Our final day in the schools was at Borro, where they have another amazing principal Ana that had a great welcome for us. I love coming to this school, as I get to see Lillian and Yeffre. They were some of the first kids we visited back in 2019. We visited their home way up in the mountains, but now they live closer to town. It was good to see their mother Noami, and again see Anyi and her new baby. The visiting family from Mexico appears to be attending at this school, so we got to visit with them a little on this day.
Ana did a big welcome, then they sang the Honduran national anthem, then we sang ours, with Linley hitting the super high note at the end. Later, they played a game where you had to use your breath to get some cups across a string, and had several contests. I apparently did not get the race between Belle and Davis, but there is a video somewhere of that. We also all sang Creedence "Have you ever seen Rain?" here. This school has some great updates since last year, adding three bathrooms right next to the school, where last year it was one way out in the corner of a field.
We ate our traditional chinese food (so tired of it by this point). The Bible period game did not go well, even with Lilian trying to help me. The Monster in the backpack trick cracked up the kids not once but twice here, which always makes me laugh later. On one wall of this school they have a big mural welcoming people from the USA, and on it is a big picture of Mickey and Minnie, which I guess is their image connected with us.
That evening was our Sponsored Child night, and I knew would be very busy, so I got down there and started setting up to get ready for it. But realized that no one else was down there, and the kids would start showing up any time. Finally Belle showed up and I told her to go get folks to help as we already had one of our sponsored kids. Probably just me running on USA time, while the rest of our group had transitioned to Honduras time, but everyone was just as my momma would say "piddlefarting" around. I got the activities out on the tables for pipe cleaner bracelets, Hearts, and some Journals, when finally the young people came down to help. I was later told everyone was up there getting packed as we would be leaving the next day...ok.
I can't describe the craziness of this night, and chaos to try and connect with these wonderful families, but I was so proud of Sam, Davis and Belle. Sam helped stay with Eloisa and help her with some of the activities. Davis kept the pictures going, while Andrew just left it all to him at one point. And Belle just filled the holes helping wherever she could. The Texas group of youth were just like little kids at one time throwing bags across the room with a game where lots of people were just trying to get food to our sponsored kids families. Then at the end of the night, we were able to provide each family with three bags of food.
Outside of the chaos (which admittedly was probably mostly my wanting all to go perfect), there were smiles all around. I sat and spoke with a new sponsored girl and watched her brighten up when she talked about animals and how she was studying to be a veterinarian. Danna has a dog named bubbles and I also found out that her aunt and uncle was Eduardo and Sindy...I watched Junior Torres face light up when he got one of the packed goodie bags our sisters back at Chelsea packed for him...Sam said that the Valezquez childrens eyes lit up when he brought them over the bag of beads to make their own bracelets. And little Jose gave me a little grin when he opened the Bible with his name on it that Ms. Linda Kenwright had sent him...Greisy Montero tapped me on the back and gifted me with one of the bracelets she made...Diego Diaz could not stop smiling when I handed him the backback that Kelly Speer had sent for him...I did not get nearly enough time to visit with Lillian and Yeffre, but I had hung out with them alot at school that day...Jose later came and brought me a bracelet...and Diego brought me one of the pictures that Davis printed for him, but he wanted me to have it...
Another highlight of this evening was getting to see Oneyda Avila's full family there. Her dad and I hugged, and I picked on Oneyda and her sister that they were twins. Even the oldest sister came later that evening. They live in Coyol, and were planning to walk back to their home that evening with the three bags of groceries...a 25 minute drive. But fortunately the CRF team was able to drive their family...at least back to that killer trail that we face on our first day.
And it is always great to be with Carmen's kids, altho like the Flores children, I don't feel like I was able to visit with them much. They do not live that far, so they did have to walk, and I saw the look in Jeyson's eye when I handed him the very heavy back of groceries...It was first of dread, but then of a strong young man that would probably have a lot to carry and help his family out. Anderson grabbed the next heavy bag, and Briggeth grabbed the toiletry bag.
It is always a joy to see our Eloisa, that we visited first in 2022, when she was not feeling well, but we got just a short few minutes with her. But now she is all smiles giving us all big hugs. She actually dropped by the daycare earlier in the week as they were walking by and she saw Davis. Her little sister is as cute as ever. Eloisa has a brother that was recently in a minor motorcycle accident, and her mom said that Eloisa had some recent health issues, but all was ok now. Her mom is the sweetest and just so thankful for our sponsorship, but I try to tell her it is all our pleasure and we just love her and their whole family. Sam and I gathered around her and we prayed for their family. And we know that God knows everything she shared that I did not understand, and God knows what I was trying to convey in spanish in our prayer for their family. She shared with me her WhatsApp number, and since returning, I have already gotten to talk with Eloisa and her mom once.
Then the children were gone, and we had to be packed and ready to roll on the bus by 6AM, but our day was not over. The Kitchen crew wanted pics with our group and wanted some copies while Davis was printing. Then Maximo and Eduardo, Daisy and Sindy wanted to share some presents with some on our team, and we all enjoyed just a few more moments with our church family friends here. They gifted Vinsant and Bailey with a Honduras plate, then me with a much smaller plate, to which Daisy cracked up when she knew I was going to say something about why mine was so much smaller. But hugs went all around and will have to last till next July. At this point well near 11PM, I started packing suitcases to be ready to leave in the morning. I think the goal on these trips is to fit a year of planning and caring and missing into one week, and while it is always an amazing week, I think I was wearing down. :)
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