Adjusting to life in Honduras

At PDX with Kirsten's family.

It has been two weeks now since we arrived in Honduras and it has been a whirlwind! Since arriving we have moved from our temporary housing into our home, bought a truck, the boys started school, we've managed to get around the city and find stores to buy food and essentials, took a day trip to a nearby city called Comayagua, visited a church plant, visited a family in the mountains who own a coffee farm which supplies much of the coffee beans for HOPE Coffee, met numerous people, and much, much more.

Arrival at airport in Honduras.

So a little about all of these things... driving here is interesting. We can drive with our U.S. driver's license legally, but need to have our passport with us at all times. Driving laws are merely suggestions to most on the road, but I (Corey) try to maintain most of them. It's necessary to "go with the flow" in most cases so you don't cause an accident and keep traffic moving. And pedestrians DO NOT have the right away. If you stop for them you will most likely get a weird look and get honked at by others. Most of the traffic lights in the city do not work, so knowing which streets are the "main" streets is important so you can know who has the right-of-way. It's best to just be on the defense and not assume anyone will stop for you. There ARE one-way streets I found out as I have gone down several the wrong way. Most are not marked, but you can sort of tell by the direction the cars are parked on the street. For the most part, most other drivers don't care if you're going the wrong way, just as long there is room to get by.

Our team meeting the first week.

Welcome party at our destination!

The city is full of life especially on the weekends with a population of around 60,000. It has grown a lot since we were here two years ago. There are now two decent supermarkets here that offer most of what a small town store would offer in the U.S. with exception to distinctly "American" food such as peanut butter. The street market is still the best place to find fresh veggies and fruit and a larger variety. The main streets in town are paved but with very thin pavement, so they are spotted with potholes. All the side streets through the neighborhoods are dirt/rock/mud/craters. Our diesel truck does very well on them. This time of year is the rainy season so it regularly rains around 4pm until 6 or 7pm. Often it will rain during the day but only for a few minutes, and when it does it POURS! Yesterday we had about 6 inches of rain in about half-an-hour so today everything is muddy.

Gavin & Micah playing Legos.

Church plant we visited outside the city.

We visited a family up higher in the mountains who have a coffee farm. They sell their coffee to our team for use in HOPE Coffee, a ministry/business that funds ministry projects through the local church here in Honduras. It was great to visit with them and see how the coffee sales are making a difference in their day-to-day lives. They are full of the joy of the Lord! A team from a church in California will be coming down in December to work with them to harvest the coffee. We look forward to being a part of this as well!

We start language school next Monday so please pray for us! Our boys are liking their school, which is a definite answer to prayer. Please continue to pray for us that this transition will go according to God's will. There is so much more to share, but not enough space in a blog so we'll share more in our newsletter coming in September. Thank you for your prayers and support! We could not do this without your partnership in the Gospel.

Dios te bendiga,
Corey, Kirsten, Gavin & Garret