The Fashion of Theology and Hearts

Honduras

I’m trying desperately to be responsible in the area of recovering from my irresponsibility of updates.
So, here is Roatan, Honduras.

Actually, I have to back up a little bit (just a tad) and state the type of adventure we had trying to get from Guatemala City to La Ceiba/Roatan, Honduras: horrible, that’s the type, just straight up horrible.
Okay, maybe that’s a bit exaggerated, but it was trying anyways. We had a small window of time to traverse across both countries and get to the port that taxis across the Caribbean to Roatan (for Roatan is an island, if you didn’t guess already), and as soon as we got on the bus, we found out that it was completely impossible to get there in time for the ferry.
That was a bad start. From there, it got worse. We didn’t have any money on us because of a withdraw limit we have on our team credit/debit card, and we were told by several people and the customs/borders website that traveling from Guatemala and Honduras is free, so we didn’t bring any money because we thought we’d be fine. Well, it wasn’t free, so we had to scramble enough money to pay, and on top of that, the border guard purposely over-charged us and I even called him on it and he just left his post and went on break.
After several other problems (lost bus tickets, malfunction ATM’s, unenjoyable bus movie viewing), we arrived in La Ceiba (the port city) far too late, and already at nightfall. The hotel that we were referred to was full, so we found one close to the port, so we couldn’t miss it. After get “robbed” by the taxi drivers (if you can help it, never get into a taxi without an established rate), we stayed in a hostile... Hostel... (ha.) which, at least, had air-conditioning, so it was nice eve despite the countless cockroach killings that were required to sleep in peace.

So, that was a lot more than I intended to write. So, without further to do:
Roatan, Honduras

A small, 7 mile, Caribbean island that is about 32 miles away from the coast of Honduras, Roatan is an extremely diverse place. The Islanders that originate from there speak “English” that almost sounds exactly like Kriol, and only a few years in recent history was the island given to Honduras and thus, the spanish speaking government moved in and enforced their spanish ways.
Roatan is also considered paradise, you probably even know somebody that went there for vacation, seeing as it’s the Caribbean, tropical, and based around the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world (I know, quite the place for missions work).
It’s also quite a dysfunctional little island with too much inflation economically, with retired rich americans and giant european companies running the tourism that makes up all the economy, while the majority of the residents, live in poverty. Poverty is, interestingly enough, usually only a financial state and not cultural/enjoyment condition, but because of the racist divide between the Islanders and the Hondurans, there is a constant state of unrest and mistrust. Unfortunately, this had led to all sorts of drug related problems, between the two groups, and as well as for the upper-class business owners who support the problematic state of drug affairs and discrimination.
We stayed with the Sonrise Missionary Hotel which is ran by a pastor, his son, and their families. There were plenty of ministries at the church that we were involved with, but the majority of our work was construction projects, mostly, working on a house for one of the ladies of the church. We were able to do house visits in the spanish community, worship and teaching for the services, and basically, had a lot of the fun with the families and their several wonderful kids. One of the kids happened to be an enthusiastic Star Wars fan, and therefore, was my best friend.
It was an interesting time for our team as it was the time of the most medical conditions we have had, nearly everyone got some sort of affliction. But I think we can look back on Roatan, and think of all the hilarious times we had, as well as the work we were able to spend ourselves to encourage the believers there.

Well, that’s about all I can say towards Roatan. It’s beautiful, and hot. And our friends there were delightful know-it-alls. But now we are about to leave El Salvador,
and so I’m almost caught up on updates. Kudos to me.