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!!
