Time speeds by!

Wow, it's hard to believe that two weeks can pass so quickly.  SO much has happened since I posted last. Really it feels like the 6 weeks I've been back have sped by like an out of control motorcycle (of which there are many in Honduras!)

I'm really getting into the swing of things as far as school goes. When I posted last, I had only had a few days of school. Now, I've got three weeks under my belt and I'm a pro....NOT! It turns out I am teaching 2nd not 4th this year. Jenna and I switched classes for a variety of reasons. It was a hard switch for both of us, but it was best for the students! First impressions on my classes: I assist in 1st grade and these kids are so adorable, it's hard not to just constantly hug them. Luckily for me, one of them is always trying to hug me or hold my hand. Love it! They are generally cooperative and eager to learn. They are a bit chatty, so it's been a struggle to find seat assignments that result in the most amount of work happening and least amount of children being a distraction to each other. I'm convinced this first grade seating situation is harder than a wedding seating chart! I teach 2nd grade with the assistance of Hayden and everyday brings a new challenge. At this age they have enough English to get their point across, but there are some days I don't understand a thing they say and letting them speak in Spanish is always my last result. When I get to class they always greet me with an enthusiastic "GOOD MORNING, TEACHER CHRISTINE!!!" They are so loving and high energy. I really do enjoy teaching them :D. As a class they struggle with talking too much. Some days I want to say, "Dear Students, I just want to teach you English. Please be quiet." Other days I can't help but smile at them the whole time. They try so hard with their English. It's so cute! 8th grade is the other class that I teach. I actually only teach half of them and Hayden teaches the rest. What can I say. Some days I'm tempted to think they are perfect. They're not of course, and they struggle with normal teenage problems, but they seem to be an unusually great bunch of kids. Our curriculum for 8th grade is less structured than 2nd grade so I have more freedom to do creative things. We have our English books that we work out of everyday and we practice our spelling/vocab words each day but past that, we've got a bit of time for conversation practice and fun!  I think the biggest lesson I'm learning right now is that when I don't have the strength, God does. I mean He really can and does give you strength and ability to do things that normally you wouldn't be able to do. Philippians 3-4 and the whole book of Titus have been where I've been studying and studying these two weeks. Just reading and speaking words of truth into my life. Phil 3:12 especially has been on my heart lately. "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." God has placed me here and I will find a way to live how He wants me to and be content with whatever He places in my life. 

Right now, I'm torn between telling you what a normal day looks like and sharing some things about my life that give me joy (mostly about my students!). I'll start with what my day looks like:
I get up about 6 and stumble around. Some how I manage to eat breakfast, get dressed, pack my bag and get out the door by 7. The bus comes around 7 and the fun really begins. Our buses are old, bumpy, missing windows and driven by skilled Honduran men. We have the best time ever. Seriously. 8am is start time for all our classes! I actually have a break from 8-9 in which I read my Bible, lesson plan etc. 9-10 I spend with 1st grade. SO CUTE!!! Then I take 8th grade for a bathroom break and chill with them for a little while while their teacher gets a break. 10:30-11:30 is the morning half of 2nd grade. We doing our English Zone workbook usually and phonics. 11:30-12 is our lunch time. The moms of the children in the school actually help cook. The food is muy muy rico! (yummy) 12:05-12:50 is afternoon 2nd grade time. Usually we start strong with spelling and then practice the Bible verse we're memorizing and usually read a book. Then comes the super fast mental switch because 8th grade starts at 1pm. 1-3 is 8th grade English. We are all very tired by this time, but we still have a good time! 3pm brings us to the bus again! Monday afternoon we have reinforcement (we keep some children after school and help them catch up on subjects they're behind in) and Thursday afternoons we have teacher meetings/ bible study. We get home around 5 those days. It's a long day. Usually we cook dinner and just chill out for the evening.

Now for somethings that give me joy. The bus ride: we pack 6 kids in almost every seat. It's hilarious. I ride standing up of course and as more children get on, I start playing "kid tetris" it is a "rompecabeza" (puzzle) to get all those kids on the bus! Sometimes when some of the kids get off, I get to sit with my adorable friends. We giggles and talk and have a fabulous time. First graders hugs. The moment I walk into that class, they all start trying to give me hugs. Love it! Sometimes my 2nd graders surprise me and use really fantastic English to answer a question and I say "Great English!" and put them on the happy face. Chatting with my 8th graders. Before we start class, I always just let them talk to me. About whatever they did that day or the day before. Or I ask them questions. They think so hard I think I see smoke sometimes. They make a huge effort to only use English and only in desperation will they ask me for the right word. They love that I speak Spanish, but we only speak that during their recess, other breaks, or on the bus. I'm teaching them Honduran sign language. They love it. Their enthusiasm for it makes it so fun to teach them! They beg me to teach them moremoremore.  I'm also slowly giving my 8th graders nicknames. They think it's hilarious and they're helping me think of nicknames for their classmates.

My birthday was yesterday! In case you didn't know this about me, I love my birthday. I still get little-kid-excited about it. Like bouncing around, announcing how many days left until my birthday for the whole week leading up to it. I'm never really expecting gifts, I just love everything about birthdays. I even love celebrating other people's birthdays, buying or making gifts, planning parties or special days out. Love it! For my birthday I received about 200 hugs. Better than any present I've ever gotten! I also got a bag of fresh picked madarinas from Lorena and a radish from Scarleth and flowers from Ana Lola Laura Veronica Gabriela...She tells me a different name every day. It's our joke. She is so funny! I also got a special birthday lunch made by all of the Honduran teachers and delicious cake! The 8th grade girls sang "Las mananitas", a traditional birthday song, to me as soon as I got off the bus on Friday. The 1st and 2nd grade both sang to me in English and a million children told me happy birthday. I was smiling ridiculously all day. After school we went out for Mennonite ice cream. The best in the world. Then for dinner we went to my favorite Baleadas place and Kaley baked me surprise peach cobbler for dessert! It was a great day. We even caught some of the Sept 28th parade (celebrating the marching of the declaration of independence into Tegucigalpa). The celebrate my birthday every year in Honduras with a parade. Thank you, Honduras. I'm honored.

My weekends have been full of just doing all the things I have no energy for during the week. Laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping. Of course I hang out with my friends, go out for dinner, go to church and read in our hammock. They're usually very restful.

I read Titus maybe five times this week and this passage has been on my heart all week:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
Titus 2: 11-14

Thank you so much for reading!! I miss you all and I hope you are doing well! I will post some pictures of my students on Facebook soon! My computer hasn't been working well this week, but hopefully a techy friend is going to look at it to see what's wrong soon! Please pray that I am always loving and patient with my students and that I will have the energy to give my best every single day! 

Just Pictures....

I decided to post pictures from what I've talked about in my last 2 posts....Enjoy!

This is my adorable house!

Helloooooo Destino! You can see the building materials for the Jr. High here!

My super awesome teacher friends!

Baby Kitty Milo!

House visits...You can see Profe Kelin here - she assists me in 8th grade.

Rosa and her brothers! So cute!

Celebrating all the August birthdays! Fun times! 

Que lluvia!! So much rain!

My classroom! 

Beautiful view while hiking at Panacam

Cascada (waterfall) and my friends.

Kaley with her the stick she found that looks exactly like a gun!

First day picture with my housemate Amanda. 

Kids filling the buses at the end of the first day...

...and this is how we squish them in :D ! 

Hiking, Hugs, and Hilarity!

Phew! Things have been pretty crazy around here! I know it's been more than two weeks since I've written - sorry! I wanted to wait until I finished my first week of school to update again. Also, I tired hard to add pictures but the upload failed twice. Scowl! I might try to upload them as a separate post tomorrow.

We made the decision to start school late this year, mostly because we had no water.You can imagine that 300+ people at the school and no working toilets would be awful! (We actually DID start without water, but we had a supply of water with which to flush the toilets. We ran out on Wednesday and things were bad. Very yucky.) So we took extra time to decorate our classrooms, cover a million books (all the text books need to be covered) and just have a good time getting to know each other more. We had a meeting for all the parents of the school, mostly mothers came and it got me really excited about starting school. We gave them all their children's uniforms and told them about new school rules and expectations for the year and I could easily imagine kids filling the seats in each class. That whole extra week we had, I was so antsy to meet my students.

At the end of that week, we went out to dinner with all of the teachers. I thought this was just a normal informal dinner. WRONG! Turns out t-shirt and jeans was.....not quite was everyone else was wearing. I couldn't solve said problem, so I just acted like it was OK. Anyway, we had a great dinner and at the end of it each of us took time to share what God had taught us the last few weeks. Many of the teachers shared how excited they were to work in a truly Christian environment and be able to teach children about the Lord.  Most of us agreed how eye opening it was to visit our students home and see how they live. We can also see God's hand clearly in the ministry and know that is it going to be a fantastic year.

We had a long weekend before school started, so a bunch of us went hiking at Panacam. It was great to just spend some time in nature, far from taxis honking, people yelling on the street, motorcycles racing past my window at midnight. Peace, quiet, friends. It was a great way to spend a Saturday. That evening we went to our pastor's house, just to fellowship and MAN was it raining! We've had some crazy rainstorms since I've been here. I know it's rainy season, but I don't think I'll ever get used to it raining every afternoon! I do so love to sleep to the sound of rain though.

Monday morning, bright and early I hopped out of bead and rushed around my house getting ready for the first day of school! We got on the bus and picked up all the kids. They all look so adorable in their uniforms and they all say "Good morning teacher!!" and give you a big hug. Honduran kids are small so we squish 3-5 kids into a seat. Let me tell you, there is nothing cuter than 5 first grade boys all squished into a seat. When we first got to school, we had an all school chapel service. It was pretty fantastic. All the kids were SO EXCITED to be back and we started the year by talking about King Solomon and how when God said He would grant him anything he asked, Solomon asked for wisdom. We need to ask for wisdom, teachers and students alike, in order to have a great year.
My first class of the day was assisting in 1st grade. They are so cute and I think I finally have their names now, but seriously, about 5 of the boys look exactly alike and there are actually twin girls in our class. Gisel and Jasel. I love twins so much!  After that was my 4th grade class. This week, for everyone, was just review. Games, conversation practice, introductions and getting to know each other.These kids are so stinking smart! I love to hear them speak English, knowing it is their second language and still hearing them put together sentences and ideas that are hilarious at times and deep at others. I love making them laugh and getting hugs from each one of them before they pile on the bus for the day. I didn't start 8th grade yet because our Jr. High building isn't quite done yet. There is a roof over one of the classroom and Amanda and I agreed that a roof is all we need! Doors and windows...not essential!!  I did end up switching to 2nd grade so starting Monday I'll have my first 2nd and 8th grade class!

 Today we spent the day in Comayagua, which is a cute old town about 40 mins from Sigua. It was relaxing and we got to spend lots of time squished in taxis and buses. I have lots of lesson planning to do this weekend AND a couple parades to attend! Honduran Independence Day is Saturday and there are parades tomorrow and Saturday. I love parades and holidays :D. On Saturday at 7am, a bunch of us from my church are going to meet to hand out free coffee and fliers and tell people about our church and the coffee shop we're opening soon! Should be fun!

Just so you all know, I am so out of the loop with all of your lives, so if you want to send me an email and tell me what is up and let me know how I can pray for you, I would love that :D (christine.rankin10@houghton.edu).

I will leave you with one last thought. I was reading in Acts and read this scripture. Wow. The name of Jesus is powerful and He is the only way to be saved!


"Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.  Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4: 8-12