Honduras Day 6 - Cacao and Chachaquata Schools...and a Church Meeting

We had two schools planned for this day to make up for the one we missed last Friday.   Today we planned to visit Cacao in the morning, then Chachaquata in the afternoon.   And Davis and Bobby almost put us in a bind at the first school of Cacao.   That morning, the haircutting class was being taught at the day care, and somehow Bobby and Davis got roped into being test subjects.   And we found out that being test subjects in a hair cutting class takes a long long time.   

So, our group had to finally leave to Cacao with Bobby and Davis promising to meet up with us at the school.   But we had plenty of time. The schools first did their presentations, then it was our turn, and our Jesus was still not there.   But before we through Jonathon into the role, we started off with some songs, and just as we were about to do ChuChuWa, Davis and Bobby showed up.   

It was another fun day, and many of the kids remembered my "Magia" from the previous year, so they wanted to see some of the tricks.   I did pull out two old favorites with these kids, showing them my artistic abilities drawing a few of them as stick figures as the ones behind me laughed at my lack of skill, and finally I brought back the "Monstruo" in my backpack, which has a lot of build-up, then it never fails...I pull from my bag the Peeps Underwear!   Yeah, the kids always laugh, and I sometimes get some laughs from the mommas around us also.   

Before we left Cacao, I saw one boy with a Ninja shirt, and when I presented him with a couple of toy ninjas, his smile could have lit up a room.   We had hit our stride, the girls doing a great job leading the songs, the skit running smoother each time, and activities being something the kids loved, and all was really well organized.   What could go wrong?   

We found that out at Chachaquata, which is usually one of the really fun schools, but on this day things felt different.   Later we realized that since we had moved this meeting at the school till after normal school hours, we were outside of the normal structured teacher dynamics.   We were also surrounded by all of the older kids that also showed up to to their old school looking for a plate of chinese food later in the day.   So lots of lessons learned from this day, but in the end, it was not the kids fault, just some different environment that we did not plan for or organize for.

This principal does a good job with the skits they show to us.   They first did a skit about a lost sheep, then they did one from exodus.   It was really good, and I do like the principal (Francisco) here.   Then our skit went pretty well also.   But during the songs afterwards, as Belle and Linley were leading us through Gozo Gozo Gozo (Joy Joy Joy), we watched a little boy punch a little girl on the front row.   So that was a strange time, but we just kept going.   

After the songs, we headed into the classrooms for the activity, and I saw a little boy (Mario, a sweet guy with down syndrome that did much better this year, as he did not bite Jonathan) drinking Belles water, so that became his water bottle.   Then as we were passing out activities, Belle let me know that she could not find her backpack, which was a big scare, until we finally realized that it had been placed back into the truck, because some kids were looking in them for toys.   

Then at the other schools we handed out a lazarus to each child (we had plenty) so they could wrap him with gauze.   Here, this sparked chaos, as the kids all crowded around Jonathan in like a horror movie zombie scene...hands reaching out for a popsicle stick.   And if that did not teach us a lesson, when we handed out the bible verse bracelets, we witnessed the same thing.   I also like to hand out some of the little poppers, and in my experience, if you hand them out slowly to just one or two kids periodically, it works well, but here, it sparked more chaos and I had to just empty my pockets to a mad dash of kids grabbing at them.   So note to next year...do NOT hand out anything to anyone not in the school classroom...do NOT hand out any toys at this school...keep the activities completely separate from any of the older kids that might show up.   

That evening, we had a scheduled meeting with the new Elders and Deacons in Campamento.   This is again something we have been very excited to witness over the years.   This group now has three Elders (Ramon Zambrano, Israel Galvez, and Jose Aceituno) and two Deacons (David Aceituno, Henry Ovando).   They had asked for this meeting through Maximo to talk through how we would handled certain situations.   It was a very good discussion, and the difficult situations they might have would be just as difficult for us to work through, so we just shared the experiences we have had, and had some good talks.   Carlos was with us again from last year to help translate.   

I was also excited about this night, as I finally got to see Brother Israel.   We have been good friends, and he reminds me of a Honduran Flynn Gerald, and altho his accent is difficult for me to understand, I enjoy every moment picking on him and him picking on me.   He actually is helping some family at this time across Honduras, so he rode a bus 7 hours that morning to be at this meeting, and headed back the following morning.   We had a great meal cooked by the ladies at the day care, and then presented the new Elders and Deacons some study bibles.   It was a really great fun evening, but also one that I feel helped connect our group a little better with their local leaders.   Israel came back to the day care as I had picked him up some boots.   I could not read his face about whether he liked them or not, but I thought he might.   It was a fun night to end a crazy day.

One story that I never want to forget is a little girl that walked by me just outside the daycare.   You can't do this in the states, but in Honduras, pulling out a ninja or popper to show a magic trick to little kids walking down the street is perfectly acceptable.   And it always seems to change a blank face into a smiling face walking home with a new toy.   Well this little girl gave me the same little smile others do, and walked on to where Robillo was sitting and began talking with him, so assuming she was family or friend, I pulled out a popper and showed her how to make it work.   And the first time it popped up almost to her head, that girl let out the biggest belly laugh I heard the whole week.   She just could not hold the giggling in as I kept popping it to hear that laugh over and over.   Finally having to leave for the Elder meeting, I had to pull myself away, but loved seeing how big that smile had gotten.   

And as I don't know where else it fits, I will share that our day care set up does present our group with a strange situation in that our bathrooms are side by side with just open air above.   So, everyone on both sides know if you are having some bathroom issues.   You may also be singing in the shower, and have someone join in during the chorus from the other side of the wall.   We also found that little plastic hands would come over the wall into the shower, and airplanes might fly back over and hit you will sitting on the toilet.   All that to say, we always become very close when in Campamento, as there is not much privacy.   

Honduras Day 5 - The Families and School of Coyol

Our first day in the schools was also at my very favorite school to attend, Coyol.   The Coyol community is a long drive from the city, and prior to CRF focusing groups on this school, it was a struggling area where many of the kids ended school in the 2nd and 3rd grade, and then the young girls would shortly afterwards become moms.   CRFs focus on that area, and providing more educational opportunities, and providing transportation opportunities into the city, has been successful in that the school had their first 3 students graduate from high school 3 years ago.   And young ladies like our Oneyda Avila will finish high school in the spring, while also learning skills in computers, hair cutting and sewing.   While the opportunities are still rare, there are now open doors that were never open before.   

Remembering last year and the long hike, I knew we had to remember the extra bottles of water, so I made sure those were in the truck, but unfortunately when we got to the school I had forgotten the actually cooler, and we later remembered that we forgot the teacher gifts.   But it was a perfect first day other that those few things.  We stopped at the lookout where we always get a picture each year.   Our skit went really well, having only practiced a couple of times.   

The skit this year was "Miracles of Jesus" and we started at the home of Mary and Martha with that story, then had Jesus visiting the home of Jairus, then passing some lepers, and finally returning to the home of Mary and Martha to raise Lazarus.   I was the narrator, Davis played Jesus, Belle played Mary, Linley was Martha, and Andrew was Lazarus.   For the next scenes, we had Brandon playing Jairo, and Lauren playing his daughter (altho Savannah had to sub in on this day, since lauren was feeling sick), Sarah Beth, Ashley, and Maddyn were our lepers.   And Jonathan and Elizabeth were our disciples.   So while few in number, everyone had big roles and they all did great.   Even the set up team, which was all of those same people did amazing getting backpacks latched onto all of our backdrops quickly to ensure they they did not blow over.   

After the skit, we did our songs for the first time, and I think I led all of them on this day, but quickly turned most over to the girls on the second day, and Brandon led "I'm in the Lord's Army".   My favorite is "Hay Tormentas (There are Storms)" where we go slow at first, then the kids keep requesting we go faster and faster.   I have found that we can step it up about 3 times after the first time, and it always gets a laugh.   But we always have to end with ChuChuWa.   

Coyol each year has had several improvements in the area behind the school, where it is now fully covered large area.   It also has a huge table that fit all of the children of the school, so that we could do some activities centered around the Mary/Martha story.   Elizabeth Bailey put together three fun activities (A fold up coloring sheet, a popsicle stick Lazarus, and a fortune teller fold that asked questions about the story).   

Everything went really well, and I was so excited to visit with another of Oneydas sisters, Helen, and one of her brothers.   I also immediately got a big hug from Oneyda's dad Santos when we arrived.   They are a family of 8 and absolutely my favorite to visit with.   After the activities, I started the Bible Drill area, and had a good crowd, that really did well racing each other to see who was fastest to different parts of the bible.   One of the joys is to see them close their eyes and open directly to Psalms, or Matthew, or 1 Samuel, their big smiles and wide eyes are like they have stumbled upon a little magic.   Later I watched three little boys walk over to my three big drill bibles and start the game on their own, while one called out the book.   Boom, I loved it!   They also love love the bible match game cards, and you can tell if these cards are still around, I don't know how they make it with us playing in the dirt, on the grass, ont he concrete, wherever, but they are still holding up.   For next year, I did limit the players to 4, which helped tremendously on the crowd management around this game.   

Next we were about to help feed all of the kids and their parents (Eduardo preached a lesson to the adults while we were doing our drama, activities, and games.   I always put off the food till last so I can squeeze in as much time with the kids and parents as I can.   I got a flashlight to three of my favorite dads Santos Avila (Oneyda's dad), Santos Mesa (Oneyda's uncle, and I call him the "Father of ChuChuWa" for being the one dad last year to dance along with us), and Cecilio Mesa (a dad I first shared a conversation with in 2019 when we delivered mattresses to his house).   And little Helen was my tagalong everywhere I went, which was no problem to me.   

Next we divided up food for two families, and to get to these families, we had to go on a long hike.  I first wanted to visit Cecilio Mesa's house because I had not gotten to see him at the school, so we planned to visit him first, but I remembered the family at the top of the hill that seemed isolated, and I wanted to visit them again (The Estradas).   Many of the families at the school took the same hike up the mountain that we were taking as they also did this every day.   So we hopped on the trail with these families, including the Avilas, so Helen held my hand all the way up...always pointing out the "sombra" (shade) as a place to rest.   

Helen also went over to Belle for a while and also to Davis to ride on his shoulders, and one time just giggled while she swung between me and Davis.   At Cecilios house we again found that the fidget spinners, punch baloons and baby dolls were big hits.   Just past Cecilios, we arrived at Helen's house, her parents had just left her with us, and at their home, their mother (Reyna) got me to follow her out to the tree next to their house that produces a really sweet fruit.   It is one of the few things I do try, and I have eaten quite a few because they have a good mildly sweet flavor.   Knowing I like that fruit, Reyna had brought me a small bag earlier in the day to the school, and loved showing me her tree where she got them from.   

After we left their house, Helen just kept on coming with us at least until we made it to a small farm, where she finally had to return home.   Our journey continued through grass over my waist.   I was glad I had pants on, but hoping for no poison ivy for the others in our group with just shorts on.   But finally we made it up to the Estrada's for a quick visit.   While at both of these homes we got pictures of their families and were able to print them with the wireless printers so they could keep them in their home.   

It was a long long day, we had to return to the farm area, and travel in the truck back into town.   There was some cards going on that night, but I was tired and ready for a shower and sleep.   And it may have been on this night, but I had been hearing rumors of a hot shower, and it finally happened.   For the first time in all 6 years, they had hot water in the showers.    Honestly the cold showers are not that bad after the heat of the day, but it did feel pretty good.   And every day this year, we had full water pressure.   So, no complaints on the showers and bathrooms on this trip.