LOL I´m trying to start this back up AGAIN.

Hi Everyone!!! I´ve got internet at home now for the first time and I am SOOO excited about. I¨m hoping to be able to blog every night but that may be a little ambitious. I´m also hoping to post at least one picture per post, which will make me more excited about blogging AND encourage me to take more pictures, not that I need the help.


Today was a great day. In the morning I got Arnold enrolled for another semester of college and then went grocery shopping. Grocery shopping is pretty much a daily event here as fresh veggies and fruits go bad after a couple of days and my fridge isn´t the best thing in the world. At 2 we headed up to Mogote to get back in touch with the community. The boys played soccer and I just spent some time visiting some of the families I´ve grown so close to over the years. Then we had church tonight. I had 26 kids in my 8-12 year old class. We talked about Jesus washing the apostles feet and I washed a few of the kids´feet, as time would allow. It was neat to watch their faces as they received this special attention. I plan to continue during coloring time until all the kids get a chance to feel special.


God is so evident in my life right now. I am so thrilled to have such a close relationship with Him. I often find myself thanking Him for things that just a couple of months ago would never have occured to me. Like today after lunch I found myself having a relatively long period of thanksgiving over the existence of cheese. Man, I´m thankful for cheese. And my new stove and my new car. And the past owner of my new car who drove across town last night to replace the fan belt that broke for no charge. I am so blessed.



Here are some funny quotes from today:

The checker at the local ¨Wal-Mart¨ chain- "Are you sure you want these oranges, they are really expensive." Me, laughing, nodding, and taking my 5 oranges at $1.50 a pound. "Yes, I know how much they are, but thanks."

Today I was sitting on a step in Mogote with about 5, 6-8 year old girls braiding my hair, when one of the lighter skinned girls says in a voice of pure disgust, "Ugh, I can´t braid because I´m white. We need a black girl, they are really good at braiding."


As I was getting my hair done one of the girls (who´s name also happens to be Amber) who visits our church sometimes, came by. She´s about 14 and had obviously been in a fight in the past few days. We talked about that for a few minutes and then I asked jokingly, "were your pants in a fight, too?" (her jeans had obviously been cut up on purpose). Girl Amber "No Amber it´s the style, everyone wears pants like this". Me "My pants don´t look like that", Girl Amber, "Yeah but you go to church." (Obviously church goers know nothing about style).

1st Picture of the Day-

This little Angel is the 3 day old niece of Lili, Alis, and Miguel, 3 kids in my Bible class. She won´t have a name for a couple more months, until the family gets to know her (I love this custom). The kids were soo excited for me to come over and take pictures of her. As is typical in Mogote, the mom is 16 and the dad is completely out of the picture. When I asked about him I was told Dad doesn´t even know if she´s a boy or a girl. She makes number 15 in a house about the size of my living room. Pray that she experiences much grace in her dear life.

2nd Picture of the Day-

All the kids checking out Diego (my new vehicle), for the first time. Soon after this I loaded up 19 of them and we drove down to church (just over a block). They were thrilled.

June Update

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for your prayers and concerned emails as we continue to wait out the resolution to the political problems in Honduras. Things in Honduras are currently stable but have the potential to turn violent quickly if the former president decides to try a forced return. I am currently in the United States and plan to return to Honduras on July 25th if no further problems arise. Please pray for stability in the country and God hand in the whole situation.

Mission Teams

Summer time is always a time to reconnect with old friends and meet lots of new ones. In June we had mission teams from Park Plaza Church of Christ, Covenant Presbyterian, Oakcrest Church of Christ, a Young Life group from OKC, University City Church of Christ, Bammel Road Church of Christ, Laurel Church of Christ, Lindburg Road Church of Christ, Adams Boulevard Church of Christ, and Prestoncrest Church of Christ. The Oakcrest group was able to build homes for three families whose homes were burned down after being struck by lightning in early June. These families lost everything and the groups built from the ashes. It was a very vivid picture of starting over and giving them a fresh start. All of the groups that came have helped us in different ways and we’ve definitely enjoyed the bonds shared. This summer 22 homes have been built and over 500 kids have participated in VBS programs and well as other projects to improve the community. One group began a project to provide a soccer field behind the church in Mogote. This was to be an ongoing summer project but will probably become a community project due to cancellations. We still have a couple of groups holding out on making their decisions about coming but most of our groups have cancelled for the rest of the summer. This is definitely in the best interest of everyone’s safety at this time.

Interns

This summer I was truly blessed with a large number of wonderful interns. Unfortunately those that had planned to stay the whole summer had to cut their trip short because of the political situation. Theresa Witt from Tulsa Oklahoma planned to stay the whole summer along with Michael Lemmons from OKC and Rachel Davis from Athens TX. These three girls quickly found their way into my heart and I pray that they find their way back to Honduras again soon so that we can continue to develop our friendship. My interns definitely become family and it’s always hard to let them go especially sooner than expected.

My short term interns who were able to complete their stay were Shelby Taylor from OKC, Audrey Smith and Brittney Kvanvig (Brittney returned early due to a family emergency) from Waco, TX, Cale Thompson and Anna Wilkes from Maryville, TN, and Edward Cox from Knoxville, TN. The short term interns are often kids that have come to Honduras throughout High School and College and then come for a longer stay, which was the case with most of these.

Roatan

One of our new groups took a trip to Roatan at the beginning of June and asked me to go with them as a guide. A friend of ours paid for Darwin to go on the trip as well. Roatan is always a refreshing time for me. I feel closest to God when I’m face to face with the wonder of the ocean. It was also a great blessing to experience Darwin’s first airplane flight and swimming in the ocean. We laughed a lot and spent some time bonding. It was really a wonderful weekend.

Stadium Feeding

The work I’m missing the most is the stadium feeding. My friends there are never far from my mind. We’ve had to put that on hold until we return to Honduras because Darwin doesn’t have a vehicle to take the food in. One of the blessings in being in the states has been new donations. We’ve received sponsorship for another night of the week at the stadium and hopefully within the next year we will be able to expand to a nightly feeding program. I pray that soon we will be able to find a facility to better reach the needs of these people and continue to show them the hope that only exists through Christ.

My Boys

Darwin and Ariel are doing well. They are definitely feeling the strains of responsibility being at home on their own but Darwin has taken on the role of caretaker well. I talk to them almost daily and while we are both feeling the strains of being apart I know that they are capable of being on their own. I’m hopeful that we will be together again soon.

Trip to the US

The last week of June I made a scheduled trip to the United States to attend the wedding of one of my best friends, Holly Deboard, to another friend, Lance Towers and also to renew my visa. At the time I had no idea it would end up being a month long stay. The wedding was beautiful and I was blessed to be a part of it. I also got to spend some time with a lot of my good friends in the Oklahoma City area. 9-year-old Mariela Gross (Cony and Guillermo’s granddaughter and Michelle’s niece) was also able to travel home with me to attend Holly’s wedding. Holly and Mariela have been very close since both Holly and I lived with her family in 2003 (when Mariela was only 3). Holly was so excited to be able to have Mariela in her wedding and also show her around the US for the first time. Experiencing “firsts” with a child is always a blessing and I truly enjoyed my time with Mariela. We ended up sending her home as an unaccompanied minor so that she could be reunited with her family and not be in the US on an expired visa. I am now in Missouri at my mom’s house. It’s always a blessing to spend time with my family. Last week was spent planning for this week’s VBS and this week has been a blessing teaching the younger kids about the wisdom of King Solomon. I was beginning to feel guilty about all the work I’m missing in Honduras and God has blessed me with work to do here in the US.

Prayer List

• Peaceful resolution to the political issues in Honduras.
  
• Peace for the boys as they await my return
  
• Hope and Peace for those at the stadium
  
• Continued growth of the church throughout Honduras
  
• Patience for me as I wait to go back to Honduras
  

Thank you all again for your love and prayers. I love to hear from you and I’m especially thankful for your concern during this trying time. I hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

Amber

Welcome Back

My dear friend Ann White is trying to help me get this blog up and running again. We'll see how that goes. As I'm typing this I'm sitting on another great friend's couch in Oklahoma City waiting for her wedding on Saturday (Holly Deboard). I'm so blessed to be able to be here. Little 9-year-old Mariela was able to make the trip with me from Honduras to be in the wedding as well and it's very very exciting to share in her first trip to the US and her first plane ride. Today is our first real day in the US together and it's been a lot of first. We had a wonderful time shopping with Holly and then we went over to the Elliott's to swim in their swimming pool and jump on their trampoline. We're all exhausted but full of the special joy that comes from sharing fun with friends. God is truly blessing our lives. The summer is in full swing and we're working hard. I've been truly blessed this summer with my interns and Will and Rachel Antrikin who are holding down the fort so that I can be here. We have 26 groups this summer and they are definitely keeping us hopping. We share a lot of laughs and frustrations together but I pray that we are all growing closer to God with each encounter. As I think back over the past few months there is one story that I don't want to go untold. I pray that this is written in a way that gives glory to God and not myself but I feel like it is a good insight into the lives my friends at the stadium live. As most of you have probably gathered, feeding people at the stadium has become the highlight of my week. I love these new friends in a way that is only possible with God's hand at work. They have truly stolen my heart. Anyway...the other way we were in the middle of handing out food when some of the guys come up and ask for more. They start calling me "hambre" which began as a joke and they have begun to believe is my name. A good friend at the stadium, Freddy, likes to take everyone's name and change it into something funny. Well my name Amber sounds very much like the spanish word for hunger which is "hambre" and because of my considerable size they find it HILARIOUS to call me hambre. So Freddy has been calling me hambre for weeks and several of the other guys seem to think that is actually my name. Sooo when they're asking for food they are calling to get my attention over and over "Hambre Hambre give me more food". We're all laughing and joking around and they know they're calling me the wrong name but can't remember what the right name is. Which leads me to start teasing them and giving them a hard time for forgetting my name. I looked at one of the guys I'm particularly close to, Wender (the father of baby Marlen if you're following the homeless stories), and I said "Wender, you know my name, what's my name Wender." and Wender looks at me with his big brown eyes and he looks concerned for a minute, smiles sheepishly and then says "Mama.", and comes to give me a hug.
Let me tell you I almost had to go sit in the car and collect myself. It was all I could do not to cry. These kids are crying out for someone to care and through God's infinite mercy and grace he has allowed me to be a part of His filling that need.

Please take a moment and pray for the Wender's and Freddy's of this world. Pray that they each find God's messengers of love in their day-to-day lives and pray about who you can be a messenger of love to where ever you are.

Stadium Updates

Stadium (If you’re only going to read one part of this newsletter please choose this one!)

The feeding at the stadium continues to grow and be a blessing for everyone involved.  God has definitely used the lateness of this newsletter (not that I’m making excuses :) ) to be able to share with you 3 wonderful stories that probably would have been forgotten by the time the next newsletter rolls around.   In past couple of weeks the number of people coming to the stadium to eat on Mondays and Thursdays has grown quite a bit as has our relationship with these people.  They are no longer “the homeless people at the stadium” in my mind, but my friends that I know by name.  It is humbling and awe inspiring that as I begin to truly love these people, individually, I am graced with a small piece of what God feels towards each one of us.   I left the stadium on Thursday touched in a way I haven’t been touched in a long time and here are 3 reasons why.

Sweet, sweet Ana – Ana, the 17 year old mother of a 6 week old Marlen, told me last week that her birthday was on Friday.  So I told her I would try and do something for her birthday.  Since the group had left on Wednesday I went through the snacks and supplies they had left behind and put together a little birthday present for her.  It was nothing special, some apple sauce, candy, and cookies, some flip flops and a little toy for Marlen.   But when Ana came through the line and I told her I had a gift for her birthday she squealed like an innocent child and was so excited.  She and her friends Hada and Jessica stood to the side giggling like school girls until the line was through and she could get her gift.  They came with me to the truck and were so excited that someone had taken the time to remember her birthday.  The gift cost literally nothing but it showed them that someone really did care to remember them.  The other girls were so gracious to Ana and happy for her.  I just pray for more opportunities to show them that God cares for them. 

The wisdom of Pilo the drunk – As I mentioned before, more and more people are showing up to eat, which is a blessing but is also hard for those that have been coming since the beginning.  Before, almost anyone that wanted them could have seconds and/or take a plate to someone that didn’t come.  Now we’re scraping the bottom to give a plate to everyone that comes through.  On Thursday that was an issue for Pilo.  Pilo is probably around 24 years old, but it’s really hard to tell, he is always drunk but usually extremely happy, with a smile that splits his whole toothless face.  For some reason Pilo has earned the title “the drunk” by the homeless people even though many of them are just as drunk as Pilo, just as often.  Anyway, on Thursday Pilo wanted another plate and I couldn’t give him one because there was still a long line of people to feed.  This made Pilo very angry and he started stomping around and cursing and saying he wasn’t ever coming back (this wasn’t anything terribly uncommon by the drunk crew).  I continued serving the food but afterwards I went and sat down with Pilo to see if we could repair our friendship and end on a good note.  Pilo was still very angry but calming down quickly as he opened his mouth and shocked me with his words. “Amber, man doesn’t live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  Talk about humbling.  This drunk, angry man was reminding me as well as himself that there is a God that is a lot more important than food and he wasn’t going to let a plate of food stand between our friendship or his relationship with God.  We ended up sitting and talking for a while then with a hug and a smile with both went on with our evening.  Occasionally we see glimpses of heaven right before our eyes. 

The heartbreaking story of Marvin – Occasionally as we’re feeding we get someone passing through that just grabs a bite to eat that is probably going home to a decent place.  We don’t pass judgment we just feed everyone that comes through the line.    Thursday night (Thursday was a busy night) a young man came through that looked pretty healthy, was wearing decent clothes, but looked a little lost.  I just assumed he was a passerby and didn’t give it much thought.  But after my conversations with Ana and Pilo I realized this kid was still hanging around.  That wasn’t normal for the passersby.  So I walked over and started asking some questions and quickly realized that this kid was on the street and scared to death.  Marvin is 19 years old and has been in and out of different children’s homes since he was 8.  4 days prior Marvin had been living at the Micah Project, I don’t know much about it but it reaches out to older kids that need a place to stay.  According to Marvin he walked in and another one of the kids had set Marvin’s clothes on fire so Marvin picked up a stick and hit the guy with it breaking his arm.  After the incident both boys were kicked out of the home.   This isn’t the sweet boy next door, this kid has serious problems and issues to deal with, but he is so lost and alone on the street.  He knows he screwed up and he knows he probably blew the last chance anyone is going to give a 19-year-old with no education for a home.  So now he’s on the street and he knows no one.  But he happened by, or as I choose to believe, God led him by, our food stand and maybe, just maybe he saw a glimmer of hope in us.   Marvin was born in Guatamala and lived there until he was 8, at some point during that time dad skipped town and at 8 years old his older brothers pressured Marvin to leave the home and take pressure off of his single mom.  When he talked about his mom he cried.  He believes her to still be in Guatamala but has no way of contacting her or knowing where she is.  He truly is a lost little boy that feels completely alone in the world.  At this point Marvin is still clean but that can change overnight in a community where huffing and drinking are as natural as breathing.  I’ve promised to try and find Marvin a job so that hopefully he can get on his feet if he promises to stay away from the glue.  God can change lives and I pray that this life is spared the misery of addiction that the streets so often lead to.  On the drive home I looked over at my boys and my heart just melted.  They could so easily be in Marvin’s shoes.  It is heartbreaking to imagine them in that position but for the grace of God we could all be stadium kids. 

Recent Happenings

Boys

My boys are doing extremely well.  Ariel is really leveling out and becoming the sweet kid he used to be.  It is such a joy to see him smiling again.  Darwin was recently elected president of his High School and is very excited about that honor.  Both of them are doing relatively well in school though there is always room for improvement.  I’m very proud of my kids.  Arnold, one of the teens from Mogote, started college this month thanks to a generous family in OKC.  He is so proud and really seems to be enjoying his classes.  This is a rare opportunity for a kid from Mogote and it is really a blessing to be a part of it. 

Church

The church in Mogote continues to grow and be a blessing to the community.  Our young Christians are growing into church leaders and it is such a blessing to witness.   This past Sunday the new baptistry was used for the first time to baptize 4 new brothers and sisters in Christ.  Thanks to Will and Hector’s hard work we no longer have to drive 30 minutes down the road with overloaded pickup trucks to have a baptism.  We can do it with all of our church family right on the property.  Praise God!

Vehicle Update               

I’m still in the process of finding a vehicle that meets all of my transportation requirements.  Funds came pouring in after I began fundraising and I’m now in the process of trying to sell my wrecked truck or trade it in with available funds for another one.  I’m hoping to purchase a 4-wheel drive, diesel, SUV type vehicle with 5-7 passenger seating.   This is proving to be a challenge but I know that God is in control and I haven’t had to walk to work yet J.   Recently a couple of different vehicles have come available, so pray for wise transportation decisions J. 

Prayer List

• Baby Marlen from the stadium - that she get the nourishment that she needs and grow up healthy. 
  
• 19 year old Marvin – that he resist the temptations of the street and overcomes his past to become a successful adult.
  
• That all of us involved in the ministry at the stadium keep our eyes open to the wisdom God shares with us through these amazing people. 
  
• The groups that are preparing to come that they are changed by their experiences and live a life closer to God after seeing him in Honduras. 
  
• Safe travel
  
• Patience and kind hearts for all involved
  
• Smooth passport processes for Santiago
  

Thanks for taking the time to share in my life.  You are all such a blessing to me.  Keep praying always.  I look forward to seeing you soon.

Love,

 

Amber

Recent Visitors

Hi Friends!

I apologize for the fact that this is beyond late.  It’s hard to believe another month has rolled by and the summer time is here.  Our groups are starting to roll in.  We just finished with the second group of 23 that we have this summer.  It’s always fun to continue old friendships and meet new people. 

Visitors

At the end of April we had lots of visitors.  Laura, Beto and baby Santiago came to stay with us for a couple of weeks while they worked on getting Santiago’s American passport.  It proved to be much more difficult than expected and they are still in the process but it was a wonderful visit.  The boys and I are both completely enamored with Santiago and Laura and Beto are pretty good friends too J.  Rachel’s parents, Mike and Anthea Wrinkle, also came to visit for a week.  It was neat to get to know the family Rachel came from and show off our work to new people.   I know it was a great encouragement to Rachel to have them here.  And right now in May, Baxter is hosting 2 VCOM students doing their rotation at the clinic.  Bonnie and Kim have been here before and we’re enjoying continuing our friendship. 

VCOM Trip

Last week we had a group of 35 VCOM med students come and serve the poor communities around Tegucigalpa.  It is always fun to watch these students transform from 1st year med students to practicing doctors throughout the week.  Each team is supervised by a doctor and sees their own patients.  Their level of confidence and knowledge grows exponentially throughout the week.   All together I believe they saw over 600 patients. 

Sunshine Church of Christ

This past week we hosted Sunshine Church of Christ from Ohio.  This group of 11 is a joy to work with.  They built 3 houses, worked with the homeless population, left money for food bags, worked on the kitchen construction, visited the dump, and the special needs orphanage.  Jamie Riley, the leader of this group, fondly called them “a ragtag bunch of weirdo’s being used by God”.  They were definitely a diverse group and absolutely served God this week.  I was blown away by their dedication to develop relationships and touch lives instead of just “doing”. They were a prime example of not just doing God’s work but being God’s hands. 

An Amazing Day!

Oh my goodness!!! Today was a blast. I have tons of cool pictures but I won't be able to upload them until I get home. My tour guide and the driver met me in front of my hostel promptly at 6:30. We then drove across town, learning about town as we went, to the Marriott to pick up two very sweet little old cuban women who went on the tour with me. We then went to a beautiful and enormous coffee plantation where we had a delicious breakfast of fruits, eggs, and bread (and rice and beans which you know I won't eat :) ). From there we went to a volcano, where it was freezing, but there were clouds down inside of it so it was just a big white hole. One of the ladies we were with has bad knees so she got a ride up with her friend and Diego (the tour guide) and I had a nice little talk on the way up. In case you're interested, he was once a semi-pro soccer player, lived in LA until he was 5, returned to Costa Rica where he had culture shock and refused to talk for a year and then promptly forgot how to speak English. He has since relearned english and is studying Biology and Tourism at a local university. Oh and he plans to go back to LA at the end of May (it was a long, freezing, walk). After that we went to a beautiful waterfall and I hiked up and stood behind it. It was really cool. I've always been mesmorized by waterfalls, I'm not really sure why. After the waterfall we went to a little shop that was also a hummingbird garden. The little guys were zipping in and around us while we sat and looked out over the mountains at another waterfall and ate a snack. We then drove for about 45 minutes to a lodge in the rainforest and had lunch. The lodge was amazing. It was smack in the middle of the rainforest right next to a river. I tromped around there for a while by myself taking pictures and looking for poisonous frogs (supposedly they are there but I missed them). We then drove on down the road to our river tour. This was definitely the highlight of the day. We floated down the river for about an hour looking at monkeys, bats, birds, and iguanas and listened to tales of crocodiles and alligators in the water that "won't do anything" according to the tour guide. I have to admit I thought this was a bunch of bologna to impress the tourists. But...at the end of our tour what do you know there was an alligator on the shore. When we first drove up he swam downshore away from us (so I'm sure he was alive) but then he just froze and we got up so close I am certain that we could have reached out and touched him if we were brave enough. I however am not and neither was anyone else. I got some cool photos though. It was now time for the 1 1/2 drive home through the national park/rainforest jungle. We get 10 minutes down the road and the van overheats so we spend the next hour at a road side stand sipping cokes and watching the guys try and fix the van. They eventually did and with the help of some nice German tourists on another bus pushed our van until it started and then came back to pick us up. That was an adventure. We wondered if we may be staying the night there but Diego and Randall pulled through for us. The jungle was amazing. It was just like something on a movie. I can't even describe it but I was incredibly impressed. And then it was home again to relax by the tv and do some SuDoku and eat some churches chicken. It was a great day. Tomorrow I'm headed home and I definitely feel like the trip was a success.

Oh one more thing: I want to know if anyone out there, without looking it up, knows how pineapple grow. I can't believe I didn't know this but I learned today. I will reveal the answer, unless I'm the only person that didn't know, on my next blog entry. Love you guys!

A Better Day

Hello again my friends. Thank you for your prayers. Once I got over being scared last night I had a wonderful time. I had two roomies, one of which left today and the other tomorrow, who are both very nice people. Both of them are single women, one from Holland and the other from California, traveling on their own. They made me feel a little better about my 3 day stay when they were finishing and beginning 3 months of travel themselves. Today I spent about 4 hours walking around San Jose (the capitol city, NOT the beach, contrary to popular belief) and checking out museums. There are at least 7 musuems here in the city and I visited 3 of them. I also visited several of the city parks which are absolutely gorgeous here. They are so clean and there are fountains and huge trees everywhere. That was my favorite part of the day, just relaxing next to a fountain and deciding where I wanted to head next. I planned on visiting the National Museum after lunch but that led to another adventure. I stopped and asked a taxi if there was a mall nearby with a food court (sadly I am not an adventurous eater) and he said sure, 45 minutes later we arrive at a mall completely on the other side of town. I have to say it was a very, very nice mall but really I didn't need to drive 45 minutes for some lunch. Wanting to get my money's worth out of the taxi ride I decided to hang around and catch an early movie. I was excited to see Papa John's pizza in the mall (they don't have it in Honduras, they also had taco bell but I'm not a huge fan) so after lunch I wandered around for a hour and then saw the Illusionist at half price on Wednesdays. Yippee! Half price is always exciting. The movie was entertaining and helped use up the afternoon. Afterwards I bought some snacks and headed home. Now I'm watching some tv with my fellow hostel-ites and checking up on my email. Tomorrow is definitely going to be an adventure. I'm going on an 11 hour tour of a coffee plantation, a volcano, waterfalls, rainforests, a river ride (with monkeys and crocodiles) and a drive through a national park. I'm sure to be exhausted tomorrow night (we leave at 6:40) but I will try and let you all know how it goes. I love you so much. Talk to you soon.

Costa Rica!

Hey Guys! Im renewing my visa in Costa Rica. I must say this is a little intimidating to me. I know I live alone in a third world country but this is the first time Ive really traveled alone. Im hoping to get some research done for the May in LA program at OC and of course do some relaxing. I just checked into a $10 a night hostel that is actually really nice. My only issue is feeling a little out of place with all the beautiful free spirited Californians roaming around here. They have free internet here and Im going to have some free time so Ill try to keep you updated on my adventures. I head back home on Friday. I got here 2 hours ago and I already miss my boys. I would love some emails and your prayers as Im feeling a little overwhelmed by this whole experience. Im sure I will leave unscathed and with another country under my belt. You guys are great. I love you so much!

Yuck!!

Today I was waiting around for church to start in front of one of my boys´homes when his mom came out and was standing in the doorway (a step up from the ground where I was standing). I had my hair pulled back in a ponytail and she looks at me, laughs, and says "Amber, you have lice." I laughed back and said "No I don´t". "Look" she says and pulls a nasty louse out of my hair. Gross, Gross, Gross. I had to laugh. I mean it really is no suprise. Last night I had 17 lice ridden children spend the night and I crashed on the floor with them. Unfortunately it seems that these lovely creatures took up residence in my head long before yesterday so who knows how long they´ve been hanging out. Having the kids over isn´t a rare occurance so it could have happened at anytime day or night. So now I¨m at the mall buying stuff to rid my house of lice. Let me tell you how exciting that is.
Sleep overs are always exciting. I don´t have keys to the interior doors of my home so, of course, this morning not long after I got out of the shower, one of the kids locks my bedroom door and closes it. Wonderful. I put one of the teens out the other bedroom window into my neighbors yard to try and crawl through my bedroom window and open the door (the quick witted of you out there are now realizing this wasn´t the first time this has happened). Unfortunately, the girls that had slept in my room last night locked the window making it imposible to open, despite a valiant effort by Darwin (Pato) and scaring my poor neighbor out of her mind. We finally give up on that form of opening the door and try to pick the lock. Whilst we are in the kitchen looking for new and exciting ways to pick my bedroom door lock, one of the kids locks the other bedroom door, officially locking us out of both bathrooms and all three bedrooms. So it´s Sunday morning, I´m supposed to meet a teen for lunch before church, I have 17 kids in my house, my hair is soaking wet and frizzing by the second, and none of us can use the bathroom. It was a very exciting morning. I ended up calling a lock smith who picked both locks (and actually fixed one of the door knobs I thought I was going to have to replace) for a grand total of $20. I was impressed.
Other than that, today has been fairly uneventful :). Church was wonderful. We had 16 adults and about 20 kids. The congregation is starting to stabilize and be the same people each week which I find exciting. It`s really neat to watch this new congregation grow.
I have to laugh at the crazy things that come my way. Otherwise I might go insane. I love you guys. You are the best. Let me know how life is going in your world. Oh by the way, Thanksgiving was wonderful. I spent it with the White´s at Baxter and really enjoyed myself. Jeanne is a wonderful cook. I hope each of you had a wonderful holiday weekend as well. Love ya!

A Wonderful Day!

Today was a wonderful day! It began playing around with the kids as always. After a while a group of about 15 showed up and we sang Bible school songs and talked abou the stories they are learning at preschool. I´m always amazed by how much they retain of the stories they are learning.
After a few of the kids left we walked down to the pulperia for some Sprite (I`m giving up Coke), where I was informed by the owner that I needed to hurry up and marry someone from El Mogote. I laughed and asked who exactly it was that I should be marrying (there aren´t exactly a lot of available 24 year olds in Mogote). The teenager sitting on the wall behind me (who the kids informed me is named Nedy) promptly volunteered for the job. What wonderful day is complete without a proposal :).
The best part of the day happened on teh way to pick up some school clothes with Ariel. Yesterday I gave the boys their Bible study and fully expected them to put it away until I prompted them to get it out so we could do it together. Once again I was humbled by their simple faith. As we were riding in the truck Ariel picked up my Bible and starting flipping through it, obviously looking for something. Soon he looked up and said that as he was studying last night he found a verse he really liked but that he couldn`t find it in my Bible. I handed him a copy of the study I had in the turck to see if he could find it there. Once again I underestimated him, expecting something simple and sweet about God´s love. The verse he found was II Corinthians 4:8-9 - "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." I asked Ariel what that verse meant to him and he went on to explain that when people make fun of him for being a Christian they can hurt him but could not take away his faith and that as long as he believed in God nothing could destroy him or his faith. This was coming from a 14 yr old who, 6 months ago, really wanted nothing to do with God or the church. I pray that we can all have faith so honest and deep.

I'm back!!!

Well after a very very long hiatus I guess it's time I start this puppy up again. Honestly I've missed writing on it, but you know how it goes. I get busy and then it's the first thing to go. I'm not going to try and update on everything I've done since last February because that would just be insane. I'm back in Honduras now and today I'm starting two new Bible studies. I'm excited and a little nervous about this but I am confident that God will bless the work. I'm going to be doing a Max Lucado study with the boys and a Beth Moore study with a group of women. My cousin Jeremiah just spent the last 2 weeks here and we had a blast. We went to La Esperanza (a little honduran village) to visit Laura (the best Honduran roommate in the world) with some of the boys and had a blast with that. We also spent a couple of days in Roatan and I even got to see Hope when she stopped by on her cruise. My trip home was amazing. It was so great to see so many of you. You truly are a blessing in my life. Thank you for all the love that you give me. I'm not going to ramble on here but I will try and keep the stories coming. I love you all so much!!! Have an amazing day.

Roatan

I was blessed by a wonderful trip to Roatan last week with my roommate and her boyfriend Beto. We had a wonderful time. Roatan truly is the closest thing to Paradise I have ever seen. Laura´s mother was visiting on a cruise ship and flew us out to see her. The first day we spent visiting with her and seeing the sites and the second day we spent snorkeling. The ocean is so beautiful and we came home exhausted but at the same time refreshed by the break. The pictures are of the place we stayed, the ocean (obviously) and a great italian restaraunt where we had lunch one day.

Purse Theft

Well I was going to blog this story but I´m out of time and it really isn´t that big of a deal. To make a long story short whilst driving by the national stadium with my passenger side window open (stupid rookie mistake) I slowed down to merge into traffic and a very charming young man took it upon himself to jump through said window and steal my purse, taking with him my drivers license, ATM card, cell phone, digital camera, and phase 10 cards. This has made for a difficult month financially, with a lot of borrowing from my wonderful roommate. But all is well in wonderland. Dudley comes in a couple of weeks and hopefully will be carrying with him my new ATM card. The drivers license will be replaced by a green piece of paper given to me by the police until I can return home and get another one. So on the whole, no harm no foul.

Birthday Party!!

Laura and I had a wonderful birthday party for a couple of kids celebrating
birthdays in El Mogote. Complete with Piñata, party hats, and cupcakes. We even had macaroni and hotdogs for lunch. Talk about a meal of champions. The kids had a blast and I love watching their little faces light up. I wish that each of you could come and share this time with me. It is such a blessing. Mom if you happen to be reading this, the little girl in the red dress is wearing Hailey's dress and it has become her special party outfit. She is so cute. The first picture is of the kids screaming at the monkey that lives across the street from the park by our house. They were really excited about seeing our friend "Poncho" the monkey. Sadly I have no pictures of him at this time.

Of Course I left some things out

For those of you that are reading this off of the link in the newsletter you will be shocked to learn that I forgot to put three major events into the letter that was already book length. Those events in sequential are a huge birthday party for Mogote kids, the theft of my purse, and a trip to Roatan. How you might ask, does a person forget such events. Well the answer is one doesn´t. One just gets one´s head crammed full of other stuff that things get lost. Welcome to the land that is my crazy brain. I will now proceed to blog about each of these events. If you are so inclined read the preceding blogs, that´s a little strange isn´t, but I haven´t been able to figure out how to change the order so here goes. Love you guys!

My Soccer Boys

In El Mogote we are blessed to have another missions team from a non-denominational church in Oklahoma City that works with the people, teaching them trades and providing medical care among other things. Ron and Shelly have been a real blessing to me. They´ve been in the area for about 7 years and are able to answer a lot of questions that I have about dealing with the people. They recently started a soccer program that spans 12 colonies (neighborhoods) and is a great outreach to the community. Two of my boys are participating in this and their first game was a week ago. They were precious in their uniforms. It was the first time they had ever played in uniform and they all had a blast. I loved watching them play. We were sooo excited when they won their game and it was Fernando that made the only goal. They are such great kids, I´m so glad they´ve been given this opportunity.

Catherine´s Birthday Party.

We just finished having a little birthday for Catherine, Xiomara’s little girl. She turns 7 tomorrow. Laura made a cake and we added my tealights as candles and had a grand old time. I love being able to do stuff like this for the kids here but it really is a blessing for the child´s family. Nine times out of ten they would love to have a party for their child but are unable to afford it. I think Laura and I had as much fun getting ready for the party and picking out little gifts as Catherine had receiving them.

Christmas Party

My Christmas Party with the boys was a smashing success. We had a tree and stockings and I even made a turkey dinner. We had so much fun. The boys’ presents to the both of us were precious. I received two teddy bears, a key holder, two glass mirrored trinket holding houses for the wall, a wooden house wall decoration, and an amazing letter from Fernando. I was amazed that the boys put so much thought and time into our presents. They have so little and yet they give so much. The boys spent the night and we spent the evening eating turkey, watching movies, and playing with their new Nintendo like games. Great times were had by all.

New House

I can’t express how excited I am about my new house. Laura and I are sharing this amazing blessing and can’t get enough of it. It is a three bedroom, two bathroom house with an outside maid’s quarters that also has it’s own bath. We have hot water, a garage, and cable. Best of all, there are NO RATS and Electricity!! We actually have furniture in this house and I even bought my own bed. I feel like I finally have a home here instead of just a place to stay. It was so much fun finding furnishing for the house. We ran around town visiting all the cheap furniture stores and finally found a navy blue couch and two chairs for around $250. That was the winner. Since then we’ve added a kitchen table and a couple of rugs. Our goal at the moment is furnishing the guest room which at the moment contains a map waiting to be hung on the wall.

I´m Back!!

Hello World! It’s time for the blog to jump start itself again. I’m hoping to keep on top of it a little better but no promises. I’m just going to take it from things that have happened since I arrived back in Honduras, otherwise I would never catch up. Things are fabulous here. I had a wonderful time at home and I’m so thankful to God and each of you that have blessed my life so richly. It was wonderful to see all of you while I was home. Here are a few pictures of my time at home. I’ll try and post at least twice a month from now on.

On Hiatus

Hey all you faithful blog readers. I must apologize but my lovely computer has begun to be not so lovely and have little seizures of turning off and on everytime I try to use it so the blogging has become extinct. Dudley is coming in December and has said he will fix the problem and/or bring a different computer with him. Until that time the blogging is probably going to stay dormant. I can´t quite fit all that I need to do into my internet time at the mall. I do however appreciate the encouragement and the comments. I will get back to writing as soon as possible. I love you guys. You´re the best!

My First Honduran Car Accident

I FORGOT TO PUT THIS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LAST POST!!!! Actually everyone take a collective sigh of relief that this was no major thing but still warranted a post by being the first of what will probably be many little runins with taxis and other crazy drivers. So I´m driving along a two lane road the other morning minding my own running late and not terribly patient business when a taxi comes up beside me and instead of waiting to pull in behind me because there is a bus parked in his lane, decides to just drive into the side of me. It was so bizarre. I don´t know if he thought I would jump the median in order to let him in or what but he was coming over despite the fact that my much larger truck was in his way. He then proceeds to get out of his taxi, by climbing over the patrons in his taxi, and tell me all about how he had the right away and it was all my fault. We are at this time completely holding up traffic for miles around because this occured not too far from an intersection. I then tell him all about how it could not possibly be my fault for obvious reasons. We are literally standing in the middle of the highway screaming at each other with people leaning out of their cars and buses to catch a piece of the action. It was insane. Unfortunately I couldn´t go anywhere until the taxi left without doing considerably more damage to both of our vehicles. At this part he starts yelling at me "Entonces!, Entonces!" over and over which basically means "So!,So!" but the 3 syllable word sounds a whole lot more meaningful than poor one syllable "so¨. Finally I look at him and say "So!(Entonces), I´m leaving!" and I hopped back into my truck and locked the door. Fortunately for everyone, including the poor people trapped in the taxi and in the traffic jam, the driver decides to continue on his way, as do I. I now have a long scratch and a medium size dent down the passenger side of my truck but other than that we seem to be doing fine.

Another Adventure

Hey Guys! I know I owe you a blog so here it is. I would have written this sooner but unfortunately my computer has decided that it only wants to work when I don´t need it to work, like at night when I´m just bored and I check and then spend the next hour playing this game where I shoot monkeys into blocks to save the world from a corporate takeover. Then the next time I go to use it for something important it flashes on and off and occasionally tells me there is no harddrive. I´m no computer genius but I´m guessing that´s not a good thing. Anyways....On Saturday we took 4 adults, 16 teenagers, 2 children, and 2 pigs to Siguatapeque (3 hours there, 2 back, go figure) in my truck and Guillermo´s even smaller truck, in the rain. That was exciting. It was actually a whole lot of fun. We visited a cave, which was the main reason for the trip, that and to drop off the pigs at Guillermo´s mother-in-law´s house. The kids loved the cave, none of them had ever been in one so it was a little scary for them at first but they warmed up to it. Afterwards we played some soccer and then headed home. It was a really long trip but suprisingly uneventful. I have to admit I prefer it that way. I´m hoping to post some pictures of the kids in the cave soon but that´s a little iffy with the computer complications. Hopefully I´ll talk to you guys soon. Love you!!!

A Quick Update and a Funny Story

If you haven't yet ready the below blogs then this one probably won't make sense so you might want to skip down and do that first. Sorry for the influx of blog entries but that's the way it seems to work these days. When it rains it pours I guess :). So on with the updates, only two but very important ones to me. God is in control here and doing amazing things.
1) Darwin came to church for the first time yesterday and today promised he would be a church tomorrow for midweek Bible study. This is a huge step for him. The closest he's come to attending church before is an occasional appearance at class time or the devotional after our Saturday youth activities.
2) Nelson came today!!! I really didn't think he would. I'm so happy he did. I've prayed for him so much over the past day and a half. It is hard to influence someone that you don't see so I'm hoping that he will continue to come around. Today seemed to be optimistic.

And now the funny story. I've always known that Latinos are supposed to be very supersticious but I hadn't really encountered it much so I had kind of forgotten about it. Until today. Today as I was eating lunch, a piece of fried chicken and a bag of tomatos, the extent of the superstition was made known to me. I had in my hand a pile of salt in which to dip my tomatos, because of course none of us had a plate. Upon finishing my meal I was left with quite a bit of salt so I asked the boys if they wanted it for anything and they said no just throw it away. I began to do just that, drop the salt on the floor. When I was greeted with a shriek and looks of horror from the four boys. "What are you doing?" You can't throw it down, bad things will happen to you." "Here, put it on this plate" Well subtle me looks at them first like they are crazy then begins to laugh hysterically. I was then met with looks of pure contempt for my idiocy and near life threatening activity. They definitely believe this stuff. Every day I learn something new, I guess.

Construction Success

Where to begin….It has been an eventful few days that need to be blogged but I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave some things out in order to avoid boring you all to death. I will start with Thursday when we began the second layer of the stuccoing process. This entails making a cement and sand compound and smoothing it onto the walls in order to have smooth walls instead of really rough ugly walls. Evidently the boys had had their doubts about their ability to do this particular project, though they never expressed anything but full confidence to me. When we began working, and we began seeing results, the boys were absolutely precious. They kept exclaiming things like “look we’re doing it” “We’re construction workers” “They’re going to dedicate these classrooms to us and put our picture on the wall” and several other things that continued to grow into unrealistic oblivion but showed how proud these boys were of their work. I am so proud of them. They work so hard and get very little reward. I have come to realize that most of these kids don’t get a lot of opportunity to be successful at things. Their parents don’t have the time or resources to challenge them and the school system barely manages to teach them the basics. Where our children grow up hearing questions like “what do you want to be when you grow up” these kids rarely even consider that question and look at you like your crazy if you ask them. I continue to look for ways to stretch these kids, of all ages, and show them that God has created a world of opportunities for them if they will only work toward an education and hold off on having a family for a while.

Sleepover

Friday night I had 3 little girls spend the night with me Sharon 8, Claudi 10, and Belkis 11. These girls are some of Darwin’s little sisters and were the first of what I hope to be several outings with the Mogote kids. I knew that it would be exciting for the girls to spend the night with me and I was not disappointed. The first excitement came upon arrival to my little apartment which to them is one of the biggest houses they’ve ever seen. Sharon says she has to go to the bathroom and goes in, door wide open of course, walks around for a while and then comes back out. “Where do I go?, Where you bath?”. No Sharon go in the toilet. Look of total confusion. I go in and open the toilet for her and she sits down but this is obviously a new experience followed immediately by Claudi who does the same thing but doesn’t offer to pee in my shower . Belkis knew what the toilet was but the other girls had no idea. That was mind blowing to me. The girls then proceeded to take the first of 5 showers that they took while at my house. It was definitely the activity of choice to have hot water running from above you. They usually bathe with a bucket behind their house. Throughout the evening and the next morning we went to the mall for dinner, went to the arcade, rented movies, bought donuts and did several other things that I had thought would be really fun for the kids. While all of those things were fun for them nothing compared to their excitement over the simple things, showers, sandwich bread (the snack of champions I’ve learned), stories in bed, and just hanging out together. In my mind I had to spend a lot to entertain these girls but they proved that love is all you need to make a child happy. The next morning I awoke to the girls cleaning the apartment until it was absolutely spotless. That was another fun thing for them though I can’t imagine why. They really were a joy and I hope that I can have them over again soon.

Soccer in the Rain

We have started having youth soccer every Saturday in order to encourage more community teens to get involved and also develop better relationships among our teens. This week we all showed up and ended up in the middle of a deluge of rain. It was insane but as soon as it slowed down a bit we decided we were, most of us, already wet and we should go have fun anyway. So off I went with a truck full of wet teenagers to the soccer court down the road. We really had a blast. I was exhausted by the end of the day. We usually don’t play full court soccer because we’re usually playing in some field but this week we did and I played my heart out. I can’t claim to be the best soccer player in the world but I sure am learning to enjoy it. I wish I had some pictures of us playing soccer while dripping wet and laughing our heads off but my camera is not terribly rain friendly so you will all have to use your imaginations.

A Rough Spot

I debated whether or not to blog about this issue but I would really like for you guys to keep this young man in your prayers. Saturday, as we were finishing up soccer, one of the ladies that went with us called me over and informed me that she was pretty sure one of the boys had stolen my billfold. I immediately felt sick. After going through my purse and searching my truck I came to the conclusion that the billfold was indeed missing, including my driver’s license and ATM card. After a quick call to a friend staying at my apartment to make sure I hadn’t left it at home, the questioning began. It broke my heart to have to ask this particular boy if he had indeed taken my billfold. He is one of the boys that work with me each day in the construction and I trusted him completely. He of course denied taking it but later it was found in the bushes where only he had gone. I’m positive that it was him but at the same time I want so much to believe him. I wish that he would get mad or sullen or something other than looking at me with tears streaming down his face swearing he didn’t do it. So fortunately my license and ATM card were recovered and I’ve spent a lot of time praying for Nelson. I’m wondering if he will show up tomorrow. I’m hoping that he does. These kids have it ingrained in them that theft is a way of survival and I just can’t bring myself to be angry with him. My biggest fear is that this will push him away from the church. He was just beginning to be a part of things with the other kids. Please pray for him, he really is a great kid with a desperate need for God in his life.

The Year's Best Purchases!!

Okay so this might not be the most interesting post either but I must share my excitement over the little thing so that you can really get a feel of Honduran culture. First I must explain that all mops in existance in Honduras are of the High School Janitor with a big mop ringing bucket variety. However, there are no big mop ringing buckets. That means that in order to mop in Honduras one must frequently touch the filthy nasty mop head with one's hands. I'm sorry but I just didn't exactly want to jump onto that little boat so there has been very little (aka none) mopping going on in my apartment since I moved in last month. You will be relieved to learn that my house was mopped once a week by someone other than me, namely Xiomara my lovely and recently engaged housekeeper. Back to the mop and the reason for this post - so for pretty much the whole time I've lived in Honduras I've been on the lookout for a mop that was in some way self ringing. Yesterday I round the corner in the giant Home Depot type store called Larasch & Cia and what do I see (Insert the angel choir singing) a self ringing mop head. So I grab my trophy and do a victory lap around the store (not really but I thought about it). This mop really is nothing special but is now one of my favorite possessions because after a cleaning marathon last night my apartment is finally really clean.
On to amazing purchase number 2. For the entirety of the rainy season (since about May) I have been sweeping out gallon after gallon of water out of out church classrooms due to leaky roofing and the fact that the roof of the classrooms and the roof of the church building don't quite meet over the hallway in between. Thanks to a valient effort from one Mark Thurman, we have semblance of a gutter between the two but unfortunately any wind just blows the rain completely over the gutter and into the building anyway. The gutter is greatly appreciated but ideas for a replacement are in the works (sorry mark :) ). Anyway, add to this water sweeping, wet cement sweeping that goes along with stuccoing the walls and you have some serious sweeping going on. Up until yesterday this was occuring with two 300 year old kitchen brooms. Not the most effective of tools is an understatement. So yesterday along with my discovery of the amazing mop I also discovered industrial size push brooms. Yay!!! Today the sweeping took about half the time and effort. I am rather pleased with my purchases and I'm sure you will all get a kick out of the fact that I spent the last 15 minutes of my life writing about a mop and broom and then you will realize that you spent the last 10 minutes of your life reading about a mop and broom. Isn't life intriguing? lol Love you guys. I thought we could use a bit of a break from the heavy blog entries but I have another heavy one in mind soon I promise.

EXCITEMENT!!!

Well you guys probably won't be nearly as excited as me about this but the few of you who have been here and met these people might have a semblance of my excitement. Xiomara (or Edy as most of the Americans know her) and her live in boyfriend, Henry, who became a member of the church early last spring have finally decided to get married. Xiomara is my best friend here and we have spent a lot of time talking about this issue. Sunday afternoon they sat down with one of the older men at church and had a long talk while I watched their two girls. When I finally came back to the house they had decided to get married. I'm extremely excited about this and we are planning the wedding together. I haven't posted in a while because I don't really have much new to share. I was really excited about this so I hope you will share in the excitement and pray for both Henry and Xiomara as they start this new part of their lives. I'll try and whip up something whitty to post again soon. Love you guys!

Satan is hard at work

After I posted my last post and was happy to finish up a “rotten” day, I started talking to Meredith about the things that had transpired during the day. Throughout the conversation little things that were wonderful about the day kept popping up effectively spoiling that “rotten” day I had had. I will list my wonderful things later but I want to take some time to reflect on Satan’s power in our lives. I’m reading a book called “Seeing the Unseen” by Joe Beam and it is all about Satan and how he and his demons work in the world today. It is a little scary and sometimes a bit extreme but I’m very interested in it and it has made me view the world differently. Satan uses the simplest things to turn us away from the joys of being a Christian and doing God’s work. Today all it took a couple of childhood pranks and a rainstorm to erase a truly remarkable day. As you go about your day and you find yourself getting cranky, try to remember that it is usually just Satan manipulating you into ignoring the blessings God has put into your life. Now for the fun part:
1. Today all four of my boys showed up but we decided we really just didn’t feel like working. I had brought along some supplies to give to them in the afternoon. Saturday is always a long day because there is church at 6 in the evening and I stay all day. Today we decided to start an English class. The boys have been wanting me to teach English for a while and while I work it into the day a lot this was the first formal setting. I have to say I enjoyed it and the boys were absolutely enthralled. I look for that to dissipate a little but they are really excited about this opportunity, which makes me excited about teaching them.
2. I learned that the movie I took Fernando to last week was the first/only movie he had ever been to. I’m always shocked by discoveries like that but it makes me so excited about taking them again.
3. My favorite memory of the day: First a bit of background. In the group of kids that follow me around a lot is a family of 5 ranging in age from 3-8. The 8-year-old is a girl and she doesn’t really hang out much but the others are boys and they know I’m in town before I know I’m in town. I think they have some kind of Amber radar. Other people in town have come up to me as I’m pulling into town and said “how do they know you’re here.” I just laugh and say I have no idea they just do. In this family is a set of 4-year-old twins, David and Isaac. I love these boys sooo much. They are so rambunctious and will be running around like crazy and then land in my lap and stay snuggled there for the next half hour. I love it. Today 4-year-old David was doing just that thing and we were sitting watching the older boys play soccer. All the sudden he looked up at me, kissed me on the cheek, and said “I love you.” I smiled, kissed him on the head, and told him I loved him too, but when he turned back around I wiped a tear from my eye. These kids are so sweet. I’m taken back by their love so often. If imperfect me can love these kids so much, how much must God love us.

Learning to Love

I kind of had a rough day so I decided to post this instead of writing about it but I will give you some highlights: One of the kids stole some money from my backpack (nothing major but the principle was frustrating), someone pooped, yes pooped, in the back of my truck, I sat through a rainstorm in my truck with 5 other people, it was a long day but now it's over. I'm really not that upset about it now but as I was sitting in the truck fuming about it in the rain. As I'm writing this I'm laughing so I guess I"m completely over it. Love you guys.

Things I’ve learned to love since moving to Honduras:

1. Grapefruit – Oh my goodness, I don’t think it gets any better than a skinned grapefruit with a little bit of sugar on the top
2. Fresh Pineapple – If you would have offered me either of these fruits before I moved here I would have wrinkled up my nose and given my patented “I’m a really picky eater” speech.
3. Driving a stick shift – It’s like playing a video game J
4. No traffic laws – scary at first but lots of fun once you figure it out
5. Cold showers – okay, maybe not love, but definitely appreciate. Hot showers are so draining.
6. Lack of TV – This has been a recent and hard lesson but I’m loving the peace of not having the TV going the whole time I’m at home.
7. Meeting new people – Shy little Amber was killed by Honduras mission groups.
8. Blogging – journaling has never been my forte and this helps me keep up with my own goings on
9. Honking - It gives new meaning to expressing yourself.



Things I still need to learn to love…
1. Beans
2. Rice
3. Plain tortillas
4. Coffee
5. Waiting

Picture's For Post,

Donut Fun 

Eating at Burger King 

Hey Guys! I left the last post up for a while because I wanted as many comments as possible. I’m still looking for comments if you want to scroll down and take a whack at the issues. Several things have happened in the meantime though. First off, the donuts were a tremendous hit. I get warm fuzzies just thinking about the look on the kids’ faces and their excitement over half a donut. (sidenote: if anyone from my childhood remembers where warm fuzzies and cold pricklies came from please fill me in, I can’t for the life of me remember)

I got really sick last week, I think it was broncitis and that was no fun. I ended up spending about a day and a half just sleeping. Luckily one of the doctors from this summer left me a bunch of antibiotics and treatment instructions that cleared me right up. I’m right as rain now.

Last Sunday we had Dia del Nino (children’s day) which is a celebration almost as big as Christmas here. This included 4 pinatas, 50 bags of candy, toys, and other prizes, lots of chicken and rice, and over 80 kids. It was really a lot of fun.

WE FINISHED STUCCOING THE CLASSROOMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I count this among one of my great life achievements J actually we just finished the first stage but oh I was so excited. I think, I think, that the first part was the hardest but we shall see. We now have to go back over all the rough cement with wet cement and smooth it all out. This will be more time consuming but less physically demanding. We finished yesterday around the middle of the day so I took the boys out to lunch to celebrate. I kind of had that in mind as the day started so I kept telling them they had to finish but noon, but not why. They looked at me like I was crazy and said no way but they did it, it was actually closer to 1 but it works. When I asked them if they wanted to go to lunch at first they just kind of nonchalantly agreed (I always buy lunch for them but it is usually fried chicken from the neighborhood pulperia) At this point we’re all laying around on the church benches exhausted and chatting. Then they figure out I’m talking about going down the mountain into town for lunch and they get all excited. They decide they need to shower before going so they all runoff home to change. I don’t know where they found the clothes and shoes they put on but they were immaculate when they showed up at the meeting place. They were so excited. I love seeing them like that. So we all hop into the truck and head into town. After about 15 minutes of discussion they decide that Darwin doesn’t like pizza so that’s out, and we eat fried chicken all the time so that leaves hamburgers. Evidently Burger King is the place to eat a hamburger because that is what they all shouted when we decided on hamburgers. So off we went and we had a wonderful time. The boys tried to talk their way into the play area but didn’t have much luck since they are all around 14 years old. Oh I almost forgot sometime during that morning I became the official town ear cleaner. That was fairly disgusting but a needed chore. I cleaned out the ears of 6 children who had never ever had their ears cleaned before and were growing small farms inside them. The kids thought this was hilarious. Especially when I put peroxide in their ears and it tickled for about the next hour.

Now I’m back at Baxter with about 700 teenagers who are visiting for a weekend youth rally type thing. I’m supposed to have a couple of adult ladies staying with me but they have yet to appear so I will keep you all posted on that. Life here is wonderful. I hope that where ever you are it is the same. I love you all.

The Stucco Princess Rides Again

Darwin, Nelson (new kid), and Fernando mixing the stucco mixture
Once again we finished a room in one day!! It makes me so happy. I've had several things on my heart that I have been wanting to blog about lately so this is probably going to be a conglomeration of several ideas. First a touching occurance:
At the end of every day that the boys work I try and pay them something. Usually 50L - 100L. For those of you not up on your Lempira exchange rates that's about $2.75-$5.50 for a hard's day work. For me it is more of a token of appreciation than anything else, but for many of the poor people in honduras that is a good day's wage. So anyway, today at the end of the day I handed each of the boys 100L. All three of the boys said that I didn't need to pay them, but Fernando almost made me cry. He kept saying how thankful he was for all that I had done for him and that he would work for me everyday for free. It was so sweet. All I did was buy the kid some shoes and be his friend. Anyway after much arguing he said that this would be the last time he would take money from me for work. Such a little bit of love goes such a long ways here. In the morning all three of the boys are coming back to work and I'm excited about taking them donuts for breakfast, lol sometimes I really am a geek. Anyways, onto more serious matters. Please if you read this leave a comment with your opinion on at least one of the following subjects. I would really like some input:
1) How do you feel about giving money to beggars, either children or adults? I waver between not giving anything because most of it goes to by products that harm both the body and mind and feeling guilty because I have so much and they want so little. God calls us to give and I want to do that but at the same time I feel like I'm condoning bad behavior if I give money to the numerous people I encounter each day begging in the streets. Thus far my policy has been never to give money to kids because they use it to buy glue that they huff, but a few times I have taken kids to eat dinner instead of giving them money. Please let me know how you feel.
2) I encounter child abuse on a weekly basis here. Abuse of children I love by parents that many times I respect. I am at a loss as to what I can do to stop this or at least help the kids enduring it. Most people here believe that if you discipline your child and it doesn't leave a mark then it didn't do any good. I've even heard a doctor say this. I feel helpless to do anything for these kids that are obviously hurting, especially the adolescents. If you have any advice on what might be helpful please let me know.
I love and respect each of you so much. Your support and encouragement makes what I do here possibly and some days bearable. Today was highly bearable, it was a wonderful day, but sometimes I get bogged down by the problems of poverty that I face each day. Love you guys!!

An Interesting Day

Hello World! This morning I woke up and began what I thought would be a fun day but not nearly as interesting as it turned out to be. I will proceed to write this in phases throughout the day so as to further complicate an already complicated story.

Phase I: At 10 o'clock my new favorite teenager Fernando arrived and sat outside my door for who knows how long because he assumed that because there were no lights on in the living room (I was laying in my room reading) that I must still be asleep. He probably would have sat out there for a good hour if I hadn't heard him tell someone outside that he was waiting on me because I was still asleep. Anyway, so I go outside and we head off on an outing to find new shoes. Poor Fernando had been running around in a pair of 300 year old flip flops until they fell apart the other day. The flip flops were back up shoes to his tennis shoes that have huge holes in the soles. I finally decided yesterday after seeing him running around in his mother's 3 sizes too small flip flops that the boy needed some new shoes. So off we go. We arrive at Payless, yes I said Payless. My mom was shocked to learn that there was a Payless here, actually there are lots of them. It's a very popular place. So we pick out a new pair of tennis shoes and take them to the counter. The salesman does a very good job of convincing me that the "Buy One, Get One Half Off" Sale is a must have so we go back for more shoes. We finally decide on a pair of sandals that will be good for running around Mogote in and hop back into the truck. I'm sure he has never had two new pairs of shoes at the same time in his life. I love this part of my job. It is so nice to give to these kids that have so little and are so appreciative. So I ask Fernando if he wants to go see a movie and at first he just looks at me like I'm insane and then he smiles and says okay. So we drive around the block to the mall and check out movie times. Unfortunately it is 11 o'clock and the next movie doesn't start until 1 o'clock. We decide to wander around and maybe wait maybe not whatever way the wind blows us. We walk through the middle of the mall (the mall is a circle with everything coming out of this big open hub in the middle) and to our surprise find ourselves in the middle of a ping pong tournament, a what? that's right a ping pong tournament in the middle of the mall. Fernando had never even heard of ping pong. I've never heard of Honduran ping pong. Probably the most random site I've seen in a very long while. So we hang out and watch that until lunch time, pizza of course, then we head up to watch the Fantastic 4. I actually enjoyed it and Fernando got a huge kick out of it so that made it worth it even if I hadn't have liked it. End of Phase I.

Phase II: We arrive in El Mogote where I drop Fernando off at his house so as to avoid him walking around carrying two pairs of shoes and a death warrant through town. At this point several children pile into the back of my truck for the ride to the church building. I then stand around for the next hour waiting for church to start and keeping my little horde of hooligans from killing each other in the back of my truck. I love my bunch of kids but there are a couple of the older ones that I have to try not to strangle sometimes. Anyway so church members finally start arriving at about 5:15 (church officially starts at 5) and we sit down and do the before church chatting thing. Eventually we get around to Dia del Nino (kid's day) which is this saturday. We had talked earlier about taking up a collection and making lunch for all the kids. I was very supportive of this and had planned on making little goody bags for all the kids from left over summer group stuff. By the end of the conversation I'm doing the shopping with another lady and most of the cooking by myself for the 50+ kids we plan to have on Sunday for church. Not that I mind this new responsibility but it is going to be interesting getting it all done. There is talk in the works of a pinata which I'm against (blindfolded children swinging large sticks make me nervous) but will be fun either way. So then we proceeded with church, which was great. Guillermo couldn't get there because of traffic (which I will get into later) so one of the men from church did the lesson and did a surprisingly wonderful job. All of the members are very shy about leadership roles so I'm always impressed when they step up to the plate. End Phase II.

Phase III: So after church a lady asks me to give her a ride to Cony and Guillermo's house and I say sure. We leave amidst rumors of traffic problems but nothing solid and the assurance that we can always come back and stay with someone in Mogote. Little did I know as I was laughing off the suggestion what I was headed into. Evidently somewhere between 3:30 when I arrived in El Mogote and 4:15 when Guillermo headed out for church every taxi and bus in the city decided to join together and have a strike in one of the main thoroughfares of the city, specifically the one between my house and El Mogote. We are driving along and all of the sudden people are driving over the median. I am very confused and ask what in the world is going on (I had already forgotten the traffic comments at church, everyone walks, how would they know). I'm not sure what the strike was about but it stopped traffic for a very very long time making my trip home take over an hour as opposed to the normal 20 minutes. By the end of it Guillermo was calling me to make sure I wasn't stuck on the road somewhere or lost. But we made it. I arrived home at 7:15 starving, thirsting to death, and very very glad to be off of the highway. Unfortunately I had to let poor Panchita, my driving companion, walk the last 4 blocks of her journey home because I wasn't sure I would be able to get back through all the traffic. I felt a little mean but she completely understood. She is a very nice lady. End Phase III.
And now I'm sitting here in my nightly 8-10 internet session writing about my crazy day to all of you, as well as chatting with my dear friends Meredith and Ann. I am so blessed. Sorry about the epic but it was fun to write. Love You!!

Picture Hassles

hanging out in Roatan

Oh My Goodness I didn't think I was ever going to get a picture posted into my profile. All you guys that do fancy stuff on your blog have my respect. I am very excited however about getting this picture onto the profile. Evidently I have to make a whole blog section out of it to do that but it works for me. Luckily posting pictures to a regular blog is much easier so I plan on doing that a lot more often. I love you guys!

Fun Times

Today I didn't have anything planned to do so I decided to take some of the assorted toy cars, balls, and crayons up to El Mogote with me and just hang out with the kids. I've acquired a group of about 15 kids, from 2-8, that just kind of follow me around whenever I go up there and today was no exception. I don't think I will ever get over the joy I get from seeing 5 year old Selvin tearing down the road and jumping into my arms with a big hug. I'm working on getting some pictures onto the blog so you guys can share in some of these joys with me. I was a bit apprehensive about opening up my little bag of tricks today. This is a poverty stricken area where the rule is generally take as much as you can as fast as you can because tomorrow it probably won't be there. I wondered if all of my toys would be gone by the end of the day and had basically resigned myself to that before even leaving. I was pleasantly surprised however. Other than a few normal and minor skirmishes over the sharing of whatever toy was coveted at the moment I had no problems getting the kids to share and everything came home with me today. It was very encouraging. None of the kids that hang out with me go to school so I try to work as much "learning" into whatever activity we're doing as possible. Today we did a lot of work on colors and numbers. These kids are so bright. They just don't have anyone in their lives that has the time or patience to work with them. I'm hoping to get most of my little clan into school next year through heavy encouragement on the parents' side but that isn't until February so hopefully some learning can be done before then. Pictures coming soon.
Love you!!

Random bits

YAY!! I just figured out how to get KLOVE online (Christian music). I'm so excited. I haven't heard new Christian music in sooo long. I know you guys are incredibly impressed that I'm blogging again so soon. I know I'm special. lol sorry it's late, I'm a little delirious. I've decided that sitting outside the library at Baxter typing on the internet is going to be one of my new favorite activities. It is so peaceful out here. The only light I can see is the light from my computer and the moonlight streaming through the clouds and palm trees over the tops of the buildings. It's really nice. Anyway, I taught the women's class at church tonight. That was a little intimidating, especially when women and a couple of men who are new at church started streaming in. Our women's class is really growing and it's so exciting. I'm really enjoying being a part of a new growing church. It is so different from the churches that I've been in all my life. Not that they haven't been wonderful, but this is so new and it's so exciting to watch people's faith grow. We also have 3 new babies at church that are just precious. I'm loving watching them grow up. I want to spend some time writing about the kids that have started hanging with me each day but I haven't figured out the best to go about that so you'll just have to wait on pins and needles until next time. LOVE YOU!!!!

The Stucco Princess

That´s me! Stucco has become my life these days. I eat sleep and dream cement but the classrooms are coming along nicely. Luckily God has blessed me with some awesome teenage boys that do most of the work. For those of you that don´t know what stucco-ing entales let me explain. You make really watery cement and then you through it as hard as you can against the walls of a room, effectively filling in all the gaps that suck up the paint and covering everyone in the vicinity with cement as well. After this initial round I´m told that we will go back through with just cement and water and wipe that on the walls to make it smooth. Today we finished the initial phase of the second classroom, IN JUST ONE DAY!!! I know that´s not terribly exciting to many people but to me it was amazing. The first classroom took 3 days and I really thought I might die from sore muscles after the first day. Chalk one up to experience I guess. The second room looks much better, took much less time, and I can actually move today. The boys are basically relying on my for knowledge on how to do this wonderful project but I´m getting the impression that they are feigning ignorance to encourage the gringa. I did a lot of cleanup work today and pretty much let them do the real stuff and see how much better it went. These kids are amazing. There are 3 of them that help me out on a regular basis, with a few others in and out. Darwin is 14 and working real hard not to become a punk. It seems to be an uphill battle but I love him anyway. Fernando is 13 and the most amazing teenager I´ve ever met. The other day I peeked into the "construction" room, which is actually one of the classrooms with a bunch of junk and a big pile of sand in it, and Fernando was letting 12 of the neighborhood kids, ranging in age from 3-7, bury him in the sand up to the neck. It was precious. He is an incredibly hard worker. Please keep him in your prayers. I pray that he stays the great kid that he is now and continues to look for God´s guidance in his life. Jose is 15 and new to me. I know most of the kids in the area but Jose´s family just moved into the church building office room and I´ve never seen him until a few weeks ago. Living in the church means something bad must have happened to his house. I plan on getting to know the family more as I spend more and more time in Mogote but he is very quiet so I´m not sure that much information will come from him. He is also a very hard worker and a smile never leaves his face. Several times today I asked him if he wanted to rest and he just smiled at me and kept on trucking. It amazes me that God has given these kids the strength to face the things they must face each day, not to mention the overabundance of love they share with those around them. God is great, we so often underestimate his power in our lives.

I'm Home!!

Hey Everyone. I'm at home and it is so nice. A little surreal but very nice. I've already spent a little time with some friends in OKC and now I'm in Colorado with my family until the beginning of next week. It's strange to be back in the states as a visitor. I have definitely dealt with a little bit of culture shock and it is extremely odd for me to be speaking in English all the time. I'm really looking forward to going home and seeing all of my friends. Hopefully once I get back things will settle down a little and the blogging will become a little more regular. I love you guys. You are the best friends I could ever have asked for. Hopefully I will see you soon and if not you're in my thoughts and prayers.