Hola todos otra vez! (Hello everyone again!)
Can you believe it? Finally…another missionary update letter from me! I’ve only written one and that was soon after I had arrived! I’m sorry that I haven’t written more, but I have just been VERY VERY busy!! Since I would like to give a thorough description of my experience here over the past 9 months, I will divide this letter into subtopics. It will probably end up being a VERY long letter! So, feel free to skip to the topics that you are interested in or, of course, you can read every word or none at all!
Well, I hope you enjoy this missionary update letter from Honduras. I am still enjoying it here…in many ways it has become to feel like home. There are still many interesting and exciting things that I am experiencing here, but it is also a lot of work. I would like to include a quote here that our director of English gave to us. It is an email that a former teacher of this school sent to him:
“May God bless you, and all you’re doing for Him and His kingdom!!! ~ I keep having to remind myself that “doing things for His kingdom” isn’t always exciting. Lots of times it’s a slow process full of normal (and even overwhelming) daily responsibilities and routines. I saw a quote online from a teacher who had taught overseas, and it expresses what I felt – and feel - more eloquently than I could ever capture it. So I’ll pass it on ‘cuz I think it’s so true—
“My time has not been a super-charged, action-packed adventure in ministryland. It has, instead, been “real life”, characterized by all the ups and downs and “hum drums” of life anywhere. I found a city, not only a “field” and my work was work, not just ministry, and I—no more dramatic, outgoing, or vocal than I ever was. So, a great part of my pilgrimage here has been to incorporate my outer reality with my inner reality and to be satisfied with the results. I will never be a great spokeswoman, but I have learned this year that ministry does not depend on high profile activities, but on daily faithfulness to the qualities God has given me.”
Honduras Facts
The full name is, Republic of Honduras. Honduras was the original banana republic, and is still one of the least developed and industrialized countries in Central America. It is the “knee” of Central America and is slightly larger than the state of Tennessee with about 43,277 square miles of land. It is bordered by Guatemala on the west, El Salvador and Nicaragua to the south. The Caribbean coast is 500 miles long, and the pacific coast is 40 miles long. Three-quarters of Honduras is composed of rugged hills and mountains. Lowlands are found only along the coasts and in major river valleys. The climate is tropical and subtropical depending on elevation. The government is a democratic constitutional republic. Honduras gained their independence from Spain on September 15, 1821. Spanish is the predominant language. The literacy rate is 78.5%, with 6 years of education compulsory with 70% attendance, but less than 16% attend at junior high level. The population is 5.8 million with a growth rate of 3%. The Roman Catholic Church is the officially recognized religion, but there is a separation of Church and State and religious freedom. Protestant groups make up about 11% of the population. The capital city is Tegucigalpa (Tegus for short). The monetary unit is the Lempira. The exchange rate is about 19 Lempiras for every 1 U.S. Dollar.
Siguatepeque Facts
Siguatepeque (or Siguat for short) is located almost exactly halfway between Honduras’ two largest cities of San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa. You can be in Siguat within 2 hours travel from Tegus or San Pedro Sula. Siguatepeque is located in the Central Mountains of Honduras and is considered to have the best climate in Honduras. Even in the hot season, air conditioning is unnecessary, with a fan almost always being enough. In the winter, heating is rarely needed, just a good jacket. It is at an elevation of 3,700 feet above sea level. Because of the high elevation, there is not a lot of concern about malaria or hurricanes.
If you would like to learn more about Siguat or you would like to see some pictures of Siguat, you could check out this new website: http://www.siguaonline.com/ If you open the website through yahoo, you could open it up in English for a rough translation. I came across this website when I went to the internet café near our home called “Skynet”. This website was on the computer as a screensaver, so I just started to scroll through it. As I was investigating this website, the owner came up behind me and took my mouse and said “Let me show you something.” He proceeded to scroll down to a picture of the man who created the website. He then said, “Now look behind you!” It was the same man! The owner of the internet café and his friend had just created the website. They hope to create a version in English soon.
School Facts
The name of the school is the Siguatepeque Bilingual School. In Spanish, it is called Escuela Bilingue Siguatepeque (or EBS for short). It is also known as the Evangelical Education Community. In Spanish, it is called Comunidad Educativa Evangelica (or CEE for short). The school was started in 1990 by a group of parents with a dream. The Honduran education system suffers from academic, disciplinary, and many other critical deficiencies. Out of concern for their children’s education the school was formed. It began with a total of 13 students in the first and second grades. Today the school offers complete primary and secondary education, pre-K through eleventh grade, to nearly 200 students. It is a private, Christian bilingual school. Some of the students receive scholarships in order to attend the school. Most of the students receiving this benefit come from families of a lower economic status.
It is interesting to note that EBS is not considered a “poor” school here in Honduras, although compared with the schools in the United States, it would definitely be labeled as such. I am told that EBS is one of the most expensive schools to attend in Siguatepeque. It seems as if everyone I talk to comments about how expensive the school is. (I’m not sure how much it costs to send a child to the school, but some people have told me it costs about 100 dollars a month.) I definitely can see the social economic status in the parents of my students. Many of the parents are either a doctor, a surgeon, a pastor, a professor, a teacher, an administrator at the local hospital, or some other professional. This difference in social economic status became very apparent to me at Christmas time. While I was observing the small children at EBS play with toys that were broken and missing important parts (everyday they play with a tricycle that has only two wheels!) and feeling bad for them, the school was planning a missions outreach of their own. A few days before Christmas vacation, the preschool and kindergarten classes went to a very poor church high up in the mountains. The students helped pass out clothes, shoes, toys, etc. to some very needy children there. The students from our school are generally well clean, well fed, and well taken care of. But, these children at this church appeared dirty, wore mismatched clothing, and obviously were not very well taken care of. I had to hold back tears when children kept coming to me and asking me for shoes and I had to turn them away because we didn’t have any in their size or there weren’t any more left. I could tell that they hadn’t had a good pair of shoes to wear in a long time.
The English Teachers
There are 6 of us English teachers working at the school (not counting one Honduran English teacher) and we all live together in the teachers’ house which is located in the school yard. Thankfully, all the girls are really sweet and we all get along very well. I will give a brief description or a little bit of information about each one:
*Esther—our most fluent Spanish speaker. She has been very helpful to me when I have needed help translating important notes to parents and students. She is from Pennsylvania and teaches in the middle school and high school grade levels here.
*Erika—also very good at Spanish. She assists me in kindergarten and I assist her in preschool. She has been very helpful to me with translation during department meetings and when communicating to the small children. I have learned a lot of Spanish this year from her. She is also from Pennsylvania and she teaches gym to the middle school and high school students in addition to her duties mentioned above.
*Monique—our social butterfly! Monique is helpful in keeping us all informed of the social activities going on in the church, the school, or the community. She often brings home new friends for us to meet. She grew up in California and has spent the last few years in Oregon. She teaches in the middle school and high school grade levels.
*Tabitha—my “roomie”! Tabitha and I share a bedroom in the teachers’ house. I think that God chose us to be roommates because we are so much alike. We both say that it was probably the best choice for each of us. (Mr. David assigned us to our rooms.) We are both quiet, very organized, and respectful of one another. We haven’t had one disagreement all year! Praise God! Tabitha is from South Carolina and teaches in 5th and 6th grade.
*Ruth—she enjoys renting movies and cooking and baking. We all benefit from her hobbies! There always seems to be a new movie lying around the house that we can watch if we have time. And, she always seems to be cooking or baking up something delicious. Ruth also enjoys playing the flute and has played in the church that we attend. She also came to my kindergarten class once and played for the students when we were reading a book about a flute. Ruth is from Virginia and has recently moved to Ohio. She teaches 3rd and 4th grade.
*Me—my teaching duties include teaching English to the kindergartners and assisting with teaching English to the preschoolers. I also teach science in English to the 3rd and 5th graders.
The Director of English—“Mr. David”
I cannot say enough good things about our English Director, Mr. David! He has been very wonderful to all of us this year. He really takes good care of us. We all admire and respect him. He plays so many different roles for us, yet does each one remarkably well. He is our boss, our mentor, our host, our friend, our brother-in-Christ, and at times, he is even like our dad! One time, when he took all six of us teachers to a pottery store, the store clerk asked him if he was our dad. Erika overheard and responded, “No”. The store clerk replied, “Well, he’s like your dad, isn’t he?” Later, Erika and I said to each other, “Yeah, he is like our dad sometimes!” Mr. David has been working at the school as the English Director for 5 years. He said that before he came, there wasn’t an English director…the English teachers just had to figure things out for themselves. We said that we couldn’t imagine that…there is so much to learn! He came from New Jersey to Honduras with his wife after retiring from the education field. He has many years of teaching and administrative experience. He also has many years of experience on the mission field. Soon after he arrived, his wife passed away. They have two grown sons. About a year later, he remarried a Honduran woman, Paola, who also lost her husband many years before. She has two daughters. One daughter is in 8th grade and the other is in 6th grade. It is interesting to note that Paola’s first husband worked in the Honduran President’s Cabinet. He worked in the financial department. Now, Paola continues working in politics. She was just elected as a representative to Congress for the state of Comayagua.
Living at the Teachers’ House
As I said in my first update letter, the teachers’ house is much bigger than I thought it would be. There are two apartments, but we are keeping it open as one. There are two kitchens, two living rooms, two bathrooms, two double bedrooms, and two single bedrooms. In one living room, we have hung up a hammock which is very fun and relaxing to lay in!
Throughout the year, we have tried to divide up the responsibilities of cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc. We take turns going to the supermarket. And, we take turns going to the open-air market Sunday morning before church in order to buy lots of fruits and vegetables. It is much cheaper at the market and there is a greater variety. On our side of the house, Erika, Tabitha, and I have a rotating cleaning schedule. In addition, for the first half of the year, we all had a rotating “cooking and cleaning the kitchen” schedule for dinner. But, after Christmas, we all decided to just start fending for ourselves for dinner because it was too time-consuming with all the demands of teaching. We actually thought about hiring a maid, but we never got around to it. Maids are very common here. People often have two or three maids (one to cook, one to clean, and one to help care for the children). They are very inexpensive to hire. And, if you are considered wealthy, you are expected to hire a maid because you would be giving someone a job. The average pay that a maid receives is about 60 Lempiras a day…that is only about 3 dollars a day! But, when a family hires a maid permanently, they are expected to take care of her and her family for life! Mr. David said that there are plenty of people willing to be hired as a maid; the problem is in finding one that is honest and will not take your things! It is best to hire a maid that someone knows and recommends to you.
Teaching…busy, busy, busy!!!
Teaching is a lot of work, no matter where you are…whether in the states or abroad. There is always something that needs to be done. We English teachers say that we don’t have “week-ends”, we have “work-ins”! There are always lessons to plan, tests or study guides or other worksheets to make, copies to make, papers to grade and record, grades to calculate, materials to buy and prepare, classrooms to upkeep, meetings to attend, after-school activities to attend, parents to contact, etc. I appreciated the letter that Bill Klein sent to me from my church in the states. It was a letter about being a teacher in the public schools. It gave a long list of the many responsibilities and demands that a teacher has, yet at the end of the letter, it said that teachers are not allowed to pray in school (when that is obviously what they need the most!). Fortunately, I am a teacher in a Christian school and I am allowed to pray publicly and with other teachers and students.
A Typical Day
6:00 a.m. -- My alarm goes off.
6:30 a.m. -- I finally get up!
7:15 a.m. -- I am at the gate to the K and Pre-K buildings, greeting parents and students.
7:30 a.m. -- School begins. I assist Erika with teaching English to Pre-schoolers.
9:30 - 10:30 a.m. – Planning period—break time!
10: 30 – 12:00 p.m. -- I teach English to the Kindergartners.
12:00 – 12:15 p.m. -- I clean up the Kindergarten room.
12:40 – 1:20 p.m. -- I teach science to 5th graders.
1:30 – 2:15 p.m. -- I teach science to 3rd graders.
2:15 p.m. -- School ends.
2:30 p.m. -- I often have to tutor a student(s) or I have a department meeting or an after- school event.
Pre-School
There are 21 students in the class. (There were 22, but one boy moved to the states.) There are 10 boys and 11 girls. This group of students is a very calm, cooperative group.
Kindergarten
There are 23 students in the class. (There were 24, but one girl moved away.) There are only 6 girls but 17 boys! This group of students is much more active and there are many more discipline issues. In addition, it seems as if almost every child has their own unique struggle, problem, or area of concern. For example, one little girl hardly ever talks and if she does, it is in a very quiet whisper. She also will not play outside with the other children and does not like to participate in group activities. However, she is very conscientious of her work and is obviously very intelligent. Another little boy has some type of condition…possibly a nervous tic…where he will often move his fingers very rapidly in front of his face and cross his eyes. He also, however, is obviously very intelligent. I was told that he was sent for testing, but nothing has been determined yet. His dad is aware of the problem, and being a doctor himself, I am sure he is doing everything possible for his son. Still another child has some kind of speech impediment or delay. The Honduran teachers even have a difficult time understanding him at times in Spanish. Even with all the struggles of this group, I have come to know and love each one! I enjoy planning for and teaching this class!
3rd Grade Science
There are 17 students in this class. This class also is a very calm and cooperative group. I enjoy teaching this age group as well. However, it has been frustrating trying to plan lessons for science. It has been frustrating partly because I feel “stretched thin” in my teaching responsibilities and I do not have a lot of time to prepare lessons for science. The younger children are my main responsibility and I pour a lot of time and energy into them. It also has been frustrating because there are not a lot of science materials other than the textbook. There is hardly any science lab equipment that can be used for experiments and there is hardly any other science books to supplement the textbook. There also is not a lot of science videos, except for a series of “Bill Nye the Science Guy” videos, but the children quickly get tired of those.
5th Grade
There are 19 students in this class. This has been my most challenging and difficult class to teach. There are many discipline issues in this class. The other teachers that work with this group of students comment about the discipline problems as well. I have tried many different disciplinary strategies, but many times, I do not see much improvement in their behavior. In addition, I think that as a teacher, I work better with the younger children. My training and teacher preparation was geared more towards the younger children.
A Local Orphanage and the Orphans
Two of the students in my preschool class, Leticia and Luis, are from a local orphanage. They receive a scholarship in order to attend the school. Leticia has an older sister, Veronica, who is also in my kindergarten class. Luis is not biologically related, but they all call themselves brothers and sisters. All of us preschool and kindergarten teachers (Honduran and English) were invited to visit the orphanage. There are 15 children who live at the orphanage. The orphanage is quite large and could easily fit many more children, but I was told that they didn’t have enough funding right now to support anymore children. I was really impressed by this Christian orphanage. All the facilities were very clean and well-maintained. The staff were all very friendly and we could see the love they had for the children and for Christ. The stories they told us about the background of these three children in our classes, however, was heart-breaking. But, praise God, there is a happy ending! Luis, for example, arrived at the orphanage so malnourished that his stomach was bloated to the point that he couldn’t see his feet. He was so neglected that he had fungus growing in his hair! Veronica, at three years of age, was left at home by herself to care for her younger sister. They both were about to be sold by their parents into prostitution before they were rescued by “Tita” from the orphanage—the woman they consider to be their mom. Veronica and Leticia actually have a younger sister also. Tita went looking for her, only to discover that her parents had given her up for adoption to a couple from the states. When Veronica arrived at the orphanage, she had been physically abused—she had been struck repeatedly on her ear. Tita took her to an ear specialist. When the doctor examined her, he began to cry because the damage was so great. He said her ear was like an egg that had been smashed. The doctor told Tita that if she did not bring Veronica back the next day, she would be deaf for the rest of her life. Today, Veronica does not have any noticeable signs of hearing loss.
Challenges of Living and Teaching in Siguatepeque, Honduras
There are a lot of challenges to living and teaching in Siguat. To begin, there are no big supermarkets such as Wal-Mart or Meijers—the “one-stop shopping” places. Most times, I have to go to several different stores to buy the things I need. And sometimes, I have no idea where to go to find the things I need. And when I do finally find what I need, there is no guarantee that the store will have them again later on. There are also materials that are very difficult or impossible to find here. For example, pocket folders (the kind that are all one color) are very hard to find. I searched for a long time to find those!
In addition, things are not as reliable here as in the states. You cannot depend on a store keeping regular business hours. They may choose not to open for the day or they may choose to close for the afternoon “siesta” or for no apparent reason at all. Also, the electricity sometimes goes off in the entire neighborhood or town. I have often been at home, school, or church and the electricity goes off. In church, they simply light candles and continue on with the service. At school, we continue teaching without lights or fans. At home, we turn on our flashlights and lanterns and do our best to continue with our daily lives.
Another difficulty that I have encountered is not having a reliable copy place to go to such as Kinkos! When the electricity goes off, they of course cannot make any copies. In addition, I have gone to make copies several times and they have been out of ink, toner, paper, or the copy machine is broken! We do not have access to a copy machine ourselves at the school, but we can turn in papers to the secretary and she will copy them for us. But, we must turn them in 24 hours in advance. Sometimes, that is difficult to do. Many of us English teachers spend a lot of our own money making copies at a copy place.
Other challenges that we face have to do with teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) in a foreign culture. Mr. David said that most teachers who come down to teach at the school are first-year or beginning teachers (that is true for all of us this year)…the first few years of teaching are always the hardest and to do it in a foreign culture makes it even more difficult. In addition, we are teaching ESL when most of us do not have any ESL training. A teacher must be ESL certified in the United States to teach ESL, but most of us are teaching it here without any training or certification. Furthermore, it is very different to teach ESL in your own English speaking country than it is to teach ESL in a foreign country. In a non-English speaking country, the students are not being fully immersed in the English language, and so acquisition of the language is slower and more difficult. Also, a teacher who is working in a foreign culture that is new to them, is learning the language, culture, norms, school rules, etc. at the same time that they are trying to teach. This can be over-whelming at times.
One final difficulty that I will mention is that it is difficult to be away from your home church. All of us teachers say that we do not feel as if we are getting as spiritually fed as we normally would in our home churches. This has to do with the language barrier. Even our best Spanish speaker, Esther, says that even though she can understand what is being said, she is not getting spiritually fed because she is thinking of how to translate the words instead of really meditating on the message that is being presented.
Blessings/Benefits of Living and Teaching in Honduras
I have experienced many blessings during my time here. The biggest blessing has been getting to know my spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ from another culture. I have found the Christians here in Honduras to be very sincere and strong in their faith. The Honduran people are very warm and friendly. They are VERY good at showing hospitality to others. I am always being invited to something…whether a birthday party, a graduation, a dinner, a Bible study, etc. I received 7 invitations on New Year’s Eve! I have really enjoyed getting to know many Hondurans through the school, the church, the hospital, the camp, etc.
Another blessing of living and working in Honduras is being able to travel. It is very cheap to travel in Honduras, as long as you don’t mind staying in cheap hostels and hotels and riding in transportation that can be over-crowded and not-so-luxurious! We often ride in “chicken buses”—which are simply old school buses. These school buses are used for many of the bus routes throughout Honduras. (To learn more about some of the places that I’ve had the opportunity to visit, see the subtitle below “Trips/Vacations”.)
Another blessing of being here is being able to improve my Spanish language skills. Though I am far from fluent, I have definitely improved my Spanish. I am no longer intimidated by the language and can usually get my point across. Only when I am in a very serious situation, such as talking to an immigration officer or getting important information while traveling, do I feel really nervous. Then I usually have Mr. David or Esther translate for me. Though we have many opportunities to practice our Spanish, we are not really “immersed” in the language. We are required to speak all in English in our classes (well, as much as possible with the preschoolers and kindergartners) and all of us English teachers live together…so, of course, we speak English at home as well!
New Friends
We are always meeting new people from all over the globe. Many people come to Honduras to volunteer their time in a variety of jobs and ministries. By working at the school, we are able to make many connections to others. For example, there is a strong tie between the school, the local hospital, and the church we attend called “Betel”. Many of the people who started the EBS school and/or are on the school board are doctors at the hospital and they attend the church Betel. Many of them also have children who attend the school. Through this strong connection or by simply one friend introducing us to another friend, we have met many volunteers and missionaries. And, of course, it is not hard to spot another “gringo” or “gringa” (that is what Hondurans call anyone whose native language is English). The part that is difficult is that usually these new friends are only here for a short time—a week, a month, a few months—and then we must say “good-bye”.
Missionary Families
There are two missionary families here that we have come to know very well. All of their children attend the EBS school. These two families already knew each other before coming to Honduras this year. Years ago, when their children were much younger, they worked together in Costa Rica. The Hammond family is from Oregon and is here for one year. Mr. Barry Hammond is a family doctor and is volunteering his time at the hospital. Mrs. Maritza Hammond is a college and high-school teacher and is teaching high-school philosophy at the school. They have 3 children (1 boy and 2 girls). The Vissar family are from Canada (though Mrs. Vissar is originally from England and their youngest was born in Costa Rica). They have been missionaries in several places including Africa and Costa Rica. Before coming to Honduras, they spent 7 years in Costa Rica building a Christian camp there. Everyone that I have talked to that has seen the finished camp in Costa Rica, says that it is an awesome camp…complete with climbing walls and other fun activities. Now, the Vissar family has come to Honduras to start another Christian camp here called “Cerro de Luz” which means “Hill of Light”. The Vissars think that it is going to take them even longer than 7 years to build this camp here. However, I have already seen many changes in the camp in the last 9 months that I have been here. I have been required to attend 4 camp outings with my students from the school. (Two over-night camps with 3rd/4th and 5th/6th; one science camp with 5th/6th; and one day camp with the preschoolers and kindergartners.) I’ve enjoyed all of these camp outings. It has given me a chance to “hang-out” with the kids outside of a school setting and I’ve been able to meet people who are volunteering their time as camp counselors. The Vissar family also has 3 children (though 2 boys and 1 girl). Their youngest boy is in my kindergarten class. At the beginning of the year, he didn’t know any Spanish. He would cling to me and start crying if I left his sight. Now, he knows more Spanish than I do and is completely independent of me! One week when Mr. and Mrs. Vissar had to go to the United States, they asked me if I would take care of their children, animals, and house while they were gone. I got to play the part of a “working mom” for a week. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun!
Holidays/Special Days
Just like in the U.S., Honduras celebrates many holidays and special days. It was quite a surprise to me when I learned at the beginning of the year that we were going to march in Siguatepeque’s Independence Day Parade with our students on September 15! I felt like it was an honor to march in the parade to celebrate their country’s Independence day. They even announced our names when we reached the bandstand—they announced all of the teachers’ names for each grade of each school.
Not only does Honduras celebrate Valentine’s Day, Easter, (not Thanksgiving which is only an American holiday!), Christmas, New Year’s Day, etc., they also celebrate mother’s day, father’s day, children’s day, women’s day, teachers’ day, flag day, labor day, etc. As you can tell, Honduras has many of the same holidays as we do. But, sometimes they celebrate them differently. For example, because of the deforestation problem, it is against the law to have a real Christmas tree in your home…but many people still have artificial ones. They also do not do stockings and giving of gifts is not as common as in the states, especially in the poorer rural areas. In addition, birthdays seem very important to Hondurans. And, when it is someone’s birthday, it is common that they get water dumped on them! We have often had to lend a towel to a student on their birthday!
Trips/Vacations
Fortunately, we have had the opportunity to do a lot of traveling. Again, traveling in Honduras is very cheap, especially if you don’t mind doing so in a “not-so-luxurious” fashion. Mr. David has taken us to Tegucigalpa (the capital city), Comayagua (the old capital city—it now contains a lot of museums), Santa Lucia and Valle of Angeles (a great place to pick up souvenirs!), and the Pulhapanzak waterfalls followed by a fish dinner at Lake Yojoa (the only lake in all of Honduras!). We English teachers have also done some traveling on our own. We have gone to La Esperanza (a cute little quaint town), Tela (a wonderful beach area on the Caribbean Coast), and during Spring Break, we left the country and went to Belize (the country to the north of Honduras). One of the teachers needed to leave the country for her visa, so we all decided to leave the country together for Spring Break! I tried snorkeling there for the first time and absolutely loved it! I couldn’t believe that I had never done that before…it is so beautiful…God is an awesome creator! And, of course, we have been to San Pedro Sula because that is where the airport is that we fly in and out of. Some of the teachers have also gone on other trips. For example, Monique and Ruth went to Costa Rica during Christmas vacation. Overall, I feel extremely blessed to have had all these opportunities to travel!
Interesting Culture Facts
In my first update letter at the beginning of the year, I talked about some interesting culture facts. I will try and write about some other interesting facts here…
Well, of course, you probably know that you cannot drink the water (unless you boil it for 20 minutes). We get our drinking water delivered. We do use the water for bathing and cooking however. Also, the gas for our gas stoves must also be delivered. Many people in Honduras do not have washing machines or dryers. We do have a washing machine (praise God!), but we must line dry our clothes. Ironing, of course, is optional! I choose to iron my clothes and it usually takes me about 2 hours to do! There is A LOT of dust here—a lot can gather in just one day! People often sweep several times a day. I haven’t seen any homes with carpeting in them—they always have tile. This probably is due to the dust and termites. Termites are a real problem here—they infest all the wood. Sometimes they will spray the wood with special chemicals to help stop the termites, but Mr. David thinks that some of those chemicals could be harmful to your health. When we buy eggs, they come in cartons and are NON-refrigerated in the stores! You can also buy milk in boxes that are NON-refrigerated. Mr. David says that he doesn’t know the process that they use, but the foods are safe. We usually buy milk that comes in a bag and is refrigerated in the stores. It took us a while to find a kind of milk that we all liked! Hondurans do not always stand in lines at stores and other public places. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t! One time, Mr. David stopped at a gas station on one of our trips. I politely stood in line behind his daughter. Soon, I noticed a Honduran man laughing at me and saying something in Spanish. I asked Mr. David’s daughter what he was saying. She said, “He said that you will never get helped if you stand in a line!” Also, if you don’t stand very close to the person in front of you in line (when a line has formed), other people may cut in front of you! I’ve often been standing in line at a “normal” distance when someone else has cut in front of me!
Animals/Insects
In my first update letter, I talked about how geckos are common household pets. And, that people like them because they eat bugs. It is always fun when we spot a gecko in our house, school, etc. Also, I talked about how things grow much bigger here. For example, we saw a moth the size of a bat in our house! I’ve also seen very big grasshoppers—about the size of a frog!
Unfortunately, there are also some “not-so-nice” creatures crawling around. Some of the other teachers found a tarantula’s nest in our laundry room! The laundry room is connected to our house, but you have to go outside to enter it. One of the girls burned the nest! The other day, Esther saw a tarantula in her room…and she has not seen it since!
At the beginning of the year, the Hammond family invited us over for dinner (they are staying in the same house that Dr. Watterson lived in). I thought, “Wow! This is a beautiful home! It must be nice to live here!” At the end of the year, the Hammond family invited us over for dinner again. This time, they told us about the many encounters that they have had with insects while living there. They said that sometimes scorpions just fall from their ceiling They had one scorpion in a jar to show us. They said that scorpions like to live around pine trees…and there are a lot of pine trees around their home. They always have to check their clothes and shoes for scorpions. Mr. Hammond said he found a scorpion in his pants the other day! Fortunately, he hadn’t put them on yet! In addition, one night they were all watching a movie in the dark. When they turned on the light, the entire floor was covered with termites And they were barefoot! No one wanted to get up and go get their shoes! After dinner, we saw a tarantula on their porch and a HUGE bullfrog on their steps! Our humble home sounded much better after that evening! We don’t have problems with scorpions or termites!
It’s also interesting to note that there are often loose farm animals wandering the streets. The cars just go around them! I’ve seen cows, bulls, oxen, horses, goats, and chickens just walking down the side of the street or IN the street!
How to get involved
After reading this update letter, do you have the desire to get involved somehow? Do you feel God tugging on your heart to be a part of a ministry here? Well, if so, here is a list of some of the ways you could get involved:
· You could come and teach at the EBS school! Mr. David is still searching for two more teachers for the next year. He still needs a 3rd/4th grade teacher and a 5th/6th grade teacher.
· You could come and teach for a short period of time in a specialized area. For example, sometimes an American teacher offers an after-school art program.
· You could make a monetary donation to the school or donate any kind of school supplies. I used almost EVERYTHING that people donated to me this year. THANK-YOU TO ALL WHO DONATED!! I’m sure nothing would go to waste. I still spend a lot of my own money on copies, office-type supplies, school materials, prizes, etc. So, anything would be appreciated! (The problem, however, is in getting these supplies to Honduras. To mail the supplies, it is very costly and it could take a long time to get to Honduras. Also, the mail carrier service in Honduras is not as secure as in the U.S. Sometimes, the people who handle the mail have been known to open the packages and take what they like! I t is best to have someone bring the materials down with them in their luggage. I have had some materials mailed to Mr. David’s address in the U.S. and to some other teachers who were returning to Honduras.)
· You could donate some science materials for grades 1-6. This is one area of the school that I would like to see improved. There is hardly any science lab equipment to do experiments with. And, if there is any, it is usually broken. In addition, there is not a lot of supplementary materials. The students generally only have their textbooks. It would be nice to have some additional science books and videos for the children to look at. We have an entire series of “Bill Nye the Science Guy” videos that a former American teacher left, but the students soon get tired of always watching those.
· You could sponsor a child to attend the school.
· You could give suggestions for a good curriculum to use with our preschool students. Right now, we are using the curriculum "Moving into English" with the kindergarten through fifth grade and it is very good. But, they do not make one for the preschool level. Mr. David is searching for a good preschool curriculum to use.
· You could get involved in many other different areas in Siguatepeque. There are many organizations where you could use your spiritual gifts, talents, and skills. (Of course, you would have to talk with the appropriate people concerning your desire to get involved.) A missionary here is also working on creating a website called "People Weave" that gives information about many different areas that someone could get involved in--Christian and secular organizations. The website address is: http://www.peopleweave.com Here are some areas that one could get involved in:
*the local hospital
*the local churches
*the local orphanages
*the camp “Hill of Light”
*and many more!
Returning Home
Well, today is June 1st ! I can’t believe that in about 3 more weeks—on June 20th—I will be returning home! In some ways, it seems as if the year has been very long and has gone by very slowly. In other ways, it seems as if the year has gone by very quickly!
I have recently read one of Erika’s books entitled "Re-entry—Making the Transition from Missions to Life at Home”. It is by Peter Jordan and YWAM publishing (Youth With A Mission). It is a very good book. It talks about many of the issues that short-term and long-term missionaries deal with when they return home, including possible “reverse cultural shock”. It also gives a lot of advice on what things you can do before, during, and after returning home to make the transition easier. I highly recommend this book!
I am very thankful for our secretary of our church who has emailed me the prayer bulletin every week. (Thank you Jan!) By reading the prayer bulletin, I have been able to stay informed of the many, many changes that have occurred within our church! I am told that our church has grown by more than 100-200 people…praise God! Also, many people have got married, had children, or have passed onto glory. I have faithfully read the prayer bulletin every week and have remembered many of you in my prayers!
Well, I have written PLENTY of information here and it is getting very late as I try to finish this letter. I will close with a scripture verse that the book "Re-Entry" recommends that we meditate on as we prepare to “re-enter” our home country, state, town, church, family, circle of friends, etc. It is the words of the apostle Paul…Philippians 4:8-9 (NIV):
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
God bless,
Corinna Gregg
The Visser Family--this missionary family has just arrived in Honduras this year from Costa Rica. They have spent the last 7 years in Costa Rica building a Christian camp there--complete with climbing walls and a lot of other fun activities! Now they have come to Honduras to build another camp here called "Cerro de Luz" which means "Hill of Light". Mr. and Mrs. Visser are both involved in the EBS school and their children also attend there.
