It has officially been one week since I flew out of Chicago
to go to Atlanta... Wow! The days have just blurred together. I already feel
like I have known my teammates for months now...some even years. Zion's Gate feels like home to me, and I'm so
exited to be here for another 7 weeks.
Training camp was pretty incredible. I was nervous at first
that I would be impatient for the three days and that I would just want to
leave already. It was really helpful,
though. I feel like I grew closer to the
Lord in just those few days and I gained a pretty solid understanding for what
the next two months would look like.
We left training at 2 AM on Tuesday morning to drive to the
Atlanta airport (that's our group in the picture). Our flight left at 8:20
so we hung out a while and got to know each other a little better...especially
in all of our exhausted glory, since no one had slept since Sunday night. We flew down to Miami and had about a 40
minute layover before we boarded a plane to Tegucigalpa, the capital of
Honduras.
We were greeted after customs by a group of smiling boys and
girls, each carrying a sign that said “Welcome to Honduras...(various names)”
for each of our group members. A few
boys grabbed our bags and took off outside for us all to eat together. After a quick meal, Tony took us to the bank
to get our money exchanged and drove us up to maintain the property.
Tony is the leader/owner of Zion's Gate. He is from the
states and has just been living here for the past 5 years. He found the Lord about 8 years ago and
visited down here on a mission trip about a month after he had first become a
Christian. After visiting once, he felt
convicted enough to move down here eventually. His property is called Zions
Gate, and it is essentially a refuge for boys that Tony has ministered to while
they were living on the streets and in the dump (literally). Right now there are 13 boys that live and
work here on the property. Each boy has
a vastly different story, but they all have been redeemed by the Lord and are
working so hard to turn their lives around. The oldest, Roni, is 19 years old
and has been on and off the property for a few years. The youngest, Anderson,
is 7 years old and just came here within the past 6 moths. I'll go into detail about them in a later
post in order to prevent information overload!
These past few days we have just been sort of relaxing and
figuring out which areas of ministry we would each like to take part in. We are going to all be teaching English to 6th
graders at the Christian school right next to the property for about an hour
each day of the week and we will each do street ministry in an area called La
Kennedy two days a week. Aside from
that, we will be going out of the city a few times to visit other Honduran
ministries for a few days at a time. Additionally, we each have the freedom to
begin our projects here on the property and with the boys that live here. I have decided to 'make' a soccer field on
the property, so I will be doing a lot of cultivating and chopping down grass
& weeds with the machete. It will be a tough project, but I know the boys
will appreciate it since they usually just kick the ball around in the
dirt. Hopefully I'll be able to start on
Monday when everything has settled down.
In the meantime, we are just doing little things, like
painting rocks, in order to make the property look nicer. Tony wants to make it an Eden, so a lot of
groups have made paths and little gardens already.
Thursday night, I went to Los Pinos with Maria (one of my
teammates), Tony, Anderson, and a few of the girls who are ministering on the
property. Los Pinos is a community right
outside of the capital. It has a very bad reputation because there is so much
violence and poverty. In particular, we went into Sector 7, which is a part of
Los Pinos which is widely known to be so dangerous that the police don't even
go there.
After scaling a small mountain that was at least a 50 degree
incline, we sat with Anderson's family for a while. One of the girls who lives on the property
had made a cake for Anderson's mom, so we all celebrated together and just
talked for a while. It was pretty
incredible to see this family of 6 people living in one tiny room made from
scraps of tin and wood. Anderson's mom
is 26 years old (as of Thursday) and she has 5 kids ages 8,7,4,2, and 8 months;
the kids are from 3 different dads. Even
in these circumstances, they all continue to have faith that God is good. It really makes me reflect on my own life and
how unbelievably blessed I have been.
Yesterday a couple of the boys took our whole group down to a nearby (45 min walk) river to hang out. We stayed for a while just cavorting around, and on our way back we saw a few of the other boys. Instead of going back, Victoria (one of my teammates) and I went with the 3 other boys back down to the river. We ended up walking/hiking/swimming another mile or two miles up the river to a spot that they go to pretty often. There are a couple HUGE rocks that they jump off of into the water. I was super nervous to jump in..it was about a 20 ft rock and the river was only about 6 feet deep!! Eventually I ended up jumping in (of course) and it was a blast!! So much fun to hang out with them where they actually are comfortable and are having a good time. We ended up having to hike back to Zion's Gate a few miles...of course I had worn my flip-flops, so it was a bit rough, but definitely worth it. Pray for my stomach & immune system since I swallowed about a liter of river water...whoops!
I have been practicing my Spanish (and my patience) everyday
with the boys. They are pretty awesome
teachers! I am also learning how to climb trees, shower in ice cold water, jump
of giant rocks into rivers, and sleep outside. Right now, all of the other 8
girls sleep inside and I sleep outside in my own tent next to the boys'
tent...mostly so that I can look at the stars before I go to bed. Plus, the sun wakes me up at about 6 in the
morning, so I get some solid quiet time before things get crazy with the boys.
God has done incredible things already on this property and
with the boys, and every day is a new adventure here! I am so excited for all
of our projects and ministries this summer and to grow more in my faith. Please continue to pray for me while I am
here, for all of the boys on the property, and for the entire country of
Honduras. It looks like I will be able to go to the mall about once a week to
get internet and post on the blog. Thanks for keeping up!
¡Adios!
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