Mission: Possible

The travel from Seattle to Houston and Houston to San Pedro Suela is quite the adventure. After several hours in the air, in the airport, and then finally making our way through customs, we all successfully found ourselves standing in the warm Honduras sun loading up our rental cars.

The rental cars consisted of a van and an SUV. We were lured into a false sense of excitement at the promise of a brand new van. It was big, boxy, and shiny. Everyone made their way into the respective cars, five of us in the SUV, ten of us in the van. The van was packed and luckily we were all pretty tired from all the traveling so most of us slept. The bad news was the seats were not the most comfortable. There was a lot of fidgeting and moving around. Then … the singing started. Courtesy of Laurah, we were serenaded to many wonderful songs.

After several hours of driving, singing, complaining, laughing and anticipation, we finally made the turn in to Lepaera. For those of us who were returning members, it felt like we were coming home. The town looked exactly the same as the year before and there was this overwhelming sense of calm and excitement to turn down the street and head towards the Carias’ home where we would be staying. We all quickly got out of the car and were instantly greeted by the family. The whole family is very welcoming and loving. Despite the language barrier, there was so much love and excitement filling the room.

This year, there was one notable difference however. The beloved matriarch of the family, lovingly referred to as “Profe,” was missing. Earlier in the year, we learned that Profe’s breast cancer had returned. She wasn’t doing particularly well so instead of staying at the family home, she was staying at her parent’s home where there was a bit more care available. Her presence was instantly missed.