The People and their Language

Yo amo a Honduras. After 3 years of studying Spanish at Harding University I finally get a chance to REALLY learn the language by completely submersing myself into the smooth southern Honduran dialect of the Choluteca region. It has been so fun to pick up local sayings and mannerisms and to learn, sometimes through making mistakes, how to speak in a way that truly relates to the people. On a daily basis we chat with our driver, Holman, and ask each other countless questions about local customs, beliefs, culture, politics, religion and the like. Living on a ranch, I have expanded my vocabulary to include topics ranging from drip irrigation and carpentry to cow milking and artificial insemination. Also, every Sunday it's wonderful to walk into the church building of San Marcos and greet each and every one of the brothers and sisters and spend time with them worshipping and singing in their language, and experiencing the wonderful feeling on a week day of having a little child call out your name as you walk past the school gate. Be it by receiving a text messege from a local preacher that attended the drip-irrigation seminar saying, "hope you're doing well, you're in my prayers", or by receiving a call from my friend, Yelson, up in Las Pitas to tell me excitedly about a recent baptism and share with me the joys of his time with his family, my excitement for being here has grown exponentially as my friendships with these beautiful people have increased. I thank God for giving us a gigantic means of showing love for a people and for it's culture, I thank God for language.

Seth