Tuesday and Wednesday we visited two communities, El Chapernal and La Avispa, with three students from Biola University in California. For over twenty years Biola has sent a team to Honduras for a week over spring break. They work hard during the day digging trenches for the local water project and in the evening they plan a variety of ministry activities especially for women, youth and children. As part of the Biola leadership team Cindy, Eddie and Daniel were hese to gather information about the possible locations for their spring water project.
El Chapernal and La Avispa are two very different communities and it will take a lot of prayer and thoughtful discussion before Diaconia Nacional and Biola make a commitment. The people of El Chapernal struggle because their water quality is very poor and they have to walk a great distance to get it each day. However, some members of this community feel very strongly against the water project and Diaconia needs a united community that is going to work hard and take ownership of their water system.
La Avispa, on the other hand, is a very agreeable community that is wager to have a work team this spring. This village was devastated by landslides and flooding in 2008 due to Hurricane Katrina. Since then some houses have been rebuilt on higher ground and most are connected to the water system. Yet, there is still a group of houses that aren't being used because they each need water, a pila, a roof and latrines nearby. A Catholic development organization began construction on these unit last year but ran out of money so they've been left idle.
Basically, both communities have unique ministry and development opportunities for Biola and Diaconia Nacional but they also entail some interesting challenges. It has been really interesting to see how much preparation and dialogue is required before a work team even sets foot in the community.
So, I've been here about two weeks now and other than a couple of mosquito bites I haven't encountered any menacing creatures. But… yesterday was a completely different story! In the morning, just after we opened the office to begin the routine of cranking the windows and sweeping, we stumbled upon a little scorpion friend. Arturo tried to herd him out the door with a broom but that scorpion was fast and obviously preferred to go in the other direction. In the end, Arturo and Isai managed to get our little friend to cling to a long piece of Styrofoam and they took him out to the street. Just as that scorpion was running across the road, likely to torment one of our neighbours, it was promptly run over by a passing pick-up. – And who said there’s no justice in Honduras? 
Later that same day, I joined Lety and Isai for a visit to Guanabano and Escoto. While we were meeting with one of the community leaders a group of boys came into the house to show us their prize… a giant iguana! At first it looked like it was dead but when they held it up by its tail the iguana would twitch and snap its mouth. Apparently iguana meat is quite expensive in Tegucigalpa and people eat iguana soup to get big, strong muscles. Regardless, I was happy to know that the soup they served us a few minutes later only contained chicken meat! 
