This past week before Easter was Semana Santa (Holy Week), and we had the entire week off for vacation. In Honduras if you don’t have the entire week off, it’s normal to at least have Wednesday or Thursday through Friday off. And then yesterday was another holiday, so we had that off. I’ve really been enjoying working with the ministry, but it was great to have some vacation time for rest and relaxation.

The first weekend, I went to Tela (on the north coast) with Mujeres Valientes. There was a bus of about 60 people- volunteers, women, children, and some men. The scheduled departure was 4pm, but actual departure was 6pm. There were no complications, it’s just the culture (however, usually it’s not that extreme).

Saturday we spent the day at one of the beautiful beaches; this was my first trip to the beach, and it was neat to share it with Mujeres Valientes. Normally a trip to the beach would not be feasible for them, but we stayed with members of a church in a small town about 45 minutes from the beach. They gave us their homes, fed us, and greeted us with coffee and bread at 2am when we arrived on Saturday morning! Their hospitality and service really taught me about generosity and service. The beach was gorgeous; it was like a page ripped out of a travel magazine. Floating in the salt water was relaxing, and it was so warm!





















Sunday on the way home we stopped at a river to swim. We drove down some back road and then walked awhile…then you just came upon this beautiful waterfall area of a river with tons of people. It was cool to not be in a “touristy” spot, but more of a “local spot.”

The church affiliated with SCM has a week long camp during Semana Santa and people from the denomination come from all over the country. I didn’t go overnight, but I had the opportunity to go for a day last week. The camp was really neat- beautiful scenery and woods, a time to play camp games, and several sessions throughout the day of Biblical study. The girl I was with had been communicating with her doctor about meeting up to get some medication…after talking about our plans he said we could meet up on the road we would walk on to get to the main road in order to find a bus. Yeah right, we thought. But it actually happened. That’s Honduras for you- just meeting up on the road to chat with your doctor...okay, so it doesn’t happen all the time, but it’s not that unusual either.

Later on during the week I went on a couple days overnight hiking/camping/backpacking trip with some friends and a guide. I’ve never actually done an overnight backpacking trip before, but it was really incredible. I’m always a fan of seeing nature, but it was also just a new thing for me to do. I like to camp and I like to hike, but I had never really put those two things together before. We camped in a tent, carried all our food, and drank water directly out of the rivers because they were so clean.

Let me just say, I had a huge backpack. I learned my lesson the hard way, but I know for next time to only bring true essential items. The first afternoon (Thursday) was one of the hardest physical tasks I have ever done in my life. We just kept climbing up and up with no flat ground. I think it was 3 hours…and by the end I was seriously taking 3-5 steps and then stop. I had no motivation to keep going, but I had to…the group was continuing and there was absolutely no place for us to sleep for the night- we had to keep going to find a flat spot. I was drained both physically as well as emotionally.








It was really a spiritual lesson for me. It was such a visualization/experience/lesson to carry a heavy load and try to do things on my own. I was weighed down by this huge backpack…so often in my life I think I can do things on my own so I don’t let other people or the Lord help me. But it’s so much harder that way. It was neat to have this experience over Easter weekend and just the day before Good Friday- I hope I will remember this experience each Easter and it will remind me of the small amount of suffering I endured.