Honduras Mission Blog: November 10-17, 2008
On November 10, five Calvary parishioners flew to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with plans and tools for building a new play structure for the 10 children who reside with Suzy McCall, the founder and director of the Latin American Missionary and Bible Institute (LAMB). These children range in age from 11 months to 17 years. Please keep the missionaries and the children and workers at LAMB in your prayers. The team will return on November 17.
EPILOGUE: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2008: Angie Ford
I am having Honduran Malaise. I feel as if I am still there, in some strange way. I miss the kids, the sounds and yes, even the smells.
As I clean my clothes in my washer and dryer, I think of the many women that are hand washing every single piece of clothing and hanging it out to dry. The mother that makes 1,000 tortillas each day to earn $50 each week, one-half of which goes to buy firewood and mesa. I worry about the state of the group home and all of the health issues which exists there.
I miss seeing Elsa, Sallie and Joshua.
My heart is heavy today . . .
peace,
Angelina Ballerina
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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2008: Kathy Williams
Buenas noches, mi amigos!
Our day began this morning at Suzy’s with the task of finishing the playhouse. As our van turns into to San Vincente, Sally is standing outside and when she sees us, she immediately runs into the house to announce our arrival so someone can come out and open the gate. It is so apparent by the look on her face how excited she is that we are back today to finish "la casita".
So we all began the task of finishing our building project. Drew and Franklin were on the top of the playhouse putting shingles on the roof. Mary Jane and Angie finished the rail and worked on the support for the slide, and Jerry and I began to build the supports for the swings. Teodoro, another Honduran worker who has been helping us all week is also here this morning, on Saturday, his day off.
One of the things we all noticed immediately were all the toys that Sally and Elsa had already placed inside the playhouse on the little shelves that were created by the frames for the walls. Our smiles grew immediately.
By early afternoon the playground was almost complete. When we hung the swings, they were immediately occupied by Sally and Elsa. I cannot even begin to describe the joy and smiles that were glowing from their faces. We stepped back and looked at this beautiful playhouse with children playing and with the Honduran mountains as the backdrop and a tear came to my eye.
We spent the late afternoon at San Buena Ventura, the children’s residential home, as guests for a music program. We sat in chairs in the courtyard and watched this program the children had prepared for us. The presentation was very moving as we alternated between laughing and singing with the small children - to crying, watching the teenagers re-enact the daily struggles they encountered just trying to survive before they arrived at Suzy’s residential home.
The emotions that have been experienced here during the past week, especially
the past two days, are more than can be put into words.
Tonight as we sit together and reflect on the day, I know I have seen the love of God and felt the love of God in a way that I have not experienced before.
Please keep us in your prayers.
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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2008: Mary Jane Viar
Hola Calvary!
It is Friday evening of our wonderful week in Honduras and it's my turn to blog. I'm going to say right from the beginning that many of the things that we saw and experienced today are beyond describing in words. So, please bear with me as I attempt to give you just a glimpse of the events of our day. My team has given me permission to go a little long with this due to the difficulty of adequately covering those events.
We took a break from building today and we needed it! We are sunburned and a little sore from our work on the playground. So, instead, we went early this morning to Flor del Campo, a very poor neighborhood in Tegucigalpa and the home of the LAMB Institute. The first order of business was to sit in with the staff for their regular Friday devotional and we all were brought to tears by the inspirational people of faith who spend their lives making LAMB work for the children of Flor. Next, it's was off to the playground that the team from Calvary had erected at LAMB three years ago where we hung a plaque in memory of Gene Saxon, whose wife Tommie had so generously helped to make that project possible. It was quite emotional for the three of us who had been on that 2006 team to see the evidence of 3 years worth of joyful playtime spent on that structure. We cried again.
What happened next is the part that is beyond words. We were taken on a "walking tour" of La Cantera, the neighborhood adjacent to Flor. It's difficult to imagine that a mere 4 hour plane ride from Memphis would take us to a place where people are living in such conditions. To begin with we were told to leave all our belongings, all jewelry, cameras, money, etc, at LAMB due to the danger of just walking through the neighborhood. This request was particularly hard on Drew, whose major project on our trip has been to film a documentary! The ingenious way around this obstacle was for a neighborhood woman who works at LAMB and lives in La Cantera, who also happens to be deaf and mute, to carry his video camera in her unpretentious shoulder bag so that he could get some shots after we were safely inside a house. I use the term house loosely because the structures these people live in are barely shacks in some cases. The smell of smoke from wood burning fires fills the air making it hard to breathe. To get to some of the houses, we climbed very steep and rocky paths that, frankly, were almost too much for me.
We visited a woman who makes 1,000 tortillas a day to sell for about $5/day to support her family. We, of course, bought some from her knowing that we couldn't eat them but instead we gave them to the next family we visited. The head of this household was a woman who made purses out of plastic. We all bought one, knowing we wouldn't use them and instead gave them to someone else in the neighborhood. One of the most memorable people we met was an 81 year old woman who makes her living by collecting plastic bottles and selling them in Flor. She hugged us all as we entered her house as if we were family and she smiled and made us smile as she took us on a tour of the place she has lived her whole life. We can't get her out of our minds and we probably never will. The deaf woman who served as Drew's accomplice took us to her home. It's a structure of about 14 x 16' that she is so happy with because she and her children used to live in a cave-like place that is directly behind where the house sits now. As you can guess, we all cried again as we saw the pride that she takes in keeping her new abode neat and clean. Two homes we visited had new babies, one 2 days old and one 8 days old. As we reflected on the highs and lows of our day after returning to the guest house, I chose seeing those babies as my low point because I fear for the life those children may have in front of them.
Finally, we saw the house of the grandmother of one of Suzy's current children, Lucy. We didn't go in because we were told that the tarantulas and snakes she used to have in her house were just about gone. Lucy was found there at 4 days old by someone at LAMB. She had been abandoned by her mother and was pronounced too ill to live by the doctors who saw her after she was rescued. Suzy refused to believe them and yesterday, there was Lucy, at Suzy's house, at 2 years of age, playing with some other kids on the half-finished playground we are building now. Maybe there is hope after all for those 2 newborns we met today as long as there are people like Suzy to give them a chance.
This has been a roller coaster of emotion today and we are more tired from this than we have been after any of our days of physical labor. It will take time for us to process what we have seen. But, we know that we are all grateful for the chance to be here among these people who are so different in circumstance from us all. Their strength in the face of their difficult lives is inspiring to us and they encourage us to reflect on our own lives.
Thanks again for letting us be a part of such a journey from Calvary Church and know that we are attempting on your behalf, in some small way, to "Make God's Love Visible in Downtown Tegucigalpa" (and beyond)!
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2008: Angie Ford
Today I woke to the sound of a bird chirping. It is the third morning of our adventure in Honduras and life is good. There are 5 of us that volunteered to come to the Lamb Institute on this mission trip from Calvary. Our job is to build a playground at the home of Suzy McCall. Suzy is the founder of the Lamb Institute. She came to Honduras to start a school for missionaries. She now has 58 kids at the residential home, 8 kids that live with her, a food bank and a daycare.
Our day today began with a wonderful breakfast at a guesthouse run by a wonderful lady named Erika. She is kind, happy and always smiling. She answers everything with “No problemo.” What a wonderful way to start the day! The rest of our day is spent at the home of Suzy, joined by many of Suzy’s kids that are so eager to help us build the playhouse.
Sally is a six year old girl that came to live with Suzy when she was one. She has the face of an angel and a smile that would melt your heart. She’s extremely smart and funny, and has quickly pushed herself into all of our lives. She even persuaded Suzy and all of us that she needed to go home with the group (us) and stay the night. It was so much fun to have her and her humor around. Sally loves to laugh… especially when I try to speak Spanish.
Sally has a tremendously better life because of the Lamb Institute. Through our personal time with her, it’s easier to see the difference that Suzy and her volunteers are making on a daily basis in the lives of these beautiful Honduran children.
By the way, it was fun have a little girl around, even though I do miss my boys!
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2008: Jerry Stiles
I am writing this after a very long day working to build a playhouse for Suzy's children at her residence. I think there are nine children there including Aron Joshua who was born to a drug addicted mother. He was born addicted to drugs himself and he has spinabifida and a congenital defect in his bronchial tubes that makes each breath very difficult and he wheezes when he breathes. His mother abandoned him at birth, and when Suzie picked him up at his grandmother's dirt floor shack she took him to the hospital and the doctors told her that he would not live through the night. Suzy and a visiting missionary took turns of 12 hour shifts nursing Joshua. He is still with us and Suzie told us that Joshua has been a blessing and is an important part of her household. He is not out of the woods, the doctors have not decided yet if he is a candidate for surgery to repair his spine and any infection or congestion of his lungs could take him away.
Pray for us and for Joshua.
Warm greetings to you all as we represent Calvary Church here in Honduras.
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2008: Drew Smith
After months of planning, arriving in Honduras lived up to the harrowing experience that I had been warned about. The runway is extremely short, so after the pilot slammed on the brakes, I peeled my fingers from the armrests and disembarked.
About 15 guys helped us load our bags in the car. I think the job could have been more than accomplished by 1, but the amigos began a production line. I think everyone in our group also tipped them without informing the rest about our actions.
The car ride was like an episode of the old show "The Fall Guy" was being filmed as we drove the streets. It's a good thing the meek shall inherit the earth, because they definitely won't get anywhere driving in Honduras...
We drove to the group home, first. We were amazed at the amount of building that had happened there, including new housing, a playground, and a soon to be finished chapel. It's amazing what God has done down here, and you can especially tell in the faces of the kids.
After taking video, meeting A LOT of children, and showing off my tattoos, we said goodbye and headed to our home for the week: an awesome guest house run by a great family.
Today (Tuesday) was when we got down to work. We're here to build a playhouse for Suzy, the head honcho at the LAMB Institute. She has an ever expanding herd of children that she has adopted, so we're trying to give them more places to have fun at their new home.
We mixed concrete, measured for posts, dug holes, set posts, then realized we had messed up the measurements. That was followed by digging new holes, resetting the posts, sawing too little, and then sawing too much. Despite the keystone cops feel of our construction abilities, we eventually finished the bottom of the structure. It was hard work, and we're all sore, sun burned, smelly and smiling. Giving your time and energy to help and work for people in such great need is extremely rewarding. Suzy's dedication and resourcefulness is inspiring, and I'm happy to be able to help.
PS-kids plus goats equals hilarious.
Honduras Mission Blog 2006-2007
by Bessie Yang
Dear Calvary,
Greetings! Today was our third day in Honduras. Our morning was started
with a breakfast prepared by our host family, after which everyone
was transported to the orphanage by the 12-passenger van driven by
David, the LAMB volunteer. We continued VBS with the same schedule
structure as yesterday that included group singing, arts and crafts,
outdoor games, story time, and small group discussion applicable to
their appropriate age. The children were divided into the same groups
as yesterday and each group rotated through every activity. Most of
the children spoke only Spanish but there were bilingual interpreters,
either Susie´s children, Erica’s children, or the LAMB
volunteers, helping to bridge the communication gap. Most of the children
continued to be very affectionate with us and with each other as they
were constantly climbing and hopping onto any willing, and even some
resisting, participant. Our morning ended with a second group singing
session followed by us eating lunch at the orphanage with the kids.
After finishing the day of VBS, we returned to the host house for a short break and then left for the afternoon activities. Two of the team members were dropped off at LAMB, where one of them met with Susie while the other one continued painting the school. The rest of the team went to the mall to gather the materials needed for the New Year’s Party that we are throwing for the kids. We made plans to cook dinner, pass out stockings stuffed with presents, and bust open a piñata. Since it was suggested by Susie that we stuff the stockings with practical items such as socks and toiletries, we spend the rest of the afternoon shopping for each individual child. We came home around 5:00 PM and started decorating the stockings with the children’s names and other Christmas themes. Within a few hours, most of the stockings were completed and it was time to eat another meal prepared by our host family. After dinner, we gathered together to shared our most memorable moment from today, and then we had prayer and quiet time.
Bessie
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THURSDAY,
DECEMBER 29, 2006
by Jerry Stiles
Greetings from Honduras!
We had a full and gratifying day. At the risk of boring you I wanted to mention our meals today: breakfast was scrambled eggs mixed with rice, beans on the side and tortillas to wrap everything in and of course tabasco sauce. Delicious!
We had our last day of VBS today and there were lots of hugs and laughter. These children are too cute; One little girl named Cathy, 2 1/2 years old, puts her arms out whenever she sees me and insists that I pick her up—I carry her around and she chatters non stop; she even corrects my Spanish if I make a mistake. She bends her legs and cries whenever I try to put her down. She is precious and its hard to believe that some trauma has caused her to end up here without a mother and father. All of these children have similar stories but there are many smiles on their faces. Except for a few exceptions, they seem happy. Suzy has done an amazing job here and says that her goal is for every child here to feel as if they were a valued member of this group. She does not use the word orphanage. Several members of the team have had some form of stomach problems but nothing serious.
Remember us and these children
in your prayers.
Jerry Stiles
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SATURDAY,
DECEMBER 31, 2006
by Emily Smith
Yesterday we had the opportunity to travel into a very mountainous area where there are lots of local artisan shops. The quality of their clothes, wooden carvings, metalwork, leather, etc was amazing, and I felt guilty for paying so little for such beautiful works.
Those of us who were still well (our party of 13 has endured some unlucky illnesses this trip—traveler´s sickness, rashes, styes, fever, headaches) went with Suzy and her children to her Episcopal church last night to see some of her children perform in a talent show. The talent varied from one child singing a song to a pair of mimes acting out songs to a group of them having a contest between commercial Christmas (Santa, elves, Rudolph, etc) and the true meaning of Christmas (expectant Mary, Joseph, angels, etc.). It was very impressive, though we didn´t understand everything going on in Spanish.
I am continuously impressed with Suzy´s children and their generosity. One of the performers threw out candy to the audience, and this little girl named Gina came back to our table and gave each one of us (children and adults) a piece that she had collected. She saved her favorite (lollipops) in her hands like she was going to keep them, but then looked at me and Kathy and then offered them to us. These children have so little, yet give so much. They are the living expression of God´s love to one another and to us this week. I feel so fortunate to have been a part of this trip and to have met them.
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by Frederik Bresser
Hello everyone,
I am writing today to tell everyone, if they would like to come here, there is no reason to be afraid of Honduras. At first I was afraid, too. I thought maybe there is an awful lot of crime, and there would often be no electricity or water where we stay, and there are a lot of insects. But there is no need to worry: The guest house we are staying at is really good, the food is EXCELLENT, and we did not suffer any electricity or water failures so far.
The city is in the mountains, so the streets are quite curvy, and often very steep. Driving in Tegucigalpa is often a little bumpy. I learned that Tegucigalpa is about 4000 feet above sea level, the first day I had a headache, because of the thin air. Mosquitoes do not like this height, they live in lower areas, so there are also not many big insects here.
At the orphanage the kids are really very affectionate, there is always one kid, who wants to get a hug from you, or is climbing all over you. I spotted that the boys are more affectionate to me than the girls. Some of the older girls have obviously been abused, and now they are afraid of men, especially when they do not know him well.
Honduras is not a rich country, of course, so the infrastructure is not very good sometimes, and you should not go out by yourself at night. And you can see people living in very simple and small houses. I am almost tempted to say: The difference to some areas in east Memphis is not that big…..
Frederik Bresser
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MY
EXPERIENCE IN HONDURAS
by Grace Bethell
It was early November when I came home from school one day and my mom told me I was going to be so excited about a Christmas present that I was getting. I immediately thought OH MY GOSH. A CELL PHONE! So I said “what mom? Let me guess.. a cell phone?!?!” My mom then said laughing, “No Grace, We’re going to Honduras!”
My heart sank. I didn’t want to go at all. Especially when I found out that I had to get 5 shots, I was definitely not a happy camper. I thought going to Honduras would cut off my Christmas break and make it shorter and feel like there was no Christmas at all. When I got to my doctor’s office to get my 4 out of 5 shots I was saying things like “It wasn’t my idea to go to Honduras!” and “Why can’t we just send them money?” All the meetings we had didn’t really get me that excited. It just seemed like a lot of work I was going to have to do on my break from school. I thought a break was for resting, right?
So Christmas day came and I did get my cell phone! I was a little irritated at the fact though that I would be leaving it the very next day for a whole week. The next morning I got up at 4 (to the alarm of my new phone) and was not in a very good mood. I was not excited at all. I thought it was a waste of my time.
Reluctantly I got in the car only to find out my dad had gotten a ticket on his way to the ATM before 5 in the morning. When I got to the airport I found my very enthusiastic group of wonderful people. I wondered the whole time: why is everyone so excited except for me? Don’t they know we will be in a place with dirty water for a whole week? As I boarded the plane, with my Starbucks in hand, I sadly said goodbye to Memphis and went to sleep.
I was a little worried about the food situation in Honduras because I’m a big eater. I get in bad moods without my food, so at 8:30 in the morning in Texas I had convinced my sister Bailey that this might be the last time we see real food. I had Bailey all wound up to the point where we then decided we had to go get chicken sandwiches again, at 8:30 in the morning.
When I boarded my plane to go to Tegucigalpa I knew it was really coming. It was almost that I didn’t really think it was going to happen at first. But after almost 4 hours and watching Lady in the Water we made the very quick and scary landing in Tegucigalpa. We went for our first of many wild rides in the van. We rode to Erika’s house and then unpacked. I was just overjoyed to be there. Not. After unpacking and relaxing for a little while we went to eat lunch that Erika had prepared for us.
When we got to lunch my mom told me I should try the soup, so I did. It was good and I thought I could get used to the food, until someone mentioned to me that it was intestines. I stopped eating it and I tried to forget about it but Alicia kept bringing up the lovely fact that we had intestines in our intestines. After lunch we went to the residential home. Before I could even step out of the van a little boy had grabbed my leg and was hugging me. Elias was a very rough but loving little boy.
When I got out of the van and looked around I found myself feeling happy for the first time that day. 4 little girls grabbed my hand and were trying to explain how to play a game they wanted me to play. I was very confused so Valerie came over and helped me. I still wasn’t quite sure how to play it so I just ran around in the circle like they did. They stopped running around in a circle and all looked at me. I didn’t know what to do so I just yelled “YEA!” and they looked at each other in a confused look and then started running in the circle again.
After getting many flowers from kids and hugs, I embarrassed myself pretty badly. I was sitting with a little girl, Cindy Pamela and we were playing with play-dough. Cindy Pamela looked up at me and said “poopie.” I had no idea what to do so feeling really confident with my few Spanish words I said very loudly for everyone to hear “ME YAMO POOPIE.” Thinking I had just asked what do I do with a poopie I looked around to find someone coming to help me but instead I just saw kids laughing and pointing. Alicia leaned over and whispered to me “Grace, um why did you just say your name was Poopie?” I might have embarrassed myself badly that day but the next day the kids didn’t remember.
I left the children’s home that day excited for the first time on my trip. I started thinking I’m going to teach these kids so much about Jesus and I am going to make a huge impact on their lives, they will never forget what I teach them!
When I put my name tag on the next day 2 little boys came up to me and said “GRACIA!” and hugged me. Their names were Jorge and Julio and they had very good manners. On the first day of VBS I was feeling a little more excited from having so much fun the day before. I was sad though still for a different reason. I was scared about leaving. Just seeing these kids once the day before had made me realize how much they were going to impact my life.
Every day I went back to the children’s home I felt a little more excited. One very memorable experience was meeting a little boy named Moises. When I first met him he just seemed like a cute, shy little boy. I didn’t realize that he would end up teaching me something that no one else could even though we didn’t speak the same language. Moises had a teddy bear, that he carried around with him a lot. When I was around him he would show me and point to his bear. I realized that his bear was very important to him. Around his bear’s neck was a pink rhinestone bracelet.
One day when we were making paper flowers he was sitting in my lap. He pointed at the bear’s necklace then pointed at my wrist. He took the bracelet off the bear and he put it on my wrist. I said thank you and I sat there and thought for a second. He had just given me one of his very important, few things he has. I was amazed that he gave it to me. He has so little but yet he gave so much to me. Not only did he just give me a bracelet, but he taught me something that no one else could have ever taught me. He showed me that you don’t have to have stuff to be happy, you can be happy just by Jesus and love. That was one of my most memorable experiences in Honduras and I want to thank him for teaching me something I will never forget.
Another amazing experience I had in Honduras was on New Year’s Eve. We went to the residential home to cook them dinner and have a little party. When we first got there, everyone was so excited! The little kids had on party hats and were having a ball with the noisemakers. The older girls had loud Honduran Christian rap playing and they were dancing to it. Immediately they caught my eye and I was wishing I could dance like that. Bailey and I finally decided we wanted to go dance with them so we walked up and welcomed us warmly. They tried to dance slower to teach us how to do their dance.
When the next song started playing they motioned for us to show them how we danced. We developed a sort of game where they would dance then we would dance and it began to get really fun seeing what different dances they had. We danced for a really long time until everyone got tired and was ready to eat. After eating there was a little performance by the older girls then we were ready to party some more! We danced a little more and then Bailey, Alicia, and I got in a huddle with about 7 of the Spanish teens.
They had decided that they wanted to teach us Spanish bad words! “COOL!!!” I was thinking. It turned out to be one of the most fun things I’ve done in my life. It was so amazing to me that language wasn’t a barrier. The next day when we finally got back to the children’s home after a confusing ride situation my sister and I walked to the wooden house to find 4 of the older girls on the computers. None of these girls spoke any English accept for the “Hey Yall!” that I had taught them the day before. We were talking to them and laughing even though we couldn’t speak their language. We managed to exchange e-mail addresses and phone numbers and talk about school, boyfriends and many other interesting things. We really had great conversations with them between acting it out and saying if really slowly.
God showed me on this trip that it isn’t stuff that makes you happy it is love. These girls have had really hard lives but they still showed us what Jesus has done for them. I asked one of the girls if she liked it there and she said she loved it. That made me happy. It hurt me to think of anyone ever hurting any of these children and I wanted to take them all home with me.
I came to Honduras crying because I didn’t want to go but found myself back in Memphis crying and begging my mom if we could please go back soon. At first when I came I was mad and had a really bad attitude about this whole trip. I regret ever thinking that way. This was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It taught me so much about Christ, myself and how blessed I am.
My second attitude that I developed on the trip was one that I thought I was going to make a huge impact on their lives. I was thinking so selfishly. I thought things like they are going to remember me forever and they will never forget what I will teach them. I thought I was going to teach them so much about Jesus, but really they taught me more about Jesus and his love than anyone has ever showed or taught me before. These kids, my amazing group, and this whole trip has been a life changing experience for me and it has truly changed me as a person. I no longer think about myself first and I am slowly moving towards serving God, others, then myself. This trip marked the beginning of a new start in my life and I want to say thank you to everyone who contributed.
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