Life of an Intern

Honduras. Day 17.

Today, me, Karis, and Nolan got up to load up into the Galloper with the AIMers and get dropped off at Mas X Menos, the gringo (white person) supermarket in Teguc. And, of course, the Galloper found another excuse (the alternator) to decide to not work. Well, the interns HAD to meet the TORCH bus at Mas X Menos in about 15 minutes, so we left the AIMers to deal with the Galloper and called a cab. The cab driver, Julio, was an amazingly nice guy. He talked to us about church, and reading his Bible, and was just funny too (he pretended to talk in a Chinese accent, and it was hilarious). We got to Mas X Menos 30 minutes past and... No Marc. And no TORCH bus.

We thought we were just going to get a free day to hang out downtown, so we looked around in the supermarket, went and got breakfast at Burger King, and then saw... a TORCH bus at Mas X Menos? There were a whole bunch of people on it, from Marc Connell's group, and they were all playing with puppets. We figured, "Why not?" So we got on the bus.

We were all playing with the puppets, talking to people on the street with them from the side of the bus (this group REALLY reminded me of the TORCH group I regularly go with), and just had a good time talking and getting to know everybody. And then we passed the other TORCH bus at the ferreteria (hardware store). The one we were supposed to be on, that was going to go build houses.

Oh no. Looks like we are going to have to do VBS instead of build houses. Shoot... :)

We got to a village none of us had ever been to before, and we started unloading supplies at a local pulperia. One group made 100 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and organized juice boxes for all of the kids, while the rest of us went around the community for a few hours, telling everyone about the VBS. At about 2:00 that afternoon, we held the VBS in the center of the village. A ton of kids came out, and we had a blast. There was a puppet show, a skit, and then the kids all got their PB&J's. We sang songs, and then played with the kids. Those kids were a ton of fun. I really had a great time with them, and I really got along well with the TORCH group we were with.

Then we got on the bus and went to the Mission House with the TORCHers. Then we called Marc and said we needed picked up, and he said we should get a cab and meet him at Mas X Menos. So we called a cab. They said it'd be twenty minutes. Within that time frame, Marc called back and said, "Never call a cab, they'll double or triple the price." So we started walking, and were going to look for a taxi on the way down El Hatillo (the safe, nice neighborhood, don't worry). Well, Nolan joked about hitchhiking... And then I stuck out my hand, and a truck stopped. Karis freaked out. But I figure, "It's a nice neighborhood, people have done it before, there's three of us; it'll be okay." So we hopped in the bed of the truck and went to Mas X Menos. Marc was surprisingly okay with it when we got there, and then he took us to the warehouse to unload a container that had just come in from the States for one of the TORCH groups.

Little did we know...

The container was full of medical supplies. $3 million worth. And when I say full, I mean FULL. It was a ton of heavy lifting, a ton of unpacking, and a ton of repacking in the warehouse. It took well over two hours with about 20 people. At the end of it all, I was physically exhausted. But then Marc took us out to Pizza Hut, and after a whole bunch of pizza, chugging a bottle of water, and a little Pepsi to top it all off, I felt a lot better.

Crazy stuff today. But I reflect on it all and... It was a good day in Hondo today.