The end of one season, the beginning of another

I'm finally done. I've been working non-stop for the past month to get everything ready for the new teacher, and on Friday, I finished my last obligations, after only two hours of sleep. It's a relief to have that burden removed, but it's hard to have to say goodbye. I've cried just about every day for the past week or more at the thought of leaving my students. On Tuesday, my 6th graders blessed me with a surprise going away party, complete with cards, two slideshows, gifts, balloons, confetti, and lots of hugs. I can't tell you how special they made me feel. Below is one of the slideshows, which makes me cry every time I watch it.






As heartbroken as I am to leave, I thank God for having blessed me with relationships that are wonderful enough to make me cry at the thought of not being able to continue them in the same way as before. I am also grateful that I am going home to amazing relationships and that God has made it clear to me that it is time to go home. He confirmed my decision further by providing a woman from the States who lives in Honduras and is married to a Honduran to take my place. She was interested in working at our school before I ever decided to leave but didn't think she'd have the opportunity until next school year. She was able to observe my class on two different days, and I was able to explain to her in person many things she needed to know about the school, my students, and my teaching methods.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:...a time to plant and a time to uproot...a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance...a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away...I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him. " ~Ecclesiastes 3

Bittersweet times

I've been praying about and debating a decision for months. A few weeks ago, I finally decided that, due to health reasons, I can't continue to be the teacher my students need me to be for them. I informed my bosses and then the board that I won't be coming back to Honduras after Christmas. This week, I told my coworkers, then my students' parents, and today my students. I know before God that this is what I need to do, but it was so hard to tell my 6th graders. I've been their teacher for the past year and a half, and they have a special place in my heart. I was expecting some tears and some "woohoo"s, but I was surprised. Almost every 6th grader cried, even the boys, and even the ones who always give me a hard time. It was so bittersweet, because after a really tough week of feeling disliked and unappreciated by my students, it was obvious that they really do love me and like having me as their teacher. I'm so grieved to be causing them such sadness, but I know it's the right thing to do. I have a ton of work to do to prepare things for the teacher that will replace me, and it's going to be a rough transition for everyone, so please keep us in your prayers. Thanks.

"By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it." ~1 Corinthians 3:10

Pictures, cultural notes, and quotables

This past weekend, I went with a group from Bible study to hike up a mountain to a waterfall and through a cloud forest. It's the same place I took my mom to in the spring and my dad to last month, but I got much farther this time. It was breathtaking. Pictures here.

Cultural notes:
Hondurans like things that make lots of noise. Especially firecrackers. My adolescent neighbors love it so much that they even set them off sometimes inside our mailbox, just to keep us on our feet.
For those of you who thought roosters only crowed at sunrise, just come spend a night here, and you will be shown your error sometime between 2 and 5 in the morning. But your attention may be divided between them and the dogs barking all night.

Quotes:
6th grade spelling sentence: "My best friend is a person that I say a secret and he don't told anyone and is God."
5th grade spelling sentences: "When my mom is pregnant is very biggest."
"Miss Emily is the happiest teacher in the school for me."
note from the parents of a 6th grader:‎"We appreciate very much your work and your creative methods." Thank you, God, for appreciative parents.
projected plot for a drama being written by a group of 6th-grade boys: "aliens attack zombies, then become friends and invade the earth together." characters: leinad-alien, oravla-alien, tovasalre-zombie, tikriansi-zombie
Many of my students couldn't care less about the consequences I've given them for misbehavior thus far, so I've resorted to an old-school method. Now they copy a sentence I invent based on the occasion 20 times for each time I have to speak to them. One 6th grader had to write, "I will be positive, respectful, and obedient," 200 times after testing my limits over and over. When he was done, he said,‎"Miss, I'm never going to do another bad thing in your class." He most certainly has done bad things in my class since then, but he hasn't had to write as much as 200 lines again.
6th graders practicing words with affixes:
"The miss Emily is so lovable with 6th grade."
"To me, Miss Emily is very beautiful."
"All of us love Miss Emily, she is lovable."
practicing paragraphs and idiomatic expressions: "...I love English classes because Miss Emily makes it fun, and she lets us work in groups, but I think she has a full plate..."

Dad's visit

My dad finally came to visit me in Honduras. It's supposed to be cold and rainy by the end of October, but that was the time that worked out best for his visit. So I had been doing a lot of praying that God would give us decent weather for the trip so we could do everything we had planned. It had gotten cold, but a few days before my dad got here, the weather started to get warmer. It was nice the whole time he was here, and the day he left was miserably cold and rainy - God held off the bad weather just long enough.

When he first got here, he helped me grade exams, go grocery shopping, went to church with me, etc. Then on my vacation days, we went to a park a little more than an hour from where I live, where we went zip lining over a waterfall. Then we explored the area under the waterfall, including a small cave, with a guide who held our hands and guided our feet when we couldn't open our eyes due to the water pounding down on top of us.


We spent the night at a rustic hotel on the lake - not the nicest place, but the view was pretty. The next day, we drove up to another park. The roads were terrible, and the only reason I knew we'd be able to make it was because I had made the same trip in the same rented car with my mom six months earlier. There we went hiking, saw some more beautiful views, including a smaller waterfall, and had lunch at the restaurant there.


On our way home, we stopped to tour some caves. The next day, my dad watched/helped me teach, and he went home the following day. It's wonderful to be able to share what has been my life for the past two and a half years with family.

To see more pictures of my dad's trip, click here.

As far as updates on my school, the missing teacher was found. All that the embassy will tell us is that he is fine and that he left the country voluntarily.

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." ~Romans 1:20

Giving thanks in all circumstances

Our school has been going through rough times. A high school student was recently kidnapped for a ransom. Thankfully, he was returned to his family unharmed after five days but is still recovering emotionally. Two Mondays ago, one of our English teachers didn't show up to school. The U.S. embassy is on the case, but we still don't know where he is. There have been other things happening as well, but I won't go into the details. Just keep our community in prayer. Our school has been turning to God in the midst of all these trials. The day our student was kidnapped, we had a prayer chain so that prayer was continually being lifted up by one grade or another for an hour. We had a prayer meeting one night for all who wanted to attend, and I was comforted by the trust everyone put in our God to work everything out for good. There was another prayer meeting to give thanks to God after the student was returned.

Many of the school staff are also experiencing serious problems in their families. Profe Edith's husband, Profe Sandra's husband, Doña Ketty's husband, and Profe Sonia's dad are all having major health trouble. Profe Allison's husband has been without work for a while. Please keep them in prayer.

I really have been having a difficult time, and I was so distressed one night this week that I decided I needed to change something. The only thing I could change was my attitude, so I sat down and made a list of all the things I am thankful for. I felt much better, and the next day was the best school day I have had yet this school year.

David, one of my 6th graders, is leaving with his family for Spain as missionaries at the end of this week. He is a very pleasant kid and a natural leader, and we will miss him. Please keep him and his family in prayer. He is the boy standing next to me in the picture below (they are a crazy class):

Last year, I had a bit of an issue with flirting going on between two 5th graders. Now that they're 6th graders, the flame has died down, but I have a new problem. Two other students developed a crush, and recently a love triangle seems to have formed. Oh boy. That's all for now. Please see the new pictures in my online photo album - they tell about the events I didn't write about here.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." ~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Prayers needed

This is how running water works in Honduras: Every house has a tank that gets filled, usually every other day, by a pipe bringing city water. The water from the tank supplies our faucets. Every house also has a reservoir for the times when the tank runs out. The city water isn't potable, so most people buy filtered water in huge bottles - one bottle costs about a dollar and lasts my household of three a couple of days. We use it for drinking, brushing teeth, and food prep. Those of you who have been following my blog from the beginning know that we were constantly praying for water in my first house in Honduras, and in each of the three (now four) houses I've lived in, I've run out of water completely at least once. It happened again. Our tank ran out of water on Saturday, and water hasn't come from the city since then. We've been using water from the reservoir to wash dishes and hands and flush the toilet. We've been taking showers at coworkers' houses all week. The reservoir has gotten really low, so we've started using our filtered water to wash hands and the necessary dishes - the rest are building up in the sink and attracting ants. I was informed that there is a problem with the tank that supplies water for our neighborhood, but that it should be fixed by the middle of the week. The middle of the week has come and gone, and we're now on day seven without water. I just pray that it will be fixed soooooooon. The weekend is the hardest time to be without water because we're actually home.


I'm enjoying my 6th graders. They're so smart and fun. They greet me joyfully in the morning, and I know that they like having me as their teacher. One student wrote on her homework, when she had to use the word "happiest": "When Miss Emily teach us I am the happiest person in the world."

My 5th graders are a different story. They don't pay attention, understand little, and are a serious discipline issue. I don't feel like I'm getting through to them at all and am at a loss for what to do. I don't understand how any of my 5th graders could enjoy my class, but I've been told differently. One of my studious 5th graders is the daughter of the school administrator, Karla. Esther, the English program coordinator, tells me that last year, Karla would often come crying to her because of how unhappy her daughter was in school, no doubt because of her classmates. This year, though, Karla goes to Esther about three times a week crying because of how happy her daughter is with her English class this year.

I have been so stressed this school year because of busyness, frustration, and the difficulties of living in Honduras that I literally tried to quit. I had it all planned out - going home after the first quarter ended, living with my parents, getting a job at home. But my boss and my conscience talked me out of it. I really, truly want to go home, but I know I'm having a positive impact and feel I have so much yet to accomplish here and that it would be unfair to my students to leave them. I'm just going to need an incredible amount of prayers, support, and encouragement. Thanks for taking the time to read, pray, and respond.

"He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many." ~2 Corinthians 1:10-11

Oh, Honduras

Situations that remind me I'm in Honduras...

*I was walking down the street and saw nine people get out of a taxi - one woman and eight children. They were going to church.
*Walking down my street, I saw three people on a bike - a boy about 10 years old, with a little brother sitting on the bar in front and another little brother standing on the spokes in back.
*The cows I pass on the street every day and often hear mooing outside my window.

...and some more sobering ones...

*A few weeks ago, a couple of blocks from my house, two Hondurans were robbed at gunpoint. Two separate occasions, both around 7:00 pm.
*I was walking to my friend Heather's apartment when I saw a boy about ten years old picking up a bag of empty plastic bottles, and I wondered what he could possibly be doing. I couldn't see his face. I walked on and saw a woman doing the same, then heard her say, "Hurry up, Franklin!" I recognized the name as one of my former students at Destino, and I spotted his younger sister nearby, whom I also recognized as Heather's former student. Heather says she's seen them digging through the trash outside her apartment.

This weekend, I went to a place that didn't feel like Honduras at all. It's a house a half hour away built by a retired couple from the U.S. who want to continue helping in a town they used to visit on mission trips. A Honduran coworker is house-sitting for them and invited us over. These are their kitchen and living room:

The mattresses and pillows are memory foam. They have a huge balcony with this view:

It was certainly a nice getaway and a time to de-stress. Another couple of reasons I've been able to breathe easier are that I have a temporary assistant a few afternoons a week - a Canadian volunteer named Sara who will be here for a month of so. Also, starting this week, I will have at least one prep period each day. It used to be that I was on my feet all day every Thursday with breaks only for lunch and recess, which I usually spent running around. I never stop being busy, though, and life in Honduras isn't easy, so I need prayer for contentment and peace. Thanks :-)

"We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people." ~1 Thessalonians 1:4 (my students' memory verse last week)

Joys and struggles of the first week of school

Well, my brain is too fried to do work, and my body is too tired to do anything active, so I'll take this opportunity to process the first week and a half of school...

This being my second year at the same school, I feel a lot more confident in my teaching and have a lot less to figure out as far as what to expect from the school and students. I'm also already familiar with the content and the resources available to me, and I can reuse teaching ideas from last year. Still, it's been stressful. Teaching is always a busy job, even when you're not the one writing the school's first curriculum, and I've had so many hours and hours...and hours... of meetings that have taken my time away from preparing for my classes. Also, this first full week, I've had gate duty, which means I have to be at the gate for the half hour before school starts and the half hour after it gets out to supervise the students coming/going and their parents dropping them off/picking them up (very few students use public transportation to get to this school). I've been working non-stop, getting to school by 7:00 am and leaving no earlier than 5:00 most days, then continuing to work from home. Another difficulty is that most preparing has to be done in my classroom, but I can't stay there much past 7:00 because it's not safe to walk home that late. Also, my classroom roof is porous, and this is rainy season. So it rains most afternoons/evenings, and it's hard to find a big enough dry area in which to work. I've been asking for the roof to be patched since the beginning of last school year, and I keep being told it will be fixed, but it never happens because there are so many projects to be done. I've also been informed that the roof is made of asbestos, so what really needs to happen is for the whole thing to be replaced one day when the school has enough money. On the positive side, the ceiling fans were replaced, so now I have five working ones instead of a single one like I did last year. My health has also been good since my last update.

As stressful as it's been, it has also been rewarding. I really enjoy my 6th graders. They are so smart and enthusiastic and always make me smile, and they've been behaving really well so far. Every Monday, I give my students a new list of spelling words, and their homework is to write each word in a sentence. These are some of my favorites from 6th grade this week:
success: "Success! Your download is complete!"
success: "Success is part of a company's policy."
satisfy: "I am very satisfy with Miss Emily, I feel happy, secure and funny."

One of my 6th graders was out of school already three days this week with pneumonia, but he has recovered. Another 6th grader returned to school for the first time today. Kristian missed the first seven school days because he was sick with dengue, a disease like a severe flu transmitted by mosquitoes. Today, I signed out the Science textbooks and was allowing the students to flip through them to get a feel for the information that was available. One of my 6th graders found an enlarged picture of a mosquito, held it up, and said, "Kristian, do you remember him?" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but I'm laughing now. They're so witty.

In my 5th grade class, I have a couple of students who are very enthusiastic about learning, but with most of them, I feel I'm making no connection, and it's hard to tell if they're taking in anything I'm saying. Many of them are very chatty, and I keep catching them speaking Spanish, which is prohibited in English class. There's one student who is constantly out of his seat and never follows instructions. I feel I'm kind of, a little bit, starting to get a handle on the class, but I need prayer about reaching them.

I am often reminded of the conveniences I left back in the States. In Honduras, I've lived in four different houses, and at each of them, I ran out of water at some point. In the first house, it was all the time, and we had to flush toilets and wash our dishes and hands with water drawn by buckets from the reservoir that every house has. We even had to collect rainwater sometimes when the reservoir ran out. That was definitely the worst house of the four. This week, though, we were out of running water for three days and had to take showers at coworkers' houses and wash dishes with water from the reservoir. Ironically, an abundance of rain causes a shortage of water - something about clogged pipes. But thankfully, we have running water again, and our electric shower head has been fixed so we can take hot showers.

A prayer request for Central America: "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts an 'active to extremely active' hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin this year, with a 70 percent probability of 14-23 named storms and 8-14 hurricanes, of which 3-7 could be major hurricanes." Honduras was devastated by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and flooding is a continual problem.

"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." ~Numbers 6:24-26

Beginning a new year

It's good to be back in Honduras...I feel like I never left. I'm living in a really cute house a couple of blocks from the school with two Canadian housemates, Rachel and Robin. They're great. We're very different, but we share a lot in common as far as living together goes. The picture at the top right of my blog is now linked to my new photo album, where you can see pictures of my house and housemates. I really do miss the conveniences of the U.S., and I've had some stomach problems and headaches/migraines in these first weeks back in Honduras. Nothing serious, but definitely uncomfortable, so please keep me in prayer.

So far, we've had orientation for the English teachers, then orientation for the entire staff, and now we're preparing for classes, which start on Wednesday. Orientation included Bible studies given by a couple of local pastors, and I was the designated translator for my fellow gringos most of the time. I really enjoyed translating. One pastor in particular, Pastor Carlos, the father of a former student of mine, always had a moving, practical message, and it was an honor to translate for him. I've seen a couple of students either downtown or when they've come to school for a meeting or to get supplies. When one of my incoming 6th graders, who was my 5th grader last year, saw me the other day, his face lit up, and he said, "Yay!" Carlos, the son of Pastor Carlos, stopped into my classroom today to say hi, hang out, help me hang up posters, and talk about his summer and his nervousness about starting high school this year. It's so great to come in this year knowing people.

I have several prayer requests...
I've been reading notes left behind by last year's 4th-grade teacher about the incoming 5th graders. It seems many of them come from very difficult situations - a few live in a children's home, one has a background of abuse, another recently grieved the death of her brother, several have parents who live in the U.S. or in another place far away, and a couple of others have parents who have recently gone through serious illnesses. I need prayer for the ability, grace, and love to be to these children what they need me to be. Last year's teacher had a very hard time with this group but was able to gain a lot of ground with them.
My incoming 6th graders were my 5th graders last year, which gives me an advantage starting out this school year. They are a wonderful, exuberant group. I love that I can get them excited about learning. Last year, I had a lot of trouble with classroom management. I got them to behave like angels after a few months, but I lost that ground over Christmas and never got it back. I need prayer for grace, favor, and wisdom with them.
This is the rainy season in Honduras, and there has been a lot of flooding, destruction, and death in places like Tegucigalpa. Please pray. Thank you so much for your support.

"Who is like you - majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?" ~Exodus 15:11

End-of-year slideshows

5th grade
6th grade

Joy and a mud bath

I've struggled a lot with sadness and discontentment the past few months, but the past few days, God has been renewing my joy, increasing my love for my students, and giving me excitement about what I'm doing right now and what's to come next school year.

Last Friday, I went with my students to an overnight camp in town but up on a hill among grass and trees. It was relaxing for me, as I only had to sit back and watch the camp leaders entertain my students, though I did participate in many activities. One activity I chose not to participate in were the water and mud games. I was sitting back, watching my students roll around in the mud, thinking how glad I was to be freshly showered. I looked down at something I was reading, and the next thing I knew, I heard shouts and looked up to see a mob running at me. Each of my limbs was grabbed by a camp leader, and I was carried over to the mud hole, dumped in, rolled around, swung/dragged over it, and this was the result:
It was pretty hilarious. My students thought so, too. There are more pictures in my online album.

On Sunday, a group from the States came to our church to share with us. It was refreshing how full of the Holy Spirit they were. Later that afternoon (unfortunately I wasn't present), they and my pastor's family prayed for many sick people in another village. Everyone who came for prayer was healed. That night, they prayed for our pastor, who had broken his leg when he was 13; it didn't heal correctly, and since then, he's never been able to walk straight because one leg was an inch shorter than the other. When they prayed for him, he felt and saw his leg grow, and he now has two legs that are the same exact length. Before the group came, another miracle happened in the life of Yesi, the pastor's wife. Her sister was 8 months pregnant with all sorts of complications, including trombosis and diabetes. When the last ultrasound revealed that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck, they decided to do a C-Section, but it was very risky, and they didn't know if either the mother or the baby would live. Everything went perfectly well, and mother and baby are healthy.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the doctor's for my last follow-up visit about my nose bleeds. It's been a long time since I had one of those. The first blood test revealed some marginal issues with hemoglobin, platelet, and white blood cell levels, but the doctor looked at my latest blood test and told me he is no longer concerned and I don't need to go back. What he was concerned about this time were the flu-like symptoms I had the day of my appointment. He thought it was mild dengue, which is spread through mosquitoes. He wrote me a note so I could stay home from school for two days. I took advantage of the note the second day and got some much-needed rest.

The school year is coming to a close. Tomorrow is the beginning of review week, the next week is exams, and the following week, Honduran law requires us to give reinforcement and recuperations to students who have failed. Then we have a week to finish organizing the curriculums we wrote as we went, doing inventories, and packing before I head home. Pray for our focus and for students' attitudes.

Many followed [Jesus], and he healed all their sick.
~Matthew 12:15
"And these signs will accompany those who beleive: In my name they will...place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
~Mark 16:17-18

Adventures

Two weekends ago, I went with three coworkers to Tela, a beach town, all expenses paid by Stephanie's mom, who was here visiting and accompanied us. It was great to have a mom in the house. The following Tuesday, I was finishing up a lesson at the end of the day, when Heather came to my classroom to let me know there was a new volunteer who wanted to meet my students before coming to help the next day. She walked out, then walked back in with my mom. It was surreal. I thought she would never come. Apparently I jumped when I saw her (which you can't see in the video), and my students clapped when we hugged.


She got to watch and help in my classes on Wednesday and Thursday, and I took her around downtown. I was so excited to share my life here with someone from home. We had Friday off from school, and my mom and I went to a place about an hour away called Pulhapanzak to go on a cave tour under a waterfall and a zipline over that waterfall.


Then we drove our rented car to a gorgeous spot in the middle of nature where we stayed in a cabin, and the next day took a quick hike to a smaller waterfall. On Sunday, I got to take her to my church, and on Monday, I saw her off. She kept raving about what a great experience it was, and though she had to force herself to come, now she's talking about coming back with my dad. You can see pictures of my past two weekends in my online photo album.

This past week was the beginning of the soccer tournament between the private schools in the area. The students from my school who were chosen to participate have been doing really well and winning most of their games. The whole school is ridiculously excited about the tournament. The students who play miss the first couple of classes of the day, and when the students who have stayed behind hear them arrive, they run outside to find out if they won, and when they hear the good news, they cheer at the top of their lungs for several minutes. The whole 5th and 6th grade went to the first day of games, and there are pictures of that in my album, as well.

I have some prayer requests for people at the school. Silvia is still in the hospital. Profe Gladys was doing well enough to come back to school, though you could tell just by looking at her that her face was partially paralized. Things got worse, however, and she's back at the hospital getting therapy. Profe Edith's husband is doing better than he was but still undergoing chemotherapy. Esther is in the process of hiring English teachers for next year, so pray for her to make the right decisions and for the right people to come. Yicel, the elementary school secretary who has been working here for 6-7 years and is wonderful, just quit her job because she's going to join her cousin in Spain. Elias, who was the day-time guard for 9 years, recently quit because he needed a change. So basically our school is losing a lot of key people. Keep us in prayer.

Good Friday

On Friday, we drove up to Comayagua, the former capital of Honduras, located about a half hour from Siguatepeque. Every good Friday, they have a display of sawdust carpets (works of art) representing different scenes relating to the crucifiction of Christ, and it's followed by a parade. Click here to see pictures.

Sick

These are the moments that make you realize your worth... Earlier this week, one of my students approached me with a huge wrapped gift and said, "I give you this gift because you are my best friend for teacher, and I like how you teach." It was a big clay mushroom with a ladybug on it. Moments like that make all the complaints I get every day pale in comparison.

I haven't had a nosebleed in a month, ever since I started taking medication. I went back to the doctor this week with the results of a blood test he had sent me to get. My hemoglobin is borderline, which would explain, at least in part, why I'm always tired. My white blood cell count is a bit high, indicating an allergic reaction to something in the air, which could explain why I get sick so easily when I'm in Honduras, besides the fact that there are so many more contaminants in the water and food here. AND, my platelets are a bit low. I'm taking different vitamins and medications and getting another blood test in two months. Please pray for my health and energy - I really need it to teach.

The quarter is coming to an end. Next week, there are three days of exams, two days of mini olympics, and then we have a week off before the fourth quarter starts.

The weather has been switching back and forth from scorching hot to cold, and many students have been out sick. Seven of my 24 fifth graders were out at some point this week. Today was their first exam, and four students missed it. Please pray for everyone's health. It's funny to see some students coming to school wearing a doctor's mask to prevent the spread of sickness.

I am the LORD, who heals you. -Exodus 15:26

Science Fair

Thank you to all who have been praying for me. I was feeling really down for a while, but I've felt much more positive since a Skype conversation with my parents on Sunday that helped put everything into right perspective.

There is a Canadian woman here who is giving watercolor classes to each grade during school hours. Sixth grade had their classes this week, and I got to paint alongside them. It was so relaxing and fun and greatly decreased the amount of planning I had to do. I just added a couple of pictures of the class to my online photo album.

The elementary science fair was today (pictures in my album). It was the responsibility of the English teachers to lead the students through the scientific method to create their own experiments - a very long process, but with good results. One group decided to do an experiment to see what would happen if one of them ate a healthy diet for a week. They used an interview with me as part of their background research to decide the guidelines for healthy eating. The results were that the student was able to run a lap around his house faster, he felt healthier, and his Spanish teacher was no longer sending notes home about his concentration in class because it had improved. Yay :-) Today was a very stressful day, with complaints from students and parents and the responsibility of grading every group within a short time period, but it ended with an early dismissal, so I'm happy.

Another frustration of the week is that on Wednesday, we had no running water in the morning. Having no running water was commonplace in my first Honduran house a year and a half ago, but then we were prepared with a reservoir with which we could fill buckets to flush the toilets and wash our hands. This house isn't supposed to run out of water because it has a well, so we have no back-up plan. Thankfully the problem was resolved within a couple of hours. Events like these make me remember how nice modern conveniences are, so I wrote on my Facebook status that I was thankful for running water, electricity, and hot showers. I don't know if what happened next was God's sense of humor, but I certainly didn't find it funny. The next day, we had a nine-hour power outage, and that night, after the power was back on, my hot shower quickly turned into a cold one, then into a trickle, and while I was still trying to rinse my hair, the water ran out. There was still a little water running out of the sink, so I was able to get the rest of the conditioner out of my hair by pouring that over my head. The problem was fixed today.

Check out my photo album, and thank you for your prayers.

I feel I've been waiting so long for God to fulfill His promises to me, and this verse encouraged me today:

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. ~2 Corinthians 1:20

Keep Praying

I've been hearing back from my Chilean friends that I emailed. They're all very positive about the situation, and it's encouraging to hear how they're using the opportunity to intercede for their nation and find ways to help those who were more severely affected by the earthquake. Please keep praying for Haiti, Chile, Silvia, and Profe Gladys, because they are all far from recovered.
Today I had the privilege of being approached by a student who wanted to talk about problems with bullies, about Jesus, and about the fact that her father is not a Christian. I was honored that she would approach me and happy to be able to encourage her and pray with her. It gave me renewed purpose.
I don't have much else to share except the pictures I added to the end of my online photo album, which you can see by clicking on the picture to the right. Be sure to read the captions.
Pray without ceasing. -1 Thessalonians 5:17

Every little thing gonna be alright

I've come to peace with, and even happy about, the realization that Honduras is not my permanent home - that I won't be here more than another year and a half. However, being that I have a one-track mind, that's made it harder for me to be present and keep my thoughts focused on the here and now. That, plus financial issues, problems with students and their parents, and health problems have all brought me down. I was starting to get depressed, but a few days ago, it was like a lightbulb went off in my head, and I realized that "every little thing is gonna be alright." God has been cementing this revelation in my spirit more every day. A lot of problems have been worked out, as well...

My dad called my loan company and straightened things out so that I can defer my loan payments. The sixth grader that had been ruining class for everyone was going to be suspended for eight days. When we had a meeting with his mother, however, she decided to take him out of the school altogether because he continues to show he has no interest in changing. Since then, sixth grade has been so much more enjoyable, and I feel I'm winning the class back. I went to the ear, nose, and throat doctor about my nose bleeds and found out I have a crooked nose (deviated septum), and the medications I've been given should take care of the problem.

Please pray for me to continue to find joy and purpose in each day. Several friends here have been really down, too, so please keep us all in prayer. Keep praying for Silvia, and also for Gladys, a Spanish teacher who recently experienced partial facial paralysis. She has been out of school because she cannot speak well enough to be understood.

Oh, Honduras...cultural notes
-Honduras is full of beggars. At first, I didn't know how to react to them, but sometimes I bought them food or gave them money. I have some friends who have felt convicted by the command in Luke 6:30 to give to everyone who begs from you. They carry juice boxes and snacks whenever they go out and give to every beggar they see. Inspired by their example, I've been stopping to help anyone who begs from me. It's funny that one day, when I was on my way to the doctor's and feeling particularly discouraged, I was approached by two boys asking for money. The opportunity to buy them a snack and drink at the pulperia (convenience store) completely changed my mood and picked me up. Today, I walked downtown with one of these friends that regularly gives out food, and I was amazed to see her not just giving to those who asked, but even seeking the needy out. Since she lives downtown, she's had ample opportunity to distribute food, and she's formed relationships with many people. I was really impressed, and convicted once again.
-Just as it's hard to walk down the street without being approached by a beggar, it's almost impossible to walk down the street without seeing cows or even donkeys grazing on the side of the road. This past week, an angry bull got inside the school gate shortly after dismissal. There were several students still on school property, and the bull nearly mauled them, but they ran fast enough and were able to get away. Thank God the only damage that was done was to everyone's nerves.

Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. -Luke 6:30

Progress

Classes were canceled on Friday for a teacher's retreat. We drove to a restaurant on Lake Yojoa about 45 minutes away, and a local pastor (the father of one of my 6th graders) gave a message on excellence. He said a lot of things that really spoke to me, but what I most remember is this quote: "Worry more about helping others feel good about themselves than helping them feel good about you." That one piece of advice brought me some much-needed perspective. I and a couple of other bilingual staff members were asked to help translate the message for the English-speaking teachers. I was chosen to start, but I didn't get tired of it, and no one offered to replace me, so I ended up translating the entire message, at least two hours. I really enjoyed it and received compliments from many of the English speakers.

Afterwards, we were served lunch, and then we had two hours to relax before heading home. I ended up talking with the pastor the whole time. It was a very uplifting conversation about the things of God and our life experiences. He told me several times that God has a ministry for me, and that he's confident God will bring me to a place where I am needed (I told him I don't think I'll be in Honduras after June 2011).

I've bee feeling very discouraged over the past few weeks, but God has been using things like this...affirmative words from others, Scriptures, songs, etc...to encourage me. And I feel encouraged for a little while, but there are some circumstances in my life that have me feeling very uncertain, and, well, discouraged. So please pray for my heart to be encouraged and for me to find the strength to choose joy and a positive attitude and to live above my circumstances.

Silvia, our school director, is feeling better. The infection in her lungs has cleared up, but she's still dealing with complications from the high doses of medications they've been giving her, so please continue to pray.

My principal plans to call a meeting on Monday afternoon with the mother of the student who has been seriously disrupting class. At the least, he will be suspended from school for eight days, since that is the next step in the school's discipline policy. Please pray for a resolution to these problems.

I've been given permission to leave my students with a sub while I go to the ear, nose, and throat doctor. I will pay, but the school will compensate me for the cost. God is faithful. Please pray for this issue with nose bleeds to be resolved quickly. I plan to go for the initial consult on Tuesday morning.

The picture below is of a note hidden between my papers by a student on a day I really needed encouragement :-)

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

-Psalm 118:1

I don't know what to do, but my eyes are upon Him

A couple of days after I got back to Honduras in January, a cold front came in, and the weather got down to 50 degrees or less. Now, you might think that's not cold, but when there is no insulation or heat, it's as cold inside as it is outside. It was miserable for about a week, and the elementary school canceled classes for one day because the students couldn't take it. But since then, it's been mostly sunny and anywhere from cool to hot.

I finally found a church that I look forward to going to on Sunday mornings. It's the only bilingual church in Siguatepeque - the pastor is from the U.S. and preaches in English, and his Honduran wife translates. I really didn't want to go to a bilingual church, but I'm glad I gave it another try, because the music, preaching, doctrine, and people are all just what I needed.

Our school has three principals (one for preschool/kindergarten, one for the elementary school, and one for the high school), an English program coordinator (as of this year), and a director for the whole school named Silvia. Silvia has been very sick and in the hospital because of allergies and asthma, so please pray for her. She is out of school indefinitely and went to stay with her parents who live near one of the major hospitals. Also, our school secretary Maribel was out because her grandma just passed away.

My stomach has been feeling better since I started taking remedies my mom bought me for parasites, though my energy level hasn't been very good. I sometimes have more joy than I can contain and am full of thankfulness. Then there are days when I am ridiculously tired and unmotivated, and I just don't feel purposeful. Part of the reason I think is some certain 6th graders. The elementary school principal (Profe Edith), English program coordinator (Esther), Spanish 5th and 6th grade teacher (Profe Sonia), and I met with these three boys and their mothers on Friday afternoon because they are all failing the majority of their classes in English and Spanish, and it's because of their bad attitude and unwillingness to do their work. Two of the mothers admitted the problem was with their son, felt very sorry, and are willing to do everything they can, though they feel pretty helpless. The other mother blamed my teaching methods and the injustices that have happened to her son, but Esther defended me because she's observed me, and Profe Sonia affirmed that the problem is not just in English class. According to this student, nothing is ever his fault, and now I know where he gets that idea from. These boys really ruin my whole time with 6th grade. On Wednesday, I realized that my attitude had become very negative and was only making things worse for me and the rest of the class. I made a determined effort on Thursday to be positive, and I did a lot better, but it's a continual struggle. I have a great connection with 5th grade, however, and am glad for the opportunity to teach them again next year.

I've been thinking a lot about my future, which can be upsetting... I really want to stay here, but this next school year is the last one when I can be on economic hardship. After that, I need to get a job that will provide enough salary to pay my loans..which means I need to go back to the States. I was considering the possibility of donating my entire salary here to loan payments and raising money for living expenses like I did last year at Destino. But the more I think about it, the more I feel it'll be time for me to go back to the U.S. when the time comes. And if I leave, I have a feeling I won't come back for anything long-term. But who knows, I still have almost a year before I need to make that decision. A lot can happen in a year. Please pray that God will make clear the steps I need to take.

The picture below of the school campus was taken by another teacher this week.

We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. -2 Chronicles 20:12