Some days Mauro will ask to stay after school with me to work on his homework. There have been times that he has ended up staying just because no one came to pick him up. But then some days he asks if I will stay and work with him on his homework. I think a lot of it is because of the attention he isn't getting at home with his parents, but I love the kid!

We are now in our 4th and final partial of the school year. There are many kids who are behind in their work, and they are now pushing themselves trying to get as much completed as possible before the end of the school year.

This week I have had several of the kids asking me if I would stay and let them work on their homework. Some we were surprised because they don't work in class but wanted to stay after school to do their homework, so how can I say no!

Today I had headache and was tired so I told them I would only stay until 4:00 (some nights I am there until 5:00 or 5:30)... here are some pictures of the boys...


Here is Gabriel and David Fernando. They all want to gather around this little desk in my room. If you flip this desk over it says ...MADE BY JOHN SATTERFIELD AND BOB TRAINHAM....how cool is that!!!


Here is Mauro being silly...and German behind him.

After this picture I told Mauro to LOOK like he was working so I could get a picture of him working for once!

There is Miss Alyshia working with Kennee.

We have had some difficult days this week at the school....

We have one student who came to Ruach this year after being expelled or asked to leave other schools. Another parent, with a troubled kid, referred this family to Ruach because of the steps we have taken with his son.

This new child, Christopher, has lied, bullied kids out of food, lied to teachers, not done his work correctly in his Paces, not scored properly, and the most recent was he called Miss Alyshia a curse word. It was a day that we were short on teachers. We should have a minimum of 6 teachers in the Learning Center and even then we are stretched thin, this afternoon we only had 3 teachers. Christopher was being punished for hitting another kid with a ruler... then this incident happened. Of course he said it in Spanish and we are not completely competent in Spanish curse words...but later that day several 5th and 6th grade students came to me because they had heard him say this word to Alyshia and they were very upset about him calling her such a bad thing.

Well he has now been suspended for 6 days. We are thankful that he will be punished and that we will have some days of him not being there!

Yesterday morning I was in my 2nd grade classroom and we had done our pledges and we were in our circle and the kids were praying and one of the girls said Miss look at Moises...I turned and looked at him and he had both his hands on his neck and was squeezing tightly, his face was red and there were tears coming out his eyes. I immediately went to him, took his hands from his throat and began to pray over him and commanding the devil to leave him alone and stop telling him lies! His neck was red when I got his hands off of him. He had a bad day the rest of the time on Thursday. He sat under his desk and refused to work. I tried to talk to him and crawled under the desk to sit with him during the morning break. He was just sad and had a heavy look on his face. Today was a much better day for him.


Here is a sweet adorable picture of Moises! In the morning I always ask him "How are you?" If he says "Happy" then I get this happy smiling Moises. If he says "Not happy" then I know I can expect a bad day with him.

Have you ever been so bored that you WANTED to give a bath to a big hyper labrador? Well if not, then you probably are not a missionary in a foreign country...but if so, you might be Alyshia!

Last Sunday after we got home from church Alyshia decided to go out and wash both the dogs. Because Gracie is in heat, we have Redman staying with us - no more puppies!!!!

Here she is about to soap up Redman. He wasn't too thrilled with the whole process!


Samson, on the other hand, thought it was GREAT!


I don't think he realized he was getting a bath. He was just getting lots of attention! He loves to have his belly rubbed! He didn't care that it was rubbed with shampoo!

The rinse cycle wasn't as enjoyable for him. She had to chase him with the bucket. But they both smelled and looked great afterward!

Honduran Directions

Last Thurday after school Mauro asked me if I would stay after school to help him with his math Pace. Of course I stayed and he called his mom to get permission and see where I should drop him after we left school.

We stayed and worked on his Math until 4:00. That was the time his mom said he should leave to meet his dad. His dad cleans a Jehova's Witness church nearby and that was where we were going. I didn't know at the time that was where we were headed, he just kept telling me Sol...which means sun in Spanish, but he didn't know how to tell me what it was.

So I said you just tell me where to go. So first we were behind a funeral...which going a few blocks could take an eternity as the crowd of people slowly walk in the procession behind the casket. So I said let's try another way to get there....so I made some turns and then I said to him, tell me which way to go.....

here is where it gets funny!

So here is how our conversation went....

Me: Which way Mauro?

Mauro: Go up.

Me: Go up? Do you mean this way? (As I point forward)

Mauro: Yes, miss, go up.

Me: Mauro, that is straight. In English you would say go straight.

Mauro: Ok, Miss, straight.

After going straight for a few blocks....

Mauro: Go downstairs.

Me: What?! Downstairs? Mauro, I cannot go downstairs in a car. Do you want me to turn?

Mauro: Yes, turn.

Me: Which way do I turn? (I am now sitting stopped in the middle of a street because I am waiting for his explanation of "downstairs")

Mauro: That way (as he points to the left)

Me: Mauro, that is left, you would say turn left.

Mauro: Ok, left.

Next intersection....

Me: Mauro, which way?

Mauro: Downstairs, or that way....

Me: Do you mean turn left?

Now, completely exasperated from his never ending English lesson...

Mauro: Yes, left....downstairs!

I love that kid!!!!!


We finally made it to the location, and his dad's truck was not there. So we turned around and went to the store where his mom works....oh no... more directions from Mauro! Yes, we went up and downstairs a few times, but we finally made it to the destination and he arrived to his mom safe and sound. We laughed about his directions! He's a great kid!

While Annette and Lance are in the United States, they have assigned each week of their time away to one of the teachers to lead the morning devotions at school. This coming week is my week. Please pray for me as I prepare for this time and as I lead this important time with our teachers next week.

Last week I went to Tegucigalpa to get my Residency Card. But of course it wasn't ready. Porter went with me to immigration. The first line we got in the lady told me I had to pay some money, we didnt' understand why but didn't question it, so I got into the bank line to pay and get my receipt. After that line we went back to the original window and she said I needed the next window, so we went to the next window and I handed her the receipt from the bank and my temporary residency paperwork. She looked at me, and said something, then to the lady in the window beside her(the lady who had made me pay the money)....the first lady was wrong, I didn't have to pay anything, so back to the bank again to get a refund. We have now wasted about an hour. Finally the only lady who I think knows what is going on in the office checks on my card and "the system is down" so they can't check on my card.

She gave me the main number there and her cell phone number and said to call every couple of days to see if the system is back up and have them check on my card.

So I will get Rosie to start calling next week and see if maybe it will be ready at some time. It will be nice to get it and hopefully I will not have to worry about that part of life for 3 years. That is how long my card is supposed to be good for. You just never know how things will work out here!

FLAT TIRE

Well I had my first flat tire in my new car. Oh joy! The highway here...well first it isn't like the highway you would imagine.....it is a curvy road through the mountain with many potholes! There are several potholes on both sides of the road between Comayagua and the base. Annette and Lance lead the praise and worship team at the base chapel. Alysha who is here for 6 months has been singing with them at the base. While they are gone to the U.S., she is still singing with the others from the base on the worship team. Well they have practice on Wed. nights. So I have been taking her out there at 7:00 for practice. Here is it dark by about 6:00 or 6:30. And my wonderful tinted windows on my car make it very difficult to see out of the city at night time. Well I had managed to avoid most of the potholes....until we were leaving the base....

oh yea, and they canceled practice Wed. but didn't have her phone number to tell her so we didn't even need to go there....but on with my tire story....

So I pulled out of the base and hit the big mother of all potholes! One of our teachers, Paty had gotten a flat tire in the same hole a few weeks ago, and that night there was a car on the side of the road changing their tire which I am sure was caused by the same hole. Well I hit it and then heard the wonderful sound of a flat flopping tire.

Now if you have never been her, let me try and draw a picture of this scene for you. It is a two lane "highway" that people try to make into a 3 to 4 lane "highway", there is not hardly any shoulder on either side of the road, and nothing around you but empty fields, and forest, and random wandering cows. Not the place for two gringo girls with a flat tire! I knew that I was going to continue driving until we got to a place where I felt we could pull safely off the road then I would call someone to make a plan for help. But I had to get us off this road.

We drove a little way and there is a factory of some sort, so I pulled onto their dirt/rock driveway so that we could get off the highway.

When I had seen Porter on Tuesday he told me that he was heading back to Jemalagela (can't even say it I sure can't spell it!), on Wed. to the orphanage, but I called him just to see if maybe he was in Comayagua, and yep he was! So he ran to the soccer field and picked up Gabby and the two of them came to help us.

In the mean time we had both of the security guards out to our car, and then people coming out on their bikes riding by just to look....we are not Martians! Finally we had a couple of guys who work in the plant who came out and wanted to help us. I told them best I could that friends (amigos the masculine friend) was coming from Comayagua to help us, but they wanted to help, so they started trying to jack up the car which didn't get very far, I called Porter back to see how close he was as more people were coming outside to see what was going on....they were just minutes away from us, and once they pulled in all the "helpers" disbursed! We were not in danger, but just an uncomfortable situation, being ladies, on a dark road, a group of men, a disabled vehicle and communication problems!

Porter went with me the next day to help me get some new tires. The one that went flat was not repairable, it had a big hole in the side of it. So I bought two new tires....Now to avoid all potholes! That is the difficult thing!

On our way to Tegucigalpa earlier in the week I told Porter driving on the highway is like playing a driving video game...trying to avoid oncoming vehicles, children running the road, and potholes! Life is an adventure!!!!

I just remembered the other funny part of my trip to the mechanic story...see below.....

While I was there he told me that part of my car had been stolen. There are some parts that go above your wheels to protect the engine, and he showed me, you could see where it had been bolted to the car. He said he couldn't remember for sure, but had asked his helper if he remembered if those parts were on my car when they checked it out before I bought it and he said he remembered that they were there.

He said to me, you know when you park your car here people just take things. They will steal anything they can. You know if I was in the U.S. and my car that I had owned for a month had been keyed, had parts from it stolen, and been hit (I left that off, there is a dent on the side driver door like it was scraped, probably while being parked on the street in front of the school), I would be so upset, but here it is just life. I am just thankful for a vehicle to get me around!

Last week we had a sort of cultural day on Friday. Grades were put together and each group was given a city in Honduras to decorate a tent, and have food that is known from that area. It was a lot of fun, and the kids had a fun time. We sold the food and the money will be used by the student government to do some repairs at the school.






This is Miss Candy, they were the Bay Islands.









Here is Manuel with a machete cutting up a cocunut!






This group was from Comayagua and La Paz



















David, Gabriel on the bongo, and Wilmer on the shell! He was funny blowing that shell all day! They are having a great time!








Here is Mauro and Wilmer. These are the 5th grade boys. They were all from the Port of Cortez. Miss Alysha made flowers for the girls' hair and for the boys to pin to their shirts. They were so cute! Mauro and Wilmer are two of my favorite kids!

Here they are selling their food!

Much of the food and drinks looked very good, but Alysha and I were careful! She tried a few bites of a few things that day, but I was a total gringo! After getting sick on the soup at one of our favorite restaurants earlier this year, I wasn't going to chance it! The foods were made by the parents of the kids and brought in that morning. So not knowing how things were cleaned and cooked, and gringos needing lots of purified water and bleach on their food....I decided I would just be hungry. Which I was...and very tempted, but I just remembered myself of the two weeks I was sick from the Chicken Tortilla Soup and the temptation was gone!

I had to take my car to the mechanic last week. It was making a noise that sounded like something was loose and rattling in the engine. I also wanted him to check the breaks as they would squeak sometimes.

I called the mechanic that all the gringos use. He is Honduran, but speaks English, and he had already checked out the car for Faber before I bought it.

So he came to the school Wednesday and picked it up.

There are a lot of Honduran moments in this story. The first one being he said he would come pick it up at 8:00....so by about 9:00 I thought I didn't understand or he got busy and isn't coming...but he came at 10:00 and picked it up. No mention about why he hadn't come at 8:00...I think it is just that 10:00 is a Honduran's 8:00.

So he took the car and came back a few hours later to tell me what he had found. The rattle I was hearing was a part to my suspension that was broken (not good!) and he said that the part was very expensive. He told me he needed about 900 limps to get the parts for that, and the brakes, (that is about the same as $50 U.S.), so I gave him 1000 limps.

He called me about 5:00 and told me that the car was ready. Here is a funny story...

I had Annette's truck at my house because I was taking Alysha to the base that night for worship practice and I don't have a pass yet for my car....and the yellow-eyed dog was laying in the street by my house, so I didn't want to walk to get a taxi to go pick up my car....so...

I drove Annette's truck from my house, up the street to her house, parked it in front of her house, walked to the corner of the main blvd., caught a taxi to the school. His house/shop is a few blocks from the school but I knew I would have to kind of feel my way to find his house....it is a house with a black metal door and a gray Nissan parked across the street, I can't tell the taxi driver that. So I got out at the school and then set off on foot. I got there, no problem.

He let me in and began showing me the things he had fixed and replaced and showed me my old parts. He even had one of his young helpers wash my car for me...which was when we discovered my car had been keyed. It was too dirty for me to see it before that.

And as we stood there talking about my car his chickens and roosters wandered around. I wished I could take a picture....it is one of those you have to see it to understand it!

He is very nice, very honest, and in the end after I gave him a little extra because we couldn't make the right change, I paid him for parts and labor 1500 limps (about $80)! He repaired the suspension, put on new brake pads, replaced a seal on the power steering fluid place, added power steering fluid, greased something (I forget), and even washed my car! Now that's a good deal!

Those of you who know me and my family and our car mechanic....we love Darrell at Master Tech, well I have found my Honduran version of Darrell, his name is Omar!

We tried a new fruit this week. It is "lechi". I had never tried them before. Many times you see people selling them in little bags on the side of the highway. Alysha and I were at the store the other night and decided to get some to try. We
asked Katherine, one of the Honduran teachers, how to eat them.

They are really good. You have to break it open to get to the fruit.




Here you can see the fruit that is inside. It resembles a grape inside. If you peeled a green grape, but it is larger than a grape. Similar in flavor and texture. And then it has a seed inside about the size of an almond. We couldn't decide if you were supposed to eat the seed or not (many fruits here people eat the seeds), we decided we liked them better without the seed.

Here he is - the dog who bit me earlier this year. I don't know why he continues to want to hang out by my corner...but the other morning I went to get my car out of the yard and he was sitting right by my back gate, so I ran inside and got my dog zapper...he did not like the noise. He jumped and ran away!

This picture is him sitting across the street from my house one morning when I went to leave for school.

My kids love the erasers that you put on the end of your pencils. I buy them for them sometimes as a treat and will start off the week by giving each of them one of these erasers. Some packages of them came in the bag from Lauren (yae! a blessing to me as well as kids!) Here is a funny picture of the kids displaying their other favorite thing to do with these erasers!

Josue, the boy in the front, is the one who started this months ago. He always sticks his eraser on his nose, he is always doing funny things, he is just a funny kid! But all the kids followed his lead, and now they all like to stick them on their nose, chin, cheek, some of the girls even used them as an earring! They are funny. Here I took a picture of them all together, each one with their eraser stuck on their head somewhere! They are a funny bunch of kids!

We do use them as eraseres too! They love having them on their pencils, and occasionally on their nose or chin to make me laugh! :)

The Evil Yellow-Eyed Dog

The family moved away, but the dog has returned. He now lives on the street, and for most of this week has chosen the corner in front of my house as his favorite place to be. I have gone out a couple of mornings to leave and taken my "dog zapper" with me and buzzed him with the high-pitched sound, and he slowly gets up and saunders across the street and lays back down. Perhaps he has a death wish because he generally sits in the middle of the street and doesn't move when cars come down the road. Why he has chosen my corner as his place to hang out is unknown....but I actually find myself felling sorry for him. The other morning I went outside to pull my car out of my fence and there he was sitting in the middle of the road scratching and biting at his mangy self. He must be hungry and thirsty, but somehow all the Honduran dogs living on the street survive.

The other morning I went out and took a couple of pictures of him, but they aren't close enough to really see his "beauty", maybe I will try again, but I will always take the pictures from inside my fence or my car....where I am protected!

Luis and Jose Manuel (aka Chepito)

Please pray for these two boys. Luis is in 3rd grade, Chepito is in 4th grade, their mom has left for the United States on her 3-year plan. They were left here with their grandfather. Grandfather just went into the hospital for some sort of surgery and they are currently staying with an aunt. It is a sad situation. Luis is very very smart and is already starting on 4th grade Paces. Chepito has some learning difficulties or obessessive compulsive behavior....or ADD something....I'm not a psychologist, but he fiddles with things all the time, and today wrapped all his fingers with masking tape, which is not unusual behavior for him. He usually writes over and over and over his letters. Some short circuits are there for him, but he is very inventive. He builds things out of nothing....one day the air conditioner was dripping above his desk, so with straws and sticks and paper and a plastic bottle he built a bridge which held the plastic bottle and it all balanced just right to catch the water. I told him he must be going to be an engineer when he groes up. He got the biggest smile on his face. Luis is "the smart one"....but Chepito is very creative and inventive.

I am worried about these boys, not having their mom with them, and wondering what might happen to them if something happened that grandfather could no longer keep them.

Meeting with Mauro's mom.....

Monday Mauro's dad called and rescheduled the meeting for Tuesday after school. So we all wondered if we would have a meeting or not. But his mom did come after school. No dad, but one parent is better than none.

We explained to her that he is not working at school and not working at home. We talked to her about how many detentions he has had and that many times he does not bring them back signed. Then Miss Denora showed her the detention slips that he has brought to us signed and some of them his mom said "this is not my signature".

Miss Patty told her that Mauro often times tells me that he will be hit by father, and Patty asked her if there is a problem with his father hurting him. She said no, that his father is strong and firm and that he talks firmly to Mauro and he gets spanked, but it is discipline and not anything that is not appropriate.

She told us that she doesn't know what to do with him because he tells her he doesn't have homework, and when he does have homework he just sits with his Pace and doesn't write. We explained that he ALWAYS has homework, so be sure to look for his homework slip and to be sure that he is working on his Paces.

She said that there will be no more tv for him so that he will have all the time in the evening to do homework. She also said that she knows we care about her son, we were the ones taking care of his hand when he got hurt and putting the medicine on his hand. She said that Mauro told her "Miss Stephanie loves me more than you do."

We explained to her that we do care about her son, but that we are his teachers, I am not his mom, Miss Patty is not his mom, we cannot be his mom, he needs his mom and his dad. Patty told how important it is for mom and dad to spend time with him each day. Even if it is only 15 minutes, just spend some time with him, talking with him, giving him attention. We need to be a team, the teachers and the parents, working together.

I pray that his mom will take all we said to heart, and will pay more attention to her son. He is a precious boy, who needs his parents to give him some love and attention.

Thank you for praying for the meeting. I am so thankful that his mom came!

Prayer Request

Please pray for Mauro and for his parents, and for myself and Miss Patty. We have scheduled a meeting with Mauro´s parents after school on Monday.

We began enforcing the rule of 7 detentions in a week means a suspension. This has put fear into many of the kids and we are giving out fewer detentions.

Last week Mauro got one detention for not doing his homework...the following day he once again didn´t do all his homework, and now an addition detention because he did not get the prior day´s detention signed by his parents.....this continued and by Thusday if I would have written him the detentions he deserved, he would have been suspended.

How do I explain Mauro? I love Mauro like a son! I fell in love with him last year. He is a 5th grader this year. He is a good kid, gets in trouble for talking, wasting time, not finishing his goals, and not doing his homework, but inside he is a good kid.

His home life....here is an example....a month ago we had a parent night where the kids were performing dances and dramas which they had learned while Helen and Kala were here, Mauro´s mom dropped him off and went home. Then when it was time for everyone to leave, and we were picking up the last bits of our things Mauro and his cousin Wilmer were still there. I gave Mauro my cell phone to call his mom. She told him to just take a taxi home. It was dark, after 9:00, and not safe to be roaming around the streets. Patty and I took them home.

Saturdays we have school from 8:00 to 11:00 for those kids who are behind....Mauro comes to school on Saturday. Today after all the kids had gone he was still there (this is typical), he sat and talked with me while I was working on a Pace order for my class. Then we just sat and talked about movies and things while we waited on his dad. He had tried to call dad but he was not answering his phone. Finally at 12:20 (class ends every Saturday at 11:00) his dad gets there to pick him up.

If you remember from previous posts we had a tough time with him several weeks ago, trying to get him to give his detentions to his parents, because he was hiding them from his dad because he would get "hit", not exactly sure what this means in his head, but his cousin Wilmer told me that Mauro´s dad hit him with the belt when he found out about the detentions the last time.

Thursday when I realized he would be suspended, I went to Patty and we talked about what would be best for Mauro. Suspending him does not seem like the answer. So I sat down with him and told him that his behavior had earned him 3 more detentions which meant a suspension, the tears started for both of us. I explained that Miss Patty and I want what is best for him and we don´t want him suspended, but we have to get his parents involved in what is going on with him. I told him that we were going to call his parents and ask them for a meeting. He was very upset, the wall went up, the fists were clenched, and the tears were running. He said "miss you don´t know, my dad will hit me" I tried to explain to him that I want his parents to be involved in his life, in his homework, in the things at school. That we want to be a team, Me, Miss Patty, and Mom and Dad. He didn´t think it would work.

Mom and Dad are supposed to come in Monday after school to meet with Patty and I.

Please pray for us. For us to have the right words. We want this to be a successful meeting. We want his parents to be involved with Mauro, and show him the attention and affection that he is looking for.

We had a meeting with the father of one of our other students a few weeks ago. This is a student who had been suspended, he was trouble last year, and is once again this year, and he is only in 3rd grade. But he has a sad life at home. His Honduran mom abandoned him, his father is from the U.S. works at the base, drinks too much, and spends no time with him, he is being raised by the housekeeper and has numerous ones because they don´t last long due to the behavior of Joseph. We had a meeting with dad and told him how much his son needs him and wants to spend time with him. Joseph lives near me so many days I take him home after school. I was asking him Friday if he has gotten to spend any time with dad after school...no, dad isn´t home, then Joseph falls asleep before dad gets home from work. It is sad!

Please pray for the time we have with Mauro´s parents on Monday. Pray that they come, that they will have a willing heart to hear how we care for their son, pray that we will have the right words to say to his parents, and that nothing we say will cause harm to Mauro. While a spanking may be the correct punishment, I pray that dad does not cross the line. We want his parents to be involved with him, be proud of him, to show him attention. He has a brother in kinder (like preschool) and his dad googoos and goes on about the little brother while some days forgetting to pick Mauro up from school. Mauro needs that attention and affection from his parents.

My kids are loving the new books that came in the bag from Lauren. Before class starts they are reading books, and can't wait to finish their goals so they can read their new books. I even catch them during break coming back into the room to read books. They are loving them!

These kids have chosen to be inside reading books, rather than outside on the swings or running and playing.

Quotes by Alejandro

Alejandro is one of my funniest 2nd graders. He is so intelligent and sometimes he says the funniest things!

As you read these, remember that not only is this a second grade student, but also that English is his second language…he says some amazing things, but I have just in the last week started writing them down so I can remember the funny things Alejandro says.

One day he was upset at me because I had given him a demerit….he came to me with tears in his eyes and said “Miss I will be your friend on one condition….”

His one condition was that I score his Pace for him so he didn’t have to do it. With the crocodile tears, his big beautiful eyes, and that funny expression coming out of this little Honduran 2^nd grader, I couldn’t resist. I scored his Pace and met his condition to be his friend again.

One day last week he had finished his goals, but it was so early, we still had almost an hour of class left, so I wanted him to do some extra pages in one of his Paces. I told him to do some more pages of Math (his least favorite), he said “I prefer to work in Science”. How could I resist!? Of course I let him work in Science, which is his favorite.

Letters from Texas

Well the second bag from Texas arrived in Honduras on Wednesday last week. Thanks to Annette! Back in April Lauren Calabreese told me that Caleb’s 5^th grade class was going to do a missions project and they wanted my class to be their project. The bag finaly arrived….full of pencils, erasers, colored pencils, glue, crayons, stickers, books, scissors, play dough, cassette tapes, pencil sharpeners….and letters for each of my students!

I sat in my living room reading the letters from the students to my kids and cried. I was so excited to present them to the children today. I explained to my class that a package had arrived with blessings for us to use in our classroom. I told them that I would have to clean out my drawers and reorganize the room just so that I could make room for all the books that came. They cheered at this news! They love books and love to read!

Then I began to tell them that the students in this class in Texas had written a letter to each of them. They all looked at me puzzled. I began to pass them out, which caused even more confusion. They were trying to give them back to me. Many of them looked at me and said “what miss?” Which is the question I get when they have absolutely no idea what I am talking to them about.

I tried again to explain that these were letters to them individually from other children at a school in Texas. I showed them that their names were written on them, because it was for them personally, from a new friend in Texas. Some slowly began to catch on. But still some were holding them up to me and saying “what miss?”

I asked for one of the high school students to come down to my classroom to help me explain in Spanish. Anna came down and began to explain it to them in Spanish, still some didn’t understand…because many of them had never seen a written letter. It occurred to me that this is partially because we live in Honduras where there is not mail delivery to your house, but also some of it is the time we live in with the internet. I probably should have told them it was like an email and they might have understood.

Well, once they understood why I was giving them each a letter, they all got excited to read about their new friend, and sharing the information with the other students in the class. I got some great pictures of them reading their letters and reading each other’s letters. They all learned how to pronounce the names of these new friends, and were so excited! It was fun as many of them have names they have never heard before. I told them we would all write letters to our new friends on Monday. They thought that was a great idea!

During our morning break Hanssel came and asked me if he could show his paper from his friend Jeff to his older sister, Krissia. She told me that he had come and gotten her and said “you have to read my paper from my new friend Jeff! “

Lauren, this was such a blessing to my kids and to me! I loved seeing the joy on their face as they connected with other children in another world. So different from theirs, yet so much alike!

Please share with Caleb’s school and classmates that they truly blessed me and my kids! My words cannot express what seeing the joy on my kids’ faces did for me! And we may never know the extent of the joy this brought to each of the children.