Friday, August 27, 2010

Finishing Notes for 2010

Saturday & Sunday involved the 2-hour bus ride from Guaimaca to Tegucigalpa and then a 4-hour bus from Tegucigalpa to San Pedro Sula. We spent the night at Luis & Blanca's once again (what wonderful hosts), and headed out early Sunday morning for our flight to Miami, and then the connecting flight to Chicago where Bob & the kids picked us up (oh, how I missed them!).

Rather than bore you with details of my return home...I want to direct this last blog in a different direction. This last blog will most likely be my longest one of 2010, but I hope that you find it as refreshing while reading it as I feel writing it.

For those of you who have been following my blog since my first trip in August of 2008, I know that this year's entries may have seemed vastly different from the prior two years...and for that, I deeply apologize. This year was the first year that I had given my blog address to the summer school students I had taught who donated items to be sent down to Emmanuel. Unfortunately, here in Wisconsin, we have a STRONG legal separation between church & state and once I had give out the blog address...I wasn't sure how to tackle this blog.

However, after having this weigh on my heart heavily over the past month, here are the conclusions I've come to:
  • This is my personal blog. It is neither a homework assignment, nor a requirement that the summer school children come to this site. Students who donated items who had a true concern about the situation of the children at Emmanuel would be able to follow me on my journey at their choosing.
  • The entire trip I have been writing the blogs, I felt the pressure of not speaking in a true form about the experiences at Emmanuel weigh more & more on my heart. And for those of you who have read the past two years...you know that Emmanuel COULD NOT exist without God.

For those of you who haven't followed the past two years, there's a lot of information to share, but I'd invite you to go to the right-hand column of my blog to read how this trip came about. You'll find all this information in the 2008 entries during the week of July 20-27, but there are a few things I'd like to highlight right here:

First of all the motivating verse for me and many Christian volunteers throughout the world (and I will put it here in Spanish...the language of Emmanuel and that which is near & dear to my heart...feel free to look it up!):

Mateo 25:34-40

Entonces dirá el Rey a los que estén a su derecha: "Vengan ustedes, a quienes mi Padre ha bendecido; reciban su herencia, el reino preparado para ustedes desde la creación del mundo. Porque tuve hambre, y ustedes me dieron de comer; tuve sed, y me dieron de beber; fui forastero, y me dieron alojamiento; necesité ropa, y me vistieron; estuve enfermo, y me atendieron; estuve en la cárcel, y me visitaron." Y le contestarán los justos: "Señor, ¿cuándo te vimos hambriento y te alimentamos, o sediento y te dimos de beber? ¿Cuándo te vimos como forastero y te dimos alojamiento, o necesitado de ropa y te vestimos? ¿Cuándo te vimos enfermo o en la cárcel y te visitamos?" El Rey les responderá: "Les aseguro que todo lo que hicieron por uno de mis hermanos, aun por el más pequeño, lo hicieron por mí."

As I mentioned in 2008 during common ground in church during my presentation of the experiences I had at Emmanuel, volunteering doesn't solely have to be in 3rd world countries! Having been raised a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran and attending their parochial school from Kindergarten through the 8th grade, we had the opportunity to memorize a vast number of Bible passages and hymns. As I was putting the many hours in at the clinic, the words "Here am I, send me, send me" kept resounding in my head. I struggled to remember what the old traditional-style hymn was, but after a little bit of research, I finally found it. For those of you who feel that our Lord is calling you to serve, the following passages to the hymn may give a better idea where God could be calling you to serve:


Hark the Voice of Jesus Calling

Hark the voice of Jesus calling,
"Who will go and work today?
Fields are ripe and harvest waiting,
Who will bear the sheaves away?"
Long and loud the Master calls us,
Rich reward He offers free;
Who will answer, gladly saying,
"Here am I, send me, send me"?

If you cannot cross the ocean,
And the distant lands explore,
You can find the lost around you,
You can help them at your door;
If you cannot give your thousands,
You can give the widow's mite;
What you truly give for Jesus,
Will be precious in His sight.

"If you cannot speak like angels,
If you cannot preach like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus,
You can say He died for all.
If you cannot rouse the wicked,
With the judgment's dread alarms,
You can lead the little children
To the Savior's waiting arms.

"If you cannot be the watchman,
Standing high on Zion's wall,
Pointing out the path to heaven,
Offering life and peace to all,
With your prayers and with your bounties
You can do what heaven demands,
You can be like faithful Aaron,
Holding up the prophet's hands.

"If among the older people,
You may not be apt to teach,
"Feed My lambs," said Christ, our Shepherd,
"Place the food within their reach."
And it may be that the children
You have led with trembling hand,
Will be found among your jewels,
When you reach the better land.

Let none hear you idly saying,
"There is nothing I can do."
While the lost of earth are dying,
And the Master calls for you;
Take the task He gives you gladly;
Let His work your pleasure be;
Answer quickly when He calls you,
"Here am I, send me, send me."



Feel free to visit the website listed here: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/h/v/hvoicejc.htm to see the lyrics and to hear the melody of the song written almost 150 years ago.

Although I memorized all of these verses when I was in elementary & middle school, it was the last verse that I remember best and has stuck with me through the years. Is God calling you? What are YOU doing? What can YOU do???

August 20th - The Team Arrives!

Last Day at Emmanuel...

This morning Leigh and Therese both came to relieve me from the overnight clinic hours so that I could go to the BIG circle. I actually haven't been to BIG circle in 2 years, since they didn't not have it last year during my stay (due to the rains this time of year). I was so excited!!!

When I arrived to the yard (where the BIG circle was being held), I said my hellos/goodbyes to many of the children who I've become close to over the past 3 years. I chose to stay by Doris during devotions. The team that arrived yesterday afternoon was walking around, and I quickly recognized them as the same team who had come last year while Andrés, Jenny & I were there. They are SO kid focused and it was exciting to see them again. They had mentioned emailing me months before to let us know they dates they'd be down in Honduras, but since we had changed internet providers...the email never reached us. I was glad to be able to spend the day with them.

Verónica led the devotion this morning (with Tammy translating). It was about forgiveness and how we need to think about truly forgiving. We say it ourselves in the prayer that we've been taught by our Lord: "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". Think about that for just one second. You are PRAYING to God that if you cannot forgive one another, you wish that God does not forgive you either! I don't think that I put too much thought into that during my elementary, secondary, and college years...because I have always had a hard time forgiving those who had hurt me. I still have a difficult time forgiving, but know to ask for God to help me through the process of forgiving those who have really hurt me...because I WANT TO BE FORGIVEN BY HIM.

Lydia spoke afterwards about the illnesses that are all throughout Honduras and at Emmanuel. We have 3 staff children who have Dengue Fever, and then there's been the chicken pox. The clinic has been running, but the energy of the few who are able to work the clinic (those who have had chicken pox previously, or the vaccine) is lessening by the day as volunteers like me have been working non-stop 8-18 hours per day for 2-3 weeks straight. We prayed with Lydia for the illnesses to go away and for rest for the volunteers. That was pretty emotional for me, as I realized that my time here was winding down.

After BIG circle, I headed to the clinic to update Leigh & Therese on how last night went and to see if there was anything they needed. On the way back to the volunteer house, the team leaders caught me and asked what they could do to motivate their team to do some clinic hours. I was SO excited for this question! We chatted a while and they said they'd try their best.

I spent the morning doing laundry, getting ready to pack to go back home. I had plans to go into Guaimaca when my laundry was done to get a few things for family (especially for my kids) before the day-long trip back to San Pedro Sula tomorrow. Tammy dropped by to ask me if I could take the team into town in the early afternoon, so I thought that would give me a good chance to talk with any who had questions about the clinic.

The team, Andrés & I headed into town about 1:00 and they got some groceries. I purchased a few items (not nearly as much as I had in years past, since I was focused on getting the team where they wanted to go), and after a few hours we headed back to the orphanage. There were team members who chatted about the clinic and had questions, and we agreed to meet there around 5:30 to show those who were interested around and what was going on.

So here's how I spent the time inbetween town and what would be my last stop at the clinic: Heading to various girls houses to drop off a few notes of encouragement to those children I had made connections with:
  • Blanca & Carol -I gave them some glitter shower gel, to help her SHINE for Jesus!,
  • Doris -I also gave her a few Christian T-Shirts I had brought from home,
  • Dalia - She had helped me so much when she was in the clinic with the chicken pox, so I also gave her a T-Shirt of the U.S.
  • Pamela (aka: Invisible) - I had a pair of tennis shoes which didn't fit me correctly and happened to notice her shoes were completely worn out...all of her toes were completely exposed because her tennis shoes were ripped from wear. I didn't think that anyone would have the same size feet as me (since most girls, even the upper teenagers, are around size 7 or less)...however she wore a 9! What a perfect match. :-)

At 5:30, I met with the team at the clinic and noticed that the clinic was back up to 10 children...all ages 8 and under and 4 of them were toddlers. Once again they have their hands full! I was so happy that FIVE team members wanted to help out. Leigh even shed a couple of tears for the relief that was about to come - most likely from sheer exhaustion. This helped me to feel better about leaving tomorrow. If they can only get a couple of days of rest...that'll most definitely help!

Rachel had made some cupcakes for two girls who worked over at the toddler house, so I offered to help her take the trays of goodies over with her in the pouring rain! Then I headed to bed early, knowing that we'd be out the door early Saturday morning at 5am.