Final Reflection

Hello Everyone,
I wrote a reflection when I got back and I figured as my last post to this blog, I'd post my reflection. Hope you enjoy :)! -Courtney

When thinking about the two weeks I spent in Honduras, I can not help but think how

much it changed me. It was the most intense and challenging two weeks I have ever experienced,

but I would not change a minute of it. I was fully immersed in the Honduran culture and

experienced life the way many of them do everyday. Solidarity is something that I feel I

experienced in its entirety. From bucket showers to sleeping on thin mattresses on the floor, I

learned a great deal about what poverty in a third world country means.

Not only did I experience solidarity with my living arrangements, but also through

working with the local teenagers in helping build two basic houses. They had a type of joy for

life that I could not help but admire. It gave me a new viewpoint on what my attitude should be.

They were so happy and content with such a simple and basic lifestyle, it really put my

complaints in perspective. The simplicity of life in Honduras continued to amaze me everyday. It

humbled me and reminded me how much materialistic things really do not matter. Their

personalities were something that rubbed off on me and I am so thankful for that. The friendships

they offered me are so beautiful and I will carry a little piece of each of them with me

everywhere. I also enjoyed getting to know the other girls on my team that came from Northern

Arizona University. I could not be more thankful for the group I ventured with for those two

weeks. Through this experience I made new friendships and got to see many different strong

personality traits displayed that in the end made me a stronger person and made the whole

experience even better!

In addition, I got to learn plenty about basic construction work and how difficult physical

labor can really be. It gave me a new appreciation for construction jobs; I never knew how much

work it really was! I am also very pleased and grateful that I got to learn how to make cement

and lay bricks. The work we did felt a bit tedious at times, but after seeing the progress we made

each day and seeing the families we were building for, it all became worth it. One of the families

we built a house for will continue to be on my mind every day because the conditions this single

mother endured has inspired me to find just in working conditions. This woman works whenever

she can and when she does she takes her kids with her and will work in the fields all day for a

payment of only four U.S. dollars. I am determined to learn more about how I can change

working conditions for people like her.

I also enjoyed experiencing church in Honduras. Their love for Christ was so prevalent

and passionate. With all their struggles, I admire all the love they continue to show day in and

day out. On the first day we were there we went to a park in the capital, Tegucigalpa, called El

Picacho City Park and saw how even after Hurricane Mitch they still showed their love for God

by building a statue for him. I admire their faith and strength and it made me evaluate my own

spirituality and gave me a new sense of strength in my religious beliefs and values.

It was also interesting to me to be able to learn about their government and all about the

military coup. I got to see poverty and then learn why it exists. It saddened me to find out how

much the United States government actually impacts not only Honduras, but Central America in

general. I learned a lot about simply keeping myself educated about what is going on around the

world. This trip is something that will continue to impact me for the rest of my life. It has

impacted what companies I will choose to support with my business and which ones I will not.

Experiencing Honduras has opened my eyes and has forced me to change the way I look

at the world. It is no longer an option for me to live a life of being naïve. I alone may not change

the world but it is the little actions I make that will eventually make the bigger change.

pictures!!

looking back

Well I am still trying to catch up on sleep, luckily the time difference between Honduras and the U.S. is only an hour. So I was thinking about the reflection paper that I have to write about my trip to Honduras, and decided that I would sum up my trip with you all.

Our first work day was... well not what I expected at all, all we did was shovel buckets of sand and carry them up a hill to where the house was being built. It wouldn't have been so bad, but the local volunteers would have full buckets of sand and carry them with ease and then make a little joke when one of us tried to do the same thing, and did not succeed. For about three days after this work day we were all very sore, but luckily that was the only time we were sore.

In our free time we would sometimes walk to the Internet Cafe, it was about a ten minute walk, to write in our blog and send e-mails to friends and family. We would usually read, write in our journals or take a nap after a hard work day.

Some things that I will miss are the lush scenery, friendly people, a new culture, and knowing that I am helping people. But I will not miss putting bug spray on before I go to bed and then again when I wake up and the lack of running water.

If I am ever given another opportunity to visit another country to do a mission trip, I will definitely do it, and I recommend that you should too if given the chance,

Pictures part 2

Here are some more pictures of our group a.ka. our family for two weeks :). We'll try to post a couple more, but this is all for now.

Pictures part 1

Here are a couple pictures from our trip :) and I'll post a couple more on another blog!

Charlie´s Angels

So we are currently in a hotel in Tegucigalpa, it´s amazing having beds and running water, haha. We are starting to get excited about our flight home tomorrow, yay!! Last night we had a small fiesta with the local volunteers and the families that we built the houses for. We played card games, ate cake, and tried to socialize (it was difficult because of the language barrier). It was emotional saying good-bye to our new friends and hearing their kind words towards us. Today we visited a university in Tegucigalpa, it was quite pretty and enjoyed delicious smoothies. Well we will write again when we are back in the states.

Courtney and Ashley

...and then I found 20 lipedas!

As we prepare ourselves to head home, I get feelings of excitment and sadness. This really has been the most challenging, yet most amazing experience of my life. I can´t wait to share how much this trip has impacted me. I will never forget all the wonderful, kind people that have opened their hearts to me and how much I´ve learned about solidarity and living a completely different life than my own. This will probably be the last post from me on this trip, so I thought I should say thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. Also, instead of having a work day tomorrow our leader arranged for us to go see the local university and the capital square so I´m very excited to experience something different in the Honduran culture. Oh, and Valley of Angels was beautiful. Got to go.
Love and miss you all!
Courtney

Spanenglacion gurl

Holacion de Honduracion!!!
So since we last wrote, the local volunteers and us have created a new language called Spanenglacion, it´s very similar to Spanglish. Monday and Tuesday we had full work days at the two different sites (one in Danli and the other in La Juaga). We have continued to move the sand and bricks up hill and have started laying the bricks, it´s finally starting to look like a house!! We are very excited about our progress and hard work, it´s finally paying off!! On Wednesday we had contextual visits in Tegucigalpa (the capital), where we learned about their government and how involved our government actually is in Central America. Sadly, two of our visits were cancelled, but we still had a great day (which included Baskin Robbins :) ). Both today and yesterday were full work days but we are looking forward to tomorrow being a half day and we are especially looking forward to Sunday when we go to the Valley of Angels to do some shopping. That´s it for now, hope to write one more post before we leave.
Adionacion,
Ashley and Courtney

Today in Spain.... ;)

Hey Everyone,
This is both Ashley and Courtney posting. So after our last post we went around town and ate some ice cream and had some smoothies...they were delicious! After that we went to this AMAZING pizza place (who would of thought pizza in Honduras). We got to try Honduran pizza which had eggs and avacodo and some sort of mystery meat...yum! On the way home we all had died laughing...no one knows why ;). So then Sunday came along and we experienced church with a translator-thankfully. Everyone gave us hugs and kisses. It made us feel like celebrities! Then we had another mystery plate (we have lots of those), which was the best one so far! After that we decided to venture to Nicaragua where I (Courtney) was a creep and secretevely took a picture with the military police with very large guns. Then we took a very long nap and after we got to play soccer with some local Hunduran teenagers. It was so much fun!
Today and tomorrow are both full work days and our group is split up. Thankfully there is a lot of volunteers. We all have awesome tan lines and amazing bug bites/bruises. I (Courtney) have a bruise that´s taking over my leg haha.
Adios!!
Courtney & Ashley

Courtney¨s post

Hi All,
We are here and safe! This has been very interesting so far. It took almost a full day to actually arrive in Danli where we are working. We are working on two different houses. These people need it more than anyone I´ve ever seen. One of the women is a single mom and lives off of less than $4 a day! We´ve been spending our days making cement and doing the first steps of building a house. These past couple days have really hummbled me. Wish I had more time, but I got to go!
Miss and love you all!

Courtney

P.S. I appreciate all your prayers. I can feel them :).

Estoy en Honduras

Hello from honduras!!! Even after a day and a half of hauling buckets of sand, I am still enjoying being in Honduras. The food is great, the view is AMAZING, and everyone is so friendly. Tomorrow (Sunday) we are going to a church service (the same church that we are staying at) and then we have the rest of the day off. Monday and Tuesday are full work days so i hope that everyone will be well rested, blisters will have disappeared and our muscles will stop aching. Today a lot of us experienced our first bucket shower, it wasn´t so bad but the water was so cold!! But it feels nice to be clean. We are staying at the church, as I said, there is no running water but there is electricity. Food is made by some of the volunteers at the church, I think, either way it is delicious, different but delicious. Today for lunch we had french fries with ketchup!!! Fue muy sabrosa. Well I think that is it for now, the next post will probably be when I get back to the states. Adios!
Ashley

Here we go!!!

Yay!! Today is the day!! The flight is in a little over three hours, bags are finally packed (just finished a few minutes ago) and about ready to head to the airport. I am so excited for these next two weeks, all of the new experiences that will be learned and great people that we will meet. Well here we go, talk to you all when we are in Honduras.

XOXO

Ashley.

Preparing...

Hey All,
This is Courtney posting and as Ashley mentioned we are both peer instructors for the class NAU 100. The Fall of 2009 was my first year doing it and part of my teaching involved the book Enrique's Journey. This is a true story of a boy who travels to America to find his mom. After reading this book, my perspectives on a lot of things changed. I soon learned of an opportunity to travel there and be able to learn their culture and take part in building a couple houses.
I'm so thankful to all the people that are supporting us in this so Ashley and I decided to start a blog. We may not get to post very often, but we will try our best to keep you updated as much as we can! Well it's time for me to go pack and finish last minute stuff. The nerves are finally hitting and I can't believe we actually leave tomorrow!!! As Ashley mentioned, our flight takes off tomorrow night at around 11:30PM and we will arrive in Honduras around 11:30AM the next day.

Adios,
Courtney*

The Start of a Great Adventure

Courtney and I (Ashley) are both Peer Instructors at NAU. We will be teaching a college transition to incoming Freshmen students this fall. We are about to go to Honduras thru NAU Study Abroad and Sierra Service Project. Our group will be in Honduras for two weeks, we will stay at one of the local churches and build a house for one of the families. I have to go finish packing, I will write again before we leave (our flight is very late on Wednesday night).

TTFN

(Ta Ta For Now)