An Effort to Save Gas

March 31, 2008

Yesterday as I was returning to the city from camp, I noticed that the fires have begun again. Trees and tall grasses were being consumed by flames and the flames even lapped at the edge of highway. It is too bad that the heat generated from the fires cannot be channeled into combustible for the cars.

I learned yesterday that the government has come up with an ingenious plan (or NOT so ingenious) for saving gasoline. Beginning next Monday each car will have a day of the week when it cannot be on the road. I think that based on my license plate number, I will not be able to drive on Mondays. From what I understand I will not be able to drive anywhere in the city. What happens if I need to travel between the city and camp, I do not know. Even if I wanted to bypass San Pedro to make it to another city I would be in trouble because in reality all of the roads go through San Pedro. If public transportation here in San Pedro was decent and safe, perhaps this effort could work, but it is neither of the above. The buses are dangerous both because there is no inspection of brakes etc.... and because it is a great place to get robbed. For those people who use their car for work, traveling from one appointment to another, there will be very little option. If everyone uses taxis, no gas will be saved because it is still individual transport. I am not so happy about the implications of this new law. People are saying that it will last about a week and then the government will realize it is impossible. I would tend to agree. But nonetheless I guess that I have to go today and try to find my sticker which will designate which day of the week I cannot drive. One more obstacle to make connections and meetings more difficult.

One amongst a crowd of 1500

March 24, 2008

Some days I get confused as to what season it is here in Honduras. In a matter of 5 minutes I can see three different scenes that remind me of the various seasons up north. I have yet to really see anything comparable to the winters of the north. Today as the drove I to the city I first thought of autumn because many trees are currently without leaves and the gray rain clouds made a contrast that reminded me of Novembers in PA. But then just down the road I saw trees bursting with fresh yellow or pink blooms -- spring is in the air. And finally came the downpour of rain -- a summer storm. In reality it is most like summer here but it is nice that I can catch glimpses of change almost any time of the year.

But that is not the point of this blog entry. I want to reflect on last week's retreat at the camp. I was back and forth to camp three times this past week because of helping various people move and then for the retreat. The retreat began on Wednesday though some people arrived Tuesday night. I set up my little tent in front of the one staff family's house which meant I had good access to a bathroom. Important when so many people are competing for the bathrooms. I went in to the week expecting to be overwhelmed by so many people in one area and by the amount of trash that would accumulate. Tents and cars were sprawled everywhere around the camp and quickly the trash also cluttered the ground. Yet I found myself reminded a bit of family and church camping trips in the States where we spread out over a campground. The difference here is that there are no "spaces" so the tents end up being very close to each other. Many people cooked their own meals and had elaborate set-ups with tents and even fridges. Wednesday was incredibly hot but then overnight it poured and the temperatures dropped. I stayed nice and dry though many were not so fortunate.

The schedule of the retreat was that there were worship sessions and teaching each morning and evening but then the afternoons were free. I was thankful about the latter becuase for some reason I found myself unable to keep my eyes open during the sessions and so I had to take a long nap to get refreshed. The sessions were good and by Thursday evening I was able to focus and stay awake. What I probably enjoyed the most though was the opportunity to just hang out with various people who I knew a little bit from before. One evening I sat up late and talked with several couples. It was a good opportunity to deepen relationships. There were several moments during the week when I was very aware of the fact that I was the only white North American in a crowd of 1500 or more. I have not been such a minority for so many days in a row and so that was rather eye opening. Even though I love the people and had many friends among the crowd, I had a few moments of loneliness in that there was no one there who could understand from my culture.

On Friday afternoon I started to pick up some of the trash that littered the ground while I walked back to main camp. As I was doing so a young girl said to me, "You can just throw it all in the ravine." I tried to mask my horror at her comment because the very reason I was picking it all up was to keep it from ending up down there. I carefully explained to her why I do not throw it in the ravine and how it is not good for God's creation, etc... . She listened and after a while she changed her story a bit and said that well, it was the other group of people (the Garifuna community which is a culture of itself within Honduras) that were actually throwing the trash there. In reality most everyone seemed to be tossing the trash wherever they wanted. This morning I and two of the staff members gathered trash for hours and when I left we were far from done.

As I look back on the retreat as a whole it was a very good experience. I helped out in the kitchen a few times and discovered how to efficiently feed so many people in a short time. (I could probably work in McDonald's now since I know the process of putting together a cheeseburger.) The Lord touched my heart to through some of the worship and teaching, calling me to go deeper with Him and to always remember who and why I am serving. And then there were the friendships which were strengthened. I left the retreat wanting to camp out in my tent more often though preferably in the mountains with only a few people and a deep tranquility. I think now I will not dread the thought of Semana Santa and 1500 people because things go in a rather orderly fashion. Before the next year comes around though I want to think of how I might help to change the amount of littering that goes on. A very huge task to consider.

Easter Day 2008

Easter Day. The hymn “Christ the Lord is risen today hallelujah…” was running through my head this morning as I climbed a mountain just on the edge of the city, San Pedro Sula. My roommate and I decided to leave the house at 5:00AM and climb the mountain in an attempt to see the sunrise. Amazingly we were successful and enjoyed a nice quiet time with the Lord there on the mountain. It made the day feel a little more like Easter because often I would go to the sunrise service with my church in Lancaster. There actually was a sunrise service at my church here in the city but I could not bear the thought of being in a church building, downtown, while the sun was rising outside. I went instead to the regular church service and then drove out to camp to meet up with the camp staff and the Easter service that they had. I am still rather amazed at how little emphasis there is on Easter and resurrection Sunday here in Latin America. With the Catholic churches all of the emphasis is put on Good Friday and Christ’s atoning death. The Evangelical churches seem to somewhat ignore the whole week to make up for all of the traditions attached to the Catholic’s celebration of Holy Week. Perhaps had I gone to the sunrise service I would feel differently but the sermon this morning during the regular worship service was on Matthew 9 and the calling of Matthew. It was a good sermon but in my opinion had nothing to do with Easter.

And yet why limit the celebration of Christ’s resurrection to one day in the year? I was reading 1 Corinthians 15 this morning about the hope that we have because Christ rose again. Had He stayed in the grave we would have been more pitied than anyone else in the world for choosing to follow Him. His resurrection is what gives us hope because it means that Christ is still alive today. He is seated with the Father but He is also living inside of each of us who have surrendered our lives to Him.

Sweltering...

March 16, 2008

So the days of sweltering heat have arrived. Yesterday Emily turned on the AC in her room mid-day and the temperature read 38Celcius which is about 100F -- and that was inside the apartment! I do not remember this kind of heat last year or in Costa Rica. Needless to say I am dreaming of snow showers. The ashes have begun falling from the sky here in the city. I have not really noticed fires on the surrounding mountainsides but they must be occuring. Since the ashes are somehow ending up inside the house, I have to wonder about the structure of even this building. There are gaps in the roof somewhere.

Last evening I was able to get together with one of my Honduran friends after months of not connecting again. We went to a restaurant with AC which was very nice to experience agian. It was good to reconnect and we have plans to bake cookies sometime after Semana Santa. I think I should start giving baking lessons because so many people want to learn how to bake cookies and such.

Tomorrow I head to camp for the beginning of Semana Santa. I may come back to the city once during the week. There is a good chance the Williamsons will not be in camp for the week because their house is not finished yet and they will have no other place to live with 1500 people on camp. I am planning to pull out my tent which I carried to Costa Rica and now here so I ought to make use of. I am not sure that I can handle being "alone" with 1500 people, watching trash accumulate and being surrounded only by Spanish. I think I will need some oppportunities to express myself in English so as a way of escape from the large crowd, I may sleep in the city one night. I want to have a good attitude but my personality in no way seeks surrounding myself with 1500 people within the constraints of 40 acres -- either in the US or a foreign country. The Lord may do a lot of teaching and shaping in my life these next few days.

Whatever other random facts I was going to write about, I cannot remember them and so I guess that I will close and catch up again after this week.

When the Danger is Within the Gate...

March 12, 2008

It is 10:30PM and I am sitting up in bed, unable to sleep. I should have been asleep almost an hour ago, but I am waiting and praying. The trouble started around 9:30 when the doorbell to my apartment kept ringing. I thought maybe one of my roommate's friends was passing by though I was not excited because of the late hour. I went outside and it was only the night guard. He tried to communicate something to me but was not using words nor very clear gestures. As he continued to struggle with communicating, I began to wonder if he was drunk. I went back inside but 2 more times the doorbell rang. Then as I was headed up the stairs to my room I heard the cocking of a gun. Looking out I saw the guard aim his gun across the street and shoot at who knows what. I decided that it was time to call the landowner. I had to leave a message but I finally got through. It was one of those situations of, is he really drunk? And yet someone's life could be in danger. I gave up trying to sleep when the gun went off a second time.

The plan is for the security company to bring the manager and a replacement guard but how they will deal with the one who is drunk and has a loaded gun, I do not know. These are the moments when one realizes that even having guards does not ensure safety. Emily is still out though and so I am praying that she will not come home until the trouble is over. Since I will be up until she gets home, I think that I will have to skip an earlly morning run.

I just got the call that a new guard is here and everything is under control. Thank you Lord Jesus for protecting us all, including any random person who was walking along the street. I have been reminded again of why I do not like guns, with the exception of water guns (but water bottles work just as well).

As for some other events of the past week, I spent 5 days out at camp to participate in a training and to pack up the remaining items in my cabin there. Today I had to unpack all of that stuff here in the city and try to find some needed documents which I want to send to the US with a friend this weekend. This morning I had yet another flat tire. Yesterday I must have run over a nail and my oh my was it twisted into the tire! So much for the new tires. Tomorrow morning I am dropping the car off to get the brakes checked because the ABS light keeps coming on. I guess that the saga of car issues has returned again. Monday and Tuesday I spent cleaning and painting window bars at the Williamson's new house so that the windows can be installed tomorrow. there is still much work to be done for it to be livable this coming Monday. Last night I went to my basketball team's scrimmage against another team and had fun playing. We ended up losing by one point but for me, I am more concerned about just playing than winning.

Well, I am officially tired and over the excitement of the evening so sleep is next on my agenda.

Saturation of "The Customer is Always Right"

March 5, 2008

I never realized until living here in Honduras how the US culture is saturated with the theme of customer service. In the US, the customer is always right, even to the detriment of small businesses. Not so here in Honduras. I have been experiencing the other extreme which because of the culture I come from, I find very frustrating.

Yesterday I went to a store in the mall looking for curtains. I saw several options but was not sure how they would look in my room with the walls and other colors that I had around. I asked the sales person if I could purchase two different curtains and then return them. She said it was okay as long as I came back tomorrow to do the return. I double checked with the clerk and she said the same thing. I was a little surprised because I thought that must stores had a no return policy. What you buy is yours for good whether it works or not. Today I went back to the store with both of the curtains because neither really looked good, nor could I find any others in the store that looked like they would work. I had another purchase to make so I picked that out and then proceeded to the check out line. In line the attendant said the item I was buying was on sale so I still had about $8 to spend. I looked a little puzzled and asked "Can't you just give me the change?" The response -- no, there are no refunds for returns. You have to purchase something else of equal or higher cost. I asked whether I could come back another day and she just give me a certficate or something but no, I had to make me purchase at the time of the return. She kindly added that I could take as long as I wanted to look around. That was not the issue. There was nothing that I really needed other than curtains and I did not have time to browse the store for another 30 minutes. But I set off in search of something else. I came back with a fruit basket and strainer and still it was not enough so I went looking again.

What seemed to be hours later I walked out of the store with my purchases, all because of what I thought would be a simple return. It did not matter in the least to the attendant that everyone failed to tell me the second part of their return policy -- no refunds. No apologies, nothing. I am not sure that it would phase the Hondurans so much because that is just the way things are. But I come with certain expectations of customer service and so find myself frustrated at what appears to me an indifferent and sometimes harsh attitude. And yet these experiences have showed me that perhaps we in the US go too much to the other extreme. Maybe I should learn to buy only what I know I want and pay the consequences if it does not turn out as I wished. I think that neither culture has the perfect balance and we both have much to learn from each other. I need to be less demanding and perhaps they more understanding. I have learned a valuable lesson though -- never buy something here in Honduras unless I am sure it is what I want.

Still Alive

March 3, 2008

So I am still alive though I have been neglecting communication. Most of that has to do with my scedule the past few weeks and the amount of time I was in camp compared to in the city. Because I am working on an update to send out, I will not write much except to say that I am excited to have the ropes course repairs done and to be able to move on to other things.

Life the past week has had its adventures -- a night hike in the jungle, a gecko in the washer, attempting to cut cable while standing on a ladder, burning my fingers on aluminum foil that just came out of the fire (very stupid on my part), etc... Hopefully I can elaborate more later. I am thankful that my health has improved though the cough I had still lingers a bit. This week I will be mostly in the city in an effort to catch up on some communication, meetings, and other details. And so more to come on life's adventures. As the video below shows, determination is not always enough to get the job done.