Allyn Jeremy Kelsey Sarah Ashley Michael Joe Emily Diana Amy

Glen Richie Christopher Laura Kristina Shiloh Caitlin Cheri Anna

Allyn

We have done quite a bit since our last travel log update; in fact we are now in our third country, Costa Rica, and we have passed the halfway mark of our trip. Since we last wrote, students have traveled in small groups without a leader in Guatemala, to test our Spanish skills and to gain a little independence. We have also visited Copan Ruinas, the ancient Mayan ruins in Honduras. Then, for the next three weeks, we were placed as individuals in rural communities of Honduras. There we lived with families and learned the intricacies of life at the lower end of the economic scale. Once we reunited in Tegucigalpa, we traveled to a permaculture commune on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica to learn about sustainable living. We all came away from these experiences with something transformative, and here is a compilation of students’ personal reflections on how they have changed thus far. We have kept the reflections short in order to include everyone, so they are certainly not all-encompassing. We hope this gives you some insight into the trip.

I have realized that I need to believe to see things. This means that I need to proclaim in my heart that God exists, and then I will be able to see the manifestations of this in all of the new situations we face on a daily basis. In the many places we have traveled to, all of the people from all walks of life beautifully reflect the image of God, whether we’re talking about a 25-year-old Maquila worker with two daughters and no husband, or my 36-year-old host mom, who spends her days picking coffee barefoot in a skirt while I struggle in my Keen shoes and long pants, or my host dad, who crossed the border illegally in my own home state and then made enough money to better his family significantly in two years. How has this changed my life?  It makes the world a smaller place. Creating relationships with people from all walks of life helps create what a lady who taught us a lot called “a globalization of solidarity.” 

In the strong hug that surprised me from my host dad the day I left, I realized the depth of relationships I formed in just three weeks, and those relationships are the richest gifts in life. Returning, I will live in light of the truth of the injustice, inequality and poverty that I have seen and experienced. However, I will also live suffused by the divine joy and hope that I learned from my family and friends in Nueva Florida.

I have been challenged to live in the present by people in my Honduran village who truly were willing to stop what they were doing, forget their worries, and just be with each other. If we have food, shelter, and family and friends to love, and if God is looking out for our best interests, what is tomorrow that we should worry about it?  This mindset has transformed poor communities into some of the most contented people on earth. The children are teaching me every day to take the time for simple pleasures – a game of hide-and-seek, dancing on the beach, a juicy watermelon. But these are the easiest lessons to learn. It is harder to ask real questions and to listen for more than just the surface-level answers. Harder still is answering the real questions about the reality of Central America, and being willing to answer with "I don´t know."

I am a little more tanned, and I have a few new scars, a few new skills, and some new outlooks on what I value. I don't really know how I have changed or how I have grown, but in my home-stay I learned a lot about love and community, strength and sacrifice, values and beliefs. I found a common ground thousands of miles away with people who don't speak my language. When I come home I hope to bring with me the deep trust in God of the people I met, the simplicity of a life in which what is most important is food and fellowship, and the fun of children´s stories in Spanish.

There is an idea presented in leadership theory that the flap of the wings of a butterfly can produce a typhoon on the other side of the ocean. Before this trip, I always thought that this idea was pretty stupid. Now, after not just seeing poverty, but attaching myself to it through a family in Quebraditas, Honduras, I realize that everyone actually does affect everyone else. The poverty of which I speak is not just financial, though. There are physically impoverished people here in the campo, but there are also spiritually impoverished people in ritzy Gig Harbor. So that is what I now care about, but don´t let me become apathetic about it, because, in the words of Henri Estrada, "Indifference is the worst sin of the society."

God is expanding my understanding of Him, of creation, of the world, and of my relationship with it all. I am understanding the difference between my life in the States and the experience of the rest of the world, through traveling in Central America. In my impoverished home-stay, I didn't feel as though anything was lacking, which speaks to my true material needs. God is teaching me simplicity. As a Christian, I feel it is my responsibility not to take more than my fair share, materially and environmentally. I have the obligation to support and to further sustainable, holistic development worldwide, in order to continue the work of restoring shalom among God's people and creation.


Diana

For 20 days I lived with a rural Honduran family and experienced day-to-day life with them. Through the daily tasks of sweeping the floor, walking to the molina to grind corn, making tortillas and even taking a break at 2 p.m. to drink a cup of coffee, I have come to value and enjoy the little tasks that make life what it is. My experiences throughout the region have also shown me that life is nothing without relationships: the relationship we have with our Creator, with each other and with the world we live in. When I come back from Central America, I hope not only to transfer what I have learned into action but to interact with my community in the same way the people of Central America have interacted with me.

I am walking away from my time in Honduras humbled by my nine-year-old brother, who had to teach me how to flush the toilet, and humbled by the grace of my host father, who commanded me to call my mother when I knew how much the phone call would cost him. I am humbled in the kitchen, seeing that my lack of skills is nearly a shame to my gender in this culture. My lack of knowledge of how to live in this place constantly brings me back to zero, showing me that I have so much yet to learn. My teachers are the children and my host family, who, to many Americans, are poor and poorly educated. Upon my return to the U.S., I hope that through humility and acknowledging that I know very little, I will be able to learn from anyone who is willing to teach and share with me regardless of age, gender, status or culture.

Glen

I am not intimidated by the problems of the world because God is at work in people, places and ways that I know nothing about. When intimidation approaches, I think of Wilson, Tomasa and Yolanda, and the ways they have shown me Jesus. If I’m intimidated, I am overestimating my own role in the world's redemption. I am not glossing over Latin America's problems – I have seen, experienced and lived them, and I know they are many and entrenched – but I do not fear, because Jesus has already conquered the world.


Richie

During my home-stay I witnessed such sincere love and joy. My family may be considered economically "in poverty," but you would never be able to guess that if you looked at the smiles on their faces and the joy in their hearts. This great joy was a result of their love for one another. Thus, after experiencing this new depth of love, it is my hope that I will share this love not only with my friends and family, but also with complete strangers, as this is what my host family showed toward me – love.


Christopher

I think I will realize many of the ways in which I've been changed as I continue to live my life, but I know I've been given a new perspective. I've come face-to-face with the lies that perpetuate physical and spiritual poverty, I've received the hospitality of strangers who welcomed me as one of their own, and I've sweated alongside the campesinos who work so hard to grow the coffee we drink. All these experiences have changed my attitudes, my ideas, and my heart. My hope is that when we return to North America, we will share with truth and grace what we've learned in Central America.

Laura

This trip has taught me about solidarity. During my Honduran home-stay, I learned the importance of sharing a meal or a walk to the orchard. I learned to see the "poor" and "oppressed" as fathers and daughters, not as statistics and nameless faces. I learned that the U.S. is not a separate world, but that the actions of individual citizens profoundly affect the people here. Instead of living in excess, I want to be reminded constantly of the people I have met in Central America. We are part of a greater global community, and healthy relationships – with others and with the environment – honor God.


Kristina

It is hard to put into to words how I have changed through this experience, mostly because I am not sure yet. But I have learned about thankfulness and grace. I was fed, hugged, kissed and thanked simply for coming into people´s homes and talking with them. I did nothing to make their lives better: I didn´t bring them gifts; I didn´t shower them with words of praise; they just loved me because I lived with them and listened to them. When I come home I will remember their grace, and I hope that I will reflect that upon others.


Shiloh

Never before have I realized the overwhelming and hopeful depth and interconnectedness of all of creation. The world is a very complicated place because of the way that so many unique individuals interact within complicated histories and systems. In every community, there is great potential for both goodness and evil, and our sole power may be in what we choose to seek and creatively expand. When I return home, I hope to choose to live the beauty of community that we have experienced together, with an unwavering awareness of the effect that my own actions have on the rest of creation. And I hope to live searching for hope, goodness and joy, and to cultivate these things intelligently so that they may thrive.


Caitlin

I have learned so much about unconditional love and giving thanks in every circumstance. I have been humbled in realizing that just because I think I know the best way to live, and what my ideas and values are, that does not mean that there is only way a person can live and be happy; God blesses people in different ways. And who am I to judge if one person´s life is better than another´s?  But most of all I have witnessed how the people of rural Honduras feed from Jesus in all that they do and include Him in every celebration of life. And in this, my own true reliance on Jesus has been revealed. He is the only one I can be fed from, and I’ve become aware of how Jesus holds me, as well as the rest of the world, together in all areas of life.

Cheri

I have learned a few things about life: Bugs really aren’t so bad, any bathroom is a good bathroom (as long as you’re not wasting 50 gallons of water a day), personal hygiene is relative, and I really need only about five outfits. I have learned that it is a powerful thing to communicate passion without judgment; that’s the kind of person, the kind of Christian I want to be. As I´ve tried to be open to everyone and everything here in Central America, so I want to be receptive to everyone back home. Passion and humility are a Christ-like combination. Finally, there´s true value in the small things: simple enthusiasm, hammocks, platano frito, gallo pinto, clean water and friendship in any form. I want to get rid of my microwave . . . but I may buy some Chanel No.5.

Anna

I’ve become more aware of what I don’t know, and I’ve learned the wisdom of depending on the strengths of others within my community, whether that community is the campo of Honduras or a commune in Costa Rica. The richness of making people a priority will remain in my mind and heart as my search for truth, justice, and peace continues, both during the remainder of this trip and in my life when I return to the States. I’ve learned the strength of a smile, the power of a conversation in broken Spanish, and the joy of simply sharing with people.