Francis
Baxley's Story
In July 2003 my husband, son and I traveled to La Ceiba, Honduras.
This was not unusual, as we had done this as a family for 5 years.
My 18-year-old son, Michael was making his 6th trip. As we got closer
to our destination for the night, I was becoming more and more settled
with the idea that I would be staying behind in the city of La Ceiba
and not traveling to the clinic in Limon. This new adventure would
take place with 2 very dear relatives of mine, my Aunt Judy and
Cousin, Caden. Our job was to decorate and make “homey”
a study room in a girl’s dormitory. There were 13 girls living
in the dorm. The study room was boring, non –interesting,
and totally uninviting. As we pooled our ideas, we started to dream
of how this room could inspire someone to study. We began to become
more comfortable in our daily routine of painting, sewing, hanging
art and hanging out with our new Honduran friends. The girls would
visit daily and tell us how buuuuuteeeeful their new room was. We
made pencil holders from fruit cup cans and beanie weenie cans left
over from our lunch. Feeling like I was back in Bible School, I
had so much fun. I realized, sharing of myself had become a more
important part of my mission. One afternoon 2 young ladies, Leslee
and Karla, were singing their state song about Honduras. I attempted
to use my elementary school Spanish to sing with them. I could carry
the chorus but that was about it. It made me feel great to share
in their excitement. They expressed such pride for their country,
much the same as we as Americans. Although these young ladies had
been taken from their parents or families in order to prevent prostitution
and molestations, they were very proud of what they had accomplished
in the short time of living in the dormitory. They shared with us
their smiles, love, hugs and themselves. We were able to see a job
started, transformed and completed. We were able to witness the
smiles and excitement, and the family they allowed us to invade
for a week. I learned a lot from those young ladies those days in
July. I learned about faith and believing. I also learned that I
have a few talents, ones I would not necessarily share but that
were picked up on by total strangers. |
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