Sam and Mary's Family Page: September 2012

Hi!

Well sorry I couldn't make myself get up last night and write! A bunch of us started talking during dinner, trailed upstairs, and ended up sitting around the bunk beds and hanging out until way past bedtime. It was cool to get to know more about everyone. But by the time they all went off to bed, I just gave up and followed suit.

I'm going to insert picture in here, I hope it doesn't break up the flow of the story too much, but some are needed for illustration!

Yesterday morning we got everyone off to Camp, with some of us going straight to the actual Camp facility and others on to the track. The Campers had to be at breakfast at 6am because we had to have the camp cleaned up by 8am. Another Camp started there today.

Lauren, Matthew, and I went into the chapel, (well the building with a stage which we used as a chapel) and picked up a few odds and ends like posters that were left behind. Then we folded all the chairs and propped them against the walls.

(BTW, it's very loud in an auditorium with a metal roof when metal chairs fall on the floor. Just thought I'd share that... Anyway, the 4 chairs that were broken went into one corner where we are being asked to pay $25 per chair! No, we didn't break them, we think maybe it happened during our "Me Gusta" game where we dived head first into a chair before someone else could. Ok that was a side note.)

Me Gusta Chair Fail

Then we walked around out front, like Amanda and I did the first day, and picked up loose garbage, although honestly there was very very little. Patty and Courtney joined us from their work in the bunk house. They agreed that it was shocking how the Honduran young people had left everything so incredible spotless! Then we had a little time to sit and talk. Finally, Terry DuPont came and got us in the truck.

When we got to the track, the boys were enjoying free riding time out on the course, with the littlest ones in a different area, practicing starts and stops. Then they got to switch.

Sam ran up to say hi when I got there, but was pretty quickly called away to learn how to be a flagger- which incidentally does not involve having a flag, you just wave your arms wildly to get their attention, try not to get hit, and pick them up if they fall off. :-)

Terry DuPont asked Courtney and I if we still needed to go to the grocery before we delivered the backpacks we had made to the school. We said yes, we still needed candy to go in them, so he told us it was the best time to go right then. We drove back to the bunks again, and Amanda said she wanted to stay there and help Pamela finish cleaning up, so we went on to the grocery.

I'll add this very delicately so as not to upset the male readers, but we also had to make a "pit stop" at home. There is NO bathroom facility at the track, (which doesn't stop the guys in the slightest I might add,) and the camp is a mile away, which in itself is um...functional. So, we went home first to spend a bit of time there, get some cash, and headed to buy the candy.

In the grocery we quickly found the aisle Ms. America (the cook - yes, her real name) had told us to look for. It said, "Cupleaῆos" which means "birthday" and got the candy. Plus, Patty really wanted some Mac-n-Cheese that she later made us for dinner- yum, thanks Patty.

There was a bit of math to do at this point; luckily we had our cell phone calculators. We had to figure out that L66.00 (Lempira) is $3.30. You take the L amount and divide by 20. It goes up and down, so it's best to use 20 to be safe. I think it's truly 19.6 right now.

The big bag of candy was $3.30 and the bag of tiny bags of marshmallows was about the same. We got 3 bags of 30 marshmallow packs and 3 bags of candy. Pretty cheap! $18 give or take some.

We also "needed" some chocolate. There is a SERIOUS problem with the lack of desserts offered in this place. I like ice cream as well as the next girl, but I just gotta have chocolate. So, we got Hershey's and Snickers. Plus we needed shampoo and such. (L77.00-L90.00 a bottle)

Checking out was tricky, because we had to figure out how much to give her and we had some Lempira and some Dollars, but we eventually pulled it off by trading back and forth between the three of us cash of various kinds, and letting her take Lempira out of our hands. Hope she is as nice as she seemed...

When we got back to the track they had finished riding and were preparing to do the closing ceremony. We got to help hand out a few of the awards.

They received a certificate that all of the pros and instructors had signed, as well as Tony, Patty, and Matthew First as Camp Deans. Then they got a nice poster of Dylan, a bike sticker of Dylan's rider number, "316 Dylan First," and a nice bracelet his friend had made us, that is half green/half blue and says RIP Dylan First.

The Pros/Instructors gave them the certificate and posed for pictures, then Patty gave them the poster, I gave them a sticker, and Courtney gave them the bracelet. But when Tony came over, I handed him the stickers to give out, and pretty quickly Courtney passed the bracelets to Matthew. It was neat seeing the three of them give out the awards in Dylan's honor.

When everyone had their awards and Shawn had a chance to talk to them and thank everyone for coming, we all went over to the Table Top (a part of the track where the bikes go up a hill, and if they are moving fast enough, they can jump pretty high) which was a perfect staging area for everyone to pose for a big group photo.

Jumping off the Table Top.

We tried to get the translators to get in the photo, as each one had worked just as hard at the station he or she was posted at, as the instructor they were working with, but they wouldn't go for it. They are only ok with taking the spotlight if it's just to be your voice. :-)

When we left the track we came home for lunch, and most of us fell asleep. We are all exhausted!

But, a few didn't. The instructors and pros all got a special invitation to go for a cross-Honduras ride with Fernando, his son, and I think a couple of others. As Ronnie said, when you get an invitation like that, and in a foreign country no less, you go.

They left straight from the track and were gone till 8:00pm thereabouts. They said it was REALLY rough riding. They had gotten to stop for a nice lunch at one point, but otherwise had moved the whole time.

One rider said "It was the hardest ride I've been on in my entire life, no kidding." There had been a couple of crashes and spills. Ryan has slashes all across one side from under his arm down to his hip. He had someone side-swipe him on a part of the trail that was thick with dust and hard to see. Ronnie's arm is badly bruised from near his wrist up nearly to under his arm. But nothing severe. One black eye from a flying rock!

They seemed like it was an amazing adventure. Several of the guys mentioned that they truly felt like they had become friends with Fernando and his son Gustavo. An unexpected blessing, and hopefully one that will bear much fruits for the future of the FCA MotoCross ministry here.

Speaking of FCA future, Ronnie found out Thursday night that he was having dinner with an Asbury University grad! Giermo, his good friend, is a leader in the men's ministry. Antonio, another rider, is a pastor! They said that they would be honored to serve as FCA-On-The-Ground-Men for future Camps!!

Back at the house, we all took a very long siesta, and then a handful of us gathered up the new backpacks we had made and headed off for school. These backpacks are the ones that another church had colored from VBS last year, and they had been packed up and sent to us! Terry DuPont had a big box of toys that people had brought for doing VBS here but hadn't used, and Mary H. and I had filled the backpacks with toys, and then Matthew helped put candy and marshmallows, plus a tiny book about the EvangeCube in each one.

This school was a lot bigger, and much more formal than the first one. There were 100+ kids and all in uniforms. They had teaching pictures on the walls as well, which the first school had not had.

This sign was posted above the blackboard, "Today is the beginning of the rest of your life."

After talking with the kids and Courtney telling them the story on the EvangeCube, I said a prayer with them, and then we handed out the backpacks. Just to prove His provisions for us, God had an entire garbage bag of extra backpacks we hadn't filled, plus a half-full coloring book that we had been pulling pages out of to put in the first bags, plus a bag and a half of candy we and stuffed into the suitcase with the backpacks. There were a LOT of extra kids more than we had backpacks for. Tony First and I started filling packs on the spot with candy, (handfuls) coloring pages, empty backpacks stuffed inside, and a EvangeCube mini-book.

We managed to fill a pack for all the extra kids, and still had some to give the Principal along with leftover coloring pages and candy, in case any kids missed us.

It worked out, but it was scary for a minute. My worst fear was having something for most kids, and sending others away with nothing.

I then asked the kids if they wanted to sing a song, and led them- shakily - through "Zacheus Was a Wee Little Man," ("Pequenito Hombre") with Jennifer translating between verses and all of us doing the hand motions. They kids most enjoy when you mess up the Spanish and they get to say "No! It's...." and correct you. It's very funny to them.

Last we went outside for a group picture!

We had a nice long period of down time here at the house after we got back, and even started a game of Apple-to-Apples, which was really funny to see Krystal, (Kree-Stall) a young interpreter, trying to play- while translating idioms and phrases into Spanish in her head- and then place a card that would make sense and be funny. She did alright! She even won a hand. She is very young. 16 maybe? Sam thinks 18.

Well today most of the group has gone to the track to watch the qualifying rounds for the races tomorrow. Shawn explained that it's really a practice day more than anything. Other than the riders there isn't really anything for the support staff to do but cheer and watch.

We ate some lunch, and afterwhile we'll all head back to the track to spend some time interacting with fans and taking up space to give it a "crowded" look. Then, this afternoon late, around 4:45pm, we will all get to go to a church service.

No regular church tomorrow because it is "Dia de La Biblia." Here's a brief explanation. I REALLY hope we get to see the parade tomorrow morning!!!

The National Day of the Bible is held in Honduras on the last Sunday of September.
This celebration was officially established by Congress in the year 1988. The motion was introduced by Glen Solomon, who at the time was deputy for the department of the Bay Islands.

The National Day of the Bible is held exclusively by evangelical sects, as the Catholic Church has already defined the day of the Bible as the September 30, in honor of St. Jerome Catholic biblical scholar distinguished author of the Vulgate, the translation of the Bible into Latin.

Some evangelical sects come to parade in the streets that day, carrying banners praising the holy book, which is actually a compilation of several books. They recommend the reading of the Bible for spiritual salvation and training in ethics.

Well, I have to go be productive elsewhere, so more tonight or tomorrow! Then we head home on Monday!

See you soon!!

Haven't I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

Joshua 1:9 (HCSB)

Mary Conver

Doo Wop Shop

Well, Camp went really well today. We had one minor injury where a boy fell off his bike in a turn and skinned his knee bad enough to need a bandage, but by dinner it was a lot better.

Another person that needed a doctor was actually Matthew First. But it's a bug bite of some sort that looks like it may be getting infected. They took him to an Immediate Care Center where they checked him out and got him on some antibiotics just in case.

Today overall was much easier to handle because of the heat not being as bad and lots of cloud cover. It stormed pretty good right before dinner time, causing us to have to grab everything out of our base camp and throw it in the truck, and wave down all the riders and send them rushing back as a group to Camp from the track. But we all got in before the rain came.

After the storm it was MUCH cooler. In fact I had to borrow Amanda's rain jacket, not because it was still raining, but from the cool air.

Two interesting things that happened today and then I will go to sleep.

1) We got to see a tornado! A tiny one. Kramer got a video of it which you have to see at some point. It was a little dust storm going right across the back of our track. Cool.

2) We got on tv, again! There was a girl with a mic and a guy with a camera that hung out most of the afternoon. They interviewed several people too.

3) During chapel, Mark got to the invitation part of the sermon and said basically, "I know you may be afraid to come down front, it's scary," and the power went out everywhere.

So we all pulled out flash lights and cell phone lights and kept right on going. We had 3 more first time commitments. In non-churcheze that means 3 people said they prayed to ask Jesus to come into their heart and be their Savior and Lord, for the first time.

As a side note, we did have a really awesome worship service. The band from one of the Open Eyes Ministry's church came and we danced and sang. It was very loud and very fun. GIANT speakers and another set stacked on top!

Well, I've fallen asleep a lot of times now and I still have to send you pictures! We have to be up at 6am, so good night!

Haven't I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

Joshua 1:9 (HCSB)

Mary Conver

Doo Wop Shop