Greetings from Honduras! Once again, I am very sorry for the long gap between blog updates. I will try and make it up to you by adding more posts this time. Actually, I just want to show more pictures ; ). Boy, do I have a special treat for all of you!! This time if you read my blog you will have the pleasure of reading not one, not two, but three new funny stories! The first story is about my new favorite restaurant. On our way back from an awesome Christmas in Roatan, my friend Stefanie and I joined two other girls for some breakfast at a hotel restaurant in La Ceiba. We had a few hours before our bus left to bring us back to San Pedro Sula so we had some time to kill. It's a good thing we did because if we had been on time for the earlier bus we never would have discovered this awesome restaurant. I highly recommend the French Toast (Tostadas Francesas). Check out what comes with it!!

Funny Story #2 - This story is about my one on one face off with a most menacing enemy to Honduras as well as other areas of the world...the deadly mango!! I must claim the victory over this dangerous, yet delicious, opponent. I walked away with a fat lip but sadly the mango is no longer with us. I ate it alive!! In an effort not to frighten small children, I have opted not to include pictures of the incident. However, if you can visualize Mick Jagger with long, blonde hair, blue eyes, and broke out in hives then that should give you some idea of what I looked like. To clarify for those who are confused about what really happened. I discovered, the hard way, that I have an allergy to mango. I must say though, it is a good alternative to collagen injections in the lips if you don't mind the hives that go along with it!

Funny Story #3 - I should be a super hero because my next story is about me battling yet another menacing villain here in Honduras. Once again the setting is beautiful Roatan over Christmas. Many of you either know or could probably guess that Honduras has been plagued by muchos ladrones (many thieves). Roatan is no exception. As you can see from the picture, my friend Stefanie almost fell victim to a crafty, little thief as it tried to rob her blind of all the contents of her little backpack purse. Fortunately, for Stefanie, I was there to stop the cute and cuddly little criminal before it not so generously lightened her load. I was not, however, able to stop the perpetrator from sinking its teeth into my hand. No harm done though...not yet anyway! Read the next post for the next exciting chapter of Story #3.

In the next chapter of Story #3, our heroes Stefanie and Erin almost became victims of a notorious thief disguised as Curious George. His plan was thwarted but he was determined to steal something; so, he quietly watched Stefanie as she put a dollar in the tip box and patiently waited for the right moment to make his move. Finally, the time came and our evil little villain made his way over to the box and tried to look casual so that no one would suspect he was up to no good. Then at just the right moment he stuck his little hand in the slot and grabbed Stefanie's dollar and then hurried up a tree to eat it! Eating the dollar did not quench his hunger for mischief though. He was dead set on getting back at me for thwarting his original evil plan. Read the next post for the horrifying conclusion of Story #3

In our last chapter our monkey villain was plotting to seek revenge on me for catching him red handed in the act of pickpocketing my friend, Stefanie. He decided to call for reinforcements. Soon after his partner in crime played cute and cuddly long enough for me to invite him to climb up my arm and onto my shoulder. Then his fury was unleashed as he grabbed me by the hair and proceeded to sink his teeth into my head! Horrified witnesses gathered to watch, helpless to do anything except take pictures and laugh. Once again our villain's evil plan was thwarted because he failed to realize that I have an unusually hard head that cannot be penetrated by a mere set of monkey teeth! Also, I cannot be sure if this is true or not, but I believe that our evil villain was unable to carry out the assault on my head himself because he was nursing a tummy ache after eating the dollar...proof that good always triumphs over evil!!

Now that the funny business is over, it's time to get serious and let you all know what's going on in my life. This past year in Honduras has really been an incredible journey. I have been able to share life with the most amazing people here; my students being at the top of that list. Some of the bigger breakthroughs have been in the areas of study habits and honesty. At the beginning of the year I didn't think I would ever be able to get through a lesson because the children didn't have enough confidence in themselves or their abilities to even attempt to do anything without me holding their hand and guiding every step. They refused to read instructions. Instead, if the instructions weren't obvious just by looking at the problems, they would raise their hands and say I don't understand how to do this. They all bought Spanish/English Dictionaries but they would never try to look up a word that they didn't know. They would always ask me. After several months of sending them back to their desks with responses such as "Read the instructions!" and "Look it up in your dictionary!", the kids have started to do these things automatically now. I have fewer interruptions while I am trying to teach or grade papers and they have so much more confidence in themselves.

In the area of honesty, my students used to forge their parents signature on things and lie about their homework or notes that their parents were supposed to sign. They would always say they gave things to their parents and their parents didn't give it back to them. After several phone calls to parents, some detentions, and many lectures on honesty my students have become some of the most honest people in this whole country. A few of them try to lie but if pressed a little, they sing like a bird. I haven't seen any forged signatures in several months and it's gotten to the point where some of my students make confessions on their own with no pressure from me - despite consequences.

Their prayer life is also astounding. We start each day with prayer and all of my students pray out loud. This is also something that has grown leaps and bounds. Many of my students did not like to pray at the beginning of the year but now they all pray with no shyness or uncertainty. When I pray with my students, I feel like I am at a prayer meeting with adults. My kids take it very seriously because they've seen some of our prayers answered in miraculous ways and they know that God is real and He can do anything. My kids were praying for Roy and Maxine Fisher because Roy was disgnosed with cancer. God has started to shrink Roys cancer and has miraculously covered all of the Fisher's medical bills, which were quite expensive. We were praying for a little boy in the hospital named Walter, who had to have a lung removed. They did not know this little boy but they still prayed for him with all of their hearts. Walter survived the surgery but was in severe pain so I asked the kids to pray for his pain and the next day I found out that Walter was smiling and feeling much better. My students were praying for a little girl named, Adele, because doctors believed that she had bone cancer. When the doctors looked again they changed their disgnosis to an infection that was removed and now she is fine, with the exception of a little discomfort every once in awhile. These are just a few examples of some of the bigger prayers that God has answered this year. These answered prayers have shown my kids how real and powerful God is.

The church I attend has also been a huge blessing to me. It has been such a wonderful privilage and honor to share life with some of the most incredible people I have ever met. Every story is awe inspiring. Living in a country like Honduras makes people more susecptible to things that happen in the US, but to a higher extreme. Most of our congregation has been touched by crime, violence, murder, assault, disease, financial hardship, or just plain carelessness. There is no lack of reason to lose hope or live in fear in this group but that's not what they do. Everyday they are on the front lines doing all they can to make this country a better place and share the love of Christ with anyone God puts in their lives. When someone is in trouble or has a need, this church never fails to rally together and surround that person with love, support, and prayer. It's not a perfect church. No church is but we're moving forward and not looking back. So maybe one day we'll resemble the church that God talks about in the Bible...the church, in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless. (Ephesians 5:27).

Living here for the past two years has truly been faith building. It's so funny how we all get so worked up over details when all we really need to do is give it to God. It's been really cool to see God take care of the details in ways that only He can. We needed a new Director and new teachers this year and God provided over and above for all of our needs. Iveth, our Director, has really turned this school around and made it a better place for the students, parents, and the teachers. Her wisdom and experience have helped all of us here at New Generation to do our jobs better. The kids are smarter, happier, and more fluent in English and I know that next year it will only improve more.

The English church that I attend (ICF) is entering a huge season of change and many people are worried. Several people whose gifts and talents have blessed the church greatly will be moving on soon and even though they will be greatly missed, we are already starting to see a new wave of people being brought to the church, who undoubtedly will help move the church forward in new and wonderful ways. I am one of the people who will be moving on soon and I am able to do it with no doubts or guilt because God has allowed me to see that all of the people that I have come to know and love at ICF, New Generation, and in San Pedro Sula in general are in His hands, not mine, and He is going to take good care all of them. I will not be able to move on without sadness though. This has been my home for the past two years. These people have been my family. It's not been an easy season but tough seasons are always the most defining and impactful. I love my students like they are my own children. Not seeing them everday will probably be the hardest thing I've ever had to endure. I finally told them that I would not be back next year. I explained that I borrowed money from the government so that I could go to school and that I needed to pay it back and all of my students were quick with their ideas so that I could stay. One little boy said that the Director could give me 1,000,000 lempiras for every subject that I taught the kids. I told him that if the Director learns how to grow money, that might be an option. One little girl told me she had 29 lempiras she could give me. That made me laugh and then I just wanted to cry. I asked what they wanted to do for our end of the year party and they told me they wanted to come with me to the United States. It's interesting that the students who were visibly more sad about me leaving were the students that I was hardest on. One of them cried for the first couple months of school because he wanted a teacher who taught in Spanish. Now he gives me hugs when he leaves after school.

Yes, it will be very difficult to leave and I struggled with it for a long time. I have no vision or direction for when I return. It doesn't resemble at all what I thought God wanted me to do with my life. Going back to pay off student loans just doesn't seem like a good enough reason to leave these kids. But at some point in my struggle God told me that my student loans are not the only reason for my return. He has not clued me in on why He wants me back in the states yet but that will come in His timing. So now I have peace and I am ready and excited to start this new chapter of my life. I don't know what to expect but I do know that every season I've experienced has been slightly more amazing then the last so I have high expectations! : )

To my friends and family in Honduras, this is not goodbye because I feel in my heart that I will see you all again. To my friends and family in the United States, be warned, I'm coming home the end of June!