the circus, uh, the rodeo

A few weekends ago, we went to the rodeo. We thought it was the circus, but it really was the rodeo. Let me explain...Larry and I went downisland one Saturday to pick up a visiting dentist at the Roatan airport. We planned to return by late afternoon, and because the plane was an early flight, we got up extra early (4:30/5:00 a.m.) to leave at 8:30 a.m. The plane was scheduled to arrive at 10:30, but when we arrived at the airport, the plane was late and the ETA was now 11:00 a.m. We visitied with folks we know on Roatan and at 11:00, we were told the plane would be there at noon. We visited some more, did a Sudoku, drank a soda, and the plane did not arrive at noon. It would be 2:00 p.m. before our dentist would be here. Having expressed several oohs and ahhs, thinking we were jumping through the hoops of a circus ring, we decided to take an intermission and get some lunch. When we returned at 1:30, the whole show was becoming rather anti-climatic. Alas, we were yet in for a true shot "out of the cannon" at the announcement that the plane would definitely arrive at 4:00 p.m. Finally, our suspense was satisfied and our dentist arrived!
But wait,...the real contest began as we tried to "rope" his luggage from the conveyor belt! To no avail, the luggage was not with us and now it was 5:00 p.m. Even with a fast van we could not "round the barrels" (the curves on the road) in time to reach our boat docked an hour away before nightfall. We considered this to be the calf roping event since our hands and feet were tied to the island of Roatan for the night. You see, we cannot travel on the water after dark unless it is an emergency.
Wearing the same salt-soaked clothes we wore from the morning ride down gave us the appearance of clowns which are at circuses and rodeos. Not to mention what our hair looked like, windswept and salt-coated. No shampoo, no toothbrush, noclean...anyway, we had a marvelous time worshipping at rChurch the next morning. A successful round up of luggage at the airport after church, a quick lunch led us on to our boat. Our driver was waiting decked out in a yellow poncho. Larry and I smiled secretly, the unspoken message that the ride home would offer a water adventure unparalleled at any amusement park. And we were right. As our driver carefully manuevered the crests of the waves and then paused in the troughs before speeding ahead. Occasionally a wave would catch us unaware and a great spray of salt water drenched our faces and bodies like someone throwing a bucket of water on us. The ride demanded that we hold onto the seat like a cowboy on a bucking bronco. No cap remained on a head and glasses were questionable. Up and down, back and forth, over and over. We squealed as our own seats left the bench of the boat and we toppled onto each other. Ah, there's nothing like an island rodeo! You never know what will happen next, but you can be sure it will be a real kick in the pants!!!

special days in Honduras

Holidays and special days have a different slant in this country, or perhaps these islands.  I have never been overly zealous for Earth Day, but I encourage environmental awareness.  We found this was totally out of place in Helene, along with endangered animals (this would be a story for another day).  Some folks are very conscious about litter/trash disposal and their yards are swept (raked) on a regular basis.  But we do not have a sanitation dept. here, no regular weekly pickups and garbage is burned to get rid of it.  We have talked about Earth Day in school, but it is not a celebrated event.                    May 1st is Honduran Labor Day.  All businesses close for this day, more so than the American Labor Day in the U.S.  This year it falls on a Saturday which would not affect the school schedule, but nevertheless, some students tried to convince us that all schools were to cancel classes on April 26 for Labor Day.                   Cinco de Mayo or the Fifth of May is recognized here, but not necessarily celebrated.  Someone has told us that the U.S. celebrates this day more than even the country of its origin, Mexico.  So far these three days have not taken away a day of class in school.                  But now we come to Mother's Day.  This is by far one of the most important days celebrated in Helene.  Every school has its own festivity around this event.  English school did not do a party because there are so many other ones planned.  But organizing the Mother's Day gift was planned in advance and pre-empted any lessons for an afternoon.  The Spanish school in Bently Bay had their ceremony on Friday morning, the Spanish school Southside planned their party for Friday night.  On Saturday the Church of God Pentecost acknowledged mothers with a special evening service.  And on Sunday afternoon the Methodist Church had "recitations."  The Northside church decided to postpone their celebration for a couple of weeks.  They came to the other events and a good time was had by all.

Changing times

    The roar of a bulldozer hit my ears with sudden realization that reminded me that I was in a place that has never had these kind of machines. Almost every day we hear it coming from the west and slowly heading to the east on the path. At least it was a path for a very short time. The broken concrete in front of our building is still in place, but the wooden bridge (as well as our dock) have not withstood the weight and have a few gaping holes. No problem for the bulldozer; it simply goes around the bridge on the ground. As Deirdre and I were on our way to Friday afternoon Bible time on Northside, we heard the bulldozer on the path in the bush. We usually took the path on that route, but on this Friday we had to make a medical stop in Seco. We could see a very small amount of yellow some distance down the path behind us with a little crowd watching. As we returned later we met a few island friends taking a stroll on the newly carved roadway. We were told there is talk of buying scooters and golf carts, and there may be a bus for our teachers to RIDE to school. I have never lived anywhere in all my lifetime where life was changing so drastically. Everywhere I have called home has had an infrastructure in place for over a hundred years or more. Can you imagine where you live without a road of any kind? To reach any destination you can only walk? Ok, well, there ARE boats. This is really fun, but our dinner table talk is all about how our island home is changing, what will be the effect and what will this do to life as we know it on the island called Helene.

    

a typical "untypical" day

A most typical "untypical" day is more the norm than the exception here. Many people complain about Mondays being another day in the grind. But in a third world country, Monday equates to nothing different than any other day. Some days do seem to carry more than a fair load. This seems to be exaggerated by our small team this year - only four compared to twice that many in the past. The stress usually happens when we're preparing for a big event like a short term team. Take a particular Tuesday not so long ago.

Larry had a trip downisland planned in a couple of days, but the weather, esp. the water, was not good. So he changed plans and left as soon as possible to buy supplies, groceries, diesal fuel (by far, the most important). that left Deirdre, Dominic and myself to handle anything that could happen - oh, Emily was here to lead Teacher Training. The medical clinic had a few unexpected visits to slow Deirdre from making her home visits for the morning. Dominic and I were busy in constant interruptions - we call them divine appointments sometimes. Emily was preparing for our Teacher Training in the afternoon and had a few tasks for us also. Since Dominic and I had a teaching period in the training, we were also scrambling for time to check our plans and notes. Before we knew it, it was time to eat a fast lunch (not to be confused with "fast food") and change into appropriate clothes for Teacher Training. As we sat in training we crammed for our own sessions with the teachers. Numerous times we left the classroom to "run the kids" - chase them off the deck near our classroom - it becomes a game, and took care of matters with islanders or other visitors to see Larry. Then, the real crunch. There was a water leak somewhere. Note: water is more crucial than even power here! So while TEacher Training was continuing quite well, Dominic was checking every faucet and toilet in every building on our property. After that, all the pipes under the buildings. Before dark, as Training dismissed, the boat arrived with supplies to be carried up the hill and stored, groceries to be put away, and supper to be fixed. All in a day's work. All in what God has for us here.

back at it

We've been in Helene for a month now and our first STM arrived yesterday afternoon! It has been a busy week with Teacher Training beginning on Monday. Every afternoon from 1 to 6 we have had our annual Teacher Training with FOURTEEN ladies from the island!! It has been fantastic to watch these ladies learn and share and sacrifice their family time. Some who do not even want to take on a teaching job, but simply want to get the English training. We are thrilled to see the interest since the school board had suggested that we start adult education classes in the evenings. Not sure if that is doable yet, but this could be God's directing by opening up the interest.

Everyday here in Helene is such a unique experience. Life is so totally dependent on prayer and God's provision, sometimes on an hourly basis. (well, it SHOULD be always like that, nah?) Next blog will be about a typical "untypical" day here on the site. Always something new.

Recap of 2009

When we returned from the states after Camas and Emily's wedding, we made a big decision. It did not affect the operation of the mission here in Helene, but it DID change its name. Alternative Missions who established the site here in Helene beginning in the mid '90's decided to concentrate their efforts in other directions and release the Helene ministry. It was suggested that we form our own mission organization to continue on the island until we felt we could successfully leave the ministries in the hands of the nationals. After much prayer and counsel on the matter, we started efforts to become Mission Encounters International. This was quite a challenge to initiate from a third world country! Due to the efforts of a number of folks in the U.S. we were officially MEI in November. We even have a website www.missionencountersintl.com!

The staff left Helene during the first week of December with plans to return in February. The first Board meeting for MEI was held the last weekend of January on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the middle of an unusual storm for this area - SNOW! It was a special time for our family to be together as Larry and Emily joined Heather Campos, Jim Dale, Scott Griffith, and Burnie Staples, our new Board of Directors. We praise God for these people and their sacrifice.

What happened in July?

So the last entry in my blog is the end of August. I was actually trying to catch up on the summer months, including Camas and Emily's wedding and getting back to Helene. What happened to four months?? I get the bad, bad blogger award. Will put aside all excuses and cover the past territory and move on to what is happening NOW. It is absolutely amazing how God's timing and work has brought us to this end of November and what He seems to be designing for us in the next month and year 2010. Wow.

First, let me tell a little of our latter half of the year. As my last post showed, we were blessed with two young ladies to be here in Helene as interns and our dear friend Sharon while we were in the states for a whole month to celebrate a special wedding. Dominic and Deirdre were the only fulltime staff here in Helene during that time. What a terrific trip it was, spending time with family and friends. The time was all so short, of course, but what a sweet wedding ceremony and fun reception we had in July. I only wish we had had more time with our families (relatives) and Camas' family. What a treat to have my sister and nephews, too. (I so regret I cannot load pictures onto this post, but my computer crashed.) Larry and I were so blessed to spend time with Camas and Emily - in between their work shifts! We really absorbed the time we spent with granddaughter LucyKate, Bethany and Josh, and Susanna. It was hard to leave, but after all, it was only for four more months. Little did we realize how those four months would challenge us in some new directions! Next post will fill you in...