Sunday, October 12, 2014

Me perdonen (forgive me), I'm a lot lazier than I thought...


I am deeply sorry to those who have been trying to keep up with my happenings through this blog...excuses are pretty much void at this point, so please accept my apologies for making you wait so long for an update. Just keep this apology in mind for any and all proceeding posts, as I will no longer be starting off my posts with apologies...so we'll make this the last one.

Since it's been so long, I will divide this post in two parts: the first will focus on what's been going on and the second will give some insight as to what's been going on personally. Thank you for your patience!

'Japoncito'
(not a personal photo)
Big news! (Not really) Apart from this being the first post in a year, I will be renaming my blog...seems appropriate seeing as how it's as if I were starting anew. It was also brought to my attention about a year ago that 'japoncito' has a meaning contrary to what I previously thought. While meeting with a leader from one of the communities we missioned in last summer, I presented myself as Jose 'el japoncito,' under the assumption that it meant 'little Japanese person.' Well, I came to find out that in various parts of Honduras, 'japoncito' refers to the hairless neck of a baby chicken...pretty much the same thing (I mean, Japanese people aren't the hairiest people in the world...), but I think the name change might be necessary now that I've shared that with you...

So, as for what's been going on since the last time I posted...I went home for Christmas and hung out with family and friends for about 3 and a half weeks. Needless to say (although I haven't said much through this blog for the past year), it was great to see and be with family for Christmas and New Year's. It was a much needed break from the craziness of the mission, but by the end of my time home, I was ready to get back to action. I didn't have to wait long for that to happen. In March, we started the mission season with a few Spring Break teams who came down from Texas A&M, Old Dominion (my alma mater), and FOCUS ministries. During the first Spring Break mission, I celebrated 1 year in Honduras...pretty hard to believe how fast it's gone, considering I'm now approaching 20 months as I write this post. But to be honest, there are times when it feels like I've been here much longer, and others when I feel like I've just arrived. I think that's just the reality of the missionary life, never knowing what to expect...and/or trying to comprehend what just happened.

Hangin' with the locals
We then traveled to La Ceiba for Holy Week to do a mission in three different places. We split up into three teams, two of which traveled to two different islands just off the northern coast of Honduras. I went to the island of Utila, which is a vacation-heavy island, especially during Holy Week. Long story short, it was a particularly difficult mission, in which we were usually met with a little bit of resistance and lots of loud music.
And there was certainly no shortage of inebriation...not on our part, of course ;) If anything, I was reminded of why I never was attracted to drinking at really any point in my life...so for that, thank you, Utila! But apart from the time we spent on the beach trying to reach out to whoever would give us the light of day, it was a beautiful and unique experience getting to know the locals from the Catholic Christian community. They were beautiful people with a beautiful culture. Despite the difficulty of the mission, I do wish to return someday...maybe with a little musical help from my brothers...doubt it, but you never know!

Baton Rouge team
After a community retreat in La Ceiba, we started getting ready for what would be an intense, chaotic, yet very fun and fruitful summer mission season. It comprised of three different groups: the first group came from Baton Rouge, LA, the second group came from all over, and the third was a team of high school youth from Virginia Beach/Norfolk, Northern VA, New York, and North Carolina. There was also a group of seminarians from Raleigh that was squeezed in between the second and third missions.

Needless to say, we were very busy this summer. Thankfully, we had the help of 9 awesome summer-termers to help with the craziness of the summer.  It did get a little crowded in our complex (about 25 people)...but as they say, the more the merrier! We were truly blessed to have them for a couple of months, as the help was very much needed.

Nowadays, the community is adjusting to new leadership, as our beloved Carol-who has been living in Honduras for over 13 years-has gone off to study in Rome. We are very blessed to welcome and have our new leaders, Bob and Diane step in and take over the reigns for the next 3 years. They're pretty quality people...they are from VA, so I think it goes without saying ;)

Tio Osboo, myself, and Roger
Speaking of VA, just a few weeks ago my parents (who reside in VA) and my uncle Al came down to visit for a few days.
My uncle actually came down for Thanksgiving LAST year (first relative brave enough to come visit me), but neither of my parents had traveled to Central America before making the trek down to Hondo.
Mis padres y yo day of their departure :(
I was very pleased that they finally got the opportunity to come and see what goes on down here. It was a bit of a break for me to have them here, even though we still did mission-life things. I really enjoyed having them...and if they still haven't gotten dengue, maybe there's a chance they'll come back!

Apart from that, life has slowed down, but getting ready to pick back up with some retreats, missions, and the like...

Stay posted for another, more personal look into how things have been the past year!




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