Connections

Like with any new environment, the more time you spend in it, the more adjusted you get. It's been almost 3 months since we first moved down here, and life is going smoothly. Terrez has been working on the farm and painting in the school; I've started dance class and work with the Christmas play along with my regular duties of helping with paperwork. The dance class has been going well. What I thought would just be a fun little time has turned into serious practicing for a choreographed dance that me & another volunteer had to put together. The girls are so excited about it. All those in the Christmas play are excited too. It seems like eveyone wanted to be in the play. Christmas is in the air and evey child tries to peek in the church to see all the gifts under the tree. Well, it's more like under, over, around, and suffocating the tree. Having over 400 kids who get at least 2 gifts, some get up to 10, it's hard fitting them all near the tree.

One thing the staff here like to do is invite a few kids to their houses once a week for dinner. It's to show them a family atmosphere that they haven't had the chance to see otherwise. Today was the first time Terrez & I joined in. We had four of the boys Terrez normally works with over. We made pizza and cookies from scratch. They loved it so much. They were so helpful in making it. I hope one day my kids will be like that :) While the pizza was in the oven they got to play Uno and watch a movie. Before the night was even over they were asking when they were going to be invited over again. It was a blessing getting to see the joy on their faces. I think we're going to continue having kids over each week, and we'll alternate betwen boys & girls and which once get to come.

School's Out :)

Well, school is finally out for their long break. They won't go back until February. As happy as I am for the break from teaching, I still have to find creative ways to interact with the kids. Most of the boys go to work all day, so I don't have to worry about them. It's the girls that need the most to do. Otherwise, they will sit & play in their yards all day. The other week while a group was down here I helped give dance classes with various groups of girls. The girls enjoyed it so much that I have been asked to continue with the dance classes. Last week I was busy finishing up paperwork for the school, and this week the volunteers have to translate all the Christmas cards from the kids that will be sent to their sponsors, so I haven't been able to start the classes yet. I guess it's good though so I'll have more time to prepare. I've never taught any dance class, nor do I feel creative enough to come up with any dance moves, but down here you learn to do what you would have never done before.

Along those lines, both Terrez & I have had new experiences in the church. Twice already have I played the drums for Sunday morning service. Now, I have never played the drums in my life, but someone was needed, so I had to fill in. At least I was able to keep a beat. Yesterday only volunteers played the praise music, and I played the saxophone for a couple of songs. Terrez gave the 1st sermon. He's given sermons and teachings before in the States, but never to a crowd like down here. God has really been using us and stretching us. I feel like I've been doing more things out of my comfort zone in the past 2 months than I have over the course of years.

On another note, we're very excited about Thanksgiving. I can't believe it's almost here. All the staff, junior staff, and volunteers get together & have a huge feast. It'll be just like a family dinner with lots of extended family.

The Impact beyond the U.S.

I had the opportunity yesterday to visit the capital city of Honduras and all throughout the day I heard people talking about OBAMA and he was the cover of all newspaper. Obama has undoubtedly given hope to alot of hopeless people and he has a great responsibility ahead of him both national and globally. 

I encourage the Church to pray constantly for him because we know our hope is not in Obama but the God that works through him. Let us pray that he would submit to God's authority and direction and become the BEST leader this country has seen. 

I am a believer in the divine principle of sowing and reaping. If we sow prayers and the Church shows ACTIVE support and involvement then we WILL reap the result of a Godly administration. 

Fun Times in Honduras

We have lots of fun down here. I definitely didn’t expect that we would have so many times to just laugh and this weekend was full of it. Now Friday was a bit rough working with some of the girls. I helped one of the staff members with the Christmas card making, and it was a more of a challenge than I thought since there were about 40 girls we had to deal with at one time. They would not be still at all.
But after that things were great. We played Catch Phrase and other games with our neighbors, and we even ate Pizza Hut one day. Today was a Youth Day, so the staff, volunteers, and about 40 of the older kids played games and had hot dogs. The highlight was playing tug-of-war with people. The object of the game is to get everyone on one side by pulling them over. I’ve never seen so many kids thrown about. It was hysterical. It was a good bonding time because I don’t get to spend much time with the older kids since they work various jobs. Everyone was laid back, including the staff. It’s like a big family, which is what the children really need.

October 21, 2008

It seems like forever since I last gave an update. Things are going pretty well. We're getting more and more acclimated, and we're learning how to handle things better. Since I've been in the school for a few weeks now I'm starting to know the kids a little better. I normally spend most of my time with the girls ages 5-12 outside of school, but I have to teach grades 1-6. The way things are here, age does not have any correlation to grade. There are some older kids still in elementary school and some kids who by age are way advanced. Some days it is so difficult to gain or keep control of the class. They scream, move around, fight, etc. all the time. Today we had finals for half of the classes. So many kids were yelling out answers, right or wrong. Other kids refused to take the exam. Anyone who fails gets a retake, so those kids don't really get punished for refusing. Things like that make it frustrating to teach sometimes. It seems like I'm unable to keep things together. It just makes it that more important to rely on God to handle things. Even when I think things are not going smoothly, He shows me that everything is fine. For example, the other volunteer & I didn't think the kids learned much, but many of them did know a lot of the information we taught. Sometimes you could clearly tell they made things up, but other times you could see the effort they put forth. That makes things worthwhile.

Reflectional Day

Today as I was walking to morning circle (devotional) I was thinking about how far in advance did God begin to plan this experience. I thought about when my mother took the family abroad to Italy when I was in ninth grade, that experience made me want to go overseas so much to see different styles of life. I thought about that day during a summer afternoon when God placed in my heart to someday work at an orphanage. At the time I thought it was a random thought but immediately did some research and with HIS hand working through the internet, I found this orphanage in Honduras. Honduras, never being part of my vocabulary nor geography, but was part of God's plan for my life. This story continues but I think the point has been made.

One will never know the entirety of God's plan for their life. We can only trust the flow of the river (Holy Spirit). God's hands performs whatever his mouth speaks (Isaiah 55:11) and we can stand confident that He will be faithful to his word despite the opinions of others (Romans 3:3-4). 

 

I am learning to just take His word for His word, not waiting for the situation to align itself but because He spoke it. I guess I am just having a Jeremiah moment when he said that he ate the word of God and it was his joy (Jeremiah 15:16).

I continue to speak blessing in your life and I urge you to join us in enjoying the word of God.

9/30/08

The day of our one month anniversary started off early in the morning with Circle. Circle is a 7am (or sometimes earlier) gathering of the kids where they sing and have a mini bible study. We began our first day in the schools. Terrez works in "el colegio" (the middle school) and I work in "la escuela" (the elementary school). Right now we are assisting the volunteers who are teaching English. The younger kids that I help with were pretty rowdy, but manageable.

Our theme for the mission trip that God gave us is "Stretch." And so far, He's been doing just that. Working in a school is not something that I'm used to or ever imagined doing. In this educational system, the staff highly suggest being tough, but that's really hard when I don't know all the words to say. So, I have to depend on God to provide the words to say. And that goes beyond the walls of the classroom. In all situations God has to be the one to speak through me.

9/26/08 (Day 1)

We arrived in Tegucigalpa in the afternoon after a very hard landing, lol. We were pleasantly surprised to see a taxi driver holding a sign with our names printed on it. He drove us to the store where we realized how much we missed Walmart and even Kroger. The price of groceries were extremely high, even on the non-imported stuff. We spent around $160 on initial needs and still need to do more shopping. 

After the two hour taxi ride we arrived to our FIRST apartment as a married couple. The apartment is way beyond our expectations and we even had a welcome committee.... the first to greet us was a big black hairy tarantula. Candice looked to me to be the "man" and get it out. I looked to her and used scriptures and motivational words on how she needed to conquer her fears..."God gave us dominion over nature," " for He did not give us the spirit of fear" and etc. only to avoid admitting my own fear. 

So we looked at the ugly thing and tried to recruit one of the kids or volunteers to get it out but that didn't work. Then we created a plan that I would use the broom to sweep it to her and she would use the mop to push it in the grass. We weren't able to build up our courage enough to do so. When all ideas and plans were exhausted, I called on a staff member and he swept the DEAD tarantula (lol) out of the apartment.  

If that wasn't enough... Candice unhooked the curtains and was greeted by a gecko... we couldn't take any more so we had to call on the Lord, cause we knew that if this day was a prophetic view of days to come, we would not last. So we listened to Pastor Cunningham's sermon, the need for endurance, and returned hesitantly to our living room to watch a movie.

As you can see it has been an adventure so far but God reminded me this morning that anything worthwhile won't come easy. So we are tackling day two, BY FAITH, that we will not only be able to endure but to daily experience His love and spread it to others. 

We love you ALL and are so excited about what God has in stored for our "adventure" as well as yours.

Be blessed,

Terrez and Candice Thomas