HOLA

Hola! How is everyone? I’d love to hear from more of you on how things are in the states and what’s going on in each of your lives. I enjoy hearing from you and staying updated!

PICTURES!!!
http://jsu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031719&l=100d6&id=156800196
Honduras has been great. I have been broadening my horizons a little and God is definitely helping me understand more about who I am and why I feel the way I do about things. That may not make a whole lot of sense, but those of you who know me well enough to understand my views on a lot of things in life may understand a little.

PRAISE BAND- Anyhow, this past Friday was the third time that the Praise band played in Chapel. They did wonderful! This Friday they are doing everything on their own. Brett and I are stepping off stage and they are going to do it all by themselves! The kids will be playing all of the instruments, starting songs, finishing songs, singing, EVERYTHING, by themselves. I feel like that is a huge accomplishment for them.

I am still trying to get more Hondurans involed. Right now we have two that switch out on drums, and usually 2-4 Hondurans singing. I am starting to teach one of the girls to play chords on keyboard (right now Audrey, a north american, is playing keyboard). Also, we have a “Ranch” bass guitar coming and Obed is wanting to learn how to play it. SO, things are moving along with that!

SOCCER- On Saturday, The Ranch hosted a soccer team from an orphanage near the city to come play with our kids at the ranch. This is the same team that our kids played several months ago at Valle de Angeles. All of the kids had a really great time and the game was one of the best I’ve seen with our kids. The Ranch team ended up winning- they showed a LOT of good teamwork and it paid off for them. After the game we had a hot dog lunch for all of the kids. We also had visitors come from Union Church to visit and tour the ranch. So, this past Saturday was a great day of having new people at the ranch and building new relationships!

SICKNESS- There have been a LOT of people, 6 to be exact, that have been very sick the past several days and week. Yesterday we did not have school due to so many teachers being out. Today we started back but had lots of “parents” substituting. Four of our teachers are still sick and need prayer for recovery and strength. We need them!

ARTS FESTIVAL- Due to the sickness, the Festival of the Arts that was supposed to be tomorrow has been postponed a week. The FOA is going to be a program where each student has to present some kind of artistic talent-- painting, singing, reading poetry, acting, drawing, dancing, etc… There will be more on this story next week. I mention it because I have been helping with the BALLET portion of this festival. Don’t worry, I’m not doing ballet. While I was home I got some flags from Roanoke and three of the teachers are learning a simple 8 count flag routine to do in the background during a part of the ballet. They’ve been working really hard and there’s some pics of the their efforts on the picture link.

LA COMMUNIDAD- This week was also one of the best Community programs we have done since returning in January. Although our numbers are still down right now, we are hoping that with the start of the Honduran schools that they will increase. But like I said, today was a good one. To start with, we sang “trading my sorrows” in Spanish and learned the chorus in English with the Honduran kids. They absolutely LOVED IT! Some of them knew it and the others really liked learning it. We also are doing a 3 part series on the story of Jonah. Today we taught about obeying God and how when we try to run from God, sometimes we get others involved in our trouble and make it turn into a bad situation. Look at the pics for the awesome portrayal of the angel telling Jonah to go to Nineveh and later getting thrown out of the ship. Next week we are talking about Jonah inside the fish.

Well, that’s it for Honduras this week! Hope all is going well for each of you and I pray that God blesses you all. Don’t forget the glass is half full!!!

Love you all! God Bless!