Goodbye Maryland

Due to a "goof-up" on my part, the Wisconsin team is headed out one day later than the Maryland team...who left this morning about 7:30am.  The BONUS for us is that we have one more day here and it should be more of a "down-time" day where the team members can spend more time with the kids or take them to the store, etc.  We saw the Maryland team off on the bus, then went to do KP (kitchen patrol)...washing dishes and cleaning up the dining area.  We made sure that the courtyard was back to normal and all decorations were taken down.

After all cleaning was done, we took a walk down to the farm to check out the cement that the men had been working on yesterday.  They got 1/2 of the greenhouse done and asked me to take a picture of it now and then after the Alabama team (who was coming in later this afternoon) finished their half to see which one ended up better.

The MD/WVA/WI half of cement work for the greenhouse.

From Left to right: Bekah, Kelsey, Alina, Bob, Nate, Lane, and Mark examining the cement job

 Since the hydroponics area is right next to the greenhouse, we went there next so that Lane could explain to us how it all worked.  Basically the waste from the tilapia farm is sent to these hydroponics raceways which will fertilize the plants that float on them.  I believe Trey made the first few floating pods, but as we were walking to the farm, we passed by Wade with his 2 daughters who had just planted another pod of 72 carrots!

Lane next to the hydroponics raceway

The plants in the raceway

Wade with his 2 daughters and John Will (a male volunteer) carrying carrots to the raceway

Mark took quite a few boys to the store today for some snacks and was surprised by the boys who didn't open their bag of chips because they wanted to take them back to all of the boys to share.

Later this afternoon the Alabama team came in.  They seem so nice, although their accent is SO STRONG.  This particular group comes from the same town as Wade, so he knew many of the members on this team.  He let them know that they had some hard work ahead of them with laying cement and trying to do as good of a job as the MD/WVA/WI team did. 

2014 Honduras HoeDown

Today's the day of the HoeDown!  There's a lot of things that need to get done in terms of decorating and food preparation before this can happen (lights, food, a banner, making kiddie bags, planning kids activities, sweeping the courtyard, and table decorations).  I woke up very early this morning and since I didn't have internet access, began right away on making up the kiddie gift bags.  We found out pretty early that it's also the day that cement needs to get poured at the greenhouse, so just about all of the men are needed that way.  A handful of women stayed back to help Bob in the kitchen and I needed to be at school at 8:30 to translate for John's math lesson.

The math lesson was a continuation of what John had done on Wednesday - Algebra word problems.  We put the students into groups, just like in my classroom back in Wisconsin (it's a CPM math, feel free to ask me about it sometime), and assigned each group a problem to set up.  The class went fairly smoothly and John did a great job explaining the problems.  At the end of the class, Profe Ramon mentioned to the students that there are various ways to solve the algebra problems and even though he would've taken a different route than John, the answers came out the same each and every time.  He let the students know that it's the practice that's necessary in order to solve problems.

John teaching Algebra

After school, I headed back to the team house to work some more on preparations for the HoeDown before lunch.  After lunch, I was needed to help size the grandecitos boys.  They are the boys that are in between the medium boys and the large boys, about ages 13-15 who had a house built for them last summer.  I had a plaque made for them with the verses that were read during the ribbon-cutting ceremony last summer which come from Psalm 133 - How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!  It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes.  It is as if the dew of Mount Zion.   For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.  What fitting words for these boys of this age!  The plaque is now hung above the door to their house.

At the grandecitos house, I had to help measure the boys.  Luis David (who I've known for the past 7 years of coming down here, and who also has a crush on Alina as of this year) helped me get the boys through as quickly as possible so that I could return to the Team House for more HoeDown preparations.  I was very thankful to him for this!

Back at the Team House, we had about 2 hours before the HoeDown began.  The men and teen boys came back from doing cement and Nate and Lane (as well as a few others) got to work putting up the Christmas lights so that we'd have nice lighting around the courtyard.  Bob was still in the kitchen finishing up the mini-apple pies, and I was decorating the tables with the tablecloths and balloons that Alina worked with others to blow up in the morning.  Everything came together pretty nicely and by the grace of God (because I felt the time-crunch) it was finished just as the HoeDown would begin at 6pm.

Our decorated courtyard

Alina and Lori with John doing a photo-bomb

Kelsey, LoriAnn, and Nate ready for the HoeDown

As people came up to the Team House, they were guided to the gazebo where Erin took their picture in front of a beautiful sunset backdrop that Rita had spent the day painting.  Then they chatted out front for a while before being escorted to their tables.  We found out the container had come, so the men wouldn't be joining us until way later because it needed to be emptied immediately.  Their wives were instructed to make a plate up for them and to have it ready.  Kelsey did a wonderful job getting our teens together during the week to learn a line dance that would be performed with a select few Emmanuel staff and volunteers.  Erin created a beautiful devotion to read before the meal, and Mark finished the devotion with a prayer to bless our food.  The meal included Texas toast, pulled pork, chicken, cole slaw, baked beans, watermelon and mini-apple pies.  We even had an unexpected, uninvited guest (see below)!!! All-in-all it was a nice time!

LoriAnn and Katja

Seating of our guests 

Katja chosen to line dance...was that random?

Erin's devotion about the Shepherd and the sheep

Our unexpected, uninvited guest appearance!

English Classes with Mr. Moran

This morning I headed to the medium girls house for circle, then our team had breakfast and we had a brief team meeting about what was going on today.  I headed to school with Mark Moran, who will be one of Alina's 6th grade teachers next year to work with him in the English classes.  His lesson reinforced English words through the teaching of drawing in 3-D.  It was very interesting for the students and most participated.

Mark teaching English through a drawing demonstration

After the first class, the students in the elementary school were released for recess, so we headed over to the high school where the students in Bachillerato 2 (last year of high school) were selling food to raise funds for their graduation.  These students need to pay for their clothing for graduation as well as all of the decorations, the graduation dinner and all other expenses that are included with this.  Since our breakfasts are so big at the team house, I wasn't hungry...but instead used money to buy each of the high school teachers a meal.  Doris helped me to deliver each of the meals.

After recess, we headed to the next class where Mark gave the same English lesson.  The students were so engaged!  After lunch, Mark's daughter Bekah and I spent the entire afternoon delivering invitations for the 2014 Honduras HoeDown.  I think that we pretty much circled the orphanage twice in the hot sun in order to track everyone down.

After classes were finished, about 3:30pm, I headed over to the farm where Justin and his grandmother Cindy had planned activities for the boys which included origami.  I translated for Justin, who showed the boys how to make a crane out of paper.  One of the boys already had experience with origami so he worked ahead, which was neat to see.

Our team left for La Chiquita (a restaurant in Guaimaca) with David & Lydia around 4:45.  It was nice and sort of a buffet style.  Since it was Lydia's birthday, we all sang happy birthday to her.  I also purchased a gift for my dad and the owner of the restaurant and gift shop (who was in her early 80s) laughed when I told her how my dad would use it...she said that her dad did the exact same thing and she had NEVER met anyone else who used this particular gift in this way.  I'm sorry if I can't give more details, but if my dad reads this, I don't want to give away the gift!  You can ask me for more info if you're curious.

From left to right: Michelle, Audrey, Kelsey, Heather, and Bekah at La Chiquita

We finished the evening by adding some color to the place mats that Erin had created for the HoeDown tomorrow.  I think we might have broken curfew by about 4 minutes in order to finish them all!!!

Orphans No More

This morning we headed to the medium girls' house.  Again, since I had my Bible, I was asked to do the devotions for the morning.  I talked more about last night's sermon which was about living in harmony.  I had noticed that the girls were wearing the T-Shirts that Kelsey's family had sent down from their church.  The Bible verse had been misprinted on the bottom, so the church couldn't use the T-Shirts.  When Kelsey saw them, she asked the church if she could have them to ship down to Emmanuel.  The girls now wear them as part of their school uniform, which is what they tend to do when they get shirts in bulk, since they have to match.

Kelsey with the medium girls wearing the 'Orphans No More' t-shirts.

After circle, we headed to eat breakfast and then John and I went to Profe Ramon's class for John to teach math.  He taught an algebra lesson on word problems, converting them into equations (with fractions) and solving them.  It went well and at the end, the students asked if Profe Ramon would let him come back on Friday to teach.  They did not have math class on Friday, but the students begged that the schedule be changed, so Profe Ramon said he'd talk to the principal to see if this would be okay and he'd get back to us...he later let us know that John should come back on Friday.

After lunch, Matt and Ellen took people from the team into town (Guaimaca) to see what living outside the orphanage is like.  Because of the new highways from Tegucigalpa to Guaimaca, the city is becoming more and more dangerous, so the team had to go in 'shifts' into town, rather than one big group.

While they were gone, I went with Rita to the elementary school (6th grade) where she taught the kids the words to the song: The Wheels on the Bus.  Our teenagers looked a little "less than excited" to be singing this in front of the class, but I reminded them that when they are in Spanish 1 or Spanish 2, they are singing the same types of songs (which would most likely get the same reaction from a native speaker).

After school I headed to the Arts and Crafts house (La Casita) where Kelsey and Bekah had some special needs children who were decorating crosses for the HoeDown.  We finished up with time to get ready for church this evening.  When I got to church, Doris informed me that Michell had left the orphanage with 2 other girls and there were people out looking for her.  This had me worried during the entire service.  I prayed quietly to myself for her safety and return throughout the service.  When we were walking Doris back to her house, another girl ran to us to let us know they had found the 3 girls and that they were back in their houses.  Michell didn't want to talk to Bob and me since she thought we'd be upset with her.  All we wanted to let her know was that we were glad she was back safe.

We ended the day with supper and another team meeting.

First Power Outage

This morning I led devotions at the big girls' circle.  I talked about Samson & Delilah and shared my devotions for the morning, which comes from the Proverbs31.org website.  The devotion is based off of Judges 16:15-16 which says, "Then she said to him, 'How can you say, "I love you," when you won't confide in me?  This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength.'  With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it."

The devotion goes on to say (which I also shared):  I wonder what Delilah thought when she got what she wanted.  Sadly Delilah shared the secret with Samson's enemies, who used the information to capture Samson, gouge out his eyes and throw him in prison.  Might she have thought, "That's not what I wanted"?  Sometimes when we get what we want, we discover we didn't want it either.  Delilah got what she asked for, but not what she really wanted...and it cost everything.  Her relationship with Samson.  Samson's freedom.  And eventually, it even cost Samson his life.  Delilah knew the power of a woman's words - how if she just persisted she would eventually get what she wanted.  She misused the power of influence God had given her.  How about you?  Ever found yourself pressing for what you think you want?  We can learn a lot from Delilah.  We should take a moment and ask ourselves:  If I keep pushing, where will I end up?  Because maybe we can get what we want, but is that really what's best?  Is it what God wants?  Thankfully, we can stop and change our course while we still have time.

After circle, we headed back to the Team House for breakfast.  I also led a devotion there which I found in one of the devotional books I had brought to share with the girls down here in Honduras (if I were assigned to a girls' house once the team left).  Today is the 1/2-way point for our team, so I wanted to talk about the word TIME as an acronym.  Here's a synopsis of what I said:

There just doesn't seem to be enough TIME in our trip to do everything we need/want to do.  So let's take a look at how we should "see" and spend our time...

TIME IS A TREASURE
Think of what the word treasure means to you.  Perhaps you're a young teenage guy and you're picturing pirates looking for treasure.  Perhaps as a female you're thinking about jewelry.  Perhaps if you're a little older you see photo albums as a treasure.  You would never throw away your treasures (whether it be gold, silver, diamonds, pearls, jewelry, photos), would you?  You shouldn't throw away your days and minutes either.  Why?  Because they are riches & treasures too!  You may not think a lot about the value of your time and what you spend it on.  But God says it's wise to realize how precious time is.  The time He has given us here is a gift that we are to use and spend wisely.

IT'S IMPORTANT TO 'DO IT NOW'!
Are you a procrastinator?  Well think about this, we've been here for 4 entire days and there are only 4 entire days to go...are you satisfied with what you've done?  Have you used your time wisely?  Have you gotten all done that you'd like to do?

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME
Sometimes we think there's not enough hours in the day to do all of the things we have to do and want to do.  Ecclesiastes 3:1 says there is a time for you to all those things you want to do that are truly important.  Some days our days are jammed full of things to do, but realistically there are also days where you plop down into a chair and 'veg out' watching TV or texting, and you feel bored.  Why not make a list of '5 Things I Want to Do'?  Do you realize how truly exciting some free time could be?  Once you make your list, you'll find there are far more exciting ways to spend your time.  I challenged all of the team members to make their list of things to do down here with the kids or for the orphanage for this last 1/2 of the time that they're here.

EVALUATE YOUR PRIORITIES
There are many ways you can use your time.  How can you begin to choose the best options over options that are not the best?  How does God want you to approach prioritizing?  I hope you are beginning to realize how important time is, especially when it comes to time with Jesus.  We make Jesus a priority when we make a commitment to spend time with Him.  Would you fail to show up for a detention a teacher had given you?  Would you fail to show up to a friend's birthday party, to their bridal shower or wedding, to their baby shower?  I don't think so...so why would you not want to make time for Jesus, the most important person in the world?  When you spend time with Jesus, great things happen.  He makes your days more exciting.  He gives you a happy heart.  He helps you do your best and do it in a way that honors Him.  He shows you how to be more kind and helpful to others.  And He does His amazing work of transforming you into what you really want to be:  a person after His own heart.  Then when you take off on the plane out of Tegucigalpa (or put your head on your pillow at the end of the day), instead of feeling bad, you can thank Jesus for a wonderful day!

Today it was Alina's my turn for KP (kitchen patrol), which meant we had to do the dishes and make sure the dining hall was clean.  There was a team of about 5 of us who needed to get this done.  After KP, we took some special needs children down to the art and craft house to decorate some crosses for Friday's HoeDown.  After lunch, we headed to the big boys yard to do activities with them before serving supper.  They had some cat and mouse games going as well as chess games.  Then we fed them hot dogs with chips and soda.  Heather had made 200 cupcakes to give to them and the big girls, which they really appreciated.  When we were done serving the big boys, we headed over to the big girls house with the hot dogs to serve them and then stayed later to do activities (like hair, nails and soccer) with them.

Nate and Mateo 2 (from MD) playing cat and mouse with the big boys

Mark playing cat and mouse with the big boys

Lane advising the big boys on their game of chess 

Cindy (from MD) and Ellen (from Honduras) serving hot dogs

While we were doing KP after supper, the power went out, so many dishes were done in complete darkness.  It gets dark here just after 6pm.  The men got the generator going and the power went back up after about 1/2 hour.

Bob Leads Devotions

I woke up this morning to the 2nd of Dad's emails to me.  I don't know that my dad has emailed me before while I've been down here in Honduras.  It was really fun to read his version of what was going on up in the States and to get a detailed description of the sports events for Noah & Kaylyn.

I headed to the small girls' circle this morning and led devotions there.  After devotions, we served breakfast to the small girls and headed back to the team house to eat breakfast there.  A man on the MD team named John wanted me to take him to the school at 9am to talk to Robert (the principal) about teaching a lesson in Algebra this week.  He seemed anxious to get there right at 9am - as are most Americans who are concerned about being punctual.  There is another climate down here in Latin American countries when it comes to time.  We did make it to the school around 9:03, only to find out that Robert was in Tegucigalpa for the day!  That didn't surprise me, but we talked to one of the instructors at the high school and made arrangements with Profe Ramon for John to teach on Wednesday.  He doesn't speak Spanish, so I would come in to translate.

Bob & Nate spent the morning painting in the medium girls kitchen.  The wall above the stove is completely black with smoke.  It turned out to be a nice blue.  I visited with Michell (girl on right of picture below) for a bit while she was washing dishes.  This is the typical way they wash dishes...so you'll notice a basin of water and a washboard outside, all made of cement.

After lunch, many of us went to the special needs yard for a few hours to play with those children and when I saw Elvia in the school, I stopped by to say "hi" to her!

This afternoon Bob led devotions with the big boys.  What was most interesting was that the morning circle devotions led right in to Bob's devotions.  In the morning, the boys learned about the wide road and the narrow road...and that the wide road was easy and full of temptations and sin, but the narrow road is the ONLY road that leads to Jesus and although it's a much, much more difficult road to travel, this is the one that Jesus wants us on.  Bob took that idea and added to it that the only way these boys will be "men" (Men of God) is to choose that narrow road.  He gave many examples of what it is to be a man and challenged the boys to take that narrow path.

Nate chatting with the MD team

After devotions, I headed to the big girls' house to chat for a bit with Doris before heading up to the Team House for supper, followed by our nightly team meeting.

Could You do Something Outside YOUR Comfort Zone?

My devotion this morning went hand-in-hand with the talk during last night's team meeting when Joanne urged the teens to use their time wisely with the children here at Emmanuel, so I decided to share it before breakfast.

Here are the verses that accompanied my devotion:

You are the light of the world...In the same way let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.  ~Matthew 5:14,16

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  ~1 John 4:7

He answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind," and "Love your neighbor as yourself."  ~Luke 10:27

The words in the devotion that I shared:

The reason for "Jesus bumps" (as Pastor Jeff calls them) is so clear.  God wants us to extend unconditional love to His children...to offer something tangible to them for which nothing would be expected in return.  Have you ever felt that Jesus bump?  The whisper in your heart to reach out and do something that feels uncomfortable, awkward, even embarrassing?  Trust that feeling.  Quite often it's God's invitation to participate in His heavenly work.  It's God moving you to let your light shine into His broken and hurting world.  Jesus tells us we are the light of the world.  This is because when we invite Jesus into our lives, He fills our hearts with the light of His unconditional love, making us living, breathing vessels of that love.  God then intentionally intersects our lives through divine appointments so that we can shine the light of love we have received into the life of another.  Has God brought someone to your mind, prompting you to reach out to that person?  Consider how & when you can obey.

I chatted with them about these children and their past hurt and pain and how they just need people to LOVE them.  I challenged them once again to get out and make those connections...we are even told in God's Word, just after a "more famous" verse that MANY Christians like to quote time and time again -

I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.  Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.  ~Philippians 4:13-14

These children at Emmanuel NEED people to share with them in their troubles to help get them through and shine for Jesus.  I'm hoping to see the teens reach OUT more this week.  :-)

After praying we headed to breakfast and then to church.  Kelsey, Bekah and Carlos sang 2 songs and were awesome!  Kelsey also sang a solo during the offering.  After church, Mark took a few boys to the store and the rest of us got ready to head to the farm to run the activity day for the medium girls.

There were many different stations:  face painting, a sponge game, a wooden spoon and egg game, a corn hole game, whiffle ball baseball, three legged racing, soccer ball goal kick, water balloons, and jump roping.  Again, Bob and I were in charge of the water balloons and I think that the most special moment of the morning that I'd like to mention was when Cindy (a MD team member) brought Sandra around to us to throw a water balloon.  Sandra is in a wheel chair and is cognitively disabled, but our group was determined to have her participate in as many activities as possible.  We explained that she needed to throw the water balloon to Bob, and she threw it a few times before it exploded all over Bob (with a little help from him, of course).  Her smile and laugh was just the most amazing thing of the morning for me!  Here's a picture of Sandra throwing the balloon that exploded, followed by a picture of Bob later with a group of girls who had just got done tossing water balloons.

On the way back to the team house for lunch, I walked with Joanne so that we could compare notes of the trip so far.  We are beginning to see slight disruptions and tensions forming between some of the teen girls, so talked about ways to make things go more smoothly.

After lunch, we headed back to the farm to run the activities for what Emmanuel calls the Small-Large boys (or what I call the "Big Boy Wanna-Be's).  These are the boys that are too big for the medium boys house but are too small for the Big Boys house.  One of the boys I've known for the past 7 years, Luis David, had noticed Alina and was following me and Bob around all day asking about her and asking me if she could be his girlfriend.  I let him know that in our culture, the boy is supposed to ask permission from the father, so he'd have to learn English first.  But to see him following us around for the hour and 1/2 that we were down there, just asking about her was hilarious!  Looks like this could be an "uncomfortable" month for Alina down here, hee hee.

Prior to supper I had my nightly chat with Doris and then after supper we had our team meeting.  Due to the "girl tensions", after the team meeting Joanne and I pulled a couple of girls aside to chat with them so that we could go to bed without tension and harsh feelings.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better!