Initial Post - Troyers to MCC in Honduras

Well – we are entering the world of blogging! At the encouragement of our children we are creating this blog as a way to communicate with family and friends and keep you all updated about our preparations for and transition to Honduras for an assignment with Mennonite Central Commiteee (MCC). We hope to describe what’s going on and also share photos of the experience and if we get sophisticated (ie: consult our techy children) make this an interactive tool. For now – we’ll stick with the basics.

The process began last year as we applied for the Regional (Central America & Caribbean) Disaster Management Coordinator position with MCC. We were accepted in January, then began the process of informing our employers, selling our home, distributing or getting rid of our “stuff”, and preparing for the move to Honduras to begin our 3-year term of service. The house is sold, the stuff is pretty much distributed, and this is the last week for both of us at our places of work. Now we get serious about downsizing even more, studying Spanish, and (sigh) saying goodbye to family and friends.

Our schedule at this point:
- June: Living in a basement apartment in the home of Kathy’s sister in Wooster.
- July 6-18: MCC Orientation in Akron, Pennsylvania
- July 19-31: Visit our children and spouses/fiancés in Virginia and Ohio
- July 31-Aug 11: Visit our son’s family in Colorado and hold our grandchildren for 11 days straight.
- August 12: Fly from Denver, CO to San Pedro Sula, Honduras

We will initially meet with the MCC leaders at the unit headquarters in San Pedro Sula. The plan then is to spend ~ eight weeks in intensive language training, initially at Ruinas de Copan and then in La Ceiba. While in language school we will live with Spanish speaking families. Our son, Mark, did this for a week in the program at the Copan Ruins and found it quite helpful. MCC has indicated it is very important that we become fluent in Spanish as we carry out our assignments, most of which will be with Spanish speaking partners. That is why they are having us take this training before we arrive at our eventual home base – Tegucigalpa.

Maps of Honduras: (click on link to view)
Honduras location map .
Honduras detail map including our itinerary.
.....(maps are interactive - try zooming in/out, changing style)

We will live in Tegucigalpa, the capital city. Since this is a new assignment and MCC is re-establishing a presence in “Teguc”, our home hasn’t been selected yet. Darrin and Julie, the MCC Honduras Representatives, are working on that now. Since the assignment involves considerable travel (25-30%), we are looking for a house in a Honduran neighborhood that will serve as both a home and office with easy access to public transportation.

We appreciate the support and encouragement we have received from so many of you. We will do our best to keep you updated by email and this blog.

Blessings to you all!