St. Michael the Archangel Honduras Mission Project

For me, another day and more tears…

We left early in the morning with our UNBOUND hosts to go to the aldea (it would be generous to call it a village—more just a collection of houses) to visit with our sponsored child and see where she lives.  First we picked up Miguel and Lynn’s sponsored child and met up with ours at a small water park, where we spent the morning and had lunch.  After lunch, Miguel and Lynn said goodbye to their child and we all went to our sponsored child’s house.  Karol is six years old and lives with her grandparents, an older aunt with a one-year-old son, and a second aunt in a small house on the side of a hill in a coffee-growing area.  When we started sponsoring her four years ago, the house had a dirt floor, the adobe walls were deteriorating, the kitchen was outside and Karol didn’t have her own bed to sleep in.  Today we saw a house with the walls repaired, the kitchen enclosed, wood-grain tile floor throughout the house and Karol with her own bed—but more importantly, we saw Karol full of joy, her aunts happy and her grandparents very proud—and the face of Christ in each of them.

After they gave us some pineapple cookies and coffee, they introduced us to some other mothers who have children sponsored by UNBOUND, and they invited us to join them for a little celebration down the road (again, road is probably a little generous, because the van driver didn’t want to take the van down it).  When we reached an opening, we saw 40 sponsored families were gathered to meet us and entertain us, to show how much they appreciate our support.  With thunder and lightning threatening us, they gave some very warm speeches, treated us to more coffee and sweets, and then showed us some of their games—and even got Miguel and me to participate in a sack race!  I didn’t think much of the race video, but the girls thought it was really funny.  The hard part was saying goodbye—because just like with Edita on Sunday night, this was the first time I’d met Karol, and she treated Magda and I just like we were her grandparents—so when I said goodbye to her I started to swell up, and looked for her grandfather for support, and saw the tears in his eyes and pretty much lost it—then I looked over and Miguel was teary-eyed as well—what a blessing from God to have these people in our lives!

A final thought about UNBOUND before I turn it over to Juanita:  At one point, all of the girls in the orphanage had sponsors, but Magda found out now only about half of them do.  UNBOUND allows for sponsorship of the girls, but doesn’t promote it because the need is so great out in the aldeas.  What’s really hard is we recognize what it’s like in the aldeas, and how much good our sponsorship dollars does for them—but at the same time, we developed personal connections at the orphanage, and when Magda told me of a couple of them she’d like to sponsor, I started to melt again—man, the last night here is going to be pretty rough!  But it’s also hard to pick and choose amongst the girls, so I understand if sponsoring in the aldeas tugs at your heart more—but for us, I think we’ll be staying with the orphanage girls this time around!

Peace with Joy from Honduras

Robin

I have just a few words to add….today I went to visit Ermelinda, a young lady my family has sponsored for many years through UNBOUND. She graduated from high school and so our sponsorship has ended but not our relationship!  Ermelinda was awarded a scholarship for a program called The Leadership Center (TLC) which is a 3 year program to help young women become ethical leaders in their communities.  The program is located about 5 hours away and very high in the mountains. It was a beautiful drive! Ermelinda greeted Joe and I with tears and laughter! She gave a tour of the facilities and shared about her typical schedule.  In addition to the rigorous academics, they study english. Ermelinda has chores too including feeding the pigs and helping to prepare meals one day per week. Our visit lasted for about 1 1/2 hours. Ermelinda gave me a beautiful hand-made card in which she had written a message completely in English. I was moved to tears by her words of gratitude and humbled by her kind words. We ended our visit as a monsoon like storm moved in…we headed back down the mountain with full hearts. I am grateful to Joe for coordinating the visit as it is unlikely I would have seen Ermelinda until she completes the program.

Paz y bien – Juanita