Highlights of first week in Honduras and some photos from the Salisbury Festival

I'll be home in less than a week! Though my time here has been important, I'm really looking forward to going back home next Friday. I'm really missing you darls! Today has been a good day of rest. I watched Bridgeway online and had a special time joining Jonny and our church in worship and listening to a wonderful sermon by Pastor Anderson about dealing with trials and transition. I then received a phone call from my dear sister all the way in London! Thank you so much for calling honey, it was so good to catch up. I miss you! I got my hair washed and dried again at the salon across the road this afternoon and just finished chatting with Jonny online. He's had an eventful last week and says he plans to blog about it soon - let's wait and see ! :-)

The highlights of my first week in Honduras were:

1. Time with Perla and daughters: During the busy week, I have had some special times with Perla listening to all her amazing life stories and sharing with her about Jonathan David in detail. Last night, I had dinner at her house and got to eat her wonderful food. I will definitely remember the yummy grilled shrimp cooked with garlic and butter and the variety of grilled meats with delicious beans. Jonny, we wish you were with us, you would have loved watching Perla cook the food and then eating it! After dinner, Perla told me she wanted to watch Jonathan David's online video which she hadn't seen. I sat in between Perla and her daughters and the four of us cried together as we watched the video. I then translated to them Jonny's talk from the memorial service...it was a special time and healing for me. Perla's daughters who are in their early 20s are still so young in many ways and I felt concerned about sharing with them a heart breaking experience. But I guess part of growing up is facing the realities of life... we spoke about how there is a purpose in everything we go through and that how through our experience, we have already seen God working in amazing ways.

2.Visit to health center: Yesterday, we went very early in the morning to visit a health center in a small rural community about an hour outside of Tegucigalpa. We spent the morning talking with the staff about the communication materials that we had produced for Maternal and Child Health and what we could do to encourage their use in other health centers in the country. What was amazing to me was to see the commitment and love of the people in caring for their community, despite all the challenges they face. It was also really interesting to meet this Cuban volunteer doctor working at the health center. She told me about life in Cuba and how she loves her country - it was fascinating hearing her side of the story. What was really striking about her was her humbleness. It was evident that she really did consider everyone equal and had no arrogance about being a doctor... lots of food for thought as a result of our conversation...

3. Pre-testing in high school: On Friday, I observed the pre-testing of an HIV/AIDS prevention TV spot with young men and women in a school in Tegucigalpa. It was fun listening to the youth and to see that the work we are doing resonates with them. I was also clearly reminded that it's been a while since I was in school and that yes, the big 3-0 is fast approaching!


Tomorrow morning, the training of interviewers to conduct the TB research will begin. I'm praying that all will go well and that I can also successfully finish some other work before my return on Friday.


And just to finish off, today I also got an e-mail from my sister with some beautiful pictures of her time yesterday participating with her Brazilian choir in the Salisbury Festival. Adri, who also sings in her choir, brought her daughters and they all had so much fun playing with Aoi, Sarah's daughter - the photos of the girls are so cute!