Jeanne in Honduras: Despedidas #2, 3 & 4

No Borders

Week before last, during our Baxter Seminar, the guys from the Baxter sextet, 'No Borders', came up to me and one of the members, Elmer Huertes from Guatemala, asked (in Spanish, of course), "Sister Jeanne, do you speak Spanish?" I laughed and said, "Sometimes...some days I do and some days I don't!" Then, he asked (and I think he was serious), "Do you today?" I smiled and said, "Yes. Yes, today I speak Spanish." So he continued then with his request. The guys who make up this awesome singing group wanted to know if they could come to our apartment and sing for us...Just for Us! I managed to get out a "Yes! Of course! We would love that!" and so we set it up for Wednesday, May 20.

They arrived in the evening and when I opened the door, I was so impressed...they all had on dress slacks, dress shirts and ties (and not the red ones that they wear as Baxter students! and, the smelled really good, too! It made us feel even more special that they had gone to the trouble of presenting their very best to us.

They sat down and explained that they'd like to have a little devotional with us. They had it all planned out who would be saying the prayers and who would be giving a short message and who would be introducing the songs, etc. The sweetest thing is that they told us, "We don't have silver and gold to give you, but we give you these songs from our heart."

They sang about 6 songs and each of the members (they picked up an extra for this night...so it was actually a "septet"??) said very kind words to us. One thanked me for being his "2nd mom", another was very emotional as he thanked Steve for helping him get home after graduation last year, as he was short funds and had to return home to Cuba or forfeit his visa. He was also emotional as he asked us to continue to pray that his wife and children would get to join him in his 3rd year at Baxter in 2010. So far, he has had to come without them because the Cuban government has not allowed them to leave the country.

This was quite touching to us and the guys even granted me my only request...that I get to sing with them! We sang"Thou O Lord" in English. They also sang (all in Spanish) "Amor Fiel" (our favorite!), "Love One Another", a version of "Auld Lang Syne".

Here they are singing "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" in Spanish.

If you would like to see some of the other songs as they performed them for us click below:

Auld Lang Syne (Spanish)

Amor Fiel (Faithful Love)

Love One Another (Spanish)

Students

Then the next day, Thursday, May 21...The Baxter students had a very special "Despedida" (farewell) for us! We were invited up to the devotional room and when we got there, everyone applauded and on the video screen was a collage of photos of Steve & me.

(Who is that young guy bottom center???) I think Allan has been taking photos from my Facebook album! :)

I don't know who all, but several students also worked very hard to get a slide show together with lots of photos of us throughout our years at Baxter. They brought many memories and also tears...

Many of the students spoke of memories or how they would miss us, etc. This was mixed with video messages from just about every Baxter employee/teacher, along with more of the students AND the CHILDREN! It was so precious!

I will never, ever forget these precious students and the children and all the wonderful people we've been blessed to know in our 5 years on this campus!!!

I Love All of You, Baxter Students and Children!

JMA Clinic

Last Saturday, the employees of the JMA Clinic had a great "Despedida" for us out of the city at the home of Maria Vasquez, the receptionist at the Clinic. Maria lives in a nice, peaceful place and she is quite a gardener! Lots of beautiful flowers at her place...

Maria and her mother, along with so many others from the Clinic, worked so hard to give us this party! They cooked chicken, beef and chorizo (sausage) on the grill and we had a very typical Honduran meal with the meat, rice, beans, hand-made corn tortillas and chismol.

We were given a beautiful plaque and some words of appreciation and love were given to us as the greatest gift by some Clinic employees, including Dra. Xiomara Erazo. Dra. Xiomara and Steve have worked closely together to get the Clinic where it is today and we're going to miss her, as well as all who are dear to our hearts.

This is Maria's House--what a view!