Day 14: MK

This is a tribute to the incredible missionaries that live in Balfate, Honduras. There are so many sweet missionary kids at Loma de Luz. They are welcoming and generous, inspiring and forgiving. To give you an idea of who we spending time with for a month, I'm going to tell you a little about some of our amazing friends there. Sydney is creative and passionate. Sammey is exciting and honest. Jenna is thoughtful and faithful. Michaila is sweet and easy to talk to. Mariah is kind and encouraging. Gabe is entertaining and determined. Hannah is adventurous and humble. Nate is hilarious and talented. Julie is generous and loving. The people are what makes an experience what it is. This gives you a small glimpse of our time in Honduras.

Day 13: El Salto

Today we almost died. As Hannah McKenney, Janie's hero, put it, "We're almost there! And by there, I mean heaven!" After church, we (the MKs) all wanted to go to a waterfall. We eventually convinced our wonderful friend Gabe to drive us. We tried to save time, which is a crazy idea in Honduras, by driving up the mountain as far as the road would allow us, avoiding potholes, trenches, and steep ravines. When the road got too treacherous to keep driving on, we climbed out of the crowded Land Rover and started walking down the road, which soon turned into a simple footpath, which soon disappeared entirely. Led by our friend Deibyn, who "knows the way," we ended up sliding down the steep slope of the mountainside, fighting through tall grass, vines, bushes, and thorns. Our courageous friend Julie got the most injured by getting stuck in a thornbush. Finally our much-more-effective replacement leader Gabriel McKenney found the long-sought river by falling headfirst into it, when the tree he was leaning against broke. When we all emerged from the undergrowth onto the more open riverbanks, we looked back up the mountainside and realized that we had missed the path by only 20 feet. We continued to trek deeper into the jungle following the river, having to leap from rock to rock dodging the rushing rapids and sometimes having to swim through the water due to the steep, impenetrable banks. At last we arrived at the incredible Cascada del Rio Coco. Today was the first day we had ever jumped off the TOP of a waterfall. Janie had unarguably the loudest and to some, the most entertaining scream--the height of the jump even gave her time to take a breath in the middle. While most walked the long way around to get to the top, Caroline (along with Gabe) proved herself most adventurous by scaling up the side of the cliff. After a couple of hours enjoying the river and our snacks and drinks, we rushed to get back to the car before dark. But just as we were assuming that our day's adventure was over, there was a moment of worry because the car key was nowhere to be found. Dr. Jeff and Mrs. Rosanne McKenney drove a spare out to us. Moral of Story: Never follow a Honduran who claims to know a way that saves time.

Day 12: Full of Randomness

We started the day visiting a community built precariously around the dump of La Ceiba. Anyone who has seen Slumdog Millionaire can accurately imagine the scenes we found ourselves walking through. We went with a Loma de Luz missionary named Lisa who leads several children's outreaches, including the one Caroline and June participated in on Wednesday. While two of Lisa's Honduran helpers taught kids Bible lessons in the church, the rest of us hiked through the trash-filled streets, giving milk to one family and checking on sick children in several others. The experience was a bit overwhelming, but definitely eye-opening by giving us a sharper perspective on how drastically different the lives of others can be from our own. With the mud of a family's yard under your own feet, the stench of the dump itself overwhelming the air, and the sight of thin, poorly dressed people picking through the debris, it becomes impossible to deny the harsh reality which is simply the way of life for many, many people.
It was a drastic change to drive just a few minutes to a touristy zipline canopy tour. Our favorite part was the slowest, longest zipline where our guides shook the cable so that we bounced as we rode it. The next bit of random was a visit to the nearby natural hot springs. We loved swimming in one pool in particular where a hot stream and a cold stream mixed. All fifteen of us piled back into the overcrowded van and drove to a souvenir shop, and then to the Ceiba supermarket. We said goodbye to the Browns, August, and Will, who then departed to the airport. After grocery shopping, the remaining Lelands, with Lisa and her friends, drove back home to Loma de Luz.

Day 11: Untitled

Mary McCall: Along with Jack, Dylan, and Davis, I attended the science class at the bilingual school this morning. It was taught by the doctor who started the hospital. During the class I drew a picture of the elementary teacher Julie. As the experiment for the day, there was a mold of a fossil and a cast of a fossil. At the beginning of class, the doctor handed the mold out, then the cast and at the end revealed . He asked me a question. I was lucky because it was a true/false question and I could tell the answer from his face.
Caroline: This morning for about three hours, Janie and I studied our schoolwork for the first time this trip... Thinking about that almost stresses me, but I can't quite bring myself to worry about school while I'm here in the sun. It certainly hasn't been a vacation, but it feels like summer. Life is delightfully slower and quieter and warmer here. In Honduras, time isn't felt as a pressure like it is in the States. But starting to work through my accumulating school assignments did give me somewhat of a reality check. I need to remember that back at home, time is still rushing forward without me, despite my refreshing feeling that the whole world has slowed down.

Day 10: Three Kings Day

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the bilingual school holds a class called "English as a Foreign Language." Kids from the area come for grammar lessons and English songs. Luckily for us Americans, there is a rule that only English may be spoken during class. We were glad that we could participate. Today is Three Kings Day, which is known in the church as the first day of Epiphany. Where our dad grew up, in Puerto Rico, it's a bigger holiday than Christmas. Our family always celebrates this day with a baked potato bar plus lots of candy and other sweet food like chocolate syrup and marshmallows, and tonight we invited some missionary families to have dinner with us. Dad shared about the meaning of this holiday, which marks the day the Magi visited the infant Christ, symbolizing the revelation of Jesus to Gentiles like us. It's really cool to think about that idea while living as a missionary, working to share that same grace with the rest of the world.

Day 9: Three Sisters, Three Perspectives

Caroline: This was my favorite day of Honduras so far! We continued painting all morning, but after lunch I rode with June and a missionary woman named Lisa into the nearby village Balfate. I rode in the bed of Lisa's pickup truck as she drove up and down the dirt roads between houses. Local children of all ages came running when they recognized the vehicle, and eagerly climbed in the back with me. We drove to a grassy lot and spent an incredibly fun hour playing with the forty or so kids. June helped Lisa with the little ones, and I played tag and dodgeball with kids between 6 and 13 years old. Then we gathered in the grass and an older Honduran boy named Deneri read them a Bible story (in Spanish of course), inviting them to participate with his fill-in-the-blank questions. June and I did our best to follow along. After we prayed together holding hands, I helped pass out cookies and then we dropped off the children on our way out of the village. I was delighted when my new friends Caramen, Cindy, and Lurabin hopefully asked if I was coming back next week, but I think I'm looking forward to it more than they are!
Janie:  Once I start a project, it takes a lot for me to quit. So while my sisters took a few detours, I persisted in the painting of the walls and guard shacks. Me, Will, August, Jack and the Browns continued to paint all morning and afternoon. Even though our breaks are longer and we start work later, I feel like we have done a pretty good job. Once we actually started the project, it was a lot harder than expected. After scrubbing every stain of mold and dirt off, we went on to paint and paint and more paint each layer on the concrete wall. Like usual, later that afternoon, we played soccer. And Jack scored not one, but TWO goals!! I was so proud of my little baby Jack.
Mary McCall: After hiking up a mountain face with my dad, another doctor from the hospital, his daughter and 4 other women from Loma de Luz for an hour, we finally got to the house where the mission was going to be held, which had a big porch for the worship. Our group pulled out 2 cloths, one a world map, and the other filled with multiple pictures illustrating the whole Bible. We hung them up and passed out the guitars that we had carried on our back up the mountain. With some of the kids playing the guitar, the rest of the group sang songs about the world oceans, the continents, the big world rivers, and of course my favorite, this past years World Cup finalists. We broke into groups and I was teaching kids to play the keyboard. It kind of failed because they could not understand the concept of A chord, D chord, over and over. Without the help of the woman from Luma de Luz, who is bilingual, it would have definitely failed. The hike down was much more enjoyable.

Day 8: El Murro part II

Today we painted a wall for Jesus. Even though we didn't finish, we made a lot of progress. Later this afternoon the kids piled into the back of a pickup truck with a couple of other MKs and drove about half an hour to a waterfall. The steep cliffs on either side of the powerful waterfall were fairly easy to climb, and we all had fun jumping into the deep pool. Will and August impressed us with their midair flips. We competed to see who could swim closest to the torrent of falling water, and August and Will continued to impress. We hiked just past the top of the waterfall to a natural rock slide that several of us enjoyed. Afterward, our hosts took us to a restaurant on the beach-- the only sit-down restaurant in this area. Because they cook their food so fresh, we had to order our entrees the day before, and we could taste the difference!
Spill Count: a lot of white paint and two glasses of sticky orange juice