Hooray for Honduras!

A while ago, I got on Google Earth and thought it would be a lot of fun to go back to some of my mission areas. I went to Tegucigalpa/Comayaguela, Honduras first. Tegus is a “twin city” with Comayaguela, much like Dallas/Ft Worth, or Minneapolis/St Paul. The two are separated by a river. While Tegus is slightly bigger and more metro, they’re really pretty similar in size.

I was six months in a “Colonia” called Torocagua. A colonia is sort of bigger than a subdivision, but not as big as a suburb. I recall it being on the west side of the city, by a highway that went northward out of town. Unfortunately, because it’s been over 20 years since I’ve seen it, I had a hard time recognizing any real landmarks, and I wasn’t sure if I was able to really locate Torocagua.

I looked over the ‘net for a map of Tegus that might outline the Colonias, and I found some but none were specific to Torocagua. I did find a very general map that the church had made outlining the stakes and wards. When I was walking those streets, there were two (maybe three) stakes in the whole metro area. I seem to remember there was one in Tegus, and one in Comayaguela. There might have been two in Tegus.

I was surprised to find that on this map, there were stakes all over the twin cities. There was actually a Torocagua stake!

Then, just today (and I’m not sure how I missed this before), I was spinning through some press releases at the church website and I found this announcement of a temple to be built in Tegucigalpa. I was so excited!

A long time ago, I wrote this song about working in that area. It's one of only two songs I've ever written in spanish. I'm actually very close to finishing the recording, too. The english translation is more literal, in that I'm not even attempting to make it fit into rhyme or meter. It is to be sung in spanish, and the english is merely there to make sense of it.

Torocagua (Amiga Mia)

Te conocí (I met you)
En las calles lodosas (in the muddy streets)
Convertidos en rios (turned into rivers)
Por la lluvia ruidosa (by the noisy rain)

Te conocí (I met you)
En las noches estrelladas (in the starry nights)
Afuera obscuro (dark outside)
Con solo luces de ventanas (with only lights from windows)

Antecóro: (prechorus)
Pensaba que yo (I thought that I)
Fuera tu maestro (was your teacher)
Solo para ensenarte (only hear to instruct you)

Pero tu bondad (but your kindness)
Me dió mi libertad (set me free)
Para rescatarme (to rescue me)

Córo:
Amiga mia (my friend)
Descubriste quien yo soy (you uncovered who I am)
Amiga mia (my friend)
Te llevo donde voy (I carry you whereever I go)
Amiga mia (my friend)
Allá estás, aquí estoy (you are there, and I am here)
Amiga mia (my friend)
Me olvidas, pero te recuerdo hoy (you forget me, but I remember you today)

Me mostraste (you showed me)
La amistad de la pobreza (the friendliness of poverty)
A venir y compartir (who come and share)
Con muy poco en la mesa (with very little on the table)

Me ayudaste (you helped me)
Andar con ojos abiertos (to go with open eyes)
Viendo, entendiendo (seeing, understanding)
Mis mundos invertidos (my world turned upside down)

Antecóro

Córo

La flor de hoy (the flower of today)
Se sembró allá (was planted there)
En la polvo de mi ciudad (in the dust of my city)

Y todo que soy (and everything I am)
Empezó allá (started there)
Caminando en humildad (walking in humility)

Córo

The "Amiga" the song is talking about is "la ciudad" (the city) itself. I have some very fond, as well as very hard memories about the area. It was definitely a growing place for me. And it's exciting to me to see the growth of the church there, too.

MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com