Howdy folks! I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families and friends. This year, I had the pleasure of spending my first Thanksgiving here in Honduras. Although I missed my family, I ended up having a wonderful time!
Before I begin telling you all about Thanksgiving, let me take you to a few days before. We are currently in our rainy season, however, it has been a fairly dry season until last week. The rains began and didn't seem to stop for DAYS!! We had originally planned to travel up the mountain to Urraco and have a big feast with all of the missionaries from up and down the mountain. Due to the rain that never ended, our once small creek turned into a raging river that prevented anyone from crossing to go up the mountain. This usually happens when it rains non-stop for days.
We currently have two students from IER spending their vacation serving at the hospital. Brandi and I are teaching them how to check blood pressure, pulse and weight, along with other things that take place around the hospital. Because of the rain last Wednesday, the girls were stuck, unable to get home. They ended up staying in the apartment beside ours for the night. I have to say, they were the cutest things.
They live minimally in a village way up in the mountains where there is no electricity. To them, it was like they were staying in a five star hotel. They LOVED our rug! I guess you could say that Brandi and I were their moms for the night. We talked about life and cultural differences, fed them dinner and then we watched The Little Mermaid. This was only the third movie that they've seen in their entire lives! They loved it and were still talking about the movie the next morning! Once the movie ended, they went into their rooms for a nights rest, but were right back over with us as soon as they woke up. On Thursday morning, Thanksgiving day, the creek was still to high to pass. They stayed with us and helped us cook for our Thanksgiving lunch. They were able to see a piece of our Thanksgiving tradition. A little after lunch, the creek had gone down enough for them to cross in the bus and go home.
Even though the river had gone down enough to cross, it was still raining. We didn't get to go up to Urraco, because the river could go back up at any time and we didn't want to get stuck away from home. We ended up staying in Rio Viejo and having a nice lunch with all of the ones that were stuck on this side of the river.
To end a wonderful Thanksgiving day, the Williams invited us over for a Christmas tree decorating party! We ate MORE food, decorated the tree and ended the night with a movie. It truly was a wonderful day.
To end a wonderful Thanksgiving day, the Williams invited us over for a Christmas tree decorating party! We ate MORE food, decorated the tree and ended the night with a movie. It truly was a wonderful day.
The rain continued for the next 3 days, the electricity was out most of those days along with the internet and water. Thank God for bucket baths and board games :)
The festivities continued on Sunday with another, more traditional, Thanksgiving lunch/dinner with our staff and family members that were here. All in all, it was a wonderful week, despite the rain and power outages. I'm thankful for wonderful friends and family that I've made here in the jungle.
The festivities continued on Sunday with another, more traditional, Thanksgiving lunch/dinner with our staff and family members that were here. All in all, it was a wonderful week, despite the rain and power outages. I'm thankful for wonderful friends and family that I've made here in the jungle.