party.

On Monday we were able to take everyone on the property, down the mountain for a Christmas party!

The day started off with going to a hot springs, and swimming in a natural swimming pool and hiking through the jungle to the springs.

After a yummy lunch of pizza, we headed out to a local zoo run by a couple on their farm. They had every kind of animal that lives in Honduras, including monkeys, talking parrots, a very small mountain lion, and many other jungle animals. It was fun to the kids and parents’ faces as they walked around and looked at the animals, and took pictures of each one.

The day ended with fried chicken from KFC and playing on the playground.

Since it's christmas time, Give Hope 2 Kids also has a christmas catalog:

http://givehope2kids.org/index.php/giftcatalog.html

pulperia.

So here in Honduras, they have these things called Pulperias. We have them all up and down the Cuenca where I live, and they are spread all through out the suburbs as well. A pulperia is a little store, which is a part of the owners house, with a window where you can buy almost anything. They typically sell soda, 3 liter Pepsis are the most popular, snacks of all kinds, as well as flour, mantega (the Honduran form of shortening that we fry everything in) as well as any other thing you could need to cook, and other random house hold items.

Lets just say its pretty awesome. And super cheap.

One time we were able to get juice and chips for 20 kids for only 50 limperas, which is $2.50. Yeah I like the prices.

So occasionally we take our kids up there, to get out of the house and get a treat. The nearest one to us is about a 20 minute walk when we have all the kids. Cause they are crazy.

Yesterday was an adventure, taking all the kids up, but also super fun.

hommie.

“Que onda hommie?”

This girl. I don’t think I would have ever busted out my Spanish if it wasn’t for her.

So this is the deal.

The house parents that work here, each have about 5 kids that they look after. Plus their own. And one set happens to have 3 teenage girls. One of which is Irlen.

She just turned 15, and I probably the closest person to being my best friend. Mainly because I hang out with adults. All the time.

Which is good, cause they are the people I work with. But it’s weird coming straight out of high school, where I was constantly surrounded by other teenagers, and everything was geared toward me, and focused on my age group. But here I’m an adult. And it’s just kind of weird.

So naturally I enjoy being with someone closer to my age, because I am closer in age with the three girls, than any volunteers, at the moment.

She’s super outgoing and kind of loud. Absolutely loves playing soccer and will be the only girl playing with a bunch of guys (sometimes her younger sister Pamela will join in too). I’m pretty sure she’s addicted to Pepsi, well her and her sisters, cause they freak out if they don’t have any in the house and their mom won’t let them buy any. She’s a pretty tough and you could probably call her a tom-boy. Yep, she definitely is. When I wear a dress or skirt to church she always reminds me how much she hates both of them, and only wears pants to church. I guess you could say we are kind of alike in many ways, which is why I want so much for her and her life.

I want so much for her. So much more that God can give her if she lets him take over her life. So much more than the highschool drama and boys, and the pick-up soccer games that she dominates every single time. I want her to see who she is in him.

Pray for her to be overwhelmed with God’s love, for us to be able to have deep conversations, and for a love for his word and for it to come alive for her.

Anyways.

I can’t wait to see where God is going to take our friendship in the coming months, and how He is going to use me in her life.

_______

So this was written a couple months ago, after we first got close.

Now we hang out all the time. She teaches me how to cook. I go on every motorcycle ride with her, even if it’s just to the pulperia. I try to learn Spanish with her, but she forgets Spanish words really easy, and of course I make fun of her for that.

There is another house that just got some new kids, one of which is a 11 year old girl. That family also has two biological girls that are 11 and 16. And in the third house there is another 11 year old girl.

So….

After my visit to the states, I’m planning on starting two discipleship groups for the girls. One for the younger and one for the older girls.

In high school I did lead a group of girls through a book with another leader, but I was speaking my native language, as well as having the material given to me. So it’ll be interesting.

Please pray for wisdom in finding a book to go through, or planning my own, as well as good communication with my Spanish, and for their hearts to be opened.

arco iris.

It’s officially rainy season. If it hasn’t rained by the end of lunch you know it’s a weird day. So naturally when we walk to get a snack or walk kids home after classes, it’s raining. But every once in a while, the sun will peak out and we will get to see a full rainbow over the mountains. Once we even saw a complete double rainbow.

So since it was sunny yesterday and we wouldn’t freeze,

We went swimming. I was at one of our swimming holes with the older girls and cousin Yeri. (He is the nephew of one of the house parents and we get to hang out with him a lot).

While splashing people with water, we spotted a rainbow among the droplets that were flying through the air. Amazed, all the kids started splashing water to see rainbows.

And then I thought, 

what makes the rainbow come back every-time they splash the water, or if you do the same thing with a hose. So then I contemplated some more.

I always thought that a rainbow was something God put in the sky after it rained (and it was more visible if the sun was out and reflecting off of it) and it had some kind of timer on it, and when the timer ran out, it would disappear. And I thought it was just something referring to never flooding the earth again. Which it does, but it’s so much more.

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

Genesis 9:12-16

But then I thought of a movie I saw, where they took glass to reflect the light to create rainbows all over the room.

And then it hit me.

What if rainbows never leave. What if they are always there, always present. It just takes something like rain, water or glass to see it, cause we are too weak to see it on our own.

It’s not just a symbol that appears, God put it in the sky and left it there. When He sees it, He remembers His promise as well. His promise and goodness are for EVERYONE, not just Abraham, not just Christians, it’s a promise to all generations. It’s constantly there, showing us that He is faithful, as well as reminding us of His goodness and that we can trust Him.

The reason we have rainbows is because they are a symbol of God’s faithfulness and that He keeps His promises.

If God is ever present, and the symbol of His faithfulness is always present, then He must be forever faithful.

And how can I not trust a God like that.

When wherever I go, there is a symbol of His faithfulness reminding me to trust Him with all that I am, and cry out to Him.

Trusting God is always a thing that I am learning and that God is teaching me. Siempre. At this time in my life, it has to do with my future, because I am still unsure about next year. I was pretty sure that I was going to start college next fall, but I've fallen in love with these people, the culture and country, and working with kids, so now I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing.

Anyways.

These are pictures from different things that have happened in the past couple weeks. Like my mom coming.