Christmas time in Honduras

If you have never experienced Christmas outside the United States, there is always something to see and experience related to how other countries view Christmas. In Honduras, Christmas is a huge deal. Many schools are not in session, people can have up to almost the whole month off, every shopping place is crazy and busy all day long, decorations have been up for at least two months if not more. Honduras loves the Christmas holiday. There are huge Christmas trees all over and every shopping store is crazy! Being away from all the consumerism and television of the United States has made be begin to examine why I enjoy and want to celebrate Christmas! Through all of this, I have began to see how important Christmas is to spend with my family and why we do truly celebrate the birth of Jesus. I am not so concerned this year of presents and having the latest technology, but being able to be with my family and remember how much God has truly blessed my life. Christmas has always been a rough time of year for my family, but knowing how much God has blessed me with great friends, family, a job I truly enjoy, and all I do have. I cannot complain and know through that how much he does love me. He has watched over me with moving to a new country. When I need encouragement, he helps me see it in different areas of my life. This Christmas I see just how much God does love me and has given me the heart to want to bless others and show them God's love. I hope this Christmas you find a way to bless someone even in a small way because you do never know how truly the little things mean. God has shown me that the little things matter and even just a hug from someone in your life can help you and encourage for days later. Merry Christmas to you all and enjoy this wonderful time of year with friends and family. Remember that God gave us his son on this holiday because he loves us each so much more than we can ever imagine.

This is An and I at the mall with their Christmas tree!

Party Time!

Since my last post,I've gotten to do and be apart of some pretty amazing things. The last weekend in October, I got to go to this retreat for a Women of Purpose conference for women serving here in Honduras. This conference was a great rejuvination and helped be a great reminder why I'm here in Honduras. It helped me again see that this is exactally where God wants me for this time in my life. Even though I don't know how long, I do know that God is here with me and guiding my every step. After this conference, I got to spend some time with my friends who do a homeless ministry here in Tegucigalpa in the area that is a little less safe, but much needed. I love how the lady, Amber, who runs this ministry uses the saying to go along with her ministry that she says, "I can imagine being hungery, I can imagine not having a place to sleep, but I can't imagine waking up each morning thinking no cares about me. This is a great idea to show love and feed the homeless. They truely need to konw they are important to someone. It would horrible to think that know one cared you were here on Earth.
After taht weekend, I was swamped with school work and working hard at keeping a head of the game. I got to help run a 9th grade community building event which was a great. I got to talk to them about the importance of God in our lives and then play caputre the flag. Yes, my team won!
This past weekend, the teachers here at pinares have a tradition of a harvest party. We dress up for it. My apartment and the next for apartment went at the Go green recycle team. Here are some pics!

I got to go as super hero paper!

Needless to say, God is faithful and each day I see it in several different ways! Thank you for all your prayers and I'm living each day for him!

First Quarter coming to a close.......

I can't believe that I've already spent over 2 months living here in Honduras. In the next week, the first quarter is ending and it has come very quickly. Living in Honduras as been a great experience so far. God has been a true blessing. God has shown me that he has me here for a reason. One thing I've gotten to do is be a bible study leader. I lead the 9th grade girls bible study. We have been talking about the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan chapter by chapter. It has been a great experience to hear where the girls are coming from and what they struggle with. It's been great getting to know them outside of school. This has helped open up some relationships. I'm loving it. God has shown me in many ways about his love and how it is important to devote our whole lives to him.
Life has been busy here. I have gotten to help out with a track meet here. At this track meet, Pinares placed 3rd out of 5 teams. This was a great day for them! It was fun being there with the students and watching them participate in their sporting events. I have also gotten to go to some basketball games and help with a game day to raise money for our athletic department. It's been a great experience to see the community that is school is. I love being a part of this community. This weekend I actually got Monday off because of Discovery of America day and next week, we get Monday off for Armed Forces Day. It is weird having holidays in October. I just look at how fast this time has gone and I know before I know it, it will be December and I'll be heading home for a short visit.
There have been trials and times that have made me turn to God and truly lean on him. The first year of teaching isn't always easy like some may think. I have been so busy planning lessons and trying to be creating with not always knowing or understanding the material myself. It is hard to be creative when you don't always know what to expect. It is hard to plan these great lessons like I did in college because I have 10 a week to prepare instead of one every 4 or 5 weeks. I'm trying to be creative with the energy and time I have. I do truly know that I need God to give me this strength and energy to do my best. It's always a great comfort knowing that there is someone bigger, stronger to depend on for me.

My place!

My room! I love making this place feel like home!

View from my balcony

living room

I'm going to show you all my apartment! This is my new home with many of my things!! Trying everyday to make it totally home!

This is my place. There are more pictures on my facebook! I will try and get pictures of my classroom and tell you about many ministry opportunities that I am having and making great friendships!

Beginning of a new school year

School has begun! School started August 19th. Between the 19th and 20th I got to meet all 130 of my students that I will have this year. Most of my students are Honduran but there are a few North Americans. I am teaching 8th and 9th grade science classes. They are earth science and physical science. The beginning of the school year was a little intimidating. I wasn't sure if I truly knew what i was doing. But God has answered many prayers. This school year has started off every well. I am enjoying teaching my classes and I am enjoying getting to know my students. It is nice here because rules are different in several ways. Some are nice because they are not as strict related to teacher/student relationship. As a teacher, I can get to know my students on a friend level. It is good here because their culture focuses so much on getting to know people and the relationships. There are different rules from the school or country like only two tests for the students in a day and can't give homework on a weekend to allow for them to have time with family and church and such. It is nice to experience these differences. God has been so faithful through this whole move and getting ready for school and the beginning of school. I can't complain about anything.
Now that it is four weeks into the school year! I am truely loving it here! I have gotten many opportunities to experience that culture and learn my way around the city on public transportation. God is being so amazing and opening my eyes to many great things. I am truely enjoying getting to know my students and love watching these relationship develop. I am hoping to post pictures soon! Live is crazy busy or I'm being super social and not making time for some times! Either one God has been faithful and I am truely loving it here! Keep praying and lift up my students and help them to open their hearts to God and his love!

Finally here!

I am here and safe. My flight into Tegucigalpa arrived 2 hours late due to airplane maintence. I arrived safe and sounds with all my suitcases of 70 pounds! Overweight bag! Go figure! I am really excited to be here. First night here, I got to unpack and begin to settle. I am living with one other girl who is the same age as me and it is also her first year of teaching. It is a good thing. We will go through similar things at least! I will post pictures of the apartment soon! I want us to settle in more before pictures. We have one bathroom and each have our own bedroom. A living area and kitchen finish off the apartment. It is going to be fun. We've done some orientation things and talking about how to adjust to a new living situations and culture. We also got to tour the school and get a better feel of how classroom stuff will be. I will post pictures of my classroom too when I get them taken. There isn't a huge time change which is nice. It is tiring trying to get settled and figure everything out. Tomorrow (Saturday) we are going into the city to shop and get house ware stuff and groceries. It will be fun. This way I can decorate and make my apartment feel more like home that way! Right now, things are going very well. I am excited to begin putting my classroom together and start to work on the actually teaching stuff. I'll right more later! I'm here safe and sound!

Preparing my heart

I want to tell you all how God has been working in my life since I accepted the job at Los Pinares. This summer I had plans to work with Uncharted Waters sports ministry for at least the first session and their international session. When I accepted this job, I knew I had to stick with this commitment and not do the third session, so I could prepare to move to Honduras. I want to explain my job with UW sports ministry for those of you who do not know what this ministry is. They are a ministry that equips churches with sports related activities for effective communication of the gospel to children all over the world. I worked for them last year and loved it! I knew that this is where I needed to be again this summer and through my summer God confirmed that. With UW I get to run sports camps with basketball, soccer, cheer, and team 45 (4 and 5 year olds). We have music, bible stories, and teach basic skills to kids 6-12 years old. It’s a five day camp that we run with churches who bring us in to assist them. Every Thursday we present that Gospel to the kids. This ministry has showed me great things the two summers I have worked with them. I want to share with you my story from this past summer and how God worked in my life through UW.

I accepted the job at Los Pinares on Monday and left for UW training week in Oklahoma City on Friday. I was super excited to be going to training, but the fear and nervousness of my upcoming move to Honduras kept looming in the back of my mind. I had enough excited and busy schedule of training to put off thinking about Honduras and how to prepare my heart for this move. Training week with UW was great. I loved working with my training church and team. It was hard for me to have to leave early for my sister’s wedding. This training and working with these kids and teammates showed me how much I do love this ministry. I was having a great week that had to end early to begin wedding celebrations with Heidi. Heidi and Matt’s wedding was great and danced to the late hours and then went straight back to camp. At 6 am the morning after the wedding I was off to meet my team in South Carolina to do a week of sports camp. I had a great team and the camps were great, but my heart was still very heavy. I knew that through this first session, which was the next two weeks of when I was in South Carolina and Florida, I loved sports camp but something was tugging heavily on my heart. I was battling with something that was holding me back. I tried so hard to not think about it and forget about it. I knew I was nervous and anxious about my next step in life in Honduras. I had been praying about it and felt like I had fully given it to God. The next things I never would have expected. God spoke to me in many ways.

With UW, after the first session is international. I was placed on one of the three teams going to Haiti. I was excited about this trip and really looking forward to it and praying hard that God would open kids’ hearts to him as we traveled to Haiti to share his love with these kids. I also knew I had to pray about something else. I knew that part of my struggle first session was that I wasn’t fully comfortable with this idea of moving to Honduras. I knew it’s where God wanted me but I was still battling with it and struggling with trusting him in taking care of all the details to this move. I prayed to God in a desperate plead for help to find a more settled heart towards this move and help me be able to trust God in every situation more. I didn’t know how he was going to answer this, but I should have known he was going to answer this in a big way. I never would have expected this.

The next step in the summer was Haiti. We all fly into Washington D.C. on a Saturday and we were in Miami by Saturday night for an early flight into Haiti Sunday. Sunday was the day that God began to answer my pray in a big way. When we arrived in Haiti, my team was the only team of the three that was working independently of the other teams there the whole time. We arrived and said good-bye to the rest of the group and did not see them until we left the country ten days later. The six of us (Kim, Leslie, Carissa, Chelsea, Spencer, and I) got into a top-top and headed for the mountains outside Port-au-Prince to spend the next 10 days running sports camps. The next thing none of us saw it coming. When we arrived to the place we were going to stay, they said that they had no idea who we were and were not prepared for us. God began his work that very second. (Probably sooner actually) Luckily, the owner of this place was a Christian and made arrangements for us to stay. This day was a little stressful for us all and unexpected. That night the six of us met together and prayed for our trip and began to getting to know each other more. The next day, the chaos continued. The mission we were to work with, half of the people knew who we were and the other half didn’t. We spent all Monday working out a lot of issues that were in our schedule and figuring out what exactly we were to do while we were here. Sitting in this meeting this day was exhausting and tiring. We all were drained and struggling very much with what God had planned and didn’t realize that nothing was set up for us. I remember lying in bed that night feeling completely helpless, and just wishing I knew people there that could help. I wanted to fix the problem. I like control and I wanted to fix it and make it all better. That was not the case because God had bigger plans. Looking back, God was visible through this whole process and things worked out great. In the end, we got to share the gospel with about 1300 children in four schools over six days. God’s plan was amazing even though in the beginning none of us had no idea what to expect and were completely stripped of everything we knew how to do but pray and depend on God to work things out.

This trip gave me so much reassurance and comfort from the trials we went through. It made me completely trust God and watch his faithfulness through it all. I feel like this is a continually thing I am always learning about God. Through this, it gave me comfort in that God will be with me when I move. I realized through this situation in Haiti that I had not giving God that control and trust with my preparing to move to Honduras. From then on, I knew that I had to give this whole next step of my life completely to him and remove me from the picture. I realized I need to step back, depend on him and let him lead me and take care of me. I arrived back in the USA with a little more peace about my future and a better understand of how God will be there with me and I need to trust him. I can’t do this alone. God has to be involved. Even though it won’t always be easy, he is there to walk through it with us and take care of it all in the best way according to his plan. Even though there was confusing and chaos in Haiti, God used that to help us tell 1300 kids about him and taught me that I need to trust him more because he is faithful in every situation in life.

After arriving back in the USA, God did not stop teaching me and preparing me for my move with using UW as a way for me to learn more about him. When we got back into the country, UW has us go through a debriefing process. We spent the next two days processing our trips and what God has called us to do. Here God gave me complete peace, confirmation, and trust him related to where he has called my life this next year. I felt like everything that was talked about in debrief was directed to me and for me. It helped give me understanding and confirmation that I needed, and it helped me begin to prepare me heart for this major move in my life.

Everything time one of the staff members at UW spoke, it showed me that I was doing exactly what God wanted me to do. They spoke about God calls us to do things and we might not be comfortable but God doesn’t call us to be comfortable but uncomfortable and used the story of Peter in Act 10. It went right along with what I felt God was calling me to do. Another was about priorities. It showed me that I needed to make sure that I keep God in my top priorities, even though it is not easy to do all the time. I just need to keep focused on God and he will take care of me. I can trust him with everything. A third thing they spoke about what making sure God has a part in your every day life. The whole theme that was stressed even at the beginning of the summer was private discipline before public display. It taught me so much about my life, and how much I need to remember in every situation good, bad, stressful, or discouraging that God is there and he is taking care of me.

Through all this, it gave me the peace about moving and confirmation that I am truly where God wants me to be. I feel like I never would have learned this if it weren’t for the time with UW this summer. God used a ministry that I love participating in each summer to teach me and show me that I am doing what he has called me to do! I’m grateful for these lessons and keep them close to my heart as my time to leave is quickly approaching and my comfort level will change and my life will begin to be completely different. I know from what I’ve learned this summer that God is faithful, will always be with me, and his plan for me in Honduras is far greater then I can imagine and I need to trust him and let him lead my life.

Following God's Will

I am starting this blog to keep everyone informed on what is going on with my life. I want to start from the beginning and take everyone on this next journey of my life with me. God has opened many doors, and I can’t wait to see what others are opened with this next opportunity with my life. I will start from the beginning and work hard at keeping everyone apart of what is happening next.
God’s been rocking my world in many ways since I’ve had to start this adventure on finding my future. I didn’t know where he was leading me or what I should really do. All I did know is that I had to try my hardest to follow his will for my life. I know that his will is the best, and that it might not always be easy but rewarding in many ways. I began this process of looking for a job and figuring out the future since graduation from college was going to happen and there was no way around it.
So I talked to one of my friends in Honduras who had once mentioned a bilingual school to me. It had crossed my mind more than once while I traveled to and from Honduras about looking into teaching there for a year at least maybe more. He told the name of this school, and I looked into it. One their list of open jobs was a junior high science job. With my degree, I have always wanted to teach science more than social studies. I decided I might as well apply and let God close this door if I’m not suppose to be there. At this point, several other job openings had not come through and I was not getting interviews and nothing was opening up. I decided nothing would hurt from applying. I applied and they gave me an interview. After that, I received a second interview. I didn’t know what to think. I thought they were more serious about me since I received a second interview but did not know their whole process of hiring. I just kept praying. At the end of the second interview, they offered me a job and told me I had 15 days to decide if I would accept it or not. For the last week I have been deeply praying about this option. I came to the conclusion that the only thing that would hold me back was fear. I can’t let fear keep me from being where God wants me. I submitted a contract with Academia Los Pinares to teach junior high science for them for the next year.
As of August 5th, I will be flying down to live in Honduras for the next year. I will be back for a short visit at Christmas. All I know is that right now I’m trying my hardest to follow God. Yes there are fears and part of me is terrified to move somewhere where I know a few people but no family. I know God will be with me. I have been to Honduras so many times and each time God’s faithfulness has shown through. I know he is always there with me and guiding me. I feel this is where he wants me.
I’m writing this note to fill all of my friends in. I didn’t know any other way to do it. I didn’t want to leave anyone out, but I wanted to let all my friends know since so many of you are a great support to me and important to me. There are many prayers needed as I work on packing while traveling with UW sports ministry this summer. I don’t know Spanish that well either! This is taking me completely out of my comfort zone but God doesn’t call us to be comfortable. He calls us to follow him. This is exactly what I am trying to do. If you have any questions please ask. If you want to know more please ask! If you want to hang out before I leave the country yes please! Please pray as my parents and I work hard on packing many things in a small space, figuring out finances, and preparing our hearts for this big step of faith! When I first traveled to Honduras and fell in love with the country, I never thought that one day I would be moving there. Please, prayer is highly needed for this huge next step in my life. Life will be different once August 5th hits. I will no longer live in a society that I’ve been apart of for 24 years, but I will be figuring out a new society and culture for the next year! Please pray for safety in travel, preparing, and flexibility once I’m there to adjust to all the new changes.