Travels With Wesley

Thursday, 4/23, we drove to Moroceli to meet with Mayra, wife of Padre Carlos, the Episcopal priest in Moroceli. As I said yesterday, our church, All Saints’ of Lakeland had partnered with the mission in Moroceli. We funded the purchase of a building for a templo, the buiding being a cigar factory which had closed down. The purpose of the visit to Moroceli today was to ascertain their desires and plans for the restoration of the building and conversion in a church building(templo).

Mayra

Mayra was prepared for us with a drawing of how they wanted the building configured. Padre Carlos was at a twoday Diocesan meeting, so Mayra was the point. She is the power behind the pulpit anyway. A very bright and fine lady.

We had an extended discussion with Mayra, Dionysio Palacio the Junior Warden and Manuel Rodriquez the Senior Warden. Duane, the contractor in our party collected information on supplies needed for the first renovations.

Dionysio Palacio

I indulged my usual preoccupation with kids. They almost all love to have their pictures taken and see them in the LCD screen of the camera.

After eating lunch with Myra, we took the supply lists to two hardware stores in Danli. The owner of the first store, Sammy, is a Palestine Christian whose family exited Bethlehem over several years. Sammy had studied at FIT in Melbourne, Florida, and joined some of his family in Honduras. His store really was more of a general store than just hardware. He is a slick operator, like the shopkeepers I met in Bethlehem.

Jeannie Loving is one of our contacts in Honduras along with Rev. Canon Kathy Pennybacker. Jeannie is a SAMS missionary. SAMS – South American Missionary Society. Jeannie is a native Texan, from Lago Vista, north west of Austin.

Jeannie

She is a true missionary, loving the country, people and her job. Her last name is quite fitting. Fluent in spanish, she taught the language for 20+ years in Texas. She is also a former Peace Corps volunteer.        Jeannie has been in Honduras for a little over a year, I met her last year when I was in Honduras in late February and early March.         She knows an incredible amount of people for the limited time she has been here. She resides in Danli, one of the larger cities in southern Honduras.

We bought some padlocks for the doors on the building in Moroceli and chairs for the sanctuary, so we stopped back by there on the way to Zamoramo to deliver them as so they could secure the compound with the locks and have something to sit on.. After leaving Moroceli, there was some serious discussion about the value of a cerveza to alter a man’s (or woman’s) attitude. Being perceptive individuals, we know the cafeteria at Zamorano didn’t serve alcohol, so we went straight to the La Casona Del Valle Restaurante again for dinner. Two cervezas, a bottle of wine and a plate of good honduran cooking (pescado for moi) we all felt more human.

We flew into Tegucigalpa Wednesday, April 22. Traveling with me are Fr. Reid, Kathy and Duane. The approach to the airport is interesting to say the least. Those experiencing it or the first time were quite grateful when the pilot finally brought the plane to a halt on the short runway. Spontaneous applause broke out. The airport is rated as the most dangerous one in the world by some accounts. Definitely gets your attention when you come in very low between two mountains, over the city, the pilot executes two sharp left hand turns, and comes in about two inches over the fence, or so it seems. Other than the thrills, all went as scheduled. Jeannie and Javier met us with our car and a second one to help with the luggage. Javier brought a money changer over to me to change some dollars for limpeira.

Driving in Honduras is almost as interesting as flying in. Tegucigalpa is like most other big cities, and we were glad to get out of it. The major highway north to south in the country is CA 6, the Pan American Highway. It is a two lane road, pavement wise, but is actually used a a four lane road at most times. Hondurans pass on curves, going up hills or whenever the urge hits them. The usual courtesy is for a slower vehicle to mive over slightly on the shoulder to allow for more room. It is definitely white knuckle driving passing going up a hill with two oncoming cars or trucks sharing one lane coming at you. Of course, I’m the driver and “tour guide”. I’m so lucky!

Staying at the Kellogg Centro in the Zamorano Valley about an hour from Teguz. My passengers were in a state of shock by the time we arrived. The Kellogg Centro quickly calmed their nerves. It is an oasis in this land of poverty. An agricultural research center established by the Kellogg Company of cereal fame. The lodge or hotel has 48 rooms, nicely appointed and comfortable. No a/c but large ceiling fans which help a lot. The Centro has a cafeteria and the plan is to eat breakfast and dinner there, and buy sandwich meat for lunch. Also, lots of bottled water, can’t drink the water away from Kellogg.

After getting luggage, etc into our rooms, we went to eat with Jeannie at the La Casona Del Valle Restaurante about a mile down the road.  Quite good.

We took a short ride after settling in, and then ate dinner and crashed. I got up at 2:30 AM and this was 18 hours, two flights and a harrowing drive later. Tomorrow to Moroceli.

Short word on why we are here. A mission trip to work with the Episcopal Diocese of Honduras and the small community of Moroceli to establish a mission church and to help getting micro enterprises started. The object is to get the mission churches started, help them become self sufficient and be able to contribute as a church body to their communities. Another high priority, very high priority is to get wells drilled in Moroceli for clean water. The water source is surface water delivered by the Water Ministry when available. During the dry season, the winter, the rivers and creeks dry up and water is only available sporadically. When water is available any season, it is dirty, not fit for human consumption. but that is all they have. A non-profit, Texas Water Ministry, drills wells in Honduras for these small poor communities. they are currently able to drill 3-4 wells a year. We are talking with them to get Moroceli moved up on the priority list, which we may be able to accomplish by funding the drilling. We already have allocated money for this purpose, and are awaiting the geological survey which is to be done in May or early June. We are praying for water under the ground.