Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

I woke up early as usual, and found that the village of Tela was also a sleepy village. It seemed no one else was up! I wandered down to get a cup of coffee and just hung out on the beach for a while in prayer. I was so thankful for the many blessings God had provided us this trip. I also marveled at how God’s creation was so diverse. I had seen pine forest, rain forest and cloud forest. Here on the coast there are so many types of palm trees it is mind numbing! Driving in, we could see the dense African palm groves that are used to harvest palm oil. Here at the beach, the palm trees were longer and leaner than the thick African palms just a few miles away.

It looked like it would rain soon, which was great because we had not seen rain in 6 days! Eventually, I made my way back to the hotel and thought I would find Amber and Douglas up, but I was wrong. Finally, like a kid, I knocked on their respective doors and asked if they were getting up anytime soon! I said I was going to eat breakfast. So I went downstairs and ate. The restaurant was a curious mix of a couple of tourists, a few ex-pats and a bunch of locals. The tourist spoke English, but they sounded Canadian and kept to themselves. The ex-pats spoke Spanish with an American accent, but they kept to themselves too. I think people come to this little spot on the Caribbean to get away, far away! Only the staff and the locals would speak to me! Eventually, Douglas came down and finally Amber came down. We went to the little gift store next to the hotel and bought more stuff – man, I needed another suitcase! Then we took a dunk in the ocean one more time.
We cleaned up and checked out of the hotel, but stayed for a seafood soup lunch. It was awesome! It is a coconut based broth, with fish or seafood, plantains, yucca root, spices and curry and some other herbs. It is almost Thai in its taste, but Douglas said is as much a Honduran specialty as the local music called Punta, a rhythmic, afro-carib style music that is really kind of cool! Douglas (that's Douglas with the fork!) told us a lot about the local history, rich in pirate folklore, and we could see the modern day decedents of the pirate lifestyle all over the beach! I had a chance to Instant Message my wife, and I was so excited I would be home soon.

This place called Tela was real paradise, not spoiled by the influx of American tourists. Instead it had a rather edgy quality about it, somehow wild and yet pure. The colorful cast of characters that walked up and down the beach could have been clichés in a pirate movie or a Jimmy Buffet video. There was the shady guys under the cabana, drinking at 10:00AM, and shooting shots of turtle eggs they bought from the turtle egg lady who strolled up and down the beach selling her illegal bounty. There was a guy who looked like a pirate selling conch shells and necklaces on a blanket. Then there were the beautiful local peoples, some who were the descendents of African slaves, according to Douglas, who now populated the Honduran coastal towns. A few ladies were carrying baskets of warm coconut bread on their heads to sell. Douglas turned us on to that delicious bread. There were the local girls trying to talk Amber into getting her hair done in beads, and the young guy selling trinkets at a table under a palm tree, while propping his feet up and playing the guitar. The funny thing was, it seemed all this was for our benefit, and when we left, they would all go back to there normal jobs and lives, like they were just players in a play. There just were not any more tourists around, and as far as we could tell, we were it! But Douglas insisted this place was hopping on the weekends, which was usually when he and his family came. He was almost sad when we drove away, to get us to the airport in time. Childhood memories are precious, and I could relate to him and this beautiful place.

We got to the airport as the same time as the 1st team did the day prior. With no lines to worry about and a quick check in, Douglas bid us our final farewell. He needed to get up the hill before dark. We told him we would see him when we returned, unless he was working for the UN like he had planned, and he was stationed in Switzerland. He was a blessing, and I already missed him before he even left!

Checked in and happy, Amber and I waited to board our flight out. I was able to get online and talk to Lauren awhile which was cool. I could not wait to see my wife, and if Amber’s tears were any indication as she got off the phone with John, she was anxious to see her Husband.

Everything was going great until boarding time, when we found out our flight was delayed. That was not so bad, except that the delay was longer than the layover in San Salvador, so we would miss our connecting flight home! Things slowly deteriorated as the night progressed, and the worry about the canceled flight we had for the team the day before, ended up being our situation. Luckily, TACA worked out a solution that would take us from Honduras to New York and then on to San Francisco. 6 hours after our original boarding time, we left Honduras headed for JFK in New York on a 3.5 hour flight, curiously shorter than flying to San Francisco. We would fly over 6 hours out of our way, and have a 4 hour layover, just so we could get home. Honestly, even though it seemed like a huge inconvenience, God had actually provided for us one last time on this trip, because we were the lucky ones to get out of San Pedro Sula. Only those few passengers headed to LA, San Francisco and Miami actually left the airport that night. Everyone else got left behind, and had no where to stay! Like we had found out the day prior with Douglas, there were no rooms left in San Pedro Sula because of a week long festival, and there were many upset travelers in that airport as we took off!

13 hours later we landed and two hours after that I saw my family again. It was exactly 24 hours from the time we checked in to the airport in Honduras. Even with all that, I would still do it all over again. God is an amazing God, and he alone knows why these things happen. All of us knew that we may not make it home on time, but everyone still went with a servant’s heart.

I hope and pray that many more Lakesiders will take that leap of faith like these 5 people did and let God reveal Himself to them in strange and wondrous ways. After all, life is not about the destination, but the journey. We all know our final destination and it is a wonderful place we call Heaven. It is our faith that allowed us to take a risk and travel half way around the globe with strangers who share a heart to serve, and in that we got a glimpse of God smiling. He is looking for more good and faithful servants with the courage to leave the known behind, and seek Him in places that are foreign to us while spreading the Good News and His love, because after all, He is the one who has told us to GO! This team of 6 found out God will take care of all the details! So don't worry, just GO! Better yet, come with us next time, you will be glad you did!