Honduras ~ part 4

 May 

May 3rd was crazy hair day. Kids came to school with some wild hairdos. 😄

L. to R. Jair, Emiliano, Genesis

This cracked me up. After a break we were all supposed to be cleaning, but only the girls were working and the boys were just sitting there watching. 😅

May 17th was water day. 

All the students played water games and took turns on the slip n slide. 

For Mother's Day, the moms of the students heard the gospel, enjoyed lunch, and watched their kids give a presentation. 

Cards made by each student

Genesis & her race car and track she made during art.

L. to R. Jayden, Dara, Rosalyn, Alejandro

May 22nd the church held an international night during mission conference week. Seven countries were represented, and we all got to sample different foods. Kara's family were missionaries to Sri Lanka so we, along with some friends, created a display table and made food.

Kara and I's Sunday tradition became walking to the gas station after church, ordering some food, and talking or listening to church's messages from the states.

Something I appreciate about Honduran culture is that people take time for each other. They seem to know what really matters, what is truly valuable. Friendships are important there. For example, people would meet in the gas station and sit there for a couple hours talking. It wasn't as common to see everyone glued to their phones like you see in America. Also, unlike many Americans, people don't purposefully look away when they pass you walking, so we were always greeting and were greeted by people when we walked. And, Hondurans are very hard- working people. But many are very willing to share whatever they have. From what I observed, people were willing to help each other out even if that meant taking a couple hours to do so. I think many Americans are so caught up in the "me" mindset, what can "I" do to get ahead, or how does this benefit "me?" However, at least the town we lived in, Hondurans didn't seem to have that mindset as much.  Time and schedules are not #1 there, hence people are happier and not as stressed.  This is one aspect I miss.

There had not been any rain for many months, and on the 17th it rained! Now I was happy for the rain and also sad because the power ended up going out afterwards. It rained a few more times again and the power always went out.

Dara and sister Christi  :)

It's the most precious sound to hear a little child read the Bible. Dara is enthusiastic and doing a great job at reading in English. 

Here's Genesis reading.  

L. to R. Jair, Dara, Jayden

We learned the song "Sermon in Shoes" to go with the art project. 

Kara told me she let her students play with shaving cream on the desks before school starts and other students arrive. That's fine for kindergarteners, but for a bunch of fun, competitive 1st graders, yeah I don't think so. After being chased by and chasing little boys with big clumps of cream, I decided that wasn't the best thing for them to play with. lol. 

Jair is such a great kid. You'll get to meet him one day in heaven. He lives with his grandma and has witnessed some tragic things, but he always came to school smiling and loved to learn. He is the best little gentleman I ever did see. Once everyone would get in line for a break, he'd go to the back and literally push me out before him saying, "ladies first." 😄 He knows how to help his relative fix some car parts in his auto shop, how to shoot pigs with a bow and arrow and clean them, and how to tell his friends about Jesus. Every time I talked about witnessing and sharing the gospel, he eagerly told me how he shared Jesus with his friend or gave so-and-so a tract. Also, when the class learned rhyming words, he discovered that honey, funny, bunny all rhymed, so whenever I said something was funny, he would interject, "funny honey, bunny!" 😂

One day the students brought plants to plant on the school property. 

The Cardenas family is a fun, sweet family. They took me and Ms. Marti to the fair one evening. Both Mr. and Mrs. Cardenas have a heart for the Lord and are good at sharing the gospel and loving people. They were very gracious and patient to me and Kara as we communicated with our not-so-good Spanish. lol. They also value education and were very supportive of us teachers. I learned a lot just by watching them, and they are one family I miss very much. 

Alexa and I on the ferris wheel. This was Alexa's first time on one and my first time on one that went fast! It was operated by a guy who pulled and pushed long levers. Quite the experience. :)

Video

We're on the blue one.

Dara & I 

Kara has a polaroid camera, so that meant anytime Kara, Kristel, and I were together with Kara's camera, we needed to take 3 pictures. lol. 

Thanks for reading! Until next time.........

The Gospel Is as Easy as 1

 Have you ever heard someone say, "the gospel is as easy as 1-2-3!" Well actually, it's as easy as 1. In fact, the message of the gospel is so simple some people find it hard to believe. 

- "I think it's too easy," a worker told me at a store last week after I explained how he could have eternal life.

 Yes folks, Jesus made heaven so accessible that if only you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Not, you might be saved. You will be saved. Absolutely no works necessary. It's a free gift, just waiting for you to reach out and take it. 

I recently heard a very challenging message from one of my favorite expository preachers about missions and sharing the gospel. The text was Acts 17:16-34. Paul's friends sent him to Athens and while he was there waiting for Silas and Timotheus to arrive, he noticed the city was very idolatrous. It was home to the philosophers of the Epicureans and the Stoicks. 

Epicureans believed gods were remote. We're just a result of the collision of atoms, and impersonal + time + chance. There's no after life or judgement so you might as well live for personal enjoyment. Do you know anyone today that believes this? There's plenty of people. 

Stoicks were mostly pantheists. They believed God is in everything. Even you have a spark of divinity within. You're going to be absorbed into the divine, part of it, when you die, so live apathetically with no care. Do you know anyone that believes this today? 

Athens was a 'religious' place, and they even had an altar to the 'Unknown God'. Notice what Paul did. He stood on Mars' Hill and said, 

For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

Now notice he didn't start arguing about their beliefs, debating with them about some matter, or trying to convince them he was right. He preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. I completely understand that witnessing can be awkward a lot of the time and scary. Of course we're nervous that people might not want to hear it or reject us. The Athenians did the same to Paul. Some mocked and others went away to think about it, willing to hear more later. Paul was talking to philosophers. He didn't first take courses on what they believed so he could defend his position better. He didn't debate about pantheism with them. He did know what some of their poets had said, but mainly he stuck to the gospel. 

I tutor an adult from India. I'm not really familiar with Hinduism so I asked questions and listened to what he had to say. He told me before he grew up in a family that had gods for everything. I recently told him about Jesus and the gospel using my wordless book. Then I remembered what he had said before about the multiple gods he grew up worshipping and I told him this story in Acts. He could relate to it and thought it was funny that the Athenians even worshipped an 'unknown god'. There is only one God and only one way to God. Jesus said it best in John 14:6:  I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. He didn't say he was one of the ways or one of many truths. No, he is the way and the truth. These definite articles make us understand that there is no other way. If there was, Jesus wouldn't need to have died. He acknowledged, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. (Matthew 26:42)

I want to encourage Christians to share the gospel, either by talking to someone or handing out a tract. Handing out tracts can be easier than talking, so once you get comfortable doing that, befriend a non-believer or pray specifically for opportunities to witness and then seize the opportunities when they come up. Don't worry about what questions the person might ask or what they might say. Just stick to the gospel and how Jesus changed you. You only have the job of planting a seed or watering it. God does the increasing and the saving. 

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:20

Honduras ~ part 3

April: 

April 12th was dress-up-to-represent-a-country day.

We 3 amigas/hermanas 💚

The kids are so creative! 

I forget what country Dara represented but she did a great job!

Genesis represented Italy.

Ricardo (above) and Jayden (below) represented Spain.

Emiliano and Jair represented Argentina.

Roselyn represented Honduras. 

Alejandro represented Rome.

America was well-represented. 😅

Sometimes after school we three girls stopped by our favorite coffee shop, Espresso Americano, after school to get our "usual" which was a Mochaccino Supreme. Out of all coffees I have tried, Honduran is my favorite. 

April 19th: Crazy hat day

I was amazed at the designs these kids and their parents came up with for crazy hats. So cute and original! Some of the hats definitely portrayed the child's interests & likes.

Jair decorated his hat to match the decor of the classroom which was space- themed.

Photos at church

Kara is still teaching in Honduras. She's a gem. We had the most fun together and laughed 90% of the time. Everything was an adventure and I miss painting, cooking, walking to the store, watching movies together....just doing life with her. We talked a lot, all the time, about anything and everything, serious issues, non-serious issues, life, the Bible, personalities, relationships, values, how to discern truth from half-truths (which are lies), the fact that 2 things can be true at the same time, things that are important to each of us, etc. I am a huge thinker but can have difficulty putting my thoughts into words - Kara helped me voice more thoughts and also made me think about issues I hadn't thought about before by questions she asked. We both helped each other immensely and experienced a lot together -- I miss her so so much. 

Once again at Espresso Americano. 🧉

Kara: "It's time for BeReal." 😄

During recess one day we made a tent in class and ate smores. The kids loved it.

A couple times we visited these hot springs. The water was so smooth, soothing, and healing for aches, bruises, etc. 

We went with a few students one afternoon.

April 26th we had crazy sock day! 

One Saturday we joined the youth group from church and travelled a few hours away to a conference. The church the conference was held at is only a short walk away from the water. So beautiful. 

This house has the most plants I've ever seen at a Honduran house. 

Click here to listen to the videos on the blog. 

Every time during art my students would sing songs, sometimes starting and stopping and starting different songs randomly, or mixing up the words, but it's still the most precious sound. 😇

To be continued.....