Shenanigans and What-not

So, I'm super late with pictures. There's been a bunch going on! And I'm ashamed to say, I haven't taken that many pictures. But here's a sweet selection of the documentation of my life in Honduras. 

This was my first day of school and Bethany's second. But I felt like we needed a picture together!

 This is Tori's Prepatoria class (Kindergarten) that I assist with. These kids are incredibly sweet! 

 This is Josue. Short little background. Josue is from Los Germanias II, the village our group did a VBS with back in March. My sister fell in love with this sweet boy and was worried about him growing up in the village he was in. Long story short, Brittany and Dayna had to go back to Los Germanias II with Rhonda and ended up meeting Josue and his mother. Rhonda was able to talk with Josue's mother and now Josue is attending Destino Del Reino! Watching him get on the bus is one of the joys of riding that bone-jarring vehicle. He's so tiny that, from where I sit, all I see is the top of his head bobbing up and down until he jumps up and lands in one of the bus seats. I wish you could see it! It's so adorable!

This picture is for Eric and Kevin! Recognize this sweet face? For the first time David 1) Actually recognized my existence and 2) Actually played with me. We stuck an entire bag of magnetic letters to one of the metal shelves in the English resource room. He thought this letter was funny looking. 

 Ignore my big mouth. I was just too excited! 

 And of course, we wouldn't be complete without some photo documentation of our shenanigans. 

Below, we see my roommate Bethany holding her new guitar that we found at "Target."

 And here, is me, defying every rule of safety I have ever implemented. I am pointing to the stool on which I will be standing. The stool is on my wobbly desk. We have no ladder, no step-stool, only creative (*cough cough* stupid, minds). But, I'm still alive so I guess it wasn't that bad! 

 As you can see, the result is utter Pinterest-ness! 

And my room is no longer boring, but is becoming more homey! Yay! 

"Praise him in the morning, praise him in the noon time..."

There are so many things on my heart right now. Some of them I probably should have blogged about on Sunday when it was happening. But of course. Life got busy.

To recap.
Week One: Money troubles.
Week Two: Lice.
Week Three: Stomach Bug.
And to top it off...
Week Four: A really bad sinus infection/cold. I can handle a sinus infection until it gives me a high enough fever to the point that I don't even have enough energy to stand. For some reason, it was the least scary trial that made me break. I broke down in church on Sunday morning. I broke down in front of my roommate Sunday afternoon. And cried on Skype with my mom for about an hour. I was frustrated with Honduras and it's #thirdworldproblems.  I missed readily available hot water. I missed clean air. I missed having my sermons in English. I missed my family. I missed my friends. I even missed the things I never thought I would miss.
On Monday, God kind of gave me this awesome revelation which was a really big "duh!" moment for me.
I could focus on the problems and create a "woe is me" vibe about my life in Honduras. OR I could focus on the blessings and quickly answered prayers that came out of these situations. So, the REAL recap.
Week One: God provided answers on why my card wasn't working and had the ability to fix that problem.
Week Two: We caught the lice before it spread to my brush, my bed, or anywhere else. And I no longer have lice.
Week Three: It was only the stomach bug and not a deadly disease like I was imagining (although I'm still working on gaining back the nine pounds that I lost).
Week Four: I'm getting MUCH better!

To mention another praise. There was no way, by far, that I understood the entire sermon tonight. However, thanks to one of my fourth graders helping me with some vocabulary, I was able to get the gist of the sermon.
What is the church? Que es iglesia?
The church is the body of Christ. Christ is the head and everything is under his feet, therefore, everything is under our feet because we are the body of Christ.

Oh! And here's another praise! Coming into the school, I knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that I had NO idea what I was doing with First grade. They don't understand hardly any English, they only know a bit of vocabulary that they learned in Prepa (Kinder). So half the time, when they're disobeying, it's because they don't have a clue what I'm saying. And it's been frustrating. Thankfully, my neighbor/roommate/other teacher, knows quite a bit of Spanish and communicates certain rules to the kids. And slowly but surely they're learning English. I just about jumped for joy when one of the boys said, "thank you" instead of "gracias." And I probably scared him with the hug and squeal and all that accompanied my "you're welcome." Not only are the kids learning, but I'm learning as well! I just about kicked myself when I realized I was using the "sit and get" method with the kids rather than a "self-discovery" type teaching. It has always been my desire to do one-on-one with the kids so they can really understand what they're learning. And last night, about 8 o' clock when I was getting ready for bed. I had the idea of setting up stations. I wish I could claim this idea as my own because it's BRILLIANT. However, someone much smarter and wiser and older than me came up with this. Basically, I had one table coloring, one table playing a matching game, one table doing a puzzle, one table looking at a stack of books I grabbed from the library, while I worked on the vocabulary aspect with a small group of children and Tori worked with a small group of children on phonics. This was when the kids, who I knew weren't understanding a thing, started understanding. And let me tell you, seeing their faces light up when I point to one of the pictures and they say the correct word, priceless!

With all these hardships I've been hit with, the blessings have outweighed the pain. With a new hardship presenting itself every weekend (I have a pattern going), I look forward to the hardship of week five simply to see what kind of blessings God will pour out!

"I'm a son of God"

Sitting on a vintage couch, in a different country, drinking a chai latte, with the windows open, I felt blogging was the proper thing to do. And maybe also because this is the first chance I've had to actually sit down and record events and work out thoughts. 

***Disclaimer, if you read anything, please read the last section. All else in this blog is nonsense compared to that last story.

This week has been crazy. 

Saturday night, the stomach bug hit me. And it hit me hard. At first, I only had a fever and thought that if I took some Motrin, the fever would be gone by morning and I would be able to go to church. About 8 pm...that was not so as I uh...gave up the fight against nausea. 

These are the thoughts going through my head as this is happening.

Did I forget to wash that tomato?

Did I accidentally drink some water?

Do I have that disease from mosquitoes?

Does this mosquito bite look infected?

I wonder what the Hospitals in Honduras are like?

I want to go home. I'll bet I could get a seat by the restroom on the plane. 

Oh wait, I'd probably have to ride in a taxi or a bus to get to San Pedro. That might make me worse. 

I'm going to die. 

I wonder what they'll say at my funeral. 

No. 

Don't think that. 

But did I wash that tomato????

And so ensued my night. 

By Sunday morning, I was fairly dehydrated, had a pretty high fever, and couldn't sit up, let alone stand. My roommate, Bethany, and my neighbor, Jenna, stayed home with me, gave me medicine, made me soup, and made me drink some gross stuff (Apple Cider Vinegar & Water is disgusting). By this time we had ruled out any kind of food-borne or insect related illness and had it down to the 24 hour stomach bug. I didn't know what I was going to do if I didn't feel better after the 24 hours was up. But I didn't worry. I slept all day Sunday and still had a slight fever into Sunday afternoon. This led to my decision to not attend the first day of school (boohoo) but everything else at school is crazy enough without a stomach bug epidemic. 

On Monday, I cleaned a little, slept a lot, cleaned a little, slept a lot, cleaned a little, you get the picture. 

TUESDAY! This was my first day of school and it was exHAUSting. I've discovered that in First Grade, the students don't know as much English as they did when I was a substitute (in March, after they had been in school for almost 8 months). So the kids didn't understand hardly any of my instructions and kind of went wild. My voice, what was left of it after being sick, was pretty much gone. I also have lunch duty, which had no idea what that meant. The lunch ladies and other Spanish teachers (so sweet, and so patient) were trying to explain to me what to do, which is a lot more than I originally thought. You have to give the kids their vitamins. Make sure they don't make a mess. Pass out their cups. Pass out their toothbrushes. Put toothpaste on 27 toothbrushes. Make sure they don't spit on each other (they brush teeth in the courtyard). And then there's the bathroom. *phew* I also helped in Prepa (Kinder) and those kids are SO sweet! I'm getting to help teach the boy Brittany fell in love with last time she was here, working in the village of Los Germanias II. And I see why she fell in love with him. He's the SWEETEST thing! At the end of the day, I  help with 4th grade, who I substituted for in March when they were in 3rd grade. As Teacher Kathy says, they are a JOY! So sweet! So smart! And for the most part, obedient. So 4th grade is always a good class to end with. 

Wednesday. 

Ah, Wednesday. For the most part I had things under control. My amazing assistant, Tori, has been a huge help! She helped think of some fun games so the kids would have fun while they were reviewing some of their vocabulary. Wednesday was much better. Much. Much. Much better :) 

And then there was today. I have lunch duty down to a science. Still working on the bathroom portion though. 2 stalls. 27 children who don't understand most of what I'm saying. It's interesting for sure. 

***Read this part if you don't want to read the rest!

If we were verbally talking right now, this is where you would hear me squeal, "Oh! I have to tell you a story!!!" Kathy had the kids write their spelling words in a sentence. One of their spelling words is, "I'm." One of the sweet boys asked me, "What is hijo in English?" So I told him, "Son." He nods his head and begins writing. I was called away but came back to check on his work. I just about cried when I saw his sentence. 

I'm a son of God.

And I knew, that though the work was hard, frustrating, annoying at times, it was that sentence that made it all worth it. 

THIS KID KNOWS IT!!! And it makes me SO happy! Now that I'm at home, away from prying eyes, I can cry. And boy. Am I crying. Because that truth that he knows now, will get him through this world into the anxious, waiting arms of his Father which is all I can ask for in the lives of these students. 

Tacos, Papusas, House visits, and No More Men?

Hey look! More pictures! 

 This is Jenna and I. This girl is such an inspiration to me! She is about to start her third year of teaching here at Destino and just turned 21. 

 This is Adela. She assisted in the third grade class that Kevin and I substituted.  Her English is pretty good and she was teaching me a lot of Spanish vocabulary. Every now and then she would say, "Spanish class" and start pointing at things and telling me what they were. She is also an uh-may-zing woman of God. I was teamed up with her when we did house visits and, even though I didn't understand all of what she was saying, I knew she was giving them the gospel. It was so beautiful seeing her minister to the people of El Socorro. She has such a passion for God and for his people. And our deal was, she would teach me Spanish as long as I kept her safe from the dogs (my crazy dog lady reputation has followed me). 

 Because it was raining off and on, I didn't take my camera very often because I didn't want it to get wet. But here's some pictures of the houses. I wish I could have taken pictures of the insides of the houses. Most of them had a concrete floor and the walls were made of adobe (ah-doh-bey, one of my Spanish vocabulary from Adela) and either Sing/Sin (metal roofing) or Tejas (the rounded clay tiles). The doors in the house were often curtains and the front doors were usually boards of wood nailed together. They aren't good at keeping the elements of the weather. Some of the houses were also in precarious places.  Some of the houses we visited were on the mountain right next to the highway with steep steps carved into the dirt. The places these people live in are hard to explain. Just know that a lot of the houses are worse than those which are considered "poverty" in America. 

 After finishing our house visits today we went and ate at Los Cabañas (it just took me five minutes to write that name). I saw a parrot in the tree! Yay! 

 Tori and Jenna being...Tori and Jenna.

 This, my friends, is a Honduran Taco. It kicks Taco Bell's butt (not that it takes much in the form of food but, ya know). They are seriously so amazing! 

This is Jessi. She's the secretary at Destino and was also a part of my visiting group. She was also teaching me Spanish. Funny story of the week. She taught me "hambre" which means hungry. We were pretty hungry waiting for our tacos and papusas. After we finished eating, I looked at her and said, "No mas hombre" as an attempt to say that I was full (which, I learned later, is llena). What I meant to say was, "No mas hambre" but instead said, "No more men."  One thing's for sure, I'm giving these Honduran teachers bountiful opportunities to laugh! 

Reality Check

This past week and a half, I have been worried and troubled about the things I've been going through. Money issues. A shower that doesn't give me hot water. Lice in my hair. Having to be careful about the way I wash vegetables. You know, third world problems with a first world heart.

Yesterday and today we have done house visits to the students and their parents to assess their physical, spiritual, and emotional needs. It brought to light a lot of things when I compared their problems to mine.

1. Money Issues: My issue was I couldn't access the money I have been so incredibly blessed with. Their money issues are simply that most of the time, they just don't have any. Rhonda just received two sweet children, one is three and the girl is an infant. The mother had to give them up because they didn't have enough money to feed them.

2. A Shower: Yes, I'm that girl who drains the hot water heater.  The shower in my room hasn't worked when it comes to heating the water so I've been taking a shower in the outside room. I found out today that most of the kids don't have showers, or baths, but bathe outside next to the pila.

3. Lice: I was okay for about the first hour after discovering I had lice.  However, once that hour was up, I kind of freaked. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what I could touch, what I couldn't. I wanted to be kept in a plastic bubble so they wouldn't spread anywhere.  To me, lice is a big thing. To the children here in Honduras, lice is a normality.

4. Food: I have to worry about how I wash the vegetables and complain about the stove we have in the house. The people in Honduras oftentimes don't know where they'll get food.

There are so many stories we came into contact with today. Children who have to run their houses (at fifth grade) because their parents are constantly working to make a living. Children who live on their own because their parents have moved to other cities to make money. One of the houses we visited asked us to pray for the grandmother (who was 90 something- I'm still learning numbers) because she had an infection in her leg.

I'm learning that cliches are often true. All of their problems make mine look down-right stupid.

I'm learning. I'm learning that no matter how bad I have it, someone has it worse. When I complain that the fridge is empty, or that there's no hot water, or that I feel a little "gross" in hygiene...there's always someone who has it worse and is still thankful. And if you are that person that no one has it worse than, just remember that Jesus sacrificed His life when He didn't have to.

First week in Honduras

What a week it has been! I've been stretched and pulled and prodded and stretched again. And it's only week one.

Some of this has been referred to in other blog posts, but as a refresher:
Night one- Almost got killed by a shower head, light cover, and a roach.
Major credit card problems.
When I write this down, it doesn't seem like much. But I won't lie, going for a week not exactly knowing where you were going to get money from, is emotionally traumatizing!

God saved me from the shower head, the light cover, and the roach.
He also solved my credit card problem!

Beginning of week two. I ended up with piojos (lice). Thankfully, they had only been in my hair for a few hours so they didn't have much of a chance to spread.

This morning, one of my housemates told me what an encouragement it was to her that I was being such a trooper about it all. Having an emotional breakdown in the middle of the grocery store doesn't seem like a trooper thing to me, but what she said made me take a step back. I've never been the "trooper type" before. In that instance, I could feel the weight from the prayers of my friends, my family, and people I've never met but know about me in Honduras.  As soon as (I mean like, before the internet guys left) we had internet running, I jumped on the computer and found SO many words of encouragement. My best friend said that I wouldn't believe the amount of people praying for me. I'll tell you, I believe it!  If it weren't for those prayers, I would probably be on a plane headed home to my clean, comfortable bed, my shower that has hot water, my dishwasher, my dogs, my family, my friends, my sermon in English, my car, safe-ish roads, my group of friends...etc. I cannot thank you guys enough for the prayers. Your prayers are an anchor!

And just a funny story to add to my sappiness.
My roommate and I went shopping at this one store we pass by almost every day. When the other roommate called us to see where we were so the four of us could meet up, I asked the guy, "Como se llama aqui?" I knew it wasn't totally correct but he'd get the idea. He laughed (a dead giveaway that I had said it wrong) and said, "Gringo Loco." That's the name of the store. Bethany and I started laughing. How ironic that the gringas were in the store named after them ;)

Anyway, thank you for your continued prayers! I feel them ALL the time!  Please keep them coming as we do house visits tomorrow to assess the physical and spiritual needs of the students and their families!

Pictures!

 Here's a few pictures!

This is Josue (he's an animal lover) showing off their deer and two rabbits!

This is my room after the suitcases exploded when I couldn't find where my shampoo and conditioner were stored haha! It's gotten cleaner but as most of you know, my clean is still messy ;) 

And I was very excited to find my shampoo. 

Anyone recognize this sweet boy? 

This is the deer that the Destino kids rescued? It's so cute and tiny!

Ignore the "high face" but I was incredibly excited to find a Chai Latte. 

This is Cimba. And he's one of my best friends. 

Waiting on Baleodas! I'm loving this Honduran food! Also, these are my roommate/neighbors. 

From left it's me, Bethany (my roommate), Tori (neighbor) and Jenna (neighbor).  In just one week we've bonded like crazy and I don't know what I would do without their constant encouragement! 

Can't figure out how to rotate this one but this is my roommate and I with our Chai's from the missionary run coffee shop with wifi. We're also receiving an incredible photo-bomb. 

And last, but certainly not least, this is what happens when you pick up a pot that doesn't do well on a gas stove. I ended up getting this soot ALL over me. #gasstoveprobs (Photo cred to my Roomie!)

~God's Favor

This is no cliche when I say that God is good.
All week long I haven't been able to withdraw money from any ATM. First the problem was that the card wasn't cleared for international use (I think).  Then they just didn't work. I ended up having a small breakdown in the middle of the grocery store (how embarrassing!). After hugs and encouragement from my roommates we decided I'd just transfer money into their accounts.  While I felt defeated, I knew that Satan hadn't won because we were going to find a way around him either way. My God takes care of sparrows, I knew he would take care of me. I woke up that morning and read out of Hosea and Psalms and both passages expressed God's sovereignty. I felt God saying, try it one more time. And of course I told him, "Okay, but that's it." I tried it, and it didn't work. But we discovered it's because I have the wrong kind of credit card carrier. So I was just going to borrow money from one of the girls until I could get the right carrier.  Today we went to the ATM so I could borrow money from one of the other girls. We noticed this ATM had a sign for the card carrier I have. So....we tried my card. And it worked. And we scared Honduras because we squealed.

I prayed this morning for God's favor, and He provided it! Thank you all for praying!

~Beautiful things from the dust!

Greetings from Honduras!
This is where the adventure has begun! SO many things to tell you!

Almost got killed by a shower head AND a light cover AND a 5 foot roach in the shower. (I've seen more bugs than I ever want to again). God is awesome for protection. Especially against the roach. ICK!

The first week of preparation for school is over. Although we'll continue spiritually preparing.
Physically preparing was easy for my class. I put my posters up on one wall and the Honduran teachers decorated the rest of the class. All my VBS partners need to see these rooms!!!

I won't lie. This week has been tough. Tougher than any week I've had so far.
Walking everywhere is physically exhilarating AND exhausting. So I'm more tired than normal which makes things twice as hard.
There are some other difficulties that need prayer, however, I don't want to share them for the world to see.

To top everything off, I burned four out of 10 fingers (yes, I have all ten) with hot glue yesterday.  God graciously gave me the small blisters on my left hand so I can still play guitar!

The other teachers and I have been doing our best to find things we're thankful for. And it has been a tremendous heart change for me.

In only one week, I have learned what it means to trust God. I've had to trust God with my safety. With my money. With my lesson planning. With healing for my fingers. I have sought God harder than I have ever done so before. I've sought him for wisdom, peace, protection, and so many other things. I pray that this doesn't wear off as I get settled into life. I doubt it will but you never know.

Also, for my hipster friends out there, life is good in the Honduran coffee shop! It's run by missionaries and they make some dang good chai lattes.

Please be praying for:
The container with a bunch of stuff we need.
Continued protection.
That I learn Spanish quick.
For our house visits to the students next week. We'll see first hand what these students are living in and what their needs are physically and spiritually.
And God has put it on my heart to pray for the MEN of Honduras.  Maybe it's because I get cat-called about 20 times every five minutes. But basically, these men need a LOT of prayer. Pray for a spiritual revival among the men of this country. Including among the pastors and spiritual leaders. Specifically, pray for Pastor Pablo for continued strength and wisdom (all of Rhonda's boys follow him around like puppies!). Also, pray for Leonel, our bus driver, God has made a change in him but he's not finished yet!