Happy 16th Birthday Chris!

We have the privilege to live right next door to an incredible Honduran family who has devoted their life to transforming the lives of the people of the garbage dump here in Tegucigalpa.  For those of you who don't know the story of AFE, Chris was 4 years old when she urged her dad, Pastor Jeony, to help the people and children of the garbage dump. Months later in 2001, AFE afehonduras.org began with classes in the garbage dump.

Since then, Chris has grown into a beautiful and intelligent young lady with hopes and dreams of her own.  She is incredibly stylish and loves riding horses on Saturdays.  We were invited to celebrate her 16th birthday with friends and we had an incredible time bowling! 

Final Trimester at AFE

It is crazy to think that we have been living in Honduras for over a year now, and our time is almost finished.  We are just starting our preparations for the final trimester of the year here at AFE.  Ryan will begin teaching physics to our 10th grade, and I am going to start teaching social studies to 7th, 8th, & 9th grade.  YIKES!  Our teaching schedules are changing and so are the relationships with our students. 

After having spent a good chunk of time with them, they are really beginning to confide in us some of their insecurities, worries, and fears.  One of the biggest obstacles that I see in my students is that sometimes they lose focus of the big picture and can only see the here and now.  Life is tough for these students, but AFE gives them an avenue to be the best that they can be and achieve goals they never thought possible.

During these last few months I will do my best to encourage all of my students especially the ones that I have grown close to in the past year.  Please continue to keep all of AFE's students in your prayers, that they would feel encouraged to study hard and finish school, not just this year but in the years to come, too.

Congratulations Nick and Abby!

Ryan received an email a few months ago from one of his best friends growing up saying that he had met the woman of his dreams and they were getting married the end of July!  Of course Ryan and I both wanted to go to Alaska to celebrate with Nick and Abby, but we hadn't budgeted for any additional trips to the States, so Ryan attended for the both of us.  However, I DID get to view the wedding since they streamed it live via the internet...it was beautiful and I am so glad that I got to see a glimpse of it if not in person :) Congratulations to you both!

For the 4 days Ryan was gone, I had the privilege to join my parents and a team of 35 in El Progresso ~4 1/2 hours north of Tegucigalpa.  They were there for the week long medical/dental brigade and I got to help out during the last day!  It was an incredible two days I spent with them and the team...cooking for everyone who visited the clinic, helping my dad with some translations when he met with patients, dancing the night away, and spending one day at the beach with everyone in Tela!
 

FYI: I didn't take any of these photos - thanks to those of you who allowed me to "steal" them off facebook! XOXO