~ Sept 12, 2013 ~
As my roommate likes to say, hijole!
It's been a busy couple of weeks getting ready for the kids to come on Monday. The first week was chock full of preparing classrooms, checking for books, decorating walls, making lesson plans (still working on mine), and otherwise doing in a week what most teachers would do in a month. But we did it! I only decorated one wall of my classroom because I share it with Spanish teachers, and they need a lot more room because they are teaching more subjects. Also, two of the walls get really wet when it rains (which is pretty much every day), so we couldn't put much on those. I also helped decorate the 3rd and 4th grade classroom I will be assisting in!
And of course, I couldn't finish a post about the school without mentioning the dogs that live there. 😉 There is Sasha, who looks like a golden retriever/yellow lab mix; Solomon, who is a Siberian Husky; and Simba, who looks like a black lab. They are always wandering around, looking for someone to pet them. And of course, I'm happy to oblige!
I just got my lesson plan book today, but I really have no idea how to plan out the year until I meet my kids this next week and find out what level they are at in their English. But Dios es bueno (todo el tiempo!), and the freaking out I would normally be doing over how much information I don't know hasn't happened. Like, at all. Even with all the stuff that has happened over the past two weeks - stuff about 100 miles, er... kilometers, out of my comfort zone - I have just had such a peace about everything.
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Now let me tell you about my adventures...
The first night we arrived in our house, my roommate managed to melt her showerhead (only in Honduras...). Then, a couple hours later, she pulled the chain to turn on the light in our living room, and the globe that covered the light came crashing to the floor and shattered into a thousand pieces. So... we swept it up with a duster (because we didn't find the broom until a couple days later). We did eventually sweep and mop, and all was fine. Until today, when I found the one piece of glass that didn't get swept. Or perhaps it found me? But now I have a bandaged heel (thank the Lord for good roommates!), and I'm trying to keep it as clean and dry as possible. Please pray against infection. It's not a very big cut, but that's not the best place to have one. DON'T WORRY! Just pray. I'm telling you, prayer works! I have eaten SO many things this week that are just not sanitary. Logic says I should be taking up residence in the bathroom, but I feel totally fine! Thank you for your prayers on my behalf, and praise (alabanza) be to the God who answers them!
All of the teachers, English and Spanish, have been going out to the kids' homes these past three days. In the course of two days, I climbed four mountains. And while it was difficult, I just couldn't get over how these kids (two of them younger than second grade) climb these mountains to get to school every day. It was hard to be there with the families and want to talk to them, but not understand a good bit of what they are saying. So I mostly just listened, observed, and tried to get as much as I could. I've also met four of my 8th graders: Kellie, Noe, Griselda, and Yuriel. I'm glad to have a head start on learning names on Monday. 😃
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It's hard to describe everything that I have seen, heard, and done since I've been here. I wish I could just record video in my head and send it to you, but alas, that requires a camera, and it's not always the best idea to go through the streets of Honduras with a camera (for various reasons). Plus the fact that I'm doing good to watch where I'm going while not tripping or falling into holes in the sidewalk. 😆
It has also been hard to want to understand what the pastor is saying in church, but only catch about a quarter of the message. Still, God is good. His Word is always the same, and my bilingual Bible helps a lot. The sermon on Wednesday (even though I didn't understand most of it) was based in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (emphasis added).
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
God is big enough to speak through anything - even a sermon in Spanish or a long, muddy walk up a mountain. I challenge you to keep your eyes open this week to see how God wants to speak to you. He may show you something in the most unexpected place! Have eyes to see and ears to hear. That is my prayer for you, and I ask for that to be your prayer for me - both for this week and for this year.
Summary of praises:
- Peace in the midst of trials and all-out strangeness
- Good home visits
- Haven't had any problems with illness in the adjustment
- We have internet at the house now!
- My knee (which usually swells up if I do any strenuous exercise) only has a small bump after all the mountain treks this week
Summary of prayer requests:
- Physical protection for my foot, my digestion, and my knee to stay not swollen
- Continued peace as it gets CRAZY!
- That I would be sensitive to being led by the Spirit and not try to do anything in my own strength.
- Wisdom for teaching 8th graders and striking the balance between love and respect.
- For my friends ministering in London (Sharel), Thailand (Emily), and elsewhere in Honduras (Amy).
Dios le bendiga, mis hermanos.
Previous posts in this series (most recent listed first):
Checklist for Gringos - #LaAventuraDeLaVida
Getting There: Saying Goodbye and Hello - #LaAventuraDeLaVida
La Gracia de Dios (the grace of God) - #LaAventuraDeLaVida