December 7 was Beto's birthday. We invited our apt. friends, our missionary friends, and our pastor's family. It was a surprise and instead of Beto showing up to his apt. and everyone being there, with the way the apt.s are set up we had to have everyone go to my neighbor's apt. and wait there until everyone arrived, then they all showed up on his porch, knocked, and when he opened the door, we shouted "surprise!" It was great. i made the ever so famous Tres Leches (3 milk) cake, from a box, of course, but it turned out pretty well. The holes are supposed to be there! I promise I followed directions! this was Beto's first pinata and our dog loved it, well actually she was hateful toward it since we were beating it up she thought it was a threat. it was the most hilarious thing to watch her in mid air tearing it up, grabbing it with her front legs and eventually dragging it away and "eating" it for about 30 minutes until she was sure that it was "dead" . it was like watching a lion with its prey.

the beans are just something cool i stumbled upon in the market. they are the shape of lima beans but are so beautiful and colorful I almost didn't want to eat them. they would make a great centerpiece or decoration in a candy dish.

today was the last day of classes. Tomorrow we practice for the Christmas program, the school kids, in the morning, and the program is at 4, so they say. We'll (2nd grade) be singing and dancing to Rudolph, Harry Connick Jr. style. I'm really excited. I've been really stressed lately doing too much and trying to do all the extra stuff, plus teach, that we have to do around the holidays. Pray that the program goes well. I'm so excited to finally be on vacation, I have been waiting so anxiously for so long, counting down the days, and now it's surreal that it's finally here. Saturday morning I leave for Tegucigalpa and will stay in my old house with Amber until Monday when I fly home.

God has been so good, as usual, and this season has been awesome. I appreciate all your prayers and thoughts.

Merry Christmas!

California Dreamin'

On such a winter's daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

I had a dream the other night that I was sitting in my mom's car somewhere in SoCal and I looked up and out the windshield and got a little freaked out by the HUGE green street sign and the traffic light. I realized I havn't seen either of those in over 2 months. I mean, imagine, an actual sign to announce the name of the street. Talk about reverse culture shock. (There's also no billboards here).

Then a few nights later I dreamed I was a little girl at a summer camp, for the whole summer! I was hating it, I was bored, and I really just wanted to go home. All of a sudden (you know how dreams are), they told us to pack. I frantically tried to pack my cold-weather clothes as fast as I could but I just didn't have enough time, and I was so upset because I absolutely dread the cold. A fellow teacher from here was in my dream and she was a counselor and hurrying me up to go. Then I found out that we were only going on a little weekend field trip and that we'd have to come back to the camp for another month before going home.

When I woke up I thought, "oh my goodness, that's La Esperanza (where I live now)". THis town is so small, and although I don't hate and am not that bored, I have never lived in a town like this, only in big cities. I feel like I have cabin feaver, except there's no cabin (but there is a cement block apt.) So needlessto say I am really looking forward to leaving this "camp" and visiting LA for a few weeks.

To talk about today, it was a little stressful. The bus was late so I walked in right at 8 when classes are to start. The secretary had opened my classroom door for the kids before I got there which I really didn't like because my kids are little and they only have eyes for other little kids' stuff, and sometimes my stuff on my desk, if you know what I mean. Then to top it all off I found out at my busstop, before the day even started, that I had a new student in 2nd grade and in 1st (brother and sister). They hadn't told me anything or let me test them in english, and the 1st grader didn't even understand me when I asked her her name in English. But the situation was explained to me later and I feel better now. Just a lack of communication. But I sure am ready for that vacation. Can the other teachers give me and Amen!?

Happy HOLI-days!

Happy HOLI-days everyone!

Friendship Day

We had our second Friendship Day at church last Sunday and it went really well. We had some kids' classes perform and Beto helped lead worship. keep praying for our friends and the people of our town, school, and all of Honduras. God is growing our hearts more for missions and we are happy to be serving now in this church.

Coooooooold today!

It's Thanksgiving Day, and I feel like I'm in New York! Of course I've never been in New York during Thanksgiving, but I know it's cold!

This is how we dress now. We had to do necesity shopping this week because I didn't have any warm clothes! This week I've bought 2 beanies, new gloves, 2 jackets, and thick socks. The children are Beto's students during PE today. We had classes in the morning plus Thanksgiving activities. We have tomorrow off and for dinner all the school staff will eat a Thanksgiving meal. Today we performed a program, different classes, for a group of children that came from the local social service program, more or less. they performed a dance and song too, and then we all had lunch together, and a lot of students brought clothes, canned food, and toys to donate to the children. We got to leave at 1pm and beto and i went to rent movies and to a new store that's like a thrift store where i bought more clothes and Beto got a nice jacket. The clothes are nice U..s brands that come mostly from thrift stores in Houston. It was super fun.

all right, my fingers are about frozen. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Saturday with Friends

Here we all are in my apt. last Saturday eating the tacos that Beto made. He's a wonderful cook! I am so lucky! He invited out pastor and his family, and all the apt. mates. We had guacamole, tacos, and a typical Guatemalan food: cauliflower fried in oil and egg. Pretty good! While we were all still hanging out a brother from the church came by with his truck loaded with coolers of shrimp and fish straight from the coast. My neighbor had ordered from him and he came by to drop it off, and ended up selling a little bit to all of us. Later some peace core workers dropped by to visit and they ended up buying from him too. It was really good! Beto used the shrimp in a soup he made last night and we all ate it together, all the apt. mates. It's so fun being here! Praise God!

My apartment in lights!

Happy Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas everyone! Even though I'm coming home for Christmas this year I couldn't wait to put up lights and decorations so that we could all enjoy them at the apt. complex before we go our separate ways during Christmas break. My apt. isn't on fire. those are the lights from the Christmas tree, and that my curtains are yellow. I don't know if any of you had ever had an experience like this, but we got the lights all put up and THEN plugged them in! HELLO??? Where's your sign?! And of course I only have to tell you that because they didn't work! So we had to go back to the store, which was only like a 5 minute walk and got a better pair for .50 more. The thing about the stores here is that the sales people follow you within like 2 inches of you because of fear of theft, and I can't shop like that people! I get frustrated and can't think and feel like I have to pick somthing fast so as not to bother the help, even if it's something i don't really like, and then i get frustrated because I spend more money than I want on stuff I don't want.But i didnt' do too bad this time and i guess it's better to get help then to not find any like in the States, but I have found a few stores here that don't "bother" me too much.

Misc. Life pictures

Beto had never licked a beeter in his life! I got the event on film! The dog is our community dog that was left here by a peace-core worker. Long story. The 2 French women who live above me have taken her in. Her name is Nosa and she is the sweetest cutest thing and we all love taking care of her. She goes from apt. to apt. to talk, catch up, and of course, ask for food,and sometimes a cup of coffee.
The scenery picture was taken from the rooftop patio of a nice restaurant we went to recently in town. It was a perfect day. We live ina really beautiful place. It does have its little silly things though, like the man who grills meat every morning at 7:15 am infront of his auto parts store. i see him everyday on the way to school. Or that it's freezing here and no one sells heaters nor owns one. I'm in the internet cafe right now and didnt take off any layers nor my hat when i came in, and the only reason i don't have my gloves on is because i'm typing. but the people and environment and lifestyle here is wonderful. God is so good! I am super super happy here! I am so thankful to be here and that God has allowed Beto and I to work together. Things are going great in our jobs and at our church which we both love. We have alot more pastoral and friend support here than either of us did in Teguc, except I don't have Amber here with me! I miss her! And I do feel like I'm getting a little cabin fever. I haven't been out of this little town since mid-September and my schedule is always the same, but at least we can rent movies in town!

Talent Show

It's so nice to finally be able to blog. Forgive the tardiness of all of these photos and blogs.

Here are some acts that were presented at the
Talent Show night about a month ago. The photo with the students dancing with cowboy hats are my second graders. I didn't teach them any of that, it's a traditional Honduran Dance, but they did a great job! I love those kids!

Life is a lot different here than it was in Tegu. For one thing, it's freezing here! That may be hard to believe seeing that we're living in a tropical coastal country in latin America, but we're the highest city in the country, about the height of Denver. Also, in my class I have 20 kids instead of only 6, so it's a lot more work, but a lot more pleasant and peaceful. I love this small town and the people that I live and work with. We share everything and have eaten a lot of meals together lately. Well, I didnt say much about the talent show. Beto was one of the master of ceremonies and it went really well. I didn't participate. I was in charge of controling the "publico infantil", which literally translates as "infant public". Fun fun!

Hey Everybody.

Well I'm sorely disappointed. I tried the othernight to post, and the connection in the internet went out. Always happens. Tonight there's a great connection but Blogger doesnt want to let me post pictures. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!! I'm so sorry.

Well, I'm doing great! It's been a wonderful life here since I moved in August. I love my job and my apt., the town, the people, etc. I am so amazed at how God has blessed me by being here and that Beto and I can work at the same school and go to the same church which we love. Our Bible study with the youth is still going on. Last week I gave the lesson and it went really well. Our church started a prayer service this week on Tuesdays which is awesome and that means our youth home group moved to Mondays. On Wednesdays we have our "gringo" Bible study in English, which is refreshing, and starting this Thursday I'll be tutoring two firstgraders after school for an hour. We had parent confererances about grades tonight and even though I was against tutoring, I broke down after talking to some parents. Pray that the students will recieve better grades this period. I don't have anything planned on Friday nights nor on Sundays for the sake of all that is good and holy!

I'll be flying in to LA on Dec. 18th late late and i'll be in socal for about 3 weeks! I am so excited! I can't wait to do nothing but have fun with friends, family, bake cookies, help decorate my parent's house and gorge myself on Christmas movies!

I'll try to post more pictures as soon as possible!

Update

Hello Everybody!
Sorry it's been so long since I've written! It's been a crazy last month or so, busy at school but loving it! I'm loving living here, my church, my job, my apt., the town. yesterday being Saturday was my day to clean house and clothes, and make banana bread, and take out the trash, what else? Well the day started well, i even put some bleach and water in my water bottle to clean it out and set it aside. I thoroughly cleaned my bathroom with way too much bleach, so I found something I could put over my nose and mouth, like my sister does when she cuts onions, except she uses goggles over her eyes and i was wishing i had some of those too!
Later in the afternoon, a friend was visiting and we were talking. I got really thirsty and took a big swig of...bleach water! agh! I thought i was going to die! I drank some milk and used the opportunity to eat a lot of banana bread to absorb the chemicals. Later I did get sick but only really intensely for about 10 minutes. God is good and after that I was all better! Thank goodness!
Today was a great day. Beto preached and gracias a Dios it went really well, thanks to the Holy Spirit too!
this week in the school ends the first period, so we have a lot of grading to do. But this Friday we have an "in-between-periods" break! Maybe Beto and I will take a road trip to Wendy's, it's about an hour away! how exciting!!! I can't wait!
thanks for all your prayers! It would be great to hear from some of you!

New Youth Bible Study

Here's our first group of youth we had at a Bible study last Tuesday. I took the picture and in the middle you can see Beto in a grey jacket and to the left our friend/fellow group leader/neighbor/co-worker. This was the first of a new home group ministry we're starting, especially to try to reach more teens from our school. The first meeting went great with a lot more kids than I expected, and Beto gave the lesson. It was a lot of fun. Please pray that we'll reach more students who currently are not following Christ and for Lindsey and I who in the future will be leading lessons, in spanish!!!

a Friendly visit!

When Amber and I are together, something's always bound to happen. Last weekend she came to La Esperanza with her cousin who came back with her from the States to visit for 2 weeks. She also brought "the boys". It was a short but awesome visit and we had a lot of fun. All Friday night ostly was spent fixing all of us hamburgers and french fries until my stove ran out of gas and we moved everything to Beto's stove. On Saturday we decided to go to our school to give a tour. A taxi driver that we've come to know here in town passed us as we were waiting for one, so he took all 8 of us in his little compact taxi. There were 6 people in the back seat! Once we got out of town the driver stopped and said that on the way up the mountain where there wouldnt be police he was going to put the 4 boys in the trunk. Amber and I freaked out a little at that until we saw what he meant. It was a blast! On the way back in town one of the boys stuck his feet out the window to make more room. Come back Amber!

Here are some pictures from two different places. September 15 I went to Teguc. for a four day weekend. We had two days off of school and that weekend was a youth rally at Baxter with youth from all over Central America. Beto was there with his youth group from Guatemala and afterwards we both came back to La Esperanza together. We took a trip, all of us at the youth rally, to a place called Picacho, a beautiful huge park overlooking the city, and it´s also the place of the famous Jesus statue. Beto had never been. It was a fabulous day for a great view. Beto´s picture looks out over the city.
The previous pictures are from a weekend retreat we took with the leaders of our church here about 8 miles from our house. I only went for Friday night because I got sick, but Beto went on Saturday and said it was awesome. He´s really enjoying working with this new group of people. We had an amazing time of worship outside. Thanks for all of your prayers!

Desfile

These are from the Patriotic Parade on Independence Day, Sept. 15. The first picture is of some of my students. They dressed up as doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. to show that a good education can lead to a bright future.
In another you can see that the parking lot was full (horses) and the rest are various from the day. In the last picture if you look in the background there are 4 large bags stacked against the wall. It´s all sugar! Hondurans eat tons of sugar, like 2 or 3 huge spoonfulls in each cup of coffee and even sometimes in orange juice and other drinks. OH, and my favorite picture is of the ¨bandstand¨, the truck, where the M.C. stood, while his ¨caddy¨held an umbrella to shade him. Also if you see the picture with the flag of Honduras, there were about 10 of those along the route and each time all the marchers had to stop when they came to it and salute it as they walked by. Hondurans are so far the most patriotic people I know.

God´s blessings

Here´s Beto washing clothes too. It´s been fun having him around. It´s a miracle really that he´s recieved this job here. He´s loving it so far even though it´s pretty difficult being his first year teaching and all. The staff at the school is really amazing. I told them my story of coming to Honduras and why, and about Beto but I didn´t ask them if they had any openings for him. But the direction talked amongst themselves and then told me, well, asked me if Beto would be interested in teaching P.E. And of course I said, Sure! But a couple of weeks later they weren´t sure if he would be able to come becasue the person who was already teaching and had said that they were going to resign decided not to resign. That´s at the other school where he teaches Bible. But they still offered him the job of teaching PE at Southwest 2 days a week and also doing odd jobs like painting wall murals, and teaching Bible at the other school once a week, and also helping out a lot at church. The pastor has been very generous and is buiding a good relationship with Beto. We´re both so happy, so thanks for all of your prayers!

Washing, P.E. with Mr. Beto, and Bible Day

First, I´m sorry for not writing in so long. I finally have time, money, and a good computer place that actually will upload my fotos. The first couple pics are from the combined service among different evangelical churches in the city on ¨Bible Day¨. A cool day that is actually recognized country wide, like Day of Prayer. Our church was there. Another church put on a play with a song and first there was a parade, but at 8am and very long, and I had already marched in the parade on Independence Day (more fotos later). One parade a year is sufficient.

In the other picture you see Beto teaching P.E. at Southwest!!! That´s right! He´s got a job here in La Esperanza teaching P.E. and painting murals etc. at my school 3 days a week, teaching Bible at another school called Nuevo Mundo that is owned by a lady that´s on the leadership committee at Southwest (the other 2 days). and he´s helping the pastor at our church by preaching and helping with the youth group. He lives in the same apt. complex as all of us gringos and the two Belgium girls that just arrived. It´s a awesome and quick answer to prayer. Thank you all of you who prayed!!!
And finally there´s me washing my clothes, a not so fun Saturday activity, but that´s life.

More blogs later! Everything´s going great!

Honduranite Shoutout

I’d like to give a shout out to all my former Honduranite’s out there! I was reminiscing tonight and found some pictures I was busting out loud at. I’ts been four years and a month, just about, since we were there, can you believe it? And of all the people in the group, I thought I’d be the last one to ever come back. Reminds me of our favorite song, “I will never be the same again”. You know I heard that in spanish here awhile back and almost started laughing outloud in church! Hopefully we can all have a reunion in December! So much has changed for all of us! Love you guys and enjoy the pictures! And congrats to D, our second member to finish a tri! you go boyeeeeeeeee!!!!