Things I Learned...

... Last week in Honduras!

1. Honduran children have my heart. When JJ returned from Honduras last year with a ton of footage and pictures I didn't really notice anything specific about the children but my goodness, when you are with them in person they are just magnetic. They've got so much to offer.
2. Being in a country where you don't speak the language is difficult. Really difficult. Silly me took French until my junior year of college. I thought that could potentially be helpful with my Spanish but gosh was I wrong. Example: with in Spanish is con, with in French is avec. That's a little bit how my mind felt last week. Every time someone would speak to me in Spanish my mind went from English to French. Here's a promise that next time I go, I'll know a little bit more than gracias and adios. 
3. It's good to be out of your comfort zone. Not only was not speaking the language a barrier but I just didn't know very much about Honduran culture. I journaled a lot while I was there and noticed that I kept on writing the word lost. And I don't think that was a bad place for me to be this week. It made me realize my own humanity and my need for Jesus even more. Grateful to be pushed to places that challenge me. 
4. I remembered how much I love to read. When you don't have phone or internet really for a week, there's so much time to read! While I was in Honduras I was able to read 4 books. C.S. Lewis' "A Grief Observed," Lauren Winner's "Mudhouse Sabbath" and "Real Sex," and "Half the Sky" by Nicolas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn. I recommend all of them. They all are so different but all have something rich to offer.
5. People are doing incredible things with not very much. The school that JJ filmed has an incredible story. AFE (Amor, Fe, Esperzana) started because a Honduran man saw that education was the only way to get kids out of the cycle of poverty and working in the local trash dump. This vision has now turned into a full blown school with about 130 students. 130 kids that would be working in a trash dump that are now able to graduate from high school. You cannot help but be moved when you're standing at AFE.
6. I am incredibly blessed. It was a strange feeling going to bed last night after a hot shower with my cell phone plugged and my cat curled up next to me. I'm really lucky and have so much to be thankful for. I hope and pray that my time in Honduras wasn't something that I can look back on fondly but that it's a time that changes how I view my life. How often I am unappreciative of the fact that I'm able to type on this very computer. How embarrassing. I'm really really blessed.