Day 10 - The Last Day

Today we went to a local tourist destination called the "Valley of the Angels." This involved walking around lots of similar shops that sold lots of similar boxes and definitely-genuine football shirts.
There were also machetes, which we decided not to buy on advice that we may get put into a Honduran prison cell for the night if our luggage were to be searched.

There were also gifts for the mentally ill: a wide array of dead frogs that had been dried out and nailed into positions to look like humans. I decided to buy coffee rather than pay money for a dead reptile playing a xylophone.

In the evening we watched the kids give us a goodbye performance, which involved some dancing and singing. Then a few kids gave some emotional goodbye speeches which made us all want to stay for longer.

However, we decided that we probably should leave seeing as we've booked the tickets and all.

We went outside for a bonfire where we roasted (set fire to) marshmallows and the team were all given thank you cards. Except Pippa (who got hers on friday).

The trip has been amazing, but a part of me is looking forward to being on the right - as in 'correct' side of the road. (Dylan)

Our flight tomorrow is at 11.40 in the morning our time (or so I've been told) and we will be arriving at Heathrow early Friday morning. Thank you everyone for reading the blog and supporting us and the home financially and through prayer. Keep checking the blog and Twitter over the coming days as we should be posting some reflections and also some details about how to support the home and children through sponsorship!!! I will also try and put as many pictures up on both as soon as we get a more reliable Internet connection! Much love, Sam

Word from Dunc

Driving up to the dump yesterday with the team from St.Peter's was one of those experiences that will remain with me for a very long time.  As we wound our way up the dusty track that leads to the plateau where the trucks dump their loads of rotting rubbish, we found a place to park the bus and began to distribute food and water to the adults and children who are trying to eek out and existence earning 50p a day from recycling rubbish.

On our way up to the dump I was talking with Jimmy who decided to come up to the dump with us.  Jimmy is 13 and has been attending the AFE School for the last 8 years with his little brother Jimmy.  Both boys have to work on the dump at weekends and after school in order to support their mum and keep food on the table.

Jimmy (photo left) and I were talking about what happened the day before when a group of armed men drove up to the dump and open fire at a group of people.  Two people died instantly and two are now seriously ill in hospital.  Jimmy told me how one of the bullets whizzed just an inch away from his leg and lodged itself in the rubbish.

He was lucky to be alive as one the older boys that usually works with him was only 15 and was killed in the shooting.  He was obviously in a state of alert and was sticking very close to us.

Life for these children is often defined by poverty, violence, abuse, hunger and hard work.  Enjoying what many of us have experienced of childhood is not an option for these children.  Their life expectancy is not that great and even worse for girls who always seem to suffer the most.

In countries like Honduras nearly 25% of all pregnant women are aged 10-14 years and 400 of those girls die each year as a result of being pregnant so young.

It is hard to understand how a child can cope with all that is thrown at them but they manage to smile and still hope rises in their hearts.

The team from St.Peter's have sown a lot into so many hearts during this trip and I have seen how this has made hope rise in so many lives.

Thank you team for coming to serve and love those who many turn away from.

Dunc Dyason

Day 9

Today we woke up early to make our way to AFE, the school near the rubbish dump. It was definitely one of our most challenging days so far. When we arrived Pastor Jonny, the founder and manager of AFE gave us a tour. He joked at how he would keep it short to just 3 hours but this was no joke... we were able to see some of the kids in their classes from crèche through to 11th grade. It was cool to hear their dreams and hopes for the future. We were also able to have some time playing with the children in their break time which involved pushing them on swings.

After this it was on to the dump. A few of us were already feeling sick due to heat stroke and were apprehensive at the thought of the dump, however, powered on through anyway. As soon as we got up the hill we were oberwhelmed by the stench and surrounded by people, cows, dogs and vultures all searching through the rubbish. We aimed to share out as much food as possible whilst we were up there and so split into teams for the children, women and men. With over 1000 people working and living at the dump, this was a near impossible task and each of us were bombarded by crowds of people grabbing food. This was an overwhelming experience for many and was difficult to deal with, but we were able to pray for and feed some people.

Unfortunately we weren't able to stay at the dump for very long as we were in a rush to get back to start cooking our English meal for the home! For this we were making beef stew with dumplings and roast potatos, and for desert trifle...yum! This all went really well despite the lack of time and the kids were all asking for seconds. With some English music from DJ Dunc and street dancing from some of the children we all had an enjpyable evening.

Its been a long day and we're all tired now but excited for a relaxing day of shopping tomorrow!

Lots of love,

Lois and Ruth

Messages to home;

Ruth : Hi mum and dad, all is gooing well and the weather is amazing! Food is honduran but really nice. Hope all is well at home and can't wait to see you soon x

Ellie : Still not ill and haven't fainted yet!

B & B : Today was surprising between AFE and the dump, on like heaven and the other like the other place. Going to AFE has really helped us to see why we have come to Honduras as well as going to Derby. Hope everyone at home is enjoying keeping up to date with our blog and we also appreciate everyones prayers.

Lorna : Looking forward to seeing you all, going to miss it here and definitely need to come back soon! God's doing amazing work and can't wait to share it all with you when I'm home. Make sure the sun's shining for when we get back. Love you all!

Day 8

Hello all!
Today was our final day of holiday club, fittingly we shared a story named 'the last goodbye' - about Jesus' breakfast on the beach with his disciples.
We then played games, crab football went down a treat with the older ones, meanwhile the younger ones shouted 'corre', (run), much to our confusion. We were too hot to walk let alone run. However, we gave in to their demands and had some relays!
This morning was spent either studying, napping, or shopping for food for our English dinner tomorrow night. Rumour has it the market was quite an experience - a drunken man came up to Charlotte and began to rub her arm, definitely a little too close for comfort, he insisted he had aloe vera to cure her of her freckles! However, the ingredients for stew, dumplings and trifle were all bought - lets hope the stew is a little more tasty than the cottage pie of two years ago - although our ingredients do keep disappearing into our dinner.
This evening we were all forced to reflect a little after two of the children from the home - Eva and Bryan - shared their testimonies. As Mauricio said 'I cannot understand how these children can go outside and play and laugh, when you know all that they have been through.'
However, to hear Eva talk about God having a plan for her life was incredible, she said to us, 'I tell you my story not to make you cry but so that you know what God has done in my life.' Manuelito has broken the cycle of poverty in her life. If she had stayed on the streets it is unlikely she would be alive today.
We were also able to pray for the staff, to be reminded of all they have given up to serve God, by serving these children, is an inspiration. To support the work of this project, the staff and the children, please not only pray, but also consider sponsoring a child - it takes 10 sponsors to cover the cost of looking after one child for a month! For more information please follow this link. http://www.streetkidsdirect.org.uk/index.php/get-involved/child-sponsorship

With much love to all our cold friends in England.
X

Day 7 - Church and giant Jesus

Today (Sunday) we went to the the capital, Tegucigalpa, to celebrate the 47th anniversary of Pastor Jorge Pinto's Church, Amor y Vida. Pastor Pinto is the founder of Manuelito and so we and all the kids from the project took two buses on the hour and a half journey to be there.

Church started at about 10.30, but it seemed to be only us until about 11 (I'm not going to worry about being 5 minutes late to church ever again). We watched some lovely dancers with flags and tambourines who wore lots of silk clothing and worshiped as best we could (not much singing, lots of clapping). We introduced ourselves and Rosalie did a small talk about stepping out and about the future of the St Peters/Amor y Vida/Manuelito partnership and we tried to sing light of the world in Spanish. Maybe we will try it at Church when we we're back...

After Church we quickly ran out to the buses and took a trip up a huge hill overlooking Tegucigalpa which has a large statue of Jesus, similar to Rio De Janeiro, on top. We ordered 35 pepperoni pizzas which greeted us at the top which filled us and all the kids up to the brim! Duncan said it was nice to hear the kids say that they were full.

After a couple of hours in the park around giant Jesus we headed back to Manuelito via a trip to a supermarket. We were told it was a more expensive supermarket as it was stocked with a lot of American food and upon entry was clearly very popular with American missionaries. We stocked up on lucky charms, pop tarts and Dylan bought 12 cans of root beer (despite the fact he had never tried it before and has now decided he doesn't like).

It's been a long, hot and tiring day and I think we are all looking forward to bed.

Day 6 - Womens event

Sorry for the delay in this blog, the internet has been down for a day!

So Saturday was the day of the womens event. We woke up at the usual time of around 6 to find a 'small tarantula' in the sink. After a few screams, one of the older boys from the home came to rescue us. Apparently it was venomous...so he used some kitchen tongs to remove it. After the initial shock we continued with our breakfast and ran through the itinerary for the day.

The plan for the morning was to make sandwiches, this seemed like a colossal task and so we were worried when we didn't begin making them until half 11! Despite the delay, we made 192 sandwiches in just under an hour and were all ready for the day ahead.

Soon we were off. when on the bus it took us a while to get off as we kept forgetting things and people but we got there in the end with plenty of time to spare. The afternoon started with some Spanish worship and some dancing put on by some of the youth. This followed with an introduction from Rosalie followed by testimonies from Beth, about chosing love and not fear and from Charlotte about forgiveness, all of which were received well from the Church of around 90 women. The talks were not only encouraging for the Hondurans but also the rest of the team that were there. After this we had a small break and handed out the sandwiches we'd made in the morning with some soda.

The church were all grateful for the snack and were ready to return to some teaching. We began part 2 with singing to them, 2 songs in English and 1 in Spanish. Alejandra then spoke about the women's worth - more precious than silver. This followed by some time in ministry and handing out the gifts we had prepared for the women. All seemed to enjoy themselves as we were shown through the 90 hugs each of us got before leaving the building.

Some final thank yous and dancing was done and we were back on the bus for a quick change over at the home before a bonfire tonight with the kids. Only the youth half of the group decided to join in the bonfire as the others were tired. The bonfire was an evangelical event put on by the church which involved fire, worship and what seemed like a very motivational talk (in Spanish).

We were glad to get home and in bed after a long day!

Hope all is well at home and I hope it's starting to warm up in preparation for our return.

Lots of love,

Lois x

Day 5!

Hello all...
Today was a fairly relaxing day! We started the morning off by playing rounders in the kids PE lesson, whilst a few of the girls sorted out the gift bags for the women's event in Talanga tomorrow.

After,  we had a team meeting where we did some worship, prayer and also read through the script for the story we were going to be doing at the kids club in the afternoon. Todays story was about Peter betraying Jesus.

After eating lunch we had some chill out time before heading over to the dining room for the kids club. They enjoyed playing 'Bulldog' outside and also decorating spinning tops.

In the evening some of us played some basketball and had a go at beating a pinyata as it was Carols birthday today (along with some of the kids here)!

To top it all off, Sarah,  Ellie,  Dylan and Pippa had a go at driving Duncans car down the homes driveway!

Ps. Happy Birthday Dad! Ellie x