Monday, July 15, 2013

Home again!


Adios Honduras....Hello America!


Well, I'm home. I am a month early due to a family emergency. After seeing that horrible plane crash in SF, I'm very thankful to be home safely. My prayers are with those families. I think I'm having a little culture shock but otherwise seeing my husband after five months and the warm shower was glorious!

Thank you everyone for all your support and prayers, and following my blog. It was truly a life changing and wonderful experience. My goal was to go by faith trusting God to lead me day by day and to serve wherever He needed me. I did not know a living soul when I got there, but I can truly say my prayers were answered. It took a while for me to let go completely...but after about a month, it was nice to just do whatever needed to be done as God opened the way. Even though I was working hard, which I love to do, It was very mentally relaxing to just trust God with my life day by day..watching Him open and close doors as I prayed to be led. That is one lesson that I hope to bring back with me. Being a very choleric goal oriented planner, I hope to continue to let go, let God lead...and lead a gentler life.

I will really miss the family I made while there. They really helped me to adjust smoothly with no real culture shock. They gave me so much love and helped me so much to find my way around the mountains, then the city. They showed me how to make tortillas, where and  how to take the buses and how to keep safe. They sometimes laughed uncontrollably at some of my attempts to speak Spanish. Even with the language barrier we grew very close and had so much fun working together.

some of my Honduran family
I'll miss all my new friends at the hospital, in the village, and around town. I'll miss the simple life, without constant access to computer, radio, telephone, sometimes no electricity for hours, and sometimes no water for a day and a half...actually turned out to be a blessing in so many ways. Even though I worked very hard and just as long hours between the restaurant and the hospital schedule, due to no access to technology...it still left many hours to go for walks, relax, meditate and read. I will also miss the fruit..the luscious fruit and the beautiful mountains.

Even though it was not a vacation as others would describe vacations..I found that living in obscurity with no self imposed pressure to succeed or to perform was very freeing, and other than working hard and no sightseeing in that sense, it did feel like a vacation in some ways now that I am back. And I did cross one thing off my "bucket list", I milked a cow at five in the morning with my "partner in crime" Wilma. A big thank you to my buddy Wilma from Maryland who was always "game" for an adventure. This lady is over 70 years old and helped me to not miss my girlfriends so much. She was there in the mountains teaching school at the ministry. When we could get together, we had fun, laughed at some of the cultural norms there, took a road trip to Belize, fussed at each other, called and spoke English to each other when we thought our brains would explode trying to speak Spanish all day. Thank you Wilma for making it easier.



this is my buddy Wilma from the states..she was always looking for exciting Honduran things to do
Wilma walking up the mountain..everyday...Bye Wilma
So now I'm back... loving the cleanliness, not paying to use the bathrooms, not having to carry toilet paper, hot water, smooth roads, air conditioning, service with a smile, did I say hot showers! I am having a little culture shock being faced with all the seemingly unimportant things I just "have" to do. And how easy it is to serve there..because the needs are so blatant and close to home when you're living among the people. But I'm thankful to God for the opportunity..I am attempting to simplify my life here from so much "stuff", technology, and to make more room for actual meaningful contact with friends and "family".


THANK YOU AGAIN EVERYONE....GOD BLESS YOU ALL!