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My last few weeks in Honduras were pretty relaxed and was a lot of preparing for the transition back to North America. My second last week, which was my last week in Olancho, was just visiting a few last communities and saying many really hard goodbyes. It makes it so hard to leave hearing people thanking you and asking when you will come back. Unfortunately I can not promise to come back because that could give people false hope. There are so many people there i have met that have been disappointed and let down by empty promises; I couldn't do that. I said I hope to come back but I don't know if I will be able to. I left that up to God.

My last week was down south on Tiger Island where a group call The Carpenteros and Friends had planned to go but unfortunately had to cancel sending the team due to the political situation and the potential of danger being so close to the federal election. The projects The Carpenteros funded that they were supposed to be helping with were still getting done and on time. I helped work on and supervise some of these projects. It was very good to see the Honduras working extremely hard to get their projects done. This is also proof that shows if they have the opportunity to work or improve their lives they will gladly do it. They are not lazy. My brain was moving a little faster than time and I was already thinking about being home but everytime I had to say a goodbye it was very emotional and I was pulled very quickly back to reality. Also this last week of my time in Honduras I spent much time mentally (and physically) preparing myself for the transition back to North America. So after my last few goodbyes the time came to leave and more than previous trips it was hard to leave. I couldn't wait to get back home to see my Grandparents, my parents, my brothers and sister, my girlfriend and all the rest of my friends and family. So finally I am home and starting to adjust back to the North American life while doing my best to keep all of the things I learned along the way. Thanks for all your support.

First Half of October

(Nueva Suyapa in Tegucigalpa) (Me and my friends from the church)

This month I spent some time visiting in Tegucigalpa and strengthened the relationships I have with people there. I had a chance to spend time with both Honduran and American friends. I made friends with some people my age at one of the churches in Tegucigalpa and went out with them one day as well. After a visiting for a week and having a few meetings at the office my Dad came. He came to bring more supplements for the pilot project in the south. He also came to visit for a week. The day after he arrived we went to AJS (Association for a more Just Society) to see some different projects and learn about them a bit more. It was absolutely fascinating to learn about what they do. They base their purpose on 1 John 4:18 which says, “There is no fear in love: but perfect love casts out all fear…” Their work has the potential of being very dangerous when you are working for justice in a country with so much corruption. I have a huge amount of respect for everyone that works there.

(He is here!! It was so nice to have part of my family with me.)

The next day we went to a town call Ojojona where a local Honduran-made movie was filmed. I have seen the movie so it was cool for me to be able to go and see were it was recorded. That afternoon we went and cheered against the USA in soccer because we were all cheering for Honduras…unfortunately they lost 2-3. Sunday morning we went to church and I did my first little bit of translating for my Dad.

(Arturo helping the community organize themselves)

We were back in Catacamas Sunday night and Monday was a holiday so in the morning we had an opportunity to go visit some caves nearby which was really exciting. It was my first time every being to caves and it is just one more that shows God’s incredible beauty and imagination. In the afternoon we went to a community with Matt to bring beans for the people there to plant because they had lost 2 harvests to drought and had nothing left to plant. The way it works is that Diaconia gives a loan to buy the beans. Each farmer receives 50 pounds and when the farmers harvest they are required give back the 50 pounds. We had a very receptive training the next day on the Moringa tree. We made and brought soup made with Moringa leaves and tortillas made with moringa leaf powder. Most people really like the soup and hopefully will accept this plant as a rich source of vitamins, minerals and protein. They will be given seeds and plan to start a tree nursery where the trees can later be divided equally in the community.

(Giving beans to Farmers who lost 2 harvests)
We went to stay overnight in a community Wednesday night. This community is about 5 hours away and about 2 or 3 hours in on dirt roads going through the mountains. Wednesday we had one meeting in one community where Arturo is working with the Community Transformation project. This is a community that has no electricity, no running water and no out-houses. We had meetings in two communities here where the community organizes themselves to gather information, make decisions and assess their needs. We returned in the night on Thursday. Friday my Dad left for Tegucigalpa where he had some meetings. He left Saturday morning to go back to Canada but I really enjoyed having him here with me for a week. It was really comforting to have a piece of my home and even better to have a piece of my family here with me. I also enjoyed all the translating I did for him while he was here. It is something amazing just to learn a language in 3 months but to be able to translate is even more fun and exciting. Oh and did I mention that Honduras won against El Salvador and the US tied Costa Rica to guarentee Honduras a spot in the World Cup!! Go Honduras!! (helping make compost pits after a training on how to recycle nutrients in the soil.)

Water

It is a beautiful thing seeing people unite for the common good in any situation. I had a chance to see this because the small community of Villa Verde where I live united to do a water project. You could look down the street and see a line of people working digging ditches to put in the pipes for water. The tower had already been build and now we all worked together to finish the project. It was a pleasure for me to help with what I could. Since we have finished the project we now have running water. This is a huge excitement and relief, both stress and financial, for the community. Before everyone had to buy their water which gets to be very expensive. The water is not drinking water but there is a nearby well that is. We still do not have the water piped into the house but it is piped to the storage tank. It is a great blessing for everyone in the community. Here are some beautiful pictures of the community working together.

The Month of September

(Adorable Children Everywhere you go)

There was a lot missing this month. September here in Honduras contains three big holidays. “Dia Del Niño”, Independence Day, and The Day of the Bible. Due to the political situation parades were prohibited. There normally would have been lots of parades for “Dia Del Niño” which is a holiday to celebrate children. Thankfully there were still parties and Piñatas for the children in their school, houses and neighbourhoods but there were not nearly as many as past years. Not only was there no parades for “Dia Del Niño” but there wasn’t even parades for Independence Day which was September 15. Where I live in Catacamas you could not even tell that it was Independence Day. Unfortunately the Government banned most events that were to happen that day. I heard many people say how upset they were because there is usually so much excitement and celebration but this year there was almost nothing. The third holiday was “Dia de la Biblia” which is the Day of the Bible. This takes place on September 27 each year where Christians all around the country are united in prayer and celebration. Usually there would have been all kinds of parades, parties and celebrations but once again because of the political situation anything where there would be very large groups was prohibited. It was very sad for me to be missing out on all these worthy celebrations that people speak so highly of here. I heard so many wonderful things about how much fun and how marvelous these celebrations are. People would literally prepare for weeks ahead of time for these celebrations. Along with The Day of the Bible we had a day of Prayer and Fasting. This was announced in churches all of the country and thousands of Hondurans either gathered in groups or prayed individually and fasted as well. This was something the government would and could not stop. They stopped the parades but they can not stop prayer. Please keep praying for Honduras.
I went to multiple different communities where communities had loaned beans to plant by the government. Nearly everywhere that this bean was given out it turned out very poorly. The farmers were only getting about 10-25 percent of norm and also the beans were very poor quality. It made me realize how the people know their own zone so well that they know which seed is the best for that zone. So when someone comes in and gives them something new to try it can actually hurt them more than it helps. It is important to work with the farmers to help them develop, not to come in and develop for them.
I visited two communities that are way out in the middle of nowhere. La Puerta and Las Lajitas are two very poor communities that do no have running water, no electricity and no out-houses. Here I saw the very first step of the community development program. It is exciting to see people so far away in the middle of nowhere get excited because they see an opportunity to develop. I think they really see this program as something that can help and I think they will be willing to organize themselves to do what they need to do. I will be exciting to come back to this community in a few years and see how far they have come.
I went to a meeting in Valle de Angeles with many partner organizations. I learned a lot from the many different speakers that there were there and I learned a bit about the political situation. It was a good reminder of how complicated it is. Not only are people suffering from this situation but organizations are as well. One organization that was there used to have a staff of 12 but now because of cut fund are down to 3. Since there is not much I can personally do to help solve the political situation I will keep praying daily and I encourage all of you too as well.
Well I have to say that I miss home a lot. If you are reading this that probably means you are one of the people I miss because I know you care enough to take time out of your day to see how I am doing and to read about what I have been up to. You are probably one of the people I will talk with most when I come home because you are probably more interested than others. I hope that you are all doing well. I am doing great here and yes I do miss home but at the same time it will be hard to leave. I appreciate you reading this. Here are some more pictures of those creepy crawlies you live with here.

Friends

Here is one of the few fairly large friends you make while your here whether you like it or not. (He was just relaxing on my neighbors front door) / (Yep thats my hand on the about 1" away)

This one (below) was a bit smaller and we found right outside out tent in the morning on the mountain.

You also often find cockroaches (almost every day) but they aren't as interesting as tarantulas. When you come across a fear or something new you need to find a way to get past it. Things like taratulas don't bother me anymore. They won't kill you but I am still not going to go pick one up because they are venomous.

This list could go on forever but so far during my time here I have come across a few verses in the Bible that have helped. They go along with different parts of my journey and in no way do they fully explain it. This is something I was roughly putting together for myself. I hope you find it interesting.
This is how it started. Psalms 90:12 TLB --> “Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; Help us spend them as we should.” Along with this goes a quote from Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life. “The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.”
Actions speak louder than words, they are also a universal language. The best way to communicate God’s love then, is through actions. 1 John 3:18 --> “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with action and in truth.” The first year I went on a missions trip we built a house for a woman who had been widowed. The next year when we returned we discovered that because of our willingness to serve and love others she was able to see God’s love through us. She had become a Christian for this reason and her entire family had been attending church.
I encourage you to read all verses 19-23 but for me verse 22 pretty much sums it up. 1 Corinthians 19-23 --> “…I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” I don’t claim to have done this but it is something I am trying to do.
1 Timothy 4:12 --> “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.” Young people are often looked down upon because they are young. This verse is encouraging and humbling. It really speaks for itself.
1 Corinthians 10:31-33 --> “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the Church of God—even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.”
Psalms 37:4-6 --> “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”
Acts 26:22 --> “I have God’s help to this very day…” Philippians 4:13 --> “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”

God Bless

September 2, 2009.
When everything changes in you life for 5 months you have a lot of “first times”. This was a first time but I hope it will not be a last. I got to go visit my sponsor child. We went and met him and his mom at the “project.” He still has normal school and everything but he receives a significant amount of extra help from Compassion. When I met him I was introduced as Jordan, his “padrino” which translates to godfather as well as sponsor or patron. He is adorable and it is just amazing to have a person and personality to put to a picture. I was toured around the Project and learned where everything went on and a bit about what Edgardo, my sponsor child, does there. After this we had a short visit at his home where I met his sisters as well. We chatted for a while about what they do and they asked me a few questions at well. It is a fairly typical rural Honduran family who live in a house made of mud bricks. The father works in a field, the mother takes care of the house and sells a type of bread, and the family has been through a number of hard times. We had planned to take Edgardo and his mother to a mall where we could have lunch and play for a while, but I did not want to leave out his two sisters so I took them as well. I think it was a much better experience because the whole family was there, except for the father because he was working. We went to the newest mall in Tegucigalpa, the capital, where we went to KFC for lunch. We picked KFC because Edgardo’s favourite food is chicken. I found out after lunch that one of the mother’s dreams was to be able to take her family out for a meal like that. It is so difficult to explain the feeling of having helped someone accomplish a dream that they likely never would have accomplished. After lunch the kids and I went on a train that drives around the mall and a carousel because Edgardo also likes horses. This mall is absolutely gigantic which is difficult to picture in such a poor country but the capital is quite developed. They even had bumper boats which the youngest two went on. The last place we went was an arcade. The kids had so much fun and this is something they will probably remember for the rest of their lives. I know that I will never forget it. It was an amazing experience for both me and their family. The last thing I have to say is that God is great and I am so thankful to him that he would bless me with these amazing experiences. Gloria a Dios.