This has been an eventful week in Honduras. We said goodbye to the 12 interns by having a grand cookout at their house Thursday night. Jarrod and Ally prepared grilled steak, chicken and shrimp for everyone. It was delicious. It was a great night just to be together and wrap up our time together.
On Friday, Shelly and I took the interns with Ronald Millon to an island to conduct a VBS and women's health seminar. We loaded everyone on small canoe-like boats to get to the island and all the interns kept saying they felt like they were on an African safari. It does come across like that. They did an excellent job spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to those on the island on their last day in Honduras. We ended the visit to the island with an announcement to the residents that Healing Hands International is going to help run pipe to the island to provide water. They have never had this and it will be a blessing to everyone.
Shelly and I then said our goodbyes to the interns and headed to another island with Ronald to find out what their needs are. They are in need of a bridge (which we are going to provide) and some septic systems. We hope to work with them more in the future.
Saturday was the biggest day of the year for San Marcos de Colon. It was the final day of the fair and the biggest party day. So many people were in the city. Shelly and I were tickled last night because just as the music was to begin and the party to kick it up to the next level, the electricity went out and a monsoon came through the city. That shut everything down. About an hour later, the rain passed and the electricity came back on and the next thing you knew, everyone started coming out of their homes and shelters and heading to the party. When we went to bed at 11 pm, the music was loud and going strong. We have heard that they went until 4 am.
The fair is over now and people are beginning to head back to their regular lives which is great for us. Maybe things will quiet down here. We have lived in a constant state of loud sounds this whole week. We have a group arriving on Wednesday to do some medical work. We will host people until August 15th and then settle back down into our regular schedules.
Let us hear from you soon. Email us: chad@missionlazarus.org and shelly@missionlazarus.org. We want to know what is happening with each of you and where you live. Remember that we are in the middle of nowhere and anything new and exciting is great to hear.
Chad
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
The San Marcos de Colon Fair
Well, I have finally found some time to blog. We have had groups here since June 1st and that has kept all of us pretty busy. I don't know what it is going to be like when it is just Chad, me, Jarrod, Alli and Meredith. We are not going to know what to do with ourselves. I am sure there will be plenty of things for us to get in to.
Yesterday was the opening day of the San Marcos de Colon Fair. It was an exciting day. Chad and I began our day with breakfast at about 9:30 and from then on we were with friends and had such an amazing day. The parade was to begin at 10:30 a.m., so we invited the 12 interns and the Beltrand children and their caregivers over to watch (the parade went right in front of our house.) The interns showed up around 9:45 and frosted the cookies while I made coffee and got other things ready for the kids to come at 10:00. We all enjoyed a wonderful refreshment time with cookies, rice Krispie treats, coke and coffee until the parade began. It started right on Honduran time, 11:15 a.m.
After the parade, we took the kids and went walking around town. I do not have any more pictures from the day because it was not really safe to carry the camera with us due to the crowds of people in the streets. We walked to the other street where the parade was going through and got to see the horses again. There was a pick up truck bed full of men playing instruments and the horses were dancing and prancing to the music. Then, it started raining, so we went and hid under some trees in the park for a while until the rain slowed down.
We went up to the holding area where the horses were eating and the riders were having a celebration. There were also some little shopping booths and some fun stuff for the kids to do. The little kids jumped in a blow up elephant and the big kids played on a big blow up slide. They had so much fun that they had to of course have something to drink and a little snack afterward. They needed to leave, so Chad and I stayed and walked around a little bit and then decided we would go watch the bull riding.
It was so funny. The bulls would come out of the shoot bucking and kicking for about 10 seconds and then they just stood there with the rider on them. There were 3 men that were dressed up like clowns that had red cloths and spears. They were teasing the bulls to make them run around some more. Up in a little booth there was a live mariachi band. Latin America culture is to have the speakers set so loud you cannot hear what is being said. The music overpowered everything. A little while later, the MC guy announced that they were going to have a soccer game in the middle of the corral. He began collecting money from the crowd to pay the winning team. Some people were giving $5 and $10. He ended up with about 3,000 lempiras, about $150.
They began the game with a large bottle rocket. The object of the game was to get 5 goals. The guys played for a few seconds and then a large cow with huge horns was let loose into the corral where the men were playing. Everyone went crazy. It was so funny watching the guys try to get away from the cow and the cow trying to figure out which one she was going to go after next.
It was a fun day. We were beat when we got home. It was really neat to see the similarities and differences of how they put on a fair here. There were parts that reminded me of being at the Williamson County Ag Center at the Fair.
Thanks for reading!
Shelly
Yesterday was the opening day of the San Marcos de Colon Fair. It was an exciting day. Chad and I began our day with breakfast at about 9:30 and from then on we were with friends and had such an amazing day. The parade was to begin at 10:30 a.m., so we invited the 12 interns and the Beltrand children and their caregivers over to watch (the parade went right in front of our house.) The interns showed up around 9:45 and frosted the cookies while I made coffee and got other things ready for the kids to come at 10:00. We all enjoyed a wonderful refreshment time with cookies, rice Krispie treats, coke and coffee until the parade began. It started right on Honduran time, 11:15 a.m.
There were floats and everything. The best thing about parades here is that they not only throw candy from the floats, but they also throw bags of frozen chicken and homemade cheese. I about got knocked out by a flying bag of cheese.
After the floats they had some really nice cars and then horses. They were all really cool. The horses were the neatest to watch. Some just trotted right on through and stayed in line. The best ones though were the ones dancing. We had a horse from Las Palmas that participated in the parade along with one of our ranch foremen, Holman. Don't they look good?
A little side note; Chad and I just found out this past week that we are going to have another baby horse. We are very excited. This white stallion is the daddy.
After the parade, we took the kids and went walking around town. I do not have any more pictures from the day because it was not really safe to carry the camera with us due to the crowds of people in the streets. We walked to the other street where the parade was going through and got to see the horses again. There was a pick up truck bed full of men playing instruments and the horses were dancing and prancing to the music. Then, it started raining, so we went and hid under some trees in the park for a while until the rain slowed down.
We went up to the holding area where the horses were eating and the riders were having a celebration. There were also some little shopping booths and some fun stuff for the kids to do. The little kids jumped in a blow up elephant and the big kids played on a big blow up slide. They had so much fun that they had to of course have something to drink and a little snack afterward. They needed to leave, so Chad and I stayed and walked around a little bit and then decided we would go watch the bull riding.
It was so funny. The bulls would come out of the shoot bucking and kicking for about 10 seconds and then they just stood there with the rider on them. There were 3 men that were dressed up like clowns that had red cloths and spears. They were teasing the bulls to make them run around some more. Up in a little booth there was a live mariachi band. Latin America culture is to have the speakers set so loud you cannot hear what is being said. The music overpowered everything. A little while later, the MC guy announced that they were going to have a soccer game in the middle of the corral. He began collecting money from the crowd to pay the winning team. Some people were giving $5 and $10. He ended up with about 3,000 lempiras, about $150.
They began the game with a large bottle rocket. The object of the game was to get 5 goals. The guys played for a few seconds and then a large cow with huge horns was let loose into the corral where the men were playing. Everyone went crazy. It was so funny watching the guys try to get away from the cow and the cow trying to figure out which one she was going to go after next.
It was a fun day. We were beat when we got home. It was really neat to see the similarities and differences of how they put on a fair here. There were parts that reminded me of being at the Williamson County Ag Center at the Fair.
Thanks for reading!
Shelly
Thursday, July 19, 2007
We are still here
Don't think that we have fallen off the face of the earth. We are still here trying to catch up now after several groups. Give me a few days and we will post some new writings. Adios.
Chad
Chad
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