After a late night reflection lasting until 11pm on night one, we were all more than ready for bed last night! I mostly slept well, awaken only once to a confused rooster crowing in the middle of the night before waking up around 645am to meet the group and begin our day at 7:30am for a prayer and quick huddle. Breakfast was at 7:45 at the Ancianos, and included the typical mix of home cooked items and fresh fruit, and the much needed rich coffee!
After breakfast, we hurried over to the Hogar de Ninas in time to start 9am mass on time, with the Ninas dividing us up and sitting through the SMA visitor of their choice! The mass was a great way to really start the week, and we all were taken aback by the way the Ninas greet all of each other during the handshake. After Mass it was a quick hasta luego to the Ninas and we had a 10am greeting with elderly. It was neat to see so many familiar faces, despite knowing they lost several brothers and sisters over the last year. We all had some good dialogue and Jill even managed to play catch with a few older gentlemen with a large bouncy ball! I took the opportunity to become efficient at using my google translate and would use the voice function regularly for both myself and them, which really made communicating much easier.
Around 11am a few of us took a tour of the Ancianos, while some others prepared battle books and other items for the Ninas. We met back at the Ninas house and played for about 45 minutes before a delicious lunch consisting of pescado (a whole baked fish) and veggies. (add photos from google photos) Following lunch, we had another period of time to play with the Ninas in the courtyard, which led to handing out the pen pal letters from St. Michaels classes to each Nina. They were very excited to receive these and also had the opportunity to write back.
Around 4pm some of the group met back for coffee with the Sors, which has become a well received daily break to gain back some energy, but more importantly, have some direct dialogue with these amazing Sisters in Christ. The rest of the group did a tour of the Ninas home. We had about a one hour break at 5pm, and had to report back to the Ninas house at 6pm for a group Rosary. It was beautiful seeing the little ones taking turns leading a full decade at a time, and I did my best to follow along in Spanish on my phone. You could tell, this afternoon, that after some initial reluctance from the newer Ninas, that they and all of them started warming up to our group even more.
Dinner was at 7pm and was quesadillas! The conversation was full and outstanding between the group members and Sors. After dinner we offered quick goodnights to the Ninas who were already prepping for bedtime, and we headed back to the Casa for a reflection and group huddle. The chemistry of the group is outstanding so far, with each teammate bringing something different to the table and all willing to pitch in and have an openness to the inevitable schedule changes. Tomorrow there is some uncertainty in the schedule, especially in the afternoon, but it doesn’t matter, as we are “on Honduras time!”
St. Michael the Archangel Honduras Mission Project 