Time to Slow Down

I woke up Friday morning and thought I would be working at Oriente. It was payday for the Casa de Esperanza employees. My plan was to pay the employees, run a few errands and go work at Oriente. I live in Honduras. I should know better than to make plans.

I left here at 9:00 a.m., ahead of schedule. I should have realized that was a bad omen, not a good one. I was on the way to the airport to take our friend Terry Rikard. I was going to stop at Dispensa to buy food for a dump feeding, take Terry on a short errand and then to the airport.

We planned ahead on the dump feeding as far as buying water, so I did not have to stop at twelve different pulperias. At Dispensa, I purchased bread and bologna and, in true Honduran form, there was not a single sandwich bag in the whole store. I stopped for Terry's short errand and ran in La Colonia to buy the sandwich bags. As we arrive at the airport, we are still ok on time.

Marc had asked me to reserve a van for a youth group trip on Saturday. I went to the National counter and she told me she did not have a van for Saturday. Graciously and kindly, she checked at all the other counters and there was only one available. I took care of reserving the van and Marc was going to come get the van later.

Then Don and I headed for Oriente. I took the bread, bologna, and sandwich bags into the church building and we quickly made 250 sandwiches. We loaded everything in Marc's truck and drove across town to the dump. The traffic was a nightmare, more than making up for the light traffic on Thursday, the day of the strike.

Unfortunately, there were more people, especially more women and children, and more buzzards at the dump than we had ever seen. Some of the people are beginning to recognize the truck when we arrive. The feeding went very quickly this time. This always does something to the deepest parts of me. Our friends Don and Joe, were touched by this as well.

When we got back to Oriente at 2:30, Marc decided he did not have time to go get the van so Don and I went to get it. Back in the car, back to the airport. I was not happy about this because the girl at the counter from the company from which we rented the van spoke not one word of english. Not one. I tend to forget I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I was tired, extremely tired. I was hot, hungry, and thirsty, possibly making a not so pleasant person. At the airport, I could not find any of my friends that speak some english. I showed the girl my license and called Marc for his number. I called Marc a couple more times, but managed to get the van rented. I am not sure what I paid for it or what else I might have agreed to purchase. I thought it was meltdown time. Like that would have done any good.

When the airport closes they chain the parking lot closed. Don and I moved the van across the street to Church's. Even that was something major. It was too late to head back to Oriente and Marc suggested I go get the mail and meet him at Burger King. We were taking Don and Joe to El Corral. After getting my mail, I headed to Burger King. The turn looked like a one way exit only and drove on by looking for the entrance. I am not really sure how, but I ended up over by Vierra hospital. I was glad that Don was in the car, even though he does not know his way around Tegucigalpa and speaks no spanish. But having a man in the car made things seem better. Being close to Vierra, I could at least find my way back to where I was suppose to be.

After enjoying a delicious meal at El Corral, we went to get the van and drove home. I was so tired I did not know my name. It was definitely time to slow down. I realized I had not carried one rock or shoveled on shovelful of dirt. I had not done anything at Oriente on Friday.

Marc, Karen, and Dorian left about 6:00 Saturday morning, taking twelve kids from the Santa Ana youth group with them. They had a wonderful time. I took Don and Joe to the airport and then later took Janet to the airport. I came home and slept all afternoon and went back to bed as soon as Marc got home.

Today, we had to take the van back, but not to the airport. We had to take it to Colonia San Carlos behind the American Embassy, not very specific directions. After just a bit of driving around, we found the place. Marc checked the van in and we were told we would have to go to the airport tomorrow to get the receipt. Welcome to Honduras.

We both rested some more this afternoon. It was time to slow down and rest. I have done that. Now it is time to get up in the morning and get busy once again at Oriente. There should also be something exciting happening this week at Casa de Esperanza.

Terri