We Have Arrived

After a beautiful Send-Off ceremony, we missioners climbed onto the bus and headed for our hotel in Omaha. We enjoyed our last taste of American food for 1.5 weeks by eating at Golden Corral. Then it was back to the hotel for a meeting to explain how everything would occur on Wednesday morning from the hotel breakfast through our arrival at the compound, Santa Teresa de Jesus School in Nueva Capital.

The first glitch happened for those of us who waited until 2:30 a.m. to take a shower. As we turned on the water to take our last hot showers for the next ten days, we were devastated when no water came out of the spigots. NO water! Some even had to use bottled water to brush their teeth! No toilets would flush. It was the third day of work for the lady at the desk who had to deal with hotel desks who could not shower.

Bag unloading at the airport went exactly as planned. The only problem there was difficulty with my credit card, which had been flagged for fraudulent activity and thus turned off. Thankfully, Mark could use his card and pay our baggage fee.

The flights all went extremely well – no problems at all. My excitement was when a priest told me that his name was Fr. Jim Sichko. He was carrying Pope Francis’s skull cap on his way back to Rome to work with Pope Francis. He wanted to know about our group and to take a selfie with me – showing our mission shirts. I gave him our MHL pamphlet and Seivert’s business card, which Fr. Jim promised to pass along to Pope Francis! And he said I could include our selfie on the blog.

Everything went great through immigration and customs. All bags arrived. However, the truck to haul the bags had a flat tire on the way to the airport. We didn’t wait in the front of the airport for long, though. The missioners loaded the bags onto the truck as soon as it arrived; then climbed onto the buses for our drive through Tegucigalpa to Nueva Capital. Once here, we began the process of unloading bags, setting up sleeping areas, unpacking the black duffle bags, etc. We stopped long enough for a meal of beefsteak, tortillas, scrambled eggs with green beans, and fruit. Bruce led some of the missioner through the process of sorting the wood that will go to the house sites in the morning, and the rest of the missioners emptied all the donated items from the black bags.

The students even had time to play with the school children outside. I saw some soccer games, and a game that looked like duck-duck-goose. There were plenty of hugs and students practicing their Spanish. It was a nice introduction to the school.

Supper consisted of chicken tacos, cabbage salad, and fruit. We had our junta soon afterward so everyone could get into bed early. Many missioners didn’t sleep well for various reasons. I think most of them were filled with anticipation and a bit of trepidation of the days ahead. We want everyone to be as rested as possible heading into our first work day in Honduras.

Remember, we look forward to your comments, which are read aloud to the students each evening. Please keep us in your prayers throughout these ten days. We hope you’ll enjoy following us via the blog.