Youth Team Journal 1
This month Friends of Barnabas is so excited to send a team of youth and adults to Honduras, to do special Bible School style activities with three of our partner communities. Many blessings for these wonderful kids and the adults who lead them on their week in the mountains of Honduras!
The Youth Team this year is comprised of youth and adults from St. John's UMC in Memphis, TN, St. Luke's UMC in Danville, VA, and West Main Baptist Church in Danville, VA. Read about their first impressions of Honduras:
Today was the first day in Honduras!
We started out by meeting at the church at 1:00 AM to be introduced to the staff and leaders. After saying our goodbyes to our family and friends, we headed out to Little Rock Airport. It hadn't hit us quite yet that we were actually leaving the country, but we went with it anyways.
It's now 4:00 AM and we are boarding the flight to Atlanta, Georgia. It's dark in the plane and everyone around us is sound asleep. We look out the window and witness God's creations at work. The sky is painted soft pastels and the clouds look like cotton candy.
We finally land and find our way to Terminal E of Atlanta's airport. After an hour and a half and several purchases of coffee later, we are finally able to board the flight to San Pedro Sura, Honduras. Although it's already 5:30 AM, the majority of the passengers are still drifting off to the sound of the engines roaring monotonously.
Several hours have passed, food has been passed around, and the pilot finally announces that it is time to land the plane. Everyone, still groggy, slowly works their ways to their seats. We look around and it finally dawns on us - we are in a different country, with people we do not recognize, speaking languages we do not fully comprehend.
After transferring our bags from customs to the bus, we hop on the bus, and push our way through traffic in order to get to our destination. Cars and bikes are whirring and speeding through both sides of the road. Cars can't decide which lane they want to be in, and turn signals have not yet been introduced to this country. Outside of the bus, there are green trees, bright, lively plants sprouting every which way, and mountains that perfectly represent God's glorious powers.
Once again, the entire team is fast asleep on the bus, even though the roads are not fully paved and there are sudden jerks, honks, and curves. They all finally awaken upon the arrival to the Friends of Barnabas' Alfredo's House - our safe haven for the next week. We unload all our bags and settle into our rooms.
After being welcomed warmly by the lovely hosts, we decide to pack our left over bags for our trips into the villages these next few days. We packed soccer balls, jump ropes, a parachute, paper, pencils, and markers. Once those were all full, we moved on to the piñatas, which we stuffed to the brim with candy, sweets, and a whole lot of sugar-filled goodies.
It's finally 5:00PM and we are all exhausted and jet-lagged. While some team members go out to play soccer and introduce themselves to the children, others decide to beat everyone to the showers before dinner time. For dinner, we had chicken, rice, vegetables, and other delicious homemade treats. This includes homemade flan with an original sauce drizzled on.
Once dinner time is over, we all circle around outside for our devotions. We share our roses and thorns and send up prayer requests. To end off the night with a good laugh, we all learn how to dance to Tooty Ta!
It's now 9:00PM, and everyone heads up for bed. Everyone except a few who lag behind and decide to play card games on the kitchen table with popcorn, more coffee, and lots of jokes, until eventually, one-by-one, everyone drifts to bed.
