testing...testing...1...2...3...

I realize it has been months since I have written anything, but don't start thinking that's because nothing exciting has happened! Quite the opposite actually. I haven't written because TOO many exciting things have happened that I feel I hardly have 20 seconds to process it all, much less spend time writing about it.

However, I realize that there are some of you (though it may be very few) that do actually check this once in a while. I want to know that you are out there (it will encourage me to write more frequently!). So leave a comment if you read this to give me the "ganas" to write more!

Anyways I will leave you with these two photos from our recent spiritual retreat to a National Park in central Honduras. And remember to let me know if you are reading this!

Well, I'm off to street kid soccer! Have a lovely day!!

6 days in...

I wanted to let you all know that I made it safely and soundly here to Honduras. I landed in the capital city of Tegucigalpa around 11:30 Monday morning and as I came out of baggage claim was greeted by my friends and fellow missionaries John and Becca Bell accompanied by approximately 12 teenage boys from the Micah Project. The boys grabbed all of my bags, and I was whisked off in the project’s green “busito” and so began my first day with the Micah Project. After they had given me some time to drop off my bags in my new apartment and eat some lunch we headed back up to the Micah house for my first staff meeting. It was conducted almost entirely in Spanish, because Roger, one of the project’s long-time Honduran staff members does not speak English… nothing like getting right into the swing of things! I got my new class schedule, which has me teaching (in Spanish) on Mondays Thursdays and Fridays, so thankfully I would have 2 days to get used to things before beginning my first lessons.
The view out my front window

Tuesday I got to do a little bit of basic grocery shopping, then we took the Micah boys to a juvenile detention center as an opportunity for them to reach out to kids who are in much the same situation many of these boys used to be in (2 of our boys had actually lived in the same center but escaped before coming to the Micah Project). Wilmer and Cristofer brought the sound system and got to share some of their songs with messages of hope for these young boys, and then one of the older boys in the detention center shared a couple songs with us as well, it was great fun! Also on Tuesday, my friend Marco brought me my dog, Sadie, who he had been taking care of all Summer, and surprisingly she still recognized me! But, oh boy has she grown since I last saw her!

Wednesday was my day off, so I took the opportunity to go visit all of my old friends at International School on the other side of town. It was great to see all of them after nearly two months apart. Wednesday night, my new roommate, Bethany moved into our apartment.

On Thursday began classes! I was so nervous for a couple reasons… first of all, the oldest student I’ve taught before was 7 years old, and at that age, they don’t even know or care if you make a mistake. And secondly, I was super nervous because I would be teaching my classes in SPANISH! Yikes! Now my Spanish has definitely improved over the last 2 years I have been living in Honduras, but to teach in it was beyond me. But I gave my fears over to the Lord, and the first day went surprisingly very well! Praise God! Thursday evening, my other roommate, Christine, moved into the apartment, so now we are 4 (if you count Sadie ;)
Our living room (and Sadie sniffing something)

Friday I taught classes again, and then in the afternoon we went to play soccer with the street kids. We’ve been playing with them every Friday since last October, and it was great to see all the familiar faces, like Jose Daniel, Alejandro, Rosa, Wilson, Jason, Carlos, Sergio and many more, especially now, knowing that many of you are praying for these kids by name. There were more street kids there this week than any time we’ve ever had it! There was even one kid I had never seen before, Axel. He’s 10 years old and he said he lives next to a dumpster with his Grandpa and that he has been sniffing glue since he was 8. It was so sad to see his bloodshot eyes at such a young, vulnerable age.

On Saturday, John, Becca and Roger took the Micah boys on the 3 hour drive to the beach. Because I was still trying to get all settled into my apartment and had lots of errands to run, I opted out of the weekend adventure. And it’s probably a good thing, too because many of the boys came back sunburned, and if Hondurans in their dark skin got burned, I can only imagine what a “gringa” like me would have looked like coming back! And because I stayed home, I got to celebrate my friend Lauren’s birthday with a Murder Mystery dinner party with my friends from International School. It was so much fun!
The gang being very mysterious.

Now today is Sunday, a day of rest. I’m here in my apartment, relaxing, and still hoping to finish unpacking the rest of my boxes before another full week begins tomorrow!

I hope to bring my camera to Micah and to Street Kid Soccer this week so I can put up some new pics of the kiddos!

new beginnings.

one time... a little over two years ago, i received an envelope in the mail. there was no return address, no name, nothing. all that could be found inside was a small strip of paper. in white words typed on a black background it read "some endings are just the beginning." I never found out where or who it came from, and thus I never knew the intent, but it is a phrase that has been very true in my life. It came at a time when i was making the tough decision to give up my dream of pursuing a career as an astronaut and to fulfill another of my dreams of living in Honduras. It was a difficult ending that came with a lot of tears, but i had no idea what this new beginning would be. And man, was I in for an incredible surprise!

As you all know, I moved to Honduras to teach Kindergarten for two years. In my time there, I have had the wonderful opportunity to begin spending time with a ministry called the Micah Project. This ministry has many facets, but two main parts of it are the outreach ministry, (where they spend several hours each week building relationships with kids living on the streets of the city), and the group home, (where through the relationships built with these kids, they have given several of them over the years the opportunity to leave behind once-and-for-all the pain, hopelessness, danger, hunger, and addictions of street life in order to start afresh in a safe environment, pursue a Christian education, and learn to be leaders of transformation in their country.

Please take a moment to watch this short video, to help us remember that even when these homeless street children feel like no one notices them, we have a Heavenly Father who sees them for the precious creations He made them to be.


Yes. This is their reality. Sniffing glue to help them forget the pain and the hunger. But the story does not stop there! Through Christ’s transforming power, many kids who were once just like the ones you just saw have now found hope, have now found a family, have now found a future for their lives! Take a few minutes and learn about some of their successes.


These two groups of people are the people that are drawing me back to spend another year in Honduras. I am so excited to get started on yet another new beginning, that I’m sure will have it’s fair share of joys and challenges, triumphs and failures. But since I feel this is where God is calling me now, I am ready for whatever this new beginning will bring. But, I cannot do it alone! I NEED you. This last video talks about the importance of working together to accomplish God’s work in the world, and it gives practical ideas of how you can be involved more in my life and in the Micah Project, even from a distance!


Now, if you are interested in helping the Micah Project in any of those ways, please let me know so I can add your name to our Community Board.


If you want to choose one kid to pray for, or you want to help make thank-you cards, or you can set up a fundraiser, please email me at jennafer.miller@gmail.com and I will get you what you need to get started. We love that God can use us all working together to make a much bigger impact than any of us could make on our own.

dilemma

Name: Jenna Miller
Age: 24.4 years
Citizenship: USA
Residency: Honduras
Soccer Team: TBD

So, i have lived 19 of the last 22 months in Honduras. I kinda like it here, in case you didn't know that already. As we practice every morning for the upcoming Kindergarten graduation ceremony, I have had the opportunity to memorize not only the Honduran National Anthem, but also their Pledge of Allegiance. In order to ensure that my students are participating, I stand up in front of them and sing/pledge right along with them (don't worry, i raise my left hand... I kinda think that makes it count less). I got a little worried the other day when I realized that I have the Honduran pledge down word for word, and I wasn't sure I could even remember my own country's pledge, and same with the National Anthem. It's okay though, I did them both for my roommate and passed with flying colors!

All that to say, I'm having a bit of an identity crisis. I am still American through and through, but I just really do love Honduras! There is a big game this Saturday between the U.S. National Soccer team and La Seleccion Honduras, and I can't decide who to root for. I've already let my country down to some extent by repeatedly saying the Honduran pledge of allegiance. But at the same time, I don't think I would ever watch the U.S. play soccer if it weren't this game against Honduras. Also, I do have a Seleccion jersey, which is far less than I can say about the U.S. team. Am I a traitor if I cheer for Honduras? I think I may have to.

But fear not, I will still stand boldly and proclaim "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free..." (in fact, Anna and I just did that a couple of days ago at school).

kindergarten quotes from today

While the Star Wars soundtrack was playing during graduation practice...
"Miss, this is the music of Skywalker" -Werner

While Hector's watch unexpectedly starts making noise in his pocket....
"AY NO! Este clock!" -Hector

As 5 Kindergarten girls surround my desk watching me paint my fingernails 5 different colors for fun...
"Miss, aren't you going to be embarrassed?" -Valenllelitn
"No! She is already an adult!" -Maya

Set!

Went over to the Micah house today. All the boys were unexpectedly gone playing soccer, and didn't get back for a really long time. Luckily I had thought to throw the game "Set" in my bag before heading over, so I used the extra time to teach Megan, Stephen and Hauner how to play Set. We had great fun!

try it out with today's daily Set Challenge
http://www.setgame.com/set/puzzle_frame.htm

thought for today

When i got up this morning and decided i wasn't in the mood for another cold shower (my ducha hasn't been heating my water since last Tuesday), i opened up my Bible and picked up reading where I left off. Thoughts of Jose Daniel were still fresh in my mind after writing last night's blog post, and perhaps that's why this stuck out to me so much. (if you haven't read "perro de agua" yet, read that one first) I have been praying for that kid a whole lot lately, and one Tuesday a few weeks ago Michael, the director of the Micah Project informed me that Jose Daniel had "almost" spent the night at Micah one night, and he had promised that he would come back and spend the night the following Friday. What great news! I was so excited. I started praying more and more that he would hold to his promise, that maybe just maybe after 2 years of the Micah Project trying to get him in, that he would finally accept the offer. Friday came and Megan and I tried to make it to our weekly soccer game with the street kids, but other circumstances prevented us from meeting up with them. I continued praying that Danny would stay the night. On Sunday as soon as church had ended I found Becca to ask her what had happened with him. She regrettably informed me that not only had Jose Daniel not spent the night at Micah, but also one of the boys, Erick, who has been a part of the Micah Project for 6 years now had decided that his addictions were too strong for him to keep fighting and he had left the project. WHAT?? I had been riding this high of excitement thinking that God was about to do something great by finally bringing victory in Jose Daniel's life, but instead Danny and Erick are both now on the streets, Erick's brother Cristofer and best friend Juan Carlos feel abandoned by him, and my heart is breaking once again with all the pain I am seeing. I feel burdened to continue praying for Jose Daniel, now add to the list Erick, Cris and JuanCarlos, plus the rest of the Micah boys and staff who are confused at everything that's going on. I begin to see that working at Micah next year is going to be quite the spiritual battle. There are so many needs to be met... so many big needs that only God can meet. That place is in desperate need of faithful prayer coverage, and I am just one person.

But THEN, God once again opened my eyes to see something great He is doing. A group of 10 people from Houston, Texas came down last weekend to see the Micah project. I quickly discovered that these servants (among hundreds of others) are fighting the battle for these boys by faithfully praying for and financially supporting the ministry. Most of them have been doing so since before I had ever even heard of the Micah Project, much less tried to carry this burden on my own. Although the staff at Micah might be a small number of people, we are in no way alone.

Now back to my Scripture reading from this morning. I Cor 3:6-10 says "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds."

WE ARE NOT IN THIS ALONE! God has raised up Pauls and Apollos's all over the world. God doesn't tell us, "sit tight, don't worry about it, I've got it all taken care of." Nor does he tell us, "OK, it's all up to you, I'm gonna let you handle this one on your own, let Me know when you're finished" NO! He has given us work to do here on this earth, but He has also given us COMMUNITY. We are not expected to fight our battles alone. That is why he surrounds us with Pauls and Apollos's to carry our burdens with us. If we find ourselves planting seeds, we should also be looking for faithful servants to water them. Or if we have the watering can of prayer in our hand, let's be looking for seeds that need some watering. I'm so encouraged by this verse and by my recent realization of it's significance in my own life. I hope you can be encouraged by it as well!

I challenge you to be someone's Apollos today!

perro de agua

This, my friends, is Jose Daniel.
He is 14 years old.
He lives on the streets of Tegucigalpa.
He enjoys swimming in the dirty river...
...or he fell in by accident one time and thus picked up the street nickname: Perro de Agua (Water Dog).
He tries daily to forget the pain of his difficult life by inhaling yellow shoe glue from an empty coke bottle.
He is one of the most hilarious kids I have ever met.
He is one of God's most precious creations!

He has been offered countless times the opportunity for a new life, a home, a family, safety, love and so much more. He knows the doors to the Micah house are open to him if he will just accept the offer, yet countless times he has come so close and walked away. My heart breaks to see the hold that his addiction to yellow glue has on him. It breaks to know the enemy is laughing because he still has him at his fingertips. But my heart also knows that there is a God who is soooo much bigger than a silly addiction. The God I serve sees the devil laughing to think he has Danny in his grasp, but He reminds me that He still holds him in the palm of His hand.

Please PRAY with me that God will continue the process of setting Jose Daniel free from the bondage he is trapped in. Please PRAY that the glue will stop clouding his vision long enough for him to make choices that lead to hope and a future instead of despair and fear. Please PRAY that it will happen soon. And please REMEMBER that our God is Mighty to Save.

"For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost." Luke 19:10

i keep getting in this rut.

i wish there was more time in a day... or that somehow I was able to manage it more carefully. sometimes i try to. I make lists of the things that i need to do, with hopes of crossing everything off by the end of the day, yet i frequently add so many things to my list that there is no way I could possibly accomplish them all in one day, and probably not even in a whole weekend. one of those things that usually ends up on the list if I even have enough time to sit down and make the list, is writing on my blog. throughout my week, situations arise or i take pictures of something interesting or one of my students just says something absolutely hilarious and i think to myself "oh! that will make a good blog post!" but when it actually comes to sitting down and remembering those situations or uploading those photos or recalling exactly what it was that he or she said, it's just so time consuming. a blog is great, if you are dedicated and update it frequently. however, if you wait... a few days can easily turn into a week, one week into 2, 2 weeks into a month and so on, until the thought of writing a new blog post seems a formidable, daunting task. do i just pretend that the last 2 months didn't happen?? should i try to summarize everything that went on sparing no details?? a balance between the two must be found. highlights?? probably a good starting point. but will people be disappointed if there are no pictures? this is the rut i have found myself in lately. every monday morning without fail i receive a reminder email (i set it up) to post on my blog so it doesn't get like this. and every monday i think to myself "naw, it can wait... i have other more important things to do today" So the email sits in my inbox reminding me every time i open my email that I need to do this, until sometime around thursday or friday i delete the email, only to be reminded again the following monday. it's a vicious cycle, that i wish i had the extra time to tend to. wow, what a rant. ok, i'm hoping by writing this that i will be able to somehow talk myself into keeping the blog more current. my goal for this week is to post once a day, whether that just be one sentence or a photo or anything, but at least I will be getting into the habit of frequent updates and maybe i can train myself off of this pattern i have developed. please help keep me accountable!

mi cachorrita

Honduran Labor Day is May 1st, and this year it fell on a Friday, which meant we had one of those rare occasions known as a three-day weekend. My friend Blanca is from a small village called Manzaragua, about 2 hours outside of Tegus and she offered to take Lauren, Heather and I out there to meet her family and have fun in her village. Sadly at the last minute Lauren got pink eye really bad and couldn’t go, so it was just Heather, Blanca and I. As we were driving out there on Friday, I randomly thought to myself “what if I got a puppy while I’m out there this weekend?” Now, I’ve been thinking for a while that when I start working and living downtown next year that I’m going to want a dog who will help to deter any potential robbers I might encounter. But, I didn’t really think anything would come of this random fleeting thought about getting one now. Friday was a good day, we ate good food, relaxed, hiked, took lots of photos, had a bonfire and more. Saturday morning Blanca had planned for us to visit Doña Tila, one of the ladies who lives in the village and who makes homemade bread in a 40-year-old stone oven. We made the 15-minute walk to her house. She welcomed us warmly and we pulled up chairs to observe her as she whipped the bread dough around with her hand. They have electricity in the village, but she would rather mix the dough by hand than “waste” money on using an electric mixer. Her simple little house was bustling with life: 2 of her daughters were handing her the ingredients she needed for the dough, 3 grandsons were running in and out of the house kicking their little plastic soccer balls, 2 cats, a dog and 2 puppies were scouting out the kitchen for crumbs. And that’s when I fell in love. Those 2 puppies were a couple of the most precious little creatures I’ve seen. I couldn’t keep my hands off of them. I was petting and holding them so much, that by the time we had finished the bread-making process Doña Tila had offered to give me one of them. I had to make some phone calls back to Tegus first to get permission from my roommate and my landlords, but finally the deal was sealed and I had my very own 3-month-old puppy!! Sunday, when we got home she got 2 flea baths. Tomorrow Sadie is going to get her shots and very soon she will start potty training! Oh the joys of little pups.

lions and zebras and bears, oh my!

A few months ago our church had a "ladies luncheon" after church one sunday. Heather, Lauren and I decided to attend. It was good fun, but let me tell you, the spanish version of "Cranium" is REALLY hard for some non-native speakers. At this luncheon, our pastor's wife, Karen, decided to go around the table and as a little get-to-know-you activity have each person say a few things about themself including one thing they are good at. For some reason I said "painting" although I wished shortly thereafter that I had said "baking." Anyways, Karen remembered from then on that I was a "painter" (lol), and since she is very intentional about seeing to it that every member of the church is using their gifts, I was recruited to direct the painting of a mural in the nursery at church. Oh boy!

Thankfully, we also have in our church a man named Luis who is actually a professional mural painter... he has done the paintings on the inside of all of the Espresso Americano's (read: Honduran Starbuck's) in the city, and he was also recruited for this project. So... professional Luis, draws the outlines of the Noah's Ark with all the animals, leaves a tray full of a plethora of colors of paint and takes off, leaving me in charge. Here I am, supposedly directing a team of about 8 people only 3 of which speak English. Needless to say, I was a bit overwhelmed. But once again, I was blessed to have a number of people on my team who are also skilled and gifted at painting, so my only job was really giving the ok for each of the colors chosen for each of the animals. And even those decisions I think I ran past Lauren about 90% of the time.


We worked on the mural for about 4.5 hours on Saturday. There is still more work to be done, but at least we made some good progress! Here are some pics of the process and the (for now) finished product.

por fin!

SURPRISE! I'm still alive, and I haven't forgotten about my little ol' blog... though it is taking some time to scrape off the dust that has accumulated on it. Since it has been nearly three months since my last post I will give you a quick photo update of some of the exciting happenings of February, March and April to date (p.s. you can click on any of the pictures to see them larger). Then I will try to give you some insight into what's going on in my little world now and what I'm looking to in the future. Ready?? Here we go....

First, I promised an update on the flower-growing process. I have been taking pics along the way, but never had time to post them til now. The cosmos broke through the surface at the end of january, within a few days had grown to be about 2-3 inches tall. By the end of February they had added several more inches to their height and were boasting large feathering leaves. Then finally on April 2, we got our first flower!


In February, we had a week-long break from school, so Megan, Myself, Anna, Lauren, Corrie and Leah took to the road and made the long, arduous (but well worth it!) trip up to Ambergris Caye just off the coast of Belize. We spent the week relaxing, reading, snorkeling and tanning before making the 2-day trip home. Here we are with all of our gear ready to take the 7am ferry back to the mainland.


Every year at IST we take all 4 sections of Kindergarten up to a retreat center in the mountains just outside of Tegus. We had fun playing games and learning stories about God Almighty. Anna and I were finally able to relax a bit on the bus ride back after we got our students to play a "game" of "who can pretend to be asleep for the longest time?"


Ricardo won the game when his pretend sleeping turned into actual sleeping.


Here Kristi and I are showing some Honduras pride on a teacher's retreat we took in March.


I was able to go home for the first week of April. While in California, I got to see the Dodgers beat the Angels!


I also participated as a bridesmaid in my little sister Kimmy's wedding to Eric.


When I returned to Tegucigalpa in the middle of Semana Santa (Holy Week), all of my teacher friends from IST were already all off on various traveling adventures around Central America. So I took the opportunity to spend some time getting to know the people of the Micah Project. Now, for those of you who don't know about this yet, I am planning to work full time with this ministry after my contract with International School ends in June. The Micah Project is a non-profit organization here in Tegucigalpa that ministers to street children. Tegus has hundreds of kids that live in the marketplace or under bridges, many of which are addicted to drugs and to sniffing Resistol, a yellow glue that they can buy for about 50 cents. Throughout the past 10 years, Micah has helped about 25 of these boys come off the streets, overcome their addictions, become followers of Christ, receive an education, and live a life of hope and purpose. About 12 of these boys (ages 12-18) live in "The Micah House," the main group home, and another 4-5 who have graduated from High school are in the "Leadership House" while several more are attending universities in other countries.

I am very excited to work there in the future and have a lasting impact on the lives of these young men. It has been fun hanging out with them the past few days, getting to know them more and more. We went camping on Thursday and Friday, and the boys just had a great time playing in the river, catching crabs and tadpoles, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over a big (hot!) bonfire, playing hide-and-seek in the dark, skipping stones and eating raw sugar cane.




It is crazy to me to think that even six months ago some of these boys were homeless, hopeless street kids, wondering where they would get their next meal and their next high. Now I see in them carefree spirits, excited to run and play and be normal kids, not beggars, not thieves, not drug-addicts. I see them and I think to myself "God is SO good!" THIS is why Jesus died. THIS is why He rose again. It's because of Him that we have hope for a future. It's because of Him that lives are changed. It's because of Him we live and move and have our being! Praise be to God Most High!

If you are interested in learning more about the Micah project, check out their website at http://www.micahcentral.org/

we're planting flowers!

Saturday afternoon, Anna and I were hanging out on our front porch with our neighbor, Joseph, when suddenly Anna remembered that she had some flower seeds she had bought over Christmas and really wanted to plant. So a lazy saturday afternoon was quickly transformed into a workday. Joseph ran home and got some tools, while Anna and I started filling up some buckets with water. First step was to take all of the dead plants and foreign matter out of the planter that is attached to our front wall.



And man, was there a lot of foreign matter: ranging from cat feces to rusty nails to cigarette butts to part of a vertebral column of some unidentified long-dead animal (which I accidentally picked up before realizing what it was, gross!). After we got all of that removed, Joseph started tilling away at the soil (if you can even call that dry dirt "soil"). Once it was all cleaned out and somewhat tilled, we added bucket upon bucket of water until we were playing like kids in a slurpy, soupy mud mixture.



Then at that point, there wasn't much we could do cause it was so wet. We gave the planter a Sabbath day's rest to let the water penetrate through, and then this evening, Anna and I took to the actual sowing of the seeds. Using forks, (the best tools we could come up with for the job) we dug our little holes and carefully placed the seeds approximately 1/4" below the surface.




Now we begin the waiting game. It says it should be 10-15 days before they sprout, and hopefully not too long after that they will begin flowering. We're excited to see what comes of our little proyecto. I'll keep you updated with pictures as our babies begin to grow and flourish.

can't sleep

Big decision to make this month whether to sign on for another year at IST or to go back to the states. And if I decide to return to the states, what will I do? where will i live? how will i make money? etc. And since I am terrible at decision-making (especially important ones), it's going to be a very back and forth month I feel like. Your prayers (and words of wisdom) are greatly appreciated.