spring break, Honduras style

Ahhhh, spring break. One of several reasons I went back into education. But, for Friendship Christian School, it gets even better. We are on the “year round” schedule, which means we go to school for 9 weeks then get TWO weeks off. 2 glorious weeks off. Makes you want to teach, doesn’t it?

So, what does one do for 2 weeks off? For me, I am lucky enough to be in Honduras the first week of my break. I came down with Tim Hines and Tom Gilroy to assist in a medical brigade and to do some prep work for the summer trip. Included with this group are Janet Hines, and Mark and Lori Connell. Yes, you read that right, Mark, Tim, and I are all in Honduras at the same time. It is kind of like Haley’s Comet, happens every 96 years or so.

It has been a busy week so far and we still have a lot to do. The medical team includes surgeons from California and South Carolina who specialize in plastic and reconstructive surgery. They are operating on children that were born with cleft lips and pallets. They plan on operating on 40 patients this week. Their day starts at 6:30 in the morning and ends at 7:00 at night. They are all wonderful people and are extremely talented at what they do.

During the evenings we have been showing them around town and going out to eat. Camperos and El Corral have made the rounds so far. I personally hope to squeeze La Cumbre in this week too, but I am trying not to be greedy! They are laid back so even a trip to Wendy’s would be good with them. Of course, I am like a fish out of water during evening dinner conversations since they are talking about medical stuff………. Not exactly my line of knowledge.

We went to a professional soccer match last night. It was my first time to be inside the national stadium. Matauga, one of the local teams here in Tegucigalpa, was playing a team from Mexico. The stadium was packed (probably 30,000) with soccer crazed fanatics. It was awesome. Of course, the final score was 0-0, so most Americans would think it was a boring game. But it was not at all. The match was well played and there was a lot of stuff going on inside the stadium too. Really cool stuff. I was only afraid for my life a couple of times during the whole match. Just kidding!

Today we met the mayor of Tegucigalpa and his wife at the hospital. They brought lunch to the surgeons and mixed and mingled with us. The mayor is a possible presidential candidate in the next election and Torch/IRC has a wonderful working relationship with him. As always, Tim is the front runner to make all of this happen. Not having a group to keep up with allows me to spend a lot of time with Tim and to see what he does. And he does a LOT! We also went out to Mololoa today to see the daycare facility construction and to take some photos. We got to see and visit with a lot of families and friends in the community too which was really cool.

Wednesday Tim, tom, and I are going to the congressional building to make a presentation before congress. We are meeting with the “Republican” party, known as the conservative party here. Later in the evening we have been invited to a reception at the home of one of the congress representatives. We also plan on going out to Santa Ana to see Janet Hines´property and to visit with Jen Wright and the kids.

I also had a chance to go up to Villa Gracia to see the completed construction from last summer. It is absolutely beautiful and will be a wonderful facility for our teams this summer. I am posting some photos for all of you to see. All I can say is that the singing this summer is going to ROCK!

I hope to post again before I leave. Continue to offer up your prayers to Honduras and the trip leaders as we get ready for the summer. God has given us a wonderful ministry and with that comes big responsibilities. Pray that we will truly make a difference this summer to all of those we come in contact and that those coming on the trips will be touched as well.

Until next time, God bless!

Terry