St. Michael the Archangel Honduras Mission Project

Monday began with much anticipation as Jenny & I (Maria) were picked up by Edwin from Unbound to go meet my 83-year-old sponsored friend Lucia & her daughter. It’s hard to describe the joy and emotion everyone felt as we greeted each other with hugs and gifts. We traveled down the mountain to meet Christina, Diane and Mike at a typical roadside restaurant where we would “catch” our lunch. The highlight was visiting with these 2 women and learning about them, their way of life and their unwavering faith in God. They were so joyful and appreciative even after walking for almost 2 hours just to get to meet us. By the way, we all agreed that our fresh catch pan-fried tilapia was the best we had ever had.

The next stop was to an Unbound project. We were greeted by at least 50 people of all ages and 2 tables full of fresh-baked breads. We listened to a presentation about how Unbound brings communities together and supports them in learning skills to help them work towards becoming self-sufficient. The bakery initiative has proven to be a great example of how it all works. We also learned that 2 of the sponsored children, out of the 25 in the community are now finishing their careers at university.

Of course, we had to accept their offerings of the delicious breads and coffees!

After a bittersweet goodbye to the community and then to Lucia and her daughter, we returned home. Next  on the agenda was a little time hanging out with the girls. It was heartwarming to see how excited they all were to receive the books that we brought and to learn that we were hosting another Battle of the Books. Let the competition begin!!

Once the girls went to their dinner, we joined the sisters for a light meal and heavy laughs. It was a long, emotional and happy day with our beautiful Honduran friends.