I was patiently waiting for the day to arrive, once the day arrived I felt very anxious and nervous, it was my first time volunteering as an interpreter. In the beginning, when I was having breakfast with everyone, I felt like a fish out of the water. I did not know anyone and many of the volunteers have known each other before, in the past trips, where they have worked with the organization. We left to Finca Ocho, while going there I remember praying the whole ride for God to give me peace and make me feel less nervous and shy. We arrived at Finca Ocho and I started been the interpreter for one of the nurses in the group, since the first moment she made me feel so comfortable we started talking about ourselves in between breaks. We started attending more patients and that day was an eye opening for myself because many times we complain about the most insignificant things, because we do not have the new phone or a new pair of shoes and just seen how grateful and how joyful most of the people were toward all of us, even though they lack so many things starting with the opportunity to visit a hospital or not been able to buy their medications that are needed for them to feel better every day, some others do not have enough money to buy food for their meals throughout the day, all of these things make me thought what an incredible journey I was about to start.

I´m Honduran and yes, I have read so many times how much poverty there is in our country and yes, I have read about the lack of education and medical services that exists in Honduras and no, I never had the chance to go and help these people that are in need, neither an opportunity in the past to see with my eyes how grateful these people are without caring the living conditions they faced each day. This was only my first day, by the end of that day I was so happy and blessed to be part of the IC13 family, that is how they made me felt by the end of the first day. Everyone was kind and welcoming they will ask many times throughout the day if I was feeling good with all of the activities happening. This was only my first day and once it came to an end I was happy that I still had three more days to help other people and three more days of sharing with my new family members. The days passed by and each day I learned something new whether it was a medical term, a new way to find a solution to a health issue or just a new lesson in my life just by watching other people around me or in the village where we were working. I must say I came to this volunteering job trying to help others instead of helping them, they helped me figure out many things in my life I learned valuable things such as trust, accept, and a greater love for my beautiful Honduras. I must learn to trust people and not always put a wall where there is no need for one to be built. All the communities trusted us even though they only get to see the team one day twice a year, they welcome us with open arms and never gave a bad look making us feel like strangers. Acceptance is another thing I learned during this journey I learned that I must accept things the way they are without judging. Been a Honduran helping in my own country and see how much need there is in many areas makes me feel very sad, but at the same time, it gives a different point of view of many things that we do not have the access to watch every day. It is really disappointing knowing that probably there are enough resources to assist these needs, but the people in charge of helping in these areas do not give the right amount of importance that it requires. It is sad that as Hondurans most of us we do not have the desire to help our own brothers or that deep love for our country most of the time people from another country come and solve our problems. Definitely, we are a very blessed country because God always sends us the most amazing helpers even though they were not born in Honduras they have an extreme love for our country and people and for their lives, I thank God every day. In this journey I learned to start having more acceptance I reminded myself that an I cannot change everything that needs to be improved in my country from day to night, but I´m willing to give my extra mile of love, give my best to start making the difference and transform the life of many people in my beautiful Honduras. I would love to be able to help in more trips and be lucky enough like I was in my last trip, at every place we went, and one that touched my heart the most was Olivos, to see the first pictures how it looked before and to watch myself how far they have come, to always see the big picture, little kids giving smiles in return and miracles happening.