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"