use his connections.
Last night I was invited to the Sarmientos for dinner. We picked up Lourdes' sister, Belinda, and her kids and headed up the mountain, stopping along the way to drop off bags of food. We also stopped at the Pacheco's house because all of the Pachecos got food poisening from Little Ceasar's pizza and are very sick. Lourdes had medicine for them. And they said they are drinking "Ga-toe-ra-day" (Gatorade). I giggled over that.
It was after 8 pm by the time we got to the Sarmiento's house. Aaron is away visiting relatives. Joss was busy on her new computer, which was given to her by a special friend in the US. After dinner Jairo and Belinda worked on something for the church. Lourdes got out the Magic Jack and told me to call my mother, so I did. She told Lourdes and me about the young man who shot and murdered all of the people at the Batman premier in Colorado, close to her house. The only good thing that came out of that is the presidential candidates agreed to stop campaigning and pulled their slanderous ads from the Colorado stations for a few days. Lourdes turned on the news here in Honduras. Even here, the tragedy in Colorado was all they were talking about. Then we tried, unsuccessfully to call a few more mutual friends. Finally we had procrastinated enough and had to get some work done ourselves. I am now Lourdes' Facebook administrator too. She asked me to post some pictures for her and told me what to write. So I spent until after 11 pm doing things for Lourdes on the internet.
As we headed home I joked that they already had me working 13 hour days. Lourdes said yes, I had been on vacation too long so she was going to wring all of the energy out of me now that I am back. Really, spending 13 hours in the church and at the Sarmiento's home is a pleasure. But Jetty was happy to see me when I got home. We curled up and went to sleep.
Today Jose is taking me to the pet store. I am hoping I can talk him into the grocery store too. This time I will remember my ID. Fany, my neighbor, and I sat outside this morning and talked. I woke early (6:45) and jumped out of bed when I heard the man outside yelling "AGUAAAA!". I am out of water and had to bring some home from the church just to get through the night. So I bolted out the door, then realized he was still on the street behind my house. I rested and waited for him to come to my street. I have water now, but still feel like I could have used a few more hours of sleep.
Oh, I forgot to mention the new changes in my neighborhood! First of all, the entrances to my colonia (neighborhood) now have tall, green, metal gates that form a complete barrier across the entire street and the sidewalks. The only way through to pass through is when a guard lifts the metal bar. The guards want to know exactly where you live, which is hard since there are no street names here. I figure they will learn my face more quickly now that I am back for good, since I believe I am the only gringa in my neighborhood. They are very tight about closing the gate before and after each car now, whereas they used to stand in the road and talk to each car, but keep the gate open. Also - the most exciting thing - is that a new pulperia opened just a few houses away! I passed it on my way to my old pulperia. They are advertising to be a mini supermarket instead of a pulperia. They will carry meat and all kinds of cheeses. But at this time they are not fully stocked, which was actually nice because I could see how clean the place was. I stopped in for queso fresco (soft cheese) which they didn't have yet, but they said they will have it soon and it will be very good quality. Exciting!
Gotta run for now. Jose just called to say he will be here in 15 minutes to take me shopping. He said he is going to "horn" when he is outside. We've had this talk before. When he gets here I will remind him that he "beeps" when he gets outside, he doesn't "horn". His English is so perfect I love to tease him when he makes funny mistakes like that.
Later -
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