A Journey With Three Legs

Kim, at Hotel Guancascos, being
phone-interviewed by Christi

Kim Hall, of Manna 4 Lempira, is back in Honduras for her longest visit to date. This time she and her family are there for a whopping three weeks. Graciously, she agreed to take time to chat with me before heading out for another busy day full of showing love to the children in the sponsorship program. As you’re about to read, neither rain nor grasshoppers nor swarming bees nor weird toads stays the Hall family from its appointed routes!

First Leg

The first leg of the Hall’s trip centered around spending time with a family they first met through another child sponsorship program. Then they went to Gracias, where they spent days visiting the children they currently sponsor. With so many trips to Honduras under their belts, the family is feeling more confident in their ability to do some things on their own. Kim is also pleased her Spanish has improved.

This is the second time Kim has been in Honduras during a “grasshopper year” (the giant grasshoppers come every three years). Fortunately, most of the ones they’ve seen have been dead. She quipped, “We had to buy umbrellas for rain. They work against grasshoppers, too!”

Kim and family crossed
this bridge that Sowers4Pastors
did NOT build

Traveling with children always brings unique challenges. This time, one Hall offspring was swarmed by bees when he ventured off while visiting a pastor who is a beekeeper. Fortunately  he only received three stings, but it could have been much worse. Another Hall child picked up a random toad and had a reaction after rubbing her eyes. She suffered from blurry vision for about a half hour. Kim said the takeaway lessons were: “Don’t touch wild animals. Don’t go on a roof with bees.” Good advice!

Second Leg

A team arrived from the U.S. to join them after their initial week. This first team consists of four people whose main focus is doing medical checkups. The group is also re-registering the children in the sponsorship program--updating information and making videos of kids who are still waiting for sponsors. Kim said, “Most of them are boys who have been waiting about nine months for a sponsor. We’re working hard on that. I think they like making the videos.”  And Kim likes having the opportunity to talk to the children and call them by name. From the way she said it, I could sense the burden she feels to find a sponsor for each child. (This link takes you to our favorite of these videos.)

Kim got to deliver good news to one little boy who had been waiting nine months for a sponsor. She described his smile and the delight he felt over receiving a letter and photo from his sponsor. She said, “It’s cool to have the privilege to tell a kid in person he has a sponsor. The letter and photo make it real to them.”

Third Leg

A second team, consisting of six people, joined the first team on Saturday. The second group will be staying for one week. They will be doing home visits, school visits, and doing VBS activities. They will also be taking three different groups of sponsored children to a swimming pool in Gracias. Kim excitedly said, “Most of the kids have never been to a real pool. The place we’re taking them has a lake, animals, and a swimming pool. I only hope it warms up a little before then!”

Something tells me the kids won’t care if it’s cold!

- posted by Christi