Straight up now tell me!

Just to set the record straight, I was not bashing my roomate. I love her and only meant to emphasize her wonderful efforts at trying to fix the break. I´m also so happy for her for fixing the pipe all by herself, getting rocks and setting them so nicely, buying woodchips and placing them beautifully, and securing hooks outside for our future hammock. She´s also a wonderful cook...fajitas, mmm... and HILARIOUS! I should´ve known that ¨tone¨doesn´t come across so well over the internet. I´m sorry, so sorry. Amber, did I ever tell you you´re my hero? You´re everything I wish I could be. I can fly higher than an eagle, but you are the wind beneath my wings.

The Garden, pretty much done!

Here´s our garden again, sitting pretty, thanks mostly to Amber. She set the stones, which were free thanks to the community she works in and the group of teenage boys that put them into her truck. We´re so proud of it!

Nothing much

Well, the first week back to school wasn´t bad. Fast, it was. Monday we had classes only until noon. Tuesday I drove with four friends to the border of El Salvador, which is about a 3 hour drive, to get our Visa´s stamped. We stood in line for 3 hours total, then drove back. Technically we stood in line to ¨leave¨Honduras, then had to stand in another line to ënter¨El Salvador, then a third line to ¨leave¨El Salvador and finally a line to ënter¨Honduras again, but the last two lines only took about 5 minutes total. There were hundreds of people wanting to leave Honduras. NO comment...
Wednesday I was ¨shadowed¨by the sub who will fill in for me while I´m in the states. She´s really nice, competent, and the kids have no complaints, which is a miracle, so I feel a lot better about that now. Yesterday I ¨forgot¨to have coffee. I must of been smoking something! So my ¨must have coffee¨headache set in around noon. And today being Friday, I was really stressed. My kids in 4th grade were so hyper. REally it only takes one of 6 to get under my skin, but I gotta love em.
Thanks for your prayers. Have a super weekend!

El Jardin...Despues

Me, last night, after putting the flowers in. Don´t you love the outfit? Wow!
We had so much fun picking out the flowers. The man at the planteria was really helpful. I even bought an orchid, but it´s inside! And we bought a big indoor plant, which adds a lot to the living room! I didn´t have as much fun actually planting the flowers. Amber´s better at that than I. she smoothed out the dirt after to make it look presentable. She also managed to break a pipe while wacking a hole in the ground. Later we found out it´s actually used to bring water to our cistern. We have a very clean place on our wall now where the water shooted out onto it and we won´t need to water our garden for about a week. I am so amazed at Amber´s skills in trying to stop the water. I can´t go into detail becuause she´ll hurt me but it was quit a site! I love you Amber! We finally called our landlady and she sent someone to shut off the water. We tried all the valves we could find and turned off the breaker to the cistern, but of course there was one valve left we didn´t see, and that was the winner! Anywho, now that our garden isn´t flooded, today I saw the sock Amber tied on the pipe to try to stop the water. Just shy of the break by about an inch or less, but she sure put out her best effort, let me tell you! I am happy to report that all of our flowers are still looking gorgeous.

Back to school!

Today was quite possibly the easiest day ever at school. Hardly anyone showed up since it was the first day after break. Many people thought we didnt start till tomorrow or were out of town still. It´s hard to return on Easter here. Easter isn´t really celebrated here. There´s more emphasis on Good Friday, but Amber bought me the most beautiful easter basket ever, filled with candy filled eggs. Thanks roomy!
So, with the lack of personage at school our director let us go at noon, and since the men were coming to spray against mosquitos. There sure is a difference today from the holidays when there were no busses or people out. I miss the quiet.
Tomorrow Amber and I have to go to the border of El Salvador with some friends to get out VISA´s stamped. I have to miss school but this time I couldn´t go on a weekend because I would´ve had to have gone alone. Not fun. Every 3 months we have to leave Honduras. This time my date is May 4th, soI thought of coming home then, but I would´ve missed a month of school. No can do! I will be in LA soon, though, and will write more about that once I buy my ticket!
Until next time...blessings to you all

More fotos of carpets

More pictures of the carpets in progress. They didn´t work on the previous blog. Love ya!

Alfombras

Well, I lied, even though I didn´t know I was lying at the time, but I didn´t know things would be open, like this internet cafe, today, saturday, that´s been playing the same song over and over for the last 30 minutes. Anywho, here are pictures of the lunch Beto made for Amber and I the other day(the fish were ¨caught¨by us in the deli at the store).
The other fotos are of sawdust ¨carpets¨downtown, colored and designed for Easter week. Our friend Leslie is in the foto with Amber. Sort of like the Rose Parade but without real flowers or floats, or a lot of people, but we did see one camara man. They are amazing in person.

El Jardin

Well, i thought i´d not be able to blog for awhile but there´s an internet cafe open today, last day open till Monday. These are ¨before¨pics of our garden. See the banana tree in the corner? I´ll be sure to send more pics when we get it done.
Today Beto came over and fixed fried, whole fish for Amber and I for lunch, and salad. mmm...he´s a better cook than I´ll ever be. Pics of that to come next week, hopefully...

Otra vez, Feliz Pascua! Again, happy Easter! And God bless you with the peace and joy of new life in Him each day!

Afterthought to an Afterthought...

After writing my “afterthought” blog the other day, I realized something else…that those things I thought should make me happy didn’t because only Jesus can fill us with joy. But the ironic thing I thought of later is that in the past, I thought some things would complete me… like not being “single” anymore. I realized that we as human beings never really know what we want. We may think we do, but when we’re single, for example, we think “if only…” then we’d be happy. And when we’re not single anymore, we think “man, if only I were single again.” Hello? Now not that I’m unhappy with my current situation in life. I am happy, but it was a reminder that God alone has perfect wisdom and knows what’s best for us, and has perfect timing. We can trust in Him, He is faithful.

Semana de descansa...Week of R and R

During this week off, Beto and I took a day trip, well, really just about a “1.5-hour trip” to the local huge famous Catholic Cathedral. I can see it from my bedroom window and is actually closer than it seems. It only took about 15 minutes to get there by taxi, but we spent about an hour there and then took a taxi back downtown to visit some church members. It’s huge and beautiful. The pictures don’t do it justice. Some pictures are views of the city from outside the cathedral, the front view of the older cathedral (there are two churches right next to each other). Others are views inside the bigger, newer one.

Yesterday we walked a lot! We went downtown, my least favorite place. It’s hot, crowded, dirty, loud, and known for bag thefts. We bought some material for Beto to paint on. He went to art school and loves to paint. He’s going to paint some pictures for our living room and do some work for the church. WE bought some other supplies for him to make his own canvas frames, ate lunch at Mickey Dee’s, went to visit the Basilica, then visited some members of the church for about an hour. It was a good, yet very tiring, day.

Two days ago Beto came over. Amber and I had some youth group kids from her church over that had spent the night. I went out to water our “banana tree” (that doesn’t have any bananas…yet) and 2 hours later Beto and the boys had cut all the weeds, prepared the soil, and moved the cement mixer that we’re “babysitting” off the dirt and out of the way. Today we’re going to load up on flowers to plant and make a beautiful little garden. I’m so excited! I’ll be sure to send pictures when it’s all done. I should have taken “before” pictures because even without the flowers right now it looks 100 % better than it did before. I got the idea the other night as I looked out the window while doing dishes. The view isn’t great. It’s of our huge black metal gate and amber’s truck, and this patch of dirt and weeds we have. I thought, if we have some flowers there it would make a huge difference.

This will probably be my last blog for at least 4 days because everything’s going to shut down tomorrow for Holy week, until next Monday. Happy Easter everybody!!!

Semana de descansa...Week of R and R

During this week off, Beto and I took a day trip, well, really just about a “1.5-hour trip” to the local huge famous Catholic Cathedral. I can see it from my bedroom window and is actually closer than it seems. It only took about 15 minutes to get there by taxi, but we spent about an hour there and then took a taxi back downtown to visit some church members. It’s huge and beautiful. The pictures don’t do it justice. Some pictures are views of the city from outside the cathedral, the front view of the older cathedral (there are two churches right next to each other). Others are views inside the bigger, newer one.

Yesterday we walked a lot! We went downtown, my least favorite place. It’s hot, crowded, dirty, loud, and known for bag thefts. We bought some material for Beto to paint on. He went to art school and loves to paint. He’s going to paint some pictures for our living room and do some work for the church. WE bought some other supplies for him to make his own canvas frames, ate lunch at Mickey Dee’s, went to visit the Basilica, then visited some members of the church for about an hour. It was a good, yet very tiring, day.

Two days ago Beto came over. Amber and I had some youth group kids from her church over that had spent the night. I went out to water our “banana tree” (that doesn’t have any bananas…yet) and 2 hours later Beto and the boys had cut all the weeds, prepared the soil, and moved the cement mixer that we’re “babysitting” off the dirt and out of the way. Today we’re going to load up on flowers to plant and make a beautiful little garden. I’m so excited! I’ll be sure to send pictures when it’s all done. I should have taken “before” pictures because even without the flowers right now it looks 100 % better than it did before. I got the idea the other night as I looked out the window while doing dishes. The view isn’t great. It’s of our huge black metal gate and amber’s truck, and this patch of dirt and weeds we have. I thought, if we have some flowers there it would make a huge difference.

This will probably be my last blog for at least 4 days because everything’s going to shut down tomorrow for Holy week, until next Monday. Happy Easter everybody!!!

Feliz Semana Santa!

Semana Santa is Holy Week, or Spring Break, meaning a week off from school! yippee! Today we left school early after partying in the morning. here are my kids having an egg hunt and having tons of fun in the classroom. Xavier, the small boy with black hair, did the chalkboard drawing, and all the kids pitched in with food. Two girls didn´t come which is why you only see four kids in some fotos.
About Beto maybe not being able to come...we have to go to Guatemala but didn´t think we´d be able to go. Well, last night Beto says he´s going Monday, so pray there´ll be a miracle and we can get his VISA. See, from others who´ve done this before it was suggested that we have a letter from the CA senator inviting Beto to go to the states, which we don´t have. They also said it takes about three months to process, and we don´t have that kind of time. Also, usually you have to go to the bank, pay for an appointment at the embassy, then go to your appointment. We only have a few days, so I plan on using my begging skills that have seemed to work at the banks lately. Pray God´s will be done. I still want to try to get his VISA even though it seems hopeless at this point. Thanks for all your encouragement!

THANK YOU!

Hey Everyone! Thanks so much for all your comments and encouragement. aaahhh...i feel the love.
I don´t have too much time to write right now..just a few updates. Next week is Semana Santa! Spring Break! This week wasn´t too bad. The director even brought us donuts and coffee for our meeting on Tuesday. Tomorrow we have food and games and go home early. I don´t have any plans but to relax and hang out with Beto and Amber. woo hoo!

I will be in LA next month for about 3 to 4 weeks, then return for the last week of school. At least that´s my plan now. Unfortunately, looks unlikely for Beto to come this time, but antoher time soon, maybe December.

I already have a new missionary job lined up that I´ll start in June, working with the church Beto´s worknig with now. A man from Tenn. knows the preacher here and God pretty much dropped this opportunity into my lap. That´s not a general occurance and I´m so grateful for this opportunity. I´ll be teaching English everyday in the church building using the Bible, the curriculum is already wirtten and we already have the books. I´ll be teaching 3 2-hour classes at a beginner´s level, each level lasting 2 months, so this ¨trial run¨will last until this december. On Friday´s I´ll teach a 3 hour class in the men´s prison and in the afternoon we´ll minister in the women´s prison, but I won´t teach them English. I´m realy excited to be able to work at the same place as Beto and already have a sponsor whom I´ve not met. They are working for us on getting support for Beto too so please pray about that. THese people are amazing and I´ll get to meet them in July.

Blessings, and pray for my parents as they are driving to CA from FL this week.

Afterthought

A few weeks ago i was feeling really down and depressed. I have a nice house, a wonderful boyfriend, a good paying job (for here), a great roomate, good food, and I was listening to one of my favorite CD´s. I read exciting books, watch entertaining T.V programs and movies, I live in a nice neighborhood and don´t have too many complaints about the church Beto and I attend. I have a comfy bed and enough clothes. But even though some of these things had made me happy in the past, nothing could cheer me up. I was being attacked, I could feel it, but at the time I didn´t care to try to get rid of my sadness. I thought, nothing of this world, not even really close friends, can always fulfill me the way Jesus can. it was like one of those ¨duh¨lighbulbs. And not even reading the Bible cheered me up. Not to say it´s not God´s Word and not powerful, but our joy doesn´t only come from the Bible, it comes from Jesus, from His Holy Spirit Himself. Only He can totally and completely fulfill us how we need.

FOCUS

Make sure if you have an accent, you say that word correctly. Yesterday in 8th History, I told them to copy the ¨REading Focus¨questions from their book. One student had an especially hard time saying the word ¨Focus¨right and we couldn´t help but laugh because he kept saying it wrong.

I asked some teachers if they´d be willing to sign a letter if I wrote it to the Minister of Education (M.O.E.) about the problems we´ve all had this year in the school, but they won´t. Disappointing, but I´m not going to write one now anyways. I was thinking of pulling a ¨North Country¨one on the director, but I won´t.

Last Saturday I got up early and walked to the nearest mall to cash my check and pay some bills at the bank. I got there at 8.30 hoping it would open at 9 but it opens at 10. So luckily the internet cafe was open so I spent some time in there. At 9.30 I went back to the bank and was the first person in line. i waited there 30 minutes. When I got to the counter she told me they didn´t have any money and I had to wait another hour. Hello? What is this place called that I´m in? rrrrrrrrriiiight, a BANK! Banks have money right? Noooo, not until the other people in line pay their bills. hmmm...dumb concept if you ask me, but they didn´t ask, so I left, very frustrated. i wanted to say, but i´ve already waited over an hour! I had to leave to go to parent conferences about report cards.
Yesterday Beto and I ran (in a taxi) to the immigration office to take care of my VISA. It´s the three month mark but I got an extension for one month. From there we went to the bank where we stood in line over 45minutes to pay. When I got to the counter she said they only accepted VISA, not Master Card. I said, ¨I have to pay this today or they are going to make me leave the country and I can´t do that.¨ She says, snobbily, I might add, Lo siento pero no hay nada que puedo hacer para ayudarle.¨She didn´t even try to help! I said, ¨Can´t I just go to the ATM, take out money and come back?¨ ¨No¨, she said, ¨the guard can´t let you back in¨ ¨But I´ve already waited about an hour! It´s not impossible, I go, get money, and come back.¨ She starts to help someone else. I look at the guy next to her with ¨help me!¨eyes but he ignores me. Finally she says to go ask the guard. I cry to the guard and he tells me to go talk to the boss. The boss, an intelligent and reasonable man, said I could go take out cash and give it to the guard who can pass it to someone who can process it and I don´t have to enter. There, wasn´t that easy? So we got it done. But sometimes, this country...banks have unconvenient hours and rules! I guess now I know...I´m still learning. But you know there´s some things about culture that you´re not supposed to say are wrong or bad, just different. Well, not this. Banks are wrong and bad and I don´t like em here!
Happy banking everyone!

Troubles

I think my troubles might cheer you up, i mean my interpretation of them.
So last week when I was handed my paycheck she´d taken out money again because i missed 2.5 hours in March.Those hours were actually before school time. School starts at 7.50 and we have to be there at 7.30. well I wasn´t there by 7.30 some days so she docked me for it b-c ¨we have to be punctual¨, she says, this woman who leaves school a lot during the day for ¨school business¨.
So i got mad and asked why we have to be there at 7.30. She says to do planning and lessons and such. I said, I do my work, you always tell me I have such great plans and I use my free hours to do my planning and am always done with everything on time, so what does it matter? plus some days i stay till 4.30 to tutor or other things and she doesnt pay me extra for that!here´s the kicker... she says other teachers ask about me, like how come I come late, like I´m getting away with something and they aren´t. HELLO???? Are we like,in 3rd grade again? öh, that´s not fair! she gets to come late and i don´t!¨So today I was there at 7.29 and guess what the ëarly¨peple were doing? Talking amongst themselves,and reading the paper. They hadn´t even gone up to their classrooms to do anything! So i guess she´s paying them for that! I can read the paper at home. She´s all about rules. And do I ever complain about others not being early or even there at all? No! Why not? BECAUSE I DON´T CARE!!! They´re adults, they can do what they want. That´s their responsability and decision. OK. Have a great day!

Snakes, Iguanas, and Turtles...OH MY!!!

Friday the school got to go to a reptile place. There was an aritcle about the place this week in the English paper ¨Hondurasthisweek.com¨

The kids had a great time. Only five in the picture because one didn´t get to go for taking report card grades out of my desk when she thought the german teacher wouldn´t see.

ANywho, pray for me please. I´m having a lot of stress and problems with the same person I´ve written about before and though I love my kids, I´m very tempted to quit at the end of this month and go to LA for an extended visit before starting my new job in the church where Beto´s working. If Beto doesn´t get his Visa. I hope he does but it would just mean a two week stay instead of longer. I don´t want to quit but have so much stress and frustration. I know I´m not the only one on the planet with that. Pray for us. Thanks!

Baptism

Last Thursday we came to church early and there was a sister and her mother already there. Her mother wanted to be baptized but since the brother was with the ¨Herald of Truth¨ brothers getting them settled in, Beto got to baptize her! It was a great experience. This is the baptistry outside the church. Beto´s kind of camouflage with the wall. Can you find him?

Family conference

There are 3 ¨brothers¨here from Herald of Truth in Abilene. One is fluent in Spanish and gave a seminar for church leader couples on family and how to raise kids. There was a great turnout and I saw a lot of friends I hadn´t seen in awhile. Afterwards, the youth of our church put on a play, sort of a modern ¨prodigal son¨that Beto wrote and directed. He didn´t know the conference was about children and parents so it was neat that it tied directly in with the theme. I couldn´t get a good picture of him but he played a good part of the busy father who doesn´t have time for his family, thus leading his son to run away, but eventually return. It was very well recieved. Please continue to pray he can come to the States with me. We´re going to have to go to Guatemala this weekend to get it there.

Ronald´s got nothin on me!

I´m just so proud I had to show you. Possibly the best burger I´ve ever had...or made, well, in a very long time. I made the fries too. Maybe I´ve found my calling...