Chapter 2 - Back to Honduras (October-November 2016)

We landed in the big city of Tegucigalpa, the capitol of Honduras, on October 8th.  We did leave Canada at the end of a freak snowstorm that left our yard back in Regina covered with leaves and snow (but even that didn't get us excited about the heat and humidity we expected to face in Honduras). We are very grateful for friends who have agreed to step in and help us take care of the yard and "housewatch" while we are gone. We had hoped our house would sell over the summer but understand that the timing is not in our hands. This is a mixed blessing as we love our location and have some great neighbours whom we will miss when we move.  We are happy to enjoy our time  in our old character house while we can.

Teguc, as it is called here, is a very developed city of 1.2 million.  We can find most of the comforts of home, and the American restaurant chains dotted along the roads make it easy to forget where we are, but it definitely has a different look and feel to it.  The city is built at a fairly high elevation and cut into the surrounding mountains.  The central city sits in a bowl of sorts with the sides of the bowl scattered with collonias (neighbourhoods).  Flying in, we dropped over the mountains and into the bowl, understanding why it is said that only the most experienced pilots can land in Teguc because of the swift descent and short runway.   When the pilot landed, everyone clapped.

One of our first views of the city

We were met by our hosts Kathryn, Dale and Carolyn and  got settled quickly.  Dale knows one of the guys that exchanges money at the airport and so we got some Honduran lempiras to get us started.  It is a huge blessing to have experienced residents look out for us when we arrive in a new place.  Our home for part of the time is the Schools of Hope office and team house, which is a new setup for the ministry with bedrooms for a dozen to sleep, kitchen, living rooms, bathrooms and two offices for the 6 or so staff that work in the ministry.  For a month of the time we are here, we will be staying at the Ruttan home to house sit and care for their Schnauzer Abby. Needless to say, it is no hardship for us to spend time here. PLUS, the weather this first week has been awesome - not too hot with cloud cover a lot of the time keeping the temperature to around 25 degrees. There is usually a breeze, making it far more comfortable than Trujillo. Cheryl actually had to buy a light zip-up to keep her arms warm in the early mornings, evenings, and when in air-conditioned churches and malls!

Team house/office

Schools of Hope has been in operation for many years and has three main ministry areas: a child sponsorship program where folks from Canada sponsor a child with monthly donations to allow them to go to school and assist them with their basic needs; an in-school feeding program which provides two meals per day in the schools they partner with; and a teaching ministry where Christian principles and values are taught through Bible stories and the Seedlings program to kindergarten - grade 6 students. We will talk more about these ministries in later blogs.  A really cool thing about this work is that it is driven by needs that are identified by the community itself.  There are local churches in the collonias where the schools are located who find the students who need sponsorship. Victor Estrada is the pastor of one of these churches and he is a key member of the team, serving as the manager of the Child Care Plus sponsorship program.  His intimate knowledge of the community is indispensible in focusing efforts on the schools and students most in need. He is bilingual, gracious, humorous, and the most humble servant of Jesus you can imagine.

Rick playing the part of the good Samaritan

We have already been able to accompany team members to two schools where about 20 classes were taught. The conditions in these schools are quite primitive, the noise level is challenging (classrooms are open-air), classes are sometimes crowded, but the children come to greet and hug you with smiles at every turn. We saw how the feeding program operated in one of them and Rick was co-opted to play the role of the Good Samaritan 14 times! Also, Cheryl helped with translation of letters which will go to the sponsors in Canada and started to do some organization of supply shelves. Back at the office, we have had several meetings with the team to begin processes needed to build structure into the new NGO that has been created to represent the growing ministry here. Next week, Cheryl will start an ESL class with eager members of the Honduran staff and begin creating a curriculum that can be followed by any global worker when she leaves.

Recess

It has to be said that we are overwhelmed by the welcome, generosity, care, and enthusiasm for our visit shown to us by the core team of Kathy, Dale, Carolyn and Victor. They have provided us with 4-star accommodation, shared their meeting time with us, taken us to grocery stores, restaurants, a mall, movie theatre, two church services, and to a wonderful little town in the Valley of Angels. They are fine people and we are privileged to work with them.

Shopping in the quaint town of Valle de Angeles

We are excited about the week to come because our regional director and the Director of International Missions for PAOC are visiting the team in Teguc. It is always encouraging to have los jefes on the ground in the field. Please pray that God would multiply our efforts to support this ministry and make us a blessing. Thank you for reading!