Adios Honduras, Hola Estados Unidos

July 13, 2009

Today is the day we return home! We are excited and I must be as much as the girls, since it’s 6:15 a.m. in Honduras and I can’t sleep anymore. The last week of our schooling went really well. The teachers pushed us and we learned a lot about the verbs in Spanish. It will take years to learn all the necessary verbs and all their tenses, but the schooling was very helpful. Friday was our last day of classes and we took many pictures and the school gave each of us a certificate. That afternoon we jumped in our host family’s vehicle and headed for the mountains. In the states, the vehicle would only allow 5 passengers, by the time we picked up two nephews of our host, we had 10 people in the vehicle. We passed the Jungle River Lodge where we had stayed a few weekends ago and went farther up the mountain to where Gloria’s (our host mom) brother lived. After visiting for a while, we walked to the river to go swimming. The current was strong at the spot we went swimming. We would jump off a rock and allow the current to take us down stream a little and then we would swim against the current to get back to the rock. There were little kids from the area swimming and they were amazing to watch. Even though it was fresh water/river from the mountains, it had to be close to 80 degrees. We enjoyed walking around that tiny village and seeing the sights. Some people were living in extreme poverty and then there was a new construction happening that was probably going to be a tourist lodge. It even had a pool.

Saturday we met up with Uncle Abram Zuniga. He grew up in Honduras and met and married Carl’s Aunt Mary (in the 70’s) when she was in Honduras as a missionary. They live in Miami, FL and in the past few years he purchased a farm in Saba, his home area. (It was about 1 hour from La Ceiba.) He took us to his meet his parents, and then we traveled out to the country. The locals grow palm trees from which they harvest the fruit/berries that grow on the tree. They process the fruit and make palm oil. It is more profitable than raising cattle. After we took some pictures, at the palm fruit collection station, we headed to his farm. It took about 15-20 minutes of driving back through the shade of acres of mature palm trees until we reached the farm. It is beautiful, near the mountain and he is in the process of growing corn, and nurturing his young palm trees. When he is not in Honduras, he has a family that takes care of the farm. While they are paid fair wages, they lived, like most families in the rural areas, in a one-room shack. Seasonal farm workers live barely at a subsistence level. It was a new experience of seeing this level of poverty first hand for the girls and I. We had taken along punch balls (balloon-type balls on a rubber band) and shared them with the children. Deanna even gave one to a young girl that look older than Deanna and wow did her eyes ever light up. That opened up some deep discussions about “contentment”. We enjoyed lunch in town with Uncle Abram and then took a bus back to La Ceiba.

Sunday morning was time for our “goodbyes”. Our host family and our relationships with them was just one of the many blessings God allowed us to experience here. Even though the country was in political turmoil, we were so glad to be able to come before the “coup” and to remain in Honduras and learn a lot about the people and the country. What a blessing indeed! We had a prayer time together and then gave our hugs and kisses. We left La Ceiba around 10 a.m. and arrived in San Pedro Sula at 1:00. We spent the night in the same B&B as when we arrived, but the street and neighborhood look quite different as only one week ago, they experienced an awful flash flood right in the street in front of their home which destroyed two blocks of asphalt and left 2-3 ft. deep gullies. There was sadly even a fatality of a child who was a passenger in a car that had driven into the water. Now with politics in the turmoil they are, we can only imagine how long it may take for the street to be rebuilt. Yet another reminder of the many privileges we take for granted at home, and another situation and family we will be praying for and keeping in touch with in the months ahead.

Now we have checked the Delta Airlines website and according to the info there our plane is thankfully on schedule! We were just a bit concerned as many airlines have cut back on flights into and out of Honduras over the past weeks, but we fly out around noon, land in Atlanta and then to DC…then a drive home. It will be late when we finally get home.

I was thinking about all the young adults and families that I know that have served the Lord in other countries, and I now understand in a small way how hard it must have been to go, but what a blessing their new home became and then how hard it must have been to come back and adjust to the life in the States. I pray that this experience will help our whole family, especially the girls to see beyond themselves and the desires they have for things, but to think about the people God has made all over the world. God is alive and present in Honduras. Let’s continue to pray for the country and its people. Thanks for partnering with us in prayer!!!


What I will enjoy when I get home??
-safer drivers on the roads
-less trash along the roads (no one adopts a road in Honduras)
-our yard & garden
-warm/hot water
-cooler temperatures (less humidity and sweating)

What I will miss?
-hearing Spanish
-the food, like tortillas, rice, beans, baleadas, fresh fruit, etc.
-seeing people enjoy people…people took the time to visit and talk

~ Rochelle