Today was a day that Jose and Karla have been looking forward to since I arrived. Their daughters left right before I got here to spend time in the country with Karla's parents. Karla's sister, Karina, who also lives in this house (and will now be my roommate) was with the girls. It was perfect for me to get to know Karla and Jose without the girls around. But as all of you parents know, 2 weeks without your one and six year old is a long time. Jose dropped Karla and me off at church, then went to the bus station to pick up Karina and the girls.
In the meantime we learned that someone stole the battery from Walter's truck up in La Tigra last night after he got home from the concert. So Jose dropped off the girls at church. He and Tony bought a battery and went up to La Tigra. Once again, Karla and I were stuck at church (last time was a week ago when Tony got a flat tire after the futbol game.) This time we were starving so a lady offered to drop us off at Pizza Hut so we could feed the girls. Tony and Jose met us there. They said someone clipped the wires off the battery and probably stole every car battery around, which is strange because La Tigra is such a remote area.
I was so exhausted after only sleeping for three hours last night. My heart was still pounding at 6 am from that stupid coffee yesterday afternoon. We went to look at houses on land up above the church. They are building Honduras' version of condos up there. I didn't have my camera, but imagine bright colored cement stucco townhouses side by side. Personally, I was discouraged by that sort of development, but the houses were nice inside and very cheap because of the location. They had balconies and the views of the mountains were really amazing. I wonder what that area will look like in 10 or 20 years.
After house hunting I took a two hour nap. I felt bad because I was invited to join Lourdes for a gathering at her house, but as I said to Tony, I had no energy to socialize with strangers. (Lourdes was having a party to say good bye to the members of her Spanish class and I don't know any of them.) I would have really enjoyed going if I had any energy at all.
Now I am adjusting to life with a house full of people. The girls seem comfortable with me so far. And Karina is very easy going, so she will be a good roommate. Karina will learn tomorrow when she shows up for class if her college teachers are still on strike or not.
And my last good news is that one of the ladies whom Tony and visited came to church today. She brought her daughter, who is 16, and both boys who are in the breakfast program. Tony had me introduce them to the church and welcome them. Afterward the Mom said she really enjoyed it and she will be back next week!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Lucas Leyes, Flat Tires, Ants and Rojo
Today Jose and I got up early to take about 20 older kids from the church to a conference in the morning
. The main speaker was Lucas Leyes, a Christian motivational speaker from Argentina. He was very dynamic and had a lot of good things to say, but at times even the native Spanish speakers couldn't understand him because he spoke really fast. The conference was held in a large, nice auditorium. It ended at 1:30 and we were starving so we went back to the church and ate pizza, then processed everything with the kids. Then the kids played soccer at the church while they waited until 6:30 pm to go to a concert that was included in the cost of the conference.
I saw two babies about the same age as my nephew, Jack, at the conference. I am not homesick, but I sure do miss Jack. I want to give him a big smoochy kiss in his neck and listen to him giggle. I look at pictures of him every day. My friends here are probably sick of hearing about Jack, but they continue to look at pictures and say how cute he is. I would love to hold him and have him wrap his arms around my neck. I miss my little bug!
After the conference Jose and I went to run some errands, one of which was to pick up his car from the mechanic. Walter and I each pointed out that Jose's front tire was really soft and needed air. He told me he likes it like that because if it were too hard it would pop in all of the pot holes. So we picked up Karla and went to a few stores. Luckily at one store we happened to park in a puddle and Karla noticed that air was bubbling out of the puddle from the tire. By that point the tire was flat, so we hurried into the car and drove along a main street where there were various guys set up along the road selling used tires. Finally we found a place that had the right size. By that point the rubber was starting to tear apart, but we made it. We got a new tire and went to celebrate with a cup of coffee. I never drink coffee, especially at 4:30 pm, so I was up all night. It was a small cup, but my heart was still pounding at 6 am this morning. While we were inside one of the cars near ours got robbed. We were freaked out because we had just bought a scanner for Karla's computer for work. It was in plain sight in the window of the hatchback, so we lucked out. Better to have to replace an old worn out tire, than to loose a brand new scanner! I should mention that this was another afternoon of absolute torrential downpours. The streets were rivers again, cars stalled in the middle. It definitely makes driving exciting!
We went back to the house and were unloading the car when Karla started jumping around and screaming in Spanish. Her arms were full and she dropped everything and ripped her shoe off. I had no idea what was happening - I thought she got a bee in her shoe, so I picked up her bags and carried them in for her. But then as we were leaving I was standing outside the car waiting to get inside when I was attacked by little red ants. They were all over my feet and flip flops and pant legs. I did the same screaming dance that Karla did. Jose kept telling me to get into the car (to get off the ground and away from the ants) but in my mind I wanted to get all of them off me before I brought them with me in the car. Man, those suckers have a mean bite! And they are hard to get off you because they are so small. I'm sure all of the neighbors got a good laugh from my screaming and jumping around, swatting at my feet.
We returned to the church just in time to leave for the concert. There was a huge line outside so there was a lot of anticipation. I don't think any of the kids had been to a concert before. By the time we got inside there were only seats for our large group in the back. When the music started everyone stood up and two boys who I work with every day at the breakfast program had no chance of seeing anything. I thought maybe I could get them a quick view of the stage from the side aisle so I grabbed them and took them with me. We ended up watching the whole concert from the very front row! They were so excited! It was cool to see them having so much fun jumping up and down dancing. They also took the worshiping part very seriously. At one point the band asked everyone in the audience to get onto their knees, so we all squeezed onto our knees and prayed. Then they had us reach out to the people next to us and pray with them. They talked about speaking positively to people - saying nice things to your family and friends. Then they asked us to say nice things to the people around us. The girl in the picture above was a complete stranger. She turned to Milton and Bismar and words flowed from her mouth for about 3 minutes about them being important in this world and in God's eyes. She said they each have a special future in store for them and she will remember them in her prayers always. It was so perfect because I could have never said all of those things in Spanish the way she did. By the end Bismar and I were both crying. Afterward I hugged her and thanked her. I explained my limited Spanish and she said she was happy to have spoken. How awesome to see young teens (13, 14) treat each other like that!
By the end we were exhausted but we all had a fabulous time. I was so happy to be able to share it with Milton and Bismar. They are very special boys and already show strong leadership potential. I think a lot about what the future holds in store for them. I know it is an experience none of us will forget.
. The main speaker was Lucas Leyes, a Christian motivational speaker from Argentina. He was very dynamic and had a lot of good things to say, but at times even the native Spanish speakers couldn't understand him because he spoke really fast. The conference was held in a large, nice auditorium. It ended at 1:30 and we were starving so we went back to the church and ate pizza, then processed everything with the kids. Then the kids played soccer at the church while they waited until 6:30 pm to go to a concert that was included in the cost of the conference.I saw two babies about the same age as my nephew, Jack, at the conference. I am not homesick, but I sure do miss Jack. I want to give him a big smoochy kiss in his neck and listen to him giggle. I look at pictures of him every day. My friends here are probably sick of hearing about Jack, but they continue to look at pictures and say how cute he is. I would love to hold him and have him wrap his arms around my neck. I miss my little bug!
After the conference Jose and I went to run some errands, one of which was to pick up his car from the mechanic. Walter and I each pointed out that Jose's front tire was really soft and needed air. He told me he likes it like that because if it were too hard it would pop in all of the pot holes. So we picked up Karla and went to a few stores. Luckily at one store we happened to park in a puddle and Karla noticed that air was bubbling out of the puddle from the tire. By that point the tire was flat, so we hurried into the car and drove along a main street where there were various guys set up along the road selling used tires. Finally we found a place that had the right size. By that point the rubber was starting to tear apart, but we made it. We got a new tire and went to celebrate with a cup of coffee. I never drink coffee, especially at 4:30 pm, so I was up all night. It was a small cup, but my heart was still pounding at 6 am this morning. While we were inside one of the cars near ours got robbed. We were freaked out because we had just bought a scanner for Karla's computer for work. It was in plain sight in the window of the hatchback, so we lucked out. Better to have to replace an old worn out tire, than to loose a brand new scanner! I should mention that this was another afternoon of absolute torrential downpours. The streets were rivers again, cars stalled in the middle. It definitely makes driving exciting!
We went back to the house and were unloading the car when Karla started jumping around and screaming in Spanish. Her arms were full and she dropped everything and ripped her shoe off. I had no idea what was happening - I thought she got a bee in her shoe, so I picked up her bags and carried them in for her. But then as we were leaving I was standing outside the car waiting to get inside when I was attacked by little red ants. They were all over my feet and flip flops and pant legs. I did the same screaming dance that Karla did. Jose kept telling me to get into the car (to get off the ground and away from the ants) but in my mind I wanted to get all of them off me before I brought them with me in the car. Man, those suckers have a mean bite! And they are hard to get off you because they are so small. I'm sure all of the neighbors got a good laugh from my screaming and jumping around, swatting at my feet.
We returned to the church just in time to leave for the concert. There was a huge line outside so there was a lot of anticipation. I don't think any of the kids had been to a concert before. By the time we got inside there were only seats for our large group in the back. When the music started everyone stood up and two boys who I work with every day at the breakfast program had no chance of seeing anything. I thought maybe I could get them a quick view of the stage from the side aisle so I grabbed them and took them with me. We ended up watching the whole concert from the very front row! They were so excited! It was cool to see them having so much fun jumping up and down dancing. They also took the worshiping part very seriously. At one point the band asked everyone in the audience to get onto their knees, so we all squeezed onto our knees and prayed. Then they had us reach out to the people next to us and pray with them. They talked about speaking positively to people - saying nice things to your family and friends. Then they asked us to say nice things to the people around us. The girl in the picture above was a complete stranger. She turned to Milton and Bismar and words flowed from her mouth for about 3 minutes about them being important in this world and in God's eyes. She said they each have a special future in store for them and she will remember them in her prayers always. It was so perfect because I could have never said all of those things in Spanish the way she did. By the end Bismar and I were both crying. Afterward I hugged her and thanked her. I explained my limited Spanish and she said she was happy to have spoken. How awesome to see young teens (13, 14) treat each other like that!
By the end we were exhausted but we all had a fabulous time. I was so happy to be able to share it with Milton and Bismar. They are very special boys and already show strong leadership potential. I think a lot about what the future holds in store for them. I know it is an experience none of us will forget.
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