Friday, September 23, 2022
Well…all good things must come to an end. It was very bittersweet as we were unable to visit our last community today due to the storms and flooding, which washed out key roads needed to get there. So, with the change in plans we packed up and headed to Comayagua to stay the night at a hotel near the airport. Since it was early in the day, we had the good fortune of getting a guided tour of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, which also housed the oldest clock in Latin America.
I thought I would end the week’s journal by leaving a thought from each team member as we reflect on the amazing week we have been blessed with.
Linda: Many of us didn’t know each other on this trip. With God’s grace we extended our Honduran family we gained along the way. We came as strangers, and we left as family.
Kim: I don’t know how I’m going to describe this to people. You see poverty in pictures. On TV. In the news. But you simply cannot reconcile its depth, it’s degree until you see it in the faces of those who live in it.
Theresa: It was so sad to see some of the homes washed away in the communities we visited and to miss out on visiting a community on Friday.
Skip: I’m just glad to see how the communities have responded to FOBs initiatives and the progress they have made. Starting these trips 20 years ago, I have seen so much progress in the health of these communities.
Larry: It was great!
Christina: How can it be that I have all my needs met and an inconvenience to me is drinking room temperature water while the people we served in the communities have so little but do not complain? It is impossible to come here and not be greatly humbled by what we see. I feel blessed to have had the chance to serve the Honduran people and to leave with a new understanding of gratitude.
Steve: My takeaway was this…I’ve been all over the world and learned that people are people. There are good people and not so good people. The world thinks coming to a place like Honduras is going to be so different. And while the conditions are different, the socioeconomics are different, the people are not. They are the same as you or I. Welcoming, kind, giving. They’re just…people.
The Chatham group will soon return to their normal lives. But not quite the same. We are all a bit more humbled, grateful, and compassionate. So, the final thing I would like to leave you all reading this with is.
Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me”
-Mt 25:40
