Familia in Honduras

This is Liz' Mom and Dad writing from Montana de Luz. We arrived yesterday in Honduras and were delighted to see our daughter for the first time in 10 months. We had a good trip and they decided to allow us into the country.

We just finished a water balloon fight (bomba de Agua) with the kids and some volunteers working here. Although still a little damp, I'm feeling quite refreshed.

Honduras experienced an earthquake during the night. Here in Nueva Esperanza we experienced a little tremor. Liz and several household members came awake and felt the shaking (Liz told us about her dream that things were moving in the morning before we learned there was an actual earthquake,) but we Kansans were exhausted and slept right through it. Everyone in this area is safe, although we heard about a death caused by the earthquake near the epicenter in the north near the island, Utila.

We've been greeted with wonderful hospitality by Liz' host family, Theresa, Carlos, Daniel, and Diana, and also by her many coworkers. We attended mass yesterday at the chapel where I hummed along with a couple of familiar tunes, but was mostly entertained during the sermon by a rather large insect (Carol estimates 3 inches long!) crawling up my leg.

One special experience has been to meet Nicole, the girl we've been sponsoring. She's shy, but very pretty. Carol gave her a hand made blanket (though right now there's certainly no need for a blanket - it's been very hot and humid) decorated with hearts (corazones.)

We have shopped at a couple of grocery stores, and were somewhat surprised to see Vigilantes (guards) armed with rifles. Everyone has been friendly, but it speaks to the inherent safety issues here.

We've had a wonderful time traveling with Mark, and reuniting our family, and we look forward to the next 8 days.

Blessings to all back home. Rannie and Carol Goering