An Unfinished House

As luck (or misfortune, however you may choose to view it) would have it, I missed the afternoon bus to San Pedro Sula which is the first leg of my journey to Belize. Don't worry though I can still get there it just means I have to catch the 7:00 pm bus. This of course means that I have an overabundance of time to blog and in that I haven't done that in a week (yesterday doesn't really count) I figured I ought. - So here goes, the first on my list is our field trip to the local university. Some of you remembercons out there may recall that last October we took a similar field trip at the behest of one of the members of my church who also teaches there. Well, she set something up again this year, invited 20 of my rowdiest boys and cooked them a lunch that couldn't be beat. Daisy, that's the Mennonite/College Prof., teaches gym and so the day was spent playing soccer...which I suppose we could have done just as well in Laureles but hey, it's all about the roadtri...

Lot's of reasons I suppose - I have a lot of great posts in the chute but just haven't had time to get them up; I barely have the time this evening to post this. What's more, tomorrow afternoon I'm headed out to Belize for EMM's Central America Retreat and won't be back til Saturday. Hopefully I'll be able to post tomorrow but if not I'll see you next Monday.

It's been raining here now for almost 2 weeks straight now and it's beginning to make life a little, well, wet. We're not even into full-on rainy season yet...remember my shot from last January? Anyway, I thought to give you a taste of what life in Laureles has been like lo' these rainy, dreary days. a rain-soaked shot of the bridge between pizzaty and la ceiba-proper betty from peace & justice showed up last week rounded up 30 kids and set them to work digging holes. we weren't really sure what for, we thought she might just like ordering children into work teams and having them dig holes in the middle of downpours but it turns out... she had gotten la ceiba to donate some trees to plant around the building we use the director of the municipal greenhouse came out and showed the kids how to plant trees...in the middle of a monsoon looking on with interest bayron dug right in osmin taking charge eduar enjoyed the easy job of distributing plants in the fr...

Many of you have become well acquainted with Chamu, either through meeting him in person and watching his amazing soccer skills at work or through reading him about. Last year at this time I wrote about Chamu and the sad scene that was his birthday , a lot has changed since then. Chamu's still quiet and reserved, especially if I ask for his opinion or focus my attention on him but he's also much more chatty and joking with me and as long as I don't get too serious with him he doesn't clam up...it's not ideal I know but life is a process and he's come a long way since not even being able to verbally respond to salutations. Yesterday Chamu turned 13 and we celebrated as we always do - I gathered a few friends who I knew are close to him and went through the litany. Chamu almost cried not a few times, I could see it in his eyes, he was doing everything he could to hold it in...and he did, he maintained his composure and at the end of everything he was smiling and j...

little nery turned 10 today, he has to be one of the nicest, most innocent kids i've ever met. he's simply a joy to be around. i really should spend more time with him. his grandmother buys and sells recycled scrap metal off the garbage dump, that's why it looks like we're celebrating in a steel mill. tres leches on a slab we're also accompanied by pitaya and his pet...thing...not really sure what family that animal belongs to. the primates? marsupials? h.b. nery, you're a pretty cool kid. tomorrow we celebrate the famous chamu

he's one of the quieter and poorer kids here but also one of the kindest kids i know. jancarlos, also known as yuco turned 15 today and we celebrated it as we always do.

Saturdays for me, for we really, are almost spent taking a day trip somewhere with the group of kids that I'm closest with, whether it be to some remote mountain stream or the mall to take coffee and see the sights. Saturdays are our day, it's become a tradition - outing in the morning/afternoon and church then in the evening. Usually we don't travel terribly far, maybe 30 minutes outside the city but now that we have a vehicle we've been hit with a sudden urge to explore some of the more distant places that thus far have been out of reach. This past weekend, as sort of an extension of Duke's birthday celebration we piled in the car and headed of to the port town of Trujillo or Truxillo (however you prefer it), it was here that Columbus first reached on the Honduras mainland and it's because of a remark made by that erstwhile explorer that Honduras received her name. I love Trujillo because it has retained much of its older architecture and history, it is quaint...