Honduras - Day 5

We met for a time of morning devos. Today, we read Matthew 28. As the days progress, I am getting less and less out of these devotional times. I don't know if it's my hard heart or because of my disconnectedness, but I'm not all there during these times. I do my best to focus on the text and try to really internalize it for the day, but none of them are really that helpful.

The last two days, I pretty much said things just for the sake of saythings. There's supposed to be a set of questions that go along with the passage, but I don't make a big effort to answer them. Most of the answers are superficial and don't ask the really interesting things about the text.

We had breakfast downstairs again and it's just not very good. When we went around and shared about what we were looking forward to, I was a bit ashamed to say lunch. The night before, Linshuang and I had decided that we were going for that beef stew that I had the other day. We were just dying for something familiar and that wasn't fried and such. But the food here, no matter how good it is, is really beginning to wear on me. It's sad to say, but I think I've tried pretty much everything there is to try down here. No matter what venders we go to, they pretty much all offer the same things.

After breakfast, I went to the internet cafe to blog and catch up on some emails. While I was there I had the pleasure of chatting with Jamie Hsieh for a bit. She had been reading my blog and had a bit of insight to share with me. We talked a little about my disconnectedness and some of the issues I had with Ernesto. Didn't really come to any conclusions, but I wanted to make an effort with both to try and resolve them. Most likely, both were issues with me that I needed to take care of.

I was also very pleased to see that the tickets for Perry O'Neil and Nu NRG were onsale. I promptly pulled out my credit card and placed an order. I may be in another country, but I can still buy things online. I wrapped up my emails and headed back to the hotel.

Ernesto had some stuff that he still needed to finish up. He was strapped for time, so I offered to help him out. There wasn't much I could do, but I did my best at what I could.

He was trying to set up some training exercises for Quickbooks. Even though I took a course in accounting and I understand some of it, I don't know enough to explain or teach it to anyone. So I just wrote the exercise scenarios for his lesson plan.

It wasn't long until lunch, so instead of starting on my other work, I sat back and played some games.

The day crew came back and we promptly left for the market to get the stew. And oh my goodness was the soup amazing. Of all the food I've had down here, this was by far the best that they had to offer. Linshuang and I were surprised at how much the stew tasted like home. There was pieces of taro in it, some real vegetables, and this root called yuca which reminded me a lot of chinese white turnip. As good as the stew was the other day, this was easily 100 times better. It had all the trappings of home and just made us feel wonderfully comfortable. Before we were even finished, we had decided to go back tomorrow.

After lunch, Linshuang and I worked on our training stuff a bit. Both of us were feeling the effects of food coma settling in, so we decided to just take a break.

I finished work on the script that would manipulate the existing POS data into a workable format for Quickbooks. No matter what the programmer says, I'd like to have a backup plan in case his claims aren't as accurate as he first stipulated.

Not too long after I finished the work, the day crew came back. Linshuang and I worked on some more of the training materials. Since my spanish is pretty awful, she would be the one doing the actual teaching. Even though she didn't know a lot of the material herself. While she gathered her thoughts and practiced a bit, I sat on the side and acted as her dictionary, looking up words she didn't know. It was actually a pretty good system.

We didn't get to work too long before we had to head to the office and actually teach this stuff.

The training went really well. Even though I can't really speak spanish, I used the few words I knew combined with some cheating by reading the spanish version of word combined with a lot of vigorous pointing to get things across.

It was wonderful being as helpful as I was during the training. I had not expected to be of any help at all. And considering how poor my communication is, I still managed to convey the message well. It was wonderful teaching them new things and seeing that most of them enjoyed learning these new things that they didn't know previously.

After training, we went to the closest place for dinner. Tired of most of the local fair, I went for a cheesburger. Alas, it was very unsatisfying. It was just as good as any random burger you get at a fast food joint. The only difference was that this wasn't fast.

Linshuang and I had a good chat on the way back. The past few days, we've taken the opportunity to really chat after dinner and it's been really meaningful for me. To be able to share thoughts with someone else and really be able to have an exchange is great. No matter how different the two of us are, there's enough commonality that we get along well. These are actually some of my best times during the day. The only time that might be better is when I have the beef stew. What am I saying, the beef stew is definately better. Just kidding.

We debriefed and Joy shared about how she was really frustrated that she couldn't get in contact with the outside world. The other day, she briefly had a one sided conversation with her aunt, but that's not nearly enough. It's understandable, considering her mother is in the hospital, that she would like to keep aprised of that situation.

After she shared about her frustration, we all kind of sat in an awkward silence. I expected Ernesto, not only her husband but also the team lead, to give her assurance that she would be able to get access to the net or some form of communication.

I know how difficult it would be for me if I couldn't blog. This is pretty much my way of looking back on the day and reflecting. It's a way for me to evaluate the things that happened throughout the day and internalize it. If I don't blog it in the same day, I may forget it forever.

After we prayed and closed for the night, I couldn't help but feel Satan's arrows. Could all this internal struggle be because Satan is trying to tear us apart? The best way to defeat an organization is from within, so Satan will attack those internal relationships first.

We don't have much defense from these sort of attacks, but the one defense that we have is all that we need. Keep praying for us. God will take care of it.

Tomorrow is going to be my first day working with the children. As disconnected as I have been, I don't know how effective I'm going to be. I don't much care for children as it is, but I'm going to have to do my best to interact as much as I can. I know that God is doing something and teaching me something. I need to keep that in mind and just be conscience of what that is.

This is also the first time I've been down here that mosquitos have been really bothering me. I found my first bite and it's not comfortable. It's probably because I didn't get a chance to reapply the DEET tonight. I guess it can't be a missions trip unless you get bit.

By the way, the remix of the Killas track by Okidata is amazing. It was on both A State of Trance 204 and 205. It is an amazing track. Listen to it if you get a chance.