the Island Life of Em

why is everyone so happy?

2009-04-24T19:55:00.002-06:00

this was one of my first questions back.
everyone on commercials seemed like they were overly happy about life and family. it seemed forced or unreal. people just didn't ooze over each other like that in helene. more often than that they were calling each other names, playing tricks, and laughing at each other's mistakes. parents were not so gaga over their kids. it seemed wierd. did i know people who acted like those on the commercial? which was real?

then there were several instances where i felt people were pushing me to be more happy.
i went to fill out an application to sub. i explained i would wait until I was called about the opportunity before i filled out the direct deposit information. she reassured me i would definately be called and i needed to have more hope and be more positive. i think she was offended i hadn't been more cheery. i didn't understand. i didn't feel i was being unpositive, just real. i wasn't crossing my fingers and wishing on a star about it but i was open. why did i have to put on a display? if i don't pour my hopes into it, i won't be disappointed if it doesn't happen. what's wrong with that? i wasn't mad but it bothered me she was looking for a particular response and mine was not acceptable.
in helene, no one would ever get excited or show a passionate response about a promise until they saw it or got it.

Cheerios

2009-04-24T19:46:00.003-06:00

Friday night.
Worked all day. it's 9:30 pm. need to eat but i'm too tired to fix food.
cereal is always a good option but alas no cereal.
so its off to the closest seller of cereal - CVS.
it's always an adventure. even going for a box of cheerios.
whoever says life is boring doesn't get out in real life enough!

so there's quite a selection. every box is $4.49 each.
and then there's the bargain! honey nut cheerios 2 for $4.00.
i really want trix or lucky charms or apple jacks but i need to save money and make food stretch besides i can add fruit and make it healthy. so i go for the bargain.
i get to the counter and even use my CVS Extra Care card for more savings, right?
the total comes to $6-something. what? the girl was real great she checked and checked again and went down the aisle to check out the price. she comes back with a long and detailed explanation that my simple brain just can't comprehend. whatever. i'm buying it so i can get out of here. there are already 2 characters behind me waiting.
apparently, you get $2 back on your next visit with a barcode on the receipt. and that makes it originally $4. yet, i paid $6 for cheerios tonight.
but i got my bowl of cereal and it was good.

time to blog again...

2009-04-24T19:45:00.001-06:00

So I decided I've been having way too many interesting happenings to go without blogging for so long. Here we go again.

scorpion queens!

2008-07-22T08:42:00.003-06:00

actually Deirdre is the scorpion queen because she had the guts to kill it but me and Brandy were the ones to look cute in the picture...life in Helene is full of surprises.

he was a lot bigger but you can only see parts of him left here. we wanted to put down the coffee can so we could go all CSI and be able to vouch for his size.

2007-01-08T14:58:00.000-06:00

Jan 20

That's the return date for Honduras!

Right now, I am in the midst of packing and putting together all the last-minute things. Seeing people for the last time and thinking towards what awaits me in preparing for YEAR FIVE of Helene Christian Bilingual School. We will be in Memphis the last week finally putting my alzheimered grandmother in a home where she will be safe, sound, and taken care of appropriately. Pray for all those emotions and better understanding of the disease.

Continue to pray for teachers...

and for us who are persevering.

2007-01-08T14:54:00.000-06:00

i am switching to a mac after 20 years of pc...
it's always good to challenge yourself to new beginnings and new technology and just something different...
i'll let you know how it goes!

Missionary Travels 2: San Francisco

2006-12-19T11:15:00.000-06:00

My second week, we were blessed with some special family time in the quaint and charming city of San Francisco. I can't wait to go back some day! We visited the foreboding Alcatraz Island and rode the classic Rice-A-Roni red trolley cars down blocks and blocks of city streets showcasing some of the best shopping in the world. We stopped at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Restaurant on Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, for dinner. What a beautiful bay of which they can boast: on a clear day you can see the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, Angel Island, several sailboats of all different colors, and even Mt. Diablo in the distance. Thanks Terry for giving us a ride to Muir Woods where we witnessed the power of creation in the giant redwood and sequoia trees. I can't forget my week before tour as Matthew had me experience San Francisco's Presidio, Fort Mason, Boudin Bread Company, the old Ghiradelli Chocolate factory, and an amazing skyline view of the whole city. Of course, a visit to the Pleasanton Pres Church family is always a joy as we sat around for several hours sharing our stories and pictures of time and change in Helene.

Missionary Travels 4: Huntington, IN

2006-12-19T11:11:00.000-06:00

Lastly, I ended up in Huntington, Indiana, with an amazing family of four called the Parks for two days. I have had the opportunity to share about the culture of Helene kids and life to several groups of 6th graders at Riverview Middle School. Along with the preteens, I had the awesome opportunity to present our ministry and need for teachers to some graduating junior and senior elementary education majors at HuntingtonUniversity. The promo cd I have persevered to finish has been completed and I was able to pass out several copies to local college students, teachers, and friends. Keep praying as I have already heard back from one student!

Missionary Travels 3: Chicago

2006-12-19T10:59:00.000-06:00

Next, we arrived in Chicago - another new city for me - to visit my aunt and uncle who just moved to the area. Grandparents, cousins Adam, Brian and Melissa, and Susanna came in for Thanksgiving Day. We again shared at their new church and got some folks fired up about getting together a team to visit in the next year. I must say the highlight was eating at The Cheesecake Factory. There is nothing to say about that experience except for WOW! Amazing food and even more amazing deserts with a menu that would never run out on Helene. I think I could order something different every day for the next year and still not get around to it all.

Missionary Travels 1: trolls under bridges? in the city?

2006-12-19T10:53:00.000-06:00

I am rounding up my travels from the past three weeks. It was a great joy to start out in Seattle and the catch up with the many different groups of people there who have been to Helene and helped lay the foundations for our ministry there. I was disappointed at not making the SPU contacts I had hoped, but I think we still have a huge opportunity to impact and recruit students from there in the future. The best time, of course, was just hanging out with old friends. Seeing Marjie was my number one highlight. We got to spend some real quality time together - talking, reflecting, and visiting with others. My close second for a highlight had to be spending time with the Spiros! I felt just like I was at home and getting to see Lu and meeting the fam was more than I could have planned for. She took me to visit this nasty character under a Seattle bridge as well as several other classic Seattle spots! Lu...you know who...you!

My Newest Mission Field

2006-10-12T11:19:00.000-06:00

Meet Jarina!

Jarina is the younger sister of one of the women who has joined us in teacher training this year. Her mother died early this year in February as one of the three deaths within a month that hit Helene hard. She had been away living with an aunt in La Ceiba for five years. She left Helene when she was about eight and we just celebrated her thirteenth birthday. When I met Jarina at the end of July, she was running circles around her sister and the rest of Helene like a crazy doing whatever she wanted whenever she wanted with no influence or authority over her life. I asked who she was and why we weren't trying to get her in school. She had never learned English in her life at twelve and didn't know the alphabet from a stick. Her sister kind of looked at me like I was crazy for wanting to try and tame her but encouraged my interest as a possible last resort for some discipline and consistency. So, Jarina came to school...and never leaves my side. The staff have had to be downright mean in running her from the property as every minute of every day she comes yelling for me and my attention. The first few months, she was out of control and completely unteachable but now she is coming around, learning boundaries, and even responding with some self-control with other students and becoming dedicated in her studies. She has only been in English school a few months and is picking things up fast.

If you remember, say a little prayer for Jarina. She is a tomboy at heart who loves the adventure of life and people and relationship and playing. She is struggling to figure out how to grow up at thirteen - what that means or is supposed to look like. With no real upbringing or teaching and no loving influences, she is another wild Helene child making it on her own in her own way. I pray that with HCES and the love the Lord has given me for her that she will rise up with a hope and a future.

2006-09-16T19:10:00.000-06:00

QUINCE! So named for the Spanish word for fifteen, it is celebrated annually on September 15th as Honduras' independence day. We joined the "march" as a school by dressing neatly in our uniforms and marching our flag about a half mile from one end of the path to the other. In front of us was a group from the Northside school beating a drum with baton girls and boys in soldier outfits. Behind them was the local Spanish school with two sets of baton twirler dancers and a group of soldier young men in striking uniform performing a short exercise with salutes and kneeling and marching. Then, we came marching and carrying flags. Lastly, a new group, Helene College boasted about fifteen teens ages 14-18 marching in formation in brown uniform to bring up the rear. A hot, dreary half mile march but fun none the less. And, by far, the most decorated, organized, and formal annual event on Helene every year.

...still here...

2006-08-23T10:00:00.000-06:00

Yes, I am still in Helene...
It's been almost a year since my last post, I see. So much has happened this year and is continuing in the school. We have a new satellite with a new connection and things have been up and down. I have a new hard drive and things are kicking. We are close approaching Children's Day and Quince again. Plans are being made. Within the next month, we hope to be updating the Education part of the Alternative Missions website. Then, also, I hope to be updating my blog here. Thanks for your patience and commitment to this ministry!

Missionaries are superheroes!

2005-11-06T07:47:00.000-06:00

Nags Head Church "Trunk or Treat" Community Outreach Event

2005-09-25T08:20:00.000-06:00

three girls show off their new school shoes

2005-09-25T08:19:00.000-06:00

me and my beautiful grace

I just want the world to know just how great, important, and amazing this young woman is! She is growing in so many ways that is so fun to watch. She has had some major adult responsibilities this year in taking over the kitchen and hostess jobs Bethany left behind. But more importantly, God is using her in her Bible Studies with the young girls on the island. Susanna is such a great friend and fun person to be around - everyone loves her and knows her! God has also awakened some new passions in her in learning to work with non-hearing people. We have one deaf student in our school that she has diligently been pouring time and effort into teaching how to communicate. Kira is growing in vocabulary and wonder at the new words and ways to express herself that she now has. Susanna has even reached a level of communicating with Kira that is influencing more understanding and relationship with her own family. She has been greatly encouraged and basically fell in love with the Sunset Presbyterian team who brought down four deaf youth and Mrs. Jill, a 17-year veteran teacher of the deaf. We are all seeing some amazing and unique atrributes in this girl that go beyond all that we already know. Pray for her decisions about colleges, costs, Christian fellowship, work, and transportation in the states as she desires to pursue a Christian counseling degree (maybe license) while focusing on learning more sign and being actively involved in a deaf community and ministry. She is already aspiring to be great things as she is mapping a path to a master's degree program in Oregon specializing in empowering the deaf to live and work within a hearing world.

International Worship Center

2005-09-25T08:16:00.000-06:00

(1) Camas, Lucy, Charissa, and Susanna ordering lunch at Parrot Tree Resort, (2) staff piles in the boat and heads off for the weekend, (3) Lucy, Chef Shrimp, and me always ready for a good time!

Favorite staff outings are on the first Sunday of every month when we get to take a boat ride to Parrot Tree Plantation Resort on Roatan where we are apart of an International Worship Center service ministering to the large expatriot (Americans or other nationalities who have left their home countries to take up residence or retire in a foreign country, i.e. Honduras) community there. We love this time of worship, fellowship, air-conditioning, and a good American lunch together. These pictures are from our adventures there...

Children's Day

2005-09-25T08:13:00.000-06:00

Kerry helps prepare for Children's Day by filling a Scooby Doo pinata with candy

On September 10th, Children's Day is a celebration for the students of Honduras where games, pinatas, dances, food and fun happen. We held our own Children's Day separate from the Spanish School celebration for the third year in a row with field games (much like our Field Day), crafts, pinatas, and a pizza party. Needless to say, the day was a big hit!

Students were doubly blessed this year on Children's Day as they received a special surprise. An orphanage in Africa closed down sending our way donations of 40 boxes of young child toys, including 15 boxes of flip-flops - or as they call them here, slippers. On Children's Day of this year, each HCES student got to pick out one brand new pair of slippers from a large selection of flip-flops, sandals, and sports slippers. This is a huge blessing to our students as most go barefoot because of the heat and cost of tennis shoes. Slippers are the one thing that is easy and cool to wear and keep one's feet from getting cut up along the path. Our students are always in need of a new pair of slippers as wear and tear are at an all-time high among children. It is a daily occurrence that a student's slippers may pop or bust going to and from school or recess. We thanked the Lord many times over for this great surprise gift.

...and more Quince spirit

2005-09-25T08:09:00.000-06:00

(1) Baton or "paliona" girls are the thing to be, (2) Mrs. Sheila's Kindergarteners smile with their banner, (3) Labreeska shows us the full Honduras girl outfit - complete with umbrella, (4) Preschoolers Jeffcito and Nelsoncito hold a small flag and march with the big kids

more Quince spirit...

2005-09-25T08:06:00.000-06:00

(1) local boys in their Spanish School soldier uniforms pose in front of a display of little army men later used for shooting games for the Quince "carnival", (2) HCES Class 2 shows off their banner, (2) more outfits representing the native dress of Honduran indians

QUINCE!

2005-09-25T08:04:00.000-06:00

(1) Jeysie and Shatina lead our school with the Honduran flag, (2) Phil, Kathi, Shatina, & Jeysie pose in their uniforms, (3) Jill, Shorna, Labreeska, and their friend respresent the countries of Central America pageant-style, (4) Phil shows off his part representing evertything a soldier should be...

Quince, the name for "fifteen" in Spanish, is the September 15th celebration of Honduran independence. On this holiday, all across the country, grand community marches of all the schools and their students can be seen. Students dress up in outfits commemorating all the different historical styles of the people, while drums are beat and batons are thrown: soldier boys, pageant-style dresses with a sash for each Latin American country, native indian dresses, even a small group of boys representing the national futbol (soccer) team, Estrella. Flags are carried and waved, dances performed, carnival games, and barbecues happened down the path of Helene on this day. How exciting and fun! Parents followed the parade march from Mangrove Bight to the Bight with cups and buckets of water for the kids as they proudly marched in their elaborate uniforms to show off their native pride.

Classroom 2 is almost through!

2005-09-25T07:54:00.000-06:00

Summer construction with Sunset Pres Youth Group and staffers: Paul, Camas, & Joe

Donations are coming in, teams have sweated all summer, and thanks to the dedication of our staff construction crew who are overtiming it right now to finish before the rainy season - Paul, Camas, & Joe - classroom 2 is almost through! Classroom # 2 is the second of four buildings planned to house our elementary school. Classroom # 1 was finished three years ago and currently houses our Preschool, PreKinder, and Kindergarten classes every week. Our plans are for this new classroom to be the permanent home of our first and second multigrade class ready for the start of our next school year in February 2006. This enables HCES to reach its goal to increase enrollment by registering new students off of our waiting list. The earlier we can reach and teach young students to read and write, the better they will be and the farther they will go!

Sleepover!

2005-09-25T07:46:00.000-06:00

girl time...is the best

The last Friday of our school year and a week before I leave, we throw a girls sleepover for the two older classes with ages from eight to fourteen. Too much fun! Pillow fights, dancing and singing, movies, and food - what more could you want? Girl stuff is good. However, pray that I rest up as I got no sleep, the bugs were bad, and we have testing next week.

Close Encounter

2005-06-26T21:45:00.000-06:00

Not two hours into our landing in West End from the airport to the hotel to out for a bite to eat, one of the male youth team members fainted and passed out from dehydration while entering the water. He was immediatlely pulled from the water by the chaperone leaders who were watching over the swimmers and we thank God he was still breathing though very shallow. By the time he reached the shores, the local dive center across the street had reached him with an oxygen tank. We know the Lord was watching over us all as staff members were within close proximity and reached the scene quickly to give the appropriate help. He was loaded onto a missionary friend's truck and escorted to the closest local resort clinic for help. The boy remained a private clinic as he recovered over the weekend and was flown home by a staff nurse the following Monday. However, x-rays showed major sea water in his lungs from the brief time he had been face down and has been in strict care and on anitbiotics at home to avoid infection or other side effects. Bless the Lord that He put our staff in the right places at the right times to respond and direct the emergency. Had they waited for the local ambulance or had he been taken to the public hospital or had to have waited longer on the hot beach, his conditions could have worsened much faster and severe brain damage from lack of oxygen could have occurred. Although, the initial event shocked the youth group, they have grown closer together because of it and have been a blessing this past week on the island.

Prayer Needs

2005-06-17T07:29:00.000-06:00

What's going on this week?

You're looking at it! Please pray for us as we work together with more local people (islanders) than ever before to host these next four short-term mission teams. Here are some pictures of what you might see happening around the Clinic on a normal day: construction and worker classes, school, teams exploring the communities and visiting, me-lesson planning or teaching, generators being maintained, and dories (boats) bringing and taking people here or there. Our minds can be so occupied with preserving power, using water wisely, keeping up with students and teams, and bargaining with locals while trying to teach service in the body of Christ over always making a buck for the work we do together....we lose sight of the cross and our heart to disciple.

Prayer Needs:

staff endurance, perseverance, patience, and focus to convey our long-term ministry goals in seeing many come to Christ through our words and deeds.
power and generators work efficiently this week so we will have fans to keep us cool through the night - there is no rest in the heat
RAIN for bathing water so we don't have to bathe in the salt sea with 35 teenagers for a whole month

Our schedule includes:

June 18-24th: a family dentist team of nine
June 19-July 2nd: a returning church youth group of 35 junior and senior high schoolers and their 8 leaders
July 2-16th: a returning church team of fourteen youth and adults
July 2-16th: a new church team of 16 high schoolers and 10 adults

Sponsor A Student

2005-06-12T12:52:00.000-06:00

Michael, Tiziana, & Phil

Meet the next three students on the HCES Scholarship List!
These three live right across the path from us at the Clinic with their parents and younger brother who will be old enough for Preschool next year.
For more information on how to sponsor a student, please email me.

Michael is a great big brother, loves to play football and basketball, while daily bathing in the sea.

Tiziana loves to hang out with her friends and laugh alot. Sometimes you can even find her at a game of ball with the girls!

Phil and his two cousins we have named the "Lost Boys"gang because they always be seen together finding something new to get into. Chasing and fighting chickens, bathing in the sea, or hunting for coconut balls are his daily adventures.

Count Your Blessings

2005-06-04T17:35:00.000-06:00

I have been over come the past week as I have seen proof that the Lord has a plan for this school to continue. Two local women came to approach me about working in the school as Teacher Assistants. Do you know what that means??? More hands and more local help to support the students in love and learning. What a blessing! I have stopped to count my blessings this week. Our newest helper Ms. Marina has already proven to be a real asset - in loving and helping to teach our youngest elementary class of 7-9 year olds. Mrs. Tawnie, a mom of two of our elementary students, has also made it through her first day and we hope to see more fruit. It blesses me just to see more islanders than gringos carrying on the spirit of the school.