Roatan Campbells' Connection

Like finding a needle in a haystack, or  a diamond at the bottom of the sea, the mystery we were hoping to solve seemed all but impossible. Robert had visited Roatan in February 2009 on the same mission trip that first brought us here. While visiting in the Colonia, he had visited a home where a young girl and her mom were making tamales and recorded their work in photos. They had given Robert some tamales.  He in turn had pictures to give to them - someday.  This November, seven-and-a-half years later, Robert's friends from his church visited Roatan and brought a small photo album from Robert with the hope of locating the mystery girl and giving her the photos. Robert didn't know her name and the friends didn't know where she lived.  Their visit was short so the photo album was left with us on the chance that we might know or find this mystery girl from a seven-year-old photo. Because we know how eager to please so many of the people in the Colonia are...

Happy Independence Day Honduras!  This day commemorates the day that the countries of Central America became independent from Spain, in 1821. The kids in school spend weeks preparing to march in the celebration parades. Larry suggested to Oscar that after 11 years in school, he should have it right. I’ve just come back from watching the second parade in two days. Fantastic! Hondurans love their country! What’s new here for us? Well, the newest is the Eat and Study night at our house for about a dozen young teens who are hungry. I’m hopeful that the kids come for more than the food that Larry prepares, although it has been a hit. They are also hungry to dig into the Bible and that’s what we’ve been doing on Wednesday nights. We are currently going through a study “Who Me? Joseph?” learning more about Joseph’s life and looking at scripture to see how to deal with (or not deal with….) rivalry, temptation, abandonment and other issues. Oh yes…. And there is a little social stuff...

Dia de los Niños is Children's Day and today is the day. Well, actually, since September 10 is a Saturday this year, it was celebrated yesterday, and today and even tomorrow. Anything for kids. These Spanish people LOVE their kids and LOVE to celebrate.  It's a win, win for everyone I think.   I asked around to find out the origin of Children's Day.  No one knows. Mr. Google has several suggestions each with a grand and noble purpose. One suggests the day was initiated by a pastor in the States who called for a day to bring all children into the church to be blessed. That sounds like a great idea. I don't see anything of that here.  Another suggestion is that as a result of the first "World Conference for the Well-being of Children" each country was called on to designate a day to celebrate their children. Somehow, Canada missed out on that holiday. After 7 or 8 years here, I think what Children's Day actually reminds me of is the commercial celebrat...

We all have those moments in time that we treasure.  We call up those memories and suddenly a normal day takes on a glow of joy.  We were honoured on Thursday evening to be a part of one of these never-to-be-forgotten occasions for a special young lady and her family as we celebrated Karla's quineañera - Karla's fifteenth birthday.  The word quinceañera refers to a girl who is fifteen years old.  The word has also come to refer to the celebration recognizing a young girl's passage from childhood to adulthood. Such a rite of passage was likely much more significant in early Latin cultures where the young girl was then presented as a woman ready to be the mother of young warriors.  (that's what my research said - don't shoot the author!) We have known Karla and her family for five or six years.  She is the oldest of Carlos and Suyapa's four kids. Suyapa is a strong, assertive woman. Shortly after she met us, she encouraged us to help her two school-aged k...

Hello Everybody!  We are here down-on-the-farm on another day that Environment Canada has called for a “heat advisory”. For us, this reminds us of a beautiful Roatan day - not too hot, not too steamy, gentle breeze blowing – just right.  But, we are also aware that for many here in North America, this type of day is just too hot.  And, in July, this type of day would be welcome in the tropics where the sun is now beating down and it is really sizzling! It’s all relative, I guess. We are three-quarters through our long stay here.  In one month, we’re off again for a short stay in Roatan before the farm harvest here calls us home again.  What a fantastic time this has been with times of productive work and times of relaxing. The crops are looking lush and hold good potential. What has been so good is the many opportunities we have had to spend time with our kids, grand-daughters, (I have pictures….) family and friends. We have been able to touch base with man...