A few days out of Teguz and a very Merry Christmas to all!

Thanks to everyone for being patient for this next update. I have been so busy with travel that all communication has been very difficult recently. Here is a brief rundown of some of my recent travels:

Monday (17th) - We left for Copan (Ancient ruins of an indigenous group of Honduras - the Mayans). This was a long van ride that ended up being 12 hours long with stops - this included a stop at a beautiful waterfall.

Tuesday (18th) - We spent the day learning about and touring the ruins, in the evening we travel about 3 hours to San Pedro Sula.

Wednesday (19th) - We toured one of Dole's banana growing farms and then traveled back to Tegucigalpa (another 6 to 8 hours) with a stop and tour of a cave.

Thursday (20th) - We had Spanish and culture class as we normally do on weekdays. As well as much sleep recovery and a lot of laundry.

Friday (21st) - Andy and I left with our host brothers (Carlos and Lemuel) and a friend (Mike) to go to the island of Roatan (part of Honduras) where Mike's family lives. We stayed there until the 24th and then made the 2 hour boat ride and 8 hour bus ride home. One of the beautiful things about living with host families is that when they leave for a vacation, we go with them, so Andy and I had two days on the island (the other two were spent traveling) which was relaxing, although Mike tried to show us the whole island in two days which kept us very busy and less like tourist on the beach!

Christmas has past and for me it was not terribly dramatic or anything like I had expected. My family, save my host brother Lemuel, does not really celebrate Christmas much (I haven’t figured out why yet) so after I ate with my brother and gave some gifts to my family on Christmas Eve, I ventured out with Lemuel to make stops at random houses. I gave the gifts on Christmas Eve because most families here open their gifts at midnight when the day changes to Christmas. Tradition here is to continually eat on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, but when the clocks strikes 12:00am and it is Christmas, there are fireworks all about the city. There are usually small firework shows leading up to Christmas but at midnight Christmas Eve, people set off personal fireworks in the street. I was absolutely shocked at how little attention was paid to safety and how few precautions exist. Fireworks would go on roofs, in bushes, and some kids (they looked to be about 8 or 9) started a newspaper fire on their porch. I guess it’s not uncommon for people to get hurt and for problems to arise, but like all traditions it won't be broken any time soon. My host brother is a fairly cautious person so don’t worry, I was never in harms way as far as I know.

I have to admit, I had thought there would be more focus on the Christmas story and the true meaning of Christmas that seems so forgotten in our culture, but it seems even less focus is here (according to what I saw). Since I didn’t have a traditional Christmas, I had to rely on my teammate’s experiences. Most people said they ate at midnight with extended family then opened gifts, everyone at the same time as fast as possible, and then everyone left abruptly. I hope I can be a part of that sometime just to see the difference from what I am used to generally. In my real family, we always open gifts slowly and take our time so it is obviously very different than what I think is normal. The manger scenes here are very different as well. All the traditional components are there, but then they add everything else they have. For example, its not uncommon to see the shepherds, wise men, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, angels, and animals in a manger scene with Buzz Light-year and a GI Joe present along with a stuffed bunny (or any other toy or figurine they may have laying around). As Rachel said, “Everyone was at the birth of Jesus.”

I was able to read most of the Christmas story myself and reflect upon it personally which was a great personal experience and had a new meaning this year as I spent Christmas away from my family for the first time. On Christmas day, the team got together and did our little gift exchange, ate traditional U.S. Christmas food, and had a good time of reflection together. Rachel did a great job planning all and the girls made marvelous cookies while Andy and I were in Roatan.

A brief update on the team (for more information you can visit our team blog at www.step0708.blogspot.com). We are continuing to settle in and adjust to the lifestyles and families we are part of now. The biggest frustration I think we have is we feel somewhat idle. We study the language and culture a lot and definitely have very full schedules, but we don’t feel like we are “serving” per say. I think that we are all looking forward to language and culture study coming to an end because we are getting antsy to help out and continue to learn from persons in the church. That will be here soon enough so we are just clinging to the fact that we are where we are for a purpose and that we need to continue to focus on our current responsibilities. I’m sure our time to give back will come soon enough, but for now we will continue to learn and absorb as much as possible. My goal here is to learn about another culture, give where needed and when needed, and develop a closer walk with the Lord.

Since they say that a picture says a thousand words, I figure I will add about 11,000 more words to this blog. I hope you enjoy them and I will try to keep pictures coming!

This is the Dole banana factory we toured - yea, I know, that's a lot of bananas! But at least you can see that they clean them real well.

I’m staring down one of my favorite foods in Honduras, a wonderful fruit called "Licha" (pronounced, Leecha).

This is the STEP team at the ruins listening attentively to our excellent tour guide who was partially Mayan. I think Andy’s getting ready to wipe his face as it was pretty warm.

This is the team along with the two nationals that went with us (Angela and Jairo).

We stopped to eat by the only lake in Honduras. I like this picture as it has the rustic feel of clothes on the line with the lake and mountains in the background. The fish they served was fresh from the lake we ate beside.

This is the story of the trip, we had to change two flats during the journey (same tire) and make stops each time at a “llantera” to get the old tire patched – I think it’s up to eight patches in total. This only delayed us a little as Andy and I were able to manage the changes efficiently.

Here are few pictures from Roatan. There is a beautiful sunset and another picture of me in a locals boat with the sunset in the backgroup. The other picture is of me and Lemuel (my host brother) and Carlos (Andy's host brother) in the Carribean Sea at West Bay - and yes, the sea is as clear as the commercials and pamphlets show.

Things are starting to get settled in... I think!

I've been living with a host family for just over a week now and things are settling down and I am getting used to the routine. I generally get up at 6:30a. By get up I mean physically get out of bed and not wake up; my family mom starts stirring and often sings or plays loud music at 4:30a or shortly thereafter and there's a rooster that frequently gets midnight mixed up with sunrise. But after getting out of bed it's time to take a shower. It's very important to shower at least once a day here, if not twice. I tried to skip a morning once and it was like I had committed a crime - I wasn't dirty at all buts that's the culture here - very clean and very hygienic. A shower is either in a shower much like you would imagine, but only with cold water, or on mornings that water is not running to the shower (which has been the case for 6 days now), I fill a 5 gallon bucket from a hose or cistern and use a large dish to pour water over me. I actually prefer this way because I can either control the cold on me or if my family has warmed water on the stove, I can have a lukewarm shower.

After this I have breakfast which is either corn flakes or beans and tortillas. I actually had pancakes with mantequilla the other day which was a nice treat, but very different. I then leave and walk to a teammates house and then we walk to the local church. It’s about a 30 minutes walk for me total (15 by myself). At the church I have Spanish class for 4 hours with one 20 minute break, and then it’s off to lunch at Rachel's house (a 20 minute walk or 5 minute bus ride if we choose, but its fun to walk). We hop on the computers at her house briefly then spend time in culture study. Andy nicknamed the house "English Town" or "Pueblo de Ingles". In the evening we walk back to the church (close to where the Karen's and Andy live) where we split off and Andrea and I walk home. In total I walk about 1 hour 40 minutes a day so that's good exercise with my heavy bag of books at my side. The walk by myself is quite relaxing and I have begun to use it as a prayer time. If the last portion of my walk is too late, I try to get a cab home.

The house I live in is very different from that in which I am used to back home. The family keeps it clean (as do most people here) but being that it is fairly open to the air and older, it’s not uncommon to see critters run about - I actually just saw a mouse a few minutes ago. But like I said, the floors and furniture are very clean. Many things here are fairly progressive and I would venture to say, even with my limited knowledge, that in restaurants they are probably cleaner than in the States. Just one example: I was at a Burger King to watch a soccer game (there are TV's everywhere) and in the course of less than two hours they mopped the main floor four times. I guess if someone comes in and slips they don't have to worry about a law suit going through in court.

I will wrap this up by saying thanks to all those who have bee so faithful in prayer this last week. Without you and your cries to God on my behalf I don't know how I would have persevered. The first few days were overwhelmingly lonely and I learned to trust the Lord in a way I have never had to before. It has been hard but has been a blessing in disguise as I have never used so much Scripture to push through life. God's Word has never been so close to my heart and for the first time in a long time, I can't get enough of it when I have time to sit down and read.

In your free time, I encourage you to read Psalm 18 and just contemplate and ponder the power of the God we serve. It's a passionate chapter, but since it is long, I won't post it here. Here are some other things that have driven me to make it this week.

"Courage does not always roar. Sometimes it is a quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.' "
- UNKNOWN -

This is my quote to persevere in the language. I have learned much for one week, but have so far to come. Sometimes I feel like I won't be able to speak well even in five months, but I will continue to press on daily. I have this passion to study all the time and I can honestly say, if I had spend this much time studying anything else with as much passion, I could have had two PhD’s by now!!

And my verse for these days:

Isaiah 43:1b-3a

"Fear not, for I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will

not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord. Your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior..."

The team enjoying some beverages at, "El Centro".

We stopped by an orphanage up in the mountains. We visited some of children that Andrea had worked with back in January of this year.

Quick update!

Thank you so much for all your prayers, they have been so important to me these last few days. Since I wrote last we had a short, three day orientation that was very nice and I wish could have lasted longer. On Saturday I moved in with my host family and that was very new and required a lot of faith and will. It has been a tough transition for me. I normally can deal with change well, but it is different when you want to get to know people and you can't even say a complete sentence to them. That is why I am so excited to learn the language, but I have to be careful not to stress myself out over learning - I will take it little by little as fast as I can with God's help.
I can honestly say that I have never depended on the Lord like I am now. In the evening, even though I can sit with my family, He is my lifeline and I have really had some great personal worship times. As far as communicating goes, I did have a good time with my host brother, Lemuel, last night. He is going to school to be a dentist (he is 24) and has an English class in which he had a test in today. I helped him study for about two and a half hours last night and it really helped my Spanish. Lemuel does not speak English as he is a beginner in the language, but he is interested in learning and even more interested in helping me learning Spanish.
Like I said, time is crazy now and it's all I can do to not stress myself out to get an update out, but I promise to write more later. Thanks!

These are some guards (we had to ask permission to take their photo) - they are everywhere (concerts, guarding Pizza Hut, walking the streets, parks, McDonalds, etc.) and we just get used to them.


Here is a picture of my team in a mountain (one of the many) above the city. Karen is trying to fix her hair, but oh well.