Merry Christmas!

"For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Isaiah 9:6
"Porque nos ha nacido un niño,
se nos ha concedido un hijo;
la soberanía reposará sobre sus hombros,
y se le darán estos nombres:
Consejero admirable, Dios fuerte,
Padre eterno, Príncipe de paz."
Isaias 9:6

I wish you all a merry Christmas. May the peace of God be with you during this season and throughout the year. God is faithful. God is good.

Happenings...

Well, i haven't blogged for awhile, my apologies. It seems to continually be pushed lower on the priority list of things to do, until today. You may ask, what has Andrea been up to? That my dear readers is a wonderful question- one I wonder myself sometimes. So, I shall give a few "snapshots" of whats new with me here at La Finca.
I am continuing to teach ESL classes and am starting to think about preparing to be the newest ESL teacher in Escuela Betel, which is the primary school half here at La Finca. It is a bit hard to grasp the thought that I'm going to be a "real" teacher, and having the opportunity to impact these kids' lives educationally, and I pray beyond that as well.
My house here has become multicultural as two weeks ago a lady from Spain arrived and one week ago a lady from Mexico arrived and we are all living in the same house- speaking our own accented Spanish, trying each other's ethnic food, having many moments of laughter and powerful times of prayer. There are also adjustments to make, which are adjustments.
The other day was my "free day" so I went into Teguc with one of the girls, then I spent five hours in the kitchen with Angelica and Ally (two girls from my church whose family is also serving here) baking up a ton of cookies. Well, I guess it wasn't a literal ton, but it was 20 dozen. I tried to keep up the family tradition of baking alot of cookies, while also planning to use them as my Christmas gifts.
Last night we had a Christmas party at my house for the young adults here at La Finca, and that is what the pictures are from. Thanks be to God it was a great evening full of fun.
There is so much more I could write, but I fear if I wrote much more you would see all these words and just not bother to read it. :) I imagine we all have busy lives. Thanks for reading. I'll try to blog more often. Thanks for the prayers. Please continue to pray for me, and the people I'm working with here. God bless you all. Merry Christmas. Feliz Navidad. Peace.

Thanksgiving and giving thanks

The first picture is a small glimpse of La Finca. The second picture is a few of the kids with me on my porch. (Seems to be a popular hang out spot)

I believe I should say Happy Thanksgiving to all. I wasn´t expecting to do much of anything special for Thanksgiving, but then I got a call from the Horsts, the STEP directors in Teguc (not to be confused with the Horsts who are at La Finca) and they invited me to their house for a Thanksgiving dinner. I enjoyed turkey and mashed potatoes, and a lot of other food with other missionaries and Hondurans (and a Canadians and...I´ll just say it was multinational). It was great to celebrate with them, eating turkey in the warm tropical weather, and sharing with others what we are thankful to God for.

I had the privilege of celebrating the Thanksgiving meal again today, this time with the Horsts and 2 girls at La Finca.

Today things are changing a bit at my house. A lady from Spain is due to arrive and live at my house, and another lady will be coming to visit in two weeks.

Please continue to pray for me as I am keeping busy with different things, and especially as I am preparing and teaching English classes.

Praise God for He is also faithful and loving.

Sixth Grade Graduation at La Finca

This is a picture of the 8 graduates from the primary school that is at La Finca. We celebrated their graduation on Saturday night with a service and, of course, food! It was a great evening.

One week at La Finca

It occurred to me yesterday that I have been in Honduras for 3 1/2 weeks already. I am settling into my home and getting to know and love the kids here. I have taught 8 classes so far, and am realizing how much I have to learn about teaching.
Friday night I had the youth/young adults (18 or older) over to my house to hang out. There were about 10 people that came and it was great. I don´t know if I´ve ever played such an intense game of connect four before last night. It appeared to be that everyone had a great time, and we hope to do it again next Friday night.
This next week will find me teaching about 10 English classes, as well as doing devotions with the girls....and we shall see what else I´ll be doing.

La Finca!

I have arrived at my final destination!
I enjoyed spending time with my friends in Teguc, and now I´m very happy to start settling in to life here in Valle de Angeles. Right now it looks like my responsibilities here will be teaching a summer vacation English class for those kids who are really interested in learning more English. Then when school starts in February I will be teaching the English classes as part of the students´ cirriculum here at the school. La Finca has a primary school right on the property.
During summer vacation (Nov-Jan) I will be helping with activities for the girls to do, as they have alot more free time. I will also be leading a short devotional for the youngest group of children every evening.
Please pray for me and the Horst family and everyone at La Finca as everyone will have adjustments to make!
Now that I´m at La Finca I don´t know how much internet access I will have so we shall see how often I will be doing blogs.
God bless.

Culture reshock

I learned about culture shock in discipleship training last year, I learned about it in Honduras last year, I learned about what it is, how to handle it, and I had my team there by my side to support me. This time....it´s me and God. (I´m learning to turn to God more and more!)
As I mentioned this weekend I went on a retreat with the youth here. I had done a youth retreat and a spiritual retreat with the BIC church here, so I imagined that blend the two together and thats an idea of what this weekend will look like. Tis true. It also was a shock back into the latino culture. It was very interesting, and overall a good weekend. I had my good times and my bad times, and alot of time in prayer. I was challenged by the passion that the Hondurans have when praying.
My time here in the capital is nearing an end, and as the Horst family is driving closer and closer I am preparing to go to Valle de Angeles.

**I really would like to put more pictures on my blog but at this point the computers at the internet cafe that I usually go don´t read my card-if that makes sense. I´ll try to put more up soon! (I also forget to take my camera with me places!)