I can't believe how fast time flies.  My days are filled with loving on my precious 3rd graders and trying to help them learn SOMETHING!  As I have reflected over the last couple of weeks, there is a lot God has been showing me and for that I am grateful.

On September 15, Honduras celebrated its Independence Day.   Honduras goes all out in their celebrations.  Due to the holiday, the school gave us the Thursday and Friday off from school.  I am sure many schools would want to celebrate Independence Day in the classroom; however, Pinares went all out.  We are blessed to have many incredible Honduran teachers at our school, who educate the children in Spanish and Honduran Social Studies.  These teachers were in charge of planning and executing a Honduran Independence Day celebration.  When I first heard they were planning a celebration, I thought we might have an assembly or a special activity with our students.  What I did not know was the elementary would have assemblies and activities from 8-1:30pm!  We were all asked to dress in Honduran colors or traditional Honduran dress to celebrate Honduras!  It was a great day complete with a Honduran lunch and Honduran cultural celebration!  My 3rd graders presented a Honduran song.  I was so proud of them.

Here is my precious class of 3B students!

And of course the day would not be complete without a silly photo.  They do make me laugh:)

School ended at 2:45pm on Wednesday.  At approximately 2:50pm, 13 of us teachers departed for a long weekend in Tela, on the Northern coast of Honduras.  We arrived at the bus station about 5 minutes after our bus departed (this was about the only thing that has happened ON TIME here in Honduras!).   I laughed when I heard we missed our bus because literally nothing starts on time!  God worked out a better plan though.  We were able to leave only 15 minutes later on an even nicer bus!  It was great getting a chance to dive deeper in relationships and I was even able to practice my Spanish with a lovely Honduran woman sitting next to me!  

After riding the bus for about 7 hours, we arrived in Tela!  The Lord was good and gave us a beautiful weekend!  I loved getting to know each and every one of the amazing teachers I work with.  It was a refreshing time.   Here are some pics from our trip!

On our way to the bus stop!

Goodbye rainy Teguc.  Hello beautiful, sunny Tela!

Due to recent storms, the water wasn't that clear.  But, we were still excited to be in the Carribbean Sea!

Enjoying a day at the beach!

On our way to hike through the rainforest, our awesome taxi driver gave us each a leche!  It is a really good Honduran fruit!

Some of us hiked through a rainforest.  And by hike, I literally mean, hike.  A man with a machete was cutting the trail for us.  While in the rainforest, I found some vines and thought it could be fun to swing like Tarzan!

To see more photos, go to my facebook page!  The trip was not only good for relaxing, going on adventures and developing deeper relationships with friends, but it also helped me remember where I live.  One night, our group went to a pizza place on the beach.  As we were finishing eating, a little boy came to stand near our table.  He never begged, but stared longingly at our food.  One of my roommates noticed right away and felt called to feed him.  A couple of girls went inside to order food, while I spoke with this boy in the broken Spanish I knew.  I learned his name was Walter.  He was 9 years old and had 4 sisters.  He loved soccer and swimming at the beach.  It was obvious Walter had not eaten in a while, as his stomach was quite bloated.  I was so touched by meeting Walter, I was moved to tears.  I have lived in this country for about 2 months and I had already "forgotten" to look at the needs around me.  It is easy to become overwhelmed with the beggars on the streets and become hard hearted toward some.  Walter did not beg, but in his quietness, the Lord granted his request for food.  God brought Walter to our table because he knew we would feed him.  He knew we would love him.  But, what if we didn't notice?  What if we let that opportunity go?  God would have used others, but I am so thankful he let us get to know Walter in that brief time!  I don't know all of his story, but I have been praying for him constantly since meeting him.  The day following my interaction with Walter, I asked the Lord to watch over Him.  As I was praying I was reminded of the verses in Psalm 19:1-4 which state, 

" The heavens declare the glory of God; 

   the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 
² Day after day they pour forth speech; 
   night after night they reveal knowledge. 
³ They have no speech, they use no words; 
   no sound is heard from them. 
⁴ Yet their voice^[b] goes out into all the earth, 
   their words to the ends of the world."

It was as if the Lord was saying, "I will watch over Walter and I will keep him.  I was with Him before you even met him.  My creation alone will declare my glory and reveal myself to Him."  How I pray Walter will know the Lord.  That He would be a man of God.  

Please join with me in praying for Walter.  How I wish you all could have met this precious child of God.  Pray for his physical needs and spiritual needs.  Who knows who God will put in our lives to minister to and be ministered by?  May we always accept each opportunity as it comes.  My eyes have been re-opened to the needs of Honduras and may I live a life worthy of serving them!

Weekend of Bliss!

It is hard to believe that it is already the beginning of September.  I am in my third week of teaching now, and things are starting to become more routine!  My students still LOVE to talk, but we are learning to work together.   I have been explaining to the students that we are a 3B family.    As a family, we need to encourage each other, work together, accept each others ideas and pray for each other.  My favorite part of the day is praying for each other.  The students love sharing their requests and praying!  They are also growing to LOVE the Bible.  There is nothing better than hearing students cheer when it is time for Bible class.   Please pray with me that the students will grow in their love and knowledge of Christ.  Teaching is getting better each day, as I learn how to reach these students!

 After teaching let out for the day, a group of teachers played a pick up game of soccer on Friday night.  Yes, I am becoming somewhat of an athlete.  Saturday began at 6am, as we boarded the school bus for Stadium Market.  Stadium Market is a big farmers market outside the Soccer Stadium in Teguc.  We bought a watermelon, 15 limes, cilantro, 6 bell peppers, fresh popcorn, 20 tomatoes, 3 pineapples, 3 avocados, 2 onions and fresh tortillas all for only $15!  It is fun going, as it reminds me of Africa a bit, and it just feels like we actually live in Honduras when we go!  From there, the bus always takes us to a regular grocery store, La Colonia, to buy any meats, milk, juices, yogurts etc.  

Stadium Market!  It is in the foothills of the mountains:)

Gabrielle and I decided to stay downtown for the day, so after our grocery trip, we got in our first Honduran taxi and headed to El Centro where our church is located.  The previous Sunday, we read on the screens at church, there would be Praise and Worship from 9-11am on Saturday.  We got to church and walked in to a room with only 7 people sitting at a table singing and reading their Bibles.  They ALL stopped and stared at us as we walked in.  They tried speaking to us in Spanish and we just smiled!  They went into a Bible study on Spiritual Gifts, which we couldn't really understand because it was all in Spanish.  Finally, at the end, a bilingual girl came over and asked what we were interested in doing.  We looked at her funny, "What do you mean what are we interested in?"  She replied, "You are at the Worship Leaders Meeting!"  Instead of Praise and Worship, it was a Praise and Worship Meeting!  We died laughing!  But, guess who is now on the Santidad worship team? :)  I think God had it ordained all along!  If nothing more, we got to know more young people at the church and make some new friends!  What a blessing that church is!  


After church, we grabbed a bite of lunch and hung out at Espresso Americano (coffee shop better than Starbucks, if you can believe it!) for a couple of hours reading our Bibles.  It was so refreshing to be in the city and spend time with Gabrielle!

Aside from working at school, God has been opening more doors for ministry!  After spending time at the coffee shop, we got in the back of a pick up truck and headed to a poor village outside of Teguicigalpa.  God opened a door to go with a couple of other teachers to help minister at a feeding center for children.  The children only speak Spanish (obviously) so it was hard to communicate.  However, just loving on children helps one see the very heart of God.  We sang a few songs with the kids, taught a Bible story on creation, made a cute paper plate craft, and they helped hand out meals to the children.  It is such an incredible place, I wish you all could meet these little ones.  Here are a few pictures from our time there!

A group of the boys working on their creation art project!

Some of my little friends!  It is always amazing to me how far a game of "Como si dice?" can go! :)

Waiting in line for their meals!  A delicious dinner of noodles, vegetables and chicken was on the menu!

Can you say "adorable"!?!  They were quite the smooth little guys!

Saturday concluded with a great dinner in the city with my fellow 3rd grade teacher and her husband.  It was great getting to know them more and see such a Godly example of marriage.

The fun didn't stop on Saturday.  Although Gabrielle and I spent 13 hours in the city, we headed back into El Centro for church.  Our new friends welcomed us with open arms and for the first time, it felt like "home".   God has really been using this amazing little church to encourage me in more ways than one.  This Sunday, we started the service as usual; however, when the worship songs appeared on the screen, the words were in BOTH English and Spanish.  I nearly cried at the sight of have both sets of words on the screen.  It was nice to see the translation of songs, but it was also a reminder to me of the family of Christ.  We can worship in our native tongue and God is exalted!  I went up to the worship paster following the service and said, "Muchos gracias por las palabras en Ingles!" (Thank you for the English words!)  He simply replied, "We wanted to have a unified church, and we knew that might help you out!  They translated the songs for 4 Americans in a church of 150 people!  Now, that is a family!  

What a wonderful way to end the week!  Now, here we are about halfway into the next week!  God is good!  I hope you are doing well! 

Love from Honduras!:)