Let all that I am praise the Lord;
With my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
Let all that I am praise the Lord;
May I never forget the good things he does for me.
He forgives all of my sins and heals all my diseases.
He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
He fills my life with good things.
My youth is renewed like the eagle´s!
-Psalm 103:1-5
One afternoon Vicki and I were lavamos un bol de baño con los dedos (washing a bowl of icing with our fingers) when a relative of our host family dropped in for a visit. We offered to share the sticky bowl of goodness with her and the next thing I knew she had smeared big globs of icing on our noses! I´ve not one to meekly take anything so I got a fingerful of icing and repaid the favor! I love the people here! I´ve been here for over 4 weeks and I still can´t believe how friendly everyone is. Despite the fact I can barely speak the language, people are still eager to talk and find someway to communicate which has been a huge blessing to me. They aren´t shy about laughing at my poor Spanish skills and with correcting me which I´m very grateful for. Everyone at the church wants us to succeed in learning Spanish and they have been very encouraging.
For New Years, Julio, the administrator of the church (Jon and Anthony´s host dad) invited the team to his house. Julio´s family and friends came over and from 10-12 we hung out, danced and joked around. We counted down to the new year and Julio lead us into it with a prayer. Then the fireworks started. From what I´ve seen (and mostly heard) Hondurans like their fireworks, the louder the better. Cohetes are especially popular despite the fact that they are illegal. Rare are the days I do not hear cohetes set off in the neighborhood of my host family. Cohetes are used at anytime during the day since they are only a loud boom and no pretty lights (I do not understand the attraction!). After the fireworks, around 1, it was time to eat! We had Jamaica juice (which is Hibiscus flower juice), pan, arroz, ensalada, y pollo.
I got to bed around 2:30. The next day we had a piñata (I think it was the 5th one for Jon and Anthony) before everyone loaded into cars for the beach! The beach was beautiful with palm trees and a bright blue sky. I was extremely excited to lay out and get tan, which I did right next to a girl in jeans, sneakers and a t-shirt in the shade. I think I was the only person on the beach sunbathing!While here I am having all sorts of experiences that I am learning from. One of the more humbling experiences was a night I forgot that the water has been shutting off at 9:30 for my host family. I was in the middle of taking a shower when the water shut off. Fortunately for me the shower head doesn´t work instead the faucet fills a bucket which you scoop out of to shower with. So I used what was left in the bucket to finish showering, without really thinking about it. Unfortunately for my host family, I used up all of the water and so no one else could take a shower that night! They forgave me though and the next night they reminded me to shower earlier! Another experience that I enjoyed much more was when Vicki and I made a card for our host grandmother when she wasn´t feeling well. We happened to put Psalm 103:1-5 on the card. When she got it, she prasied God and told us that Psalm 103 has been a significant life scripture for her for years! We did not have any idea of this when we wrote the card! Gracias a Dios!
This might be the last week of classes for the team because next week we might be going to La Ceiba and Copan to visit someone our team was in training with!
Prayer requests: safety and good health (Vicki and I both have colds and I am now an expert with Spanish vocabulary that pertains to colds)
Patience and good attitudes as we continue to learn the language
Thanks for reading! Dios le bendiga!
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