Week 4, up to "our apt burning down (not really)"

Saturday: I bailed on the band practice today in order to go to the mountains! I was so excited, but at the same time, I knew I had no idea what to expect, because it's Honduras. I was expecting hiking, you know, that kinda thing. Turns out we went to a resort which wasn't as much fun. Lots fancier than my mind was thinking. You could pay to go swimming, horseback riding (around a loop), or paddle boats. Mrrr. We just stood around and hung out, which honestly, we could have done at home a lot better. I should have just stayed home and gone to band practice, but it was too late to change now! It was a bit of a bummer, but we did get to see the mountains on the way there and back, so that was a plus. Oh, and the mayor of Choluteca (I think?) was hanging out there – took over the restaurant (so we had to eat elsewhere) – and Jack got a picture of him! (scared us doing it too – just wandered into the restaurant and disappeared haha) There were rumors that the president of Honduras was there, but apparently he was coming there later. Cool though! After that, just had a normal day of just hanging out until dinner and church. The Nicaraguan pastor spoke again, and the translator was in the back with a mic speaking to the whole room since there were so many English speakers there because of the week-ers. They're leaving on Monday.

Sunday: Everyone was supposed to go to the church in the morning to clean and stuff for the big youth outreach thing that night. However, Sarah was really sick so Elsa and I went wandering around Choluteca with Ed trying to find meds – however, no pharmacy is open on Sundays :-( So we finished up help at the church, then went grocery shopping. After a quick lunch, I skyped with the family (Got to say happy father's day to dad :-). Went to dinner, then attended the youth group thing. It was soooo cool! It reminded me a lot of High School Leadership Training – it was basically a huge concert of church songs, a skit, and Steven, one of the staff members (I'm assuming?) from the weekers came up and spoke. The songs were sooooo much fun! There was a ton of the youth jumping around in the front (yeah!!). I felt like I was 15 again (weird, that was five years ago... huh). Some other people from the HLT team (I won't name who haha) felt really old though. :-D

Monday: Usual day (Except Sarah couldn't come because she was still sick): Exercise in morning, English class in the afternoon. Before lunch, David and I chatted about conflict management – which was SO interesting! I got to brush up on some Spanish vocabulary in the conflict management department, and I got to hear a Honduran's perspective on conflict. It's super similar to what I've learned in class, but I'd love to talk more. So fascinating! We had dinner at tollita's house (I prefer it there, it feels more like home when you eat at a house [granted, on the patio] rather than at the church). Joshua bible class in the evening. It's been really cool to learn how God provided for the Israelites as they took over the promised land. He exaggerated their vulnerability in order to emphasize His power and glory through each victory. Cool stuff.

Tuesday: Sarah was still sick, but I went to manualidades anyway, to see if we could put a hole in the jicaro and make bracelets with it. Turned out I just stayed the whole afternoon and braided bracelets. It was fun! I could do that a lot :-) It was actually just Taylor, Xan and me, because Rachel was sick and April was with the support groups, so lunch was a lot quieter. They introduced me to a lot of music though! Had Bible class in the afternoon and played with the kids – they were ornery!! They got silly bandz for being good in class, but then they were trying to exchange them (my fault for agreeing!) then they were lying and trying to get two or more (shaking head).... We escaped (ahem... left) early since there was band practice that night :-) We gave Maura a ride, which was fun because she loves to tease Taylor about being one of the only guys in a sea of girls (12 of us) – sometimes Taylor can understand her, and sometimes he can't – so she takes advantage of it. Haha. Went back to the apartments and heard about the support group's drama – apparently at one of the house visits, there was an angry drunk guy and it was pretty scary – pray for safety for them! They go out a ton in the community, so it's a little more dangerous for them. Dinner was BBQ! It was pretty great... I'll have pictures. Planned women's group (we'll be talking about gossip... a problem in the community), and then hung out with the Kent gals :-) Fun stuff.

Wednesday : After exercise class, we chatted with Edith – one of my favorite women at Casa (we now call her our Honduran mom :-). Had our women's bible study... It was pretty interesting... we did a skit at first of two women gossiping about someone who hadn't been at church in a while – and when we asked them if that conversation was glorifying to God, they said no, because the person hadn't been at church in a while – that's the issue. So we talked about the different kinds of gossip, and how we need to honor God and each other with our words. I pray that they start getting the message and understanding when gossip is happening. After, we went to the orphanage (Casa Amor) and I talked to the tia (Sulema) about conflict in Honduras. Interesting as well!! I like this :-) David mostly talked about the peace-maker's side of it, Sulema and I mostly talked about the conflict side of it... … Pizza at Toita's (I don't know how to spell her name... considering it's Spanish, you'd think it would be easier... haha). We had a meeting, just HLT people, to talk about how LT is going so far – it was so great to hear the perspective of some of the other people on the team – some people seem to have had it rough so far, and others have been super encouraged – interesting how God can bring people to the same place and teach them different things in different ways :-) After the meeting, we watched Princess Bride (soooo happy!!!).

Oh, and we don't have air conditioning, because while Sarah was at home, the whole electrical outlet came out of the wall in our bedroom (Venice), and whenever you moved it, it sparked. By the time she got the landlady or whoever was in charge and came back, there was a small electrical fire! The lady knew exactly what breaker to flip to stop it, but it was a little scary. No damage done, but the air conditioning is in the same breaker as the outlet, so we had to make do with fans. It was actually okay though :-)

I'll stop there. More to come! :-) Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, your support is always encouraging!