The Big Picture

I remember my very first day working on the ranch. It was about week 3 because due to some schedule changes, I had consistently missed my assigned day to hang out in Las Palmas. I walked up to the barn and we relaxed for a few minutes, then we herded the cows into the feeding stalls and watched them eat for a while. Then Bartolo told us to clean out the stalls. That was quite a task: shoveling the sawdust (and other things) into a wheel barrow and then pushing them through an extremely muddy and thick corral. It was pretty hard work, and I was just thoughtless enough to get my water locked up in the tack room. Wow, that was not the best decision I've ever made. After lunch, Molly, Drew, Dylan, and I cut up pieces of sod and planted them in another field while chasing the colts away that wanted to rip our handiwork up. Overall, it was a super taxing day, and I was completely exhausted at the end. However, it definitely gave me a better perspective about what Mission Lazarus does here in Honduras. Sometimes I forget that this program is not just about one thing. It is a holistic mission that is focused on improving the lives of the people here in so many different ways. I just thought about all the jobs that have been provided on the ranch and what that does for the community. I was also incredibly grateful to be able to do a hard days work, because so many people just aren't capable (although I'm sure Samuel and Bartolo definitely laughed at our shortcomings that day). I'm so glad that J.B. and Alli have a better and wider perspective on things than I do. Otherwise, we would be missing out on so many opportunities to show the love of Christ to others, and I can't think of anything that could be worse.

-Tristan McPherson