Game time and travels

Honduras versus Mexico game where we WON!!!!!! There was a lot of excitement that night. Also included are pictures from Santa Lucia with my church group :) Happy times.

School, Spanish, Silly, Savior

Wow. This past week was a very heavy school week. I spent every night working incredibly late. One funny story I had this week was while I was teaching multiplication to my students and my principal also happened to be observing during this time. Now for this story, do remember that I’ve joked about how great my English has become. My student had raised his hand and said, “We have to do multiplicating.” And I responded with “Yes. We have to do multiplicating.” without even realizing that that’s NOT a word!!! My principal laughed and then I realized and said, “Yup. I speak English.”  The influence of ESL speakers is great.
I also learned a hard lesson this week about how exactly to do report cards. In few words, I messed up big time and got to redo them, and I will NOT do that mistake again. The grading system here is frustrating. It’s incredibly strict.
A 95%+
B 88-94%
C 76-87%
D 70-75%
F 0-69%
It’s so hard too to grade things. Other teachers…help here!!! With smaller assignments that don’t have as many questions and what not, I only make them out of for example 10 points. If I decide to grade each question, get one wrong and you’re already at a B. It’s strenuous.
My student Leonel has returned to school. He’s incredibly smart kid. Thankfully the burden is off my shoulders of it being my personal responsibility to get him all caught up. Luckily he’s an incredibly smart kid because when he took the money test without studying he got a 97%. Incredible I tell you.
This past Friday I had Parent Teacher Conferences which were all in Spanish. They overall went really great. The one mistake I made was giving a mom the wrong girl’s report card. I have 3 sets of students that have the same name; therefore, it was unlikely to happen. This mom freaked out on me in a gentle way. She whipped out all of the papers I’ve ever graded and sent back home to show me. I couldn’t believe it. I also had electronic and hard copy of my grades and soon realized the problem. We both were embarrassed. However, overall they went ok. It was good to have parents on my side for the most part. However, most of them were concerned as to why the child got honors or not. If they “usually do” then they were disappointed. Guess what folks? Fourth grade is not 3rd grade!!!!
This weekend has been great with Friday: PTC, granitas after, played pool, sat in a furniture store , and joined up with friends for great laughs and baleadas. They are great. Saturday: grocery shopping where I finally found things I’ve been looking for for months now, church group, church, ate at the Wings Factory, and chilled at a friend’s house for the rest of the evening. Sunday: woke up early to venture out with my group from church to go to Santa Lucia to celebrate two friends’ birthdays. It was super fun to be with them. Pictures to follow soon I’m sure.
One more funny story before I go. When we walk down the street we get all kinds of attention. We’re used to ignoring it by now. However the other night someone got original besides just “Hello. I love you.” in the worst English accent ever. This man began singing “Pretty Woman.” We just started laughing. I even turned and smiled and said nice job. It was hilarious. I was glad I could appreciate it too.
Right now I feel like I’m pushing to Thanksgiving. The time is passing by. I can’t believe it’s been 3 months already. Wow.
Well, I leave you with this prayer.

My Lord God
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
And the fact that I think I am following
Your will does not mean
That I am actually doing so.

But I believe that my desire to please you
Does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire
In all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything
Apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this
You will lead me by the right road
Though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust you always
Though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear,
for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.
-Thomas Merton

God's wonders

This past week was a week of hard times. I've really struggled lately with finding where I fit in with this Northamerican group, this culture, and finding my independence and a life! Well, I spent all of Monday afternoon and night in bed crying. I think it just had to happen. However, I share this so that you can continue to pray for me, but that I can reflect on how low I had to get before I could start to come up.
The rest of the week continued with better student relationships including the opportunity just to tell stories to them and share with them. I also found a few friends who did unexpected things that meant the world to me and showed me they cared. Those have helped. God has heard my plees. He's been good.
Another incident this week was a unexpected answer to prayer. A student of mine has been having a really hard time at home lately with his parents possibly seperating and his grandpa died last week who he was really close to. This child happens to be very mature and well aware that he is choosing as a result to act poorly at school. Well, we've talked multiple times. However, the past two weeks he's finally opened up. He told me his grandpa had died and we hugged and cried. This past Friday was hard for him because it was Grandpa's birthday. It was a hard day. His behavior wasn't any better even though I gave him as much grace as I could. After school we needed to go see the vice-principal together to talk about his consequences; however, we ended up sitting on the floor in my classroom talking and crying. My heart breaks for him. He told me he tries to be better but he just doesn't know how. He ends up thinking about home and he gets mad and acts out. After some hard thinking, I decided to change his punishment and asked him how he'd feel about spending a day a week after school with me to talk, as he has no one to process his thoughts with right now. I immediately jumped at that chance. I was so glad. His mom also ok'd it. I really hope it works out. I want to "pass it along". I know I would not be where I am or who I am today if it weren't for God but especially the many people that God has used in my life. Whether it's the kids of divorced parents group that went to when I was young or pastors, or mentors or family, etc. All of you have been a huge part in making me who I am, so as a thank-you and as a way to allow God to redeem the crap from my life, I'm choosing to use it to hopefully bless someone else and share with them. Please pray for this situation as I learn to lead not only this one child but all of them.
Also pray for my student Leonel who has been very sick and has missed nearly 20 days of school so far this year. For those of you teachers, you can begin to understand what that means for me as a teacher, especially this early in the year. It's hard to know what to do. I pray he gets well soon and can return to school soon.

On another note, I've been able to get out this weekend into the culture that I don't get to enjoy enough. I got to eat out, go shopping, enjoy church group and church, watch movies, and just chill. Tonight was extra special because 5 of my girls are in choir and the choir was signing at the mall tonight. They were so precious in their uniforms singing Christmas songs already (would you believe it?!) They lit up when they saw me, and I was all smiles the whole time. So proud! I finally understood why my mom, Grandma, and aunts put up with all of my choir performances my entire life. They probably felt like I did in that moment. Thanks family! Hopefully I'll have some pictures soon.
I must admit that I also did finally cave in....I put up white Christmas lights in my room this weekend. I had accidentally bought and put up flashing ones that almost gave me a seizure because they had five different speeds, but now I bought new ones that don't flash. So soothing! :)
It's also funny to reflect on the fact of what is considered "necessary". I have lived without cable tv, a microwave, clean tap water, a cell phone, radio, and a car for almost 3 months now. I miss them, don't get me wrong, and my "I want" list for while I'm home at Christmas gets longer everyday, but still, maybe these things aren't necessary.
Peace and love to all of you this week.
Although miles away, close in heart.
~Kristi

Something old I found.

Model writing: My Escape

As I round the bend, I know that I am getting closer. A smile begins to come over my face as I can hear the lapping of the water and the blowing wind. Finally, it is before me. Its vastness is breathtaking. You can’t see its end. The deep blues and light blues show its varying depths. The reflection of the sun off the bright sand is nearly blinding and makes me squint. I take off my shoes or sandals so that I can feel the warmth beneath my feet. I can see the lighthouse in the distance. It seems like a speck of red as it’s so far down the beach. I love to walk along the shore as the sand is harder to walk on from being wet. The water laps at my feet begging to get my pants wet. The gritty sand beneath my toes feels good. As I walk, I pause to turn around to watch my footprints fade away in the waves. As I walk further, seagulls are gathered near the shore and you can hear their cackling as they scoot away. Eventually, they quickly fly away to re-gather on the shore behind me. The smells of drying seaweed along the shore or a dead fish that may have washed up are luckily infrequent. I can walk for miles along the beach as it seems like it’ll never end. The rising hills of sand beside me and the vast lake to the other side make me feel small yet cared for in a way. I feel safe here. The beach along Lake Michigan is my favorite place in the world. Whenever I am there I feel at home. I feel safe. It’s my escape.

More adventures and the daily

I've realized that with so much time having passed that there is so much to update on. Thus, the follwing stories are going to come as bullet points.

• Something I was able to enjoy a couple of Fridays ago was playing soccer with the homeless in kids in El Centro. There is a group called the Micah Project that takes in homeless kids and rehabilitates and educates them. However, since they can't take in everyone they also reach out to those tthat are still on the streets. Thus, we arranged a soccer game. So funny. Well first let me explain that we played with about 12 boys from 2oish to 8 years old. Some had no shoes at all. The most interesting part of it all, and had I had no previous experience to Honduras or trying to understnd poverty I would have been suprised, but these boys were huffing rubber cement glue out of bottles the whole time. They either had glue in coke bottles or small baby food jars. They would run with these things in their hands and then huff away when they were on the sidelines. It's hard to know what to say about this, as I know the reason they do it is to curve their hunger cravings. Who am I to say it's wrong? It is, but what am I doing to solve their problem? Is just playing soccer with them really going to solve the problem? it's something I'll continue to reflect on and struggle with as I hope I continue to have interections. Either way it's funny that they were stitll way better at playing soccer even though they were high! LOL!
• In response to previous posts about the hardships in my friends lives, let's just say that God is still working in those people's lives and redeeming the situations to bring out the good in very hard situations. His name is to be praised for that. There is a lot of healing that still needs to happen for everyone. However, Honduras also needs prayers for the major rainstorms we had about 2 weeks ago. Many places were flooded or landslides and many lost their homes. Of course those that lost their homes were ones that already didn't have stable homes or have much anyway. It's hard on them but encouraging to see how this country pulls together to work to provide. I pray they've been provided for especially as this last week was FREEZING! Please hold your comments about how cold it is where you were but it's cold here if it's high of 60. We have brick walls, tile floors, and windows that don't seal. It's been cold! :)
  
• I'm also asking for prayer for being able to truly connect with my students. I was able to see a true connection last week and I'm more than thankful for that opportunity. A student of mine Carlos was gone one day, and when he returned the next I noticed he was quite reserved and wasn't working with his group. So, I sat down next to him up against the wall, and said what's going on? You ok? He didn'tt move and sat in his fetal position and said, "My grandpa died yesterday." I just sat there quitely with him. THere arent't words for those siutations besides that it's hard and I'm so glad he told me. He's precious, and his grandpa meant the world to him.
• On another note, I've been staying busy lately. I'm in 3 bible studies, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, and Saturday afternoon. Tuesday and Wednesday are with Americans, and Saturday is with my church group which is all in Spanish. :) These opportunites have brought up some hard questions but great ones to think about.

• We were able to have a Fall Festival last weekend as Americans. We miss fall! We carved pumpkins...well I did until mine got stolen by someone in the group who thought it'd be funny to take it and set it outside of the gate....only until a stranger came and took it and smashed it down the road!! :( Not funny. However, we had lots of festive treats and it was great to be together.
• 
  This is before it was stolen. :(
  

• On another festive note, Christmas decorations have been out since SEPTEMBER!!!! Hondurans are all about Christmas. They don't wait until the end of November like us. No way! So today I finally caved in and bought a few boxes of Christmas lights. Should be fun to put up soon! :) I'm already too excited for Christmas.
• So this past weekend served to be another weekend of traveling, somewhat anyway. This entire past week was all half days due it being the last week of the partial (marking period). It turned out to still be a ton of work and we had to stay at school all day except Friday. Thus, on Friday we left at 1 to go to Lago de Yajoa. It's about a 5 hour drive. We arrived just in time for dinner. We chatted, worshipped, and had a time of sharing togther. Then we hit the bed. Saturday morning we awoke to breakfast and then spent 1 1/2 hour discovering the place we were staying at since we couldn't see it the night prior in the dark. It was great to see all f the orange trees everywhere and just walk around. The lake was up REALLY high, so good thing we didn't explore at night! :) We then left in the a.m. for Pulhapanzak. It's a waterfall. We knew we'd have a chance to do a waterfall tour and/or ziplining. I was opting for both. So after hiking down and getting wet by the mist and rain and very muddy, I decided to be adventurous and change to try out this waterfall gig. Well, it was by far the dumbest thing I think I have ever done. We swam through the rapids to get up to the waterfall and then held hands with our tour guide Luis as we walked in tthe water along the falls to the other side and back. Doesn't soudn so bad? Well imagine water falling 140 feet onto you. I couldn't see anything or breathe! luis literally had to shove my head into spaces in the rocks sometimes and would say "BREATE!" It was frightning for that reason only. Talk about blind faith. Very thankful for Luis and watching out for me. Never doing that again....stupid, stupid. Who does that? Walks under a waterfall in the water when you could just get washed away, let alone not be able to breathe? Glad I did it though for some reason. I apsire to be adventurous...however my only stipulation is that I can breathe! :)
• In case any of you were wondering, Honduras no longer celebrates Halloween for safety and religious reasons. It's sad; thus, I had no Halloween at all. :(
  
• Well here's for some pictures.

The view from our hotel. Gorgeous!
The view of our rooms. Isn't the vegetation just gorgeous! Something I take for granted.
Our flooded hotel grounds.

• • 
  Housemate pic at the falls.
  Pulhapanzak
• 
  
• Still trying to breahe after our crazy adventure!
  
  Part of our groups crammed in the busito.