Our first day of work!

(Click on any picture to see it full-sized)

Happy 16th Birthday Katherine!  Our very own Mariachi band serenaded Katherine right before we enjoyed a tres leches cake!

Everyone was very excited for our first day of work!  Four kids and four adults offered the first day of the business skills class and were thrilled to have 12 participants.  While they were teaching, some of our teens played with the children and offered mini-vacation Bible school 

lessons.  

Another team went up into the mountains outside Copan Ruinas to learn how to install clean-burning stoves.  It was remarkable to see how such steep mountains are farmed and work alongside a craftsman as he installed the stove. 

After demolishing the old stove that required 64 trees a month for one family to cook, we began to install the new stove that will only need 16 tree!  Add this to the health benefits for the family since all the smoke is piped out of the house and we felt very honored to be part of this project.  We took copious notes and pictures to make sure we do it correctly later in the week.  

A story from one of the kids: Today, After returning from Santa Rita, Dave asked if anyone wanted to go for a run--and Brittney and I did!  We ran through Copan and we decided to try to climb to the summit.  After a grueling climb, which we reached by taking old cow paths (yeah it was gross) Brittney began to battle her fear of heights to reach the top.  Dave and I had to encourage her but in the end she reached the top without much difficulty and we enjoyed our view.  Then we had to get down. After several attempts, we had to bushwhack a lot of the way down, which was really hard but a great story! --Sean Kelly

Where we saw God: Sunday June 21

• In the recognition of how blessed we are to be on this trip and the reminder to cherish this opportunity as a treasure
• During the exchange of Christ’s peace when everyone moved around and greeted each other
• In the faces of the children when they recognized Spencer—big, tall Spencer and such trusting, sweet children so delighted to see him
• In the smiles of our group at the lunch table
• In the goodness of the team work and cooperation
• In watching a the simple, slightly boring “Jacob’s ladder” craft transformed when multiple kids put their ladders together to make garlands to decorate the church
• In the welcome shown to a man with Down’s Syndrome at church and the feeling of connection when teaching him one of the crafts
• In seeing Libby and Concepcion say mass together so everyone could understand
• In the feeling “I love this place” and the deep sense of connection
• In Sam and all the responsibility she was given and took in preparing the lessons today
• In the incredible greeting and smile offered by a young woman working at the youth festival
• In an old woman’s wistful question whether we had brought toothbrushes, because she remembered our previous visits and validated the good work we do
• In the look of gratitude in the eyes of the grandmother of children at the Vacation Bible School

Jacob dice...READ THIS BLOG!

What does a mission team do on Sunday? Go to church of course! We returned to the church in Santa Rita where the youth festival was held and had quickly been transformed from a confetti covered room into a church again.  There were few people there because the festivities had gone late into the night (they started mass at midnight), but it was a great service none the less.  After experiencing church in Santa Rita last year, I really enjoyed the bilingual service because I could actually understand what was going on.  Mother Libby delivered the sermon with Grey's translation.  

After the service approximately 25 kids joined us for vacation bible school.

It was awesome to see the familiar faces and how they have changed, as well as have the kids recognize those who visited last year.  We told the lesson of Jacob's ladder, colored, made paper ladder chains which were hung in the windows, and played "Jacob dice" (Simon says)...I lost every time.  

There was story time and jalapeno eating contests at lunch followed by time for relaxation and shopping.  Below are some of the different reactions to los jalapenos! Monica and Libby also purchased the medication that will be given out at the medical clinic later in the week. Now we are looking forward to dinner, sleep, and the beginning of our business classes and preparations for construction tomorrow!     -Melissa Murray 

The Youth Festival

Since it was my first time in Honduras with the mission team, it took awhile for me to get used to our surroundings. So most of the day saturday was spent chilling out and learning the lay of the land. However at night, there was a youth festival at the church we are teaching vacation bible school at. It sounded very fun during the day and we were all excited about performing two songs for the other teens. Little did we know we'd be performing in front of a church full of people. It was probably one of the most embarrassing experiences of my life considering we danced in both our songs and I think the people thought we were crazy. The rest of the festival was full of skits and singing and was quite enjoyable (once we weren't up on stage). Overall, the day was fun and a good introduction to the next week. 

Kathryn Scully

Our first day in Copan Ruinas

Admittedly, I was more than a little surprised that we all made it on the bus shortly after 8:00 am!  Our wonderful driver Franco, from Mayan Temple Tours, whisked us out of San Pedro Sula and through the beautiful countryside of the Copan River Valley.  The ride to Copan was fascinating, and my emotions bounced from awe at the gorgeous scenery, profound sadness seeing the shacks and garbage lining the road, delight watching a little boy carry a dog up a hill, concern to see the remnants of mud slides... Comments from the back of the bus were very insightful and I hope that one of the youth on the trip will post their thoughts later this evening

We are blessed to be staying in the lovely Casa de Cafe 

which boasts tremendous views of the mountains and a great location in Copan Ruinas.  Take a peek at our slide show to see where we're staying.  We had a relaxing lunch, and then chilled at the Casa while solidifying our schedule for the week.  Even though we were pretty sure it would change by Monday, a trip to the health clinic that Holy Comforter helped build shifted our whole schedule within the hour!   We will start digging wells and installing clean toilets on Monday so that we can take the doctor to the remote villages late in the week.

The next day will be dedicated to worshipping with our Honduran brothers and sisters--tonight we are thrilled to be invited to an annual youth celebration where our kids will sing a few songs.  Tomorrow, I'll get the chance to say mass with Father Renaldo at Iglesia Espiritu Santo.

We've arrived!

Holy Comforter's Honduras Mission team gathered at National airport and wrangled our way through the baggage lines.  After a smooth flight from Washington to Miami, our flight to Honduras was very delayed due to an amazing thunderstorm.  

Despite a loooooong time in Miami International airport, 

everyone was in wonderful spirits.  The kids took the chance to work on their summer reading lists, and adults tried to fend off their millions of questions--some gentler than others.  

We arrived in San Pedro Sula at 1:00 am EST and given the storm, decided not to brave the roads and mudslides between here and Copan.  We are spending the night at the Gran Hotel Sula and will head to Copan first thing in the morning (more or less).