New Shoes for ALL!!!

Today in preschool we sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes" in Spanish and English.  Then we talked about how God made each of us unique.  God made Cessia with soft, curly hair:

Cessia with her new shoes from the First Lady!

Everyone drew a picture of themselves.  I forgot how preschoolers draw themselves.  It was so interesting to see.  Lourdes let some of the older kids come into the class today too, so we had one table that had circles for a head, with eyes, nose and mouth.  The arms stuck out of the circle where ears should be and legs stuck out of the bottom of the circle.  It was so cute!  Misael's mouth was above his nose - that is not how God made him.  But he was having a rough day today overall.  First he hit Cessia in the face as they were sitting down.  Then we asked him to sit in a chair away from Cessia where he cried until he vomited.  Misael is never violent.  He is very kind, loving and gentle.  I don't know why he would strike Cessia.

At noon Lourdes asked me to keep the younger kids with me in the classroom.  They were not being sent home because the First Lady of Honduras was visiting at 1pm!  I got to work cleaning the classroom in case she happened to look inside.  Cessia and Misael played together the whole time.  :)

At 1 pm a bunch of people from the press came.  Then a lady came and set up a table with cookies, candy and new shoes for every child who regularly attends the breakfast program.  Soon another car came.  A beautiful lady got out.  Eunice had said they would send a cousin or distant relative to represent the first lady, so I asked Jairo who the beautiful lady was.  He said it was really the First Lady!  Wow!

All of the kids behaved perfectly.  They sang songs and raised their hands to speak to her.  They thanked her for things she has donated in the past such as backpacks for school and packages of food.  They told her that her gifts were very helpful necessities for them.

Oh, but I forgot to say - as she walked out to stand in front of the group she grabbed my arm and said, "Come with me."  I had no choice but to follow as she yanked me to stand next to her.  So I smiled proudly as the kids expressed their gratitude.  I thought about the fact that I was wearing yoga pants and a tank top.  Oops!  I didn't expect to be in front of TV and newspaper cameras today!

After receiving all of the words from the kids, she told them they are all very special to her and for that reason she would like to come back and spend a whole morning with them next week in honor of The Day of the Child, which is a HUGE holiday here.  Then she told them that she is not really the First Lady, but she is the First Lady's sister.  Apparently she is identical to the first lady because every single person was confused.  Eunice didn't know until after she left that it wasn't the First Lady after all.  She was very sweet, beautiful and kind to the children.

Next week she will come back again to throw a pizza party!  With piñatas!!!  She said she wanted to feed the kids something they never usually eat so a pizza party will be perfect.  I am really excited for the kids.  They are going to go crazy!

Another lady came to visit part way through.  She is the wife of a man who is currently running for president. She seemed to be there more for the photo opps.  Her husband is a famous tv broadcaster.  Lourdes and Jairo told her they see him every morning on TV.  She made a big point to say that she will always support this church and anything we need.  I don't mean to be negative, but it did not seem as genuine as the First Lady's sister.  She seemed to be fishing for votes for her husband.  She left and the First Lady's sister stayed to help the kids try on shoes, check out our kitchen to see what she would need to bring from home for the party, and make plans for next Tuesday.

New Shoes!

As she left I told Jairo that I felt very awkward standing in front like that.  He said it was best that I represent the church in that circumstance because he cannot be photographed with any political figures who might use his photo to say that he is endorsing them.  He also said very seriously that God seems to be calling me to be photographed a lot lately - with the photos from the conference last week and then being yanked up in front today.  I said it just looks good in the press to have a gringa in the photo.  He seemed to disagree and said maybe I will be a famous gringa, but didn't expand.  Jairo is mysterious like that when he believes something might happen in the future.  He prefers not to say anything until it actually comes true.  Hmmmm...  I wonder what he is thinking.

Lourdes, Jairo and Walter are all leaving tomorrow for Olancho where they will pick up the kids who go to private school there.  They are meeting with teachers on Friday morning and then bringing the kids home for a week's vacation.  Lourdes said I will be in charge of everything while they are gone.  I said I hope the church doesn't fall apart.

As all of the cars were pulling in today with the "First Lady", Jairo came out of a meeting.  He started asking about my passport and how long I can legally stay here.  I got nervous for a second because thought maybe I needed to show my passport to be in the presence of the First Lady, and I didn't have it with me.  I told him I am legal until October 18th.  He said he was just meeting with a man about my residency.  Gaining residency here used to be difficult, but they changed the laws about a year ago to make it an easier process.  However, Jairo learned today that the laws were changed recently to make it harder again.  So the church has to get a lawyer and it costs more money than we expected for me to stay here past October 18th.  Jairo said he was told not to worry about it, so we are not going to worry about it.  But he did seem a little concerned.  I am really excited about this!  I can't wait until the day I can call myself an official resident of Honduras!!!

Hugs from the First Lady's sister

MORE Hugs!

Carlo Alberto with candy and new shoes

My Conejo ;)  Christian with his new shoes

Beautiful Linda with new shoes
This photo is dedicated to Pat Pike who is currently very sick in the hospital at this moment

Praying for Pat

Spent the past few days praying for Pat Pike.  He is a friend of mine from K2 who adores Honduras and the kids here as much as I do.  Jairo and I both have the same feeling that everything will be okay in the end, but right now my friend is really struggling.  He is in ICU with tubes in his stomach and nose.  His bowels are not working and they can't figure out what is wrong.

Today all of the kids at the Breakfast Program got on their knees and prayed for Pat.  It was beautiful hearing their prayers.  We knelt in a circle, holding hands.  We prayed for at least a half hour.  Even Elvin, my most active preschooler, prayed diligently.  Both Lourdes and I praised him afterward because he has such a hard time being still.

Elvin praying for Pat

After the Breakfast Program was over Lourdes had her discipleship group.  The ladies are all from Los Pinos, the community across the street.  Their kids all attend the breakfast program.  Lourdes invited me to pray for Pat with them.

Lourdes prayed first.  Her prayer is always beautiful.  In Honduras when someone is praying you hear the sound of "S" from others around you.  The first time I visited it took me a while to understand, and then to get used to.  When someone says something that you agree with you say, "Si" or "Si, Senor" (Yes God).  Sometimes people even go off on their own little tangent while another person is praying out loud, but it is not distracting.  To me, it makes the prayer feel more powerful.

Lourdes prayed first, then I prayed.  I started out in Spanish.  With the kids I always pray in Spanish, but it is not easy for me.  My friend, Marlin, who is a part of the group said she understands because prayer is so much about what you are feeling at that moment.  It takes away from the moment to have to stop and think about conjugating verbs correctly.  So this time my prayer changed to English half way through.  Marlin prayed after me.

Marlin and I have had an instant and mutually heartfelt connection since the first time we met.  She was the first new person who sat down and talked to me when I came to Honduras in March.  (Looking back, I think this was the hand of God, because she is very shy.)  Marlin is a very close and special friend.  Her kids are incredible at prayer.  Now I know why.  She is passionate and hypnotizing when she prays.  It was awesome.  But something strange happened.  Marlin does not speak any English at all, yet we were both moved to use some of the same exact, very specific words.  For example, I prayed in English and she in Spanish, that Pat would rise from his bed with a smile.  There was no way she could have understood that I had just said the same thing.  God was clearly with us in that group.