Kyle and Lynea: Thinking about Honduras

Honduras is a special place for me. It’s up there in the realm of magical, mystical. It represents a turning point in my life, in how I view the world. It was my first time out of the US. At 19, I had just finished my first year at college. I came with a church group to build a couple houses for some families that needed it, and also to spend some time with kids in a children’s home.

I got to return to this house and see the family still living there. Glad it held up.

Edin and Edwin back in 2003

Coming back here for the first time in 8 years, I’ve been trying to process what happened in my 19 year-old self that changed the direction and purpose of my life. Here’s a few things I’ve come up with:

1. The scenery: Looking out the plane window as it touched down in the capital city, Tegucigalpa, I immediately knew I wasn’t in Kansas (or Florida) anymore. Honduras is considered a third-world country for a reason. It looks different than where I grew up. Although I understand we need labels sometimes, I don’t really like the classifications of 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd world (some people say developed/developing) cause it implies that progress = better. Nevertheless, I was blown away by my new surroundings.

2. Hard work for a good purpose: It feels good to work and sweat under the sun. It feels good to do something for other people (kinda the whole losing your life to find it). We carried lots of bricks and mixed lots of concrete in building 2 nice, strong houses for 2 families that really needed it.

3. The kids: More than anything else, the kids at the children’s home affected me most deeply. Despite losing their parents or being dropped off unwanted or being chosen to stay there by parents who simply couldn’t feed all the mouths in their house, these kids taught me a joy in simplicity that has never left me. They gave us outsiders an unconditional love and affection I hadn’t experienced before.

Being here again (I was here in 2003 and 2004) has brought back a flood of memories. I’m grateful to have friends like Saulo and Marisol, who run the children’s home now and who I stayed with in 2004. I’m grateful to be here with Lynea, who has heard me tell lots of stories about this place. Surely this place had an impact on me marrying this type of crazy awesome girl and our decision to move to India for 2 years shortly after.

Coming back has been almost a pilgrimage of sorts – returning to a place that altered the course of my personal history and remembering commitments that I made then. I’m more than happy to be able to see Sindy again, who I knew as a 6 year old and who is now 16. I’m glad to see one of the houses we built, and meet one of the kids who still lives there, though he’s not a kid anymore. I’m grateful to meet all the new children in the home and find it to be the same place that I experienced long ago as a teenager.

What are the places or moments in your life that drastically changed you? I wonder, what’s your Honduras?