At the conclusion of our Habitat build trip to Honduras, I thought we might have some funds left over from our trip expenses to donate to Habitat Honduras, Hogar de Niñas, and Sisters of Charity orphanage. Alas, Lisa has let me know that for all intents and purposes there is nothing left to send. The stash of lempira I brought back apparently will become pocket money for the next leader. Fortunately the Greensboro Catholic Partnership (which spwned our trip in the first place) had already sent nearly $5000 as part of its tithing commitment.
The good news is that members of the team responded to the call for donations for Hogar de Niñas with some very nice contributions. Additionally Habitat had some funds from a prior trip to add, and we ended up sending $6,600 to Sr. Dimora Lopez for the girls (h/t to Miguel Rubiera for being our courier and braving a 7.1 magnitude earthquake to deliver the money!). Surely it is a godsend for them to get that much unrestricted cash. She had hoped to hire a full-time custodian, which cost about $4500 per year, so she’s got enough to hire one now. Thank you all for your generosity!
Several team expressed interest in going back next year, and expressed interest in me leading again. I am trying to discern with the help of the Holy Spirit whether leading a trip in 2010 is what I’m being called to do. I have had discussions with Habitat Greensboro, Global Village and Margaret Rubiera of Habitat Durham about dates and locations, and things seem a little murky right now.
By early 2010, the development we helped build, called Shimishal, will be built out. The Habitat affiliate in Santa Rosa does not have another large piece of land, so it looks like from here on out they will be building on infill lots through the city. What that means for future Santa Rosa teams is that they will have to split up each day and go to different sites.
The one set of dates I tried to reserve was March 5-14, which lines up with spring break for most NC colleges. Obviously we were fortunate to have Claire and Megan and Dan, and they were brave to skip a week of school. It would be a lot easier to attract college students with spring break dates. Unfortunately Durham already had those dates locked up for Santa Rosa.
So the choices are – lead a trip to Santa Rosa at some other time, lead a trip to a different location at spring break time, or possibly join the Durham trip as a team member. I also understand that Gerard plans to lead a trip to La Ceiba in January, so that is another option. My heart is pulling me to Santa Rosa (I made a promise, after all), but my head is telling me we won’t be building there forever, maybe it’s time to move on. It’s a stalemate I will leave to the Holy Spirit to break. I’ll know by the end of July, and you will know soon after.
That said, and knowing that the Holy Spirit often works through others, I would welcome your thoughts, opinions and encouragement in trying to discern which way to go.
