Tugging on those heart strings

Hello all! So after a long and tiring day, I witnessed something beautiful, so beautiful in fact, that I felt like I needed to share. I only speak of the situation because of the perspective I bring, and not solely to bring up a sad subject.
Usually on Wednesday nights we have parish counsel meetings, which consist of us sitting there listening to information that only partially pertains to us, spoken very quickly in Spanish by adults in the community, over several drawn out hours. Tonight we approached the meeting hall, and found it dark. We were oh so relieved! Then, one of the women we walked with, a wonderfully welcoming person that has taken us under her wing (Isabel) took us to further investigate, by going to the another women’s home to ask the whereabouts of the meeting. Although this may seem strange to us, to just walk to someone’s home to inquire as to their whereabouts, rather then just call or whatnot, it speaks to the culture, how connected they are, their sense of community, and the like. After talking to a woman at her house, we proceeded to go to another person’s home that I had also never been to. There we found a crowd of people from the community, most of their faces familiar from nightly masses. We were ushered to the back of the house, where there was a courtyard type setup, which is common here. Isabel had us sit down and visit with the women there, and I finally discovered what we were doing in this house. One of the men that was a huge supporter of the church in various activities had recently had a stroke, and was not doing well. He was tucked in bed in a room just off the courtyard, and there were even more people there, praying, visiting, crying.
It was moving to see such support. Although families are extremely extended here, with very blurred lines, it was not only the family that was there. Friends, churchgoers, acquaintances, anyone that wanted to share a prayer or a kind word was there. It really showed me what Honduras, and Hondurans for that matter, are really about. It’s about love for one another, regardless of relations. It’s about support for those that need it. It’s about strength. It’s about being rich in all of the things that money can’t buy.
Although there were a few obvious sobs here and there, the general vibe was one of peace, or as they say, tranquilo. We stayed a bit, so that Isable and another friend of ours, Fatima, could say their prayers and pay their respects, and then silently returned to our casa.