The end of one phase..the beginning of another

Well, my time here in Honduras is coming to a close. I am very excited to go home and see my family and friends. But my heart is also sad to leave my students here. I have grown to love them. They are very special. They also have a lot of love to give, and are very satisfied with little things. But due to problems that are out of our control, Laura and I will not be able to return after Christmas. This makes me very very sad. But I know that God has a plan and that He is in control. I have NO Idea what I will be doing this next semester of my life. But I am choosing to trust Him. I would appreciate your prayers as we finish up our last week here. It is hard to say good bye...and we have been asked by the principal not to let the students know...this is very hard and I am not sure I can do this. Anyway, I am so thankful for all of you, and thankful for your prayers too!!! God has taught me a lot here...I am still processing it all. Psalm 33 has been a huge encouragement to me...
vs 10
"The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.... vs 20 We wait in hope for the LORD he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you."

God is good...

Today I am reflecting on the how good God is... I am so thankful for His goodness to me in many ways. But the most particular way today is the goodness of God in the parents that He gave me. I have been blessed so much!!!! How many people have parents that love God? Not only do my parents love me, but they love God so much more. They are a beautiful example of trusting God with every detail of their lives. Besides God they are the biggest source of wisdom in my life. They encourage me to seek what God has for me and to live my life for Him, even when it hurts them. They are my biggest cheerleaders! They are a great model of servants of God. Sometimes when things happen, I am amazed at their response of love! I praise God for them. He is good in so many ways...but what an amazing God to give me them!!! Dad and Mom.... I love you so much your the best!!!!!

3500 meters

If God's Power is made perfect in my weakness..then I will boast in my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
A couple months ago I took a trip with my church to the wilderness of Algonquin. Such a beautiful place to take a trip for a week. I enjoy going here tons! Normally all we have is our packs and canoes and we travel about a 100 miles or so. We paddle for large amounts of time and then take a break from that by portaging with our packs and canoes through the woods. Usually I will carry a canoe with another person as to distribute the weight. This time however I decided to set a new goal. I have carried the canoe a little by myself before but only for 500 meter or so. This trip I decided to try just a bit farther. I took it 1,000 meters. After I finished this, I realized that to carry a canoe requires mental strength. If I can make my mind carry it, than I can do it with God's help! I decided that I was going to carry the canoe the longest distance that we were going by myself. This distance was 3500 meters, 2 1/2 miles. As I carried it, there were people around me that talked with me the whole way. We sang songs together and enjoyed the walk. This is not to say that it was easy...in fact there were times when I wanted to quite. I want to put the canoe down and be done. I asked God for strength to continue and He continued to help me persevere. I was able to finish it! As I reflected on the trip and what God was doing in my heart one of the lessons that I was grasping, was with God I can do anything that He enables me to do.
One night I shared around the campfire my uncertainty about the next year. I knew that I would be going to Honduras for the year. But as to what I would find and how much I would miss my family I did not know. That 3500 marker in my life meant a lot more that just finishing a portage with a canoe on my head. It meant that God could help me through anything.
Now here I am, sitting, missing my family, fellowshipping with people, the Word being preached, communication, using the gifts God has given me, special occasions, worshiping with believers, and understanding people. I getting close to the middle of the portage. But I need the strength of God to continue. He is the only one that will help me finish! He has sent me here, He will enable me to finish because there is no way I can do it on my own!!!!
As I reflect back on the lesson that God taught me this summer through going 3500 meters, I know that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Right now I have a lot of weaknesses, as I am not in tune to this culture. But through this God's power is shown.
This is what life is about right? Bringing glory to God. If this is how I can bring Him glory...than bring it on :). I want the power of Christ to rest upon me so I will boast in my weaknesses!

Church's Chicken???

Today my 3rd graders were learning how to make the word church plural. Usually as they are learning how to use words, I will attempt to explain the definition. So thinking that most of them would know what church was, I posed the question, "What is church?" The reply I heard amongst them was, "Chicken, Pollo!" I was a bit confused for a moment. Then I heard one child say, "Church's Chicken!" I suddenly realized that the word church to these 3rd graders meant a place where they would go and buy chicken with their family. I just started laughing. I then proceeded to draw a picture of a church building and told them the Spanish word for church. Once they put 2 and 2 together, they were really baffled that a resturant would be called Pollo de Iglesia, Chicken of Church. We all had a good laugh.
This caused me to think of how people think of different words. When I think of church, I think of the people of God, the encouragement, the fellowship, the love of God, the way God works today, and the worship that we share together. But to many people the word church just means a building that people go to practice religion. I am sure even as these children learned that the translation for church is iglesia, many of them did not know what church really is. How many people do I pass on a daily basis that have a misconception of the word church? They might not think of it as Church's Chicken, but they really don't know the love, worship, teaching, and fellowship that takes place amongst the people of God. I want to be a persosn who demonstrates what a true church is.

The God of the IMPOSSIBLE

God is a God of the impossible!!! I have been reminded of that so much lately. Many times I don't understand at the present why things are going on. How many times have I seen God's hand at work in the past? I know that I can trust Him with what He is doing. Sometimes at the present things look hopeless. But God has said that He will do exceedingly and abundantly above all that I can ask or imagine!! When I see God do this or think about the fact that He can, it moves me to great emotion. Tonight I read one of my favorite Bible stories. Hannah pleading before God for a son and promising to give him back to the Lord if He gave her one! God gave her a boy!! This makes my heart sing and cry with gratefulness to God. He desires to give good and perfect gifts. He loves me so much! He knows my wants and my desires. He knows my needs and will always provide for them. He can do the impossible to show His power . Tonight as I fall asleep, my heart is worshiping the God of the impossible.

School Pictures

I thought that I would upload some of the pictures of me and my students. We had a cultural day a couple weeks back so some of these pictures are from that.The one up on the right is my 5th grade class. They are all really smart and obedient. The ones on the bottom right are a project that my sixth grade class. They had to build a mall..some of the students went all out!

The other picture of the American Flags is me with some of the teachers. And the rest are of me and my students

Our Office

This is our office...We sit and work in Dunkin Donuts all day long. It really feels like our office too!!

Who goes to school on Saturday?

Is there ever a good reason to go to school on Saturday...here in Honduras we go!!!! :) We got up at the normal time 4:45 am and were at school the whole day until 1pm!!! Parents had to come and pick up their report cards. Since I am not a homeroom teacher, I didn't have to do much.. I played with the children, and I spoke Spanish with them. This was very fun and relaxing. It was also helpful in building more relationships with them. It is hard to get to know 140 students! At least I have learned all their names praise God for His help!!! One of the first grade boys names is Jacobo. For some reason, I thought that his name was Hector. So for the first 5 weeks of school I called him Hector. He would respond, but very slowly. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. One day, He raised his hand and looked at me and said, "Miss Bethany, my name is Jacobo." I started laughing and laughing, all the first graders joined me and we joked about it for a couple days it was really cute.
Anyway, back to school on Saturday. I was talking with one girl in Spanish, and she kept responding in English. Finally she said, "Miss Bethany, I don't like it when you speak Spanish." I thought this was a very interesting comment. So I asked her, "Why don't you like it? Is it because I don't speak well, or is it because I always speak English with you and it is weird for me to speak Spanish?" She replied that I always talk in English to her so it is weird for me to speak Spanish. So we began to once again speak in English...and I ended up sharing Christ with her!!! And from what I can tell she understood and accepted Him as her Savior!! It made me very excited. This made going to school on Saturday worth it!!! :)

God made frogs for little boys

I think that God made frogs for little boys to play with. Here in Honduras...boys are afraid of frogs!!! In fact everyone is. My friend Denisse told me they are nasty! The other day there was a group of boys by the wall at school. I wandered over to find out what was going on. They were all watching a frog. Everytime the frog jumped they would jump. Some of the them would scream like little girls!!! I thought, "This is so wrong...boys are suppose to love to play with frogs." They are suppose to scare girls with them. So as much as I dislike touching frogs, I decided that I was going to have to pick this frog up to show them there was nothing wrong with it. So after a couple tries I caught it. A couple of the boys got brave enough to hold the frog by themselves and they even chased it and caught it!! Hopefully now in the future these little boys can enjoy frogs. It took me getting my hands a little dirty...but it was worth it.

Let the earth hear His voice...

So many things have happened in the last two days... First let me share the most exciting news. Every Friday night we have a children's ministry that starts at 5:30 and goes to 6:30. Tonight was no exception. Except we got there and no one was there...We prayed for a little while that God would bring who He wanted and that He would save these children. Six o'clock rolled around...no children...Six fifteen, Six twenty, finally at 6:25 two boys showed up. They said that there were more kids on their way.. We decided to wait and even though it was time to end we would do something with these children. The children that showed up were all older children (5th to 6th grade). Usually we have a program that is more for the 2nd and 3rd and younger. But tonight none of them came. We totally completely changed all our plans. We played a game that was more for their age group. Then we sat in a circle and share the gospel. Laura translated for me. Every one of these kids, 3 boys and 4 girls, sat with their eyes glued on me then Laura. They were listening with every aspect of their being. I don't think I have see kids ever more interested than these. They were so ready to hear the gospel. We gave an invitation for them to come to know Christ. Three of them looked up!!! The rest did not. But as far as the Spirit working in their hearts, I wouldn't be suprised if all of them came to know Christ tonight. It was so excited. God answered our prayer so specifically and quickly!!! He is so good. So tonight there are angels in heaven rejoicing and partying with Christ!!! Praise God.
I also wanted to share another cute story of the week. Yesterday, I was teaching in my first grade class. One of the boy accidently elbowed me in the eye. For some reason it hurt awlful and it brought tears to my eyes and I couldn't stop them. And you know how sometimes you start to cry and you just can't stop, not because of pain but because of the emtion of all the circumstance. HAHA so there I was with tears rolling down my cheeks. I couldn't really do anything but continue to teach, and I didn't want the boy to feel bad because it was an accident. All of the little first graders were completely silent and just stared at me. They didn't understand what had happened. One of the little girls got up and came and gave me a hug it was the cutest thing ever!!! Anyway, it is good and necessary to have a good cry sometimes..but probably not in English class. Right now I have bruise on my eyebrow that hurts to touch. Anyway, it will heal but it will be a story I will remember always.
God is faithful. I am so thank that He cares about my needs before I even know what they are going to be. He provides and shows His love in so many ways. I had been praying to find the movie Facing the Giants. I want to show it in some of my classes. I couldn't find it anywhere here. There are not alot of movie place. Anyway the other day Laura and I took a walk to another plaza, there was a movie rental place there. We went in just to ask and they had the movie!!! I was so excited. Then the lady told us that on Nov 15, 16, and 17 they are selling all the movies in their store because they have to many. The movie is on sale for 75 lempiras which is like $3.50 american dollars!!! Praise God!
As much as I miss my family and friends...God is right with me and for that I am thankful. Also my computer has a virus, but He has been helping me and Laura to figure out how to fix it and make it work... I could go on and on about the things that He is doing and has done. But I need to go to bed!
"Rejoice in the Lord always...again I say REJOICE"

Happenings:

What a great holiday we had... Yesterday our school celebrated International Day. Going into the night I had no idea what to expect. We had no school on Friday as we spent the whole day decorating. One really cool thing about preparing for an evening like that is that here people are so laid back they don't get stressed out over stuff. It was a very relaxing atmosphere to prepare it.
For the evening each class represented a different country. They prepared a display table and many of the classes prepared a special thing to do to show off their country. The 1st graders represented America. They all said in English different facts; it was very cute.
I was able to meet many of the children's parents. I enjoyed this a lot. I was able to communicate with them as well. Although by the end of the night I was so tired I had no idea what I was saying any more. A couple of the parents didn't come. This made me sad. Because these are kids that it seems that their parents don't care a lot for them. One boy told me that he lived by himself. I couldn't believe this. I think what he meant is that he lives with his mom, but she has to work all the time so he can go to this private school. So he is literally by himself all day and almost all night long. Here people work 7 days a week.
I was able to talk with one parent who is a believer. It was encouraging to fellowship a little with here. She bought my dinner which was really nice too :).
Something that we have noticed about the culture here. Is that women are taken care of in the sense that men do the hard laborous jobs and provide for the women. But emotional women are tore down so low that they are made to believe they are not worth much. So the women look down on those that are lower than them so that they feel better about themselves. For example, after the evening we began to clean up. There was trash everywhere so I got a broom and Laura and I started sweeping. We were told not to do this because it was the maid's job. There was so much garbage that it would take her forever to clean it up. But we noticed that really none of the other teachers talk with the maids. How sad. God loves us all so much that He made us special to Him. He loves all people.
My prayer is that I will be able to allow these people to see God's love through me. Especially these ones that have nothing.

Let the little children come

Tonight while sitting and talking with my parents on skype at Dunkin Donuts.. two little boys came in and were hungry. At first the cashier chased them away. But they came back again. I had decided that if they came back I was going to buy them some food. When they came back the 2nd time I was talking with my parents. The guard tried to shoo them away. My friend Laura told the guard that the boys were coming with us...actually I have no idea what she said..but he left and she brought the boys in. We bought them some food from Burger King and Dunkin Donuts. As they sat there with us..my parents were about to say hi to them on skype...and then we talk with them for a while. They are from the River...which means they basically live in cardboard boxes by the river. We shared a little about how God loves them, then they had to go.
There are so many people that are destitute here. I know that I cannot help all of them. As I was reminded by a friend recently, we were commanded to give to those in need who ask of us.
These little boys reminded me of my state before God. I have nothing to give him but my love, and that doesn't even amount to much. "But God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us."

You know you are an American teacher in Honduras when: When you start dripping sweat the minute you walk outside the air conditioning. When people where hats, gloves, and winter coats in 70 degree weather. When you are stared at everywhere you go because you stick out like a sore thumb. When you can't flush toilet paper down the toilet. When there are no doors on the bathrooms. When you kiss and hug strangers everyday. When you are given many hugs. When people are so giving they will give you anything even if they don't have it. When you walk down the street and are not surprised to hear people yelling, "Hey Baby" out of their windows. When you want to go to Burger King not because of the food or internet service but because of the Air Conditioning. When your students say, "You hair looks more jello today," because they say their "y" like "j" and are meaning yellow. When you eat chicken or refried beans for every meal. When Ice Tea has become your favorite drink. When you don't do you hair because it will look like you haven't done it in 5 minutes anyway. When a Baleada has become your favorite food. When you get so excited to sleep in a room with air conditioning that you you go to bed early When ordering fast food you memorize the order of the questions they ask because you don't understand what they are saying. When you see one of your students everywhere you go. When you are amazing because you are from the same country as the the American Soccer team. When everyone from the grandmas to the babies have a national soccer jersey. When you can talk to anyone you meet about soccer and they will know details to the core. When anytime you say, "Let's pray" people stand out of respect. When the only place you can hang out with other people is the mall or Burger King. When dogs run into the school and people aren't really surprized. When restaurants are always clumped together. When the thought of wearing pants makes you sweat so you choose a skirt even if it is the most causal outing. When you respond to the child who says, "Miiiss,Miiiss," and you don't correct them to say ,"Miss Bethany or Miss Laura" When you are hanging out with your fellow teachers and call them Miss Pamela or Mr Daniel. When dogs lay in the middle of the road even when there are cars. When your students have to translate so that you can talk to their parents. When people wear English shirts they don't understand the written just because it is an English shirt. When you pretend to exchange hair with a different person every weekend because they want "yellow" hair. When you have to pull toilet paper off the wall before you go into to the stall to use the bathroom and if you forget...you better hope you can speak spanish. When you are at the beach and order soup and are served soup with lobster legs hanging out, a whole fish minus the eyes, snails, chopped up squid, and a hammer to open the fish up. What many different things we have experienced here. Some have been good...others well they sure make it an experience.

Pray Pray Pray...

Prayer Request...tomorrow night 10/24/09 we are watching the movie Fireproof at our church. We have invited a couple of the teachers to come. One of the teachers that just got saved is coming and so is her ex husband...I am praying for them to get back together and for his salvation. Please pray that God will work in her heart and in his. Also there is another teacher coming with her husband. She just got saved recently too, but he needs the Lord. They are having marriage problems as well. Pray that God will do mighty things. I am excited to see what He will do. Thanks for all your prayers and encouraging notes. I love to hear from you all and what God is doing in your lives. I am so glad for the connection that we have in Christ!!!

Slowing learning :)

This has been a nice week. I am learning Spanish more and more... The other night we were visiting some people and everyone was speaking in Spanish. I was able to switch back and forth between people's conversations and understand the conversations!!! I didn't know every word. But I understood what the conversations was about and what was being said. This made me so excited. I have no idea how it works that our minds can learn like this, but I am very thankful that God has given me the ability to do this!!! Also today I was able to share my testimony with a lady for the first time in Spanish!!! Praise God. I still have much to learn, but I am understanding some. I am very excited. Estoy mucho imocional!!!

Gringos vs. Carachos What a Crazy Night!!!

Yesterday was a day to remember!!! We went to a US national game!!! I never thought that I would do that! They were playing Honduras, and it was very VERY interesting... I am so glad that I had the opportunity. Right when we got out of the van to walk to the stadium... It decided to down pour... so there we were running through the rain the "Gringos" :). The rain kept dripping in my eyes so that I could not see. I grabbed on to Laura and closed my eyes and ran. It was pretty scary running blindly in the rain. We got into the entrance and there were lines everywhere to get into the stadium. One line saw us with our Honduras' jerseys on and start cheering for us, "Gringos, Gringos" and blowing their horns and yelling really loud. It made me laugh. We had left the house at 1 pm or so and got there at 2. The game didn't start until 8pm!! As soon as we got in line under a building it stopped raining...We were drenched!
So there we were waiting in line for next hour and a half to get into the stadium. So much excitement was in the air. The whole country was into the game for seriousness. Massive crowds of people were everywhere. To get into the stadium you had to push into this narrow area. Seriously you had to push to fit. Finally we all got into the Stadium. I had to go to the bathroom really really bad.. I decided I will always be thankful for US bathrooms no matter how bad they are... these were...well way worse would be an understatement.
We got into arena. The seats were only cement steps that you sat where you could. It was so loud because of the excitement. Everyone was cheering as loud as they could, and the game was not to start for 4 more hours!!!! When everyone would jump up and down the cement would shake. It was pretty crazy! So for 4 hours we cheer and cheered and cheered some more. Probably my favorite thing of the whole night was watching the excitement of the Hondurans. It actually made me think of Heaven. I wonder what the excitement level will be there when we see God if these Hondurans get this excited over a soccer game!
Well we got water, and who knows what else dumped all over us! I was watching the game with a person less than 2 inches in front of me!! It was crazy! When Honduras made their first goal everyone went crazy I got pushed and almost fell down the step! It was so fun to watch.
I had been planning on cheering for Honduras because if they won they were going to be able to go to the World Cup, this would have been the first time since 1982 that they have been in it. But when the US team arrived, my mind changed. There is a loyalty to my country that I really didn't know existed in my heart. So sometimes outwardly I would cheer for Honduras. But in my heart i would be cheering for the US!
Anyway I could go on and on about the different things that happened, but I don't think that my words are able to describe the experience. The US did end up winning 3-2...now how many of you that are reading this knew that...That was the saddest part for me. I was glad that the US won. But every Honduran was heartbroken sad. Laura said to me, "In the United States most people don't even care about this, but here these people it was there life!" She was so right. I felt really bad.
Anyway, I tried to describe some of the excitement, but I really don't think that words can describe what took place. I am so glad that I was able to go! But it sure was quite an experience.

From Death to Life!!!!

What excitement!!!! There is a girl that Laura and I met when we first moved here. Her name is Pamela. Laura has been able to share the gospel with her, and on last Friday I was able to share the gospel with her as well. Yesterday, she came and hung with me at Burger King for awhile. We started talking more. And she shared with me that on Friday when she went home, she had asked Jesus to clean her heart!!! I was so excited. We talked for a hour or more about things of the Lord. The Holy Spirit has given her great understanding. She had many questions and as we read the scriptures together she understood so much. This made me so excited! We are going to began a Bible Study together! Praise God for the life that He has given us. We are no longer dead, but we are alive in Him!!!!

answers to prayer!!!

Wow God answers prayer in weird ways sometimes. I have been praying about my 2nd grade class and how to teach them because they are super wild!!! Well today the administrator came to me, she said they were letting a teacher go and that they would like me to teach 11th grade Literature. And because that is during the time I normally teach 2 grade, Laura is going to be teaching that class. I will miss the children from that class because they are special kids...but I will not miss teaching that class. I will definitely be praying for Laura because they are a wild bunch. But I am thankful that God is working in ways you never think of. Here you get to be prepared for anything... I start literature tomorrow. :)

God is so good!!! I love Him so much!!!!!

God is so good!!!! He give us so much more than we deserve! Wow, I can't put into words how good God is.
Yesterday night, I couldn't find my phone. I started praying about it. I looked everywhere I could think of here at the house and I still couldn't find it. I thought, well maybe it is at school. So I went to school today and looked in Laura's classroom; it wasn't there. I looked in all the rooms that I teach in it wasn't there.... I had no idea where it might be. I kept praying for it. At the end of the day, I decided to go look in the soccer field because I had played with the boys for a couple minutes the day before. I was walking out to the field and was stopped by the janitor lady, and she asked what I was doing. I tried to explain to her that I was looking for my phone. She finally understood, and she went to get the "lunch lady" to help. I walked out into the field. There was my phone. I walked straight to it!!! I was so excited. It had rained last night, but the phone was not damaged. Also the kids had played soccer on that field today and none of them stepped on it and none of them took it!!! God is so good. I was trying to express that to the ladies, I think they finally understood me after along while! :) It sure was hard to express my excitement and gratefulness in Spanish. I love that God cares so much about those details of our lives.
Also today a couple teachers from the school wanted to take us out to eat Honduran food..It was really good. They both spoke English. We were talking about lots of different things in life, and I was finally able to share the Gospel!!!!! This teacher is very scientific in her thinking, but she is very willing to talk more about God! I am praying that God will change her heart and bring her to Himself.
I love that God is so good. He is faithful and care so much about us from the big details of our live to the small ones!!!
Okay so funny story of the day yesterday. I decided to play soccer with the boys during recess. I hadn't played with them yet and I wanted to be able to build into their lives. So I started playing. The 2nd time I touched the ball... I kicked it over the wall. All the boys looked at me and started laughing. I started laughing too. I thought no problem, I'll just go outside the school run around the building and get the ball. I told the boys, I'll be right back... Well I leave the school and I forgot that the wall of the school kept going... No problem... I thought... I'll just go around the wall.... well to make a long story short I ended up running around the whole block and because everything is walled off I was not able to get in and get the ball. So here is this blond American running around the block in my school uniform, people driving by had to wonder what is going on with her!!!! On my way back, I decided to ask these construction workers if they could get the ball.. well my word consisted of jugamos futbol esta aqui The guy looked at me and then said in English, "Do you speak English?" I laughed and then explained what was going on. They were not able to get the ball either. So I went back to the school and the boys empty handed. I felt so bad cause they couldn't play soccer anymore cause they didn't have a ball. By now recess was almost over.. but I started teaching them to play Kum Cha anyway :).
This story makes me laugh, but at least the students know that I make mistakes too! :)

Hard Times :)

One of the hardest things that I have faced in the last couple weeks, is not being able to share Christ with people. I never realized how much I love telling people about what God has done in my life, and listening to what is going on in their lives. Since I have not been able to do this God has opened my eyes as to what a privilege it is to speak of His love. I have been able to start some conversations with a couple people by asking some questions...but I am never able to finish them because I can't speak. Another thing that is difficult, is that I am view differently because I can't speak with people. This is very tough!
Last night I was super frustrated; God reminded me that I am nothing. I am an instrument of God's grace. God is the one who changes people's hearts. Even though right now I cannot speak with them, I can show God's love and I can PRAY. God knows English and He can understand me... so I can pray for all of these people that I desire to come to know God. God is the one that changes their hearts. He cares more about these people than I do!
I am thankful for times of frustration like these because it forces me to get on my knees and turn to God and be completely depended on Him. I am so glad that He uses situations to draw my heart closer to Him.

Eyes on the Sky...

Right now I am sitting on my bed and glancing out the window up at the sky. It is starting to get dark and clouds look really pretty!
What an interesting week this last week has been. Monday I was ready for the week. We went to school, and I was very excited to teach. Monday afternoon the Ex-president of Honduras came back into the country. (He had been kicked out of the country previously because He was attempting to change the Constitution. The country is divided over this issue. Because of this, there are manifestations of different acts. So the country made it mandatory for everyone to stay inside from 4 in the afternoon Monday to 6 am Tuesday. But Monday evening they extended this curfew until 6pm Tuesday. The same thing happened Tuesday night, they extended the curfew until 6 pm Wednesday. So we have been stuck inside :). Here we have to buy water, and our water supply ran out Tuesday night. But praise God that this morning, they gave hours from 10-5 to go shopping and get supplies.
We went to the store, right up the street. When we got there the line to get in, was worse than any Black Friday line I have ever seen. It was the whole length of the store, but just a great bunch of people not in much order. It looked like we would be waiting all day...we decided to go to another super market. This one was letting everyone it, but the store was packed. We waited in line 2 1/2 hours to get our food!!!
Curfew is now in effect again as it is after 5pm. I am not sure how long it will last, the last I heard it was going to be up at 6pm tonight. But it really doesn't make sense that they would let us to go the store today if that were the case. So we are just waiting...:)
Praise God that the place I am staying is a gated community so we can go outside of the house and get fresh air.
We have been watching the news a lot here and it has been showing Obama giving different speeches on how he wants peace in the Middle East...It sounds like the end times. Who knows the hour...not even the Son of Man...I am keeping my eyes on the sky and continually waiting for Christ's return!

Great is thy Faithfulness

I love the gathering of God's people anywhere. Today was no different. Worshipping God with people of a different language is very eye opening. It is very neat to experience them singing to God in their language and worshipping God when I cannot understand them. I experienced this last Sunday. Their hearts overflow with worship. Today, however, I was longing to make a joyful noise to the Lord myself. It is very difficult to sing and worship in a different language...Today one of the songs was Great is Thy Faithfulness. I was able to sing this in English. It is amazing what comfort comes from those familiar words. "Thou changest not; thy compassions they fail not. As thou has been, thou forever will be." Today I took great comfort in these words. Our God is the same always. What we have seen him do in the past, He will contiune to do. No matter where we are, He takes care of us and guides us. His mercies are new every morning GREAT is His faithfulness.

Story of the Day...

So today in my 6th grade English class, I was explaining to the students how important it is for them to learn to speak English fluently. We talked about different jobs they could get and how it would help them a lot in life to be bilingual. I told them they have a great opportunity here in their school to learn 2 languages, even more than children in the United States. I informed them that I took Spanish in high school. One of the boys raised his hand and asked in amazement, "Miss, did you pass?" Of course I had to laugh at this because I passed with an A. But obviously, to them, I cannot speak Spanish.

We have one full week of classes, and this week is their independance day. This means there is no school. So my goal for this week is to prepare my classes for the year! Things have been going better as the students learn to adjust to my teaching style and I adjust to their learning style. Thank you all so much for your prayers.
Tomorrow night we invited a bunch of the teachers over to watch fireproof, I am praying that this will open some doors to good conversations. Continue to pray for the salvation of many. Thanks for your prayers that I will learn Spanish, I can definitely tell that God is helping me to remember!!!

What a great 2 days it has been here. It seems like I have been here a super long time! I don't even know where to began. God has been doing so much in my heart. Wow! 2 days ago I wrote on my trip here, but I haven't figured out how to get it to connect to my blog right now. When I do I will post it.
I have been teaching school. That is crazy in and of itself. God has given me much wisdom. The students are suppose to understand English. Many of them do. But alot of them pretend not to understand this makes it very difficult. I am trying to learn Spanish sometimes I get confused when I am teaching and speaking English because of this.
The family that I am staying with is great. They are alot of fun and are trying to help me learn Spanish and teach school. My friend Laura is a great help as well. She speaks spanish very well. It is a great joy to be together with her. Today we were able to share the gospel with a teacher at our school. Her name is Pamela and she seems so close to coming to Christ.
One of the cool things here is that we can talk about God as much as we want at the school. There are not many true believers...but we are able to speak of Christ as much as we want. This is so exciting to me.
I know this is a bunch of ideas that probably don't go together, but I wanted to let you all know how I have been doing and thank you for praying for me. Please continue to pray for wisdom with my classes and my learning of Spanish.
My mind is very tired right now, but I am so thankful to God for His strength and wisdom for today. The verse I taught to my sixth grade class this morning was "My flesh and my heart many fail but God is my strength and my portion forever." So true in my life too.

Tomorrow is the day...

Tomorrow is the day I go to Honduras! Tomorrow is the day I began to learn Spanish! Tomorrow is the day I become a teacher! Tomorrow is the day I meet my new family for the year. Tomorrow is the day I continue to serve God!
I have a lot of different thoughts in my head about going into tomorrow...but the biggest one that keeps coming to mind is..."Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path"..."I know who holds the future and I know who holds my hand with God things don't just happen everything is by Him planned"...So I am trusting Him with my tomorrow just as I have with all my yesterdays.

New Happenings

Many of you have asked how you can stay in touch with me as I travel to Honduras. So I am creating this site and I hope to update it, as well as facebook.

Just a brief overview of what God has been doing in my life lately. This last May marked the end of my 3 years working at Lowes as an installed sales coordinator. God taught me many things through the years there..but that is another story.
I left Lowes to be a camp counselor at Lake Ann this summer. Again God did many things as I watched Him work in my campers hearts and in my own as well. Probably the biggest lesson that I learned this summer, was to trust God with the next step of my life. I don't have to know the future steps, only what is next. My first couple weeks at Lake Ann, I began to pray about what God would have me to do at the end of the summer. Half way through the summer I still had no idea. I kept reminding myself to trust with all my heart in God and not live by my own understandings. Three weeks before camp was out God provided the opportunity for me to go to Honduras to teach school.
So as of right now I am going to Honduras to teach English Grammar for the year. One of my friends from camp is actually the one who presented this opportunity and we are going together. Also while we are there, we will be involved in the church and several different ministries. One of my other goals is to learn to speak Spanish.
I definitely would appreciate your prayers as I go. Although I have been able to teach in many different settings, having my own classes is a new experience completely, and as you can tell from this post, grammar was not one of my favorite subjects in school. :) Right now that would be my biggest prayer request. Also just getting all the last minute details around and ready would be another request.
Keep me informed as to what God is doing in your lives as well. It is always encouraging to hear those stories. And let's keep serving our King together!!!!