As I sit here in my room at 6:00 on my last morning in Tegucigalpa, unable to sleep because of the early morning sun streaming in and the sound of horns honking and roosters crowing, I quickly realized that those are not the only reasons I can’t sleep. My mind is swimming with all of the events of the past several days, and I can’t even begin to take them all in and digest them! The days were jam-packed full of things I needed to get checked off from my “To Do” list, joy-filled surprises, and tears of sorrow.
As is often the case, so very many of those oh-so-important things that I needed to get done are still not checked off from the list. Somehow they shrank in importance when held up against something even more important: spending time with my community here. Nevertheless, I am happy to report that, even though it took me up to my very last minutes on my last day working at the school, I finally was able to complete my biggest project! All of the donations that the school has received from mission teams over the past couple of years are now sorted, inventoried, neatly stored in plastic bins, and tucked into slots on a floor-to-ceiling shelving unit! It was a thoroughly satisfying accomplishment!
On Tuesday I wrapped up my English classes, and while the number of students attending has dwindled this year, the few faithful have blown me away with their persistence and progress! Listening to them read entire children’s books couldn’t have made me prouder, but I was brought to tears when I received my first surprise of the week. Johana wrote and read to me a good bye note all in English! Was her grammar, spelling, or pronunciation perfect? No, but the sentiments were, and that’s all that matters! What a blessing to work with such a dedicated student!
Tuesday also brought the surprise of a farewell dinner outing with my Honduran family. My host parents, Reina and Saúl, have really become like parents to me, Emily and David have become like siblings, and their two boys like nephews. We went to Pizza Hut so the boys could enjoy the play structure! I couldn’t help but get all misty-eyed as Saúl prayed over our meal, mentioning how I have become like the daughter they never had. Hearing that is all the more meaningful knowing that Reina and Saúl lost several children during or shortly after childbirth; David is an only child. I was also blessed when 7 year old Anthony, all sweaty from playing, came and plopped himself on my lap and said, “I’m going to miss you Miss Amy!”
In all my times of extended stays in Mexico and Honduras, it always seems like new experiences happen in the last couple of days. This was true of Wednesday when, for the first time I left the school not in my “private" taxi spilling over with little girls and not in Emily and David’s car, but on foot. I finally got to walk down the dusty road, umbrella in hand to keep off the sun, praying I wouldn’t get run over by a moto-taxi, down the hill to the taxi stand to wait for the next taxi to arrive. But, don’t worry; I wasn’t alone! My friend, Brenda, and I were heading out to the mall for food, conversation, coffee, and maybe a little shopping! This was all planned out, but the surprise came when we first ran into Austin, the Orphan Outreach director, and his wife. Then, not five minutes later, we ran into Mireya, another leader for Orphan Outreach! I got to know both Austin and Mireya quite well last year when they brought mission teams to work with us at Jubilee, and I was sad that I wasn’t going to get to say goodbye to them. God’s amazing how he works out even the smallest of details!
Wednesday’s surprises didn’t end there, however! After Wednesday night’s church group—and after I tearfully shared a few words of love and appreciation for being a part of such a warm and compassionate church family—we were all served vegetarian tamalitos and ice cream, clearly in my honor because Hondurans aren’t big on food without meat, and they definitely don’t eat much ice cream! I’ll never understand how anyone living in such a hot climate could NOT eat a ton of ice cream! Anyway, that’s another story! What followed were many tearful hugs goodbye and lots of pictures!
After many cloudy, humid days, Thursday’s early morning sunshine put a spring in my step, and I was anxious to finish up my organizing project when I got to school! I knew there would be a farewell gathering in my honor, but I figured it would be in the afternoon. Therefore, I was totally caught off guard when I was asked to come outside at 8:00 a.m. where all 270 kids and their teachers were gathered! After a prayer, Paola led everyone in a praise song, and as I gazed out over the sea of faces, I locked eyes with so very many precious children whom I have gotten to know over the past 15 months, and I just fell apart. The tears gushed out, and I cried outright on the shoulders of my dear friends Belinda and Brenda who unashamedly cried with me! Lord wiling, I will see these little ones again, but they may not be so little, and my heart aches just knowing a portion of the horribleness of their situations. They haven’t told me their stories in words, but they’ve let me read them in their eyes, and they are heart-breaking.
After I pulled myself together, I humbly received the kind words of farewell from the courageous students who came up to speak into the microphone. And, then there were hugs, oh-so-many hugs! And, hand made cards. And, group pictures. My heart overflowed!
As I finished up my organizing project, I couldn’t help but notice that it sounded like the kids were leaving school in the middle of the day. I thought that was strange, but when I also heard rustlings in the multi-purpose room, I figured maybe we were going to have a farewell luncheon at school. Then Emily came and told me to get ready to go. "What?! Go where?" Sure enough, there was a mini-bus just waiting to whisk the Jubilee staff off to Valle de Ángeles for the afternoon! Known locally as just “Valle,” this quaint little tourist town perched up in the mountains has been a place I’ve enjoyed going to with all the different mission teams, and I didn’t think I’d get to go again! We were given a private, open-air, balcony eating area looking out over the lush, green mountains and manicured gardens of the restaurant, La Casona. As we waited for our food to arrive, a few people spoke such kind, affirming, loving words to me of farewell and see you soon! When David asked me to pray before we ate, it was then that I realized that the Spanish verbs orar and llorar are synonymous for me because I can’t pray without crying! After that, my tears seemed to dry up a bit, and I was able to be joyfully present for a little time of shopping and socializing with this amazing group of women before hugging them all goodbye—for now!
As I write, it’s now going on 7:30, and ahead of me lies one final goodbye—to my host parents. Reina and Saúl are going to take me to the airport and see me off in just a few hours. The Lord alone knows when we will see each other again, but I know that when we do, it will be a heartwarming reunion! And, like Saúl always says, "If Jesus comes back before then, then we’ll see each other in heaven!" I can't wait for the day!
