Honduras Part 3 (At the Orphanage)

It was only my second day working at the orphanage. The sun was already high in the sky and it was hot. We had all the kids outside, attempting to keep them on the side walk, while they colored and put stickers on paper. It was a struggle to say the least. 

There was this one girl in particular, her name was Anna and she was probably the most misbehaved girl there. She was either five or six years old, ( I was never able to get it straight) so she was the second oldest girl there. She was loud and screamed and ran away. She wouldn't listen at all and she hit the other children and took their toys away whenever she wanted to. Since I didn't speak her language it was hard to communicate with her which let her get away with lots more than we all would have liked. 

Once she decided that she was done with her crayons she jumped up and took off to the unfinished building site. I jumped up and called out to her. She obviously didn't understand the words that were coming out but I knew that she understood the meaning and my hand motioning. She coked her head, with an evil gleam in her eye and pranced away. 

That was it, I took off after her at high speed. She started running too. I didn't want her over there because there were loose nails on the ground and sharp things everywhere and she was barefoot. I got to the building site and tried to keep up. Since she was way smaller and shorter she easily slid under things that I had to clumsily climb over because I was to tall to go under. 

Finally, I realized it was useless. I stopped. She stopped and turned to look back. She cocked her head to one side as a question as to why I had stopped chasing her. What could I do? I couldn't' catch her. Then I remembered a camera I had hanging around my head. It was a simple point and shoot camera but all the kids loved to hold it and try taking pictures. So I took the camera off and held it out to her. "Would you like it? come here." Once again, the meaning was clear even through the language barrier. She slowly inched her way over, eyes switching from the camera in my hand to me as if calculating my moves. You better believe I was calculating too. I wanted to wait until she was close enough to grab, but I didn't want to wait too long because I didn't want her to lose interest and start running again. The seconds that ticked by seemed like hours and she slowly inched over. I prayed that I could hold a straight face. Her hand reached out to take the camera and BAM. I grabbed it. I think it was an answer to prayer that I calculated right, because I'm usually not good at that sort of thing. She screamed and wiggled and fought and I hung on for dear life. I felt bad because I knew I must be hurting her wrist by grabbing so tight but at that point I couldn't hold with any less pressure because she would have started to hit me. We struggled all the way back to the orphanage house. It took a while to get back and by that time I was throughly frustrated. While all the other kids picked up their things and went back inside to have a watermelon piece to cool off. I told her a firm, "No, you are staying put with me for a while!" I sat down and leaned my back against the unfinished brick wall and pulled the still struggling child down on my lap. She was hot and sweaty and so was I and she continued to put up a fight as I firmly held her on my lap. Then she slowly settled down and sat still. Very still. Then she leaned back and rested her head on my shoulder and we stayed like that for a long time. 

I realized something. She just wanted to be held. Maybe thats why she was constantly mis-behaving, she wanted love and attention. Maybe thats why she was alwasy hitting people's back and legs, because she wanted them to pick her up. 

Well, I decided right then and there that I would hold her all she wanted!!! We sat there, in the hot honduras sun for a long time before I took her back in. The whole rest of the day she was my little helper and behaved beautifully. (I can't say the same for the next days) but it taught me a lot about how people hunger for love. Show love to to the people who are mis-behaving, because the mis-behaving is probably just a sign that they need your love. Thats what Jesus would do. 

Honduras Part 2 (My First Cold Shower)

This is about the most memorial experience on my second day in Honduras, though not as serious as the last troubling experience with the car accident, it was still a first for me. I've always grown up in comfy homes with nice bathrooms that have comforting hot water. I can stay in the shower for ages just standing there and enjoying the warmth. Before I even left for Honduras, I knew that they didn't have hot water and considering the circumstances, we all should be happy that we had running water and showers at all. I whole heartedly agreed, but my mind lingered on the fact that there wouldnt' be hot water. Shame faced, I realized that I had never taken a cold shower before. I mean, it was to the point where I would wait to take a shower until I knew that water system had hot water. Ridiculous I know, but thats the honest truth.

The second day in Honduras, my dear friend WayAnne walked by, as I was gliding into my room, and asked if I was taking a shower right then and if I wanted to walk down with her. I hesitated but knew I could no longer avoid it. I NEEDED a shower, especially since I had sweated like crazy that day. (Honduras has a VERY different climate that my home state of Alaska, Im sure you all can imagine.)

I got my things together and walked what felt like a death march to the shower. I then stared at the faucet that invited me to turn it on. I could hear WayAnne's water already running with happy splashing sounds coming from that direction. I must have stood there for ten minutes, I even said a prayer.

Then, slowly, I turned the water on and promptly huddled away from the water against the wall. "Katie, you are such a wimp." I scolded myself. "Just go, just go." I encouraged myself. So I went, into the water, and let me tell you, the only reason I didn't scream was because I didn't want WayAnne to think I was ridiculous.

After I got used to it, a really cool thing happened. I STARTED to ENJOY it. The cool water was comforting and at the end I didn't want to get out. Thanks God!! I felt bad in a way because it showed me that I was so unused to any real sacrifice. But my first cold shower taught me a lot, in a way that I wouldn't have expected and I'm not sure I couldn't even explain it to you, but it did. I'm very thankful for my cold shower!

Honduras Part 1

I just got back from twenty something trip mission trip to Honduras. Since I didn't get to write anything while I was down there, I wanted to share some of my experiences while I was there.

We got a red-eye flight to Houston that landed in Houston at five in the morning. I grabbed subway for breakfast. I love subway at any time of the day. AFter a two hour lay over we got on our flight and landed in San Pedro Sula around 11 am sometime. As soon as I stepped off the plane into the breezeway I thought I was going to die. Of course, I knew that it would be hot there.. obviously, but I never dreamed that it would be that hot. Being an Alaskan and attending school in Canada, I'm not used to hot weather. I basically sweated so much that I could have supplied the perspiration equivalent to a quarter section of the rain forest. AFter going through a long customs line, we got on a bus and started traveling.

I wasn't even sure the bus would be able to make the drive. It looked like it was going to sputter and break apart as soon as we hit a pot hole. But that was all part of the adventure and I was happy to just be able to sit by the window and try to catch the breeze.

Then something sobering happened. We were driving down the road when we saw what looked like a terrible accident up ahead. The closer we came, I saw an over turned truck and stuff everywhere. It didn't dawn on me until we got a little closer that the things that were strewn everywhere were people. I stared in horror. There were at least three people laying on the road, in the hot sun. There was blood everywhere and the people were dismembered. Mrs. Hall said, "Oh know, look away." But of course we didn't. There was a lady in a fitted black T -shirt with her hair in a pony tail, she didn't have the bottom half of her anymore.

I'll never forget how they looked laying there. I asked why no one was helping them and hot the answer that they were dead, that there was nothing that anyone could do anymore. It was the first time that I had ever been exposed to that type of death and at that moment a lesson hit home for me. How could I have ever wanted to delay that second coming of Jesus, just so I could finish up some stuff that I wanted to do here. People die DAILY, whether we are exposed to it or not. There is so much suffering in the world. When people die, thats there last chance. Eternity has been decided, there is no going back. We need to reach them before that happens. I want to live a life of service, I want to reach them, to take the opportunities that God has given me everyday.

What if you knew it was someone's last chance? It would be easier to put fear aside. But we don't know what will happen to them or us tomorrow. So lets take the opportunities. I just wonder about the people laying in the road. Did someone take an opportunity to reach them before it was too late? I dont' know. The past cannot be changed but the future has a world of possibilities and opportunities for change. I'm not an alarmist, but I do believe in taking opportunities that God has given us to serve and reach out to people every day.