Home Bound. Thanks Honduras for the Memories :)

Currently sitting in the airport in San Pedro waiting for our flight to board for Fort Lauderdale so we can be on our way home back to Wisconsin. After spending 3 great days on the beach in Tela it is time to head back to the States, and I think it’s safe to say Alisha and I are both ready to be home. With spending almost 4 weeks in Honduras we are completely broke, and both couldn’t be more ready to ditch eating out in trade for mom’s home cooking. And lets be honest here, I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss Qdobas (yes i know its Qdoba-no s-but in my opinion the more the better, so bring on the s'sssssss).

While being in Honduras God continued to remind me of how blessed I am, day after day. With the experiences I had in Honduras I feel as I will be coming home with a strengthened faith, along with a constant reminder of how I want to live my life in the image of God. With everyday I am present on this earth I have a reason to be thankful, and I owe this reminder to this wonderful country, what I have learned here, and the beautiful Honduras people.

I started my last book of the trip while in Tela; a book called 7, written by Jen Hatmaker. To some up what I have read of this book thus far (although I recommend you read it as well), Jen has decided to take 7 areas of excess in her life and over a duration of 7 months reduce them so that she can replace the “American Dream” she has been trying to live for a more satisfying life in God’s Kingdom. In one specific area of this book Jen talks about fasting and the story about Jesus going into the wilderness for 40 days and nights, where He fasts from food and water. Jesus made Himself empty from the substance of food and water, but the message contains more. Jen goes deeper into the point of this emptiness and explains the purpose of fasting is not to just not eat or drink, but instead it is so that we can empty ourselves to make room for the Holy Spirit to fill us.

While traveling through a 3rd world country I feel as though I have been able to fast from the nauseating materialistic, consumerist ways of the United States. Even though we have only been gone for 3, what seemed like short weeks, I feel like with this fast from my everyday life, again God has emptied me of this unnecessary excess, and instead has filled me with Him. As I travel I am reminded of what is important in life, I realize that God puts these experiences in my life for a reason. He had given me the blessing of travel so I can see first hand how I can help these people. God has given me a heart for the world and what an amazing blessing to be given.

When I am away from my spoiled daily life in the U.S. it really makes me realize the things I have that others around the world do not. For example, water, and therefore leading to the ALS ice bucket challenge. It’s all over facebook. If you do not know what this is then I’m going to assume you are not a facebook user, and I would like to say good for you (social media is another area that seems to have consumed our lives)! Anyways, this challenge, if you do not already know, requires you to dump cold water over your head, while video taping yourself, and then nominating others to do the same. If you do not complete the challenge in 24 hours, you are supposed to donate money to ALS. The point of this challenge is to bring awareness to ALS while also getting people to donate; a very good cause. However, while I was nominated in Honduras I was reminded that water is something we as Americans take for granted. In Honduras sanitary drinking water is something that doesn’t just come out of your faucet at home; you buy it from big jugs at the store. So as many of us are dumping perfectly good drinking water over our heads, there are countries in the world that don’t even have the privilege to drink sanitary water out of a faucet. To a certain degree the fact that we are wasting this water breaks my heart for those countries and the people that live there. Something that seems so simple to get our hands on here in the States, a bucket of clean water, isn’t that simple after all. Don’t misinterpret me, I think the ALS bucket challenge is a great way to spread awareness and raise money for this horrible, life-threatening condition. However, after spending three weeks where I have been buying my water, God has also made it very clear to me how important something as simple as water really may be to other parts of the world. My experience in Honduras has taught me not to take water for granted, on top of the many other privileges I have been blessed with.

As I return home, a place that I truly love, it will also be hard to leave this beautiful country behind. I have learned so much here, met so many amazing new friends, and made memories of a lifetime. I know that I will definitely be back. Peace out Honduras, hello Wisconsin. Until next time...

#honduras