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My Mum would always say “He will never let you go y’know. It’s like you’re on a piece of elastic and it’s just stretched at the moment. But you’ll go back to him…one day.”
Of course she was right, as Mums always are. But I didn’t expect that day to be at the age of 32 and to find Him in Honduras!
Whist growing up I went to Sunday school, was part a teen group, got confirmed, but then I’m not sure what happened. I lost touch with God; He really didn’t seem to fit into my life anymore. The things I was doing seemed to be wrong and frowned upon in the Bible; having boyfriends, getting drunk (it only takes two drinks for me anyway!), getting a tattoo! Then I was travelling and experiencing other cultures and religions. I was growing up and realising how much suffering, violence and hate there is in the world. Things happened to my family that seemed wrong, how could God let these things happen? So slowly I drifted away, never really giving it much thought.
Peter and I decided to have a civil marriage ceremony in England 2004. Neither of us had been married before but it just didn’t seem important to have a church service. Peter had a similar upbringing to mine. He went to church and was choir boy in Newton Abbot. He even admits changing to the Methodist Church because the girls at the youth club where more attractive! Once his career in the Navy began God didn’t seem to fit into his life either.
Looking back on our wedding day I know God was present. He was in our hearts although we didn’t know it yet. I thought my Mum would be devastated over our choice of wedding venue, but she was happy to support us no matter where we decided to get married.
Peter and I lived in Grand Cayman, a small island in the Western Caribbean. Religion plays a huge part in the islanders’ lives, but is sometimes too overpowering. We would be asked “Which Church do you go to?” and when we said “We don’t….we work 6 days a week and only get to see each other on a Sunday” we would often get a ‘look’. Peter and I lived together before we were married, as do many young couples today, but this was also frowned upon by the church community.
When Grand Cayman was hit by a category five hurricane in Sept 2004, one lady genuinely believed that the island had been devastated because there are so many non-believers living there! This was the kind of mentality that kept us from even thinking about our religion.
Above: Before and after shots of the house ....
We did however feel very fortunate and thankful when our boat survived the 205mph winds which sunk and destroyed over a hundred boats. We lost our truck and the house we were renting was wrecked by 30ft waves.
We moved onto ‘Kilifi’ with our two dogs and started saving up so we could leave as soon as we had completed our work permits. Our dream to sail around the world was becoming a reality and all part of Gods plan I’m sure. We sailed for 5 days from Grand Cayman, to a shipyard in La Ceiba on the mainland of Honduras. Kilifi survived the hurricane, but not without some damage, so we began our cruising life in a very dusty and hot yard, repainting and repairing her.
The town of La Ceiba can only be described as vibrant, with the constant bustle of people going about their daily business. Poverty is apparent, as Honduras is still a third world country, but these people always have a smile on their face and time to talk to you. Poor financially, yet rich in so many other ways.
One of the first people we met in the yard was Jack. He is Honduran although born in the States and now lives with his family in Guanaja, one of the Bay Islands. He was also refitting his boat, ‘Kitty Hawk’. We went out for a meal with him and when we asked him what work he did, he told us his background was in engineering and architecture, his upbringing was on a ranch in the capital city (Tegucigalpa) and he is also a pilot. When he had his own plane he would go on missionary flights, working especially hard after Hurricane Mitch devastated most of Honduras in 1998. He now feels his calling is to minister the word of God. Jacks commitment to the cause, his enthusiasm in sharing his beliefs and his intelligent dialect had us enthralled. He was also interested to hear our thoughts and opinions and to listen to our stories.
Jack then invited us to meet friends of his who are working as missionaries. He thought we would get on with them as they are from Scotland! He was right, and the first night we met Iain, Liz and their son Samuel, we also met another missionary called John Taylor. (Never before has either of us met so many missionaries. What shocked us was that they were, dare I say ‘normal’!) John is an amazing guy. He walks the mountainous terrain preaching the word of God. In many places there are no roads and often villages are cut off by flood waters. So his walks can take him weeks and he carries on his back all he needs: Bible, water bottle and a change of clothes! He is known as a saint among the villages and they have even erected a church in his name.
Iain & Liz also shared their story with us. They met John through their local Church in Scotland. He told them of his adventures and Iain became enchanted begging John to let him come on his next trip. His wish came true and he spent 6 weeks trekking the mountains, walking miles and miles, meeting the indigenous people and sharing God’s word with them. He met witchdoctors and suffered a bad bout of dysentery, none of which discouraged him from falling in love with this third world country. On his flight home he heard God telling him to return to Honduras and build an orphanage. When he got home to Scotland he decided to wait 6 weeks before telling Liz his premonition, wondering if it really was God talking to him or just his excitement from having such a great time there. But he struggled to contain himself and Liz was getting so fed up with his juvenile giddiness that she demanded to be told what was festering in his mind. He was acting so strange that Liz even suspected him of having an affair! When he came out with his idea to uproot them all and move to Honduras, Liz replied, “Och is that all, Jesus told me in a dream 5 weeks ago we would be moving to Honduras, I just didn’t know how to tell you!
Liz, Simon, Iain and Samuel
So in 2004 they all moved to La Ceiba, but not without their problems of paperwork, visas and many obstacles: On the first flight from London to Amsterdam they landed to an army of fire engines and ambulances having had landing gear failure. Iain thought Liz would demand to go back to Scotland, taking the impending disaster as a sign. But she didn’t want to return. Once they landed in Miami their entire luggage was lost. But to top it all, the truck they got into once they landed in La Ceiba, was shot at, and to this day they have no idea if it was intentional gun fire or if they were just caught in cross fire. Liz’s response to all these events was simply, “If someone is trying this hard to stop us being here then we must be in the right place!”
Plans for the Children’s Centre have been draw up and soon they will be running it. The centre is connected to the hospital they currently work at. They are both studying hard to learn Spanish and are absolutely in love with Honduras. Their enthusiasm is fuelled and not discouraged by the fact that Liz has almost died from epilepsy on more than one occasion. They both helped us with several problems we encountered and absolutely overwhelmed us with their friendship and hospitality.
Please visit their websites: www.mckenziesinhonduras.com & www.crstone.org
We had a busy time in the yard working hard to get Kilifi ready to go back into the water. It was there I opened my heart once again to God. It felt like the most natural thing in the world, I felt like I was home and whole again in a spiritual sense. Peter wasn’t so sure. He found it hard that I had accepted so easily and I replied simply by saying that “maybe that piece of elastic wasn’t stretched as far as I once thought!” He would tell Jack that he felt pressured by me. Jack would ask him what I’d said and Pete couldn’t really give him an answer. “Maybe it is God speaking to you, giving you a nudge and not Claire at all!” Jack replied.
We often want proof in order to believe and sometimes it works like that and sometimes it doesn’t. Modern day miracles do happen, but we are quick to find a logical solution to them. Pete and I went white water rafting and I am sure this was my proof; Gods hand was certainly protecting me! See news article – White water rafting up the Rio.
I know I must put my life into God’s hands and if I had died that day it would have been ok, simply because I had accepted Jesus again.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me:
clairehughes05@yahoo.co.uk , or use the guestbook!
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Gringo Bay
Leg 2 / Day 76
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