Only one more day… – Honduras Agape

I can not believe it is Wednesday and I have only one more day in Q town this summer! What a joy it has been to be here for the past nine weeks. I have had some great experiences and have learned a lot.

Monday, I spent the day in San Pedro Sula, my third full day of driving around the city in pursuit of a variety of items. Driving a Ford Expedition in a city with few, if any traffic laws, has given new meaning to the concept of defensive driving and I do not believe any class could have prepared me for the reality of it. God was so good to watch over us just as we prayed for Him to do prior to the start of our day…for example, when I needed to back into the street from a parking spot, a driver wanted my spot despite the fact that others were vacant, so he/she stopped the traffic in the lane so I could back out! Only one of many examples of His grace during the trip.

Tuesday was spent doing laundry and computer work….just like at home…well, almost:)

Today began another day of interesting driving experiences. For those of you who have been to El Pinal, you can appreciate my nervousness over the anticipated trip. But what you do not know is that I have been stuck four times since the arrival of our car to Honduras.

The 1st time was in an area of mud and cow dung on the way to the waterfalls. I will spare you the details but if you want them, talk to Cecelia or Ardyn:)
The 2nd time was in a ditch in Quimistan…they have been installing a new sewer system down the road to the ranch and as the work progressed the route home changed daily necessitating going one more block to get to the main road. One day, it was one more block too many and the tall grass was deceptive. PTL, the municipal workers took pity on the ‘gringa’ and used the tractor to haul me out.
The 3rd time was in Santa Clara when visiting and needing to go up the road to the soccer field to turn around the big beast of a vehicle….never made it to the soccer field due to getting bogged in the mud. This time, I was rescued by the wonderful people of SC.
The 4th time was this past Sunday en route to SC again. While staying on my side of the road in anticipation of oncoming traffic around the curve, I hit a soft spot in the road and spun into the ditch….which was better than into the valley on the other side of the road. Once again, the kind folks of SC helped pull me out. Upon my late arrival to church when apologizing to the children and telling them why I was late, Ronnie sweetly and honestly stated…” and she was stuck the other day too”. As I am always seeking ways to tell about Jesus, I used theopportunity to tell them that their town helping me was a just what Jesus tells us to do…. treat each other as we treat ourselves and we should always be looking for ways to help each other as Jesus would.

I share this so you can appreciate why I was so nervous about driving to El Pinal on a muddy, rocky, trench filled, terrible road. God is so faithful as we had no trouble which is exactly what I prayed for prior to our departure. This was to be our final fluoride, de-worming visit and I could not take the thought of being stuck again.

El Pinal is a pueblo in the mountains above Quimistan with no running water nor electricity. The school enrollment is 65 students.

These 4th – 6th graders were working very diligently upon our arrival.

These 1st – 3rd graders were at work as well in the

classroom built with HAF donations.

And, these are the kinder children.

Maynor, giving directions ONE MORE TIME!

Do you think they are enjoying this?

Perfect timing once again…

Attentive kinder students.

A great idea for decorating a shelter from the sun.

Good bye from the gang:)

And good bye to fluoride, de-worming meds for the next 6 months. Maynor and I are glad to have completed the ten locations. I pray that they understood when I shared with the students that the reason the missionaries care about them is because Jesus first loved us and it is His love that makes us love them.

Upon our uneventful return to Quimistan, I visited the location of the kitchen construction at one of the local kindergartens. Olbin and Hector were hard at work and as you can see, making good progress.

From Q town, Roxanne