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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Drugs, Preachers, and Kids

So the adventures didn't stop in Santa Rosa.
     First, I spent a week in Tegucigalpa.  I made it safely, but on the way in the eight hour busride, I had a run in with some drug smugglers, who after buying off the cops, stopped the bus outside the city of San Pedro, pulled out about 20 huge boxes of drugs out from underneath the unsuspecting passengers' seats, and then threw them out my window on the bus. I could do nothing and sat in silent horror with the other passengers as this happened.  Shortly after that, the bus ride had the usual people getting on to sell the snack foods and drinks, but also we were graced enough to have three different wandering preachers each with about an hour sermon! THe wermons were bad enough telling us we were going to go to hell and to REPENT!, but then they had to follow the sermon with selling something, so everyone just felt guilty and would buy something, because maybe then they wouldn't go to hell.  I could only stand so much, one guy kept insisting we all weren't children of God, this pushed it too far, and I had to talk to him.  How could he say that! How could he say God only loves some of us!  A father is always a father as soon as his child exists, and the child is always  a child as soon as he exists!  He was probably a victim of a broken family, like too many people, and unfortunately coudn't wrap his head around this idea I proposed to him, and so left the bus still telling me that its me who didn't understand!       After the bus, the Taxi driver i asked, ended up taking me to another location with the same name! I was horrified because my phone was dead and when I borrowed a phone, my friend Kate wouldn't pick up because unbeknown to me, she had just been robbed! What luck!  But  fortunately after about 50 minutes driving around, the taxi driver by sheer miracle (because there are no such things as addresses or Mapquest there) got me to the right location.  I honestly believe this was a miracle, that I found a respectable taxi driver that didn't take advantage of my being a foreigner and made sure I was safe not just leaving me in the middle of the ghetto where he first brought me by mistake.       Finally, I was able to enjoy Tegucigalpa.  I loved spending time with my friend Kate Palla, and helping out with the kids at the Hogar (for an explanation of the Hogar Don Bosco see the first section of my old post on Tegucigalga).  The kids were out of school, so it meant 12 hours a day of hardcore playing; it was awesome- soccer everyday, and lots of pushing kids on swings.  Mass with the kids and the Salesian priest Padre Eduardo was awesome, but it hit me there, that although the Hogar takes the kids away from the streets so they can play like normal kids, the streets are still a part of the kids.  Padre was asking the kids questions in the homily and got a little side tracked, and the kids ended up shouting all the drugs that kids on the street use, and even when asked how much they cost, the kids could answer without a pause.  I hope that these kids at least got the message that they are children of God, and that God is a father who won't abandon them even though most of them don't know their fathers. That instead of relying on drugs like their friends, they can learn to rely on the hope we all have in Christ.
Hector 5; a fearless orphan sent to the Hogar from the Missionaries of Charity ( mother Theresa's order)-- He is my favorite!
 We took the kids on a field trip to a place that had some fake ruins, and a pool These are some pics
Exhausted on the drive home from the pool/ fake ruin place.
Kate driving through the crazy Tegucigalpa traffic in an old 20 passenger van/bus, with 20 kids screaming in the background
our other bus in front of us
I pray that all of you realize that you are a child of God, and that you know that every person you meet is one too! Pray for all the people from broken families, who haven't experienced the undying selfless love of a father, that they can still know that GOd is our Father who always loves us!

Christmas Lights

Merry Christmas!  I have been back home in Arizona since December 14th and it has been wonderful to be with family, to be here living in abundance until I go back January 19th to Honduras.  It is nice not to worry when its raining, that you won't have any dry clothe.  And I am especially excited to go drive around the neighborhood and see the Christmas lights tonight, at our Community trolley party.  In Honduras, almost noone has Christmas lights, electricity is too expensive.  Before I left we drove the kids at the Hogar don Bosco to see Christmas lights, so we drove to the super shmancy shopping area in town where they have a 100 ft area decorated with lights and then we drove in a circle around that about five times going oooh and aww.  Then they got to go into a shopping mall where there was a Santa Claus and this was the most amazing thing, they each got to hug Santa!
Well I'll leave yal with this.  I've been thinking about this passage ever since I've been home.
"I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me. " (Phil 4:12-13)
I am so thankful to so many people for the opportunities I have in life.  However, I can't say I have learned the secrets Paul is talking about, only that I am still learning.   Its hard to put God first to see that its God that makes us rich.  Then we can see our lives in a different light.   Well I guess we need to act as good stewards of our possessions and appreciate what we have, share the things we do not need, and not just waste so much. And then when we are in need, we need to see beyond jealousy and learn how Christ gave the pain and suffering of poverty redemptive power, and store our treasure in Heaven.