Meet our Teachers

Julia, Me, and Ana

Ryan and Marixa

Today we have completed 5 weeks of language school and thought I would give a little tour of our school.  I am standing with my teacher, Ana, who is 22 years old and is attending university in Guatemala on the weekends. She is studying administration while she works at Ixbalanque Language School in Copan.  She lives with her parents and brother near our host family's house.  We have become GREAT friends.  She is so much like me and I her in so many ways.  We will be friends forever. 

Ryan's teacher Marixa is also a teacher for kindergarten in the mornings in addition to working at Ixbalanque.  She is 32 years old and Ryan has learned so much from her.  She is very experienced, having taught at this language school for almost 10 years.  I can hear the two of them laughing almost every 5 minutes, so I know they are having a good time while still being extremely focused. 

The upstairs of the school.

Looking out of Ryan's classroom.

Looking outside of my classroom.

Finca de Café - Coffee Farm

Baby coffee plants

We went on a coffee farm tour of a plantation run by 6 families.  The entire tour was in Spanish so I being the one with more or less the most understanding of Spanish was the translator (or at least I tried!).  We had some good laughs because we started the tour at the end of the process, so the three of us (Ryan, Me, and a new friend Darrell) tried to piece the process together.  

Coffee Beans

 

Coffee Beans

The coffee bean plants were about a 20 minute walk away from the plantation.  We walked across a “bridge” and felt like the locals as we walked through the fields of coffee plants.  Rain or shine, we were told that a worker will collect about 6-7 gallons of coffee beans per day and make 30 Lempira ($1.50) each gallon.  Compared to a lot of other jobs, I feel this one pays fairly well here in Honduras! 

 

After being collected in huge bags and hauled back to the plantation, they are sent through a machine which soaks them and removes the outer coat.  This process takes about 12 hours to complete.  Next, they are sent through the roaster which is heated via a wood stove which takes about 24 hours to complete.  This plantation even exports this coffee to Guatemala and Florida in the United States!  

 (That is about what I got out of the tour :) ) 

The heater

 

The roaster

Besides going for a nice walk and seeing another side of the Honduran culture and practicing my Spanish which I feel is coming along…we had an absolute blessing meeting another North American who is here in Honduras to commit 2 years of working just outside of Tegucigalpa to head up a project to build houses for the poor, start micro-loan projects, and agriculture economies (sounds similar to the Amor y Vida Learning Center in Linda Miller, Tegucigalpa).  Darrell's website: www.servehonduras.com The totally amazing part of this is that he is semi-partnering with an organization, Honduras Hope which is one of two organizations that has the clearance and respect of the trash dump in Tegucigalpa to go and help out, the other is AFE, Pastor Jeony's ministry.

The “coincidences” don’t stop there.  Ryan and I really wanted to start a bible study together starting this Sunday, and Darrel had been praying about really wanting some Christian fellowship during his time in Copan.   We are starting in the book of Ephesians on Sunday.  God works in the most amazing of ways to put different people in your life. 

Obedience

Ever since we visited the orphanage with Mario a few weeks ago, I have felt that God was keeping the orphanage on my heart for some reason.  While we were away in Tegucigalpa for the week, I felt that Pastor Mike's messages were talking straight to me especially when talked about when you know something but do nothing about it, it is sin.  He was referring to any event where you see injustice or just something that isn't right.  To me it was something that I was sort of struggling with internally. 

I guess I was just trying to be in my own little cocoon in Copan, safe and sound without anything "bugging" me while I am studying this new language.  I have to be honest and say that I truly had no intention of spending any more time at the orphanage after we were there with Mario because I felt like there was SO much that needed to be done for that place and if I came in and did anything, it would be more of a band-aid.  I was even talking to a friend in Copan and was open with her about this and she said a really wise thing to me: even if I went for a day, it is one more day they had help. 

So, I made a promise to God that I would go even though I felt like I would be a band-aid.  That I would go in obedience.  However, last night, I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep because a muscle was spasming out in my right leg, so I started praying that it would go away because I was so tired.  As I was talking to God, he asked me if I had any intention of going to the orphanage this weekend.  I knew I would go, so I answered yes.  And I would go with an open mind and an open heart.  He also told me to practice my Spanish, and that they would tell me that they really needed plates and cups (reusable) for the kids.  I went through some phrases in Spanish that I knew I would use, and shortly after fell back to sleep *and the spasm went away*.

This morning I woke up, had breakfast with Ryan, and I told him that I really wanted to go to the orphanage today; he was all in.  So we arrived around 1:15pm and were invited in by the directora because she remembered us from when we came with Doctor Mario.  She asked us to sit down one of two benches they had in the room, and she sat right next to us.  In no time the kids were swarming and so Ryan and I spent a little time just loving on the kids.  Ryan said if anything, these kids need some affection.  This one little boy wanted to sit right next to me, he couldn't have been more than 1 and a half years old, so I picked him up and sat him on my lap while Ryan entertained the kids with his juggling skills with the limes they were eating as a snack.

After a while, I was talking to the directora and asking what we could do to help.  She started talking about the fact that she doesn't receive enough money for the orphanage and has a lot of needs.  At first I thought she was asking for money, so I told her that I didn't have any money to give her, but looking back it all makes sense.  She continued talking and said that more than anything the kids needed plates and cups.  You can call it coincidence, but I know it wasn't.  Before I knew it she handed me a list of things they really needed and said that anything would help.  She said I didn't have to get everything on the list, she said, "Que tu puedes." (What you can).  She also said whatever God puts on your heart.

Ryan and I left and came back an hour later with 20 plastic plates, 20 plastic cups, laundry soap, bleach, scrubbers, chicken consume, pitchers for beverages, sugar, and coffee.  But it wasn't about what we bought or even the fact that we did.  It was so easy to buy those things.  It was the fact that we went when God asked.  I think the coolest thing that came out of today is the fact that I CAN be an answer to prayer.  We ALL can.  I've always wanted to have a super cool story to tell like this one.  I can't wait for more to come. 

Medical Outreach Part 2

After a hard day's work

We are back in Copan and had a great welcoming from our host family.  What a week in Tegucigalpa!  We had such a great experience with our team of 39 North Americans and about 12 Hondurans (both dentists and translators).  I gave an update on the previous blog of how many people we had seen so far, and now that our trip is over, we can say we saw over 1700 patients in the clinic and served around 2500 plates of food to the people we served.  

In addition to the clinic and food service, our team provided many different outreaches including hair cutting, children's activities, eye glasses, and shoes.  To us, however, the most important thing was that each person who came through the clinic didn't have to pay, but were taught the good news about Jesus and what he has done for our sins by dying on the cross and rising again.  

Pastor Mike evangelizing

We don’t expect people to make the decision to follow Christ, but we pray that we have planted a seed through what we have said, but more importantly by what we have done.  (photo of Pastor Mike at the "Salvation Station" courtesy of Eric Engerbretson)

          We also had a team working on the Learning Center which has been under-construction for the past 2 years.  Ryan was a part of that team and he has said that more than anything this trip, he feels the building team has gained a connection with the Honduran builders...friendships that will last a lifetime. 

Photo courtesy of Holly Lind

Photo courtesy of Holly Lind

Personally, I gained so much from the brigade.  I had so much fun with this team.  It was such a blast showing my home friends and family the place Ryan and I are going to be for the next year or so.  If anything, I have a clear vision again of exactly why we are here and I will use that to focus even better during my Spanish classes. 

            While we were in Teguc, we got to see the apartment Pastor Jeony and his wife Jessy are building for us (and other volunteers after we have left).  It is being built right off of their house (the blue one).  It is going to be perfect for us.  I am excited to see the final product in September!  We have 6 more weeks in Copan, and then we will be in Tegucigalpa for a year and a half.  I can’t wait to be there! 

Pastor Jeony and Jessi's home

On our balcony

Brigade at AFE, the school at which we will be teaching.

Medical Outreach

My brother and my dad seeing patients at the clinic.

Last week, on Friday, we left Copan for a trip to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the nations’ capital (where AFE is located) to join my parents’ medical outreach serving the people of the garbage dump.  We will be here a week total, and so far during the past 3 days, we have seen over 600 people in the clinic, served over 1500 plates of food, gave out 15 footlockers of shoes, distributed eyeglasses to those in need, and proclaimed the love of Christ to all who were there.  *To learn more about the medical brigades, you can click the link to the right of the blog labeled Honduras Impact Website and to learn more about the people of trash mountain, you can click the link labeled AFE's Website.* Photo courtesy of Eric Engerbretson.

Arroz con pollo *everyone's favorite day*

My mom and my grandma making spaghetti

    







          While my mom, grandma, and I have been cooking and serving lunch to anyone who comes to the clinic, Ryan has been working on the building project which I helped with last March 2010 and October 2010.  The structure is getting close to being complete and will be a fully functioning learning center for rural pastors and leaders of surrounding communities to come learn literacy, health and safety, sanitation, agriculture, micro-businesses, and basic theology. 

Today was a meaningful day for our team of 39 as we served the workers and families of the students at AFE.  I can’t describe the emotions that overcame us all as we began to process our day during the evening devotional time.  As our team members shared stories of the people they saw, I thought about the most meaningful part of my day.   

When I was here in Tegucigalpa in March 2010 with Ryan when we made the decision to commit to living down here and serving at AFE, it was the first time I ever stepped foot on the garbage dump where these people live and work.  I had another opportunity to go to the dump last October 2010.  It had been 9 months since I had been there and seen these people with my eyes. 

While I was cooking the food today, it wasn’t clear if the people would come down from the garbage dump today to attend the free clinic since most of them would rather not miss out on an opportunity to work.  I asked God to bring the people and most importantly to not let me become desensitized or calloused to the people of the dump.  My biggest fear during this time we are here is to forget how I felt the very first time I saw these people.  As I continued working on what I was doing, a few minutes later I saw a line starting to form of the people from the dump.  I immediately started to shed tears as my heart was going out to them.  I realized at that point, I won’t let myself ever forget, it is impossible to forget.  

Photo courtesy of Eric Engerbretson

God loves these people and miracles are  happening everyday…just this week a few students made the decision to start attending school at AFE.  God is at work in their lives and He has a purpose and plan for their lives.  Today our team got to be a part of God’s story for these people, and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do in the next year and a half while Ryan and I are at AFE.

Please keep our team, those we have served, and those we will serve in your prayers as we have 2 more days of clinic.