35 Things

Six months ago today, almost exactly to the hour, my sisters and niece, Jordyn, were coming into my room to wake me up. I was leaving that night for Honduras, and they had planned a special day for us. I got up and got ready to go to the Wild Animal Park. I had fun hanging out with my parents, sisters, and niece. My brother and brothers-in-law couldn’t make it, but we all got together that evening for dinner and a final farewell before we headed down to the airport for my red-eye flight. It was a very surreal feeling knowing that I wouldn’t see them for a year. I had never been away from home for so long.

I remember after 3 weeks here I would think every day, “This is the longest I’ve ever been away from home.” I’m not sure when I stopped thinking that, when making it through another day was no longer an amazing accomplishment. But slowly life here just became life. I stopped noticing that everyone around me was speaking another language. I stopped missing my dishwasher every time I did dishes. I stopped noticing that water sloshed on the underside of the taxi as we drove through yet another flooded road. I stopped noticing that there were 5 people on a motorcycle, none of them wearing helmets. Somehow, things that were quite shocking to me when I first arrived became normal. When my parents visited just after Christmas, it reminded me again of just how different some things are here than they are in the states.

So, in honor of reaching my half-way point, I thought I’d make a list of some of the things that I have experienced for the first time since coming to Honduras.

Before coming to Honduras I had never:

1.  Lived alone.

2.  Milked a cow.

3.  Preached in church.

4.  Ridden a bike to work.

5.  Passed a horse-drawn cart while riding my bike.

6.  Sat on a fold-down seat next to the driver over the stairs on a bus.

7.  Hand-washed clothes in a washtub.

8.  Danced Punta (traditional North Coastal Honduran dance).

9.  Swum in the Caribbean Ocean.

10. Been delayed overnight due to a cancelled flight.

11. Read the Bible lesson in Spanish during church.

12. Taught English class.

13. Celebrated Children’s Day.

14. Eaten a baleada (typical Honduran meal/snack)

15. Cooked plantains.

16. Seen a monkey in the wild.

17. Gone more than 3 weeks without seeing my family.

18. Stayed with a host family (during language school).

19. Been bitten by an ant.

20. Swum in natural hot springs.

21. Held a macaw.

22. Pushed a toad out of my house with a broom.

23. Picked a coconut.

24. Monitored a Spelling Bee.

25. Tried star fruit wine.

26. Been in a mangrove forest.

27. Eaten a freshly picked coffee bean.

28. Spent Christmas away from my family.

29. Been shocked by a shower head.

30. Picked wild cilantro.

31. Made a cake from scratch.

32. Eaten pan de coco (coconut bread).

33. Been a translator.

34. Exchanged U.S. dollars in a pizza place.

35. Made tortillas by myself.

Some of these are silly, but I really have seen, done, and learned so much since coming to Honduras. I am grateful for the opportunity I’ve been given to grow, experience God in new ways, and hopefully make a difference along the way. I can’t wait to see what lies ahead in the next six months. Thanks for all your support and prayers!