i'm home

just wanted to let you guys know that I'm home in Pennsylvania. I got home late last night and LOVED sleeping in my own bed and having cold 1% milk on my cereal this morning. thanks for reading my blog and for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers these past 50 days! I will try and post pictures soon. Better yet, hang out with me and see them in person. : )

a final paper of sorts

Well, my plane leaves in less than 3 hours to come back to Pennsylvania. I CAN'T believe that my trip is over. This past week I hardly did any ministry, and it was more like a vacation than a mission trip. Rose and I spent the week hanging out with our new friends who translated for us when we were in Copan. We went dancing, to the mall, to the movies, to a water park, and to Espresso Americano for lattes (I have to admit, i really miss Starbucks). I defintiely feel guilty in some ways, because I wish I could have helped Mauricio and Ana more with Juventud Para Cristo. But, the Sex, Lies, and the Truth program got put off until next week. I did help Rose navigate her way around San Pedro Sula, and we met with teachers at schools where she is going to teach this year.

Yesterday Mauricio and Ana asked me to write a paper describing my time here and what I learned, liked, and didn't like. Since I LOVED every minute of my trip, it's mostly a positive paper. So, here it is, my "final paper/exit interview/whatever you want to call it.

Friday night, August 18, 2006
In the summer of 2005, I began praying about spending a summer in Honduras, working with Juventud Para Cristo. My pastor Joelle and I met every week for coffee at Starbucks, and prayed about my trip. I was nervous about leaving Pennsylvania for such a long amount of time. When I went away to college in Massachusetts in the all of 2002, I was extremely homesick, and did not adapt well to my environment. That bad experience away from home hindered me from ever venturing outside of West Chester to study abroad or travel. My “failure” to leave home in 2002, as I wrongly labelled it, left a very big impression on my young mind and heart.
Satan used that against me for the past four years. He made me believe that I would never be able to live far away from my family. I envied my friends who were able to study abroad in beautiful places such as Spain, Italy, South Africa, and Romania. I envied my friends who went to college far away in Virginia and Florida. And, unfortunately, I believed that I could never do that. Even some of my friends and family were sceptical when I said that I wanted to live in Honduras with the Erazos. “Remember what happened the last time you went away, Sara? Honduras is very far away, and you can’t just come home for the weekend. I don’t know if you will be able to do that.” And, I believed them, too.
But, still, God is more powerful than Satan, and I felt God calling me to Honduras for the summer of 2006. Joelle and I began to pray that God would show me how long to go to Honduras. We prayed that he would give me the confidence to spend time away from my friends and family. Specifically, I prayed that I would meet people who would be my family and friends when I was in Honduras. Towards the end of the summer and the beginning of the fall, I felt comfortable with the idea of spending the summer in Honduras. Joelle and I kept praying, and I asked some other friends to pray for my summer abroad. Mauricio and Ana Erazo kept saying, “We would love to have you. Trust in God. Please come down for the whole summer, or even just a few weeks.”
Finally, I decided to spend seven weeks in Honduras. I felt comfortable with that amount of time, knowing that it would be long enough to experience life in a different culture. I wasn’t idealistic about my trip, thinking that it would be all fun and I would never get homesick. I just prayed that those moments of homesickness and loneliness would be few and far between.
God put people in my life here in Honduras to become my new family and friends. One day, a week and a half into my trip I got extremely sick with a virus at Tela. The whole day I was getting sick in the bathroom and felt miserable. All I wanted was my dad and my own bed. I didn’t know if I would survive the two hour bus ride back to San Pedro Sula. But Rick Beck, a missionary living in Tegucigalpa, sat with me on the bus ride home. He put ice packs on my back and neck to cool my fever. He rubbed my feet and told me to “hang in there” and comforted me as we drove back to San Pedro Sula. Rick selflessly took care of me, and acted exactly how my own dad would have acted in that situation. Through Rick, God reached out to me and told me that He is able to put people in our lives to act as our family when our own family isn’t able to comfort us. Although I felt awful, Rick’s presence was exactly what I needed that night.
Mauricio and Ana also acted like my parents during my time here. They welcomed me into their family with open arms and I felt immediately accepted. I helped them do the mundane things that I do at home, like going grocery shopping, running errands, and helping with dinner. I lived with Ana’s mother, Corina, in Honduras and she treated me like a granddaughter. She always asked if I needed anything, and took care of me when I was sick. Ana’s entire extended family made me a part of their family from the very first day I arrived. Keren’s cousins became my Cait, Kelli, and Erin. Ana’s sisters became my aunts. It was amazing how they invited me into their family the way that they did.
God also gave me amazing friends to spend time with down here. David and Rose, the other interns were wonderful to have around. We all learned more Spanish together and did ministry together as well. I didn’t even know that David and Rose would be in Honduras working with Juventud Para Cristo with me. It was a wonderful surprise to have them in Honduras. I was really sad when David left two weeks ago, and I don’t know how I am going to say goodbye to Rose tomorrow. I can’t possibly write down all the names of my new friends from Honduras, but they encouraged me and hand fun with me and introduced me to wonderful things like baleadas, Calle 13, City Mall and half price movies on Tuesdays.
All in all, I learned about how perfectly God provides for me. He knew exactly what I needed for my time in Honduras. He knew who to place in my life to be my family and friends during my seven weeks here. Most of the time here I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know what each day would hold. At first, I hated not knowing anything. But after a week, I adjusted to the laid back pace. My friend Kristina was shocked to read that I didn’t wear my watch anymore. She knows how time-oriented I can be. I love wearing a watch, and squeezing the most that I can into each day. As the days wore on here in Honduras, I grew to love having all this free time to talk to my friends, and be willing and able to do anything that the Erazos asked me to do. After dinner each night we would just sit around talking for 20 or 30 minutes. It’s a far cry from the quick dinners and rushing to clean up afterwards that I am used to doing. One Sunday afternoon I sat around and talked with Ana’s family for four hours. In that time we ate lunch, and cleaned up from lunch, and then went back to the family room to talk some more. I don’t think that I ever spend that much time just talked to my friends and family with nothing else to do except on holidays. God showed me that I can trust him to work out all of the little details in life and just go along for the ride.
I enjoyed learning Spanish more, sharing my testimony, and loved seeing God encourage and affirm me and tell me that I can live away from home. Tonight, as I go to bed for the last time in Honduras, I am filled with emotions of happiness and sadness. I am excited to hug my mom and dad and friends again, but I am not anxious to go back to work and the faster paced life in West Chester. This morning Ana and Mauricio both encouraged me to change my lifestyle in the United States to reflect a slower pace. To spend more time with the Lord each day, and more quality time with my friends and family. I pray that I can do so. And, I would appreciate your prayers for that as well. I do not want to leave my new family in Honduras, nor do I want to leave all of my friends. It will be hard to say goodbye to everyone tonight and tomorrow. This summer not only gave me new life experiences, but it also gave me the confidence I needed in myself to branch out and experience new things in life. I am so thankful that God put me here in Honduras these past seven weeks to use me and help me grow as a young woman and also as a Christian.



Hopefully I will be able to talk to each of you who read this when I get back to Pennsylvania before I go to school in September. I can't wait to see you guys!!

update from La Entrada

The week with my church in La Entrada has been great... tough but great. We are working in barrio copante, which is about a half mile up a hill outside of La Entrada. Most days we get a ride up and down, but a few times we´ve had to walk, and I don´t know how these Hondurans do it day after day, multiple times a day. The heat is intense... not to mention the 50 degree rocky slope.

A girl from my church singlehandedly decided to start the first library in La Entrada, and the dedication service was today. It´s amazing to hear her story of the 17 months of work, and then see the building and the hudnreds of books in the library.

I have been incharge of the kids, which is more crowd control than teaching. But, we found a happy medium of playing duck duck goose and singing a lot, and then they coorporate and listen to out Bible stories and work well in groups of 4 kids to every translator or gringo. The group from my church is smaller this year, but we have gotten along really well.

It is still hard to see all the poverty in La Entrada... the dirt houses, the kids playing with dirt and other things because they don´t have toys... armless men begging on the street for money... it´s hard to process and see where God is in everything, and how he works everything together for his purposes.

I´m worried about all of this TSA stuff and my flight next week... they seem really strict, and I´ve already heard horror stories about 2 hour long lines for checkpoints in the airports. It really be a rude welcoming back into the United States for me next Saturday evening.

time for dinner... i hope everything is well in the states... thanks for reading all of this!

Happy Birthday, Richard.... and it´s good to see my church.

My church arrived all safe and sound yesterday. It took us a while to find them in the airport, because it took them an hour to go through customs, but we arrived in La Entrada, Copan yesterday around 4. After dropping our luggage off in the hotel, we went to a school where they were all waiting for us with balloons and cards that they had made for us. It has been 2 years since I have seen some of the kids, and it´s amazing how big they get! For those of you who went before, I saw Kevin, his brother Roberto... Esther´s son Josue, and then Freddy´s kids Karina and Arnold. After that, we headed to Copante, which is the name of the barrio (neighborhood) where we are going to work this week. They had a welcome sign for us that said "Welcome to our Westmister Brothers". Yet another way to misspell our church`s name : ) But, the decorated and layed down pine needles (a welcoming for royalty) and had balloons and streamers. I am excited to get to know the people down there.

I´m roomming with Kelsey and Anne, and it is so good to see Kels again... since we spent all summer together last year with church stuff, and I haven´t seen her in 6 weeks. I´m getting to know Anne, and she is an amazing girl... I wish I had gotten to know her before I´m going off to school. For her Girl Scout Gold project, she decided to start the first library in La Entrada, and promised to financially support it for 3 years, and donate 1000 Spanish books, and then the mayor promised to integrate the operating costs of the library into the town budget in 3 years. The dedication service is Friday afternoon at 3.

Everyone is filling me in on things that I have missed at church and in West Chester. The weather here in La Entrada is a welcoming change from West Chester weather. Mom, those brownies that you made were delivered to me, and they are amazing! My roommates and I have been eating them nonstop.... I think I had 5 yesterday and just as many today... whoops! I didn´t realize how much I missed chocolate and walnuts these past 37 days.

Our group is pretty ecclectic, but all together, we work well. Rose (the missionary who is staying with the Erazos for a year starting yesterday) and her sister Desirae are here, then there are 19 people from my church, the Erazos, and 13 translators from 2 different towns. (Jeremiah, Ana Luisa, and Abraham, Lauren are translating again for our group)

The food is amazing as usual, and it was fun to go swimming this evening after going to church this morning, and going to Rancho Vida this afternoon for lunch and to unpack supplies and play soccer against the indios (Hondurans). Michel and I are killing an hour before dinner at 7.

I cannot believe that my trip is almost over. I´m excited to spend this next week with my church and help the people living in Copante.

Richard, I hope you´re having a great birthday... I´m going to try and call you later, but apparently someone is using the line right now, and I might have to go to dinner before I can call you. But, I´ve been thinking about you all day! Love you!

Rojo, a pool, and the Honduran President...

Megan and I made it back to SPS safely, in only 4 hours... and I successfully negociated my way around SPS in a taxi to get back to Mauricio and Ana. Since then we've been super busy. She leaves tomorrow morning already!

On Sunday night we visited a small village where Mauricio and others had planted a church and built houses after hurricane Mitch. David and Santiago skate boarded with the boys, and then we went to their church service in the evening.

Yesterday was did some odds and ends around the office, and then went to see Rojo in concert (rojoweb.com). Apparently they´re really big... who knows... I didn´t really understand any of their songs, but we were right up front, so I got some good pictures. It was a big free concert in a huge church that seats 15,000.... and there were tons of youth there. It was excited to see them all get passionate and sing along with Rojo.

This morning we went to a pool and just layed out and swam and ate lunch. It was amazing! I loved it. We went swimming at a hotel, and apparently the Honduran president was there giving a speech or something. There were media and police and the presidential helicoptor outside of the hotel... but, I didn´t get to see the president. I guess he didn´t want to talk with gringos. : (

Tonight we´re seeing Pirates of the Caribbean... for $1.25, because it´s half price night at the movies. We´re going on a hike at 6am tomorrow morning... to see all of San Pedro before Megan leaves. It will be beautiful, but I don´t think that the 5:30 wake up call will be so fun.

Today marks the day I´ve been here for a month... it honestly feels like 2 days. My church comes down on Saturday, and then it´s off to La Entrada, Copan with them for a week.

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth Mead!

sick..... otra vez!

after a relaxing night on Wednesday with Megan watching chick flicks and eating popcorn, I woke up yesterday sick... awful sick... like before. I thought taking cipro and eating raisin bran (something normal and USAmerican) that I would feel better, but on our way to hail down a taxi, I got sick again, so we trudged back to Megan's house and I slept and watched tv all afternoon. Yesterday was supposed to be our fun girl day, going to Valle Los Angeles, and shopping and stuff, but I was too weak to do anything. I got sick once again this morning, but am now back to almost 100%. I was miserable yesterday, and just wanted to be in my own bed with cambells chicken noodle soup and ginger ale.... but, alas... I was in Honduras watching bad tv. At least Megan was there to help me and laugh with me and get me something if I needed it.

Since I was feeling better today, I managed to get out of the house, and we visited a high school where Megan will give English lessons. After a quick stop at Pizza Hut for lunch (I miss the pizza hut on High Street in WC), we went to feed the people living at the trash dump.

Before the trash dump story, I'll tell you a funny one that David and I continually crack up after repeating to each other. We were eating baleadas at a vendor in a market in the heart of San Pedro Sula last Friday, and no, it probably wasn't the cleanest place imaginable. But, we said grace, and then said "i hope I don't get sick!" Then, a Mercy Ships doctor comes up to us and is asking what we're eating, and if we're going to buy anyhting at the market, and he's drinking something that he got from the same vendor. He was telling us how good it was, but then he said "Well, I'd drink the rest of this, but you never know how it's made. I hope I don't get bacterial endocargitis from drinking this." Bacterial endocargitis? what the heck is that? I don't even know if I remmeber exactly what he said. But, when he left, all David could say is "wow... i'm glad I'm not a doctor, and know about all the germs that I'm probably eating right now..." and took a big sip of his drink and continued to eat his baleada. I'll have to do the impression for you guys, beause it was so funny the way he used those big words around us like it was nothing.

anyway...

If there was ever a time when "I just threw up a little bit in my mouth" (name that movie...), it was at the city dump. each Friday, Rick and Kim and their friends bring 100 plates of food and water upto the city dump to feed and minister to the people living there. I don't think anything could have prepared me for the sights... or especially the smell. We traveled up this road and got to an open field... probably 2 football fields long and 2 wide, and there were hundreds of big black vultures picking on everything, and on the hilltop looking down on us. On the side of the hill you could see little huts made out of PVC piping, tires, and cardboard where people lived. All day every day they just dug through the trash looking for food to eat, clothes to wear, and things to barder or sell to others. Everyone there was filthy and smelled... of course... because they live and walk through trash all day every day. A dump truck came while we were there, and the men and women ran up to it with big bags and started searching through the trash with their bare hands as soon as the truck started dumping stuff out.

I was just shocked. People live like this? Their hands are black and encrusted with dirt and germs, and then they use their hands as forks and spoons and lick them clean? The smell was just awful... trash and poop and rotting food and fruit, and then just magnified by 100. You didn't want to be rude and have a disgusted look on your face, but it took a few minutes for me not to gag every time I took a breath. There were flies everywhere, and no one cared. So, we shared the gospel a little bit, and then gave them their food and water... within the hour, we were on our way home... But I'll never be the same. I wont even touch my brother's dirty tissues on the bathroom floor without being grossed out, and here are these people living among trash.

It really affected and humbled me. I don't even know where my trash is dumped...let alone if people are living in it.

Megan and I are traveling back to SPS tomorrow (unless there is a blockade again)... please pray for our safety.

teguc is so much cooler than SPS!

hello everyone! I'm now in the capital city of Honduras, which is only 3.5 hours (and $14.50) by bus from San Pedro Sula. BUT.... that doesn't take into consideration that sometimes, teachers like to randomly go on strike because they are unhappy with their wages, and make the major highway impassable for a day, which is what they chose to do yesterday. No cars/busses were getting to or from Teguc for a good part of yesterday. So, to make a long story short, I didn't arrive in Teguc at 2pm as planned...... I got there at 7pm... 5 hours late. So, sitting on a bus from 10:30-7 wasn't that exciting, and it was downright boring. But, I watched 3 movies in spanish and listened to my iPod. God was really awesome, because a super nice and bilingual Honduran woman in front of me let me use her cell phone a few times, and another woman from the front of the bus noticed that I didn't ever get up or eat anything, so she gave me some of her crackers to eat, and made me take 3 instead of just one. The woman next to me gave me gum, and I'm hoping it was just to be nice, and not because my breath smelled really badly. haha. Then, this Honduran doctor and her 15 year old bilingual son made me wait in their truck with them until the Becks picked me up, because "you are a gringa, and it is not safe for a pretty girl like you to be all alone. I am a Christian, and my son speaks English, and we will not hurt you. But you are not safe outside here. Please sit in our truck with us." So nice! I've realized in Honduras that you just have to trust people, because they (most of the time) really want to help you. Now, I'm not about to go walking around by myself or anything, but God put those people there to help me yesterday.

Teguc is not as hot as SPS, and breezes feel amazing. I ate dinner last night and breakfast this morning outside on the porch overlooking Teguc. It was beautiful. I love spending time with the Becks and their 3 foster children again. Their intern Megan, who is 22 and from Michigian (yeah, Babbs!), is AWESOME and we've hit it off... I'm just sad that I'm not staying longer to come back and visit her more. But, sh'es coming to SPS for 5 days with me next week. We're in our own house tonight, and we're gonna watch a movie, and eat popcorn, and we went shopping and grabbed dinner at the mall tonight, 3 blocks away.

this afternoon we went to a prison and ministered to the juvenile girls there. The prisons are awful here, and the government hates gangs to much that the president allows the guards to machine gun down inmates, and then set a fire to burn the bodies, so it looks accidental. Just last week 2 of the inmates were found dead... and it's never exactly certain of how they die... people just say it's because of other inmates. The prison is in 4 sections, adult male, adult female, juvenile boys, and juvenile girls.... and only the adult men ever die. But, the gangs are awful in Honduras, and the two main gangs are 18 and 13... which were the two prominent numbers in the mayan culture (18 rabbit was the name of the most powerful king in the mayan culture, and he was king #13, and after he died, the civilization when to pieces.).... so.... maybe it's a conicidence... maybe it's something else... who knows, but those numbers are very prominent and almost synonymous with bad and evil in Teguc.

But, the girls at the prison were sweet, and I can't help but think of that Nelson Mandela quote where he said something like "you don't know a country until you've been inside it's prisons." my friend Bethany had it in her profile one time on AIM, i think.... anyway, it's so true.. Those girls have awful stories, but yet some of them have changed, and need people to spend time with them and/or minister to them, because their families don't visit them a lot. My friend Carrie works with girls like that in PA, and it gives me even more respect for her now, than I did before, beause she works with those types of girls from Chester County. They can be tough, and I've heard stories from Carrie, and also from the Becks about the girls in Honduras, but I was humbled that I got to see their ministry to these girls there today. I'd love to start a prison ministry or something back in West Chester or up at Princeton, or at least visit a prison in USAmerica, because I can't say that I've done that before.

Tomorrow we're probably going to go to Valles de Angeles, which is goregous, and has fun stores and good shopping. Fridays are the City Dump ministry, and I will go with Megan and the Becks to that.... more about that later when I know exactly what it is.

It's great to get out of SPS for a few days, and see another part of the country. The views here are beautiful, because it is so much more mountainous. Have a great rest of the week!