What country do I live in again?

So far in Honduras, I have:

• tried to speak this language called Spanish
• learned to always check for toilet paper and always carry my own (even at home)
• tried to maintain some sense of health on this all fried food diet we live on
• learned that in Honduras, it’s okay to pass on double yellows going uphill and around a corner
• attempted to keep some dignity after playing only Soccer day in and day out
• gotten used to people yelling random English phrases at me, such as “Good morning.” at 4pm or whatever else they may have picked up from TV
• become accustomed to negotiating prices with a taxi driver before entering the car
• come to the understanding that when church is over you leave as quickly as possible and don’t stand around talking for more than two minutes
• and repeatedly heard from my thirty something (I think) host sister how easy it should be to learn another language, though she never has tried; therefore, I have no reluctance to put this here because if she learns English well enough to read this, she’ll know enough to realize it is tough.

Obviously, I’ve learned a lot more, but those are just a few things to get this post started on a light note. Since I last told you about my life, I’ve added on two countries to those visited in my life and those two combined with my current home country of Honduras have helped make these last two weeks or so very interesting. I will do my best not to give you a forty page documentary to read in your already busy lives.

We headed out to Julticalpa, Honduras at 6am on February 12^th. We made the four hour trip in about six hours due to two flat tires on the way. These weren’t just little holes slightly flat tires, these were big holes and tires flat TOTALLY. I was driving when they both happened and know based on the way the van handled to a stop that the Lord was helping as I was shocked the van was easy to maneuver on curves in the mountains with tires as flat as these too. This was the same tire that went flat before and we discovered a problem with the actual tire on the inside that kept puncturing the tube inside the tire. Once this was fixed we had no more problems until we reached our destination, at which point we got a nail in the same tire to make it three for the day. I changed that tire as well but when we got the tire back from repair and wanted put it on instead of the spare, Karen Wilson was my eager student who did it solo. As I stood there giving instructions and watching, I felt like such a chauvinistic male and probably looked like one to the locals watching, but that’s of no importance as Karen got through it fine and we haven’t had problems since!

We started work as soon as we arrived and through it had some very frustrating parts; we worked through the three day evangelism effort and were able to have a lot of people come to the BIC church which had services we participated in each of our three days there. My personal accomplishment was reciting from memorization Psalm 100 to the members. After three days of hard work and being able to encourage the family at the church, we went home and we were all ready for vacation that was basically upon us.

We got home on the 15^th of February, washed clothes, and left the next morning to catch the bus at 4:45am – but we didn’t care, we were headed to Costa Rica (FYI – “Costa Rica” translated to English is “Rick or lovely coast”). After about 12 hours on a bus with times to get off only at borders, we got to our hotel and swam for a little before crashing. The next day was a day of relaxing and then we headed to the beach the day after. We got up nice and early to go to “Playa Coco” or “Coco Beach”. My stomach decided to get sick that day and after an hour on a bus and a situation that left me glad I brought a plastic bag on the bus, we arrived! We headed to the sand and found three things: Trash, very poisonous snakes, and more trash. Apparently some of the other beaches were much prettier and we just happened, yea, I chose the beach, to choose one that wasn’t so attractive and based on the looks of it, the locals had done a number on it with the garbage I find everywhere in Latin America and have expressed issues about before. As for the snakes, we heard the cold water drives them to the beaches and based on the ones we saw some locals killings very timidly and based on the reports (we heard you have somewhere between three steps and forty-five minutes to get the antidote), we avoided the waters. This was okay with me as I was more than content to head home in the early afternoon and recover. The final day was spent relaxing and checking out the city we were in, Liberia. We had a nice meal and a good last night before getting ready to leave the next morning.

The bus company we were with was not good at communicating, so Rachel was up at 5am to try to get hold of this office that had not helped us at all up until that point. We ended up checking out of the hotel at 8am and then ended up having to wait until 4pm for a bus that wasn’t full – even though we had tickets. We finally got a bus after a long (but not too bad) day of waiting and headed to Managua, Nicaragua.

Just a quick note and more FYI; we had to leave Honduras for seventy-hours to renew our visa’s, but since Nicaragua and Honduras have an open border, we had to go all the way to Costa Rica to reenter. Hence force, our visa’s to Honduras this time are through Nicaragua.

We arrived in Managua late Thursday night and had to wait a night to go to Chinandega, Nicaragua, our city of destination in Nicaragua. We went the next morning by van that worked like a small bus and were able to spend the day with the pastor just as an encouragement. We saw the church, talked with him and his family, and slept with host families for the night. The next morning we were up at 6am to get ready to leave and catch a van to the border. After that, we crossed with some adventures - cab drivers and luggage carriers in Nicaragua are very, how can I say it nicely, insistent and in your face to demand your business. We had our adventure pushing through crowds of people fighting over the privilege to take your bag for your in hopes you will use there help. Choosing them was just a matter of picking someone once the plans were figured out and offending all the others that had tried to forcefully help so much. We then found a bus to Choluteca in Honduras and from there got a bus to Tegucigalpa.

Coming into the city and getting that cab home was amazing, but we weren’t done yet. The next morning we were ready at 5am for a three and a half to four hour van ride to Trojes to attend a pastors retreat. We made it their through the crazy roads with cliffs three feet off the edge and then turned around to head home later in the afternoon.

When we finally got home that Saturday night, it was a beautiful thing and we all slept great.

Well, those were our last two weeks, it’s nice to be done but the days of vacation were relaxing and energized. While in Costa Rica we were able to have two extended times of prayer and sharing as a group and feel some direction as we embark on the last half of this journey.

Thanks again for reading this saga and for your prayers, we couldn’t have lived through the last two weeks (and some of the adventure I don’t have to time to rehash) without them!

I was working I promise, see the dirt on my left arm... ps - Nate Burt is the guy you don't recognize, he is a full time BIC missionary in Tegucigalpa.


Getting in and winning the splash war with the kids, I had the contacts handicap.


Wilson was clearly thrilled to have me beside her, I was obviously active in conversation.


They think I look smart here so I figured I would share it with the world - maybe I'll send this with my resumes.


Watch your boots buddy boy...


This is me keeping everyone safe from the treacherous cliffs that we find along the roads.