Hello everyone! I survived Dengue Fever! I think I should have a shirt made proclaiming this. Honestly, I have never felt so sick or been sick for so many days! And hearing from others who have had it, I think I had a mild case.

I want to thank everyone for your prayers. I had some scarey moments... being in the doctor´s office and being told that my platelet count was seriously low and if it did not come up the following day I would need to go to the hospital. I began to cry. I thought I just want to go home! No hospital! And last Sunday I couldn´t keep any food down, and I was really at my lowest point emotionally. A nurse who is a missionary here came and brought me some phenegran for the nausea and it knocked me out and I slept so good until the following day.

We were at the clinic of Dr. Gerson, whose son attends Ruach school. Dr. Gerson is the doctor who put stitches in Joshua´s had a couple of years ago when he hit his head at the swimming pool. It was one of his associates who treated me for Dengue. He prayed for me in the office that day, prayed for my blood and for the Holy Spirit to take care of me.

Annette took great care of me, cooking all kinds of healthy things for me to eat. My first good day which was a week after I started feeling sick, I ate homemade chicken soup throughout the day, I finally began to get my appetite back.

And finally on Tuesday I drank a Diet Coke! My first one since the previous Thursday. Nothing had sounded good to me, to eat or to drink. Annette decided I must really be well since I wanted a Diet Coke!

Annette and Lance are in the U.S. now, and Annette will be back in Honduras the first week of November. Please pray for me as I stay here by myself. I just need to stay busy so I don´t get lonely and bored. Today I worked with Celestino as he took a practice SAT test. Then I actually DROVE Lance´s truck to the mall to go to the internet cafe. This was the first time I have driven since coming here. It has been raining off and on all day today, so I deciding driving would be better than heading off on foot with the possibility of rain.

Pray for Gracie, Annette´s dog. She is pregnant and expecting the puppies to be born in about a week or so. During this pregnancy we found out that Gracie has an enlarged heart, so there is some concern about her having the puppies. And I am concerned about me knowing what to do when she has puppies!

We just have abut 6 weeks of school left. Many of the students are still very far behind and may not pass to their next grade. Please pray for the students, to try their best and for the teachers who are working with them. We need patience and creativity in teaching. Each child is different and learns differently. Finding that "aha" moment with a child is exciting! I have one child who is extremely smart but he just doesn´t try, and he lies and cheats excessively. Please pray for him. And I have another student who is very smart and craves encouragement, but he is very far behind and I am not sure he will pass to his next grade. He doesn´t apply himself unless you are standing right there with him as he works. And everyday he says "Miss I am going to do all my homework tonight." And the following morning he has done a few pages only. Each of the students at the school have a great opportunity to receive this education. I pray that they will realize the opportunity they have been given and will work hard and do their best.

Hello everyone!

It has been a while since I have posted... it has been almost 3 weeks since I have checked my mail. A combination of atrip to the beach, a hurricane, busy at school, and the anxiety of going out on my own to get to the internet cafe... buthere I am today... facing my fears and anxieties, and trying to readthe 300 plus emails in my inbox! And doing all of this on a computer whose screen is salmon colored and the space key only works occasionally!

I will try to give you the short version and then try and give more details in the days to come...

We had a missionary reteat to the beach in Tela. It was wonderful! wonderful to see faces from home, and have Barry leading us in worship was like being at Restoration, and receiving treats and notes and gifts from home was wonderful!

It was hard saying goodbye to that piece of home that had come here,but it wassuch a blessing to all of us....

Next wehad ahurricane...well actually there was a hurricane that was a category 5 when it hit land, but by the timeit reached Teguc it was a tropical storm, and by the time it got to us, wegot a little bit of rain, but nothing out of hte orginary. We have had typical rainstorms that brought more wind and rain than what we got fromthe hurricane, so we were truly blessed! And the school wasblessed by not being hit with a strong storm!

I went on my first field tripwith the school. It wasalot of fun! We went to Chiminike in Teguc. It is an interactive children´s museum. The kids loved it and so did all the teachers. As Lance said when we arrived we had 130 kids and 20 teachers, and now we have 150 kids! Yea we had fun right along with them!

Yesterday we were in a parade! That was so much work and so much fun! We made a float. We have the most creative teachers! If you have ever been here and worked with them when they are decorating,you know what I mean.

As my eyes are now going cross-eyed from staring at the salmon colored screen for the last one and half hours, I am going to cut this short...but Iwould like to ask you to pray specifically for someofthe children who I amworking with atthe school.

Their names are Krissia, Keene, Nicolle and Mauro. These children are all behind for the year and may not pass on to their next grade. Please pray for the kids, and pray for me to have wisdom as I work with them. I am one of 6 other teachers who work in the learning center with 4th through high school - but each of us has now been assigned 4children who arebehind to try and help get them caught up. So it isn´t that these 4 kids have a teacher all to themselves, we still have all the other students who need our attention as well.

Love and miss you all!
Steph