Goooaaaaalllllllll!!!!!!!!!

Obviously the sport of soccer, or futbol, is very popular in Central America. Actually, soccer is pretty much popular anywhere outside of the United States. Paul has been taking us to his futbol games. He plays on a team for the church and they rent an hour at small arenas and play other local teams. Paul also plays on a “better” team that has uniforms and everything. I’m not sure how the leagues work, but I just have fun going with the other missionaries and cheering for our church team or our friends. It is also very fun to listen to the things the grown men say to the ref. or the players. We try and guess what they said and decide if it is something we should repeat or not.

There is a big stadium here in Comayagua and the home team, I think their name is Hispania, played against some other team from a different city. This was the real thing I was told. They are not the Honduras team, but they were national teams kind of like the L.A. Galaxy team. The only thing I could relate it to is baseball because I’m not sure how soccer leagues work. Anaheim has the Angels, L.A. has the Dodgers, and Comayagua has the Hispania. Anyways, we were on national Honduran television because we went to the stadium and the camera man came and zoomed in on us for a bit so we flashed the peace sign and shouted. The Comayagua team lost we think. I never found out the final score. I do remember it was tied 2 to 2, but we were not able to finish the game. You know why? It started raining. It was not the usual light rain we get, it was pouring and actually cold. We sat in it for a bit. Joy, a missionary from last year who just returned to teach again this year, came with us and knew from experience to bring a rain coat so I made quick friends with her and was able to sit under her coat. The crazy people on the other side of the stadium seemed to love the rain. They were cheering for the other team. When we first arrived at the stadium all stuffed into one cab, this group was outside chanting something. They looked like a gang. After we got our tickets, we walked all the way around to the other side.

“Why didn’t we just go in where we bought the tickets?” I inquired.

“Because that is where the gangs and bad people sit.” replied Paul.

He was right. We could see and hear them the whole time. They stood the whole time and chanted the whole time. They also clapped and did this funny running thing up and down the stadium. Whenever their team did something cool, they would run out of their seats, climb the fence to the field, and hang their feet over. The security had to go over and wave their little wands at them. They even threw fire crackers into the crowd. The side we sat on was very calm compared. Only one person climbed the fence when our team scored.

I also got to experience my first Aguazul bag. For some reason, drinks are put in bags here. Water in a bag, soda in a bag, juice in a bag, whatever. If it is liquid, they will put it in a baggy, stick a straw in, and knot it shut around the straw to drink. The Aguazul bags are sealed though because it is purified water. I would always manage to avoid drinking from a bag before, but I was very thirsty so I had not no choice to drink water from a bag. It is awkward. I had to rip off a corner of plastic with my teeth then squish the liquid into my mouth. It tasted like plastic. At least I was not thirsty anymore.

Anyways, once the rain got too hard, we had to leave. I almost fell in the mud trying to get into the cab. I had to sit my wet and muddy self on top of Briana then the cab drove over a boulder on the way home so we had to get out in the rain and help the cab driver remove the huge rock from his drive shaft. I was very happy when we made it home.

A very crazy week.

The first week was crazy. It was so hard, especially the first day. On my very first day, I had to send a kid to the principal’s office. My first graders are not used to being in school all day. They are used to coloring all day and only being at school for a few hours instead if from 7:10 a.m. until 2:10 p.m. They were so crazy by the end of the day, they were literally bouncing off the walls so I turned off the lights and had them put their heads down. One boy refused to and started making other children laugh in his defiance. If they find out they can walk all over me from day one, they will never stop so I sent him to Miss Norma to nip that behavior in the bud. That night though was the parents meeting. The parents run the show here. They pay big bucks to ave their children come learn English and they are treated more like clients than a source for the student’s learning. The parents came and started out asking basic questions to the first grade homeroom teacher Ms. Joline. I left to go meet the parents of my seventh graders, and I came back to angry scowls of loathing hate. The children went home and complained to their parents that the new white teacher was too strict and would not let them get their pencils or go to the bathroom. That is true in a sense, but not in the way they made it seem. They would not go to the bathroom. They would run around the school and get me in trouble with the other teachers. I tried to make it one at a time, but someone would take too long in the bathroom doing who knows what so the ones who actually do have to go start dancing and complain so I let them go and they go pee, but then don’t return etc etc so I just stopped letting them go by the end of the day because they would be able to go after school anyways. I stopped letting them go to their lockers to get stuff whenever they needed too because they would just hang out there in the back of the class and cause trouble. I do not speak Spanish and they are supposed to ask me things in English and I am only allowed to speak to them in English so they learn it. So when the children were asking me for their pencil, and I did not know what they wanted, they would get up out if their seat with out permission, then make distractions in the back of class so I said “No more going to your lockers.”
Well the parents were mad at me then one asked if I had any experience teaching.
“I have worked with children at my church with vacation Bible school and I volunteered at La Sierra Academy…” I answered.
“Well have you taught before?”
“I work with children quite a bit and…”
“Have you actually taught a class before?”
“Well you see, vacation Bible school…”
“Have you taught before?”
“No sir. I have not taught before. I am here as a missionary and volunteer.”
“Well I care more about my child’s education than yours.”
“O.K.”
That is when they started arguing in Spanish with Ms. Joline and I had to go get Miss Norma for her to do her diplomatic thing and smooth things over.
Even though I do not speak Spanish very well, I understood quite a bit of what they said. They said they feel their children have a disadvantage because I do not speak Spanish and I do not have experience. They basically do not want me to teach their children. Despite how they may feel, God put me here for a reason and we all have no choice, but for me to teach first grade. I have heard it is the hardest grade to teach from the other teachers and students missionaries and I understand why.
My week did get better as it progressed. The students are no longer turning their desks over and I actually have a voice by the end of the day. I don’t cry in the shower in the morning anymore at least. I’m sure I will again at some point. Maybe right before Christmas break when they get restless, but until then, I hope it is all as smooth as the California roads because that is the best I can hope for. I need prayers and patience. God is the only one who can get me through it and I hope he places many helpers in my path.
Karaleigh’s birthday was during the first week of school. She turned 21! Her party was nice break in the craziest week of my life. We went out to eat at a place called La Fonda’s then we went home and ate cake and opened presents. My birthday is coming up soon and I hope I have a big party with all my new helpful friends.
There is chapel every Friday and we all have take turns planning it. We basically sing songs then have a Bible story. Today was the creation story. The kids loved it though and we had so much fun. I think Friday’s are nice.

Haystacks are breaking new grounds.

So it turns out that haystacks are just American. Melissa, who is from England and Jamaica, has never heard of haystacks before and none of the people here in Comayagua have heard of them either. We had to change that. We searched high and low for Fritos and found none, so we settled for some tortilla chips which I actually prefer with my haystacks, but most people go for the Fritos. We invited our friends Alessandro, Paul, and Walter to our house for haystacks and we had to show them plus the Brit Melissa how to make them. I went first. I put down the chips, then rice, then beans, then lettuce, then tomato, then onions, then olives, then jalapeno, then best of all, the avocado. Whalla! Thus a haystack is made. If you have never had one before, it is a must! Sooo delicious. They loved it. In fact, they would not stop eating it, except for Walter who came across a jalapeno and asked for milk. We took our time in giving him soy milk because we liked watching a grown man suffer over one tiny jalapeno piece whilst a bunch of girls stacked them on. We called him a wimp. “Que es wimp?” He asked. We told Paul, who is fluent in English to explain to him, but Paul did not know that very common English slang so we just called him a baby. I think that was insulting enough. Paul returned the favor and brought us some corn tamales that were very delicious and some strange corn thing that I did not eat and here is why. It is a giant cob of corn with butter and parmesan cheese on it. Karaleigh and Briana took part in eating it. It was very messy, but tasty they said. It smelled like barf to me. I am glad we could share some culture with each other even it does smell like barf.

A beautiful hike

Today we went on a hike with the youth and pathfinders. We woke up bright and early and rode in the back of some church member’s truck to La Tres Iglesia and started out our hike. Some of the youth wanted something to eat so they went and got sweet bread. I tried to find fruit, but none was being sold at the little shop we went to. I can’t imagine going on a 14 kilometer hike with sweet bread and soda on your stomach. It was more like an uphill walk than a hike and it was not really the wilderness like I was expecting. There were houses lining the dirt road we traveled upon. It was definitely more rural than the city, but not the extreme hiking I was looking forward to. The youth are not in shape at all and they kept wanting to take rests. One particular place we rested was definitely worth it. It had these beautiful stone steps that led down to a stream. The crazy boys jumped in a pool of water and splashed about and tried to get some girls in. I think one girl got in. When we finally got to the “top,” we ended up at some lady’s house. She has a HUGE piece of property. She has donkeys, ponds/lakes full of fish, big cages with birds, many dogs, fields of corn, orchards of bananas, a forest of pines, and empty swimming pools. This woman also has a beautiful deck with a hammock I enjoyed very much. After we had worship and wandered around the jungle/forest (and almost got lost) for a few hours, I was able talk to her. I forgot her name, but she used to live in Loma Linda and knew exactly where I live. She also asked me when I became SDA. “A few years ago. Why?” I asked. “Because you have holes from where your ears have been pierced and you have a tattoo. You must have gotten those before you knew God.”

I did not mention that I got my tattoos after I became SDA and I put my earrings in at night so they don’t close up, but she told me that her son used to have a tattoo and she cried when she discovered it so he had surgery to have it removed. “You will have to explain that to God when you meet” she said. I have already met God because he lives in me. Plus my tattoos are reminders to love Him and be like Him so boo on her theories. Well I guess she is entitled to her opinion, but still. I do not like people telling me about how God must feel about me based on anything physical.
We played the balloon game when we came back from romping in the jungle. This game is very fun. I played it at Margie’s and Cathy’s birthday party. People blow up balloons and tie them to their ankle. They have to keep their balloon inflated while trying to pop other’s balloons. I was the third to last person to get their balloon popped. I almost won, but the girl snuck up behind me. Well she won fair and square, but I’m still sore about it. Speaking of sore, my hiking shoes are practically new so they gave me very bad blisters. In fact, they are not blisters at all. There is just not any skin left. I screamed in the showers so much when the water hit my pink and red layers of exposed skin. Ouch!
This hike did point out some needs in my church community that I think I want to focus on. The main one is the promiscuity of the youth. There is a huge love triangle going on. Nay. A love hexagon. There are people with babiend so whs from so ao hooked with so and so’s little sister after the little sister hooked up with so and so’s brother etc etc. There are promiscuous people at home, but there are also a lot more “Adventists” at home so percentage wise I think we are doing well. Here, 99% of the youth are promiscuous and that is the future of the church here in Honduras. The other missionaries and I are thinking about having a “girls” night at our house and just talking about what God wants out of us as Christian women and how to respect ourselves. Hopefully we can have a positive affect on them and be an inspiration the youth back home.
It was an over all great day. Especially hitch hiking down the mountain. That was very fun. I love Honduras 

Pretty Awesome Sabbath

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August 22, 2009

Today was a very fun Sabbath. I was asked a few days ago to sing for Sabbath school at the church so I asked Paul if he could accompany me with his guitar. He agreed, but we did not get around to practicing until Friday evening after Bible study. Ya know, typical Honduran style of getting things done. Bible study was in some person’s yard a block or so from the church. Since it was already night fall (The sun sets here at like 6:30 p.m. every day), there was no light except for a work light hung from the laundry line. People showed up in groups of two or three and somehow more chairs appeared out of no where. I mean really. Some guy would pop around the corner of a house with a stack of plastic lawn chairs, which they use in the church, plop them down, then disappear and suddenly do it again. Anyways, it was very long. They asked me to pray so I prayed for about 15-30 seconds thinking that was sufficient because it was a group thing not an individual prayer. I was wrong. They had also asked a few others to pray after me and they prayed for about five minutes each. People pray here very often and for very long. After the prayer, they asked each other what their joys and sorrows had been that week. When they got to me, I said my joy was being accepted into a new church family so readily. Instead of leaving the missionaries at home to fend for ourselves, they have invited us many places with them and have made us get involved in their church and lives. I appreciate that. I did not share any sorrows because I am not one for airing my dirty laundry. We also played a fun Bible game. A person has to choose a Bible character then gives clues as to who they are then whoever guesses gets a turn to choose. I chose Esther and everyone guessed right away. I had trouble guessing many of the other characters. I remember the story, but not the names. I need to read my Bible more often. After Bible study, I brought down some music and guitar chords I packed with me in case I could get my hands on a guitar. I chose “Grace Flows Down” to sing for Sabbath and ran through it a few times.

This morning, I was so nervous that I was breathing heavy while walking to the church. Since there is a wedding this evening, we had to have church in a different building because the regular church building is all decorated. I sang during Sabbath school right before they broke off into small groups. Everyone enjoyed it. I am happy I was able to share my passion with them. It is sad to say, but no one has a good voice at that church so I am hoping it was a blessing for them to hear someone with a half way decent voice for a change.

Since Paul was preaching at a different church, he wanted us missionaries to go hear him so we all piled in a car and went down some dirt road to the Iglesia Tres Camino. Paul enjoyed our duet so much, that he asked me to sing again at this church right before he preached. It was fun and the people really seemed to enjoy it. One thing that is very weird is the lack of musical talent here. In the churches, there are no instruments at all. They play recordings from iTunes for the hymns and so forth. If there is no music for a song they want to sing, they sing it A cappella and poorly at that. I guess the schools do not have enough money to have professional music teachers come in and start bands or music programs. The locals probably do not have enough money to pay for lessons or even an instrument itself. Paul is not from Comayagua, but from the islands so he must have a different story behind his talent and money.

After church, we were invited to Yavonnia’s home for lunch. She made pizza, salad, plantain chips, beets, and beans. Since I am vegan, I just kind of loaded my plate with all the yummy vegetables and beans and avoided the pizza with out the lady of the house noticing. The others ate plenty of the pizza, however, so she probably never knew. The rest of the day was spent on her back porch vegging out on her hammock or trying to calm down her crazy daughter Naomi. This child is insane. She changed out of her church dress into a lime green swimsuit and they do not even have a pool. She brought down her stuffed giraffe and made it attack you. It was fun, but strange. Naomi also loves bubbles. She is not very good at blowing them so she just got the floor all wet with soapy water. Yavonnia had to leave so we were just left at her house with Paul and the kids. We cleaned up the kitchen for her then left with Paul because it was already dark and we did not know our way home. It is very late now and I am tired, but it was a pleasant Sabbath. I have to get up early tomorrow because the people from Iglesia Tres Camino have invited us for a nice Honduran hike starting at 7:00 a.m. and I am very excited.

Hurry Up and Wait

If an American ever travels outside the states, which I hope they do, they will soon find out the fast paced lifestyle by the clock is pretty much just an American thing. Here in Honduras, nothing is ever sure in the future. The only that is definite is what is presently happening. Take Paul for instance. He has been invited over to our house for dinner twice and both times he failed to show up with no excuse or phone call. He also says to be ready for pick on futbol night at 6:15 p.m. sharp, but he does not show up until 7:00 p.m.. The administration at the school has been doing this as well. They tell us to be at the school at 7:00 a.m. and we end up sitting around for three hours before we actually meet with anyone. Once we do meet, they tell us that they do not know what grades we are teaching yet so we can go home. It sounds frustrating, but it is really not for some reason. We are getting kind of used to it. We find things to do with our time. The other night we went to the futbol game for the church team. We all had to pile in one car so I had to lay on top of everyone. We also played basketball at the school. It was supposed to be volley ball, but no one could find the ball so we ended up playing basketball. Karolie, a tall girl from Walla Walla, just happened to play on the other team so she creamed us. I mean literally. She toppled over Melissa and gave her a few scrapes then pushed over Briana and gave her a big pussing (hope I spelled that correctly) ouchy.
I scored a few points myself and managed to survive the game with only one gouge from another players nails.
Today, we actually found out what grades we are teaching finally. I am teaching first grade math, science, and Bible all in English and seventh grade Literature. We received our books and then started planning our classes because we start teaching August 31 which is Joe's 22nd birthday. I got him a three wolf moon shirt. If you know what that is then I pity you. I am very scared, however, of having the responsibility of having so many children depend on me for their education. If I fail, then they fail and I can not let that happen.
I am also discovering the reason behind ugly teacher shoes. The reason most of my teachers wore ugly shoes or sandals with socks is for comfort. Who knew? I thought it was just the wages or lack there of they received. Turns out that walking to school everyday while carrying heavy books and standing for long periods of time requires something comfortable on your feet. I look like a school teacher complete with the ugly shoes and that scares me more than having to teach.
At least I get to feel young at the futbol games. Oh Si Pappa!

New Friends

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August 16, 2009

This morning Melissa and I just cleaned. We swept the floors and found more dirt than we wanted to. We mopped and the mop heads were black by the end. We scrubbed the toilets and discovered we were not imagining those strange smells. I just guess a house gets that way after no one has lived in it for a few months. We also washed some laundry and hung it to dry. The trash situation is strange. We have trash accumulating, but we have no idea what to do with it. I have just been putting it on the front porch until we figure out what day it is picked up or of it has to be brought to a dumpster somewhere. As I took the trash out today, I noticed something big and slimy behind another bag. It made me jump at first, but then I realized it was just a bull frog. There are a lot of lizards and frogs around here which I do not mind because they eat the insects including spiders! Yay for lizards and frogs!

After cleaning up, we decided to see if the internet cafe was open. As we were walking to the boulevard, Pastor Roy drove by and told us that since it was Sunday and most people around there are Catholic, the only café open would be at the Premier Mall down town. We took a taxi which is twenty lemps anywhere in Comayagua. It turns out that there is a military base down that shares half of the base with the U.S. so there are military personal from every branch including the Navy walking around on the weekends. We met a nurse in the Airforce named Ronnie and her Filipino friend Dennis who is also in the Airforce, but he works with computers.

As we were leaving the mall, we saw two obviously American men so we started talking to them. They were both in the Navy. One was a Luitenet named Anthony from San Diego and the other is from Indiana and named Roberts. We talked for a while then met up with Anthony’s Honduran girlfriend he met at a bar. We all went to lunch together and had the worst lunch of our lives.

Mel and I had ordered the rice noodles with curry. This dish usually comes with shell fish, but we asked for tofu instead of shell fish. Anthony is fluent is Spanish so he was able to order for us. When they brought oit our food decades later, it was just a plate of cooked tofu with seasoning and a topping on it, but no rice noodles or curry in sight. The topping reeked of meat. Anthony reassured us that he made it clear we did not want meat and Roberts said he did not think it smelled like meat so I went ahead and tried it. “That is defenetly meat” I said so the chef was called over. There was conversation back and forth then Anthony said “Yea, he put meat on it.”

“What kind of meat?” Melissa inquired.

“You don’t want to know” Anthony said.

We both knew he meant pork because we had just finished a conversation about how we were Adventist missionaries. “Hey you are those people who can’t do anything on Saturday or can’t eat pork huh.” This is what the conversation consisted of so when pork was given to us to eat, we were all very shocked. Who ever heard of tofu with pork sprinkled on top?

What was more upsetting to me, was when they whisked the food away and brought back a plate full of noodles of some sort, but they were definitely not rice noodles and there was definitely no curry. I would have inquired, but it would have made more trouble and who knows what I would have eaten by mistake next.

The chef is a little Chinese man who speaks broken Spanish so we figured that was the problem.

I do not, however, want to be known as the people who don’t do anything on Saturday and who can’t eat pork. I would rather be known as the people who love God and do something for the world and for each other. Both of the things people know us for, keeping the Sabbath in a negative way and limiting our diet of “good” food are both things that have nothing to do with the image we should want to project. People should say “Adventists huh? Hey aren’t you those people who keep God’s Sabbath, spread the Gospel, help the community, and try to be like Jesus?”

I would feel much more proud to be part of a community that has that reputation instead of the reputation that we are boring vegetable eaters.

When we got home, the other missionaries from Walla Walla were here. I already asked if they knew you Joe and they said no. They do know Brian and Ashley though. There names are Briana and Karolie. Briana was in England this past year. She also projected vomit on her plane ride over here. That was a lovely first story for her to tell us. We sat around the table and played card games and ate apples. We all start orientation tomorrow so all the free time will come to an end.

It rains every night here, but the rain came a little early today so the wash we had hung out to dry earlier today received a second wash from the Honduran rain service. Oh well. Someday I will get the hang of this stuff.