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!