More Honduras Pictures and MRSA

Well, unfortunately I don't have pictures of the hog killing, because I wasn't able to go.  (I know y'all are SO disappointed!  Haha!)  I ended up in the doctor's office yesterday with some bug bites that had really swollen up.  Turns out, I've got that MRSA virus, so they gave me some antibiotics, so hopefully it'll be gone soon!  Right now, I have a couple of spots that are really bad on my left leg, and my ankle is swollen, making it painful to walk, so I'll be glad when the medicine kicks in the swelling goes down!

Last night, Rachel, Eric and Caroline came over and we celebrated Rachel's birthday.  I fixed Caroline's hair in little pig tails for the first time, and she was SO stinking cute!

she's a mess!

This was taken at the Walmart in Tegucigalpa...slightly different than what you'll find for sale at a Walmart in the states!  Haha!

me and Ms. Wendy

Emily, eating some ketchup

so cute!!

I miss them so much!!!

 

me and Brittany

 

my last view of Honduras

Day Eighteen - Home

Made it home not too long ago, and thankfully everything went well, and I had a safe trip.  I still have some pictures that I haven't posted, so hopefully I'll be able to put those up tomorrow!

We're heading out early in the morning to butcher hogs at Rachel and Eric's place.  I'm sure y'all will want to see the pictures from that, too!  Haha!

Honduras - Day Seventeen

The last day of my trip...I've been both looking forward to this day, and dreading it, too!  In the morning, we'll be heading to the capital city of Tegucigalpa one more time, and I'll be flying home tomorrow afternoon/evening.  (I'm supposed to arrive in Nashville at 9 pm.)  I am SO going to miss the Hortons (they've been great to let me invade their lives and home for nearly three weeks!), and I'm going to miss the beautiful scenery, and I'm going to miss the warm weather (it's been 70-90 degrees here), and I'm going to miss sitting outside and watching people go by, and I'm really going to miss driving on rough dirt roads, dodging stubborn cows, to pick up people for church!  It was quite an experience, and as I mentioned before, I LOVED every minute of it!  I'm so thankful for the opportunity to come to Honduras again!!!

we went to a restaurant, La Casita, for lunch

my plate: beans, a fried plantain, rice, queso blanco (white cheese), chismol (it has peppers, onions, and lemons..I think), and some very delicious steak! 

 Ms. Wendy's plate: chicken nachos...she gave me a taste, and they were pretty good, too!

the outside of the restaurant

It was raining, and I know this isn't a very good picture, but look at the guy looking out of the window!  Hahaha!  Looks like he's wondering why the crazy gringas (what they call Americans) are acting so crazy! 

atole

This is a Honduran corn pudding/drink that was like hot, sweetened corn starch. We bought it from a lady that came by the house tonight.

Honduras - Day Sixteen

This evening we ate supper with one of the families from the Honduran church.  Ms. Ilda invited us over for baleadas...made-from-scratch tortillas with beans, scrambled eggs, and cheese!  Baleadas are a typical Honduran food, and are actually delicious!  We went over to her house early to help her make them.  Check out the pictures below!

Ms. Ilda cooking the tortillas on a griddle-type thing over a fire

 

 

 

the baleadas

(sorry this picture is so blurry!)

We actually went to Ms. Ilda's house for baleadas on my last trip, too.  (Click here to check out that blog post.)

Honduras - Day Fifteen

Just sitting here munching on some DELICIOUS pineapple (I love pineapple, especially the fresh ones here!), sitting here waiting for my friend to answer the email book I wrote her this morning (LOL! Ms. Staci!) and wondering what I should write about in my post tonight!

I guess I'll start with what I did today...did a little cleaning around here this morning, went to the American Tienda that's two doors down (it's a second hand store) and found a nice purse for $6, and ran down to the pulperia to pick up some soap.  (The pulperia sells a few small items such as kitchen/household necessities.  You just come to the door, tell the owner what you need, and pay him through the small opening in bars on the door.)

This afternoon we drove around Comayagua on a couple of errands, and then went to the mall, or Mall Premier, as it's called.  It's actually in the same shopping center as the grocery store we went to on Day Five, and it's a two story mall with a couple of nice stores in it.  They have Payless Shoes, and a department store called Carrion, which is similar to JCPenney as far as the type of clothes, etc., that they sell.  There was also a store that sold cheap jewelry and makeup, nail polish, etc., as well as a pharmacy, and an Espresso Americano(which is similar to Starbucks, I guess), and several smaller stores as well. 

the outside (sorry, it was getting dark by the time we were done)

the entrance (picture taken from the 2nd level)

they're already getting things ready for Christmas...this is a giant tree in the middle of the mall

my granita...it's like a frappe from McDonalds, except the coffee was WAY stronger, and it had oreos in it, too.  (I guess they probably have stuff like this at Starbucks?  I've never been before.)

a police truck

a lady headed to market  (I wish I could carry things on my head like that!)

a lady selling beans in the open air market

a man with a wooden wheelbarrow thing of bananas  (I posted a pic on Day Nine of a man with an empty wheelbarrow.)

And one more thought for today:  eating too much pineapple can cause your mouth to burn!  Haha!

Honduras - Day Fourteen

Well, I definitely had a great day today!  We loaded up in the van, and headed out this evening to pick people up for church.  By the time we got to church, we had close to 30 people (I think it was maybe 26 or 28) packed inside a 15 passenger van!  It was an interesting trip, and I loved every minute of it!  I just wish I could've understood what everybody was saying!  (I should have spent more timing working on learning Spanish!!!)

As I sit here typing this blog post, it's gotten pretty quiet outside.  The streets are empty, and all that can be heard now are the roosters crowing and crowing and crowing (haha!) and the occasional barking of stray dogs as they fight over food scraps.  But by the time I wake up in the morning, the streets will be busy with crazy old buses with their flapping curtains and ridiculous paint, banged up white taxis with their blue stripes and crunched fenders, and a various assortment of motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians on their way to the market, to work, to school, or just to see a neighbor.

I'm 1,500 miles away from home, and I miss being there, but I sure am going to miss Honduras!!!

Honduras - Day Thirteen

I'm so thankful that it worked out for me to come to Honduras again.  But even though I've had a great visit, there's been times when I've missed my family terribly!  I especially miss playing bluegrass with my sisters!  But it's just given me a small idea of what it must be like for a missionary family to leave their family in the states.  Of course, it's not like missionaries in years gone by, who only had contact with their family through (often unreliable) mail correspondence.  They have access to phone and internet here so that family can be quickly and easily contacted, but it still is not the same as being with your family!

We've come in contact only twice Americans in the two weeks I've been here:  once it was a couple of soldiers from the U. S. military base, who happened to stop by a little roadside market at the same time as us  (they only introduced themselves, and spoke briefly), and then again today we met an American family (the lady was actually from Chile) who just moved here.  It's just given me a small glimpse of the culture shock that missionaries have to deal with every single day living here in this foreign country.

We were driving through the town of Lajamani yesterday, and saw a crowd of people walking, carrying a baby casket to be buried at the cemetery.  It is so sad to think that most of those people probably have no hope of seeing that precious baby again!  Somebody has to let them know that there is hope, and that there is a way we can be sure of Heaven when we die, and that it's not because of anything we do or don't do, but because of what Jesus did!  And that is why the missionaries make sacrifices, and move to foreign countries.

  

 

 

Honduras - Day Twelve

We went out to the property again today, so here's a few more pictures.  It was cloudy and overcast and windy, and although it was about 70 degrees outside, it felt a little chilly!  (Or maybe it's just that I'm getting used to the weather here.)

same mountain behind the property...but it's partially covered by the clouds

  

Brittany and Julia petting a horse

a colt running in the field

sitting around talking

Honduras - Day Eleven

Today started for me at 6:00 a.m.  We were off bright and early to the capital city of Tegucigalpa to do some shopping and some sightseeing.  We went up to the top of a mountain overlooking the city.  It is SO beautiful up there!

a shrine on the mountain

Brittany climbed all the way to the top

Tegicugalpa

the giant Christ statue on the mountain

(I think they said it's 90 feet tall) 

the Hortons

It's so sad to think that many people don't even know the true Christ!

McDonalds!  We ate here for lunch.

"La Casa del Whopper" means

the House of the Whopper! Haha!

 

There are so many houses and so many people!  I kept thinking of Matthew 9:36 where it says, "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd."