On Tuesday we walked the community and played with some of the children - Nilson,Daniela, Gaida Natalie, Damien, and Lydia. This place is so different from anywhere I have ever been. There is so much beauty amidst so much poverty - my heart cries for both! The community is Los Lomos Santa Rosa de Aguan, and it is what would be "the country" in the US - lots of animals roam freely through the dusty streets - horses and cows on the roadside, pigs with their litters following. Chickens - nothing is penned up here. The children were shy at first but have warmed up to us over the last couple of days....they especially like having their picture taken and they are delighted to see themselves on my screen! They are warm and loving and gift us with lots of hugs. The weather has been kind - it's cooler here (though not by much) than Katy. It rained today and cooled us off. The food here has been very good. On the way back to the hotel (a 1-1/2 hour ride) we bought two iguanas from some kids right out of the palm groves to COOK! It's an adventure, right? One of our Pastor/Drillers, Alfredo taught a few of us a wonderful lesson about feeding ourselves spiritually by reading the Word of God. And a Spanish lesson! He and the others are great bible teachers and listened to them you just feel they they have a hot line to God. That He is sitting right there with us as we soak up this teaching. The praise music has been awesome too - these folks are truly talented and engaging!
On Wednesday Polly and I did the morning devotion on obedience. We spoke about our personal steps of obedience on this trip. We were inspired by a message we heard on Sunday from one of our Living Water co-workers who happens to be the wife of the leader of Living Water for Honduras.
The ride to the community today was quite pleasant with the windows down and the breeze blowing through. The palm groves are so beautiful and peaceful looking. We had a full day of teaching hygiene and Bible stories to the children - we were blessed to have both the elementary children, as well as the high school kids. The little ones were eager to learn and hung on our every word and the high schoolers helped us with the hard labor - they are really invested in this mission.
On Monday night I was so tired - I thought "how will we ever get to Friday?!" Now as the time draws near to leave the community, I find myself wishing for one more day with them to just play - kick the soccer ball around, throw the frisbees, color with the little ones and take more pictures of their sweet, smiling faces! And eat more homemade donuts with sugar and sweetened condensed milk..... :)
This has been an amazing experience so far! There is so much to be done here one hardly knows where to start...I guess one good well, with good, clean water is one such place..... I feel so blessed and honored to have been a part of this trip - my heart is full! God is good, all the time!