Where the heck did we go?

Here's the super condensed update of what we've been up to for the past week or so.

On Saturday last week we went with a group of teachers from the school to a place in southern Honduras called Amapala. Amapala is an island just off the Pacific coast of Honduras that used to be an active volcano, so all the rocks around the beaches are volcanic and because of that, the beaches are black. We had an awesome time on the island, with the exception of Megan getting a little sick, but all was well after a day back in Tegus to recuperate.

The following Tuesday we left for the northern coast of Honduras to visit one of the Bay Islands called Utila. We had to take a 40-min ferry ride (which was basically a speed boat) across part of the Caribbean to reach the island, and by the time we got there we were soaked from the waves splashing over the boat. Jill and Joel - if you read this - our Manitou Island boat ride was still much worse! The island of Utila is known for its amazing scuba diving/snorkeling opportunities because most of the island is surrounded by coral reef. We only had time (and money) for snorkeling, but it was still incredibly beautiful to see so many colorful fish and other sea creatures like huge lobster and eels.

You can also stay on some of the small keys just off the coast of Utila for a small fee, which we absolutley HAD to experience. We stayed on one called Water Key and had our own deserted island from about 5pm at night to 9am the next morning! We brought our tent and camped out at night, but we were also visited by pretty scary storm that same evening. At about midnight the wind really started picking up, and soon after that torrential rain was pounding our tent and threatening to drench us and all of our things. It didn't help that a local guy had just talked with us earlier about how quickly storms can get ugly on the island, so we were basically scared @%$&-less. The only thing we could do was pray that God would protect us and make the storm pass through quickly, and thankfully it did at about 2am. But other than that, we had a great time on the island enjoying the most beautiful beaches and clearest water we'll probably ever see!

Now we're back in Tegus and have to start saying our goodbyes to everyone, but hopefully we'll be able to return in a year or so to visit so it won't really be "goodbye". We're really getting excited to see everyone at home in a few days, but we know we're going to miss the people and the culture here a lot as well. Now we just have to begin the enormous task of trying to pack all the things we've accumulated into 4 efficiently packed bags that are hopefully under American Airlines weight limit! You know how Jesus did that thing with multiplying fish and bread? I wonder if he can miraculously shrink things as well. Doesn't hurt to ask, right?