Go Tell it on a Mountain

I just had a distinctly third-world moment. As I was walking down the middle of the street to another missionary's home in Belfate to borrow a movie, I heard a rustling in the shadows. Out of the darkness, pops not a person, but two horses. Thankfully horses in Belfate are relatively tame and run away from dogs, and apparently my cough.

I know that I posted quite a bit the other day, but I'm leaving for the MamaTara Orphanage (where it seems I will have very limited internet access) in Mosquitia very early Thursday morning and yesterday's experience was too valuable to not talk about.

Dr. Rumbaugh has three schools he visits up in the mountains and Monday's visit was for us to see them in action and to help deliver books for them to use in starting libraries. Unfortunately none of the teachers showed up (the Vacante deal I mentioned in an earlier post is apparently more frequent on Mondays in the mountains because the teachers live further away). So, because we had made the hour long trek (combination of a hike and a ride in the back of the truck with the four of us and about ten Honduran hitchhikers) we decided to not go back, but to make the most of our visits.

After being dropped off by some doctors who were heading further down the road to a medical clinic (centro de salud), Natalie, Lauren, and I waited by a creek in Las Flores for Dr. Rumbaugh to show up. When he arrived, we dropped off one set of books and began our hike. The hike included crossing two rivers (one of which I may have found a small piece of gold in...unfortunately I can't tell the difference between gold and copper) and a run in with the largest cow I had ever seen. We were traveling on a narrow path across a cow pasture when this cow decided to turn it's head (revealing horns indicating it's status as a male), cutting me off from the other three. I backed up and it moved its head, making room for me to pass. As soon as I moved forward, it aimed its head at me, proceeding to bare its horns at me as I ventured even closer. This process was repeated a few times until I finally dared to get close enough that it started sniffing and chewing on the bucket containing the books for our next library (it formerly contained cat litter...which explains everything). The impasse was resolved when the owner of the bull came out and moved it for us.

After another 5 minutes of hiking we hit the next village (I'm sorry I'm forgetting the name) and read from some pictures Bibles to two girls and their grandfather. From there, we proceeded to the house of Dr. Rumbaugh's friend Victor. We taught his daughters some children's songs. I was paired up with the youngest daughter (Eva), who happened to be very shy. At one point, one of the songs required that we put our arms on each others' shoulders. After I tried to demonstrate this to Eva, she proceeded to nervously grab onto the hammock in front of her and then moved about 3 feet further away from me. Apparently, she had never been touched before...a lot of the people in the mountains have very little social contact beyond their families.

After singing, their mother (Dominica) cooked us a lunch that we hadn't expected. I helped her carry the plates to us, which apparently was unusualy because the men in this culture rarely help out the women. The meal was a meager rice and beans(yes I ate the beans, mom), but it was incredibly generous considering how little this family had and it was quite delicious. Alongside the food was a strange pink drink...mine came in a glass covered in black spots. Oh well, at least I've got imodium to take care of whatever potential ill it might do to me.

From there, we continued down the road about 3 miles to the centro de salud to meet up with the doctors, who were holding a prenatal clinic. After some time singing and reading with the kids, Dr. Rumbaugh and I left to head back down to Belfate. As we were leaving, the first rain I'd experienced in Honduras began. After walking about a mile, we caught up to the motorcycle. After going about 3 feet, it lost all traction and we discovered the mud wouldn't support both of our weights. So I walked back another mile in the pouring rain and waited until the doctors were ready to leave. While the rain could've been a major downer, it ended up being a great time of singing and praising God.

The ride back came with the most beautiful sights I have seen so far on this trip. Honduras supposedly is where the mountains come closest to the shoreline and that affords a breathtaking view. Unfortunately my camera was malfuncationing, but maybe I can get some of Lauren's pictures and throw them up here later.

The amazing moments this day brought are impossible to capture in words, but I hope this gave you just a piece of my experience. John Piper captured it well when he said that missionary work is only true when we are working to expand the glory of God and the glory of God is best displayed in human joy and worship of the Lord.