July is already here! Last/this week from Friday to Tuesday, we traveled from Tegucigalpa to Copan, a city about 6-7 hours by bus away from the property. One of the boys who lives here at Zion’s Gate, Herman, has family in Copan that our whole group spent the week with. We got to do life with his family, which was wonderful—live in their home, prepare meals with them, help with errands and chores, serve them in whatever way on a day-to-day level, etc.
The family was so hospitable- I got to spend several hours with Tia (Aunt in Spanish- Herman’s aunt)- running errands in the community to buy vegetables, making homemade tortillas or watermelon juice in the kitchen, doing dishes, or just sitting with her in the home talking in broken Spanish. 🙂
My favorite moments were with two little ones- Michelle and Lester. Michelle is Herman’s 3-year-old niece and Lester is Michelle’s 3-year-old neighbor friend. On several occasions, but one morning in particular, I had several hours of free time and I got to spend it with these two. We made concoctions out of sticks, leaves and dirt….made little houses out of wood….played Ring Around the Rosie (they didn’t know what that was, but thought it was hilariously fun)….played ‘caballo’ (horse)- I was the caballo, which meant me lying stomach-down on a mattress and them sitting on my back and me moving around to make them roll onto the mattress….piggy-back rides…picking flowers…drinking pineapple juice together…and soooooo much more imaginative play time 🙂
They called me ‘Katerine’ or ‘Katerina,’ which is what I’ve been telling all the little ones I meet what my name is, since ‘Kate’ is hard for them to pronounce- it comes out sounding like ‘Cat.’ Michelle and Lester invited me into their little world so fast and taught me a ton of Spanish by playing a game naming everything in sight.
It was such a blessing the way they let me do life with them in such an innocent, free-spirited, fun way and I was super thankful for the time I got to spend with them, giggling, playing and laughing.
