Bethesda-by-the-Sea

Bienvenidos! Greetings from San Pedro Sula, Honduras!
Our Little Roses is a Mission started in 1988 by Dr. Diana Frade, wife of the Rt. Rev. Leo Frade, Bishop of Southeast Florida.

Daily Journal:
March 14, 2005
Day 1 (Mon):
Plans were made, bags were packed and prayers were said. We traveled together by charter bus to Miami International Airport, having departed from church at 8:15 a.m. There are 17 missionaries: Cecie, Lynne, Trish, Paige, Bonnie, Rick, Cordella, Jim, John, George, Alison, Nancy, Julie, Lexci, Ann, Brittany, and Laura (Lolly).

We arrived in San Pedro Sula right on time. Diana and Mayra met us at the baggage claim and we managed to haul all 28 pieces of luggage back to Our Little Roses. In just 2 months the girls have changed so much and the work accomplished by other mission groups can been seen everywhere. We are all catching up and getting reacquainted. Greetings to all! Buenas dias!

March 15, 2005
Day 2 (Tue):
It was a FULL day. Diana Frade presented the overview of Our Little Roses and the origins of the ministry. The painting team tackled one of the bedrooms while other groups formed to interact with the girls and others made supply runs. The closet doors we dropped off in January (2005) to be refinished have not been completed, but we checked and will return to pick them up on Thursday, hopefully. Walls were painted, water pipes fixed, and hearts were mended. In the evening, a birthday party was held for all the girls celebrating birthdays in March. The party was complete with Mariachi band, catered Mexican dinner, pińatas, gifts, and two wonderful cakes. The Mariachis even played Cumpleanos Feliz. It was difficult getting the girls to turn in for the night which made some extra work for the nannies (the Tias). All said, we made some good progress today and have plans for tomorrow. We will be visiting the location where property has been purchased to build a retreat in the mountains. When it is completed, it will be a renewable source of income for Our Little Roses. We will also visit Diana's house tomorrow evening and then we will be going out for dinner. In between, we hope to complete painting one bedroom and begin organizing the bicycle storage room. Everyone on the team feels very fortunate for what we enjoy in our own homes and sometimes take for granted. The closeness everyone feels towards these girls is so amazing to watch and is an enriching experience. Even the caterer we hired tonight gave witness to the miracle that is so apparent as you see the girls interact with the members of our group.
Peace ---Rick

The day was filled with smiles, giggles, and many hugs. We had a few very small helping hands in the rooms being prepared for painting. I will always remember the squeals when the pińata finally broke open and the glitter and candy tumbled out.
--Nancy

Today we celebrated 8 girls’ birthdays. To make this a memorable birthday, we, the group, went shopping. We shopped for pińatas, candy, cakes, and much more for a birthday celebration. One thing we could have done better is getting 2 pińatas instead of 3. Also, when it comes to the little girls, all they want is your love and affection. Even if you don’t know Spanish, talk to them because most of them understand English. Personally, my favorite part of the day was putting the little ones to sleep. This is probably the most special time of the day. The little ones showered (ducharse), brushed their teeth (cepillarse), dress (vestirse), and went to bed (a dormir). Today was so much fun. I am glad we are here to help these children. It’s a great feeling to have the children give you a kiss before bed.
--Lexci and Brittany

We rose early for chapel, the gospel from John spoke of the blind men seeing and the seeing being blind. Diana gave us a history of how Little Roses started as lights in darkness.

That theme of ‘this little light of mine’ reverberated as we played with the girls, sang “This Little Light of Mine”, and prepared for the evening birthday party for all the girls with March birthdays.

All girls but 4 needed outfits, etc. for presents. We prepared bubbles, pińatas, for the entertainment. Others prepared the walls for painting 2 of the girls’ bedrooms.

Some of us toured the transitional houses and apartments (3 total) and teacher facilities, and the clinic. The doctor at our clinic was most appreciative for the much needed medical supplies Ann Spaziani brought from Florida. We then visited a local bakery to order the birthday cakes and sampled many pastries, most notably the guava pastry. Delicious!

We enjoyed the festive balloon-decorated ambiance. The pińata and mariachi band were wonderful fun. It was a full evening.
Wednesday morning will be a wonderful time to see the projected retreat center and countryside.

Projected activities for later this week:

Beach day trip swimming at the shore, one hour away
Visit the Catholic and Episcopal churches
Market visit

--Julie

Hoy nos despertimos a las siete, bajamos a desayunarnos - panqueques y fruta rica, café también. Fuimos a la capilla (con Jackeline y Nicole) por un servicio breve. Después empezamos a pintar el cuarto de las chiquititas. Algunos fueron a la ferretería para comprar herramientos. Vinieron con nuestras bocadillos de Subway. Después del almuerzo algunos fueron a la tienda de fiestas para comprar pińatas (una de Baby Bop, de una jaca y un gardy); después a la pastelería para galletas y pasteles. Cuando regresamos, preparamos para la fiesta. Empezamos con la comida deliciosa. Era una fiesta Mexicana. Entonces, vinieron Mariachis para cantar. Las nińas pegaron a las pińatas y comieron todos los dulces, y después el pastel para los cumpleańos de las nińas que cumplearon en Marzo.
--Lolly

March 16, 2005
Day 3 (Wed):
It was much hotter today - about 90 degrees. After breakfast and morning prayer we took a bus trip to Villa Nueva to see the property Diana purchased to build the retreat. In addition to serving as a nurturing and healing place where small groups of girls from OLR will be brought for some one-on-once psychiatric counseling, the retreat will likely be used as a hostel and meeting space for visiting archaeologists. Income generated from renting out the retreat center will enable it to become self-sufficient. On the way back to OLR we ordered Pizza Hut - a good standby.

The bedroom we started was completed and we are now moving onto bedroom number two. We will be going to Diana's house for cocktails and then out to dinner. The day won't end until the bicycles are removed from the storage room and the floor is swept clean. Tomorrow will be another full day of work from sun up to sun down.

Diana suprised us with a traditional Honduran Marimba band at her home. They played wonderful music, both tradtional and non-traditional, and sounded fantastic. Lexci, Lolly, Brittany took a swim in Diana's pool while the rest of us discussed the mission of Our Little Roses.

Dinner was just down the road at Las Pampas, an Argentinian steakhouse. Everyone worked up a good appetite today and the food really hit the spot. After dinner, Diana departed as she will be heading back to Miami tomorrow. The rest of us are turning in early so we can get an early start in the morning. Plans are to make pillows, hand out the dresses and other gifts, continue painting rooms, organize the bike barn, and then we need to save some energy for an ice cream social tomorrow evening.

Hugs to everyone, you are in our prayers.
--Rick

March 17, 2005
Day 4(Thur):
Another HOT day. The "boys" (George, Jim, John, and Rick) launched out of bed and tackled the bike barn starting at 6:00 a.m. Rick escaped by hopping on the bus and riding with the girls to school. Cordella showed up at 6:45 a.m. to help clean out the storage room (a.k.a. bike barn) This was quite a task. Not only was the room filled floor to ceiling with everything imaginable, but much of it was water damaged from the leaky roof. Thank goodness George was there to "dispose of" the 6 inch scorpion that was lurking right in the area where Cordella had just finished carrying out about 50 scaffolding bars.

It was a struggle trying to round up everyone for morning prayer because the pull was so great to get work completed. However, Cecie stuck to her guns and reminded everyone why we were here and how important it was for the community to participate in prayer.

The room where the bikes were stored was cleared in about 3 hours. Then it was a challenge finding an air pump that was the right fit. Jim, Cordella, Nancy, and Bonnie worked on inflating all the tires which was hard work. George was a workhorse and wouldn't quit until the room was put back together and in reasonable order. Shortly after that, some of the girls arrived home from school and 8 bikes were put into action. Rick rode double with several of the girls while the older girls took turns riding and also giving rides to the younger ones. It was so nice to see them enjoy the bikes and just having fun. Lunch was prepared on-site and we didn't seem to take a break until dinnertime. Two rooms were painted and the third is underway. Lolly, Paige, Brittany, and Lexci really put some elbow grease into the painting effort. The little girls pitched in helping to move bike racks, stringing new basketball nets and even helped with the painting. There was a mad rush to paint t-shirts with the girls right up until dinnertime. Dinner tonight came from Ruby Tuesday's and the group shared in our 3+ /3-. That is where we discuss what went well during the day and what could be improved. Needless to say, the biggest problem is that we are trying to pack too many activities into each day. We closed with the opening of our prayer partner letters. That is usually a very moving experience. Thank you to those who are praying for the success of our mission.

Tomorrow will be no different as the work needs to be completed by the end of the day and we have several activities planned. Several girls invited Lolly, Rick, Cordella, and Nieck (a volunteer from Holland) to be their "parents" tomorrow and accompany them to school for Father's Day. Brenda asked Cordella and I (Rick) to be her parents for the day. It is sure to be a very special day for everyone.

At 4:30pm in the chapel on-site there will also be a Father's Day celebration that we are all hoping to attend. Bike repairs, Father's Day, pillow-making, and packing is enough to wear us out, but there is sure to be "just a little bit more" to be worked into the short time remaining. Peace to everyone.
--Rick and Cordella

March 18, 2005
Day 5 (Fri):
The school bus left at 6 a.m. Lolly, Cordella, and Rick were looking forward to being the girls' parents. The students performed several traditional and modern dance numbers for all the fathers (and mothers). It was a very special moment when the director of the school recognized Rick and Nieck, a Dutch volunteer from Our Little Roses.

School let out early which meant the bus wasn't available to take them home, so they walked...in the rain. It was at least 10 blocks of walking in a steady drizzle. Nieck treated us all to ice cream. Needless to say, a walk in the rain turned into a good time!

Back at the home, we encountered firemen. We were concerned that something bad had happened, only to find out that they were just beginning to fill a large plastic swimming pool with water from their fire engine. The firemen had already filled many smaller pools that were being enjoyed by the Holy Family Bilingual School children. The girls were getting ready to enjoy 2 weeks off from school for Semana Santa (Holy Week). They finished their exams and were ready to let off some steam.

Danilo, the very competent and friendly OLR bus driver, took some members of our mission team into town to shop at the market that sells beautiful local crafts. It's a great way to support the economy. Honduras is well known for intricate hand-carved wood and native indian crafts.

There was another Father's Day performance put on by the students and teachers at the OLR Holy Family Bilingual School. The chapel was packed with parents straining to see the costumes and to hear the beautiful voices of their children. After the performance there was ice cream and pastries for everyone.

Work continued until late into the night as final touches were put on the painted rooms, returning all the furniture to the rooms, and curtain making continued without a moments rest. Rick was showing videos and home movies to the girls who are so curious about where the volunteers come from and what their home life is like.
Jorge delivered 300 lbs. of coffee for us to take back which turned out being a much larger amount than we imagined it would be. 600 bags makes a very large pile but we managed to distribute them amoung our duffle bags. And the room smelled so good while we did it.
Trish, Lynne and Cordella finally hung the curtains in the girl's room at 11:30 by flashlight as the girls slept. Everyone packed and finally went to bed for a few hours sleep before it was time to leave the next morning at 6am.

March 19, 2005
Day 6 (Sat):
We woke up to the sound of roosters crowing at 5am. Danillo had the truck loaded and ready to leave by 6am. We all made one last check in the rooms, left notes, and gave the remaining food and drinks away. There was a somber mood as we drove away leaving all our new friends behind still asleep in their beds, but we know we will be returning. Our attention now turned to getting our 300 lbs of coffee through U.S. customs. Everything went well on the trip home, all the coffee made it and no one got lost. The bus was a welcomed site after some searching in the Miami airport and we even managed to stop for a hamburger on the ride home. As we unloaded all the luggage back at Bethesda Lolly and Page made a mad dash for the beach for a few hours of sun and surf before they had to return to Connecticut the following day.

In Summary...

View the March 2005 Mission Trip Photo Gallery,
being updated daily between Mar 14th - Mar 19th. 2005

You can learn more about Our Little Roses by visiting their website at: www.ourlittleroses.org.

You can see results from the January 2005 Our Little Roses Mission by visiting their website at: OurLittleRosesJan2005.

FreeTranslation

"Lord make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred let us know love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is discord, union. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy."
"La marca del seńor nosotros son instrumento de su paz. Dónde hay el odio sepamos, el amor. Dónde hay la herida, el perdón. Dónde hay la discordia, la unión. Dónde hay la duda, la fe. Dónde hay la desesperación, la esperanza."

Edit this interactive page.