If I'm gonna be cold, I'd rather be in the Ocean!

Last week, a group from our home church in Greenwood, IN was in Honduras for a mission trip. It was so great getting to see everyone from home, and share our lives with them again. I probably looked like a kid in a candy store waiting at the San Pedro Sula airport for them to come out of customs. The trip was a great success, with a couple hundred salvations, and a few instantaneous miracles. The team spent a couple of days here in Sigua, a couple in San Pedro, a couple in the mountains, and 1 in Tela (a beautiful coastal town). I was so excited to go with them to Tela since I have been trying to experience the turquise waters of the Caribbean since we got here. Unfortunately, it rained the ENTIRE time we were there. We were at a beautiful resort that was right on the ocean, but also had a huge, gorgeous pool. It was the low season, so we pretty much had all of this to ourselves.

A group of us decided that no matter what the weather, we were going to swim. So, we put on our bathing suits and ran out into the pouring rain to jump in the pool. It was kind of chilly, but fun anyway. Pastor Scott decided that if we were going to be cold, he would rather be in the ocean, so off we ran. Turns out, this was a bad idea because there was no shelter from the wind and rain, which pelted you like hail, and the churning water was very dirty. So, we ran back into the pool and played volleyball for about 1 1/2 hours. FUN!

here is a picture of only one small section of the HUGE pool.



And one of the ocean...notice the red flag and all the waves.



Here is a picture of Jill and Ranen...so cute!



And one of the children's crusade on the central plaza.



And a precious one of my worst students praying the prayer of salvation.



And finally, Pastor Scott at the hotel in Tela being goofy during a game of Farkle.



On another note, my 5th graders have recently become alarmingly proficient in their limited knowledge of the English language, and are quickly becoming my favorite class. There are fewer of them, and they are older which makes them fun to work with. They now constantly use English phrases for things they need in class such as "I am finished", "Can we play a game", and "How do you say...". I usually end up starting class 15 minutes late every day because they are bombarding me with questions about English, American culture, etc. Of course, I don't mind this at all, even if they are just trying to distract me! I have one precious student named Lorena who is very smart, but hasn't quite figured out sentence structure yet. If she doesn't know what to say, she inserts the word "the". For example, almost every day in class she asks: "Teacher Mallori, the finish the class the play the game?" I haven't had the heart to correct her yet because its more important to me that she's trying. Someday maybe I will find the right time to do so.

Here are some group pictures of the class. I tried to make them take a serious one first, but we ended up with some bunny ears anyway.



Just the boys:



And just the girls:



If you care to know details about my classes at Destino, please feel free to visit and/or follow my other blog designed specifically to keep sponsors informed. The URL is:
http://destinodelreinoenglish.blogspot.com

Love you all!

GGOOOAAAALLL!!!

I never thought I'd get to the place in this country where things start to seem mundane and normal, but I have. My days are filled with school, meetings, and sometimes church. Things have calmed down since the political crisis to "talking" and trying to come to a conclusion in a "civilized" manner.

Yes, things had calmed down quite a bit, until.....

We were at home last night, minding our own business, when we heard a ton of cheering, honking, and fireworks. We knew there was a Honduras soccer game on, so we figured they must have won. When it didn't stop after about 10 minutes, we got on the internet to see what had happened. Well, as it turned out, they ended up getting into the World Cup. If you know Honduras, you know that is all this little country has ever dreamed of. Our friends, the Aplicanos', in San Pedro were crying and couldn't stop because they were so happy. In fact, its such a big deal, that the government declared the next day (today) a government holiday, and closed all government buildings and offices! WOW.

Needless to say, all the kids were in a great mood today.

I don't really have too many pictures to share, but lately I have really enjoyed the bus ride home because I always sit with Stefany, one of my students. She speaks English pretty well, and between her English and my Spanish, we tend to have pretty good Spanglish conversations. Here is a picture of us on the bus.



Nathaniel has been traveling a bit with John DuBose, the pastor of the local bilingual church here. A couple of weeks ago, they went to a remote mountain village to attend a service. This is one of the places that the November team might visit. Here are a couple of shots from that trip.

John DuBose is on the left, NAthaniel is on the right. The man in the middle is the pastor of the church they visited.


And a shot of the congregation:



I should have some more pictures soon, as the American teachers and I are planning a trip to a nearby lake called Lake Yojoa next weekend. Travel is so inexpensive here, and the lake is less than an hour away. It'll be a good way to spend our 3 day weekend.

We love you all, and thanks for your prayers!

Banana, Banana, Banana

So, I just got back from an amazing weekend in the Jungle rain forest on the north-eastern coast of Honduras! I went with 2 other English teachers at Destino, Amanda and Amanda Marie. It was such a beautiful place, with all kinds of neat outdoors activities. The best part is, it was really cheap!

So,I mustered up all my courage and headed out on a 5 hour bus ride. We arrived in La Ceiba at dinner time and ate at a yummy pizza hut, then headed into the jungle for some quality time with mother nature. The plan was to stay the night in the dormitory of the place (called Jungle River Lodge), then do some White Water Rafting and Zip lining on saturday, then head back on sunday.

As it turns out, the river was very low due to very little rain in September, so we couldn't do as much rafting as we wanted to. Therefore, to fill the time, our tour guides took us on a hike up the river to jump off some tall rocks that are normally submerged. Then, we floated back down the rapids to our rafts. Here is a picture of me getting ready to go rafting.



And me with all my gear.



There were tons of really tall rocks to jump off of. Most of them were at least 5 meters above the water. I really thought about jumping off this one. Here's me thinking. I'm the one squatting down.



almost...



But no. In the end, I chickened out. Maybe its because when my friend jumped, she got bloody gums.

Here are some action shots of us rafting.








Jungle River had a resident Macaw. If you know me at all, you know I'd be in heaven with a bird like that. And I was, even though you couldn't hold it. It did talk though. It said "Hola" and "Hello".



I also very much enjoyed the hammocks they had. We had lots of good conversation in these.



Now, on to the Zip lining. What a blast! I was really nervous about this because I was afraid of a free-falling feeling. It wasn't scary at all, though, and our guides gave us a tour through the Jungle and showed us lots of really neat plants. Here is me practicing with the guide.



and a real one.



And the three of us.



It was probably one of the most fun times Ive had in a long time. Maybe next time Nathaniel will be able to go with me. More to come soon! Feel free to leave comments! Love you all.

The Wonderful World of Skype

One of the things that helps keep Nathaniel and I from getting too homesick in Honduras is the ability to talk to people on Skype. It has been so great to not only hear people's voices, but also see their faces on almost a daily basis. If any of you out there don't yet have Skype, please get it, and add us to your contact list! Our skype name is Danielsdevotion.

During one conversation with Nathaniel's parents, I was able to take this snapshot:



And yes, that is a Halo on top of Merd's head. She had recently purchased one for herself and her granddaughter, Bekah, and wanted to show it off.


In other news, we recently received a care package from our friends back home at Touch of Fire Fellowship. It had (as requested) 8 lbs. of peanut butter in it! Peanut butter is so expensive down here, so we asked them to throw some in for us. We didn't know it would be that much, though! Here is a picture of Nathaniel with the jars:



They also threw in some books, homemade cards from the kids, and Jelly Belly's for me! That day, I ate a few too many. Here is the before:



And the after:



The weather here has been considerably cooler the last couple of days as we officially head into rainy season. It makes me really in the mood for some fall traditions: Spiced apple cider, candy corn, and changing leaves. Although, fall means winter, and I don't think Ill miss Indiana winter too much. :) More to come next week!

The Wheels on the Bus go Squeak, Squeak, Squeak

Since Nathaniel only has to teach at Destino on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I usually ride the bus to and from school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In the mornings, this is fine because the walk is not far, and they have 2 different buses that pick up all the kids and teachers. The afternoons, however, are a different story. They only have 1 bus that takes home alllllllllll the destino kids, teachers, and even some workers (except kinder and prepa because they leave at 12). So, you can imagine, the bus is very crowded!

So, I ride the bus in full Honduran style on those days...4 kids to a seat. You'd never see that in the States! Usually, I'm standing in the aisle, because I prefer it over sitting next to 3 sweaty, dirty kids. Let me just show you a picture of what I mean...



You may think that this picture looks like the kids have just gotten on, maybe they're getting settled and then it won't look so chaotic- WRONG. Now do you see why I prefer standing in the aisle? Its because I don't wan to look like this:



When the workers ride the bus, they take home anything and everything...like the other day one of the workers was holding a live duck (its body was in a plastic bag, its head was sticking out and no, it didn't look happy), and a melon. Life is very interesting here. I wish I could've gotten a picture of it, but I didn't have my camera.

Soon to come- some lovely Skype pictures, and more news on our crazy lives! Love you all!

A Turn of Events

As most of you have probably alreay heard, Nathaniel and I got robbed a couple of weeks ago. The thieves stole our laptop, digital camera, and other smaller items. we are doing well, though, thanks to all of your prayers. We have not been living in fear, as thieves in Honduras won't usually come when you are home. They wait until you leave becasue they don't want confrontation.

Despite this horrible event, life goes on. We have been careful to remind ourselves that they are just "things", and that the work we are doing here is much more important. Rhonda advised us that we must always hold everything God gives us lightly in our hands. How true that statement is! We have heard stories of previous missionaries who have left the country due to similar circumstances, and we will not let that happen to us. The precious souls of these children are much more important!

We have been learning about God's provision at church. The idea is that God knows what we need and the problems we will encounter before they happen, and that He goes before us and has the solution before we even know we need one. Well, we saw this first hand when we visited a friends church in San Pedro Sula, and they took up a special offering for us to help replace the items we lost. It was so amazing. That pastor gave us the money and said it was a "symbol of God's provision." How awesome!

There was a special holiday on thursday, September 10th called "dia de los ninos", which means "kid's day". It was quite the interesting and chaotic event. Hondurans are known for going all out for any occasion, so there was cake, coke, pinatas, candy, more candy, and lots and lots of chaos. the kids were basically allowed to do whatever they wanted allllllllllll day...and it was a very long day. Here are some pictures of the fun.





This is a good picture of Nathaniel teaching P.E.



And one of me teaching.



This little boy's name is Hairo. He looks a lot like my nephew, Adan. He's so sweet and adorable!



More to come soon! Love you all

The calm before the storm...

School is about to start on Tuesday, the 1st of September. Therefore, I wanted to get one more blog in before the chaos starts. We have had some interesting run-ins with animals while in Honduras. Cows wander the streets here like its nobody's business, and occasionally they wander into places they shouldn't be. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the cow who wandered into Destino, but I do have a picture of the ones that like to graze outside our gate. This one wasn't thrilled that I was taking its picture.



Next, we heard some commotion one afternoon during the teacher's training. A few boys had brought a burlap bag with something in it to the school that was causing all the women to scream. When I went to check it out, this is what I found:



Yes, it is a boa Constrictor, about six feet long. It was found eating the eggs in the Destino hen house. Don't ask me how they got it in that burlap bag. Here's a couple more shots of it.





There's nothing strange about these guys, but I wanted to put a picture of our doggies on here. Their names are Pebbles and Patches.



On a different note, we have been attending a bilingual church called Grace Life. In this picture, we only arrived 15 minutes early, and the pastor himself was just getting there. As you can see, we are the only ones accustomed to being early.



And one with the other American teachers:



Well, I think that's all for now. Hopefully I'll be able to show you pictures of some of my students next time. Love you all!

Getting Down to Business

On friday, Nathniel and I went to Destino to help them get some work done for the other American teachers flying in today (august 15th). They are renting a house in Siguatepeque, and they needed help moving a bunch of furniture from Destino to the teachers' house.

First of all, here are a couple of pictures of Nathaniel and I with some of the adorable kids at Destino.



This little boy's name is Sammy. Is is quite the clown of the house. Last time I was at Destino, he was a newborn baby, and I got to hold him. It was great to see him so much older.



more kids...



And now, some pictures of Nathaniel working hard.





Well, off to the grocery store. We start training on Monday, so there will be more to come soon!

Hola from Honduras!

Hola from Honduras! This is our first official Honduras post on the blog! Things are going pretty well here, and we are beginning to settle in a little bit. There have been a few bumps in the road, but they have all been minor. Its been really tough trying to communicate with the locals around here not knowing much of the language. As I am writing this, the gardener is here mowing the lawn (Isaias is his name). It was lots of fun trying to communicate with him when he showed up at the gate. Luckily, we think hes pretty trustworthy (you never know around here). Here are a couple of pictures of the house we are staying at.



this is a shot of the living room and kitchen as you walk in the front door. Notice Nathaniel being silly with his beloved banana pop.



And another one of Nathaniel with his giant banana pop.