where do i begin........? [long post]

[sigh]....back to the States from a short mission trip to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and I'm feeling..........sort of empty.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I am so HAPPY to see my children and my husband.  It's just that I hate leaving the people.  Even when I was younger (like teenage years), I have been intrigued by the Central American culture and population.  I sort of feel like I am one of them.  Don't I look just like them??? I mean, blonde hair, blue eyes, freckles, tall....round (at least I have that part right). 

My kids were so sad that I left them here in the States - they wanted to go too.  We decided that since they went to Guatemala in December, it was too expensive right now to take them back on a trip.  I promised that next year we would go back to Honduras.

I have to say that out of the trips I have taken to the Central American countries, this by far took my heart.  I met some really awesome friends.  I already miss them terribly. 

I met Blanca, who is one of the nurses I worked with.  Her 8 year old daughter, Mary, was my "Honduras" daughter!  I told her that she reminded me of my girls.  She latched on to me instantly. 

Yanina (pronounced "Janina") and I clicked immediately.  If I lived in Honduras, I'm pretty sure we'd be the best of friends.  She is actually from Argentina.  She and her husband along with her 2 teenage boys moved from Argentina 3 years ago to become full time missionaries in Honduras.

Nubia and Dania were 2 of the doctors I worked with.  I truly believe that we, too, would be very good friends!!!  They have devoted their lives to providing medical care to the poverty stricken people in the villages.

Tegucigalpa (Teg) is a huge city and is the capital of Honduras.  In Teg people are either wealthy or poverty stricken.  There is really no middle class.  Teg is a very hilly/mountainous city, and in the center or valley is the metropolitan area.  The villages are usually located up the mountains.  Opposite of where I've been in Monterrey, Mexico, Honduras is beautifully green and not dry like a desert. 

The people in the villages live in severe poverty.  They do not have access to the jobs of the metropolitan area of the city.  They do not have clean water.  A water truck comes to fill up their pilas which is like a giant outdoor bathtub with clean water ONCE A MONTH!  That clean water will become cooking water, drinking water, bath water, laundry water, etc.  Indoor plumbing??? No way!!!

The team I served with came from Memphis, TN.  Keith's good friend, Keny, is the marketing director for POI Ministries (Point of Impact).  I instantly bonded with the entire team, and I miss seeing them every day!  We had amazing chemistry.  I feel this trip is the best one I've been on.

An overview of the trip (this is just simply an overview!):

Friday:  Arrived mid-afternoon to the Humuya Inn.  The hotel was one of the nicest I've ever stayed in.  I couldn't help but think, "Um, this isn't a mission trip.  Aren't I supposed to like only shower 1 time the entire week like I have in the past?  Isn't my bed supposed to be a bunk bed with questionable bed linens?  This is a 5 star hotel!  I feel like I'm in North America!".  Boy was I wrong...

We headed off to Villa Nueva to "do the water trucks".  I wasn't sure what that was, but I learned quickly.  We rented this water truck for ONLY 55 American dollars.  It had a big long hose and a pump that we used to pump the water into their pilas.  The look on the people's faces were indescribable.  They couldn't believe that they were getting water before the scheduled monthly truck.  ALL of their pilas were completely dry!!!  Women were coming out with buckets and tiny little margerine tubs for us to fill up with water.  It was like little, tiny ants racing to a sticky sucker that got dropped on the ground by a child. 

We crashed in bed so we could be rested for an early rise in the morning.  I think we left the hotel at 7 a.m.

Saturday:  We went to the village of San Juan to set up a medical brigaide, pharmacy, and evangelistic station. 

**A side note about these villages is that gangs are a huge part of the life of the village people.  Because there is really no way to have an income, the men feel as though they need "a brotherhood" to help take care of themselves and their families.  These gangs are not like the gangs in Alabama.  These are actually very friendly people, they are just doing the best they can.  Gang violence is very big in Honduras, but you don't see Honduran people killing strangers just to kill - it's mostly gang on gang violence.  Because of this issue, we actually had bodyguards.  These men had a great rapport with the different gangs.  We rode in white vans with a POI sign on them.  The windows were very tinted so you could not see in.  Once inside the villages, we could not have our windows open.  Our drivers (and bodyguards) rode with their windows down so the gangs would know who we were and that we were coming to help their families. 

Back to Saturday:  We used the village church to house all of our stations.  The people in San Juan got handed a number, they then came to the "pre-clinic" area where we took their blood pressure and weight.  The kids would have a weight and temperature taken.  The people went from there to the doctors.  The doctors would write prescriptions, then the people would take the prescriptions to the "pharmacy".  While they were waiting on their prescriptions to be filled, they would take their kids to the lice station where we would check their kids for lice.  Each child with lice (which was most) would receive a smiley face on their hand.  The would get a lice treatment and hear the Word of God (kind of like VBS).  Their parents would also hear a few words. After the lice treatment along with shampooing, hair braiding, sucker giving, hair clip giving time, they would go get their prescriptions and head home. 

The rest of the week looked much like this except we went to different villages.  On Saturday evening and Sunday morning we went to church.  One of the ways I feel the closest to God is to close my eyes and hear people sing/worship the same song with all their being in Spanish AND English.  It is the MOST beautiful sound!!!

THE DUMP:  Close your eyes.  Imagine riding in a bumpy van along ill-paved roads.  Having no idea what to expect, imagine stopping at a gas station and being told to get out.  Imagine the leader of the group telling everyone to come together in a circle.  Imagine the leader giving intense, specific instructions that when we arrive at the dump we MUST NOT leave each other, being told that the vans will make a protective semi-circle around us, that we are to form a human barricade standing shoulder to shoulder, that we are to give only one water and one food plate to each person.  Imagine praying a serious faithful prayer for safety and for provision.  Imagine silently getting back into the vans not knowing what to expect.  Imagine turning left into an eerily quiet gravel road.  There are 5,000 buzzards overhead, there are a couple of people at the foot of the hill staring at us.  Imagine the van climbing the mountain and the indescribable smell of sewage and trash creeping into the van.  Imagine seeing a couple of skinny, zombie-like cows climbing the mountain.  Are the cows real???  The stench is now so strong that people are starting to feel as though they are going to be sick.  Imagine cresting the top of the mountain, anxious for what awaits.................OPEN YOUR EYES to find at least 700 PEOPLE running to the vans, climbing on the vans.  I look to my right and a new dump truck full of garbage has just arrived.  As the dump truck is dumping the garbage 50 people are fighting their way to the top of the mound to get leftover food or plastic to sell.  Imagine getting out of the van.  People are pushing their way to you, forming lines upon lines.  As I glance around the area, I notice the cows, buzzards, dogs, and humans FIGHTING over food.  As I begin to pass out the bags of water, they grab them with such desperation, tear a hole in the side of the bag with their teeth, and suck down the water in mere seconds.  Alfredo, our leader, is standing on the bed of a truck giving the Good News.  We run out of food in about 6 minutes.  We give 500 meals and estimate that we only fed half of the people.  We load back into the van and our people are sobbing because their hearts are so broken.  The smell will be forever remembered.

The dump people LIVE at the dump.  Babies are born at the dump.  There is NO shelter, what food is there is someone else's garbage.  There is NO water. 

Many people sniff glue which is a very big problem in Honduras.  I read an article about glue sniffing specific to Honduras, and a 15 year old said he started sniffing glue when he was 8 years old.  "It makes you forget that you are hungry.  It makes you forget that you are lonely.  It kills your brain, but at least you don't hurt anymore.  My friend died when he was 17 because he forgot to eat.  He died of starvation and didn't realize he was starving because the glue had numbed him so much".

WHEN I OPENED MY EYES UPON MY ARRIVAL AT THE DUMP.....I SAW BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!!!  The dump people are God's children, the village people are God's children, homeless people in Alabama are God's children.....I am God's child.

God spoke to me through scripture during a private Bible study one morning as my family was sleeping peacefully in their beds on 804 Avery Lane Mount Olive, AL.

"...From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."  -Luke 12:48

Many people think they have to be miserable while they are sacrificing for God's people.  On the contrary,  there is more joy than can be imagined!!!  My heart is broken for these people.  My heart wants everyone to have a chance to know God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. 

Sure, if you think about the fact that there are 147 million orphans in the world - you instantly become overwhelmed and want to shut down.  You think, "there will ALWAYS be orphans.  It's because we live in a broken world.  I can't even almost impact this statistic or other statistics for dirty/no drinking water, etc."  WRONG - if you touch 1 - ONE - 1 - ONE single human (God's child) - you are doing the work of the Kingdom.  You must "die unto yourself" (look it up in the Bible).

Amazing grace and joy follows........