Saturday, January 13, 2001

Feliz Sabado!

And a happy and power packed Sabbath it was. You might even say our experience was earth shaking! We headed out to Yusguare at 7:00a.m. We wanted to be able to worship and visit with the brethren at the church we built last year. Sight seeing on the way back was also on the agenda for the day. We sang songs as we traveled the 3 hours, and the sights we beheld were magnificent. The road to Choluteca has been repaired somewhat and it was not near as bumpy as last year. There were still plenty of drops offs of several thousand feet to flutter the stomach of those so inclined. It just amazes me how the people drive these busses and tractor-trailers at such high speed and pass on every blind turn. It must be some kind of testosterone high, that is all I can come up with. These men certainly seem to enjoy the challenge of the moment. And take every advantage to overtake and conquer.
By the time we were half way to Yusguare the sun was sweltering. Ahhhh, just like old times. The air conditioning in the bus couldn't keep up with the heat of the day but it didn't dwindle our enjoyment. The altitude in Yusquare is at 40 ft. above sea level and we had been staying at 4,400 ft, so we had a little ear popping on the way. We passed all the typical huts with the people just sitting around with nothing to do. Chickens and pigs or an occasional goat could be seen scrounging for food.
As we walked into the church the people were almost ecstatic with joy. Hugs and kisses covered us by their demonstrative love. Oh what a joy to be there, to rekindle the love that burns in us for these wonderful, sweet people. We had tried to arrange our arrival as to coincide with the break between Sabbath school and church as not to interrupt the sacredness of the hour. After the displays of affection slowed down, we all settled in to our seats. Today would be a high Sabbath for sure. A lot was planned. First was the dedication of this church to the Lord. They had waited for this official ceremony, hoping we would come back to take part in it with them. Their desire came true. Pastor Wagner, Bob Young, Dr. Beisiegel, Dale La Roche and the new Pastor of the church, whose name I cannot even pronounce let alone spell, were on the platform. Pastor Wagner would give the sermon with the use of a translator, and the others each would each take part in the service. In the middle of the sermon there was an earthquake tremor! Now how was that for a powerful sermon? It took most of us a few minutes to figure out just what was happening. The pews shook hard and the ceiling rattled, while several faces in the crowd grew very pale. It is times like these that you are able to know the extent of full time missionary work that has been Pastor Wagner's life. His sermon barely missed a beat, he held on for a few minutes, said the word "earthquake " and continued the sermon.
After the sermon and the dedication of the church, we were blessed to witness the baptism on 2 of their newness converts, a husband and wife. They had been married for a while but because a town official had preformed the marriage, they decided to have their marriage dedicated and blessed. So Pastor also had the honor of performing that. After a very teary and prolonged goodbye to our dearly beloved friends, we boarded the bus once more. We thought it might me nice if the motel that we stayed at last year would once again let us use the outdoor eating area to serve our lunch that we brought. Sure enough, they were happy to have us. We reminisced with great pleasure as we nourished our bodies with great food. How grateful we all are that our cooks no what they are doing.
We boarded the bus once more for some sight seeing on the way home. The first place we thought we would like to stop was at a little hut where last year the man had the largest pig we had ever see. Many of you have seen our pictures of this extremely huge animal. We stopped at his little hovel of a hut and Bob and Moses went in to inquire about the pig and see if he would let us take pictures again as some of our team had never been here before. The man told us that he had to sell the pig, which was his pet. He had just lost his job and needed the money to survive. He did make the kindest gesture to us though. He said our entire busload were welcome to come into his hut and take any pictures we would like. What a treat and an experience. This man had just invited 58 of us into his 2-room house! I call it 2 rooms because it is divided like that, but the 2 rooms combined wouldn't be as large as one normal size American bedroom. They had absolutely nothing. Any of us would have had more in our bathroom cupboard that these folks had in their whole house. But what they lacked in material things, they made up for in love and kindness. I would say they were full to capacity on those 2 things. After everyone filed through and took their pictures, Bob asked them if I could pray for them. Oh they were so happy for that. We held hands, and as I prayed that the Lord would bless them and send him a job, Moses translated for them. The woman, with her 3 little children by her side, wept gently during the entire prayer. We invited them to attend the Yusguare church, which wouldn't be to very far for them to go. I believe the Lord sent us there today. I believe these folks had cried out to Him in their anguish and He heard them. We ended up leaving them with a considerable amount of money, probably more that they would of ever made in many months of working.

Cut off at the No El Passo!
After leaving that area we decided to stop at the bridge that Japan had built for Honduras before Hurricane Mitch hit. The picture of this bridge is very famous, being shown in National Geographic. The river it was over was diverted by the hurricane and now the bridge stands alone, over dry ground. Quite a site to behold and Bob Young had really wanted the new part of our team to be able to see it. That little sign that said, "no El Passo must have meant they had no more salsa right? So the bus driver was told to just make a little turn in here for a moment. The next thing we knew a truck of Honduran police all holding rifles were pulling us over. Yeiks! We had spent hours driving on what seemed like the Indy 500 racetrack with never a sign of police, and one little turn and there is a whole truckload after us. Mama MIA, first an earthquake and now this! Well by the time we had it all settled, they let us all quickly get out of the bus and take a picture of them with several of us. Jerry Sullivan had a Polaroid camera and took a picture of a few of them and handed it over. They studied it with pride for a moment and passed it around to the their group and then decided some were not happy as all were not in the picture. So Jerry had to make peace quickly and they all gathered closer together for a group shot of themselves. It was only seconds later when a Japanese official drove over to our bus and wanted us out of there immediately. This time picture taking was not going to appease anyone. We were out of there fast. There is just nothing worse than reading in the newspaper about a missionary group causing an international incident. Especially when you are that group.

It has been a very special Sabbath, thoroughly enjoyable and memorable. We will never forget this day. Thank you Jesus.

Walk in His steps, you will find your way home.

Your smiling reporter in Honduras,

Jennifer Young