Typical Untypical Day

There is no "typical" day here in Honduras.  Making plans is somewhat futile.  Perfect for my go with the flow personality.  So, I'm just going to list some things I did today...

I weeded out a small field of beans.  They were planted too close together so they were competing for what nutrients are in the soil.  I did the same thing to corn yesterday.  Let's just say every muscle I have from my lower back all the way to just below my knees is sore.  Yeah, I'm a weakling.

I ate lunch and took a thirty minute cat nap.  It was short, but grand.

Shannon (the missionary I'm working with) has a gigantic water tank in his backyard that has tilapia in it.  Since he's been gone to the states for the past month, the tank has gone realitively uncleaned.  It's pretty discusting.  So we began to clean it.  Emphasis on the word began.  As far as I know it's still not clean.

I completed a very general soil test on the soil at the radio station.  Then it looked like it was going to rain, so we booked it to the radio station to broadcast by hand some fertilizer we bought.  I don't think it rained.  Woops.

That pretty much sums up my day.  Now for random but interesting tidbits of information.  This is my favorite part!  Drum roll, please.

My neighbor has a rooster who is a very confused rooster because he cockle doodle dos all day long.

I made a friend named Lucy.  She's a dog.  She likes running and barking, and she hates the weed eater. 

People who own cattle often transport their cows in the bed of their truck.  Like a pick-up truck.  Trailers always have flat tires anyway, right?

My camera card is still stuck in a place it does not belong.  I promise I will eventually have pictures.  That will make this blog so much more interesting.

It gets dark here around 6:30-7:00.  It is definitely hard to get used to.  Don't ask me what time the sun rises.  All I know is it's before 6.

Something- my guess is a cat or a rat- just ran way too close for comfort so I'm now locked in my room.  I was on my balcony.

And now because it's been dark for 2 hours, I think it's midnight and want to go to sleep.

Home Sweet Home

For those of you I haven't called, I made it safe and sound!  Not that the people I did call know I made it safe because no one answered  their phones.  Americans and their busy lives.  Okay, that was a joke.

My flight left OKC at 6 Wednesday morning and I, with all my luggage let me add, arrived in San Pedro Sula a little after 1 p.m. It was then another good 3 1/2 hour drive to Gracias which is the town I'm staying in.

I live in an apartment, and I use that term lightly because it's nothing like an apartment in the states.  Here are some pictures. Okay, there are no pictures.  Silly me just did something really dumb that I can't fix at the moment.  And I'm not about to tell the world the specifics either.

Moving on.  Today I went out to the radio station to take a quick look at the corn, beans, and  pineapple  I'll be working with.  There will be more about this later.  And their will be pictures...if I can fix the stupid thing I just did.  I'm starting to get doubtful.

I also walked around town with an American teacher that is here until the end of July.  She was very helpful, telling me all the good places to go to get donuts, ice cream, and  chocolate covered bananas.  And real food, can't forget about the real food.  I bought grapes, apples, spaghetti, bread, peanut butter, tortillas, milk, and cereal.

The internet at my apartment doesn't like me too much, rather not at all, so I'm using her internet as well.  She conviently lives in the house right next to me.  Literally.

Side note, it's storming right now.  It reminds me of home.  I'm devising a plan on how to get my computer back to my apartment without it getting wet.  Maybe if I wait it out?  Why did I not bring the rain jacket?

Last random thought of the day, The public school year starts in Feburary and goes until November so that the kids have time off to help with coffee harvest.  Like what our fall break in America started out for.

Oh, and will someone pleeease share this with Grandma.  I forgot to make sharing-with-grandma plans before I left.

Thanks everyone for reading keeping up with my blog and please continue to pray for me and the work Father is allowing me to be a part of.

Coffee Dilemma

Since I like Thunder more than sleep during this time of year I bought coffee on my way home from work Tuesday afternoon that way I could stay up the entire game.  Dozing off in the fourth quarter is not an option anymore.  You can read why here.

I thought I was being smart by buying McD's coffee instead of Starbucks 1.) because it is way cheaper and 2.) because it's not as strong.  I get to stay up during the game and go to sleep immediately afterwards.

Wrong.  Drinking any kind of coffee beverage after 5 is not a good idea, no matter where it comes from.  Needless to say, I was up well after midnight.  Oh, the things I put myself through for basketball.

My alarm went off at 6 a.m.  What was the first thing I did?  Made coffee.  Yup.  It's amazing how one can hate something so much one minute and love it less than 6 hours later.

So this is what I took my coffee in to work this morning.

JUST KIDDING!  I didn't.  I wanted to.  But I didn't.  I just like this thermos because it's gigantic, old, and it reminds me of the oilfield, mines, or any other dirty, hard, manly job.  Does anyone else make that connection?  Maybe I'm just weird.  Actually, the latter sounds more probable.

I did take this to work filled with delicious dunkin donuts coffee.

Size comparison.  I made the right choice.  As my dad would say I would have been wound tighter than an eight day clock (I think that's how it goes...) if I took the thermos.

The moral of the story is coffee breeders need to find a caffeine gene that automatically senses when one wants to fall asleep and therefore deactivates all ability of caffeine to keep someone awake.

Brought to you by a true plant scientist.  Rather, a wanna be plant scientist.

Kiddos

Sunday mornings from 9:30 until 10:40 is my favorite hour of the entire week.  It's the hour I get to spend with my children.  By children I mean my Sunday school boys and girls.  None of them are actually biologically mine.  But I claim them.  Each and every one.

Crazy things happen when you get a group of 10 (yes I had 10!!) middle school boys and girls together in a 15 x 12 room.  Milk is spilled, sunflower seeds are flicked, but most importantly we learn about God.

This particular Sunday we were talking about church and how it has four different purposes: worship, fellowship, teaching/studying, and telling others about Jesus.  At the end of class, I had them each tell me one way they could get more involved in church and then I asked them which category of the four above it fell under.

I have a group of incredibly talented students.  Band, sports, art. I'm a very proud non-mother.  One in particular loves football.  So I was encouraging him to think of a way he could use this talent to glorify God at church.  He came up with a church football team...fellowship, teamwork.  I approve.

And here comes the sole reason I just wrote four paragraphs.  This is why I love my kiddos.  This would probably make more since if you were there.  But here it is, one quote of many.

"Yeah, we could have a football team.  But you would have to be the running back because boys can't hit girls."

I don't even know what a running back is.

My boys are gentlemen, even in the harsh game of football.

Oh, Flower

This morning I was minding my own business all washing my hands at the kitchen sink while looking out the window into the backyard.  It was then I saw Flower, you know the cute little skunk from Bambi.  Skunks are like babies.  They are so adorable, but oh do they have a stench to them.  Thankfully, at this point the dog -which I only like because I feel tremendous guilt when I say I don't like him- is in the front yard.  Whew.  I have escaped the smell of Flower.

So, I cross the hallway into my room to finish getting ready and after about five minutes I hear the dog barking. I think to myself  'Oh, no. the dog found the skunk.  Now I will be late for work.  And I'll smell like skunk. Great.'  Thoughts of tomato baths were running through my brain.  Does that even work?  What if I still stink when I do make it to work?  I should just call in and explain the situation.  They would laugh.

I look out my window to the front yard as I simultaneously start breathing solely out of my mouth.  I see the dog.  I see no skunk.  Relief.  Then I realize the dog is stupid because he's still barking at some invisible object.  Then I see it.  A taranchula.  I can deal with taranchulas.  I practically slept with one at church camp last week. By slept with one I mean it was taped inside a plastic cup on the other side of the dorm.

Ten minutes later I was out the door, but not until I stuck my nose out and sniffed for skunk first.  All I smelled was a fresh spring morning. Greatness.

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;

therefore I will wait for him."

-Lamentations 3:22-24

The Trek

The countdown has started.  In two weeks I will be completely packed ready to leave my nice comfy bed for three months only to return after a week back home in mid-September.  Don't worry Grandma, I'll be back home for good before Christmas.

A friend asked me yesterday if I was excited or homesick.  I said a little of both.  I'm going to try my best to describe the feelings coursing through my body as I type this.  Maybe in the end I can make since of the jumbled mess they are.

Excitement?  Yes, this is definitely one of them.  As I've stated in an earlier post, I've been praying for an opportunity like this for three years.  Father has continually told me to wait, and wait, and wait.  And now, I feel He's saying to me "Daughter, go. Make Me famous.  The time is right."

Homesick?  Oh, yeah.  This is a big one.  It's like going to live on campus again except this time I'm thousands of miles away.  There's no one to lock the door of my apartment, no one to say "goodnight, I love you," no one to sing "Norman, Norman Oooo ooo oooo" every single morning.  These are the things I'll miss.

Fear?  No, this is not one of them.  Never have I been afraid to do something the Lord made so clear for me to do.  He opened the doors, He provided the funds, He gave me peace that surpasses every thought (Philippians 4:7).  I fully believe this is what He has called me to do for this season of my life and He will protect my every step.

Apprehension?  Haha.  Any form of uneasiness I'm feeling is not coming from the Lord.  Nope, it's coming from "Ole Spooky" as Mike Story (director of the OSU BCM) puts it.  And I'm not listening to him.  I can tell the voice of my Shepherd. Please pray that this will stay true throughout my journey.

Basically, my action plan to confront all these emotions is exactly how I confronted my fear of organic chemistry lab every Tuesday and Thursday of last semester.  By repeating Philippians 4:6-7 over and over and over. I literally said it 2.7 million times in a mere 16 weeks.

"Do not worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Thank you Paul for your encouraging, applicable, slap-in-the-face, sometimes crazy worded but God inspired letters.

Did you Fart?

Did you fart?  Because you just blew me away.

If you can't tell by the pick up line, I just spent the last week with a group of middle school and high school boys.  In lieu of me not blogging for awhile, here are ten things I have learned, seen, or otherwise been exposed to over the past ten days.

1.)  My middle school boys are beginning to like girls.  They have each had more girlfriends than I've had dates.  I'm not making this up.

2.) Seaweed tastes like salty beef jerky with a fishy aftertaste.  Description articulated by another boy.  I told him this catch phrase probably wouldn't sell much seaweed.

3.) If you drink nasty water for a week, you really can't tell it tastes nasty anymore.

4.) The same descriptions someone uses to describe the feeling of love can also be used to describe the feeling of one having serious issues after eating too many big macs.

• It's a feeling I can't explain
• It's a feeling I've never felt before.
• It's a feeling deep down inside.                                

Love is not a feeling, it is a life commitment.  It's laying down your life for a friend.       

5.) Prayer is being honest, sincere, and humble before God.

6.) God always answers prayer, although the answer may be no.

7.) Being a camp sponsor means access to fried pies.  I took advantage of that.

8.) Sometimes, patience pays off.

9.) The Thunder won the western conference!!!!!!!!!!!

10.) How do you beat the Heat?  By having a Thunderstorm!  Championship here we come!