If you put yourself in a position where you have to stretch outside your comfort zone, then you are forced to expand your consciousness.
(Les Brown)
If you were to tell me three summers back that I would be going to Honduras, I would have looked at you like a crazy person. This would be due, mainly, to the fact that I’d never been outside of the US and even at that I’d only been to seven states within the US. Around February of 2012, I got a call from my granddad telling me that their congregation had a business meeting earlier that day and had agreed to contribute over half of the amount necessary to go on this venture. I remember just crying at this news, it was no longer just a possibility at that point. It had become a reality.
Before I continue on, I just want to take a brief moment to say that I have been truly blessed to have amazing people in my life. I had no clue the response I would have when asking for funding so that I could go on a mission trip, so when I saw the tremendous generosity that was outpoured it was genuinely overwhelming. Yes, I cried but who wouldn’t? It was unreal to see the way that people I cherished would help met my need for the wonderful opportunity I was granted. Let this be my thank you to anyone who so generously contributed, or even just delivered well wishes on this travel. It all means a lot!
Now to start my ramblings, which I hope to keep as minimal as possible, about my first trip to Honduras.
To start off let me talk about the evening before going to Honduras. My family and I had spent time with some family members on my mom’s side on the Southside of OKC. When we returned home later, we found out our A/C had decided to take a break and stop working. This didn’t bode too well as we had to be up around 2 am that next morning so that we could catch our early flight out of OKC then. However, after contemplating staying at a hotel for the night , we decided to stick it out and gather what rest would could. Waking up the next morning mainly consisted of last minute gathering of items and double checking to make sure we had everything we needed. The time is unnecessary because anything before dawn is all the same anyways, much too early for people to be up and going. My lovely mom and sister took my dad and I up to the church building so that we could meet with everyone else who would be going on this trip also.
After all the bags were loaded, goodbyes were said, and prayers were given on our behalf we hopped into the church vans and headed for Will Rogers Airport. There was no trouble for all of us getting through security, thank goodness, and we had ample time before boarding our 6am flight to Houston. I may have consumed a green apple soda from Pops at this time. We boarded our 3 passenger per row plane to IAH and as much as I despise early mornings, it was neat to watch the sunrise from up in the sky. After landing at IAH and making our way to their international travel building, we found time to get breakfast and walk around a bit before boarding the plane to Teguz. Now we’d been cautioned that landing in Honduras would be different, as their city had been built around the airport. Naturally, when we landed we applauded the pilot because it seemed appropriate.
Customs passed through, baggage was collected, and dollars were exchanged for limperas. A trek to the nearest Burger King was made for lunch and then we headed to a place called Mi Esperanza. The name meaning My Hope. Mi Esperanza serves as a vocational school for the women of Honduras to be able to provide them with a skill to earn income to support their families. The ladies here can learned trades such as sewing, cosmetology, and computer skills. They sell various items that are made by the students and any funds earned go back into improving the school. From here,the Baxter Institute was our next stop. The Institute would function as our lodging for the week. Baxter is a preacher training school and as the students are sent out on weekends to preach elsewhere, they don’t have the cafeteria staff there during that time. This meaning we would have to eat at the mall. Dad and I really ventured out of our comfort zone, eating Pizza Hut for our dinner that evening. We were amused to find that their Walmart is tacked onto their mall, instead of free standing like in the States. After a lengthy day, it was time to return to Baxter and catch some sleep before starting our week in Honduras.
[Day 2, the first full day in Honduras]
Seeing as it was Sunday, we gathered together and got in our van to drive an hour to church. We arrived and soon saw sight being herded down the road we’d just traveled. According to our sources, this was something that occurred every Sunday in Mateo. Fortunately for us, the preacher at Mateo allowed us to have a bilingual service, except the sermon. 
After the service, most everyone headed out to the courtyard of the church. I met an adorable 5 year old by the name of Nia. She spun around and swayed in the dress she wore. After spending a bit of time with her, Nia took me by the hand and led me to meet her mom and sister. 
From here, we headed to Valle de Angeles. A hub for souvenirs and tourists. Picking up various knick knacks as this would be the only opportunity during the week we would have to do so. After a brief nap back at Baxter, we headed back to the mall again. My deedaw and I ventured to TGI Fridays for supper followed up by ice creams stops by both of us. I went for a double scoop of chocolate chip ice cream from Sarita and dad went for a single scoop from Baskin Robbins. To my amusement, my double scoop was cheaper than my fathers single.
[Day 3, Monday]
The day was spent by most of the group painting the library at Baxter while some of the guys from the group moved ceramic tiles so that they could be sold for profit by the school. There was a visit made to the clinics on the campus. They have medical, dental, and even a nutrition center on site.These are open to the public and are there for the students use as well. Following dinner, we spent time at the soccer tournament amongst the Baxter students. It was fun to get to start interacting with those who were in attendance as they’d not been present during the weekend. Some of the children sold small Dixie cups of Coke and small bags of popcorn for those watching the games.
[Day 4, Tuesday]
House build day! When I use the word house, this was more of a 16 x 16 shed with a tin roof. However, to the family we built it for, it was the ability to not live with their in-laws anymore. The family the house was for were faithful members of the Mateo church we’d been to earlier that week. As much as I tried to help with building the house, I spent more time playing with the oldest daughter of the family, under the careful watch of her mother.
This beautiful little girl’s name was Elica. She was 5 at this time. Our time together was spent playing peek-a-boo and wanting me to sit with along with her on a cement brick. Once her new home was finished, she grabbed my hand and together we went into her house. I loved getting to spend the day laughing along with this precious girl.
[Day 5, Wednesday]
This was Jovenes en el Camino day. We helped with building bleachers during the morning, then after lunch our group played soccer with some of the boys. That came to an end when one of the members of our group got hurt and had to be taken to the hospital. At this, we all decided to pile into back our van and head to Baxter for the rest of the day. The evening was dedicated to a reverse Let’s Start Talking with the students. Instead of us trying to teach English, the student Fernando, tried to get us to understand and read a passage in Spanish. It was a fun time and made me very reminiscent of the two years I spent in Spanish class.
[Day 6, Thursday]
By far the most challenging and eye-opening day. The time at Breaking Chains. We had to travel to Downtown Tegucigalpa for this. As soon as we got there, some of us were more than ready to leave. The stench was pungent, but we stayed. After spending some of the morning painting, yet again I found kids to play with. A couple of little girls, age 3, named Rosie and Alva. I carried them up and down the stairs numerous times. Rosie was bilingual and Alva only spoke Spanish. Luckily, Rosie was more than willing to help me when I couldn’t remember what a word was in Spanish. At lunch, we ate PB&J’s and I gave my cookies to the girls. After this, the group split into two and while some continued painting the others went on a walk through the market place. Not going to lie, I held my dads hand the entire time we walked through as it was very overwhelming as people and things were everywhere you turned. Once returning, the girls had managed to get a deal of vegetable shortening from the kitchen and found a bowl with ashes in it and were pretending to make a cake. Back at Baxter that night, we watched more soccer games before closing out the day.
[Day 7, last full day in Honduras]
We returned to Jovenes to work more on the bleachers and spend time with the boys there. At one point when I was going to my backpack, one of the boys told me hang on a minute, came over to me and grabbed my hand. I crouched down so he could get on my back and I took him for a piggy back ride. That night we went to a restaurant called El Patio. I was privileged to get to sit across from Howard and Jane Norton and listen to all the wonderful things they’ve done.
[Day 8, Saturday, homebound]
Seeing as I spent the night before getting all my stuff ready to leave, I was able to have some down time that morning. I decided to crack open my Bible and just spend a bit of time reading. As I was doing this David, one of the students I’d gotten to know,came over to talk to me. He asked me what I was doing and I told him just looking at some of my favorite verses. He then asked me what mine was and I told him Psalm 16:8. Then I asked him to tell what his was, he responded with Philippians 2:4 and 4:7 which he recited to me in Spanish and English. I got to say goodbye to Rosie as she came to the airport with us. I spent the rest of the day writing my response that was to be read in front of the church about the trip the Sunday after our return. We landed back in OKC around 10:30 that evening.
Now as I mentioned I had to write a response letter. It was very surface level and didn’t truly portray everything I wanted to communicate, so I hope to do that here and now.
I was out of my comfort zone. Not just a tiptoe out of it, but a hop skip and jump out of it. The distance between here and home: 1,606 miles.
Part of me can’t help but feel like there are parts that you truly cannot understand until you’ve been on a mission trip for yourself. The feeling of connecting with people, absorbing their every word, capturing memories to keep them forever in your heart. Your mind venturing to capture the span of poverty. Taking note of the sincerity and humility of people who so many don’t know. A language barrier carrying a great amount of strain on your conversations. Seeing people who have so little being genuinely more joyful than those who have so much wealth to their name. Embracing those of a culture far different from the familiarity of your home nation. The most amazing part of it all, God’s omnipresence.
I lack the vocabulary to verbalize all the ways this trip affected me personally. I do hope that this will open up your eyes and your hearts to mission work. Yes, it may not be something you want to do long term from the get go but please if you’re given the opportunity, take it! Start off with a shorter trip and if you enjoy it, venture to go for a longer time span. Had I not taken the opportunity I was given, I don’t know what I would have done.
Below I’ve left the links to the places we went, if you would like to learn more about their purposes. They are worth giving a moment of your time as they all serve extraordinary purposes for the people in Honduras.
Mi Esperanza: http://thewomenofmyhope.org/
Baxter Institute: http://www.baxterinstitute.edu/
Jovenes en el Camino: http://jovenesencamino.org/
Breaking Chains: http://bchonduras.org/
Thank you for reading!
Kristyn xx
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