Saturday

Hello! This is Shelby Grates, reflecting on the seventh day of the trip. It's late, and I'm rushing, so I apologize for any typos and problems with grammar.

Today was the last full day of our adventure here in Honduras. We came down for the usual pool side breakfast, and we were off by 7:45. Some of the boys at the Hogar de Amor were participating in a soccer tournament that day, and our group was torn between going to the game to support the team and hiking the long trek to Eloisa's house. Some of us were either too tired to go on the hike or just wanted to support the team, therefore we split up and Chloe, Shelby B., Harper, Bri M., Alexis, Danielle, Kylie and myself were dropped off at the Hogar de Amor to drive with them to a different Hogar where they would be competing. The rest of the group bravely headed off to face the long, yet surely rewarding hike to Eloisa's house. Since there were two different experiences shared today, I will be focusing on the boys' soccer game and the events that followed, and Leah's blog post will focus on the hike.

When we arrived at the Hogar de Amor, we were excited to see the boys in their yellow  Leones uniforms, high in spirits. After visiting for a few moments, we squeezed into the van, several of us with kids on our laps. As we drove, we talked and sang either Spanish or English songs that we all knew. We arrived at the other Hogar, something that appeared quite different than the Hogar de Amor. Its large, intimidating gate opened and revealed a Hogar that was truly beautiful. It was a huge piece of land, and took us a while to actually reach the soccer field. When we got out of the van, we were greeted by a woman who called the large group of kids there her sons, and told us that the ages ranged from seven to twenty-three. From there we walked to the field, where we met a woman who moved to Honduras from Florida with her two children, who played along perfectly with the children at the Hogar. She seemed so content, like she knew helping the kids at this Hogar was what she needed to do. It made us wonder what it would be like if we were to give everything up to move to a place to help others. She seemed so happy, and while Honduras is so vastly different from California or America as a whole, the kids at the Hogar she volunteers at must have the same affect that the Kids at the Hogar de Amor and the Jungle School have had on our group. They have made us feel so welcomed by this country, no matter how different or uncomfortable it may appear to be.

We then took our seats in the shade with the kids from the Hogar de Amor who were not participating in the game, ready to cheer them on. After a prayer and team cheer on, they were off. We were all surprised by how well the kids played, considering that they have no where near the amount of land that the kids at this Hogar do, and didn't really have anywhere to practice. They were genuinely focused on having fun and enjoying the game, but it was clear that they hoped to win. They won the first game against the orange team with a score of 2 to 0, and while we waited for our team to play and the other two teams played, this activity packed week truly got the best of us and we all fell asleep right in the grass, but we were up and energized for the next game. Our team played the blue team next, and after much effort, fantastic team work, and some encouraging dancing from the girls, team Leones scored a point, thus winning the tournament. The pride and excitement was clear in the eyes of the boys. We congratulated them, then they posed with their trophy for pictures (David later told us this was their first trophy they ever received), and then it was time to leave.

During this week, we have seen how a common form of transportation is hopping in the back of a pick up truck, so Danielle, Alexis, Shelby, Amanda, Chloe and I decided we had to do this before we left. Bri, Harper, and Kylie went in a different car. We hopped in the back of the truck along with another guy who was a supporter of the Leones and were driven by a friend of David. We were headed off to the Hogar de Amor. After a few minutes of driving, our paranoia set in. We began wondering if we did actually know these people (although David saw us get in the car), if they knew where we were going, and if this trip was about to turn out like the movie Taken. With no Liam Neeson type to save us, we stupidly began planning to jump out and run at a stop sign, but since everything was familiar around us, we decided to go for a little while longer. We stopped to get coconuts, and the driver bought each of us one to drink, but our skepticism of the situation only heightened. We took a different route to the Hogar, and right before we officially decided to jump out and run, we arrived at the Hogar. We then couldn´t help but laugh at our paranoia, but hey, at least we were cautious!

The chaos continued, unfortunately. We realized after a few minutes of waiting that we were stranded at the Hogar, as the rest of the group continued on to the Jungle School to distribute donated backpacks to the children. We thought we could relax after our adventure, but we became only more nervous. We contemplated what to do, and began worrying about how much the rest of the group would freak when they realized we were missing. Our hunger overpowered us, so a few of us walked down to a small little food place and got some baleadas. After returning and seeing that no one had come for us, we borrowed one of the Tias' phones and called David to tell him where we were. Apparently, he wasn't too concerned and was more focused on distributing the backpacks and didn't tell the rest of the group where we were. While we waited at the Hogar with nothing to do, a few of us colored My Little Pony pictures while others caught some much needed sleep. We watched the time pass, and wondered why no one had come for us.

After a little while, we saw Kyla, Harper and Nick at the gate of the Hogar and were extremely relieved. They seemed to be as well, thankful that our day didn't turn into the plot of Taken. We jumped in a taxi and arrived at the hotel where we had only moments to make ourselves presentable and less smelly for the party the kids, the Tias, and David were throwing for us at the Hogar de Amor. When we arrived, we were all so excited to see the kids, but knew that we would have to say goodbye in just a few hours, but we attempted to suppress this thought in order to value the last moments we would have with the kids.

After visiting and playing for a little while, the kids surprised us with a little presentation they put together. David began by talking about the kids' situation a bit and thanking us for our time and work. Paola and a few others hosted the event, introducing the performers. The younger girls put a cute little dance together, and the older girls followed with a very impressive dance as well. Moises and Venancio came out with the goofy glasses I gave the kids (which I was very pleased to see went to good use), colorful blankets around them, silly hats, and toothbrushes that hung off the hats. They acted out a little conflict, and we were all dying of laughter. Then, it was time for a few people to say things. A few kids from the Hogar got up and thanked us for our time and compassion, and how they loved sharing so much time with us this past week. It brought tears to our eyes. Then, Steve got up, got choked up and discussed what a great week it has been and how much work we were able to accomplish. This definitely opened the flood gates. Then, Nick got up and discussed how thankful he was for the people on the trip and how wonderful it was to get to know everyone better. He thanked the kids for providing us with wonderful experiences. Jesus was next, and I knew I would continue crying. He got up and said how appreciative he was of all our good attitudes and thanked everyone for making this trip so wonderful. He got choked up when he said that he truly felt like he made some new and long-lasting friends, which definitely made us all cry even harder.

After our cheeks were stained with tears, it was time for the piñata, where each child got five chances at hitting the pinata. Nick held the rope and yanked it up and down. Though each child definitely showed their strength with each string, the piñata was stubborn, but it finally broke and the kids all ran to swoop up the candy. Then we were served ice cream, and the kids put on some music and Brian brought out his strobe light. The kids grabbed us to dance, and impressed us with their fantastic dancing skills.

After much dancing, the dreaded moment arrived, and the bus pulled up to take us to dinner. It was time to say goodbye to the kids. The tears were instantaneous. Reina hugged me, and I completely lost it. I looked around to see that everyone was doing the same. She asked me when I would be back, and though I knew that I must come back, it was an awful feeling to not be able to tell her when. I said that I didn´t know, but hopefully soon. I said "soon" in English, not knowing the appropriate Spanish word, and when her eyes brightened and said "In June?`" my heart broke when I had to tell her no, that I didn´t know, but it will be as soon as possible. I then said goodbye to Mercedes, someone who I was dreading saying goodbye to. When she saw me wet eyes, she said "I love you" in English, and it was the most precious thing I have  ever heard. I told her I loved her as well, gave her a matching bracelet and a note that Aubrey and I wrote for her (I'll admit it- I had to use Google translator) and hugged her once more. I looked around to see all my peers sobbing, giving the children notes, candy, and anything they could. Mrs. Glennon urged us to jump onto the bus because saying goodbye wasn´t going to get any easier. We said our goodbyes to everyone we could. Just when I thought I had myself gathered, I looked at McKenna, who was holding Lula, and they were both sobbing to one another, and I lost it once more. Saying goodbye brought us all to tears, and even sobs. We slowly made our way to the bus, saying goodbye once more to every child we could before taking our seats. The kids ran to the fence, some of them crying, yelling out names to say goodbye to. Once we were all on the bus, Mrs.Glennon eased the tension by saying, "If you´re pathetic and you know it, clap your hands!" and without hesitation, we all clapped, and then managed to giggle amongst our tears. After a few minutes of laughing and crying, Mrs. Glennon said,"By the way, I love all of you on this bus," and that simple statement truly defined how I felt at the moment.

I still can not believe this week happened. I was able to share absolutely incredible experiences with some of the best people. I truly couldn´t have asked for a better group of people to share this experience with. As most will agree, it is so easy to let the people who seem to let drama and less important things dominate their lives to cause us to lose hope, and sometimes, we even lose hope in ourselves when the pressures of a fast-paced society get the best of us. This trip has truly restored my hope. I can not believe how compassionate and driven each person on this trip is, and how much of an effort they put into making this trip incredible.

So while most of us are in our rooms packing and preparing for our early departure, we look at our clothing and things as nothing. We will be bringing home with us more than just souvenirs, mosquito bites, dirt, and even a few bugs in our hair. We are bringing home with us a new appreciation. We are so blessed to live in the country that we do, and while even I will admit to being caught up in all the issues and materialism of the nation, I can´t help but feel so grateful for everything we have, like the paved roads, the clean(ish) air, the toilets that flush, the clean food, the fully intact buildings, the lack of bugs, and safety and rights the government provides us. However, there is something that America will never be able to give us that Honduras did. There is a love here that can not be explained. The kids truly love one another. They realy live in home full of love. They don´t need all the materialistic things we claim to need. They only need love. I think I can speak for everyone when I say this is something our nation, fogged with the importance of appearance and status could have never showed us. So while the living conditions of Honduras may not be glittery and glamorous, there is a lot of love here, and I can't begin to describe how thankful I am to have been able to experience this.

It´s 11:35 at night, and poor Leah still has to write. I apologize for the extremely long blog, but I simply couldn´t stop. I just want to give a big thank you to Stacey for planning this entire trip, Kyla for helping and coordinating, the chaperons, and everyone who came for making this week the most rewarding one of my entire life.
We are all sad to leave Honduras, but we can´t wait to see our family and friends.

With much love,
Shelby Grates