Day Seven

Friday 7/17/09
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 ASV)
Wake-up at 4:00 AM came too soon for some of us, however, we all managed to rise and be on our way by 4:45 AM. The early hour was predicated upon the perceived need to allow ample time to handle any contingency, including security roadblocks and/or traffic snarls caused by protesters. The trip to Tegucigalpa was relatively uneventful except for one security check in which our two vehicles were stopped at a military checkpoint (yes, more military presence was evident during today’s trip than seen during our arrival journey) and we all exited and had our documents examined by a stern-faced thirty something officer. That is, he was stern-faced until he came to Matthew, who was standing to my immediate left. As he examined Matt’s passport photo, he glanced up and back at the photo several times and I began laughing because I could see he was translating the hirsute photo image to the relatively shorn young man standing in front of him. A small smile crept over his face and he said, “Long hair,” bringing laughter to all of us. After completing his examinations, he and his troops posed for a “photo op.” Quite an interesting experience, for it turned out he is the suitor of the daughter of the person who has been our armed guard for the week. Yes, we have had an armed guard (pistol and shotgun) throughout the whole time we have been here.
An interesting method of sharing was also practiced by our team from Texas, in the tossing of tennis balls to children as we drove along the roadway. These slightly used balls were usually gladly welcomed by children as toys for their pleasure.
Arrival in Tegucigalpa took place around 9:35 AM since we thankfully encountered no additional extraordinary delays. Newspaper headlines addressed the impasse between the two factions being mediated by Arias in a mainly reportorial manner. We did not see evidence of protesters, much to our relief. We chose to stop at a Tegucigalpa mall for lunch, rather than pausing at an intermediate point for more rice, beans, ground meat and tortillas, having made that decision on the road. The group savored the Pizza Hut pizza with gusto!
We checked into the Honduras Maya hotel for our last night in Honduras, happy to be in that setting, but wistfully melancholy (and maybe a bit guilty) about the relative difference in comfort level when compared with our friends from the village; an impression that was amplified later when our evening meal was enjoyed. We shopped in groups of 3-4 in nearby shops, purchasing trinkets for our loved ones at home. Many of the shops “consigned” hand made items that were brought in monthly from villagers for their income. The workmanship of the different woven baskets, art, pottery and jewelry were so beautiful, making the decision of what to buy difficult.
This journey has revealed a microcosm of the economic imbalance that exists in our world. As Christians, God expects us to address these sorts of issues wherever they are, at home and abroad. The seeds planted here must germinate and produce additional support for Honduras and other regions of need.
Written by Norm and augmented by Marcia