Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
USA
I am back in the good old US of A!!!
Bittersweet to leave my love Honduras, but oh so sweet to return to family, friends, and American soil.
Reverse culture shock number 1 was the return to flushing toilet paper.... the Honduran plumbing system could not handle TP so it was oh so hygenically deposited in a waste bin next to the toilet. Anyway, the ability and convenience of flushing TP was one nice welcome back to the USA... I am sure there will be many more pleasantries that I have forgotten, and I will be sure to keep all updated via the internet :)
Bittersweet to leave my love Honduras, but oh so sweet to return to family, friends, and American soil.
Reverse culture shock number 1 was the return to flushing toilet paper.... the Honduran plumbing system could not handle TP so it was oh so hygenically deposited in a waste bin next to the toilet. Anyway, the ability and convenience of flushing TP was one nice welcome back to the USA... I am sure there will be many more pleasantries that I have forgotten, and I will be sure to keep all updated via the internet :)
Monday, May 9, 2011
Jesus Lives
Yo se que mi Redentor vive.
I know that Jesus, my Savior, lives.
It's been so breath-taking to spend 2 months in Honduras and daily be confirmed of this truth. In La Ceiba, there are a monton ( a ton ) of Christian churches that are Bible believing and follow the Word of God with their lives. I have found it so convicting and challenging that the church here is loving, humble, and passionate among many other adjectives...
I was reading this morning a Colossians 1, which I have read often, but today I was renewed in my Nuevo Testamento en Espanol (check Colossians 1 in English if you desire)... "El es la imagen del Dios invisible, el primogenito de toda creacion. Porque en el fueron creadas todas las cosas, las que hay en los cielos y las que hay en la tierra, visibles e invisibles; sean tronos, sean dominios, sean principados, sean potestades; todo fue creado por medio de el y para el. Y el es antes de todas las cosas, y todas las cosas en el subsisten..."
When I am in the montains here, I give glory and thanks to God. When I go to the beach and look at the expanse of the ocean, I am overwhelmed by my Father and I have no way to express what I am feeling... how absolutely amazing is our Creator who overwhelms us with His love and grace...daily. Thanks be to God for His Son. "Por medio de el reconciliar consigo todas las cosas, asi las que estan en la tierra como las que estan en los cielos, haciendo la paz mediante la sangre de su cruz."
I know that Jesus, my Savior, lives.
It's been so breath-taking to spend 2 months in Honduras and daily be confirmed of this truth. In La Ceiba, there are a monton ( a ton ) of Christian churches that are Bible believing and follow the Word of God with their lives. I have found it so convicting and challenging that the church here is loving, humble, and passionate among many other adjectives...
I was reading this morning a Colossians 1, which I have read often, but today I was renewed in my Nuevo Testamento en Espanol (check Colossians 1 in English if you desire)... "El es la imagen del Dios invisible, el primogenito de toda creacion. Porque en el fueron creadas todas las cosas, las que hay en los cielos y las que hay en la tierra, visibles e invisibles; sean tronos, sean dominios, sean principados, sean potestades; todo fue creado por medio de el y para el. Y el es antes de todas las cosas, y todas las cosas en el subsisten..."
When I am in the montains here, I give glory and thanks to God. When I go to the beach and look at the expanse of the ocean, I am overwhelmed by my Father and I have no way to express what I am feeling... how absolutely amazing is our Creator who overwhelms us with His love and grace...daily. Thanks be to God for His Son. "Por medio de el reconciliar consigo todas las cosas, asi las que estan en la tierra como las que estan en los cielos, haciendo la paz mediante la sangre de su cruz."
Sunday, May 1, 2011
sand flies are evil. i really hate these little, nearly invisible flies that for some reason or another seem to love my blood type and wish to drain all the life force from me. i have had quite a significant amount of bug bites during my time here in honduras, but after taking a one day trip to the island of Utila, i returned to my city of La Ceiba with my arms and legs completely covered in red, irritated bites from these evil sand flies. So, I had no choice but to head for some emergency help....
I went to a 24 hour emergency clinic...on my own, hoping my spanish would not fail me... but i figured that if there was any translation barrier I could simply point to the obviously exaggerated amount of bites on my limbs and the doctor would get the point. so I went to the clinic, met the doctor and noticed her fancy high heels, costume jewelry, and tight fiting outfit and thought grrrreat, i am now entering a telenovela. But to my suprise, the doctor was fabulous. I told her i needed something strong and immediate to help me and she met the demand... I received in total 3 injections that ended up numbing my legs and arms and sending me to sleep for hours on end... I left with numerous meds and a feeling that in honduras, the doctors don´t mess around. by the grace of God, I did not faint as a very very very large needle entered my vein on both arms and then another spot i won´t mention.
but wow, i am feeling much better, and the bites are healing! i vow to never to return to the island of Utila again...and to avoid sand flies at all costs...they are vicious.
love to all. and i promise to write of more uplifting and profound matters on my next post :) besos y abrazos!
I went to a 24 hour emergency clinic...on my own, hoping my spanish would not fail me... but i figured that if there was any translation barrier I could simply point to the obviously exaggerated amount of bites on my limbs and the doctor would get the point. so I went to the clinic, met the doctor and noticed her fancy high heels, costume jewelry, and tight fiting outfit and thought grrrreat, i am now entering a telenovela. But to my suprise, the doctor was fabulous. I told her i needed something strong and immediate to help me and she met the demand... I received in total 3 injections that ended up numbing my legs and arms and sending me to sleep for hours on end... I left with numerous meds and a feeling that in honduras, the doctors don´t mess around. by the grace of God, I did not faint as a very very very large needle entered my vein on both arms and then another spot i won´t mention.
but wow, i am feeling much better, and the bites are healing! i vow to never to return to the island of Utila again...and to avoid sand flies at all costs...they are vicious.
love to all. and i promise to write of more uplifting and profound matters on my next post :) besos y abrazos!
Monday, April 18, 2011
220
hola from honduras!! i hope that all my dear friends and family are doing well...I think of you often and long to see you soon!
life in La Ceiba, honduras has been increasingly interesting as my spanish is improving and conversation with people is becoming deeper and more profound. for example, yesterday i chatted for a few hours with my host mom´s father, Ramon. I learned of his past as a talented roller skater, businessman, olympic level weight lifter, and stint as a preacher. We discussed why God the Father sent Jesus His only Son to the earth... in english this convo is quite complicated..imagine attempting it in spanish! but what a blessing to discuss sin, the flesh, life thru Christ, grace,life in the Spirit, etc. I am attempting to read the Bible in spanish and memorize verses in spanish, but wow, how difficult it is to retain scripture in spanish!
this week is Semana Santa throughout Latin America, and in La Ceiba semana santa means a week of vacation, family time at the beach, and lots of night life. i will continue with my classes thru this week, receiving classes in the morning but not working at the orphanage in the afternoons... i am actually very excited for the break as i´ve been pretty exhausted from going 220 (as they call it here)all day long.. 220 is double the typical voltage you would find on an outlet here..110 is the norm. so when someone is go go go, doing a lot, or with lots of energy-hyper, you say that they are 220. i´ve felt like a 220 for the past few weeks and i´m excited to lower the output - voltage for this week!
this past saturday i played in a soccer tourney with my team... we played in games throughout the day, from 8am til 6pm...a little much for an old retired athlete like myself! but i enjoyed every sec of the experience... it was a true cultural experience to play in this Futbolito tourney. Futbolito is like mini soccer.. you play on a field about 1/3 the size of a standard field and it is enclosed by a half wall and fence..there really is no out-of-bounds unless you hit the netting on top or way high up on the wall. it is such a quick game and you have to have amazing ball control to play futbolito well... some of these honduran women are amazing. honestly, a few play just like men. and it is because they have played all their lives and are truly obsessed with futbol. our team played very well and we ended up taking 2nd place, a trophy, and winning around 1000 lempiras as a team which is about 50 american dollars...a lot of money here. We went out to eat to celebrate and spent it all on pollitos (chix wings), tajadas (fried plantains), and coca-cola for the team!! such a fun experience with my new teammates! another crazy lil tidbit from the experience was the 4 gun shots heard randomly t-out the day, sounding like they were right next to the fields...a little scary for me, but the hondurans barely flinched. i guess they have more focus for futbol, a passion that is not distracted easily!!
love u all and Dios te cuide!!
life in La Ceiba, honduras has been increasingly interesting as my spanish is improving and conversation with people is becoming deeper and more profound. for example, yesterday i chatted for a few hours with my host mom´s father, Ramon. I learned of his past as a talented roller skater, businessman, olympic level weight lifter, and stint as a preacher. We discussed why God the Father sent Jesus His only Son to the earth... in english this convo is quite complicated..imagine attempting it in spanish! but what a blessing to discuss sin, the flesh, life thru Christ, grace,life in the Spirit, etc. I am attempting to read the Bible in spanish and memorize verses in spanish, but wow, how difficult it is to retain scripture in spanish!
this week is Semana Santa throughout Latin America, and in La Ceiba semana santa means a week of vacation, family time at the beach, and lots of night life. i will continue with my classes thru this week, receiving classes in the morning but not working at the orphanage in the afternoons... i am actually very excited for the break as i´ve been pretty exhausted from going 220 (as they call it here)all day long.. 220 is double the typical voltage you would find on an outlet here..110 is the norm. so when someone is go go go, doing a lot, or with lots of energy-hyper, you say that they are 220. i´ve felt like a 220 for the past few weeks and i´m excited to lower the output - voltage for this week!
this past saturday i played in a soccer tourney with my team... we played in games throughout the day, from 8am til 6pm...a little much for an old retired athlete like myself! but i enjoyed every sec of the experience... it was a true cultural experience to play in this Futbolito tourney. Futbolito is like mini soccer.. you play on a field about 1/3 the size of a standard field and it is enclosed by a half wall and fence..there really is no out-of-bounds unless you hit the netting on top or way high up on the wall. it is such a quick game and you have to have amazing ball control to play futbolito well... some of these honduran women are amazing. honestly, a few play just like men. and it is because they have played all their lives and are truly obsessed with futbol. our team played very well and we ended up taking 2nd place, a trophy, and winning around 1000 lempiras as a team which is about 50 american dollars...a lot of money here. We went out to eat to celebrate and spent it all on pollitos (chix wings), tajadas (fried plantains), and coca-cola for the team!! such a fun experience with my new teammates! another crazy lil tidbit from the experience was the 4 gun shots heard randomly t-out the day, sounding like they were right next to the fields...a little scary for me, but the hondurans barely flinched. i guess they have more focus for futbol, a passion that is not distracted easily!!
love u all and Dios te cuide!!
Monday, April 11, 2011
yo ando aqui
it is monday, april 11...increible! i have only one month left here in beautiful La Ceiba.
day to day life has been interesting and productive...i am continuing with half the day in school and half the day in the orphanage. i am becoming a pro in the orphanage´s kitchen, preparing tortillas, baleadas, panqueques, peeling vegetables with a unsharped, large knife..almost like a machete lol. my classes have been going well. i mostly just spend my class time conversing in spanish with my teacher, sometimes walking around the city and just chatting. the other day i went with my teacher to the market area of the town and we bought coconuts and drank the coconut water..then we had the old lady cut the coco in 2 pieces with her machete so we could eat the part on the inside. it was pretty sweet, but i think im allergic to coconut as my throat was scratchy and itchy the whole time!! i don´t want to die in honduras!!
speaking of near death experiences, i did have a less than safe morning in an area of la ceiba called la zona viva. it was 9 am and i was walking to the beach to go for a run. i was talking on my cell phone and this man, about 34 yrs old, started to get real close towards me. i didn´t really pay any attention, but then he said he wanted to rob my cell phone or shoot me. i don´t think i could hear the threat in his voice nor understand his spanish perfectly because the response that came out of my mouth was ¨No, es mio´...which in spanish means ´No, it´s mine´. So, I told the thief that he could not have my phone because it was mine!! I continued in Spanish and said that he couldn´t have my phone because i worked to pay for it, and it wasn´t his to take. A very stupid response i know, as the correct response would be to hand your phone over no questions asked. my response suprised the man and he asked me if i was from la ceiba, and i responded with ´yes, i am from here´... which obviously is not true. but anyways, the event evolved from a robbery into the man walking alongside me for 2 blocks chatting with me and asking me questions...then he told me it was my lucky day and he wasn´t going to rob or harm me!! thanks be to God. He never laid a finger on me. i never felt fearful or considered that he would actually harm me, but i do know that i need to be more cautious in the future. there are headlines in the newspaper here that say ¨Murio por su celular´..which means, ¨Died for his cellphone´!! Crazy! i promise to hand over my posessions next time instead of the possibility of my life!! ahh!
On to more uplifting news... life is good here. Our little school,teachers and students took a trip to Rio Maria and went swimming, saw waterfalls, and jumped off cliffs into the water. We had a big birthday fiesta on the beach and in the villa of a student from the school. I have been learning some fancy soccer movies from one our teachers. A senor in my neighborhood invited me to play on his women´s soccer team, and I am so pumped... when i´m in a spanish speaking country, all i want to do is watch soccer, talk soccer, and play soccer!! one final little trip i took this weekend was to Sambo Creek, a Garifuna community. we went to the aguas termales, hot springs, and covered our bodies in the mud-clay and then bathed in the springs..both hot and cold. Estuvo rico!! It was soo relaxing and fun. After, we ate lunch on the beach...consisting of a plantain soup and fried fish that was caught that morning!
God is good and I am seeing His grace and love in so many situations and in so many people here in Honduras. Love you all lots and please continue to pray for me as i pray for you as well. Besos desde Honduras!!!!
day to day life has been interesting and productive...i am continuing with half the day in school and half the day in the orphanage. i am becoming a pro in the orphanage´s kitchen, preparing tortillas, baleadas, panqueques, peeling vegetables with a unsharped, large knife..almost like a machete lol. my classes have been going well. i mostly just spend my class time conversing in spanish with my teacher, sometimes walking around the city and just chatting. the other day i went with my teacher to the market area of the town and we bought coconuts and drank the coconut water..then we had the old lady cut the coco in 2 pieces with her machete so we could eat the part on the inside. it was pretty sweet, but i think im allergic to coconut as my throat was scratchy and itchy the whole time!! i don´t want to die in honduras!!
speaking of near death experiences, i did have a less than safe morning in an area of la ceiba called la zona viva. it was 9 am and i was walking to the beach to go for a run. i was talking on my cell phone and this man, about 34 yrs old, started to get real close towards me. i didn´t really pay any attention, but then he said he wanted to rob my cell phone or shoot me. i don´t think i could hear the threat in his voice nor understand his spanish perfectly because the response that came out of my mouth was ¨No, es mio´...which in spanish means ´No, it´s mine´. So, I told the thief that he could not have my phone because it was mine!! I continued in Spanish and said that he couldn´t have my phone because i worked to pay for it, and it wasn´t his to take. A very stupid response i know, as the correct response would be to hand your phone over no questions asked. my response suprised the man and he asked me if i was from la ceiba, and i responded with ´yes, i am from here´... which obviously is not true. but anyways, the event evolved from a robbery into the man walking alongside me for 2 blocks chatting with me and asking me questions...then he told me it was my lucky day and he wasn´t going to rob or harm me!! thanks be to God. He never laid a finger on me. i never felt fearful or considered that he would actually harm me, but i do know that i need to be more cautious in the future. there are headlines in the newspaper here that say ¨Murio por su celular´..which means, ¨Died for his cellphone´!! Crazy! i promise to hand over my posessions next time instead of the possibility of my life!! ahh!
On to more uplifting news... life is good here. Our little school,teachers and students took a trip to Rio Maria and went swimming, saw waterfalls, and jumped off cliffs into the water. We had a big birthday fiesta on the beach and in the villa of a student from the school. I have been learning some fancy soccer movies from one our teachers. A senor in my neighborhood invited me to play on his women´s soccer team, and I am so pumped... when i´m in a spanish speaking country, all i want to do is watch soccer, talk soccer, and play soccer!! one final little trip i took this weekend was to Sambo Creek, a Garifuna community. we went to the aguas termales, hot springs, and covered our bodies in the mud-clay and then bathed in the springs..both hot and cold. Estuvo rico!! It was soo relaxing and fun. After, we ate lunch on the beach...consisting of a plantain soup and fried fish that was caught that morning!
God is good and I am seeing His grace and love in so many situations and in so many people here in Honduras. Love you all lots and please continue to pray for me as i pray for you as well. Besos desde Honduras!!!!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
4 down...6 to go..whoa
hola amigos :) well, i know i have been lax in my efforts to keep an online account of life in La Ceiba, Honduras.... sooo, i will update y'all a bit!
4 weeks have passed, an entire month living with my crazy/fun family, attending spanish lessons, and working at the orphanage. about 6 more weeks to go! Whoa!
here are a few highlights from the past weeks...
Cayos Cochinos - hermoso! so beautiful. these islands are what my dreams of a beach paradise cannot even reach. i was so blessed to take a trip with a few girls from the school and experience Cayos. It is a 40 minute boat ride off the mainland. and when i say boat ride i mean a rough, thrashing 40 minutes across ocean waves in a small, old, unreliable boat. but, i guess i was really tired or just enjoyed the rocking motion because somehow i managed to fall asleep both enroute and on the return from the islands :) my tour guide called me a loca. as we reached the islands, we snorkled and swam and enjoyed the blue waters and white sand beaches. The Garifuna people are a very unique population of Honduras as they were former slaves that were relocated to the coast of Honduras and have preserved a culture and native language. and wow, what amazing food the Garifuna have cultivated.... In Cayo Cochinos, we ate fresh fish, fried plantains, coconut bread, a herbal drink, and mas y mas!
A few more cultural experiences include visits to other Garifuna villages, hiking Pico Bonito mountain, visiting a wildlife refuge Cuero y Salado, running the beaches, enrolling in a dance class ahhhhh!!!, and attending a traveling circus lol.
besides the weekend trips, i love the day-to-day life here in La Ceiba. 4 hours of class, a home-cooked honduran style lunch, and 5 hours in the orphanage. then if i have energy at night, i go out with friends, go to a dance lesson, or attend my church.
the orphanage (orfanato) is called Casa Feliz. it is changing my life in incredible ways. i am sooo in awe of the Lord's grace as I hear of these kids stories, their former lives, and I see them now, following Christ and giving glory to God. it challenges me to be more single-minded and to get into the Word more. the kids follow a strict schedule of eating, cleaning, bathing, bible study, play, school, tutoring sessions, etc etc. and they all have so much joy. when i get to the orphanage, i am always greeted by many hugs, many clingers, and many questions. i think my favorite job at Casa Feliz is helping in the kitchen...I've been learning to make some bomb Honduran dishes. Baleadas, sopas, jugos, tortillas, arroz y frijoles, etc etc. And, i know i'm not supposed to have favorites, but i naturally have a few at the orphange. Leti is one of my favs.... she is 9 years-old, and soooo guapita :) today, she was washing here tennis shoes in the basin, scrubbing away like she was an old pro, and we were just chatting away...she asked me in spanish 'if i could take a trip?'. and i responded with, 'a trip to where?'...and she said, 'a trip to sleep at the orphanage'... She wanted me to stay with her!! I love her more and more every day.. and the rest of the 18 kids as well. they are precious in the sight of the Lord and in my sight, i love them dearly.
well, one last little thing that i will share is the new ability i have discovered within me to kill predators...predators such as cucarachas. last night alone i killed 2 in my bedroom, yes my bedroom. and i saw 1 gecko in my bedroom and 2 in the bathroom. sick. but the geckos eat cucarachas so i have decided to welcome them. i feel like i am living in the jungla...well, i guess i kind of am.
love to all. i am praying for your lives back in the states. remember that i am always open to visitors here!!
Dios te bendiga y te cuide... Abrazos y besos!!
4 weeks have passed, an entire month living with my crazy/fun family, attending spanish lessons, and working at the orphanage. about 6 more weeks to go! Whoa!
here are a few highlights from the past weeks...
Cayos Cochinos - hermoso! so beautiful. these islands are what my dreams of a beach paradise cannot even reach. i was so blessed to take a trip with a few girls from the school and experience Cayos. It is a 40 minute boat ride off the mainland. and when i say boat ride i mean a rough, thrashing 40 minutes across ocean waves in a small, old, unreliable boat. but, i guess i was really tired or just enjoyed the rocking motion because somehow i managed to fall asleep both enroute and on the return from the islands :) my tour guide called me a loca. as we reached the islands, we snorkled and swam and enjoyed the blue waters and white sand beaches. The Garifuna people are a very unique population of Honduras as they were former slaves that were relocated to the coast of Honduras and have preserved a culture and native language. and wow, what amazing food the Garifuna have cultivated.... In Cayo Cochinos, we ate fresh fish, fried plantains, coconut bread, a herbal drink, and mas y mas!
A few more cultural experiences include visits to other Garifuna villages, hiking Pico Bonito mountain, visiting a wildlife refuge Cuero y Salado, running the beaches, enrolling in a dance class ahhhhh!!!, and attending a traveling circus lol.
besides the weekend trips, i love the day-to-day life here in La Ceiba. 4 hours of class, a home-cooked honduran style lunch, and 5 hours in the orphanage. then if i have energy at night, i go out with friends, go to a dance lesson, or attend my church.
the orphanage (orfanato) is called Casa Feliz. it is changing my life in incredible ways. i am sooo in awe of the Lord's grace as I hear of these kids stories, their former lives, and I see them now, following Christ and giving glory to God. it challenges me to be more single-minded and to get into the Word more. the kids follow a strict schedule of eating, cleaning, bathing, bible study, play, school, tutoring sessions, etc etc. and they all have so much joy. when i get to the orphanage, i am always greeted by many hugs, many clingers, and many questions. i think my favorite job at Casa Feliz is helping in the kitchen...I've been learning to make some bomb Honduran dishes. Baleadas, sopas, jugos, tortillas, arroz y frijoles, etc etc. And, i know i'm not supposed to have favorites, but i naturally have a few at the orphange. Leti is one of my favs.... she is 9 years-old, and soooo guapita :) today, she was washing here tennis shoes in the basin, scrubbing away like she was an old pro, and we were just chatting away...she asked me in spanish 'if i could take a trip?'. and i responded with, 'a trip to where?'...and she said, 'a trip to sleep at the orphanage'... She wanted me to stay with her!! I love her more and more every day.. and the rest of the 18 kids as well. they are precious in the sight of the Lord and in my sight, i love them dearly.
well, one last little thing that i will share is the new ability i have discovered within me to kill predators...predators such as cucarachas. last night alone i killed 2 in my bedroom, yes my bedroom. and i saw 1 gecko in my bedroom and 2 in the bathroom. sick. but the geckos eat cucarachas so i have decided to welcome them. i feel like i am living in the jungla...well, i guess i kind of am.
love to all. i am praying for your lives back in the states. remember that i am always open to visitors here!!
Dios te bendiga y te cuide... Abrazos y besos!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)