Venga, Ven, Vení

I have been working at the CDI since last Tuesday! It has been an amazing experience so far. The 26 kids that come to the center are adorable, rowdy, sensitive, eager to learn… and so much more. My main job role is to do one-on-one tutoring with the students that need a little extra help. I was told that the average Honduran public school has a 40 to 1 ratio of children to teachers. Also, the school day is broken in to two parts so these teachers probably see close to 80 kids per day. Due to this high ratio it is evident that some of these awesome kids have been passed through the system without the proper understanding of math or reading for their age level. I hope to be able to give them the time and attention needed to catch up and excel in their current studies.

The most important things I’ve been learning this week about teaching at the CDI is how to say “come here,” “don’t do that,” “be nice”. When I first arrived at the CDI I realized I hadn’t brushed up on my Spanish commands. For any of you who don’t know Spanish, I’ll explain about forming commands real quick. You can use three different forms when saying commands. One is formal (venga aquí = come here), the second is informal (ven aquí = come here) and the third is REALLY informal (vení aquí = come here). When one of the kids decides to slide down a rickety railing and their life flashes before MY eyes, I have to decide in that moment if I’m #1 going to be a formal teacher advising them to stop #2 a close acquaintance who knows what’s best and is therefore telling them to stop OR #3 a teacher who’s “getting real” and letting them know that they are in the wrong… see my dilemma this week. I’ve been trying to judge my relationship with each child as I speak to them because I don’t want to offend by being too informal too quickly. Oh the joys of Spanish.

A great piece of knowledge that I have been told by Lesley and Jamey is that while in the mission field I should only expect to be at 60% productivity all the time. This was very reassuring to hear because after a few days of working at the CDI I was wiped out. The CDI is open from 10am to 2pm and I was thinking “how the heck am I so tired from four hours of work… what’s wrong with me??” Then they gently reminded me that I am in a new culture and constantly translating in my head all day. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I went to my first Bible study last Friday for jóvenes (young people). I was really excited to meet everyone since I am hoping to start a girls group that meets weekly. I had met a few of the girls on my previous trip so it was great to reconnect. The two girls are also fluent in English so that’s always lovely! I followed the Bible study lesson pretty well and was even able to answer one of the questions that the leader asked. Before going to the meeting, I had these terrible thoughts that the leader might ask me a question and I would answer with something completely off topic because of language confusion. I know that wouldn’t be the end of the world and I would be just fine if that did happen but… I’m very glad it didn’t on my first time there.

Today is the first day of lent. I have always given up something but generally it been something that is random. I’ve fasted from facebook, soda, fast food, candy and many other things. This lent season I want to either take up or give up something that will bring me closer to God. So far the suggestion that I like the most has come from Elaine and that is to dedicate each day to a person whom I will pray for throughout the day. That way my prayer life will expand from the short time I have before work and before bed to a constant conversation with God. I’m pretty excited to begin (a day late… oops). Please let me know if you would like one of my days dedicated to you and if there is anything in particular I can be praying about!

Last thing I want to share is about the food I’ve been eating. The world needs to know that Lesley Smith is an amazing amazing amazing chef. Oh my goodness y’all (yes I just said y’all) I have been eating like a queen. She has cooked empanadas, roasted chicken, vegetable soup, stir fry and pasta primavera! Everything has been so incredibly yummy. Alright, that’s it. Until next time!

I'm really Here!?!

I had planned to rest up until Wed and get to work on Thurs BUT I unpacked fully on Sun and rested Mon. On Tuesday I just couldn’t imagine waiting another day and went to the CDI (Centro de Desarrollo Infantil/ Children’s Development Center). Just so you all know for future posts, I am living with Jamey and Lesley, two missionaries from Virginia. I will be helping Lesley at the CDI and Jamey (a water engineer) with a small part of his water project.

I have had three full days of work under my belt so far! It has been great; I love love love the children and I’m very excited to get to work with them. I hope my Spanish is sufficient to be able to teach them what they need to know. The first day I just shadowed Lesley, one of the missionaries that I’m living and working with. She has really been helping me get acquainted with all the kids. We even went through pictures before my first day so I could have an idea of who is who at the CDI It was awesome being able to know many of their faces before my first day. There are 26 kids in total and they are split up between the morning and afternoon depending on their school session.

The Honduran school systems decides if your child goes to morning school that ends around 12pm or afternoon school that begins a little after 12pm. Because of the split schooling, the CDI is here as an after or before school program for the children.

So far, the biggest difficulty has been my Spanish. It I shard enough trying to tutor someone in English and switching to Spanish has been hard for me. I have to think of ways to explain math while making sure that I say the correct number. I am hoping and praying that each day gets a little easier with my language acquisition.

Tomorrow I will be going to a bible study for “jovenes” (young people). I think I may be one of the oldest people there but I am very excited to be able to meet the younger members of the church that are closest to my age. One of my goals while I’m here is to be someone that the teen girls can come to for anything really, from life problems to bible questions. We’ll see how that goes J

Before coming here, all of my knowledge about Honduran life was from my week-long visit and from others’ stories but now I am getting more familiar. The biggest thing I need to work on is my pointing. It is considered rude here to point with your fingers at someone or at something that’s close. They either point with their eyes or with their lips by pursing them. As some of you know my lips are… thin… and that means my lip pointing is not very easy to recognize. I haven’t been lip pointing much because I keep forgetting and pointing right at everything before remembering my faux pas. When I get back to the states and continue my lip pointing, please know that I have not developed a twitch, I may just be used to it by then.

The Arrival

I have heard stories about the scary landing at the Toncontín airport but I didn't remember it being bad at all from my visit last year. The stories are in fact true! Due to the mountains around the capital city, Tegucigalpa, the airplane has to make a full circle around the city and fly in low. Then the plane has to make another sharp turn and begins to get closer and closer to the ground while the runway is out of sight. During this part of the landing I began repeating in my head “where’s the runway, where’s the runway, come on” and BOOM there it was! We bounced a bit and hit the brakes. I was surprised that no one clapped because that was some tricky landing. 

When the plane pulled up to the gate my adrenaline rush was crazy. I'm not sure if it was the coffee I had been drinking, the scary landing or the sheer excitement of arriving (most likely all three) but I was ready to get going. I was in the back of the plane so I was last out and unfortunately, that meant I was last in line at customs with a few missions groups in front. It probably took around an hour for me to get through everything and my awesome hosts were waiting right outside the baggage claim room.

We got some delicious pizza at a place called Price Smart which is a Honduran version of Costco. Then we started out drive to Danli. Since I visited last year, the roads have been fixed and re-paved in certain areas and the ride was so much smoother! We pulled up to the house that will be my new home for the next six months (I’ll post pics later) and I moved in! My room is off the patio of the top apartment and has its own bathroom. I was so excited I unpacked in one night.

We had a yummy dinner, played a monopoly card game (that I’m quite terrible at) and I got a great night sleep! Today I am resting at the apartment and settling in and tomorrow I will be shadowing the teachers at the Children’s Development Center. I can’t wait to get started.

       This was taken from my window. There is a path up to this cross on a nearby hill/mountain

 

My window looks out over the church! I can literally walk next
door to work each day

                                                                                  

What's In a Name?

A friend advised me to read 2 Corinthians: 4 before going to Honduras. Most of what I read made sense and was wonderful like verses 17-18, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us and eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

The reference to the jars of clay is what threw me. Verse 7, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us". What were the jars of clay? Why did God put treasure in them? I looked up a commentary on the verse and had an "ah-ha" moment. I have posted an except from it below because it explains the passage better than I could!

"In verses 7-15 Paul compares the gospel minister to a piece of Palestinian pottery. We have this treasure in jars of clay (v. 7). This treasure is the glorious good news about Christ (vv. 1-6). Jars of clay is actually "earthenware vessels" (ostrakinois skeuesin). The noun skeuos refers to a vessel serving a specific purpose (such as a jug, cup, pan or pot). When used of people it often carries the sense of "implement" or "instrument" (Maurer 1971:358-67). So to be God's "vessel" is to be his instrument in carrying out a specific service--in this case, the gospel ministry.

The marvel of Paul's statement is not to be overlooked. The gospel minister is a vessel made of common, run-of-the-mill clay--fragile and easily broken. And yet God has entrusted the treasure of the gospel to such a vessel, just as Palestinians stored their valuables in common clay pots. Why does God do this? According to Paul, he does it to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. God uses what is fragile and yet serviceable so that there might be no mistaking the origin of the gospel minister's power."

-This IVP New Testament Commentary is made available by the generosity of InterVarsity Press. And was found at https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/2Cor/Gods-Power-Made-Known

We are the jars of clay! How amazing?? That's why I decided to title this blog "Jars of Clay", so that I am reminded every day that even though I am fragile, common and cracked, God chose to use me to spread His love and help advance His kingdom!