Hello all! Since my last post I have lived through a week of being sick! Today I finally feel like a person again. Last weekend was sick gringo weekend. Annette and Haley started on Friday. Then Alysha on Saturday, and me on Saturday afternoon. We all had the wonderful stomach/bathroom illness that comes with living here! For me I had Saturday and Sunday of throwing up and bathroom fun...but then all week I felt weak and tired and just not right. And had absolutely no appetite. Today I actually feel like eating. A first! I made it to school every day last week, but yesterday as soon as 2nd grade class was over at 11:30, Annette took me home. I slept most of the afternoon then went to bed at 7:00 last night and woke at 5:30 this morning to the birds chirping, and roosters crowing. One of my students was coming to the school for tutoring so I got up and got ready for my day. I made it to school by about 8:00 to do all grading and things that I hadn´t done after class yesterday and get ready for Anthony to arrive at 9:00. I feel great and continue to feel good. I walked from the school to the mall afterward to check my mail. It has been 2 weeks since I had been to the internet, so I had a lot to catch up on.

I am so thankful that I am feeling better!

We had another missionary couple join us in Honduras last Wednesday, Ben and Sarah. They are NEWLY married...tomorrow will be their 3 week anniversary! Talk about an adventure for them! They will be here until September, helping at the school. A highschool student arrives Monday, and I am so excited that she will be helping me with my 2nd grade students. It will be great having help with my kids! And they will love the extra attention!

I have had a second incident where I have lost money by using the ATM here in Honduras. Both times it was at the same bank. I will not be going to that bank any longer! I will go and talk to them again about this second incident with one of the teachers on Monday, but I imagine I will get the same story I got the first time it happened to me. And will lose the money again. Pray for me to have favor and to be able to talk to someone at the bank who genuinely wants to help me. The last time I was basically brushed off...told to go to my bank, that my bank had made the error not them, and that was it. No help whatsoever.

Another item of prayer is that I would find a vehicle, a vehicle that is dependable and within my budget. I had previously contemplated buying a vehicle but thought I just wanted it for convenience. But now it has become an issue of safety. The morning I was bit by the dog Alyshia said to me maybe God allowed this to happen to show you how dangerous it is out there and you need to be more careful. When I am on my own, I need to walk to where ever I am going or take a taxi, or walk to a location to find a taxi. The amount of violence that occurs in Comayagua has escalated. Gang activity has escalated. And the number of young people with guns is on the rise. Being from the United States puts a target on you. It is a fact.

Annette and I have talked about it and she was glad that I had already made the decision that I wanted to look for a vehicle. Here I have no idea where to look, how to look, how much is a reasonable amount....so I will be getting help from many people. Lance comes back to Honduras next week, so Annette thinks he will be able to help me as well with finding a car and knowing what is the right price.

Please continue to pray for our school, our teachers and our students, as well as Comayagua and Honduras.

This is Nancy, Yarely, and Olga...we do our pledges each morning with the Honduran flag (Olga), the Christian flag (Nancy) and the Bible (Yarely). The kids love being the one who holds the flag or the Bible.

Here is my class of second graders.

The boys on the backrow are...

Hanssel, Moises, Miguel, Alejandro, Devyn, Brian, Josue, and Anthony...the girls on the front are Jasmine, Yarely, Jennifer, Nancy, Sofia, Olga and Jari.

Here is my kitchen. My kitchen is great - it has cabinets! Many kitchens in Honduras do not have any cabinets or closets. I have cabinets and two huge closets in the bedrooms! My kitchen has a door that leads out to the patio area, which is where my "washing machine" is ....also known as the pila!.

I have attached a picture of it below. Maria taught me how to wash on it this weekend. I washed one pillow case. It is HARD work! She will be coming to my two times a week to help me with the house and the laundry! I think she got a kick out of me trying to wash on the pila....I was tired after the pillow case!

Here is Samson! He is a great watchdog...his bark is deep and he is big and fierce looking. But his tail never stops wagging! He is adjusting to his new house, and adjusting to being separated from Redman. They were best buddies! He requires a lot of play time from me now that he is by himself! So thankful that I have him.

This is my dining room. I love all the windows that make the house bright. The screen door you see here leads out to the patio area. I have a door like that in the kitchen also. That is one of my favorite things about the house.

Here is a picture of my house....

Hello! Well a lot has gone on since I last wrote. The owner of the house did repair the cistern and we had water again on Saturday. So we moved everyone back into Annette´s house Saturday night.

Sunday we went to church in La Villa, which is a little town about 15 minutes from Comayagua. Peter, who is the youth pastor at our school, it is his dad´s church. And Katherine, a teacher at the school leads the worship there. We got there a little early (I was being a gringo), but I think we were where we were supposed to be! They were having a Bible study time before the church service would begin. When we got there Peter´s mom was talking about opposition from the enemy. Well I think I can relate to that, and what that feels like to be under attack and feeling the opposition from the enemy! I needed to hear the words that Peter´s mom shared, and just knowing that this is to be expected when you are following the vision God has given you. Then during the worship time....let me stop by saying that Katherine has such a gifting from God when she sings, when she leads worship! During worship time I really felt that God told me that I had been focusing on the attacks and had taken my eyes off Him. The devil had succeeded in his plan. I came away with a different attitude, a renewed strength, strengthened faith, and joy ...the main focus of her worship that day was joy and I believe everyone there received a new portion of joy from the Lord! I am so thankful that we went to church there on Sunday!

I felt such assurance that the following day I drove to Seguatapeque! I have never driven through any of the mountains here. The trip from Comayagua to Seguatapeque is very curvy through the mountains. I called Annette to be sure she was alright with me driving her truck there, and called Paula to let her know I wasn´t going to take the bus, but was going to drive and we would meet in town to go to the orphanage. I loved the drive there! I got in the truck, turned on the praise music and had a wonderful experience driving there. Seeing the beauty all around and knowing all that God had already gotten me through and enjoying the beauty of the mountains.

I had a great visit with Paula. I needed to get out of Comayagua, and to visit with a friend from home. A friend who could relate to and understand all the feelings and fear and insecurity I had been going through lately. It was a fun day. Of course I had fun playing with the boys. They read me many books before they took their afternoon rest and then we played pick up sticks when they got up to play.

Tuesday Annette came home!!!!! That was great! I was very excited to see her. So glad to have my friend back in Honduras!

That was Tuesday. And that was also the night that my caps on my front teeth came off. I walked out of my bedroom and said to everyone.... you know you have something that you think I hope this never happens....and then it does and you feel sick...well my thing just happened! My teeth fell off. They would stay on, but were loose. So the following morning we called and got me an appointment with the dentist here (where I went previously to get my wisdom tooth pulled). Before we left to go to the dentist the electricity popped again. We called the electric company and this time we were told that the line going from the house to the pole was not strong enough line to handle all the electricity the house is throwing...with the main house and the apts., with duchas and air conditioners. It was just too much. So the electric company made us a shopping list and we went to the hardware store to buy stronger line and the other items needed, and they came back to the house and got us wired again and we should be good now! Annette has also found some people who are checking the appliances and air conditioners which have quit working to see if there is a shorted out wire or something that can be replaced. At this point she has lost the oven (stove works but not oven), part of the refrigerator - freezer works but fridge does not cool, coffee pot, fan, two air conditioners, and the toaster.

I did get to the dentist Wednesday, she reglued the caps back on with some semi-permanent glue so that I will be good until we can get them replaced. I am thankful for this dentist...thankful that I knew where to go when this crisis hit...there was something good about having the infected wisdom tooth - it made me have a dentist here in Comayagua!

I had another appointment today but when I got there the equipment was not working, so they were rescheduling everyone´s appointments. Also so thankful that one of them is bilingual!

Yesterday we took a trip to Teguc...to get some medicine for Gracie (Annette´s dog) and to get keys made! Yep we drove to Teguc for keys. Annette´s house has this weird key for the front door. They had tried to get copies made in Comayagua when we first moved there and never could get the key to work. This is a guy that Lance found in Teguc before he went to the states. Before Ayshia and Haley arrived I was getting them house keys and keys to their apts made, and after 2 trys for me at the hardware store I gave up on the front door key. Annette even tried in the U.S. before she came back. She took her key to Walmart and got 9 keys made. None of them will work! This guy is in a little shack in a not too good part of Teguc, behind a fruit stand, and he chisels the keys by hand. We got 4 made and they work! We also went out to eat and did a little shopping at the mall, and got some chocolate covered strawberries and pineapple. YUM!

Yesterday before we headed to Teguc Maria came to the house. She will work 2 days a week in the mornings at my house to help me keep things clean and to help with my laundry. I asked her to teach me how to wash on the pila. I did one pillowcase! That is a lot of work! She is very fast. But watching her wash my clothes, I think my clothes will be cleaner than ever before. Although I don´t know that they will last as long...but I will be clean! I am glad that I have her to help me. She speaks no English but is helping teach me some Spanish. Last year she was not very patient with me and my mala Espanol (bad Spanish), but I think she has mellowed. Or she just thinks I am so funny, that she has found some patience with me. She got a good laugh out of me yesterday washing on the pila.

Pray for Maria...for the Lord to bless her. I don´t what her relationship with God is, I pray for her regularly. She puts herself in a lower position than others. I am trying continually to show her that she and I are the same, I am not better than her in any way. One of the teachers at school, Paty, told me that many people treat those who are maids badly. They are treated as if they are less than, and I want that to be broken. I am continually reminded of the verses where Jesus said that when you fed me when I was hungry and you clothed me, and you visited me in prison...when you do these things to least of these you do it to me. That is part of the mission statement of Restored to Serve, which is the ministry I am part of in the U.S., and I see a continuation of that here. I took Maria home last Saturday because it was pouring down rain...and she started to get in the back seat of the truck, she had done this once before when I was taking her somewhere after school, and she knows I won´t allow her to do that. I told her no, to get up front. She did, but she always takes that lower position. I hate it that she thinks she should, or that she thinks she belongs in a lower place than others.

We did find out that the dog that bit me does belong to someone. Well I don´t know if I ever posted here that I saw the correct dog and knew it was him and recognized him by his yellow eyes. We have been keeping an eye on where he is. Last night we saw him laying on the sidewalk outside of a house and two guys were outside. We stopped and asked them if they knew the dog. They knew the people who lived in that house and said it was their dog. We told him that the dog had bitten me. Don´t know if he told the people who live in that house, but the dog was still out running the street this morning. I won´t be doing any walking by my house until something is resolved with the dog. We thought he was just a street dog, but now we know he belongs to someone. I just don´t want him running around on the street!

The neighborhood where I live has guards who patrol the streets. Each guard is assigned certain houses. It costs 500 limperas a month for the day guard and 500 limperas a month for the night guard. I went ahead and paid for both day and night this month. It is nice knowing they are there. They walk through the streets, with their machete at their side. I think they are a deterent to criminals, just as barbed wire is a deterent and not a for sure way to keep someone out. As we saw by te 4 men on the roof of Annette´s house.

Samson is trying to adjust to his knew home. He whines a lot. And comes to the front door and barks and barks and barks into the house. I know he misses Redman! But he will adjust. I will be outside playing with him a lot to help him with the separation from his best friend and papa!

I will try to send some pictures of my house this week. I am all moved in. It is pretty empty and most of what I have is borrowed from somewhere. But I like the house and feel at home there with Samson. Just would like to get rid of the biting dog!

Life continues to be interesting in Honduras. You hear stories of missionaries and the trials they go through….but to be that person going through the trials is no fun! I was so excited last week to get a care package from home. Porter delivered it to me at the school last week. It was a complete surprise and so much fun to get books and cds and Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea from home! Elaine sent me a CD of one of Ron’s sermons which was completely on time for what is going on here and continues to go on here!

This is long…but read on to find out the latest storm we are walking through!

May 29, 2008

Listening to the sermon Elaine sent me, titled Discovering God’s Presence in the Midst of My Storms. What a word for me to hear now. After the last couple of weeks…the most obvious storms being the dog bite and the attempted the break-in, but there have been many smaller showers that happened all together causing weeks of bad weather…trouble with PACEs, stress at school and feeling unqualified to teach my 2^nd grade students, responsibilities at the house, moving furnishings from leaving missionaries, and preparing for missionaries coming in. All these small showers happening one after another, then the storms hit after I was already weakened, tired, and discouraged.

He teaches from March 4:35, a familiar text, Jesus and the disciples in the boat during the storm and Jesus calms the storm. So many truths in this familiar story. So often we get used to stories that we know or think we know and we miss so much He wants to say to us. Thank God for preachers and teachers who look deeper than the familiar and find the spectacular that God wants us to know!

Some things that jumped out at me while listening was that he starts out when them saying “On that day”….it was a fabulous day of Jesus teaching many people, a day of revelation and still they ran into a storm. It was unexpected. They had had a fabulous day with Jesus and then here comes the storm.

Even in the middle of a fantastic time with the Lord you can run into a storm.

We know the promises of God, but when we are in the storm we live in fear. Oh how true that statement is. It is easy to know and believe all the wonderful things about God when things are going great…when it is “on that day”…but when the storm hits it is so easy to get discouraged and loose sight of those truths and beliefs we have of God. But in the storm we are able to truly experience God. It is good to know that this is true for others, that it does not mean I don’t have faith, or do not have as much belief in God and His power as others.

I can think of times that I can testify as to this. That the experience I walked through brought me closer to God, taught me things about God, increased my love for Him, increased my awe for Him, brought Him bigger and more important into my life. But in the middle of the storm it is difficult to be thankful for these times.

Another thing he said in this message that really jumped out at me, was one of the points was about God’s Unchanging Word. Jesus said we are going to go to the other side. That did not change. Even though they encountered a storm, they would get to the other side of the lake.

From this point he said “Why were they on the lake?” “Jesus told them to go”

I am in Honduras because God told me to go!

Although I will hit storms, some big, some small, I am here because God sent me and I will put my faith in that.

I loved Ron’s summary….What God wanted him to tell his people “It’s all going to be OK.” A great word of comfort when riding a storm!

June 4, 2008

Yesterday was another storm. We have much to be thankful for today! We arrived home from school and one of the neighbors told us that we had an electrical cable on the roof of the house and it was touching the barbed wire….we looked up and sure enough there it was and the barbed wire was red. We found out from another neighbor that the fence next door was electrified by the cable and people had gotten shocked coming in and out of the gate. After several telephone calls and people phoning the next person and finally Rosibel going to the electric company and asking for someone to come to our house, we had the electric company come and repair the cable. We thought great, now everything is fine! We went inside and saw we had power, thanked the men and settled in for the evening. We began checking appliances and switches around the house….which was when we discovered we did not have any water. We have a cistern at the house so we went out to where it is in the back to see if it was on. Celestino and I went out to check and saw that it was not running. He flipped the breaker switch for the cistern at which point we heard a loud pop. We went inside the house and Haley and Alyshia said they saw a spark outside. So we knew we had more trouble with the electricity. We called our handyman, Alexis, and explained the situation to him. He told Celestino he would come to the school on Wednesday morning and get my keys and come out and check on things. We decided to pack an overnight bag and all of us go to my house and spend the night there. If you remember….I am renting a house nearby but I hadn’t actually moved myself in there yet because of the two missionaries who were arriving in May before Annette would return. As we were gathering some things together I walked into my bedroom and turned on the lightswitch. When I did it sounded like the 4^th of July on the roof of the house! We all freaked. It was scarey. And we also felt trapped inside the house. We all felt we needed to get out of the house, but we were concerned about the front metal gate. If any of these cables were touching the metal door we didn’t want to touch it. I was worried about the dogs too. We also had Celestino’s little brother, Fernando, at the house with us and he was very afraid. We all were! God must have spoken to Alexis, because he called the house and said he had decided he would come over now rather than waiting until the morning. He came across town, in the dark, on his bicycle! What a great guy! We were alright to touch the gate, he got there and checked things out, and said we should all go stay somewhere else and we needed to shut off all the breakers to avoid starting an electrical fire. He was concerned about us leaving the house empty and completely dark…even though the 3 dogs are there. . . thinking it would be a perfect target for burglars. So Alexis offered to stay in the house overnight…with no power and no water! Did I already say he is a great guy!!? We love Alexis! So we grabbed things, and went down the street to my house. Today Alexis was able to fix the electrical problem, but the cistern is not working. In addition to several of the appliances in the house which seem to have been damaged by the surges of electricity. One of which is Annette’s new stove.

We need favor with the owner of the house. She is trying to say that Lance and Annette must pay for any repairs to the house…not only this instance, but we also have a leaky roof in one of the apts where Alyshia is staying and the owner has said that replacing the roof is Lance & Annette’s responsibility.

Lance and Annette are in the U.S., and I hated to call them tonight to break the bad news to them. Seems that I have had a lot of bad news while they have been in the U.S. Problems with the house….leaking roof, birds living in the ceiling, my dog bite, attempted break-in….and now exploding electricity!

I feel like we are under a physical attack. I am dealing with a lot of fear….especially about dogs. And if you have ever been to Honduras you know you cannot walk anywhere without passing by several stray dogs. The dog that bit me is a street dog….and he is mean looking…he has yellow eyes. I continue to see him in the street near my house.

Today after school we went back to Annette’s house to get another change of clothes for in the morning as we are all still staying at my house since there is no water at Annette’s….and even though Alexis said that he fixed the electricity and everything is alright….I did not turn on the light in my bedroom. The fear of flipping on that switch and setting off fireworks again is too much! Little Fernando stayed in the truck tonight when we stopped at Annette’s to pick things up. He is afraid to go inside the house.

Please pray for Lance and Annette – to have peace while they are in the U.S. and their house and possessions are damaged and the outcome of all the repairs is unknown.

Favor from the owner of the house, peace for me and the other two missionaries, Alyshia and Haley, and for Fernando to not be afraid or traumatized by this experience.

We have been able to laugh about some of the things we did and said last night in the middle of the explosions. You act pretty funny sometimes when you are panicking! We laugh about making a sit-com called “The Guard” about the guard (Celestino) who is guarding the house full of gringos and all the funny situations we get ourselves into. And none of it is made up, it is all our true life everyday life! Last night would have been a funny episode, after we were all safe and away from the house, then we could laugh about ourselves.