December 5, 2007 - Wednesday

I feel as though I have spent the last week without sleep, but in actuality I have slept more than I have since I was but a small child...

Yesterday, we worked on cleaning out the dam on the property (removing the sand and various other things from the inside) so that we can have a place to swim, for example. It was fun due to the company of Dani's friends who arrived to help, Noel, Mario, and another guy whose name we do not yet know. They were rather amused by all of Rob's antics, and now hold him in high regard due to his hilarity. That evening, I recalled that we had been invited to the Prophecy church for their worship, so a group of us went to that. It was fairly uneventful compared to the last experience people had there (speaking in tongues, excessive loudness, falling on the floor, etc.) and the sermon was of the most random assortment, not really making any sense whatsoever, but it was kind of nice to do something different.

Today I was on the team to collect firewood again, and I felt mildly useless because Dani who is our fearless leader, would not give me any job (plus there was not another machete) and so I basically just sat there whilst they chopped on trees, until the end whereupon I had the privilege of being useful and carried a bundle of wood down. In a way though it was nice I suppose for the day was very sunny and when you are climbing mountains you become rather warm, especially when you have to wear long pants and shoes to protect yourself from the various bugs and thorns that thrive in the area. Following the morning of work and lunch we readied ourselves for the afternoon wherein we have games in the afternoon with the children in the village, and I had my very first hot shower. It was absolutely amazing – it started off cold as usual, which I was disappointed about because I had a theory that it would possibly be warm since the day was so sunny, but after about 1 minute it gradually warmed up, and kept warming up until the very end whereupon it became as warm as I usually have the water to be! And when the water was off I actually found the air temperature to be cold, which goes to show how warm the water actually was – needless to say it was most pleasant to have a shower that was that close to being normal. :)

Anyway then we went to play games with the children, and I dropped my computer off at Marta and Werner's place to charge in the meantime, and arrived a little late at the games, but they had not really started yet anyway. What they were doing was getting the kids to apparantly draw something to do with not getting AIDS, which turned out to be pictures of houses and flowers and mountains and hearts – don't ask me what that had to do with anything, but I suppose there was some other purpose spoken in Spanish that I did not catch. Basically all I had to do was hand out pieces of paper to the children, and after the drawing competition was finished, I was taken by the hands of these two girls whose names are Maria and Mariella (sisters, ages 12, 9) who have attached themselves to me in particular it seems, and they proceeded to attempt to speak to me as usual, in Spanish, to which I can only reply “No entiendo!”. For some reason they are under the impression that I will understand them if they repeat themselves a million times, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way. I feel absolutely horrible that I cannot communicate with them, but there is not much I can do about it. So anyway, they took me by the hands, telling me that they were going to take me somewhere, and at first I attempted to resist them, but there IS no resistance with these two, so I was led away down the street, wondering where our travels would lead me this time...We walked for a few moments and arrived at a humble abode of this adorable old lady, named Sarah, just like me. I am not sure how they were related, but I am quite sure they were. They all tried to talk to me, and once again all I could tell them was that I didn't understand and I didn't speak Spanish. So instead they all stood there and looked at me, which made me feel even more awkward than I already was feeling, and I also couldn't ask how long we were staying for, or why we were there, or tell them that I needed to go back to the area where I was supposed to be helping out with the games. If there was some way possible that I could learn Spanish immediately, I would be the first to go for it, my goodness...I have come to absolutely HATE language barriers, and also to constantly have to rely on other's to translate; aiyiyi. I'm so sick of it and it's frustrations, for the people here are such lovely souls, but I have no way of talking to them, other than to tell them dumb things, you know like, I'm sorry I don't know what you are saying.

Anyway, so I sat there, nearing the verge of tears of frustration that I couldn't communicate/understand. One of the little girls that was a cousin of theirs I think, came over lugging a baby in her arms, and I guess they asked if I wanted to hold the baby, and ended up with it in my arms. Eventually I got rid of it, and was then led outside to sit on the doorstep with Mariella. The next door neighbour across the road had to come out and decided to stand there and watch everything that was going on, once again causing major awkwardness for me...then the lady, Sarah, brought me coffee and a cake, and so there I sat on the doorstep, many watching me, eating the cake and drinking the coffee, and teaching Mariella the various words in English she wanted to know.

After I was finished, I tried to say that I had to go, and so we finally left. I felt bad because Sarah had gone to the trouble to make me coffee and gave me cake, but I could not speak so my existence there was quite useless I felt, so I thanked her as well as I know how, and off we went. We were stopped here and there on the way home by this curious person and that one, and then we arrived back in the plaza to discover that all had left already, so I went and collected my computer and then came back here to the mission station by myself – but I arrived with no unfortunate incidents and for that I was glad.

And now I am weary, so I bid thee a goodnight from Honduras, with love.