Full Hearts and Minds!

Again, I'm sorry there haven't been more updates but time has been limited and because I'm an old woman, when we do get time off my brain is overloaded and I can't string a sentence together! But I have the morning free so I will try and fill you in on some of our experiences so that you will be able to ask specific questions when your child's only response to "How was your trip?" is "Good!".

This week has been different than the last one. Instead of four groups, we are three. One group is finishing the playground, one group is helping at Camp Hope and the third group has been painting a school in the community of Amate. Amate is an hour and a half into the mountains, on a dirt road, filled with holes, through some of the MOST beautiful countryside any of us have ever seen. You'll see I'm not exaggerating when you see the pictures. Coffee is grown in the shade of the mountians and corn is grown almost everywhere else. On the side of the road, the Hondurans spread a cloth and dry the corn kernels in the sun to sell to passer-bys. School children wander down the lane in their white shirts and navy skirts if we are in an area with a decent school. Otherwise, we see many children out working, or sitting by the roadside, when they are of an age to be in school. When we arrived in Amate, the whole village was there to greet us. The teacher of the school we came to paint hadn't been paid in five months and walks over an hour from his home to get to work. He is dedicated. The school itself was perhaps the most poverty stricken we have seen. No, not perhaps, it was. Very little, if any, English is spoken in Amate but we fascinated the community as we painted. We had brought a lunch with us, peanut butter and jam, with loaves of bread to make our sandwiches, but the ladies of the village insisited on cooking us a lunch. I could see some of our youth looking longingly at our sandwiches but not one person blinked an eye as we sat down to one of the most humble, yet beautiful meals we have ever had. We left them our lunch in return as we thanked them for their incredible generousity to us.

A huge blessing to many of us was the gift of watching World Vision in action in this community. As it happened, they were there on the same day we were painting and so we got to see children making out their Christmas cards to their sponsors and watch others being registered for sponsorship. You can imagine how we felt. We can't find the words yet, but we will try to as we process all that we have seen. Another blessing was that we witnessed many of the children wearing Toms, shoes that many of our youth have bought in Canada. This company promises to donate one pair of shoes for every one they sell and we saw some of these little children wearing their Toms! There is so much more to tell you but some of it you need to hear through the words of your child, not through me.

Today, we are finishing up the playground and there will be a dedication tomorrow. Our last group of three will go up to Camp Hope this afternoon and then our work is done.  There are many mixed feelings as our time runs out.  Some want to move here, some are eager to get back to family and friends, but I think it's fair to say that everyone feels different in some way. The youth will need time and your support to be able to sort through some of what they have seen and to make a choice about what their response will be. The leaders too!!

I can't remember what I have described to you all and what I have left out but as I sit here the sun is shining and we can hear the children from the school next door playing in the courtyard. This morning I went out early to drop off some laundry and the little store was playing worship music. In the evening, almost everywhere you walk, you are never far from a church service. The singing rings through the cobbled steets along with the roar of the little open air taxis and the barking of the stray dogs. Please pray for us as we leave and travel home. Pray that we have patience with each other as we get up very early Thursday morning to make our way to the airport. When some are tired, they get louder, while others need peace so we will need all your prayers!!!

There is so much more to tell you but that will have to wait.

lots of love from all of us to all of you.

Gillian