"I'm Leaving Tomorrow"

By Katie

Lots of people use the words "I'm leaving tomorrow" here in Honduras. They leave to go to the United States and sometimes to Canada to pursue dreams of money, adventure, opportunity. I know plenty of people here who have said the words to their families and are back now, and many more people who heard those words and haven't seen their family member since. But Friday was the first time I heard those words myself. One of my fifth grade students, José Carlos, left on Saturday with a family friend to go mojado/"wetback"/without papers to live with his mom who is living and working in Wisconsin. José Carlos came Friday to say goodbye to his class and teachers. A few kids were sobbing so hard they couldn't move. Everyone knows this is a dangerous trip. Most of the students have immediate family members living in the States and know what it means to say goodbye.

Before he left, he and I got to talk a bit about Lake Michigan, one of my favorite places in the world, his new school and future ESL teacher, and about learning a new language and living in a new culture. Then the class prayed with him and all gave him hugs. He's a bright kid with poise well beyond his years, so he'll do ok. We're all going to miss him terribly.

"Resurrection Day" Service

By Katie

Yesterday was Easter Sunday, or Día de Resurrección, as it is called in Spanish. I usually look forward to punchy organ tunes on Easter Sunday, but this year I was looking forward to something very different. We gathered at the river with CRC congregations from the area along with some other churches as well. It was a huge event!
Little did we know that the service location required quite a hike to get there. Matt had to carry an older lady from our church across the river!

There were more than two hundred people who attended. You can see them all here crowding into the shady parts because the temperature was well into the 90's.

Our guest preacher was Casper Geisterfer, a missionary here in Honduras. He and his wife, LeAnne (who works for CRWRC), have taken us under their wing and provided us with tons of support. It was great to have them out to Olancho and to hear Casper preach. He spoke slowly and used a nice neat five-point sermon which I could understand well. Thanks, Casper!

What really made the service though was about a dozen baptisms done in the river. It was a beautiful way to celebrate our Risen Savior and to welcome new brothers and sisters in Christ!

Retreat

By Katie

This last weekend we were able to go to a retreat in Nicaragua with many of the staff members and volunteers of the CRC in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Ecuador. We were excited to be able to join the group in their annual retreat. The topic of the training was "The Dance of Racial Reconciliation".

Besides the training, we spent many, many hours soaking in the wisdom of the other missionaries who have lived and worked all over Latin America for many years, and some who are new to the field, like us. It was a great encouragement to hear the histories of these programs and of the church in the different countries. These conversations gave us good insight on how to live in Latin America.


There was time for the swimming at the beach too, which of course made me feel right at home! We were very happy that we were able to attend the retreat. Originally we had declined the opportunity because we didn't think we'd need the break and it wasn't included in our budget. But, the door opened when one family backed out, and at the same time we realized we were fighting burn-out and needed some North American contact. The retreat was clearly worth spending our own money to go. It seems that God provides us with the support we need, even when we don't think we need him to!

Sierra de Agalta National Park

By Katie and Matt

Last weekend we got a chance to go hiking in the mountains surrounding Catacamas. We had the weekend free and so did some of our counterparts in other parts of Honduras, so they traveled out to us to spend time together enjoying nature. The original plan was to hike up the second tallest peak in Honduras, called La Picucha (2354 meters). But the plans changed when we realized we really were not in shape to make it all the way, and David got sick.

Our travel buddies were Lisa, intern with Diaconia in Southern Honduras, David, who works for Parnters Worldwide in Tegucigalpa, Joel and Deanna who are Lisa's friends from Canada, Calixto, the guide we hired to show us around, and Calixto's kids Sarai and Samuel.

Calixto used to work for the Honduran forest service, and is a strong advocate for protecting Honduras' tropical forests. Matt wanted to get to know Calixto because he is thinking about taking groups of young people on hikes. The idea would be to use this 'natural classroom' as a way to teach young people about how God calls us to care for the creation He has given us.

We hiked on "trails", or rather through the river bed which sometimes was knee-deep in water and other times required a machete to clear the path.


Other times we went nearly straight UP the mountain. Calixto said the trails were "a little inconvenient". I'd say so!


Here's Tarzan swinging through the jungle.


It is a good thing that we went on this preliminary hike to get to know the terrain and Calixto before trying to bring any youth groups. The hiking was really difficult! But we did see some amazing scenery including waterfalls and a couple species of toucans. We heard howler monkeys and spider monkeys (but never saw them). We also were able to explore a beautiful cave.


Matt is looking forward to planning some hikes with Calixto and the groups of young people. Through the Environment and Ag program there are several groups of students organized into environment care groups. Helping them get to know the beauty of Honduras could be a great way to teach them to appreciate and care for God's creation.