I HAVE ARRIVED IN HONDURAS!!!!!
Ah!!! This morning, my family and I left the house at about 4am to get to the
airport at 5. My flight to Atlanta was at 7:10. This flight, surprisingly
was probably the worst one. I needed to get used to flying again and the whole
time I was wondering if this had been a good idea. It was only about an hour
and a half plane ride. We landed and rushed to gate for Atlanta to
Honduras because we only had a one hour layover. This flight would be about 4
hours to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Boarding the flight I was still not feeling the
trip that much. I was very excited, don't get my wrong, but I just didn't know
if I had made the right choice. On the plane, I asked my neighbors why they
were going to Honduras. The lady told me she was going for a mission trip to
build a school down there and had gone last summer as well to do the same. As
we began talking, we began to get really close. Not just, stranger being
friendly close, but I would consider her a friend. She and I began talking
about the Gospel and evangelism. She told me about the people in Honduras and
how many of them are either Christian or Agnostic. This didn't surprise me
too much, but it broke my heart to hear that. After awhile I began telling her
that I was apart of Cru at Purdue and told her things that I've been doing with
them. I began explaining a book we use to share with people who don't know God
called the KGP. She seemed to be super interested in this concept and I
suddenly remembered I had brought one with me in case I got the chance to share
with someone. It was the most amazing experience to be able to share
what I have learned through Cru. She said she didn't have these where she lived
and loved the thought of it. Later, I ended up giving it to her so that
hopefully it can become a tool she and others can use as well. At the end of
the flight, she asked to pray for me and my trip and gave me her email address
so that we can email and hear about each other's experiences. At that point, I
knew I had made the right decision to come on this trip. It's amazing how
God works that way.
On the plane, we received
immigration papers to fill out since we were immigrating into Honduras. The
Tegucigalpa landing was a little bit scary, as I had previously heard. Flying
in we were in a huge cloud and then popped out into a valley where we circled
the mountains (which not gonna lie, was amazing!!!). Then everything went
silent. Because of Tegucigalpa's extremely short runway, they stop the
engine to land so that it slows down the plane. Right when we hit the ground,
the brakes slammed and we came close to the end of the runway. When the plane
turned you could see that if we would have went off the runway, it would have
went in a ditch. It freaked me out a little, but I was safe and knew I was
fine. After getting off the plane, we went through Customs WHERE I GOT A
STAMP (I love the stamps) and took a photo and finger prints. After Customs, we
went straight to the "baggage claim." There were three things
that stuck out to me while at the airport. The first one being that the airport
wasn't all too different from a regular airport. It was kinda smaller, and
a little bit more run down, but not really what I imagined, so
that surprised me a little. Second, the baggage claim isn't really a
baggage claim. In America, there is a conveyor belt that pulls your luggage
around until you grab it. In Honduras, they put all the bags on the ground
under a sign that says "baggage claim" (in spanish of course) and you
just grab your bag and go. No conveyor belt. The last thing that stood out
to me was went we went into the area where families meet there relatives that
just landed. The atmosphere was SO different then anything I have ever seen.
The smiles on people's faces were so wide and it looked like they hadn't
seen each other in years from the way they expressed there love
to each other. People were taking photos everywhere and there was hugging
and kids running around. It was amazing. I think this might be the first time I
experience this love that Hondurans have.
After arriving to the airport, we loaded the
bus that we rode up to where we are staying. On the bus, a guy changed our
American Dollars to Lempiras (which is what Honduras use for there currency).
The ride took about 45 minutes up to Zomorano. Zomorano is an international
university that we will be staying at for the next two weeks. On the way there,
we rode through the mountains. I felt a little sad though driving by all the
houses. You see some houses that are not horrible but definitely what we
call poor in America. It like two boxes stacked on top of each other. Then
driving more, we got into the poverty side. I saw houses that were just the
size of a living room and some with no floor even. I saw little kids, no older
that 5, running around by themselves or sitting in the dirt. It
was extremely sad and I'm excited to get into the teaching part of the
trip.
Zomorano is a really pretty campus. It
looks like a tropical (a little bit run down, but not too bad) college. It's a
smaller college but SO pretty. We got there and unpacked and then went on a
tour of the campus. They have a coffee place that is apparently like there
starbucks and then they have a convenient store. The water here is purified
which is really nice because you usually aren't allowed to drink the water in
Honduras so you have to make sure it's safe. We ate dinner at the campus's
dining court. It was what I was expecting at all! We at French fries and a Honduran
sub sandwich (homemade salami, homemade pepperoni, ham, swiss
cheese, tomato, lettuce, and a Honduras sauce that is AMAZING). The sandwich
was super good. I also got to drink homemade grape juice that is not at all as
sweet as America's grape juice. It was probably the best grape juice I've ever
had. Now I'm sitting in my room, watching a movie in spanish (no idea what they
are saying, but it's a lot better in spanish hahahaha). It's about 7:30
Honduras time (9:30 in Indy). I just finished my two articles due for tomorrow
nights class and I get to chill out for the rest of the night. Probably going
to go to sleep early as I am running on three hours of sleep and stressing from
the airplane didn't help. I'm so happy to be here and I'm looking forward
to the rest of this journey!!
"Hey now, this is my desire, consume me like a fire,
Cause I just want something beautiful,
To touch me, I know that I'm in reach,
Cause I am down on my knees,
I'm waiting for something beautiful."
"Something Beautiful" by NEEDTOBREATHE
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