last few weeks in tegucigalpa.

wow.. the last few weeks have been filled with so much. i am sorry i haven't really had time to blog. let me try to catch you up. 

our last week together as interns for first session was wonderful. we spent the mornings with our students and the afternoons with our precious children at casitas kennedy. we only worked monday through thursday of this week. 

monday we did not have class. instead we went to visit the families that the ctc ministers to directly. our ctc volunteers (aka our students and our friends) joined us. my heart was both broken and touched as we visited family after family. the typical home we visited was four walls made of tin or wood with pieces of tin or curtains dividing the house into rooms. houses are close together and i feel like everyone knows everyone. to visit two of the families we had to climb. not just a little hike, we had to really climb. we visited a family of four and then proceeded to climb a little further up to Rosa's house. Rosa is a beautiful young lady in her early twenties. she has a son who is about six months old. Rosa was telling us when she was pregnant it was hard for her to climb to her home. i cannot imagine. it was hard for me without thirty pounds added to my midsection. Rosa is beautiful and has such a sweet spirit. She is such a good mom... most of the women in the families make tortillas and beans to sell as a way of supporting their family. after we visited the families we bought some tortillas and beans for lunch. they were delicious. we finished eating and were ready to leave. when i asked rachel (the director of the ctc- who is absolutely amazing) told me it would be 50 lempiras (roughly $2.50). i gave the precious lady 200 lempiras (roughly 10 US dollars) and she began to cry. i too then began to cry. she was so grateful for such a small amount of money. i was so humiliated by how much importance i place on having money and material things. my parents give me a weekly allowance for food while i am at school and i am ashamed to say that i have never once, in two years, told them thank you. so... thank you mom and dad from the bottom of my heart for working so hard to provide for me. i am promising not to take the little gifts for granted. 

us with rosa and her son after we climbed to her home. :) 

with the sweet women who made us tortillas and beans. (rachel was obviously not ready)

tuesday and wednesday were regular days. sarah, sarah, karla and i taught our last few english classes to the ctc volunteers and caitlin, kimberly and luis shaped little minds at the elementary school. 

thursday was special because it was our last day with our students as a team of 7 and sarah, caitlin and kimberly's last day with them for the summer. kimberly and caitlin's student's put on a little program for their parents. after that they joined us at the ctc. our students (friends) had decorated the room and prepared a feast (not an exaggeration) for us. we sat around and took pictures, laughed at things that had happened, sang, ate and just enjoyed each others company. rachel printed diplomas for everyone that had completed the class and she even had certificates made for we girls, karla and luis. as sarah and i gave them their diplomas, we gave them a cd with the songs we had learned, took pictures and of course cried. these people have forever changed our lives. the Lord was so faithful and i cannot imagine teaching english with anyone but sarah. thursday afternoon was our last day at casitas kennedy and it was so hard. there were many tears shed. as we went from casita to casita my heart broke. we gave them their gifts and said our goodbyes as a team. there is nothing harder than leaving someone you love so much. especially children.  

caitlin and kimberly's students. 

our family. 

friday was our first and only free day of the month and we wouldn't have had it any other way. our amazing driver, julio caesar joined us for breakfast at the apartment for a last meal all together. after breakfast we set off for valle de angeles (valley of angels). it's a city about thirty minutes outside of tegucigalpa. it's filled with cobble stone streets and market shops (sarah has a lot of pictures on facebook). we took about a 10 minute walk to a park like area where we "rode horses". this was an adventure. of course we imagine riding horses on the street the seven of us all together having a good time. well... when we got there we found out that they only had three horses. so.. we rode three at a time. the horses were quite small. kimberly and i made luis ride the one with its ribs sticking out of its side. even though it wasn't what we expected, we laughed and had so much fun. we had lunch at a really good pupusa place. (if you haven't tried them... do it... they are the best!) at the restaurant, they had fruit drinks you could order. sarah d. and caitlin ordered pineapple and sarah and kimberly ordered watermelon. this was a disaster. the drinks were the fruits juiced with water. it was like you stuck a straw in a watermelon and began to drink. sarah d. and caitlin didn't like their pineapple. kimberly liked the pineapple so she swapped with sarah d. sarah doesn't like watermelon so why she ordered a watermelon drink we are all still so confused. by the end of lunch sarah d. was chugging the watermelon juice. during this lunch we also ate karla's meal. the waiter brought out a thing of bean dip with sausage in it and chips. we being the americans we are thought that it was a gift for us because we were american. WRONG. it was karla's lunch but she didn't tell us that until after we had all gotten our food and realized she didn't have any. we left valle de angeles and went back to the apartment to get ready for our farewell dinner. when we got to the restaurant luis and karla had decorated the table with balloons, personal notes to each of us, fake lempiras and a wooden cross. they had also had cookies made that said "thank you." we were so surprised. karla and luis have become two of our closest friends. they are with us for well over eight hours a day. helping us communicate with the people and children we love. they both have the sweetest spirits. they both love to serve. they love their jobs as translators and luis would love to do missions full time. i cannot express to you in words how thankful we are to have had luis and karla as translators and as friends this summer. 

in valle de angles. 

watermelon juice chugging champion

"translators unite!!"

farewell dinner. :(

saturday was a sad day. we had to be up early to have sarah, caitlin and kimberly at the airport on time. i was not ready for this. we were in a routine. everyday we did the same thing and we did it together. because i am money bags (what i call myself) i had to get them all settled with the exit tax and all that jazz so they were able to leave the country. (i contemplated not paying it.) i was standing in the line with luis when i heard something. i left luis in line to see what it was... it was our friends from the ctc with two guitars singing "joyfully" in the middle of the tegucigalpa international airport. of course we were all crying. they had come to surprise the girls. my tears then began to confuse me. i had no idea if i was crying happy tears to see our friends love us so much or sad tears to see my sisters and friend leave for the states. our friends stayed with us as we took the girls upstairs to say goodbye and put them on the plane. i had stopped the tears from flowing until i had to say my final goodbye to sarah and caitlin. i am crying now thinking back on it. i have never been more thankful for a month with my sisters than i am for this june. the Lord was so gracious to allow us to have this time together, serving him and watching him grow us individually and together as sisters. i am more thankful than i know how to express in words. it is not often that one gets to share such an experience with not only her sisters but her best friends. i cannot wait to flood our apartment with pictures and memories from this summer. that afternoon was weird. it was different just being the four of us (luis, karla, sarah d. and me). we hung out and talked about funny things that had happened over the past month. 

the best surprise ever!

miss you sooo much.

on sunday luis, sarah and i went to church like always in el eden with our friends at the ctc. we worship together and then have sunday school. after sunday school we spend time just talking, playing fútbol with the kids and visiting. this sunday we treated our volunteers to our favorite food... baleadas!!!. we all loaded up and headed over to coco baleadas for lunch. it was delicious. sarah and i made deals with some of our friends and had them order our baleadas. maybe the best decision so far this summer. :) after we ate baleadas, we took a walk around central park and ended our day. 

nelson and sarah. 

neto and me.

central park.

the next week was the best week sarah and i could have had. God was so faithful. we knew if we had a regular week with the same routine it would have been so hard for us not having sarah, caitlin and kimberly. so... the Lord blessed us with an amazing team from houston, texas! i wish i could sit here and name them all off and tell you how wonderful they all were but that would just take too much time. i will give you the links to SCOTT and KRISTIN'S blogs. we were with the team in the mornings and the afternoons monday through thursday. in the mornings we went to different schools in el eden and in the afternoons we were at casitas kennedy. the kids the team worked with fell in love with them instantly and the team was so willing to do anything. they were the epitome of a mission team that interns are thankful for. they didn't complain. the were go with the flow. they were so welcoming to sarah and me and we could not be more thankful. they were funny. they invited us to meals with them. they allowed us to share in their devotion time one night. this was so sweet for us. hearing what the Lord was doing in each of their lives through the people and the children we love was so encouraging. we stayed at their hotel for at least an hour after they finished. sarah worked on bracelets and talked with lindsay and leah, two sisters on the team... and jonathan and frank let me talk about theology for an hour. i know i bored them to death but they were so sweet to let me keep talking... on thursday we spent the entire day in el eden because that afternoon we celebrated the one year anniversary of buckner's ctc in tegucigalpa. to be apart of and get to experience the dramatic effect this ministry has made on the community was truly a blessing. (look for a blog when i return to the states solely devoted to this ministry of buckner!!) our volunteers were recognized for all of their work and contributions to the center. we were like proud parents. 

cj and me.

the team.

precious nicole. 

then... we got to friday again. friday was full of surprises. this was our last day in tegucigalpa. i started the day off crying. in the five and a half weeks i had been there, it had become my home. these people had become my family. we laughed together and at some points cried together. we even lived through trials together. i wasn't ready to leave. that morning sarah, luis and i went to the ctc so sarah and i could get our hair cut. (they have been having beauty workshop for the women in the community). after that luis told us that rachel had a meeting so we had to leave the ctc and go down to the church. we were a little confused but we didn't question. well... luis lied. we got to the church, walked upstairs and were greeted by a surprise party. there were balloons, food and the christian rap cd we had made mauricio playing in the background. we loved just sitting with our friends and talking about funny things that had happened. my birthday is july 30th and sarah's is august 2nd. so surprise again... since our friends weren't gong to be with us on our birthdays they made us our favorite, tres leches, and we celebrated our birthdays. after we ate cake we did our goodbye talks. i cried. sarah cried. they cried. we had to stop with about twenty minutes left so we wouldn't end on a sad note. when the time came and julio caesar was outside we made our rounds with hugs, last words and last little surprises. i think i can speak for both sarah and myself when i say we felt like we were saying goodbye to our family. 

getting my hair washed... a cut came after. 

betzabe, lorena and siloe

our family. 

we went to the apartment and just kind of sat around. we were full from our party with our friends and crying had taken away any appetite we may have developed on the car ride home. that afternoon we went to the orphanage. it wasn't a typical day. they were treating the center for mosquitos, so for the most part everyone was outside and there were far fewer tias there than normal. this made it a weird last day for us. all the kids were really hyper and energized and just being crazy kids and there were only three of us. we were being pulled in every different direction. the babies were out of their casita because of the treatment so i got to hold my babies and love on my sweet any (annie). (the babies have been in quarantine with rotavirus). that's just what we did. we loved on kids. we played our hand clapping games, pushed people on the swing, sat and talked with what spanish we know, played "quien?" and just enjoyed being there one last day. it didn't seem like a last day because everything was so crazy and so hectic and we had our last day with sarah, kimberly, caitlin and karla to compare it to. i didn't cry until i was back in the hotel getting ready for dinner. there are so many things i miss about these children, and i definitely have an aching to return to them. 

that night we went to dinner with the team. even though we were going to dinner with the whole team,we had a special surprise for luis and karla. we had gotten them a small tres leches cake that morning and had written, "we love you karla and luis." well... we didn't think out things very well as far as hiding it and getting it to the restaurant without luis seeing it. sarah got luis out of the room before me and into the car and i used my poncho to hide the cake. i walked downstairs with the cake in my arms carrying it almost like a book. bad idea!!... i started to feel something cold on my feet. it was the milk from the cake. it was leaking all over my poncho and my feet. it was warming up, which is not a good thing for a "three milks" cake. finally i make it into the car and we headed off to the restaurant. we get twenty seconds out of the driveway and i realize i probably don't know enough spanish to tell the people at the restaurant what is going on and ask them to use their refrigerator. sarah and i start laughing but luis doesn't pay us any attention because he's gotten a phone call. he told us it was maria fernanda (one of our friends working at our apartment) telling him he left his wallet in the office. we turn around and go back to the apartment. he gets out and then i look in the rearview mirror and see a car i recognize with familiar faces standing around it. it was david, shari, nicole, mauricio, and neto. they had come to give us our goodbye cards and a little gift. this made me tear up again knowing that they had driven to our apartment just to see us again and give us our beautiful hand made cards. luis was a really good liar and this was a very nice surprise. we said our final goodbyes (for now...) and headed to the restaurant for real this time, still with a melting tres leches cake in the back seat. we got to the restaurant and asked luis to stay in the car. our spanish was flawless as we explained the surprise and asked to use their refrigerator. (thanks to our prayers on the drive over) we were so proud of ourselves. we were having dinner with our wonderful team when karla came over to us and asked us to come with her outside. when we got there our sweet friends josué, nelson, betzabe and siloe were outside waiting on us. they had come to surprise us and tell us goodbye. all of these surprises made "goodbyes" seem more like "see you laters." when we went back into the restaurant we gave karla and luis their cake, ate it and said our goodbyes to the team from houston.

 the awesome/half melted tres leches cake. :) 

shhhhh.... 

sarah and i didn't think to start packing until we got home friday night. we both had to do laundry and pack up our lives from the last five weeks. luis and karla helped us clean/kept us company. we had to be up by four saturday morning to be at the airport at 5:00 am. it was still dark outside when karla walked in with breakfast from denny's. when we got to the airport, we found out we were allowed one bag of 35 pounds for our toy airplane flight to san pedro sula. well... we both had two bags. and one of mine was 58 pounds. i only paid a 6 dollar charge for my bags. (america take lessons from honduras in charging for extra bags.) no one was in the airport at this hour. we sat at a table for a while and visited with karla and luis. then they sent us off. we went through security crying. i couldn't stop. once i start crying my tear ducts become overactive and just don't stop. after being delayed for an hour we finally took off and headed for san pedro sula. 

i had originally planned to update you on the last few weeks including our first week in san pedro sula but it's just too much. so i will try to post an update soon about san pedro sula. here are some things i can tell you and some things you can be praying for. the first few days in san pedro were rough simply because it wasn't my home. i was homesick for the very first time. it was a foreign feeling for me. i am still very much homesick but the Lord has been so faithful and so good to me since coming to san pedro sula. he is teaching me so much about serving him and doing so with a willing heart. he is also teaching me so much about his will... he is reaffirming for me that it is perfect and giving me comfort in trusting it. the other two interns (lisa callie and rachel) are great and our translators (lulu and jansy) here are so nice. we have been at nueva esperanza in the mornings and with the transitional girls in the afternoon. i cannot wait to update you on this past week. i love you all and thank you so much for your prayers. 

"Lord, if what I ask for does not please You, neither would it please me. My desires are put into Your hands to be corrected. Strike the pen through every petition that I offer that is not right. And put in whatever I have omitted, even though I might not have desired it had I considered it... Not as I will, but as Thou wilt." - Charles Spurgeon 

"I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence." -Acts 2:24-28

finally an update... sorry it took so long.

it is safe to say that i haven't updated in a while. i'm sorry for that. we have been busy here and we moved homes for a few days and our internet isn't the best and so on.. but here is a little update on life in honduras. 

we went to watch honduras play mexico in the semi finals of the gold cup. unfortunately honduras and the us lost to mexico. it was a bit of a bummer. 

we also got to go to the national honduras fútbol stadium... then yesterday sarah, luis and i met the coach of the national team. so so SO COOL.

last week we had a team come in from texas. it was a youth group and they worked at different schools in comayagüela in the mornings so we weren't with them. but in the afternoon we worked alongside them at casitas kennedy. they were really good with the kids. caitlin, karla and i helped the group working with the older girls. it was great to just sit with them. talk to them, let them help me with my pronunciation, and teach them how to make bracelets. this is the first week we really got to spend time with the older girls. this reminded me of my time last summer at casitas. i am already having so many emotions. i cannot express in words how excited i am to see those girls i built a relationship with last summer but thinking of those girls makes me sad to leave the people i have built relationships with here. i am hoping that we get to spend more time with the older girls over the next two weeks. 

over the course of the past three weeks, the volunteers we teach english to are not just our "students" anymore but they have become our friends!!! i have grown to love everyone at the ctc so much. especially the head rachel (she's the most precious person you will ever meet) they have continued to teach me so much. in getting to know them, i have learned their favorite colors, what they like to do, how talented they are and so much more. there are so many of them with amazing AMAZING talents. a lot of them play musical instruments and sing. maurico, daniel, christian, ernesto, jason, shari, nelson, david and i am sure i forgot some all play instruments (more than one in most cases). betzabe drew me a picture and gave it to me today and it was so pretty. daniel also draws. he is amazingly talented!! if you know me at all you know i love love love literature and poetry. nelson writes. he writes short stories and poems. he denies his talent but believe me when i tell you that he is a phenomenal writer. his poems are some of the most well written poems i've ever read. and... he can write in english. i kid him all the time and tell him that he is basically american. he's picked up so much english and he often translates for me with the others. ernesto makes bracelets and they are beautiful. he is teaching me how to make them but i am not picking it up very fast. i taught him how to make two different types of bracelets and on his first try his bracelets were perfect. it hurts my pride immensely that he is so much better than me. :) we get to spend sunday mornings at the church with them. we worship with them and then go to the back yard for sunday school. it is such a sweet time. i get a lot of practice listening and understanding spanish. after sunday school we just get to hang out. we get to talk about all kinds of things. this time maybe some of my favorite time we spend during the week. 

we have so much fun with them.

my picture from betzabe.

my picture from daniel. 

just one of our many talented musicians. ernesto. :)

i have to share with you all a huge accomplishment for me. for those of you who know me. i'm not a fan of feet. i'm not afraid of them i would just rather not touch bare feet or have them touch me. well... on saturday one of my sweet niñas maria (sarah blogged about her and her brother carlos) came up to me and asked me to paint her fingernails. we crawled up to the landing at the top of the slide and i took out all the colors. she picked out a color and put her foot in my lap. i was confused so i asked her to give me her hand. well, maria wanted her toenails painted first. i couldn't tell her no so i just sucked it up and held her foot steady as i painted them a pretty pink. today i painted sarah's toes before we left for church. this is a big deal for me. :)

yesterday at casitas kennedy i taught two of my niños "i love you." after i taught them, they said it all day!!! melt my heart. isaac and carlos. they are precious. isaac is six and carlos is ten. (carlos is maria's twin). i cannot wait to see them tomorrow to hear their little voices say "i love you."

so i have some more news that i am super excited to share with you. we have a new intern!!!! sarah decker was my roommate during orientation in dallas. she was supposed to be in guatemala for the whole summer, but due to political reasons and certain dangers, it is just not safe for interns to be there. the other four interns return home tomorrow and sarah arrived in honduras today! sarah will stay with me in tegucigalpa the week after sarah, caitlin and kimberly leave and we will fly together to san pedro sula on the ninth. i am so excited to have her with me. 

anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new friend and intern. :)

introducing sarah decker!!! she's the cute american with all the precious guatemalan kids. :) 
follow her!!! sarah's blog.

pray for us as we enter our last week all together. we are all loving it here and one of us want it to end. pray for our hearts as we serve our last week. i love you very much and i am so thankful for all of you. :) 


i almost forgot... when sarah arrived today we took her to baleada's for lunch (because it's the best). on our car ride there we were talking about how our trips weren't what we expected. our conversation was so good and i wanted to share a bit of it with you. when i applied and got accepted to intern in honduras again i expected to a. work with children in an orphanage, loving on them and taking tons of pictures and b. to work at the ctc with families and children. well... we work in an orphanage but due to most of them being social orphans and the older girls being in dangerous life situations, we aren't allowed to take pictures. there is a certain amount of structure but not at the same time. and i am teaching english at the ctc. this is definitely something that i did not expect. though the plans have been much different than i imagined in my head, i could not be more thankful. i believe whole heartedly that God gets rid of any plans i try to make and control in order to show me His will clearly and allow me to serve Him where and in the way that He is calling me to do so. i am so thankful for His provision. i am humbled by the grace He chooses to show us. i know that we are all thankful that it is by that grace we are what we are. and because of the grace and mercy He shows us we are able to be obedient. 


"I must realize that my obedience even in the smallest detail of life has all of the omnipotent power of the grace of God behind it. If I will do my duty, not for duty's sake but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, then at the very point of my obedience all of the magnificent grace of God is mine through the glorious atonement by the Cross of Christ." -O.Chambers

joyfully.

here's our students singing joyfully. they learned it in three days. :) 

questions and answers.

on saturday night we got to skype with our precious parents. one thing i am thankful for is having my computer with me this summer. i didn't have it last summer and that was wonderful. it was so good. it was good for me to be on a journey by myself. i needed that time alone. this year is different. i am going to be gone for ten and a half weeks rather than four and it's so nice to be able to share things with those who love me as they happen rather than bottle it up for ten weeks and then let it out all at once. i am sure there are things i will miss and have to share with them when i return but for the most part they are getting to hear my challenges, my struggles, my triumphs and all the Lord is teaching me. i tell you all that to tell you this, when we were skyping on saturday my parents asked me some questions... "what are some challenges you've faced? is there anything that has broken your heart? and what is something the Lord is teaching you?" i told you when i started this journey back in march that i wanted to be vulnerable. i wanted to be honest with you. so... i want to share my answers with you. 

so... challenges. teaching english has been wonderful but it has definitely been a challenge and will continue to be as we get further into the class. i feel very adequate to teach random useful vocabulary. i know vocabulary. it is conversation that intimidates me so much. i have no clue how to teach english as a language. i do a pretty good job of hiding my insecurities, but every time i get up in front of our 25+ students, my heart races and i get so nervous. pray for me as we begin week two. pray for my nerves. pray that sarah and i would work well together trying our best to teach these people english. pray they would learn at least a little bit. another challenge we are beginning to face is with the children at casitas kennedy. last week there were two groups that came in, one on thursday and one on friday. the group on thursday brought cotton candy and popcorn and toys for the children. the other group brought toys and gifts to leave at the orphanage. these teams came in for one day (which it is wonderful that they came to love on the kids) but won't be coming back due to doing other work in the city. the kids, all ages, are now asking us "where are our gifts?" because they got gifts from these teams, they expect gifts from us. i told my sweet kenya when she asked me where her gift was that we were her gift. i told her we weren't here to give them physical gifts (we will leave all of our chalk and coloring books etc when we leave) but we were here to love them for a month and to share with them the love of Christ and play with them and teach them. pray for their hearts and mine. pray that i wouldn't get frustrated when they bombard me asking for gifts but give them the best gift they could ever receive, the love of our Father. 

“This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.” - Isaiah 48:1 

next... my broken heart. i told mom and dad, i think that anytime you go into an orphanage your heart breaks. each child has a different story. each child has been in the center a different amount of time. though their stories may be different, one thing is the same... they are without parents. some for only a short time, some for the rest of their lives. i learned something new on saturday about some of the kids in the center. caitlin and i were working with the toddlers (they're precious) and i asked the worker where yanie was. yanie is a precious three year old little girl with a short little haircut, lighter skin and the deepest brown eyes you've ever seen. the nanny then told us that the toddlers in casitas kennedy are most likely there because their parents are fighting for custody. this usually means that the parents were negligent, abusive or found unfit. if the parents win, the children go back home with them. if they lose, the children are sent to a different center permanently. yanie's parents lost and she was transferred. this breaks my heart. another thing that breaks my heart are the special needs children in the orphanage. on saturday i held a little girl named erika for an hour. erika has sever cp and as a baby had the oxygen supply to her brain cut off. erika had braces on her legs to keep them straight but she will never be able to walk or stand up. she is completely non-verbal but oh how she smiles. another little girl named jessi (pronounced yessi) came and sat beside us and began to sing a song. erika flung her hands in the air the best she could and began to smile. i want her so badly to know love. to be loved. i got to play with erika again today and she was so precious. she was wide awake and laughing today and it melted my heart. i found out today that erika is nine and she has been at the orphanage since she was born. her mother died. i want for her so badly to be adopted. (she is adoptable!!!) i prayed that for her as i sang the itsy bitsy spider and Jesus me ama to her. the nannies do the best they can but the special needs children don't get very much physical contact or stimulation. i am so glad that we are going to be able to help the nannies. they love these children so much. pray for these girls along with the other children. pray that they will know the love of our heavenly Father. 

“learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring  justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause" Isaiah 1:17

finally... what i am learning most. i am learning so much from the volunteers we teach at the CTC. we have not had very much time to talk in depth about their lives because we teach english the whole time we are there, but that has not stopped them from teaching me so much. they are teaching me about service. they are teaching me about humility. they are teaching me about love and selflessness and how the two have to coexist. you cannot have love where selfishness exist. in this they are teaching me what real, true love is. the volunteers we are teaching english to live in the very place that the community transformation center ministers to and yet they are pouring their lives out for the sake of others. they give up two and a half hours each day to come and learn english. they are respectful. they are interested. they are polite. they are funny. they serve so well and with such humble hearts. i could never fit everything they have taught me into one blog post so i'll give you the meat of it. God is using them to teach me mostly about love. self-giving love, love that demands something of us, that is completely selfless in nature and concerned for others much more than ourselves. i am learning that love is not a feeling but a determined act of will and that determined act of will, will always result in determined acts of selflessness.  one of the ultimate examples of this love is in john 13 when Jesus is washing the disciples feet. here He is knowing that he is about to bear the sin of the whole world on the cross and he is totally consumed with his love for his disciples. His love is so selfless and so full of humility. love is this... it is willing, the joyful desire to put the welfare of others above our own. it leaves no place for pride, vanity, arrogance, self-seeking or self-glory. this is just a little bit of what i am learning. i am amazed at what the Lord has to teach me and the means in which he is doing it. praise Him who is faithful.

“for i have given you an example, that you also should do as i have done to you." -john 13:15

i'll leave you with a few pictures. :)

this is a picture of comayagüela. where buckner's ctc is located.

this is ernesto... i am  usually working on a bracelet when i walk into class and during our break. ernesto makes beautiful bracelets that are different than mine. so i made him one and he made me one. 

some of our favorite students: jayson, guillermo, ernesto, nelson, daniel, william, angel, harvey and celestino. :) 

the director of the CTC. she is precious.

this is our neighbor. 

walking back to our apartment from the bowling alley. we're pretty much locals. 

i'm sad this is kind of blurry... but this is us with native honduran dancers from the beaches of honduras. please notice the hand placement of the man holding sarah and caitlin. best thing ever! 

luis and i working off lunch doing mambo number 5 on just dance. thanks karla for bringing your wii. :) mom and dad we HAVE TO get this song on just dance. it's the best duet EVER.

surprise. you're teaching english.

SURPRISE!!! we are teaching english!  

so... on monday we started work at buckner's community transformation center and a small school they partner with. we are teaching english. for those of you who know me well, you know that my spanish is not very good at all. caitlin, kimberly  and luis have a class full of about 47 niños at the school. they are so precious and so eager to learn but don't quite have the attention span for a two and a half hour class. pray for the kids to be able to sit and learn for that amount of time and pray for caitlin and kimberly that they would not grow weary over the next seventeen days of teaching. sarah, karla and i are teaching english classes at the CTC to volunteers anywhere from 14 to early 20's and we have one older student, the pastor who gives up his weekdays to help the kids and families being helped by the CTC and a few older women. i am so excited about this! learning another language at this age is so hard! (i know from experience). they pay such close attention and give us so much respect. on tuesday i had everyone wear a name tag. i am determined to know all 25 or so of their names by the months end. i am hoping to learn spanish while they learn english. tuesday was good. sarah and i underestimated what we could teach in two and a half hours and had to improv a little bit but it all went well. we taught them some description words and they were so funny. there is one boy and as soon as he learned the word for guapo was handsome, he kept saying it. then when he learned that soy meant i am, he added that to handsome. so we would say at random times "i am handsome" and smile. so great! haha. (funny story about tuesday a few paragraphs down.)

we work at the CTC in the mornings, break for lunch and then head over to Casitas Kennedy. on monday kimberly and i were with the older girls making bracelets and coloring pictures in the craft workshop. sarah and caitlin played with very rambunctious little monkeys. they were so so funny and the girls were so tired when we left. while kimberly and i were with the older girls i was sitting by a girl named any (annie). about an hour into the workshop she walked over to the window and began to cry. any (not a typo that is how you spell it in spanish) was sad because she has gone a great deal of time without any of her family coming to visit. i didn't want to ask too many questions so i didn't ask where her family was or why she was in the orphanage. i just made her a bracelet, took her hand and told her, "te quiero mucho y Dios te ama" (i love you and God loves you). pray for her please. i cannot take pictures so i will describe her to you. any is fourteen years old with beautiful olive skin and a lighter brown hair. she is tall and thin with beautiful almond shaped brown eyes... i got beautiful pictures from two of the girls, maria and angelica. they are all wonderful. yesterday caitlin, karla and i played with the toddlers. we colored for a while, sang "Cristo me ama" and then went outside. they are crazy people! haha. caitlin calls them her little "monos" monkeys. i love it. today and the rest of our stay here we will be teaching english to a different age group each day. please pray for their attention spans and desire to learn. and pray for us as we teach. this is all new to us. 

the Lord is growing me so much. my reading choice for the plane rides here was johnny mac's keys to spiritual growth. i didn't know just how much God would use it to grow me. i am usually a fast reader but i am just now at the halfway mark. i am reading, processing, reading, processing and reading again. in the second chapter titled, "the master purpose, the glory of God" johnny mac mentions the catechism question "what is the chief end of man?" -"to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." have you ever just sat there an contemplated the glory of God and all it means to glorify Him? God WILL be glorified. think about it. He has been displaying His glory for forever. before we were, He was showing his glory. His creation echos His glory.- psalm 19:1, isaiah 6:3, colossians 1:16. God manifested His glory to adam and eve in the garden- genesis 3:8. He revealed His glory to moses when moses the shekinah (a visible manifestation of God's glory) in exodus 34. verse 29 tells us that moses' face shone because he was talking with God. God also in the old testament displayed His glory... visibly to Israel again in the Tabernacle- exodus 40:34 and 35. there are so many examples of our God displaying His glory to His people. God's plan for the ages is to bring glory to Himself.  perhaps the most beautiful, thoughtful, merciful displays of God's glory is His incarnate Son. God in the flesh dwelling with His beloved in human form. fully God and fully man. -"who, though in the form of God, did nit count equality with God a thing ti be grasped but made himself nothing taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men." philippians 2:6 and 7. though wicked men wanted to get rid of the greatest expression of God's glory, they could not extinguish that glory. Jesus Christ our Lord rose from the dead, His earthly work was finished, and He ascended to Heaven. 

here's the part of the chapter that i think i forget too often when i should let it be a driving force in my life. we know from scripture (matthew 24 as well as others) that God's glory will return fully. until then what? what about His glory in the present? in this age, God's glory is manifest in His people, the church, His bride- ephesians 2:21 and 22, 2 corinthians 4:6 and 7. God has chosen to use the humble things of this world to bring glory to Himself. this is what i have to remind myself. i am an heir to the kingdom, a daughter of the Most High- people must see Christ in me, the hope of glory. i am learning so much from my book and the scriptures. one conclusion that is evident is this, the more mature we are, the more we can be used to radiate God's glory. "whether, then, you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God"- 1 corinthians 10:31

for those of you who may be wondering how sarah, caitlin and i are doing serving together, the answer is well. i cannot tell you how thankful i am that we are all together. we split up into pairs during the day and i get to be with each of them at a different time. it has been so good to love on the people of honduras with them. they along with kimberly have been absolutely wonderful and encouraging. i keep telling them how nervous i am to be the leader with all the big responsibilities like BUDGETING! ahhhh! caitlin has been sweet to tell me multiple times i'm doing a good job with the money. :) we take turns leading a devotional at night and last night was sarah's turn and it was wonderful. she shared with us a reading from O.Chambers (we love him). it has also been so sweet to see sarah falling in love with the country and people that captured mine and caitlin's heart. thank you for your continued prayers for us as we grow together and closer to the Lord over the course of the month. 

funny story... dr. reyes(the president of Buckner) came to visit the CTC yesterday and asked if we would teach our class some praise songs in english. all we had was joyfully (gozándome) by kari jobe in our heads, so we taught them the chorus. so... sarah is the singer of the family everyone knows that! but she is also the shy one. i volunteered her to sing and she took off to the bathroom. i decided to wait on her and just read through the english words with our class until she came back. well.. even with the chanting of her name by the class, sarah still refused to sing and got the giggles. when sarah gets the giggles, i get the giggles. i started the spanish version so they could know the tune, got the first word out and sarah let out a huge burst of laughter. i kicked her in the hiney and then gained my composure and had to sing. i wasn't very good and i made sure to warn the class before i started that i was very very very bad. pride...CRUSHED. i was so embarrassed. it was definitely an adventure. maybe she will help me sing today.

i'm trying to keep this a blog post and avoid a novel so i will wait to share with you some other things i'm learning later. thank you so much for all your prayers.