The Lord sends Ezekiel into a valley of dry bones, a symbol of the exiled Israelites who have lost hope and faith, and commands him to blow life, or the life giving Spirit, into the bones. He obeys God and the bones come to life.
“I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 37:1-14)
Angel, one of the construction workers, lives in the village of San Buenaventura, near the Children’s Home. When he isn’t working, he often goes out into the mountains with Pastora Juana and others from his church, Paz y Reconciliación (Church of Peace and Reconciliation) to minister to people in very remote, inaccessible places. 
Last Wednesday, Jen Clarke, Mia from Denmark and I accompanied them. It started as a grand adventure…and ended as a beautiful Spirit filled experience. We rode horses and mules 2 hours over a mountain to visit a small home. It was a treacherous ride, especially for us who had little to no experience riding horses/mules! My inexperience extended to mule logistics. We were bringing food for 6 families. As I was leaving the grocery store the day before, I called Angel. “Angel,” I said, “there is a lot of food! How are we going to get it to the families?” He replied, “Don’t worry, we are Hondurans. We have ideas!” I laughed out loud but he was right. Hondurans are very creative and resourceful.
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We loaded up the mules and horses and took off. We walked through the village of San Buenaventura until we turned off onto a trail to the mountains. Soon, we were navigating a very narrow trail, about mule width. Thanks be to God, the mules and horses had more experience and confidence than we did as we rode down steep, hairpin turns on a trail that was slippery and rocky at the same time. As the animals were watching their steps, we were watching the beautiful scenery.
Two hours later, we arrived at Cordelia’s house. It is a small, adobe home with a kitchen in a smaller building in the back. To the left was a corral with several cows and chickens, all of whom were checking out the unexpected arrival of gringas!
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Walking into the kitchen, I exclaimed, “Me encanta su cocina!” (I love your kitchen!) Really, I thought it was so charming. Cordelia was bemused and responded, “Well, it is the kitchen of the poor.” I imagine in her mind she was shaking her head at the gringa!
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All Hondurans, no matter how poor, are wonderful hosts. They
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Once everyone arrived, we gathered in the living room. We started with song and prayer. Hermano Ramon (Brother Ramon) led us in prayer and Angel led the music. Some of us sang with all our hearts but others didn’t know the songs. They were politely listening and, we hope, soaking in the message.
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Pastora Juana began her homily with, “We are not here to bring you religion. We are here to bring the power and the love of Jesus Christ.” She went on to emphasize the power of God’s love and Jesus’ promise of forgiveness of sin, unconditional love, and eternal life. Then Cordelia stood to give her testimony. She had a very serious heart condition. She was taking tons of medications and was always short of breath. Her doctor told her she needed surgery. Cordelia burst into tears, not because she didn’t have money to pay for the surgery (she didn’t) but because she was sure she would die during the operation. The church came alongside of her and prayed. Hondurans pray with an energy, faith and fervor I have never seen elsewhere. At her next doctor’s appointment, no surgery was scheduled. She was cured! Her heart is in perfect shape! As she wiped away tears, her face was aglow with the power and love of Jesus. We were all moved by her story of how Jesus blew life into her heart, both physically and spiritually. Now, she makes the two hour trip by mule every Sunday to attend church. That is why they come, a grueling trip there and back, to answer God’s call to put off their dreams of living in comfort and ease and go into the valley of bones to blow life into these precious children of God.
As I mentioned in my post last night, we spent a day in downtown Bangkok on Saturday. Following are some pictures taken along the river and the canals. We bought a tour in a colorful little boat for 1,600 baht ($48). We probably badly overpaid but don’t really know when we are being taken advantage of. We got to see very interesting sights along the canals–a very different way of life. We also stopped at a small floating market where food is sold from little boats. I think my most salient impression of Thailand so far is how everyone is always eating. In the malls, along the streets—everywhere, in fact, there are people cooking and people eating. I would think that no one eats at home but the grocery store in the big mall is full of food.
Eels and little turtles? No thanks.
That’s it for today, Bonnie
Fr. Lee and Chuck outside our apartment building.
Our home away from home–very basic dorm room with bath and turquoise refrigerator–and very hard beds.
The street where we live
The power lines here fascinate me. Everywhere they look like the above picture. I wonder how Thai linemen deal with this when something goes wrong.
The second day we were here, Chuck and I took a walk in our neighborhood and came across this big temple complex. There are MANY wats (temples) in Bangkok. We have yet to see the famous ones downtown. Yesterday we ventured downtown by ourselves. First, a cab to the airport. Then the Air Link (elevated train) to downtown. After that, a change to the Sky Train, changing trains once, and arriving at the Chao Phraya River where we took a boat tour, seeing the city from the river. You will see the photos from that trip soon but, now that I can add pictures, I have some catching up to do. It is still a very slow process to load each picture. 
More tomorrow,
Bonnie
