Life

This weekend the Berean church here in Valle is celebrating their 30th anniversary. The Berea Church is where I attend youth group and church functions when my schedule permits. This weekend though I "needed" to attend because I was in charge of organizing two dramas with kids from the finca to perform in the service on Sunday.

The Berea church is about a stone's throw away from the house that I will be moving into this week....permitting that it's ready. Along with the help of others, I have been painting the house and a few more things, like windows, need to be fixed and it should be ready for me to move into in a few days....Honduran time. I will continue to live here on-site at the Finca, I will just be moving from "the mansion" (sarcasm included here) to "the baby house" (where the babies used to live a few years ago).

On Friday we celebrated "Dia del Indio" here at the Finca. We had a presentation by the different classes, and also a competition of the best-dressed Indio. Below is a picture of the contestants. I was selected to be one of the judges (even though I am a "gringo" and therefore wouldn't know what a native Indio looked like as I have not studied their history very much).

 

 Have a great day!
Peace!

Noticias

A little bit of serious.....
Sunday through Thursday nights I have devotions with a group of younger girls. I found a set of great books in the library that has Bible stories. I picked one that goes through Jesus' life and what he did and taught. I really like the book because it teaches the Bible stories, and includes some kind of connection for the kids to apply to their own lives, or makes God's redeeming love personal for them. I hope and pray that they are getting something out of it and that the Biblical stories and values are being instilled into their lives.
 

Some of the girls

Update on English classes....the classes are going really well. Even though it was a voluntary class to sign up for, I can sense which kids really want to learn English, and which ones aren't quite as dedicated. I think that within a few weeks the groups will lessen to just those who really want to learn...and then hopefully we will move faster (pending that I create inspiring lesson plans). I look forward to getting to the point where they can speak more English in class.

And a little bit of fun...
My housemate's birthday was today, so I decided to throw a mini party for her (yes ANOTHER party--parties mean work though for me because I have to go buy food, make food, clean etc). I made pizza and invited four other older girls over to enjoy supper and hang out. We had a blast taking pictures with all kinds of different expressions. (yea for my group of girls at home who inspired doing this!) It was hilarious. I will refrain from posting any of the silly ones so as to not embarrass anyone (including myself). It's encouraging when God gives me moments like this evening when I feel like I "fit in" and am just hanging out with a group of friends. I need to remember times like this when I'm feeling out of place, and not understanding the jokes and stories in Spanish that are being thrown around in a group--whether it be that I don't understand the language, or simply because we have a different sense of humor....

And here's one just for fun...

Peace!

Saturday night game night

In addition to game/hangout night every Friday night for the kids eighteen and older, I have started a new thing...and that is a once-a-month game/hangout night on Saturday for the kids 15-17 years old. All 16 kids of eligible age showed up at my house Saturday night around 7 and we played games and had a snack. They only stayed til 9, whereas my older group can stay til 10.... :-)

Playing games

Well, it's almost 8pm, so I should soon head up to house three to do devotions with the girls....Peace!

Rainy Season

It rains almost every afternoon, and night

 

And thus the hammock turned into a clothesline

Parque Obrero

According to the kids, Sundays here at are very boring. There is not much to do in entertainment, (watch TV or sleep seem the be the most popular options) and they know that the town is full of people who come out to spend the day. So yesterday I decided to take a group of girls to a park in the woods a little outside of town. We packed a picnic lunch and our swimsuits and did the hour walk from the Finca to the park. We had a great time eating, looking around and of course, taking advantage of the large pool that is there.

 The girls, minus the one taking the picture

Eating lunch

Last week I started the Bible study groups with the girls, and tomorrow English classes start!

Cows on the loose, hospital visits, and spigots that won't turn off.

(A blog that consists of some ramblings....)
Friday. The day started off normal enough, I got up and did my normal morning routine, went to the library for awhile to work on the inventory, and succeeded to do a bunch of other random things-- such is life for me here at the Finca. In the afternoon I had 3 girls in the house to help me make a cake for a birthday celebration in the evening. While we were waiting for one of the girls to go buy an ingredient that we were missing, I looked out the window just in time to see a cow stepping through a hole in the fence and proceeds into the playground area (right by my house). The one little girl who was out and saw it on the loose started yelling and very quickly a group of children come running and screaming to help chase it back into its pen. Well, the cow did not want to go back into his fenced area the way he got out and so the passel of children proceeded to scream and yell and chase the cow past my house and up through the main driveway/walkway of the Finca—quite a humorous site I must admit.

After the girl gets back with the ingredient needed for the cake we finish making it and while it is baking we chat and work on a puzzle. As the time approaches for the reunion- prayer meeting- I peek out the door of my house and in a freak accident a block of wood is thrown at the same time I open the door—and hits my head. It was a bit painful, and drew a bunch of blood, but after getting it checked out by a nurse I was told that it wasn't very bad. After that ordeal was over I figure out that the shower faucet in my house will no longer turn off (I note that to turn the shower faucet on and off in my house I must use a pliers, as there is no handle on the knob)— I tried to turn it off, only to find that it no longer works, and the water continues to run. Conveniently one of the oldest guys walks by my house soon after Mirian and I try to turn it off with no success, and so I ask him to please try to turn off the water. He also tries, with no success, and so tries to find where and how it can be fixed...meanwhile the water is still running. The good news of that is that he did eventually get the water turned off, AND I have a new handle in the shower-no more need to turn it on and off with the pliers.
With all the excitement and action of the afternoon Mirian and I try to quickly make icing and decorate the cake for the evening, as well as clean up the house, make supper ect.

The rest of the weekend continued with less excitement, and I'm okay with that. :-)

I thank God for his loving care and protection over my life, I give him credit for healing my head and preventing and further damage that could have occurred. Life is precious, life is good. God is great!

Cow on the loose.

Playing games at my house Friday night.

The two girls who turned 18 while I was in the States.

Peace.

Estoy en Honduras!!!

The past few days since my arrival here at La Finca has been a great time of reuniting with friends, the kids, and others that I met and spent time with last year while I was here. The director has been away for the week, so I have not been given any responsibilities yet. This has allowed me time to settle into my new house, and to spend a lot of time with the kids. I have had some of the older girls in my house hanging out and talking about life a lot....something that I appreciate now, since I know that it will probably change some once I start gaining some responsibilities here.

I have also been reminded of some things that come along with life in Honduras...like rain every afternoon, many ants in the kitchen, constant noise of children outside my house, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, among many other things....and of course, the slower paced- relational focused lifestyle.

Its been good. God is good. Please keep praying!
Peace.