the home stretch

Its been awhile since I last wrote. I have much to tell. This past weekend Kevin and I went to the orphanage where some of the other interns through CAM are staying. Shout out to yall doods, we miss and are looking forward to chillin with yall again. I loved visiting. Its amazing getting to hang out with those kids even for the short time we were blessed to spend with them. My Spanish is still young, but I could communicate enough with them to know "arreba" means they want up on my shoulders and "bajo" means they want down. They never say bajo though. Unfortunately I was a dumbie and didn't take any pictures. Regardless, I won't soon forget my time there. I did take plenty of other pictures of the whole experience, including various trips into the nearby capital city of Tegucigalpa.

We stopped in Comayagua for lunch before going to Teguc and saw this nifty looking church.

The traffic in Tegucigalpa is turrrrrrible. It would probably be pretty fun to try and drive there, but I was totally cool with Allan, a guy who I've become good friends with down here who actually grew up in Honduras, doing all the driving. Check this sick traffic out.

It may not look that nasty in the picture, but trust me its nasty. Anyway, Saturday night we threw on some fancy pantsy clothes and went out into Tegucigalpa to see a giant statue of Jesus and enjoy fine dining at real, real nice restaurant called El Cumbre. I don't know what "El Cumbre" means, but it was krunk. The statue of Jesus was pretty tight, and there was also a breathtaking view of the city from Jesus' perch on the mountainside. Here are some pictures of big Jesus.

This isn't a picture of anything I just said, but I just thought it was kinda cool.

Its a big city

Here is a little taste of some of the barrios of the city. Houses are built on top of houses. Its very poor, and I think there are others much worse than this, neighborhoods without streets and much more packed together.

This is just tight.

Here's the statue of Jesus and the accompaniment inscription. Luke 24:50-51: ^"50And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. ⁵¹ While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven." I suppose its fitting in relation to the position to the statue. 

After that we went farther up the mountain to El Cumbre. It was AWESOME. Here's a picture of our table and the food I ordered. The restaurant is an old house owned by a rich German guy.

The food and the restaurant were great, but the view of the city with friends is what really captured the moment. It was beautiful. Here's a picture of a cloud of rain plunging into the city and then another picture of the city lights.

It was a fun night. 

On Sunday after church we went and saw Transformers 3 in Tegucigalpa. It was hilarious because the power went out at 2 different times while we were watching. One time they restarted the movie and another they just skipped like 2 minutes or so (at least I think...) It was in English; it just had Spanish subtitles. I absolutely loved the movie, screw the critics. Its a visually astounding and audibly inspiring movie with awesome special effects and an amazing musical score. Steve Jablonsky (the dood who wrote the score) owned it. I've thought a lot about why I enjoyed the movie so much. SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH. I realize the plot has its holes and lulls and what not, but the depth of which it spoke to me overshadows it all. I felt like crying when I thought Bumblebee was about to get capped in the head. I loved when Bumblebee would come in the nick of time to rescue Sam, his best friend. In a way I feel like the situation is so much like the life we have with Jesus. There is loss, there is despair, something like losing a character as noble and as faithful as Bumblee does happen. Its just like Moses and his escape from Egypt. "The Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly." Things looked so bad. Just as Bumblebee was about to suffer death at the hands of a terrible enemy, the Isrealites were about to be overcome by the Egyptians. Bumblebee is rescued by his friends, and the Egyptians are rescued by our God. It may be a loose comparison, but I still love it. Also, I love the way Optimus at various times comes in and straight up pwns the bad guys. It reminds of the passage of Revelation when it describes Jesus storming in on a white horse with a blood stained robe, eyes of fire, and a sword coming from his mouth to fight the final battle. If we rejoice so much in the victory of a sci-fi movie, how much more overwhelmed with joy will we be when Jesus does that for our lives. Love is the final reality. Anyway, I intend to see it again sometime. And HP7 and Winnie the Pooh are coming out soon, whoop!

This week has been different as every day has been. A new team of families has come in from the States who we are working and hanging out with. We really enjoy the company. This week has mostly been about the Vacation Bible school we've been helping with up at one of the churches in the area. Others from the group go up and work in the mountains, but I've been helping up at the church. Also, we're building the church a wall, a bathroom, and a pila. Here are some pictures of the church/VBS.

 Here's the side of the church where one of the guys is mixing concrete.

 I'm actually not even working here. I just held this large tool up to make it look like I had been. I did shovel a little before i took this picture, but I forgot to snap it.

 Singing at VBS.

Doing crafts at VBS.

Here's some rando pictures I like.

 Another one of the random, beautiful flowers chillin around the seminary.

 Some star fruit, it tastes kind of like a combination of apple and peach. Its good.

 A ripe star fruit.

 Star fruit in the tree.

This is a meal I had last night at a local burger joint called Queen Burger. It was goooood. It was very Hondureny though. The patty on the burger was really weak, but it had an egg, some mystery sauce, and 2 different kinds of cheese to make up for it. I'm still looking forward to an American burger somewhere though.

Spiritually it has been really tough since I last wrote, but I'm continuing to just trust. I'm sure much more is happening than I'm aware of. Film scores from movies remind me how much of an epic story life really is. I find comfort in knowing the future holds Jesus galloping in on His horse to save His children. If anything, I feel more caught up in a story worth living despite it being the chapter everyone looks forward to finishing. I'm not complaining. So as always, prayers are not going unnoticed.

I'll probably write at least another time before I leave, which is in a few days (3 days 7 hours). On this coming Saturday, all of us interns are going to a cabin in the mountains for a final day hiking, chilling, and seeing waterfalls. I don't know exactly what to expect, but I'm sure I'll write about it.

Buenas Noches Amigos!