Hola!!!
We arrived in Tegucilgapa, Honduras 2 weeks ago. What?!?! Sometimes I feel like the time is crawling by and sometimes I feel like its flying by, but things have been great so far. My fabulous team of five is serving at the Loyalty School this month here in Tegucilgapa. Our ministry host started this bilingual school in the mountains of Honduras eight years ago. Yes, I said up IN the mountains!! So IT. IS. GORGEOUS! My team and I stay at the school, so we get to go to sleep and wake up surrounded by God’s glory. We have toilets, running water, electricity and get to take cold showers as often as we want. Yes, I said cold… but I’m just thankful we stay fresh. They feed us three meals a day, all cooked by one of the hardest working ladies I have ever seen. She wakes up every morning and with the help of two of her older children (who do this before they go to school) she cleans the entire school. She then teaches classes here at Loyalty School, then walks down the mountain to catch a bus for college classes of her own. Somewhere in there, she finds time to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner for my team and her family. Walking up and down this mountain is no joke. We walked a little over three miles one way the other day to go to the grocery store. I didn’t realize how much downhill we walked on the way until the three miles of walking back. This south Texas girl is not used to these mountains, so talk about sore!! The form of transportation here is one of the many things that God has put into perspective for me in just a short amount of time.
Our view from the school…
So, what have I been doing here? Teaching, of course. At first I didn’t know how I felt about leaving teaching for a year, just to come and teach some more… but God knew what He was doing and definitely has me here for a reason. I know I will be a better teacher when I return to the states because of this experience. I have been teaching Reading, Spelling, Health, Bible, and Art to 3rd, 4th, and 6th graders. This is a bilingual school, but the students primarily speak Spanish. It has been a real challenge, but yet another one of the many things God has put into perspective for me. We have been teaching for over a week now and its so sweet seeing small breakthroughs in their learning.
Our ministry host works so hard and usually teaches all the classes that my team and I are teaching this month. He is a husband, father of two, the principal, bus driver, teacher, and nurse. We are happy to give him the rest he so desperately needs, although he would never admit it. Him and his family live about an hour away from the school. Many nights they get home late and wake up to start their day at 4 am. On Sundays, Loyalty School is transformed into a small little church. Can you guess who the preacher is? Yes, our ministry host! He wears so many hats, and he wears them well… and while under every single one of those hats, he gives all the glory and praise to Jesus. Just tonight, he took us to a play at the theater with his family. It was really neat to experience their culture, even though some of us only understood one out of every like 52 words. After dropping off his family at home after the play, he drove all the way back to the school to drop us off just, to turn around and drive the hour back home… then turn around and do it all over again tomorrow. He is an incredibly selfless man of God. Please say a prayer for our host and the Loyalty school. Last night the rain came pouring down all night and serious damage was done to the property. It is going to be expensive to fix, but I had the opportunity to pray with our host this morning and he is trusting that this bump in the road is in God’s hands.
My team and I decided to have a verse each week to memorize. The first week we picked Proverbs 2:6. “For the Lord gives us wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” One of my teammates wrote this verse and put it by the door so we could see it everyday when we walked out. We knew we would need His wisdom over the next month to teach our students who primarily speak Spanish. Anyways, our ministry host was showing us around the school and as we look up in one of the classrooms, painted on the wall was Proverbs 2:6. It was a really neat moment for my team and I. Our host took our room reminder paper and hung it in his office. This was one of God’s many reminders that He is going to equip us with exactly what we need!
P.S. I know you are all wondering about the bean situation over here in Central America… I went a few days bean free, and then one night they arrived on my plate. I was able to pick around them, but another night they were smeared all over these flour tortillas that looked amazing (minus the beans)… I wiped the beans off with a napkin as much as possible, butttt I did have to eat a smidgen of the residue that was left:0 One of my teammates who can speak Spanish told the lady who cooks for us that I’m allergic to beans, so she just leaves them off my plate now. The other night she made me Ramen noodles when everyone else had beans and tortillas, so the bean dilemma is under control y’all, praise the Lord!
P.S.S When walking into a building here in Honduras, you must push the doors open… NOT pull! I have made this mistake one too many times while being here and the door alwayssss tricks me when I walk in and out!
P.S.S.S This picture explains my 27th birthday here in Honduras 🙂
Until next time!
All my love,
Lynds
