After circle and breakfast, Jen & I headed for the school to take measurements of the 9th grade (where Andrés is). The volunteer team went home early this morning, so all remaining measurements are now left up to Jen & I to finish. It only took about 20-30 minutes, so we helped Jessica in the library when we were finished. The power was out, so it´s a good thing Bob´s laptop had a full charge in order to keep entering the library´s inventory into Excel.
After lunch we got one of the special needs classes completed (that only comes in the afternoons) and the 10th grade. Measuring took the full 1.5 hours of school time this afternoon, so I headed to bible study and supper afterward, then home to change for church.
A Danish man of 23 years gave his testimony while Katja translated from Danish to Spanish for the children in the church. From time to time, I´d summarize to English for Jen. David talked afterwards about how you should not be ashamed to talk about God and to give yourself to Him. I was pretty tired after church, so even though there was a goodbye party for Todd, I had to head off to bed.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
August 11th - Library Work
We went to circle and breakfast with the little girls again, heading home afterward for a 5-10 minute break before spending the entire morning at school taking more measurements. We finished all elementary school with the exception of the special needs classes that only run in the afternoon, so we headed to the high school classes where we measured every class except the one Andrés had been going to.
We broke for lunch and after lunch helped Jessica (a long-term volunteer) in the library. She is taking inventory and recategorizing the library, since the current system is not working. She gave me her flash drive to start making changes to the existing list, but when I got home after supper and put her disk into Bob´s laptop, there was a big error message about a Trojan virus on her disk. The only option for inventory at this point was for me to start typing the 40+ pages of inventory (title, author, number of copies, old catalog # and new catalog #) by hand.
During supper, Jen went with Jessica to hand out medicines. Jessica may be going on vacation next week, so Jen could fill in for her. She stayed afterward to play volleyball and games with the team volunteers and was at the volunteer house when David & Lydia came over to share their testimony. Since it was fresh in her mind, I had her tell it to Andrés. It was an amazing story! You´ll have to ask her about it sometime.
We broke for lunch and after lunch helped Jessica (a long-term volunteer) in the library. She is taking inventory and recategorizing the library, since the current system is not working. She gave me her flash drive to start making changes to the existing list, but when I got home after supper and put her disk into Bob´s laptop, there was a big error message about a Trojan virus on her disk. The only option for inventory at this point was for me to start typing the 40+ pages of inventory (title, author, number of copies, old catalog # and new catalog #) by hand.
During supper, Jen went with Jessica to hand out medicines. Jessica may be going on vacation next week, so Jen could fill in for her. She stayed afterward to play volleyball and games with the team volunteers and was at the volunteer house when David & Lydia came over to share their testimony. Since it was fresh in her mind, I had her tell it to Andrés. It was an amazing story! You´ll have to ask her about it sometime.
August 10th - Measuring the Children
Today was the first day we got to participate in circle since we got here late Friday morning. Circle is a morning devotion where the children begin by singing songs and then get a small message for the day. We had missed circle by a few hours on Friday and there isn´t circle on Saturdays & Sundays. Jen & I went to the little girls circle and Andrés headed to the older boys. They sang songs in English and Spanish and a few in Danish. Then Merethe spoke about opening your heart and listening to God.
After breakfast, Jen & I helped the volunteer team measure the kids to post their sizes on the internet for their sponsors - in case their sponsors would like to buy them clothes for Christmas. At first, the team started taking all measurements for each child individually, so when one child´s measurements were done, then they moved on to the next. They had about 6-8 people just standing around doing nothing (not to mention there are well over 400 children at the orphanage who needed sizing done). I came up with an "assembly line" type of system so we could get the kids through faster...minimizing the amount of time they´d be missing class, allowing all volunteers to participate and stay busy measuring, and also maximizing the number of children we got sized per hour. Jen and another volunteer would call a name of a child and that child would get a post-it note with their name on it. They´d come to me first and I´d measure their height (in inches and centimeters) and write it on their paper, then they´d go to the next volunteer for another measurement, and keep moving until their final measurement (shoe size) at the end. The lady measuring feet kept the post-it and gave it to a girl who would record it on her long list of students. During the 2 hours we worked yesterday we got all but 2 classes from the 1st grade through the 6th grade (and most grades had 2 classrooms full of students).
After having lunch with the little girls, Jen, Andrés and I went in to town to get a phone card and some groceries. We should be set for the 2 weeks now. We went to bible study at 3pm and Merethe talked about the 10 Commandments, first checking to see how many girls knew all 10, then going on to talk about how the first set of commandments are for God and the 2nd set had been given to honor each other. When bible study was over, Merethe asked if I´d like to lead next Monday´s bible study for the little and medium girls...HOW EXCITING!
The little girls I was in charge of bathing last year remembered me & all the way to supper were begging for me to come and help them take baths once again. After supper, we headed to the older boys soccer activities that were being put on by the volunteer group (since Saturday´s activities were only for the young & medium children). Andrés played basketball in the gym while that was going on.
Jen & I headed back after the soccer activities, but Andrés stayed for a bit to play volleyball with the volunteer team. We made a few calls home and most likely used up an entire phone card doing it, then called it a night.
After breakfast, Jen & I helped the volunteer team measure the kids to post their sizes on the internet for their sponsors - in case their sponsors would like to buy them clothes for Christmas. At first, the team started taking all measurements for each child individually, so when one child´s measurements were done, then they moved on to the next. They had about 6-8 people just standing around doing nothing (not to mention there are well over 400 children at the orphanage who needed sizing done). I came up with an "assembly line" type of system so we could get the kids through faster...minimizing the amount of time they´d be missing class, allowing all volunteers to participate and stay busy measuring, and also maximizing the number of children we got sized per hour. Jen and another volunteer would call a name of a child and that child would get a post-it note with their name on it. They´d come to me first and I´d measure their height (in inches and centimeters) and write it on their paper, then they´d go to the next volunteer for another measurement, and keep moving until their final measurement (shoe size) at the end. The lady measuring feet kept the post-it and gave it to a girl who would record it on her long list of students. During the 2 hours we worked yesterday we got all but 2 classes from the 1st grade through the 6th grade (and most grades had 2 classrooms full of students).
After having lunch with the little girls, Jen, Andrés and I went in to town to get a phone card and some groceries. We should be set for the 2 weeks now. We went to bible study at 3pm and Merethe talked about the 10 Commandments, first checking to see how many girls knew all 10, then going on to talk about how the first set of commandments are for God and the 2nd set had been given to honor each other. When bible study was over, Merethe asked if I´d like to lead next Monday´s bible study for the little and medium girls...HOW EXCITING!
The little girls I was in charge of bathing last year remembered me & all the way to supper were begging for me to come and help them take baths once again. After supper, we headed to the older boys soccer activities that were being put on by the volunteer group (since Saturday´s activities were only for the young & medium children). Andrés played basketball in the gym while that was going on.
Jen & I headed back after the soccer activities, but Andrés stayed for a bit to play volleyball with the volunteer team. We made a few calls home and most likely used up an entire phone card doing it, then called it a night.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
August 9th - Our Wisconsin Flag
After eating breakfast with the little girls, we headed to church. I saw David & Lydia (the founders of Emmanuel) before heading in to church, so gave him the flag of Wisconsin that my dad had bought. Last year I had noticed that there are many flags hung inside the church of the countries and states of the many volunteers Emmanuel has had over the years. They did not have a Wisconsin flag, which I made note of in one of my blogs. By the time I returned to the States last year, my dad had already purchased one for me to take this year!
The preacher was a pastor from the volunteer group and as he spoke each sentence in English, another of their volunteers translated for the many children. He talked about Solomon and also about the prodical son, and how when God speaks that we are to listen and respond. God rejoices when you go to Him.
After church, I started a load of laundry and then we went to have lunch with the little girls...all the while, Andrés played chess with the older boys. We walked down to the entrance of Emmanuel where they have a store and a little restaurant, and Jenny bought the last black, non-termite-infested baseball cap with Emmanuel´s logo embroidered on it.
Around 2pm, I brought one of the 50 (or so) Disney movies in Spanish that had belonged to Andrés to the dining hall for the young girls to watch. Merethe said they had never seen Anastasia before. These were all movies Andrés had accumulated over the years on VHS, and since we don´t watch them nearly as much anymore, I thought they would get a lot more use down here...and all the better that they are completely in Spanish!!!
We had supper after the movie and then went back to the farmhouse for the rest of the evening.
The preacher was a pastor from the volunteer group and as he spoke each sentence in English, another of their volunteers translated for the many children. He talked about Solomon and also about the prodical son, and how when God speaks that we are to listen and respond. God rejoices when you go to Him.
After church, I started a load of laundry and then we went to have lunch with the little girls...all the while, Andrés played chess with the older boys. We walked down to the entrance of Emmanuel where they have a store and a little restaurant, and Jenny bought the last black, non-termite-infested baseball cap with Emmanuel´s logo embroidered on it.
Around 2pm, I brought one of the 50 (or so) Disney movies in Spanish that had belonged to Andrés to the dining hall for the young girls to watch. Merethe said they had never seen Anastasia before. These were all movies Andrés had accumulated over the years on VHS, and since we don´t watch them nearly as much anymore, I thought they would get a lot more use down here...and all the better that they are completely in Spanish!!!
We had supper after the movie and then went back to the farmhouse for the rest of the evening.
August 8th - A Soccer Tournament
We woke up this morning and went to eat breakfast with the little girls. We had granola cereal, Mott´s applesauce (expired, but only by a few months) and a bubble gum vitamin. At 9am we headed to the gym to help the volunteer team with the soccer activities for the day. The little and medium girls went through the drills and tournament games from 9am until noon.
There was a clown, face painting, a water balloon toss, a bean bag toss, and even people who made animals/swords/hats out of those long hotdog-type balloons! While I watched the beginnings of the water balloon toss, I accidentally stepped on an ENORMOUS ant hill. There must´ve been hundreds on my shoes and socks, before they finally reached my leg and started biting. I will definitely be watching my step from here on out! Andrés and I spent all morning filling water balloons to replenish the ones that had broken (and the ones that the girls were consistently stealing & breaking).
We served the girls lunch: hotdogs, beans & chips. We had a small break before the little and medium boys came from 1pm until 4pm. For this group, they needed someone to do that face-painting, so I volunteered. When the activities were over, we served the boys the same foods for supper. Jen, Andrés & I definitely got sunburned!!!
After all of the soccer activities, Jen & I decided to retire to the house for the evening, while Andrés went to play some chess with the older boys. He was very excited that many of them knew how to play chess! When he got back, we chatted for a while before calling it a night.
There was a clown, face painting, a water balloon toss, a bean bag toss, and even people who made animals/swords/hats out of those long hotdog-type balloons! While I watched the beginnings of the water balloon toss, I accidentally stepped on an ENORMOUS ant hill. There must´ve been hundreds on my shoes and socks, before they finally reached my leg and started biting. I will definitely be watching my step from here on out! Andrés and I spent all morning filling water balloons to replenish the ones that had broken (and the ones that the girls were consistently stealing & breaking).
We served the girls lunch: hotdogs, beans & chips. We had a small break before the little and medium boys came from 1pm until 4pm. For this group, they needed someone to do that face-painting, so I volunteered. When the activities were over, we served the boys the same foods for supper. Jen, Andrés & I definitely got sunburned!!!
After all of the soccer activities, Jen & I decided to retire to the house for the evening, while Andrés went to play some chess with the older boys. He was very excited that many of them knew how to play chess! When he got back, we chatted for a while before calling it a night.
August 7th - Orphanage Emmanuel
After getting up early this morning, we took a taxi to the bust station. Unfortunately when we got there, we found out we were at the wrong station! One of the workers at that station was SUPER kind and offered to take us in his truck to the right bus station so that we could make the bus before it left. When we got there, I tried to give him some money for gas, but he said "No Cobro", meaning I don´t want any money. I begged him to take the L$20 because he had been so kind. Not only did he help us get the tickets & get on the right bus, but he also stopped a guy from stealing Jen´s suitcase from beneath the bus after we had already boarded the bus!!! He was truly a guardian angel sent by God today to help us out.
We got to Guaimaca without problems today...Andrés took his Dramamine that we had to purchase in Tegus. From the bus stop, we grabbed a taxi to get to Emmanuel. Once at Emmanuel, we caught up with Katja and Lydia and they gave us the keys to the farmhouse. Andrés went on ahead with Wade and the luggage. It is actually a 2 bedroom duplex. A Danish couple (Annette & Daniel) live on the other side. It was much too big for the 3 of us. One bedroom had 3 beds, and the other had 4.
When we got settled in with the luggage, we ran into town to get some groceries from their local supermarket (which, by the way, is not ANYTHING like our Walmart-Superstores). On the way into town, we ran into Tammi who is in charge of the medium girls house. After putting the groceries away, I gave Andrés & Jen a tour of the orphanage.
Towards the end of the tour, we got to the school and school was actually getting out, so I saw Merethe and she wanted to take me immediately to Doris...saying that Doris was just starting to slip in school & actually needed me to be there (in Emmanuel) at that moment. When I saw Doris, she was in complete shock. Although I told her last year that I would come back, I never got to give her exact dates. It was GREAT to see her!
We ate supper at 3:45pm. Andrés had to go eat with the boys since it´s expected that you eat with your own gender. Jen & I went to eat with the young girls (who I was with last year). After supper, we headed to the soccer field since a volunteer group was running games and drills for the girls. Jen had the soccer expertise and I translated how the drills were supposed to go. When the games were over for the night, Jen handed out some of the "paletas picantes" (Mexican chili-coated suckers I had purchased in the States).
When we got back to the farmhouse, I called Noah to say goodnight. We waited for Andrés to get back to hear about his afternoon...but I´ll let you read his blog to know about that!
We got to Guaimaca without problems today...Andrés took his Dramamine that we had to purchase in Tegus. From the bus stop, we grabbed a taxi to get to Emmanuel. Once at Emmanuel, we caught up with Katja and Lydia and they gave us the keys to the farmhouse. Andrés went on ahead with Wade and the luggage. It is actually a 2 bedroom duplex. A Danish couple (Annette & Daniel) live on the other side. It was much too big for the 3 of us. One bedroom had 3 beds, and the other had 4.
When we got settled in with the luggage, we ran into town to get some groceries from their local supermarket (which, by the way, is not ANYTHING like our Walmart-Superstores). On the way into town, we ran into Tammi who is in charge of the medium girls house. After putting the groceries away, I gave Andrés & Jen a tour of the orphanage.
Towards the end of the tour, we got to the school and school was actually getting out, so I saw Merethe and she wanted to take me immediately to Doris...saying that Doris was just starting to slip in school & actually needed me to be there (in Emmanuel) at that moment. When I saw Doris, she was in complete shock. Although I told her last year that I would come back, I never got to give her exact dates. It was GREAT to see her!
We ate supper at 3:45pm. Andrés had to go eat with the boys since it´s expected that you eat with your own gender. Jen & I went to eat with the young girls (who I was with last year). After supper, we headed to the soccer field since a volunteer group was running games and drills for the girls. Jen had the soccer expertise and I translated how the drills were supposed to go. When the games were over for the night, Jen handed out some of the "paletas picantes" (Mexican chili-coated suckers I had purchased in the States).
When we got back to the farmhouse, I called Noah to say goodnight. We waited for Andrés to get back to hear about his afternoon...but I´ll let you read his blog to know about that!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
August 6th - Visiting Eduardo
Sorry about the delay in posting, we found out when we arrived to Orphanage Emmanuel that there was no longer wireless (ask me about it when I get back...there IS a reason why). So, to backtrack for you...
On August 6th, I woke up around 5am, showered and read my Bible while waiting for Jenny and Andrés to wake up. We went to a place called Super Donuts to have breakfast quickly, then headed back to our hotel room to wait for our ride to visit Eduardo. Eduardo is the child that Andrés sponsors through Compassion International.
A man named Oscar picked us up just after 9am and took us to the Compassion project. Eduardo, Elena (his mom) and various Compassion staff were there to meet us. They were all surprised to see that Andrés was the same age as Eduardo...aparently Andrés is an OLD MAN´s name in Honduras. They showed us the church (which has over 1300 members) and classrooms, and talked about the Compassion program which takes a holistic approach to educating children (spiritually, academically, medically and socially).
We made a quick stop at Eduardo´s great-grandmother´s house. She is 83 years old and cares for a 6-year old and another child all by herself. She walked with a limp, because she was on that plane last year which crashed in that lake in New York (sorry, I can´t remember the details well). She had been visiting her daughter in New York City.
Our next stop was to Eduardo´s house where we sat and talked. He showed Andrés his room which has a twin bed that he shares with his 11-year old brother Guillermo. So I told Andrés that when Noah crawls in with him in the middle of the night (which happens a lot), Andrés should be thankful that Noah is only 4 years old and still pretty small yet! Andrés gave the family all of the gifts we had sent to them and even had time to play Kerplunk (a family game that was included in the gifts) with Eduardo and Guillermo so they would remember how to play it after we had left. They played twice and set it up for a 3rd time, but we had to go eat to stay on schedule.
We gave them a picture of our family with our names on it, so they would be able to more easily remember. I guess Andrés has never sent a picture of himself to Eduardo! We let Eduardo choose where to eat and so went to Burger King in a very upscale mall in Tegucigalpa. After that we headed to the mall´s arcade where Andrés and Eduardo started by playing a basketball shooting game, then moved on to air hockey, followed by soccer & ended up playing balladium - which was probably the game they had the most fun at...Ask Andrés about it or he´ll most likely have it on his blog when he gets it posted. We treated the group to some ice-cream before saying our goodbyes.
I had some great chats with Eduardo´s mom (who accompanied him the entire time) while the boys were getting to know each other. For those of you who think that Bob & I have a lot of children, Elen had TEN children (2 have since died)...and she´s only 45 years young! She is such a nice person and you can definitely see that she LOVES her family.
We took a taxi to EL CENTRO to blog and eat at the Mexican restaurant. Then we headed out to look at Honduran clothing. Both Jen & I got a couple of cute things! Our taxi driver got lost on the way back to the hotel, so we saw some pretty rough parts of Comayaguela. (I´ll bet you´re asking why I wrote Comayaguela & not Tegucigalpa) These two cities are 2 very different cities, but two that have grown so much they seem like one...sort of like Neenah-Menasha, they are only separated by a river. Because Comayaguela is not the capital, it is not as well kept. Hotels are a lot cheaper on this side of the river, which is why we´re here. All-in-all it was a great day and I´m so glad that Andrés had this opportunity!
On August 6th, I woke up around 5am, showered and read my Bible while waiting for Jenny and Andrés to wake up. We went to a place called Super Donuts to have breakfast quickly, then headed back to our hotel room to wait for our ride to visit Eduardo. Eduardo is the child that Andrés sponsors through Compassion International.
A man named Oscar picked us up just after 9am and took us to the Compassion project. Eduardo, Elena (his mom) and various Compassion staff were there to meet us. They were all surprised to see that Andrés was the same age as Eduardo...aparently Andrés is an OLD MAN´s name in Honduras. They showed us the church (which has over 1300 members) and classrooms, and talked about the Compassion program which takes a holistic approach to educating children (spiritually, academically, medically and socially).
We made a quick stop at Eduardo´s great-grandmother´s house. She is 83 years old and cares for a 6-year old and another child all by herself. She walked with a limp, because she was on that plane last year which crashed in that lake in New York (sorry, I can´t remember the details well). She had been visiting her daughter in New York City.
Our next stop was to Eduardo´s house where we sat and talked. He showed Andrés his room which has a twin bed that he shares with his 11-year old brother Guillermo. So I told Andrés that when Noah crawls in with him in the middle of the night (which happens a lot), Andrés should be thankful that Noah is only 4 years old and still pretty small yet! Andrés gave the family all of the gifts we had sent to them and even had time to play Kerplunk (a family game that was included in the gifts) with Eduardo and Guillermo so they would remember how to play it after we had left. They played twice and set it up for a 3rd time, but we had to go eat to stay on schedule.
We gave them a picture of our family with our names on it, so they would be able to more easily remember. I guess Andrés has never sent a picture of himself to Eduardo! We let Eduardo choose where to eat and so went to Burger King in a very upscale mall in Tegucigalpa. After that we headed to the mall´s arcade where Andrés and Eduardo started by playing a basketball shooting game, then moved on to air hockey, followed by soccer & ended up playing balladium - which was probably the game they had the most fun at...Ask Andrés about it or he´ll most likely have it on his blog when he gets it posted. We treated the group to some ice-cream before saying our goodbyes.
I had some great chats with Eduardo´s mom (who accompanied him the entire time) while the boys were getting to know each other. For those of you who think that Bob & I have a lot of children, Elen had TEN children (2 have since died)...and she´s only 45 years young! She is such a nice person and you can definitely see that she LOVES her family.
We took a taxi to EL CENTRO to blog and eat at the Mexican restaurant. Then we headed out to look at Honduran clothing. Both Jen & I got a couple of cute things! Our taxi driver got lost on the way back to the hotel, so we saw some pretty rough parts of Comayaguela. (I´ll bet you´re asking why I wrote Comayaguela & not Tegucigalpa) These two cities are 2 very different cities, but two that have grown so much they seem like one...sort of like Neenah-Menasha, they are only separated by a river. Because Comayaguela is not the capital, it is not as well kept. Hotels are a lot cheaper on this side of the river, which is why we´re here. All-in-all it was a great day and I´m so glad that Andrés had this opportunity!
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