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.
  
  

Weather

For those friends of mine that already know that it rains everyday, here's the proof. Ugh. It's rainy season here in Honduras, and supposedly a hurricane is nearby but nothing to worry about. Oh, and you know it's going to rain by the kids' actions....CRAZY!! But maybe I shouldn't complain, right, because it's not snowing here. :)

Fri

Oct 17

T-Showers

77°
63°

60%

77°F

Sat
Oct 18

Scattered T-Storms

78°
65°

60%

78°F

Sun
Oct 19

Scattered T-Storms

79°
64°

60

79°F

Mon
Oct 20

Scattered T-Storms

79°
64°

60%

79°F

Check Flight Delays

Tue
Oct 21

Scattered T-Storms

81°
63°

60%

81°F

Wed
Oct 22

Scattered T-Storms

82°
63°

60%

82°F

Thu
Oct 23

Scattered T-Storms

82°
64°

60%

82°F

Fri
Oct 24

Scattered T-Storms

82°
64°

60%

82°F

Sat
Oct 25

Scattered T-Storms

82°
64°

60%

Prayer needs

I didn't quite expect to be writing another update quite so soon; however, after the week we have had at school thus far it calls for large prayer requests. After my posting last time, I didn't quite imagine that our school would be attacked even more and in bigger ways as itt has. Let me update you. This past week has been a heavy one, and as I am a person that carries others burdens with them it's been heavy. I bring these requests before you so that together we may go to the throne of God.

• My friend Andres's mother passed away last Sunday and he's been out of school all week grieving.
• My friend Joan who just turned 23 last week suffered what we believe to be a mild heart attack this past Sunday. He has been carrying a lot of emotional stress among other things for quite some time that it has begun to sevely affect his health, thus affecting his heart. He was in tthe hospital with tons of shots, tests, etc this pastt week. When I visitted him on Monday night he was on oxygen and lots of drugs. He didn't make much sense in what he said. :) It's hard to know how to be there for a friend who's hurting so bad that it's nearly killing him.
• On top of all of this, also on Sunday an 8th grade student at IS Romero was feeling sick and passed out. His mother took him too the hospital and this week quickly downhilled. He his appendix burst resulting in hepatitis B I believe, kidneys and liver shut down, heart couldn't take tthe meds so he was put on a pacemaker. Tthis morning he passed away. Not only does this affect the 8th grade class, it also affects the 3rd grade class as his younger brother is in my housemates class. Another close friend of mine was also his teacher 2 years back and was sttill very close with him. How do you handle tthis grief? My heart breaks for them. The children in the 3rd grade class wrote cards to his brother and their images of Romero being welcomed into thte gates of heaven and God's arms are incredible. Wow. It's an exhaustting week for many including my coworkers and friends.
  

On another note though, I do believe that God is a redeeming God. He is going to use all of these situations for good some how. I believe he will. Tthatt's his character. He already has begun at school as many kids rededicated or commited their lives to Christ for the first time today at the morninglong chapel service.

Well I hope this e-mail finds you well. Please pray for IS.

I appreciate all of you and your support.

In Christ I stand,
Kristi

My thoughts and the happenings

So what are the exciting things that have happened this past week? Well, this past week at school was prayer week which meant having an assembly every afternoon many which involved getting partly rained on outside. :) My hope is that my kids got more out of that week than I think they did. God is capable. Anyways, with a lot of chaos in the schedule the students were also a bit chaotic all week leaving me with less patience and even less energy. Here's an interesting story for you. One afternoon I sent my student to the doctor as she wasn't "feeling well". Well, next thing I know she comes back to class carrying something in her hands. You'd never guess what she had. A baby bird! She had picked it up off the sidewalk upstairs and brought it into the room! I tried to be stern yet not yell at her! Who does that? Kids. :)

On Friday night, I got to go watch a friend in a dance performance and did not stop smiling for 20 minutes straight! I love dancing and miss it SO much. Afterwards, we joined more friends who were celebrating the 3 birthdays of this week at the bowling alley. I got to play some pool and have fun!

Another interesting part to my week was last night when I just got to act like a regular twenty-something year old. Yesterday Honduras played Canada again for the world cup and we WON!!!! Watching the game was quite insane with the boys from school that we watched it with. We sat at this outdoor eating area of a strip mall. It was nuts. Afterwards, we were informed that now the "partying" begins. So we followed along, us three gringas, with Honduran men. We each had 2 body-guards. Good for you to know before I proceed this story. So we walk up Blvd. Morazan and find ourselves soon surrounded by thousands of people lining the streets shouting and celebrating still. Waving flags and cheering with the cars going by. They have a weird custom in that groups of people surround cars and rock them quite intensely. I can say that I did not participate in that as that got a little out of control. Some people ended up denting cars and when one guy got out of his car and went and dug into his trunk for something, I grabbed my friends and said "LET'S GO!!!" My heart was racing. Everything went fine though. Nothing happened and the police were right tthere the whole time anyway. We also saw two guys get arrested, rightfully so. It was nuts. But I do have to say that although I avoided the video cameras, it was really fun to jump and yell and cheer with all the cars.

On another note, there's a lot going on down here within our Northamerican group and teachers at IS. A lot you can be praying for.

• For starters, my friend Andres's mother, a Honduran teacher here, is ill and has probably passed away this weekend and he has been by her side to watch her go. It's hard to know how to move on.
• My housemate Beth's computer has had a major freakout and she has lost everything! Not only are pictures and music hard to live without, she also realized today in a breakdown that she lost all of her student's grades from this year. Pray hard that God resolves this.
• I got news today that 7 of my friends from school went to Santa Lucia ( a place I just visited not too long ago) and were mugged by 2 boys at gunpoint. They lost cameras, cell phones, and I'm nott sure what else. But I know sense of security and independence are robbed also.
• I personally have been asking a lot of hard questions lately about a lot of things. About faith, God, relationships, marriage, God's plan for my life. I've been debating if teaching is for me. I'm trying to decide where my passions lie. I've toyed with the idea of wanting to be a dance teacher or just pursue dance more. Maybe it's just to fill the need. I just know that teachign is hard and justt something I seem to be doing lately....like a robot.
  

It's hard to know how to answer all of those questions. Pray that God gives me people to battle these questions with and that I get peace and direction as I continue to be here.

It'll be 2 months this week! Half way to Christmas break. :)

Ups and Downs and Inside Outs

This week I'm a bit beside myself in what to write; thus, I 've chosen to fill all those interested in on the ups and downs of living here in Honduras and some more 'differences' not bad things, just things I've realized are different and often forget to explain.

Let's start on a positive note. This past week at school we had a celebration called Fiesta Catracha. The entire month of September is a very patriotic month here in Central America. Thus, Fiesta Catracha (catracha being another word for Honduran) we celebrated the fact that they are Hondurans! :) That meant that we as teachers got to eat a lot of yummy food, have a break, and then sit on the cement floor through a VERY long assembly with restless kids who couldn't hear what was being said. What was presented was pretty though. Check the pictures. (Thanks to friends who share pictures as my camera is still broken. Donations for a new camera can be directed towards me. :) )

Jana with all of her food. We all had multiple plates!

My principal Mr. Greene with some kids in authentic clothing.

The authentic dresses.

This past Saturday I also got to be adventurous with three of my close friends here Jana, Megan, and Lauren. We heard about a park we could go to outside of the city and decided we were going to find out where it was and how to get there along the way. We packed our lunches and headed out. We took a couple of buses, asked around, and eventually found it 40 minutes outside of the city 2 hours later. We hiked around, ate lunch, looked at the zoo, hiked up to the bell tower, and enjoyed being away and being together. We then walked into the village of Zambrano to find the Catholic church which was gorgeous. We then hitched a ride back to Tegucigalpa in the back of a truck. Riding in the back of a truck on a gorgeous sunny day with the lush green mountains around you doesn't get any bettter. It's fun, and we try to be smart about it of course! I realized on this ride that as the road winds through the mountains that often the side of the mountain has been cut back in is rock. These rocks have lots of painted "billboards", mostly advertisements for politicians. Just a difference.

Scariest "fun house" ever. Someone trashed it.

That's one friendly Bambi.

My good friend Megan and I being crazy.

Megan using her cute white girl looks to help flag down a ride.

Doesn't this lake look inviting to swim in. Yikes.

Lauren and I
Posing like the Gringas that we are with the sign.
"We are the teachers that wishes we were still kids."
Megan not only helps me walk on balanace beams. :)

The catholic church.

That's who I'll be voting for.

On another note, I have two what I find hillariously ackward stories that involve my students. God love them. Well a student of mine who also happened to be the Star of the Week this past week had brought in pictures to share. The students know they are in charge of putting up the pictures at recess as it is their job of the week. Thus, I didn't really look over his right away. To say the least, his mother had done his responsibilites for him in preparing for being the Star of the Week. As he was putting them up, I glanced at one picture. This picture was of him as a baby being held by his mother. I also happened to notice that captions were written in Spanish. He confessed his mothter did it all while he was sleeping. Well later with a closer look and reading of this picture, I was horrified to find that the caption said "He likes to breastfeed." and there in the picture was his mother's nipple. I was so horrified and gently took it down and told him we just weren't going to include this one!!!!! Cultural...somewhat, but still not cosher.

Another funny thing happened with a different sweetheart. We are learning about the regions of the United States and we have been talking about beaches. Well as I glanced by his notes, I noticed a funny spelling mistake. Instead of writing "beaches", he had been writing "bitches". This is funny because this is how they pronounce it with their accents. I giggled and helped him copy it correctly. Once it was erased and correctly spelled, I told him that he had spelled a bad word. :) So precious.

I'm also very thankful for the relationships I'm developing with my students. I am very thankful for the few that care about me and say "I love you Miss." or just hug me all the time or that they are comfortable enough to cry in my lap at chapel. I have a very precious few. I'm loving them more all the time. Some day that love is weakened by frustration but still there. :)

I've also been thankful for the little things lately. Say for example that I can download my favorite show Prison Break off of Itunes for $2 an episode. Since my housemates chose not to get cable tv, I've been desperate for my show! Thus, it's been found. Takes 2 hours to download a 45 min. show but hey...what else can I do. :) Love it.

Another hard note is that my first love Carlos broke up with me this past week. I can't put into words how hard it has been being away from home for this. I already miss what's normal to me and now it got a little harder. I'm constantly relying on God to get me out of bed, to get me through the day, and to keep me going as it's God that I live for anyway. On a positive note, I coudn't be more thankful for the supportive people I have in this community of friends and at home. Friends here have embraced me with hugs, notes, cds, listening ears, and a shoulder to cry on. They are good to have and I'm thankful for them. With God's grace, it's one day at a time. I entrust all of my life to Him.

Keeping on...one day at a time.