Day 11 - Wednesday, July 14th

It's 10:44pm Honduras time and I have just spent the day at the hostel. With the runs. The burning runs (sorry for being graphic). It's been a pretty good streak of healthy days considering how much contact I've had with unfiltered water, shady-looking ice, river water with parasites, and beverages from unknown sources. After a morning of sanding down bed tables for the kids in the local hospital, JLai, Sam, and I went to the Galeria (the mall) down the street and got some Church's chicken. The contrast between the Galeria and the surrounding neighborhood pretty much encapsulates a lot of the economic demographics of what we've seen of San Pedro Sula. The mall is gigantic and brand-spanking new, something right out of suburban America, but it's right next to local mom and pop shops where air-conditioning is non-existent, much like how the cardboard villages are located across the river from a luxury hotel and how huge neon franchise signs line the streets where donkey-pulled carts can be found.

I've been reading a book called "Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle" and it essentially talks about incarnational living, or living amongst the people you serve. The hostel lost power for most of the day today and it was all too easy for us to just hop on over next door to an air-conditioned wifi-equipped cafe and spend our afternoon occupying ourselves with frivolous activities like facebooking and window shopping online. But then I remember looking out the window and seeing a family crammed in the back of a pickup truck, wearing stained and sweaty clothes and riding in what can only be described as hot sticky air. I realized that even after a week of 90 degree 80% humidity weather and more sweat than I can remember, we are so blessed to have the option of escaping all this at any moment of our choosing. To be able to jump into an air-conditioned bus after a day's work, to be able to fill ourselves with virtually anything that our palates fancy, to be able to get first-class care in the event of an emergency.

I feel like this trip has put me at a crossroads between the mainstream desire to reach higher and for more and a challenge to, as the caption of the book says, pursue "living fully, loving dangerously". I know it's not that black and white and that there is and will be overlap, but I also know that it comes down to priorities and the direction of my life's focus.

The more I learn about this Christianity business, the more I realize how counterintuitive everything can be :]

Days 7,8,9,10

Day 7 - Saturday, July 10th

We spent the day in Nueva Florida entertaining kids waiting for a doctor at a medical brigade we had set up. It was hard to see all the families who were patiently waiting in line for hours to get medical attention and simple meds that they needed. I'm glad we were able to amuse the kids with face paint, balloon animals, songs, stories, and good-old fashioned rambunctious fun. The day started out with us singing worship songs on stage. We then broke off into smaller sections with some people doing face painting, some making balloon animals, some reading children's books to the kids, and some just playing with the kids. This devolved into a massive us vs. the kids balloon fight that lasted for the last couple of hours of our time there. It was good knowing that even though the kids in the villages here come from poor backgrounds, they're just like any other kids back in the States.

We also saw a mama dog and her three weeks-old pups. It was really sad because the mama dog was the skinniest animal I have ever seen and they said she was dying. Her pups kept trying to nurse but there wasn't anything she could give them. It was tough just knowing that as bad as the poor people here have it, animals must be getting it a lot worse :[

Towards the end of the day, some other members of Leah's church flew in and after a quick dinner at Wendy's, we had a church service in an outdoor church that we had been staging the medical brigade in. It was amazing to see how enthusiastic and excited people were to be there even though it was ridiculously hot and humid and there were no walls for the church.

Day 8 - Sunday, July 11th

We went to a church today Leah's church had built in January. It was on a hilltop and had a fantastic panoramic view all the village below. I spent some time just thinking about all the people we've met and how different each moment was with them. I'm really afraid that our interactions will become "packaged", that we'll just end up so numb to meeting so many people that we end up just following kind of a script. Pray that that won't happen?

After church, we drove to this beach resort park for some R&R time. We watched the end of the World Cup and had some tasty fish for lunch. The park was weird cuz it was a beach, swimming pools, and zoo combined in one so we would be walking to the beach and randomly see monkeys and water buffalo. It was more or less a relaxing time though I felt like we didn't really need it since its not like our work isn't enjoyable. The water was ridiculously warm, the warmest I've ever felt by far. And there were sand dollars in the water so that was kinda cool.

Day 9 - Monday, July 12th

We just got back from moving sand, assembling water jugs, and installing filters. I'm sitting in this really nice cafe right next to the hostel. It's owned by this really nice young couple, Luisa and Rafael, who speak some English, which is a nice change, and they're expecting their first baby :] It's always a nice surprise just talking to people here cuz you never know what to expect and they're often much nicer than you expect.

I was thinking about how bored I was when I was assembling the jugs today and how fortunate we are to be qualified for jobs where we can use our noggins. And then I thought about how fortunate we are to be even be able to work and not waste our lives away. There are so many people in the aldeas who literally don't do anything everyday cuz there's just nothing for them to do. I mean, they can collect recycling, but there are only so many cans and bottles lying around. And to think that much of the world either works jobs they hate or can't find work at all just reminds me of how high our expectations are and how blessed we are.

I think the amount of grime and sweat we go through everyday has changed my idea of what's dirty and what's not. Don't get me wrong, I'll be showering everyday when I get back, but put in perspective, we Americans are so finicky about being "clean". I guess it's just tough to worry about being a lil sweaty here when people have dirt floors in their houses.

Day 10 - Tuesday, July 13th

Lindsay's gonna be flying back home tmrw cuz she hasn't been getting better :[ It's sad but I'm proud of her for making a really tough decision cuz I know she really wants to be here. JLai has been getting hives and he now has a 101.6 degree fever, but it seems like everyone else is holding up ok.

We went to the beach today for a UCLA rest day. It was almost picture perfect, like the beaches you see in Caribbean ads. The funny thing is we didn't really do too much beachy stuff. We went into the water, caught a jellyfish, played some soccer, plucked some coconuts (which were really good), and chased after some stray cows. It was all rather randomly amusing. The cows all had leashes on them and I managed to grab one for a baby cow, but then the mama cow kinda stared us down so we just ran. I've got some amusing pics and videos though. All in all, I think it was a good time to hit the mental reset button.

On the way back, we saw an old man selling cold coconuts that he chopped open with a machete. He was selling them for 8 lempira (less than $0.50) each. It's so hard to escape images of poverty here. We figured that he couldn't have been making more than 400-500 lempira a day, which is about $20-$25 dollars. It's such a huge discrepancy with what we've been blessed with in terms of work. It's crazy to think that even as a college student working part-time in an air-conditioned office, I can be making in a couple hours what this coconut vendor makes in a day. It seems unfair and unjust.

We'll be going to work in the hospital for the first time tomorrow. Pray that I'm ready to do whatever's needed and that I have the emotional and spiritual strength to get through any tough situations we might encounter.

Days 5,6

On Thursday, we visited an orphanage about an hour away up in the mountains :] I have to give major props to the women who run the place cuz it's almost in the middle of nowhere and not only do they take care of the children, they GROW all of their own food. They made us a lunch with homegrown and homemade tortillas, a cucumber and tomato salad from their garden, beans from the garden, and this oatmeal flour pasty they made. It was amazing. I know it's sad that the kids are in an orphanage (some have parents but are there because of malnourishment) but I'm glad they're being really well taken care of :] And dear lord, the kids are so cute and full of life! They'd just finished eating lunch when we got there so each one of us pretty much paired up with a kid and went off to play. My lil nino (kid) was a two year old girl named Berta (she's the one kinda on my lap on fb) who would whisper where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do. Her vocab wasn't very big, which was fine by me cuz mine isn't either, so it was a lot of "There!" and "Here!" and "Yes!" and of course "No!" It started raining elephants and giraffes sometime so then I just taught her face parts so know she knows what her nose and eyes are! We also made balloon animals and toys for the kids, which was a hit, and played capture the flag. Berta went to get changed sometime in the afternoon so I went over and saw Lainey's baby, Ramon. He was a three year old but was tiny cuz he was abused when he was a baby and so malnourished. It broke my heart because he wasn't very comfortable with people and wouldn't let anyone near him (it took an hour for him to warm up to Lainey). BUT THEN, I put my arms out and he reached over! I ended up carrying him for a couple hours and he fell asleep :] That made my day. There's a pic of him too on fb, the kinda closeup one. It was such a beautiful day. Thank God for the kids and their caretakers. I think they really reminded me of how to be happy despite any bad circumstances. And did I mention they have pet monkeys?! Three of them! Two of them are kinda shy but the third one, Sasha, was a showoff and ate all our monkey treats.

We went back to the village yesterday to check and recalibrate filters. It was a more relaxing, less physically demanding day cuz we just spent a lot of time playing with the kids there and praying for families. One family was just a mom, Maria, and her son. Her son was sick (something wrong with his tummy) but she couldn't afford to take him to the clinic, where it costs 20 lempira, or 1 dollar, for a consultation and medicine. It broke my heart that something so negligible was holding this child back from being well. We ended up giving her some money and a few oranges for vitamins. We also spent some time playing with these 5 girls in one home who seemed really happy to have us there :] They were telling us riddles in Spanish, which I thought was really cool, and sang a few songs they had learned. We sang "Hallelujah, Salvation, and Glory" for them in return. It was just a really awesome cross-cultural experience for us and we finished by praying for them.

Last night, we had a lil party for Lainey and Eric (one of the folks from Leah's church) with American bbq and salad! Ok, side story. We went to Pizza Hut one of the nights for dinner and I was super excited because they had a salad bar. Turns out salad bar here means six different types of something with mayo. Broccoli with mayo, carrots with mayo, etc. I was really sad. I ended up eating a calzone which was decent. Pizza Hut is Honduras is pretty nice. They have a well set-up dining area and a waiting area with video games. And the bathrooms are the best I've seen so far! I think I'll go take my poops there from now on ;] Pizza Hut is considered one of the classier places to take your date, which I thought was kind of funny. Anyway, it was a good dinner and all the pastors we work with came with their families. A little bit about the pastors. There are two main ones we work with, Pastor Julio and Pastor Juan. They are almost polar opposites. Pastor Julio used to be a colonel in the army (I've had some good talks with him) and he's really loud and energetic but very prompt and straightlaced. Pastor Juan on the other hand is notorious for being late. Like LATE. Like 4 hours late because he knows pretty much EVERYONE in the city and will stop to talk to them all on the way to a meeting. But he's really fun and loud and jolly and we haven't had to deal with his lateness yet (except for when he almost didn't come to pick us up from the airport) so it's all good.

Days 2,3, 4

Day 2 - Monday

We just got back from our first heavy workday. Sat in the back of a pickup (like a real Hondureno!) to go pick up sand for the filters from a factory about 20 mins away. We sat around for a while and watched some of the workers have their lunch and then the epic lifting began. I don't think we moved everything today, but we did move at least 5 tons. I know some people took some pretty gnarly photos :] After we got everything loaded, we drove to a church next to the cardboard villages to unload and store everything. Then, we started assembling some of the water containers that the villagers can use to store clean water. It was rather boring but I think it gave me a greater sense of appreciation for the factory workers we saw. They work 6 days a week doing the same thing over and over again and on average they make $4400 a year :[ I realized how fortunate we are considering how most people in the world live such lives.

I don't think we were dry all day long. I have a video of me wringing my shirt out :] We actually jumped in the pool after we got back and then it started raining cats, dogs, and elephants when we were swimming so I'm pretty much still wet. There was supposed to be a gringo vs Honduran soccer game tonight, but we're not sure if it'll happen.

Day 3 - Tuesday

We started installing water filters today and it was such a blessing of an experience. I don't know how quite else to put it. It was at once what I expected but not at the same time. I mean, at home you can picture the villages and how poor and desperate the people will be but you can never prepare yourself for the laughter of the children and the hospitality and smiles of toothless villagers. The first family we visited was a grandma, grandpa, and their granddaughter. It was the cutest because I was trying to give the grandma instructions on how to use the filter in Spanish and I'm pretty sure I didn't say a lot of stuff right, but she nodded and tried to repeat what I said. In any case, we got through to each other alright and the grandpa brought back a bottle of orange soda for us after :] It was touching because these people are the poorest of the poor and I hear on average they make $1 or 20 lempiras a day, which is about how much a bottle of soda costs. They also had a pet pig they kept on a leash and they let us take a picture with them, pig included :]

My team installed about 6 more filters for the day in between trips to the church to pick up half a ton of sand and rocks and more filters. We got to pray with some families and it was an amazing experience knowing that a sand filter was bringing people from different worlds together :] Can't wait to go back tomorrow.

We just spent some time sharing and I guess I have a few more thoughts. We were reading a psalm and it was talking about how God detests pride and I guess I was thinking about how easy it is for me to take pride in installing water filters because it's such a tangible thing to do and evokes gratitude and such positive reactions. But, I've been reading a book called "Following Jesus through the Eye of a Needle" and it talks about how charitable acts like dropping coins into a Salvation Army kettle can be considered cheap charity because it only requires you to give up some negligible amount of money without any personal investment and I think simple installing water filters as an act in itself can at most be considered a half step above dropping coins into a kettle because we're just putting in a couple weeks of sweat and work (sorry for the long sentence). I have to remind myself that what we're doing is so much bigger than filters and that the filters and our interactions with the people serve as stepping stones and conduits for us to share the Word in the future.

I've been listening to this song called " Embracing Accusation" (Idk if I told you about it) and it's essentially about this guy who feels like the devil is saying, "Cursed are you who can't abide by God's laws." He feels like the devil is right but what the devil has left out is that Jesus saves. The song's kinda despairing throughout but it ends in a climax that just says, "Jesus saves," as though that silences everything else the devil says. The song has been speaking to me because I can't help but think that some villagers feel like they're wretched and poor because they've done something wrong, like when that one pastor said after the Haiti earthquake that the Haitians deserved the devastation because they made a pact with the devil. I want to bring them a message of hope, that God doesn't wish poverty upon them but rather, He wants to Jeremiah 29:11 them.

We got to play with some children today. It was beautiful to see them smile and laugh and run around like kids back home. It breaks my heart to know that the circumstances they live in will probably be the only ones they will ever know because of the lack of education and opportunity. I can only trust that God will lift them out of the aldeas (cardboard villages) and give them a brighter future.

On a lighter note, we also got to play with some puppies (I want one now) and we saw a hen in a pot and realized it was hatching its eggs in the pot and there were a few chicks running around in the pot. I have a pic :] Mega cute.

Day 4 - Wednesday

The people here are wonderful :] They're always smiling and laughing, especially the children. My Spanish is not that great but I remember having conversations with some mothers who we were installing filters for and how they said what we were doing was beautiful. There's just no sense of "You're rich. I'm poor. I deserve to be helped." We got to pray with some families and that was a great experience and testimony for both us and them methinks.

I learned quite a bit about the facts of life for the people in the aldeas today. One family we were installing filters for consisted of 3 sisters aged 17, 18, and 20. They had five kids between the 3 of them and the eldest kid was 5. It blew my mind just thinking about how crazy that would be back home. Back home, these girls would be considered just kids! On top of not being able to enjoy their teenage lives, they have to raise kids, worry about their next meal, stress over their kids being sick, etc. I think the whole experience so far has given me perspective on our lives and how fortunate we are to have won the economically-well-off-from-birth lottery.

There were some beautiful moments today :] Towards the end of the day, when we were waiting for our pickup to pick us up, we ended up playing with some of the kids. We started out with like 6 kids and ended up with 20. And when it was time for us to go, they came and hugged us all :] Also, some Rotary Club members who helped provide money for filters came to visit and it was just cool explaining who we were and how we installed the filters. They seem truly impressed that we were these students from a renown university in the US who were willing to come down and get sweaty and dirty for the poor.

Which brings me to my next point. I think one thing that's been put on my heart when interacting with the villagers is being prideful. It's easy for me to think that I'm this First Worldeducated citizen coming down to aid the poor. In reality, we're really all part of God's family and we need to remember the fact that the villagers are our brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, nieces and nephews. It's not that we could be here if we chose to do so but that we should be here.

Day 0 and 1 in Honduras!

Hi all!

I'm currently in San Pedro Sula, Honduras for a volunteer/missions trip with 10 other UCLA friends. It'll be a good trip to get some perspective on how the Third World lives and breathes, especially after graduating.

Our team got into San Pedro Sula yesterday at around noon with pretty much no hiccups (PTL!) The weather is ridiculously warm and humid, but that`s to be expected. We checked into the place we`re staying at, which is ridiculously nice cuz it has AC and a pool, went to the Honduran version of Costco to pick up fruit and water, and had dinner (baleadas for a total of $2!).

Today, we went to two local church services where we shared testimonies and JLai, Zach, Lainey, and I did some worship songs in English and Spanish. At one of the churches, a group of children from the cardboard villages did a dance performance and it was just awesome to see how much heart they out into it. Apparently, they had walked two miles in the heat just to come to church.

We just had lunch at Taco Pollo, a chicken place next to our hostel, and soon we'll be heading to the cardboard villages we'll be working in to learn how to install water filters :]