2 cheers for the internet

This is not a lie: All of blogspot was in Spanish and it took me 5 minutes and Spanish-English dictionary to reverse this process. Welcome to my life.

So I have officially been in Honduras for 3 weeks and the country has really out done herself in welcoming us as her own. Already we've experienced some out of control thunderstorms, an iguana tyrant, highly entertaining power outages and one ridiculous 24 hour virus that in no exaggeration tried to claim my life. Luckily the 24 hour bug and the power outages were not simultaneous, thank you Honduras. School doesn't start untilt September 1st and as it approaches the tourist phase we've been living in the last 3 weeks is fading. The idea that we are no longer tourists but residents of Pena Blanca is gripping me at my core and the transition has been an emotional, phyiscal and spiritual adjustment. Every morning brings me to my face before the King. It wasnt until I got here and my body start experiencing an American detox that I realized how comfortable and dependent I had become on one culture. I'm asking Jesus to show me what it looks like to live like a stranger in this world. We are not at home here.

As for the Hondurans they've rolled out their finest welcome mat. They have been so gracious and so kind to us....I dont know what we've done to deserve it but we're reeling it in. Theres a handy-man named David who works at the school and he has made it his mission to serve us regardless of the task. The other day I was drawing letters for a sign and the paper kept folding up because of the wind and precious David came over to hold the corner of my sign flat until I was finished. He told the translator the good education and hope we bring is worth it. Also recently discovered, Hondurans love American music even though they have no clue what the lyrics are. Our taxi driver Marvin is a fan of light rock so in the morning on the way to the school we rock out to Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams and the occassional Luther Vandross. When the other taxi driver, Selvin, takes us around town we really rock out with Aerosmith, 3rd Eye Blind or Guns N' Roses. They love it and we love them for it.

Alot has happened in 3 weeks....

The first Saturday we were here there was a mission team in town from Greer, SC. (Small world?) They had already planned an outreach in the park for Saturday afternoon so Britt and I joined them. We ended up playing soccer with several of the kids and come to find out all of the kids assume because we are American we are by default extremely athletic. Um Dear Honduran children, you've been misinformed...please watch. One of the boys named Jose has my heart already. Hes 12 yrs old, amazing at soccer and hilarious. We desperately want to start a kids club in the park and soon. Something more intimate than just running into these kids and talking to them on the street corners but actually pouring into them for 2 hours and playing soccer, teaching them songs, slipping in a few subtle grammar lessons and telling them that Jesus calls them beloved and He is jealous for their hearts. Coming to know these kids and their stories we've come to find out many of them have been pulled from school to sale things in town or help with a family business. I've only been here for 3 weeks and Im ready to wage war against this battle they are fighting.

Our first week here we went to visit a lady named sister Maria who runs a soup kitchen in the next town over. I could sit and watch her for hours. Her heart is overflowing for her ministry and the overflow is a wealth of excitement and joy that is so contagious. She is in love with serving the kids of her community. She feeds over 98 little mouths Monday through Friday and these kids come from the poorest families in her village. Families who struggle to feed these little mouths...Sister Maria meets them where they are and shes being doing it for 5 years. She explained to us that as of late they have fallen under financial hardships. Everyday she serves a portion of soup and homemade toritllas but due to hard times they would have to cut back all their tortillas because they could no longer afford them. In 5 years they have never gone without tortillas but within the next week they would see their last for the year unless they could save enough to buy a cornfield down the road. So last week we went back to sister Marias to help make soup and then we served 98 little mouths. As we were leaving Britt and I gave sister Maria the money she needed to buy her cornfield and supply toritllas for the rest of the year. She started thanking us in Spanish and hugging us so hard. We wouldn't have been able to bless sister Maria without the generous hearts of all of you who bestowed your blessings upon us. Continue to pray that everyday Jesus name would be made famous and that the people of Honduras would be captivated by the love that He offers.