I am writing on the last full day of our adventure in Tegucigalpa, and it has been a super experience all around. The team, both Canadian and Honduran, has opened their ministry and their hearts to us, which has enabled us to discern their needs and attempt to fill some gaps for them, thus accomplishing our goals for this trip.

Cheryl developed 34 ESL lessons, taught 6 classes, and is passing the torch on to a member of the team, who has never taught English before but loves these students and is willing to serve them the best she can. Cheryl's prayer is that she will develop confidence in her teaching and delight in a ministry that she can call her own. The culmination of Rick's work here is now being shared with the main members of the team in 2 half-day training workshops encompassing organizational structure, policy manual, budget spreadsheet, leadership styles, team values and code of conduct, and performance management. I bet you all wish you could have attended these workshops; he is available for booking beginning next week! We were also able to help with various tasks such as organizing supply cabinets, putting sponsored children's names on their pictures, editing documents, dismantling bunk beds, gluing chairs . . . you get the picture. As it turns out, 7 weeks has been just the right amount of time for our deployment here. We have kept busy the entire time and finished what we set out to do. God's timing, as usual.

Business casual in Honduras - note the footwear

While here, we attended Tabernaculo de Sion church with Kathy. This is a congregation of about 200 primarily middle class Hondurans as well as teachers and missions workers from the US and Canada. They also run Honours Academy, a school based on a student preference model of education, and their other main area of focus is bringing medical brigades in to provide free health care for the poor. The founders of the church have built a ministry that is definitely impacting lives. The Sunday morning worship service is very similar to that of an evangelical church in Canada, although the praise and worship is quite charismatic and the sermon may last an hour. There is lots of technology and a specialty coffee shop serving a congregation that looks and behaves much like an evangelical church in Canada, including enjoying a certain insulation from the poverty and crime just up the road. Kathy mentioned that she once asked one of the worship leaders from this church to spend a day interpreting in the area where our schools are and she was in tears a good part of the time because she was seeing fellow Hondurans in difficult circumstances and had never experienced this before.  So whether here or at home, hundreds of people from secular and faith-based organizations are doing development work with the poor while middle class Christians sit in comfortable pews.

Worship at Tabernaculo de Sion

We took a day off a couple weeks ago and embarked on a breath-taking drive up the mountain to La Tigra National Park, which is dedicated to conservation of the biodiversity in this part of Honduras. This enabled us to get a glimpse of the agricultural community surrounding Teguc and hike in the wilderness area once we got to the top.  Unfortunately, we didn't see any wildlife, but it was silent and pristine. The rural roads are not much better than logging roads after a few good rains, creating an obstacle course of many exposed boulders and cuts into the road where the water has eroded it away.  In our experience, a grader would be a very rare sight, so drivers just go slow and watch for holes. Since they do not get freezing conditions and ice, a steep challenging incline is possible to navigate if one takes their time and remains alert.  Busses are still travelling up these roads to provide transit services to students and other folks who live on the mountain. Life goes on and one must get to town!  Large delivery trucks are also common as they bring groceries, water, supplies, and also take local produce down to market.  The road to La Tigra was steep and winding, and when meeting a larger vehicle, there was barely enough room to squeeze by. Daytime travel is recommended as it is challenging enough without the lack of light and people and animals on the roadside.

Entry to an old silver mine in the National Park

The aldeas (towns) along the way hug the mountain on both sides of the road and trust me when I say there is almost no flat ground.  It is not uncommon to see a house facing the road and the back overhanging a deep valley.  They have engineered the sides of the mountains for market gardens, growing vegetables, flowers and other crops.  It is small scale, but almost certainly, these operations provide the sole livelihood for these families.

Hillside cabbage patch

Looking down into the deep valley

As we return to Canadian life in a couple of days, we know that our time in Honduras has changed our perspective. In some ways, life in Teguc is not a lot different than life in Canada, as day in and day out, we are all earning a living, raising families and building relationships.  I would say that what 5 months in Honduras has done for us is opened our eyes to the multitudes of opportunities we have in Canada compared to the majority of Hondurans.  The work that Schools of Hope is doing here has the potential to lift many of these children out of the cycle they find themselves in because they can finish school, which will allow them to pursue employment training and then a good job. We have been happy to sponsor Isaac, who happens to live next door to our new friend, Pastor Victor! In Canada, we can really do whatever we set our minds to do and yet many of us are not really making the most of these opportunities. We enjoy a very high standard of living, which is reflected in the size of our houses, the choices we make with our finances, and the things that become priorities for us. I think we are now much more aware of these differences and it helps to temper our priorities a bit and be more grateful for the opportunities we have been given over our lifetime. This causes us to place more focus on what we can do to help others both at home and out of country.  This is the journey we are on and we continue to adjust our purpose and values.

Cheryl's English class gifted her with a carving after the last class - a very special moment

This will be our last blog for a while. We appreciate those who are following our journey and take the time to communicate with us, comment on our posts, or make time for a meal or coffee with us when we are back home.  We look forward to seeing some of you soon!

Blessings from
Rick and Cheryl