Sappy Thanksgiving Post

Yesterday was my first Thanksgiving to spend here in Honduras. While I was sad to miss out on time with my family, I am so thankful that I was able to spend a really great day with our group of gringos.

Donna and Stacy cooked us a very delicious, Americanized feast, and we spent the day sitting around, talking, playing games, and eating way too much.

I've spent some time reflecting on things that I’m thankful for, and on some of the differences in my life now compared to thanksgivings past. There are obviously a lot of differences. I miss my parents and my sister as well as the rest of our family, and get slightly jealous when I hear about their time together. I miss my friends. I miss the holiday atmosphere, and Christmas lights, and other even more insignificant things.

There is much to miss, but it’s impossible to forget all of the reasons that I am more than content.

There are so many things to be joyful about and thankful for! I have a group of gringos that have truly become family. I have a very unique job that I love, that has taught me to count my blessings. I live in a house full of girls that have become a whole other kind of family.. A family that is exhausting, is teaching me how to love during very difficult times, and that has returned that love and patience to me. I have coworkers that, not only can I now understand them when they speak, but have become great friends with comforting presences in a foreign place.. And this foreign place has become a place where I feel at home.

God is good. His mercies are new every morning! He has blessed me more than I can put into words, and I am truly thankful.

I am thankful for the never-ending love and support from friends and family, without which I could not be doing anything that I am doing now. I don't communicate this enough, but every message, kind word, and cent that is sent to me is a blessing and means more than you know! So thank you all, happy thanksgiving, and don’t trample anyone on this Black Friday!

Metamorphosis

This past weekend we loaded up and took 30-ish of our youth group on a fall retreat. The theme was "metamorphosis," and we focused on the life changes and growth that should come with becoming a Christian.

The speaker did a great job, and I would say the whole retreat was a success! (Other than the fact that they didn't wear shoes during one of the dinamicas where they were running around the whole campus... That was a lapse in judgement. I think I cleaned more foot wounds in those two days than I have in the past 3 years combined... New rule: shoes ALWAYS) >>>

We had 8 baptisms, glory to God! I'm generally proud to see them interact with each other and hear their commentary, and this weekend was no exception. Other than the ever-so-seldom "IF I SEE YOU THROW THAT AT HIM ONE MORE TIME YOU DON'T EVEN WANT TO KNOW..," I'm extremely proud of how well they supported and encouraged each other throughout the retreat.

Hearing their testimonies, sharing with them and occasionally offering a word of advice when they ask for it (as best I can) softens my heart and changes me just as much as they are changed during weekends such as these.

We did a thing that Jon called "cardboard testimonies." (I'm pretty sure this is "a thing" so I may be the only one that hadn't heard of it and it may have a different English translation?..) The depth and feeling in their testimonies really touched me. Many of them have been through things that I can't even imagine, and watching them address some of their issues and express the way it has led them to trust and know God taught me some things de nuevo about what it means to trust and love God in EVERY phase of life. How amazing that God is using them to teach me probably more than He is using me with them!

Maybe this part is just me, but I doubt it.. There is something about chaperoning that makes me feel incredibly old. While occasionally telling someone to pay attention, just wait to go to the bathroom, do not throw that, I wonder to myself, "When did I become such an adult?" By the end of those 3 days I was feeling the kind of exhaustion that turns into either delusional laughter or that thing where I don't realize someone has been talking to me for the past 3 minutes..(or maybe that one time that Stacy caught a picture of me examining someone's foot wound while eating a cookie..Don't worry I wasn't touching).. but I must say, things like helping with retreats has to be one of the best reasons to feel that way.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Cor. 5:17

You know there had to be piñatas. 

(Yes, plural)

*Continuing my plot to bring a love for piñatas back to the states with me*

Youth Group

I don't know that I've ever written anything about working with the youth group in Santa Rosa.. Well, other than the service projects at the hospital.. and the mission trip..

Scratch that. It's been a while since I've written anything about working with the youth group here in Santa Rosa. Basically since I moved here I've been serving as part of the leadership committee for the youth group at our church here. 

I think it's safe to say that I am easily the least useful team member for several reasons:

1. At first I was really too shy with my Spanish to speak up in meetings.
2. I do not understand things like the "dinamicas" (games) that we play. File that one under "cultural differences."
3. Everyone else on the committee does a fantastic job, so their greatness with the teens is hard to live up to! This is not sarcastic.

Here are reasons that I am proud to be considered a part of the leadership committee:

1. The other leaders. In the time that I've been here, the size of our youth group has at LEAST doubled, and if you count the youth groups of churches in our area, tripled or more. This, again, has NOTHING to do with me, but God is truly working through the other leaders and through the teens themselves. My co-workers for the mission (Jon/Stacy, Angel/Rosa and the DESEO team) have truly devoted themselves to the teens that we meet and work with, and in a society of kids that are looking for adults that care, they have truly found a handful in this leadership. 
2. These teenagers are amazing little humans (though, yes, mostly bigger than me). They are here because they want to be, almost never because their parents drag them. Most of them don't have family in the church at all. They invite friends, and they come to participate. The more I chaperone and interact with them, the prouder I am of each of them. 
3. You already know the stereotypical "spiel" about youth being the future, etc, so I won't repeat it. That spiel is true, however, and in this case I am glad that it is. This is true for all of them, but especially the young men are learning how to be leaders in the church. They attend the seminars the mission puts on and are participating in Bible studies, they are learning to speak in front of the church and even preach, but most importantly they're learning what it means to live a Christian life all the time.

I started writing this post with the intention of writing about a specific activity we had recently but got sidetracked....Imagine that. I will say that this particular group has seemed to find a really great blend of fun and serious moments. I think, and hopefully it's true, that within this group they are learning the importance of giving back to their community, to learn how to truly have a relationship with God, and how to have a fun and fulfilling life as a Christian instead of learning only the ways of fun presented by the world.

I think being part of a youth group can help establish a Christian walk early because being part of a youth group when I was a teenager is partly responsible for my faith now. I'm extremely glad to have a chance to participate from this side of the youth group now, and I am more than happy to be "the weird gringa" that is getting to know them and occasionally giving unwarranted life advice, whether they like it or not!

VCOM October

Last week, VCOM's South Carolina campus was here for a medical brigade. As always, it was an interesting and busy week.

Let me start by saying that I was a little sleep deprived going into it because my wonderful parents flew me home so I could go to my cousin's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding for a beautiful cousin (and a really great addition to the family), and I could not have had a better weekend with everyone. Thanks, Padres, for the tickets! It was a blast and I would have been so sad to miss that family event!

Back to VCOM. Last week was one of "those weeks" for us on the mission side of the trip. Between sick doctors, missing translators, schedule changes and one very bizarre hospital tour experience, the week constantly seemed to have reasons to take a turn for the worse. However, God is good and faithful, and He pulled off yet another success that had nothing to do with me or anyone else involved. 

We spent the first 3 days going to a different village each day, which were 3 that we attended with July's group from the Virginia campus. They are each 1-2+ hours from Santa Rosa which makes for a lot of bus time, but also means that the people we are see are incredibly grateful to have a brigade in town. It is always amazing to hear the expressions of gratitude and to watch as a new set of students develops an even deeper love for serving their fellow humans.

We spent the next couple of days around Santa Rosa seeing children from one of the local orphanages, touring the hospital, and spending time in the nursing home visiting with the residents.

These students (as they almost always do) impressed me with their love for people and ability to jump in and build relationships, even when they can't communicate. I'm sure I will be reminded of this group's lively personality every time I go to the orphanage and hear them talk about performing with "Justin Bieber."

One Crazy Week

Well, last week was crazy. Happy and fun and busy, and the kind of week that leaves you unsure if it’s Thursday or Monday or September.

Oct. 15th is Independence Day in Hondo. Parades started the previous Friday and continued throughout the weekend. I went Friday because one of my girls was in it with her kindergarteners, and we all went on Sunday (girls and Laura) to watch. We stayed for a few hours and saw the Honduran veterans march (they were adorable and awesome), then saw a few of the schools march, including Lawson and Jordan with their school, Buen Samaritano. Bands would stop and play for a while, and most classes had some sort of “thing” to make them stand out…like dancers.. or a parachute.

Parades are a great Honduran experience. Everyone gets so excited, and they can be pretty neat. Then about the time someone (cough—lady from Buen Samaritano--cough) decides she’s going to preach for half an hour more than the school was supposed to have, you start to become acutely aware of things like the heat and the number of strangers that are touching you… Generally that’s a gringa thing, but even Yulema, Yeni and Damaris were ready to go. We watched the rest of the parade from the ice cream shop, which may have been a better idea anyway.

Since they were out of school until Thursday, we had a sleepover at Stacy’s on Monday night. Jon is still in the states fundraising with Phil, so she was nice enough to have us all (girls from the house) over. She made dinner and pie, I killed them at Chinese checkers, and Stacy hooked the T.V. up to the computer and played songs on YouTube so they could sing along like karaoke. The makeshift karaoke was obviously a huge hit (more with the girls than with the neighbors), so they danced and sang and had a blast.

Unfortunately, I didn’t stay the entire night at the sleepover. I went to the Waldron’s to stay with Laura and Nixi because Donna was at the hospital with Karol and Jeremias. Which means that Merlyn Laura has finally made her debut! After one incredibly long and slightly dramatic day, Karol had a cesarean and she, Donna, and Jeremias got their first hours of sleep in 24 hours. After that we took turns sitting at the hospital, having Nixi, and fighting over holding Laurita. (OK there haven’t actually been fights.) They’re home from the hospital now and are doing great. She looks exactly like a tiny copy of Jeremias, and I’m pretty sure she’s adorable but I am biased.

Last but not least, I'm getting ready for VCOM’s medical group in October. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I’ve still been quite busy trying to coax enough translators out of school for a week, and making arrangements in villages, etc.

Anyway, there’s the low down on another week in Hondo.. Abnormal because of unusual circumstances, but very typical in the sense of unplanned changes in schedules and “going with the flow!”

Dia del Niño

I remember as a child asking my mom, “Why is there a mother’s day and a father’s day but there isn’t a day for kids??” She responded by pointing out that moms and dads work constantly to keep the small ones alive for little to no recognition; lovingly providing the essentials for life while also occasionally buying us things we don’t need like ice cream, clothes we want, toys we just “have to have”, etc. 

“Every day is the child’s day,” she told me, and she was right. That has stuck with me, which is why I initially had some trouble understanding the HUGE deal that is made over Dia del Niño in Honduras.

After hearing the perspectives of my girls, I have a better understanding of the day. Yulema says that Dia del Niño is the holiday she looked forward to most as a child. 

In the states we have Halloween, which is basically just about candy, and though Christmas has a deeper meaning, because of Santa Claus and other traditions it is the day that many children look forward to most in the year. 

To many Hondurans, Santa Claus is a weird story about an old man that never came to visit them or anyone they know, and Christmas is a day to spend at Church or with your family that may include a special meal. (That is not true for all Hondurans. However, it pretty much covers the ones that I’m working with.)

Dia del Niño happens in Honduras on September 10, and all around the country there are fiestas and celebrations galore. It’s a huge deal.

This year, the new church in Contamal asked Stacy to help them out by donating something (like a cake) to make their first Dia del Niño special. So I went with Stacy and the kids to deliver her pretty cake and spend the morning at the Dia del Niño celebration. The church members in Contamal chipped in for a piñata and food, which in my mind automatically makes it a pretty fun party.

Children and adults alike had a great time. There was a Bible lesson, games, a piñata, food (since obviously it isn’t a party without tortillas, and in this case fried rice), and cake. We were there for about 4 hours. It was a great way for this new church to reach out to the community and provide a special/fun day of activities for their children. I was happy to be a part of it! Yet another cultural experience to check off the list..:)

Bodas

I had the chance in July to be in another wedding, this time here in Honduras. I am now a semi-professional bridesmaid internationally!

Melisa is the sweet friend that asked me to be a bridesmaid, who is the daughter of our bus driver and CREO's cook, Angel and Rosa. If you've ever visited, odds are you know them. She married Josh Shields, who is obviously a gringo and also a friend. Listening to Jeremias announce everyones' names (especially Josh's) might have been the most entertaining part of the wedding.

The wedding was really beautiful, and it was fun to see the Honduran/US cultures mix. They announce the names of the wedding party as everyone walks down the isle. Then we stopped and stood in two lines in the isle and blew bubbles as she walked through us. They do the civil ceremony where they sign the license before the ceremony begins, so the wedding party gets to sit. Also, because the reception is always in the same place as the ceremony they don't walk out after the wedding. Josh wanted to do that, so we did, but there was much confusion. Dinner and cake were provided by the hotel, and it was all delish.

Laura was a bridesmaid as well, which I believe is her 4th, not including her brother's next summer.. Which means that as a 16 year old she is well on her way to ACTUALLY being the girl from "27 Dresses."

(They're obviously very serious about the corsets. It was a great cultural experience.)

August Update

It's the end of August, which means we are a month out of having groups here every week and are pretty much back into a normal routine. Here are some things I've been up to since the last post about our vacay.

Organization. My office is completely cleaned up and reorganized. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but since my office is the pharmacy and overall place for "I don't know what that is, just stick it in there," it actually required a lot of work. I'm happy to once again know where to find everything in here!

Meetings. Debriefing from the summer, reviewing suggestions and changes to make for the next brigade season, staff meetings with the whole MUR staff, etc. They always take twice as long as we think they will, but generally they leave me thinking about how blessed I am to have this work family. I don't know, but I doubt it's normal to enjoy meetings so much.

Etc. I have done research on things that we learned of over the summer, and programs to possibly have us participate in. I've found and made more materials to use for education in villages. I've of course seen patients that have arisen this month, and tried to fix some broken items from the summer (unsuccessfully). Probably most importantly, I have spent time with the girls doing things that they needed to get done and to try to make up for being gone so much during the summer. Obviously, I've done a lot more than I can write and you care to hear about, but those are the highlights.

It's been a great month getting back to "normal", catching up on sleep (as much as I can with Stacy forcing me to wake up with the sun to exercise:), and pretending to parent as always! Looking forward to the coming months of case managing, education, and village work.

Roatan!

As a mission organization, we at MUR have a typical summer schedule, which means every week for a couple of months or so we have short-term groups here.

I love having these groups come and go. I meet many good hearted, hard-working folks, and I am blessed by getting to know them, even if just for a week.

I think it's safe to say that those of us that live here use every ounce of energy that we have during the summer. Between doing the work with and for groups and our normal tasks, we all stay very content but very busy! That's why it was such a blessing for the gringos of MUR to be able to go to Roatan for a week after the last group left.

Phil and Donna have some friends that have a condo in Roatan, and they are nice enough to lend it to them for free from time to time. The Waldron family invited the Stacys and myself to go with them to wrap up the summer months. We had a blast relaxing, debriefing the summer, bonding even more with each other, and renewing our spirits at my happy place: the beach.

It was a great chance to relax before jumping back into work. Now I'm ready to start fresh and see what God has in store for the rest of the year!

<<Water taxi ride to another beach.

<<Jon's friend, the spider monkey. It proceeded to steal his sunglasses and                eat them.

Jon may or may not be happy about this picture of his nap, but I had to share his resourceful use of his children's pool supplies.

<<Dinner. Laura may not love this one either...

Water taxi Ride!

Free Medical School and Grace's Visit

            We finished the summer stream of short-term groups a couple of weeks ago with a group from VCOM (the medical school I’ve blogged about), and what a week it was! I must say it was my favorite week of the summer, but I’m biased because Grace was here!

            I love VCOM brigades for a different list of reasons than the others. They bring a coordinator that takes care of all of the details that I do when I’m "in charge", so I get to spend the week translating. They see less patients so that the attending physicians can take time to teach the baby docs, as I like to call them… (also known as first year med students.) It’s basically free medical school without having taken biochem or mammalian or physics. Yahtzee. (Don't be too jealous; does not come with credentials).

            This group had some obstacles to deal with, and dealt with them with grace. Long story short, their flights were messed up which resulted in them arriving so late that they missed their first briade day. That meant Tuesday they had to split up and go to the two separate villages and see twice as many patients as normal. They were all exhausted, but worked hard. If they complained I didn’t hear it.

            Thankfully, Grace was able to stay for a few days after the group left. After a busy summer, some good sister time was just what my soul needed! It was the first time one of my best friends has been here during an actual brigade, so I really loved getting to share in the experience of mission-work-from-the-other-side with her. Also, her constant astonishment at my ability to speak Spanish was probably good for my self-esteem.