strobe lights & fourth graders.

The monster bugs are visiting less and less. It looks as if we are winning the war.

We had a dance party in our house last night. Hope the neighbors don't mind. Thank goodness I brought Maria's iPod dock and that Brookstone flashlight - it has a flashing function that serves as our strobe light.

I finished my first week of teaching. It was difficult for some, but I think it went pretty well. My kids are adorable. I want to hug them all day.

Here's a photo of some of my fourth graders (from left to right: Levi, Marvin, Fausto, Edgar):

I've sent out my first round of updates for what I'm calling "Prayer for Honduras." A number of friends and family from home have agreed to pray for one of my students this year. If you'd like to participate, let me know, and I'd be glad to send you updates on one my kids.

i'm a teacher.

Classes started on Monday. Without books I had to come up with fillers for the first two days, and even though books still aren't here, I went ahead and started curriculum today. Below is a picture of the kids playing a game of telephone (where you whisper something in the first person's ear, and they relay the message all the way down the line). Their first question was "What is whisper?"

Fausto's name was on the board on Monday with one mark (That means he had to spend his recess hanging out with me on Tuesday.) for tripping kids in class. Today one of the girls told on him for tripping, and I said, "Fausto, did you stick your foot out and trip her?"
"Nooooo," he said.
"Are you lying?"
He replied giggling, "Yes, I tell lie!"
I wrote his name on the board again.

incarceration.

The house we are living in is situated as follows: two bedrooms with a bathroom in between and something of a porch/living room/kitchen. The bedrooms have padded locks, but only one has an additional latching lock. Can you tell where I’m going with this yet? A few nights ago, Rachel shut the door with all the keys inside. We had already locked all three locks on our front door, so we were completely locked in our house. I had to call the principal at 6:30 in the morning, and then Humberto, a man who works at the school, came and broke us out of our house.

monster bugs.

We battle bugs. And that’s an understatement. It’s a full-fledged war against the bugs of Honduras. Our weapons of choice (most of which were inherited upon moving in):
• broom
• hair ties
• flip-flops
• sturdy walking stick
• rusty machete

Our living room windows were lacking a basic necessity to keep the monster bugs out: screens. The girls and I fashioned our own makeshift bug-blocking system. We tore the plastic off one of the new mattresses and covered two windows. The other window and the front door we covered with bed nets, which could probably be protecting children in Africa from malaria, but for now they’re helping me sleep at night. I’m sure they’re also helping our Filipino neighbors sleep at night. In response to our screaming fit, which in my opinion was legitimized because we were defending our precious lives against the murderous bugs, they came over to check on us, “You OK? I thought maybe there was snake.”

in gracias.

Finally in Gracias, we’ve started working at the school. The week was spent in orientation and decorating our classrooms full of cheesy posters. I have no idea what I’m doing. Classes start on Monday.

The school is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I don't have an internet connection up on the mountain, and the connection in town is slow, so I'll add photos later.

Jacki and I are supposed to move into this little yellow house up the mountain, but the roof is leaking, so we moved in with Rachel and Laura Beth. Our first few nights there were somewhat traumatic. The house was full of large spiders and various insect species. We quickly learned how to utilize the machete left behind by the previous inhabitant.

I’m a very inexperienced teacher, so I’ve been taking pointers from the teachers around me. Vicente told me that if my kids were bad, I could threaten to send them to China. He said, “They don’t really like the idea of going to China.”

first days.

San Pedro Sula welcomed me with a hot and humid rain on Tuesday. I arrived with the news that a peaceful protest had turned into a fire riot in Tegucigalpa. The following day the other teachers, our escorts from the school, and I rode there, avoiding a certain route because of a march in support of exiled president Zelaya.

Jacki and I are staying at the Lagos' house in Santa Lucía, a suburb of Tegucigalpa, while we get official business squared away with the school. The Lagos are very active administrators at Vida Abundante, and they are the sweetest, most hospitable people. Their house is as lovely as their family.

We spent our first evening here eating the most delicious meal and watching the Honduras vs. Costa Rica soccer game with the Lagos. I had forgotten how intense soccer is down here. I love laughing that hard.

Santa Lucía is a colonial town full of steep cobblestone roads and beautiful architecture. Jacki and I walked around yesterday and today and snapped a few photos.

We found some cute puppies during our exploration of Santa Lucía.

We took care of a lot of business yesterday in Tegucigalpa - background checks, bank accounts, cell phones, exchanging money from dollars to lempiras, etc. We spent most of our day at Vida Abundante with the other teachers. Signed contracts, took care of health insurance, and had a little orientation today. We leave for Gracias tomorrow.

moving day.

A year and a half ago when I was in Ecuador, I fell in love with Riobamba. I loved the quaint structure of the Latin American town, the beautiful spirit of the indigenous people of the mountains, the vivacity of the Pucará Church of the Nazarene, and the adorable children of Nazarene school. I thought to myself, I would love to live somewhere like here and teach in a school like this. There in Riobamba I felt God revealing a glimpse of His plan for me. I cried when I left that town.

The more I've researched Gracias, the more I've recognized that which I loved of Riobamba. I'm going back to Latin America. I'll be living in a curious little town in the mountains. I'm going to teach in a Christian school. God is amazing. I never thought He would allow me to serve in such a capacity so soon. I am so thankful and so happy.

I don't expect the following year to be easy. I expect to be challenged and stretched. I expect adventure and exciting new experiences with new friends. I expect to learn a lot and to grow, and I expect God to work and move — in me, in Vida Abundante, in Gracias, and in the lives of others.

I'm all packed (Somehow I've managed to squeeze a year's necessities into a few suitcases.) and I'm flying to Honduras today. I am beyond excited.