I was nervous to start teaching the teens class at Buen Provecho today. Last week the kids were on vacation so we had a ton of kids - 29 teens were in the class last week. But this week has started off much differently.
Today Eunice was the only person at the church when I arrived. My friend Ana arrived a few minutes later to start cooking the meal so her kids were running around. But otherwise the church was still empty.
Ethel, the president of the church, came to drop off her son. He is helping me teach English today and Friday. No other teacher came. Belinda had another commitment and Delia was sick. We decided to have Clara play with the little ones and Jackie was supposed to be with the 7-11 year olds.
We had a nice class. There were only 6 kids. It was kids I know well. I was a little nervous to have the president's son with me on my very first day, but I think everything went well. We worked on English, we translated the words of one of their favorite songs from English to Spanish so they can know what they are singing about. I told them that the class is for them and we will work on things that they want to learn. I said I hope it will be fun for them, not just an obligation. They seemed content.
At the end I asked a boy who is at least 18 to pray before we eat. Everyone gasped and he said, "Me???"
I said, "Yes, you. Why do you guys act so surprised when I ask you to pray?"
Someone said, "Kike can't pray."
I said, "Yes he can. We are just blessing the food. Kike can pray."
Kike said in rushed words, "God bless the food."
We had a nice conversation about prayer, what it is, how to pray, and why we pray. Afterward Kike said a really nice prayer. I can't believe he spends every single day at the church and has never, ever, been asked to pray before. But I am really happy that he was open to learn today.
I think I will really like this class. It is the age I am used to working with. The small class was very manageable. In the afternoon we had 8 more kids. That will be a nice size too. I didn't realize I was going to look forward to teaching them. I feel excited to see the changes in the kids.
At least for today, Kike learned to pray.
Another journalist was kidnapped today. This afternoon they found his car and there was blood there. Now they have found him dead. It is not clear if he was killed for something he said as a journalist, or for another reason. It is sad that journalists have to live in fear for their lives in Honduras.
It is official that I will be moving to the city. I love living in the mountains for many reasons. It is safe, it is beautiful, and my landlords are great. But I simply cannot afford to be here anymore. If I live in the city I will save money in rent and a ton in gas too. I will drive 40 kilometers less every day.
Even though it makes sense for me to move to the city, I was looking for God to show me that it is what He wants for me. Guess what we are talking about this month at church? Stewardship and how to be a good steward of our resources. That was the answer I needed. It is not good stewardship to live in a more expensive place and use more gas than is necessary.
My friends Ana and Fany have offered to help paint the house. It is in good shape, but I have permission to choose colors for the walls. That will be fun! Once it is pained I will move in gradually. I can take smaller stuff down in my car day by day as I commute to the church. Right now I have a commitment to take my current landlord's son to swimming classes for 2 more weeks. I am allowed to use the church's pick up truck and ask some older kids to move my bigger things but they will be busy every Saturday for the next 3 weekends. So it seems I will probably officially move in 4 weeks.
I will miss the mountains but there are things I am looking forward to about living in the city.
