First week of school!!!

Happy Birthday to me! WOW! I can’t believe I’m 24 today. Partly because I look at the fact that I’m “old” to the kids on the ranch, but more so because I look over my life and I can’t believe how privileged I am to have done the things I’ve done. In the past 4 years I’ve graduated college after 4 years (not easy for a music major), gone on my first “foreign” mission trip, taught middle school and high school bands for 2 years, been a music director at Trinity for more than a year, and now I am teaching children in Honduras. God has given and is giving me an incredible life. I could probably spend all day recounting other amazing things that have happened in previous years. On top of all that, God has blessed me with some of the most amazing people anyone could know. I just want to say that to all of my friends from JSU, Hill Crest Baptist Church, BCM of JSU, Roanoke City Schools, my band kids, Trinity, Community Life, family all over the place, new friends at the Ranch, and anyone else I may have overlooked, I am truly blessed to have you as a part of my life.

This week I received my first piece of mail in Honduras! A friend of mine Heather had sent me a newsletter telling about her International Music Mission trip to Brazil. I was really excited to receive it and get to read up on the tour! I think it was sent on July 12, the day I left, and I received it August 3rd. She sent it to the Miami address for letters, so it looks like the going rate for letters through Miami is 3 weeks. I have heard that the Humble, TX address may be just a little bit quicker, about 2 weeks.

Our fist week of school was very exciting and challenging. The class size is very small, but that doesn’t change how much planning is involved. A lot of my “free time” this week has been getting ahead on lesson plans and getting comfortable teaching the material. It is confusing sometimes keeping up with which students are in which grade, since there are 2 grades (sometimes 3), in the classroom at the same time. Classes last about 40 minutes, which is probably the least amount of time that it could take to teach 2 lessons to different classes. I feel like I am getting the hang of it though, and with more practice I can see how it will get easier.

The most important and exciting thing about this week has been the students. The main student I will spend a lot of time with is Oscar. He has been in the program for a while and is doing very good, but still needs lots of help and appropriate attention. I feel that he and I will build a strong relationship over my time here, and I hope that I can be a help to him. This situation would be one of my most needed prayer requests.

Other Honduran students that I will encounter daily or weekly is Frank, Julio, David, Brayan, Jefrey, Jhoselyn, Kevin, and I feel like there is one or two more I can’t think of right now. Some of these are going to be taking music lessons which will give some great opportunities for building strong relationships with them. I will also have some students that are missionary kids, like Elly, Caleb, AJ, Andrew, and Abby. It is fun to watch these kids and see how they interact with the Honduran kids. It is like they know that their whole family, not just their parents, were called to be here and help out. They are so friendly to the other Honduran students and I can see so many strong friendships between the US kids and the Hondurans. The US kids know that they have a role to play in this mission, and that their friendships with the Honduran students is a very powerful tool to have.

One of my favorite lessons this week was teaching “dialect” to Abby and Oscar for Literature. I think Oscar seemed to enjoy it because we got to laugh about my southern “dialect,” compared to Abby’s Arizona accent, and Oscar’s definite Honduran accent. One of the stories was about the life story of a guy that lived in “Indiany,” and I tried to read it to them in true southern form. They are also reading “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” by Mark Twain. It was one of my favorites from high school, and of course contains southern “dialect.”

Friday was also our first time to have Chapel with the students. Eric, the ranch chaplain, used Moses leading the people of Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land as an example of how God brings people out of harmful situations. He also used it to show how sometimes God will put a great opportunity right in front of us and say “Here, take it,” but for different reasons we choose not to take advantage of the blessings that God has in store for us. Some of the kids here feel as though they have it “bad,” and it is our job to teach and show and remind them of the situations out of which they have been brought. There are so many great opportunities here on the Ranch for them, and WGO is here for them to take advantage of those opportunities. Even after they graduate high school, there is a house in the city called “The Bridge House,” that these students can live at while they pursue different avenues. Some go onto college, some go ahead and get a job a save-- either way, they are allowed to live there until they feel they are ready to step out on their own. It is a great situation and God has really blessed this ministry with the resources to meet the needs of these children.

Yesterday was my birthday celebration with the other teachers. We have each drawn someone else’s name, and get to prepare some kind of dessert for that person’s birthday. We had a “meeting” yesterday during lunch, and when I walked in, I had “Happy Birthday” sung to me in English and Spanish. Jessi, another teacher, had drawn my name, and had fixed Peanut Butter Bars. They were absolutely wonderful! Then, last night, Jae and Hannah invited me over for supper and Jae cooked friend chicken fingers, green beans, and onion petals. Again, wonderful! After we finished eating we started thinking of other phrases to say when someone asked “Como estas?” besides “bien.” So, after about an hour of searching through the Spanish dictionary, we came up with some very creative responses. Two of my favorites are “there’s been a recent decline in sales,” and “the ape has escaped from the prison.” I’m sure it was one of those situations where you had to have been there and just survived your first week of teaching for it to be funny, but it was the hardest I’ve laughed since I’ve been here.

To close each week, I hope to share a bit about Honduran culture that I’ve learned in previous weeks. One of my favorite things is the “greeting.” When a Honduran walks into a room, they make it a point to greet everyone that is in the room. This sometimes takes several minutes, but they have a firm grasp on the idea that strong relationships are more important than starting right at 8:00 instead of 8:03. I know that in at least two or three spots in the closing remarks of Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Paul uses the expression, “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” The idea of this expression is still evident in Honduran greetings by placing your cheek next to the other persons and making a “mwah“ sound. While men do not greet other men this way in Honduras, women always greet other women this way, and a woman and a man will always greet this way. Sometimes, two people may not greet each other this way until they have gotten to know each other better. This past week was the first time on of the Honduran ladies greeted me in this way. I couldn’t help but to smile and laugh a little. It was like a sign that I was more comfortable being here with everyone.

Well, things are constantly on the go here, and I am excited to be getting more comfortable with the surroundings and people. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support.
I have uploaded some more pictures to my face book account. You can view them by clicking on the link below!

http://jsu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024686&l=79868&id=156800196

Love you guys and God Bless!
-Jesse