A whirlwind of Adventure

Day 8

Good Evening from Honduras!!  Our time is quickly coming to an end here in Honduras, and I am not too happy about that.  Today started like all other days with breakfast between 7 and 8.  Today we had pancakes and fruit.  After breakfast we met for devo, where we were led in our thoughts by José Chavarría. José encouraged us to show compassion to those we are serving.  Sometime it is easy to go through the motion of serving without having your heart in it fully.  José’s lesson couldn’t have come at a better time.  The longer we are here, the less energy we have and we begin going through the motions of our tasks.  The lesson gave us the encouragement needed to finish the tasks.

After devo we split into four groups.  One group went back to Didasko to complete the playground, one went to La Tigra to build a home, one went to Molola to work on the daycare and in the feeding center, and the last group went to the Special Needs Orphanage then came back to Villa Gracia to pack food.

The Construction team was dropped of at about 9:30 and began the process of building the home.  We had a great team that was eager to work.  The view was AMAZING, of course.  God knows exactly how to make something look beautiful, and you cannot come to Honduras and think differently.  The build took about five hours to complete today, which might sound like a long time but it really was not that bad.  The view was amazing and the crew worked really hard. 

A group of about 8 went back to Didasko to complete the painting and construction of the playground.  About 5 or 6 years ago a team constructed the playground that was named Terry’s World.  Over the years, the kids have utilized it so much there were needs for repairs.  The group worked extremely hard to complete the work over the past few days, but due to weather some of it has been delayed.  There will be another group returning tomorrow to finish up.

There was also a group that went to Molola to do some work in the feeding center and the day care.  Several weeks ago there was a flood in Molola that did some damage to the day care.  The team had to bust up the floor and shovel more dirt under the foundation.  While they were doing that, about five others worked in the feeding center serving a meal to the children in Molola. 

I’m Kacie Barber, a sophomore at Freed-Hardeman University, and this is what I did today. I took a break from physical labor, but it was no walk in the park. The special needs orphanage team had the most emotionally overwhelming job today. I went to the orphanage last year, and those kids completely stole my heart. However, it was very upsetting because the kids weren’t getting physical therapy, which made them completely dependent on someone else. This year was a totally different story. The orphanage was able to hire a full-time physical therapist about three months ago, and that has been such a blessing. The kids looked amazing! Not only physically, but they all had a smile on their faces. I was so close to bringing Alyssia, a five year old ray of sunshine, home in my suitcase! Our whole team turned out to be rock stars with those kids. Today altogether was such a blessing!

After the teams completed the work of the day, we returned back to the mission house for dinner and devo.  Tonight we had spaghetti, salad, and bread.  The one’s making the meals have not disappointed any of us yet, and I’m not thinking they will.  After dinner we made our way to the chapel for devo.  Jeremy Myers has done an awesome job preparing devotionals throughout our time here and tonight was no different.  He talked about the dump here in Honduras and used it to illustrate our lives.  So many times we surround ourselves with the trash of the World instead of allowing ourselves to be surrounded by God.  We come to Honduras and say, “I am forever changed.”  But do we really change, or is just a spiritual uplift.  I am not saying a spiritual uplift is not important, but when we convert to our old ways and forget our experiences it is not as beneficial.  It really made me think about my personal life, and I hope others are thinking about it as well. 

We only have two days left until we return home.  Thank you all for your continued prayers!!

Love you all, catch you on the flippity flop!!

Brandy B

Just an FYI, tomorrow night we will not be broadcasting the devo because it will be a split devo.