July 23rd

On Monday, my friend Arlen, showed me around La Esperanza. Arlen, her husband Jason, and their two sons work here in Honduras alongside the Lanes. Their family is a huge blessing to the Lanes.
Arlen and I rode into town in a taxi. One of the things she wanted to make sure I did was to try some good, authentic, Honduran food, so we stopped at a really good restaurant for lunch. I really enjoy the Honduran food! (although I am really missing a good double cheeseburger from Pick Quick). I have tried so many new foods while i've been here that I can't remember what they all are, but I have enjoyed
eating the majority of it.

After lunch, Arlen and I walked a little ways out of the town and showed me what they call the public bath. It is a pretty park they have built around the streams of water that continuously run off the surrounding mountains.















We next walked back into town and climbed to the top of one of the hills. It gave a beautiful view of La Esperanza.

Next, Arlen and I went shopping. She showed me many of her favorite stores, including some nice second hand stores.
Before going home, she took me to one last stop. We road in another taxi outside of town a short ways to a small place that sold a variety of food made from corn. Arlen bought us some corn on the cob and some atol, which is sweet and smooth and served in a bowl like soup.
I had a wonderful time getting to know Arlen and I hope to be able to spend time with her again before I leave.

Up the road from our house, La Esperanza

July 22nd

What a incredible day! We saw 6 saved and 2 baptized! 

Sunday morning we woke up at early and left the house at 7am. The 2 hour trip was long and bumpier than last time, but the services were great.

This week we drove out farther than last week. Because the church is so far out we are only able to visit it every other week. We dropped off Salvador and a couple teen girls at the house we met in the week before. Salvador preached and the girls taught the children. After we dropped them off we continued on to the first church service.

Hotir

This was a special week, the adults and the children were combined for the Lord's Supper. It was a great service, and I was able to participate.

Salvador

When the service was done we loaded back up in the truck and continued on to the next service in Ojo de Agua. We picked up Salvador and the girls on our way back, who also had good services.
In Ojo de Agua there is a lady who attends the church, who is always selling food. I look forward to it every Sunday now! Her cooking is incredible!

I went with Mrs. Lane to the
children's services. The children are great, and so sweet. One of the teen girls, who taught earlier that day also taught the children in Ojo de Agua. She did a great job.
Six came to know Christ as their Savior here in Ojo de Agua.

After the morning services were done, we drove home and were able to rest for a couple hours before leaving for the evening services in La Esperanza.

That night, during the evening services, I was able to give my testimony: I told of my salvation and of the many ways God provided for me to be able to come to Honduras.
After the service was over there were 2 baptisms.

It was a great day. God is so good!

July 17th and 20th

Both Tuesday and Friday I was able to spend time making a new friend, Yessenia. She is a school teacher here in La Esperanza. She teaches the children English. So I was able to practice a little of my Spanish with her, and she was able to practice her English with me. She is a sweet girl with a great sense of humor, we had a lot of fun getting to know each other.

A painting at the restaurant; makes me laugh every time!

On Tuesday, Pastor and Mrs Lane and I picked up Yessenia from the school where she teaches and we went out to dinner. We had a great time fellowshipping and eating some amazing food!
After dinner the four of us drove back to the house. Mrs Lane, Yessenia, and I played 3 rounds of Skipbo (I won all 3 :) just thought i'd mention that). We had a lot of fun laughing and teasing each other. One of the best memories from that day was when one of the stacks in the middle reached '12' and I forgot to set the stack aside. Yessenia looked at me and instead of saying "set it aside" she says "Get out! Get out!" We were laughing so hard. It is something we say now in every game.
Pastor Lane cut up a watermelon for us. It was the best watermelon I have ever had. I was even able to enjoy it after Mrs Lane smashed it in my face.

Yessenia and I

Thank you Mrs. Lane

The power kept going out that night, when that happens we use the oil lamps. 

On Friday, Pastor and Mrs. Lane and I drove into town to do some grocery shopping. We met Yessenia at the grocery store and drove her home with us. After we had lunch, Yessenia and I caught the bus into town to do some shopping of our own. She was able to teach me some more Spanish. Such as the difference between "Discúlpeme" (excuse me) and "escupeme" (spit on me); the two of them sound far to close for comfort!

La Esperanza

I am loving my time spent here in Honduras! I can't believe my trip is almost half over, I will miss being here.

July 14th

Today Mrs. Lane spent all morning preparing for the meeting with those who were interested in becoming teachers. I got to make the cupcakes for the meeting. Mrs. Lane was going to use these cupcakes as a object lesson. She put a lot of work into getting the paperwork ready for those who came (and even had one in English ready for me). Eight came for the meeting. After she went over the main points she showed them ways to make their lessons come alive, by using different voices for the characters, facial expressions, using the students to help, giving object lessons, ect.

When it came time for the cupcakes at the end she passed them out and as they were eating them she began to tell them that how the cupcakes called for a cup of milk, and that all we had was powdered milk. But, she said, Pastor Lane forgot to go and get us some more filtered water to mix with the powdered mik and we only had 3/4 of a cup left, so to make it work we got the remaining 1/4 of a cup of water from the toilet.
Those poor people started gagging! When she reassured them that she was joking, she cut her cupcake in half showing them all the dirt, leaves and rocks she had asked me to bake in the middle of one. Once again the people were horrified yelling "Cucaracha!!"
Then Mrs. Lane began to explain to them that the same way they were disgusted by the little bit of toilet water in the milk, God is disgusted when we let even a little bit of sin in our lives.
And just like the dirt in the cupcake couldn't be seen from the outside, we may look good on the outside but God knows what we really are like on the inside.
I don't think they will forget those object lessons very easily...hopefully they can trust my cooking after today! :)




July 15th

Sunday completely wore me out, but it was a incredible day!
We loaded up in the truck and left the house at 7am. Our farthest stop is 30 miles away, but it takes us 2 hours to get there. We hold church services in the mountain communities on Sunday mornings, and night services here in La Esperanza. The roads to the mountain communities are very bad, very narrow, and full of holes. It is a slow ride and very jostling, but the scenery was beautiful.

On our way to our first service we would stop and pick people up who wanted to come to church. Our first service was in a very hard to reach community. We meet each Sunday morning in the house of a very faithful family. Mrs. Lane would teach the children and Pastor Lane would preach to the adults. I was able to join in on the children's classes. The kids and I sat on the sacks piled against the wall, using them as chairs as Mrs. Lane taught the lesson. They were a small group, but a great group of kids.


Our next stop was Iglesia Bautista El Calvario (Calvary Baptist Church) in Ojo de Agua. We had approximately 65 in attendance. Mrs Lane had 34 children in her Sunday School class. They each had a memory verse from last week that they needed to memorize. To our surprise, a 3yr old little boy had his verse memorized and ready to say. After the service was over, the children joined the adults to watch 2 girls get baptized.

Our day got a little longer when one of the young girls (who got baptized) fell out of the back of the truck while we were driving back home and broke her wrist and a couple teeth. We drove her to the emergency room; her wrist was checked out and wrapped but we were told that a specialist would need to take a look at it first. Because of the way it broke, they were afraid that if not set correctly, it would hinder her as she grew. Pastor Lane will drive her and her family to the specialist at 5am Monday morning. Please keep the little girl, Kenia, in your prayers.

We made it home from the hospital with half an hour to get cleaned up and ready for the night service in La Esperanza. I was exhausted and very hungry. I had to make a very hard decision: nap for 15 minutes, or eat. The church service went well. The people are very sweet.

I have survived my first Sunday in Honduras! I am completely worn out but it was worth every minute!

July 12th
Introductions!

Today I will introduce you to the many critters who also make there home here on the Lanes property. Some welcome, some not so much.

1- Pepper, Star, and Black Beauty

I love the horses! They have quite their own personalities. Forgive me for not knowing the exact kind of horse they are, but Pepper is the white, Star is the redish-brown, and Black is, of course, the black one, but not as black as she used to be.

2- Smokey, Blue, Foxy, and Mia
The dogs are great. They let us know when someone is at the gate. Everyone is afraid of them and for good reason, I wouldn't cross Smokey..

3- Boots (the goat), the roosters and hens, and the duck
They share the same pen and follow me up and down the fence when I go to pick blackberries, hoping i'll throw one over.

4- I don't know what kind of bird this was but Pastor Lane rescued him from the dogs who would have caught and killed him. He was just a baby, just learning how to fly.













5- Those not so welcome..
Thankfully I have not run into too many bugs, although I have a few bites from some who are lucky I didn't see them.
They have a pretty nasty-looking centipede that finds its way into the house every once in a while.
Upon very rare occasions, I am told, scorpions, snakes, and mice find there way in. But that isn't very common.

I am also told that the tarantulas stay outside, for which I am very thankful. You never really know how close you are to a spider till you make the mistake of looking above you...or maybe a family from the looks of the next picture. It was easily over a foot and a half across, and one of many.









Don't worry, no more spider pictures on the next post, so you can keep reading!





July 13th

After a delicious breakfast (Mrs. Lane is a great cook) it was another busy day at home. I was cutting out flannel graph and helping where I could. Mrs Lane was preparing for a meeting the next day with those who are interested in becoming teachers in their church. There was a lot of preparations involved, including cupcakes. Pastor Lane drove his motorcycle into town to pick up a few groceries and I got to ride along! It was my first time on a motorcycle and I had a blast.

July 11th

     Today was a resting day, which all of us needed. Mrs. Lane showed me around the property, and showed me all the animals.
 
     It was quite nice outside till around 4 when the rainclouds along with the thunder and lightning started coming over the hills. I love the thunder and lightning but, living in Washington state, i think i've seen enough rain this year!

     The highlight of the day however was definitely getting to attend their Wednesday night service. The people are incredibly sweet! I'm sure (when Mrs. Lane wasn't there to translate) they said some nice things but half the time i had no idea what they were trying to tell me :). I was able to pick up on some things they were saying and some of the conversations but it is something i will be continuously working on while i am here. Hotir preached tonight, it was a great message. (Mrs. Lane translated for me). All in all a great day! I can't wait to see what we do tomorrow!

July 9th and 10th

     July 9th was completely a day of traveling! Traveling back and forth across 3 different time zones. I left Seattle at 11:30am and arrived in Houston at 6:00pm. Due to bad weather, my flight was delayed a couple hours and I ended up leaving Houston around 9:00pm instead of the originally planned 7:30pm. Which actually made it a little less stressful as I tried to look for my next gate.
 
      I arrived in San Pedro Sula after 11pm after a lot of bad turbulence and prayers! Next stop: Customs. Not quite as bad as i thought it would be, but i suppose it will be not as easy when i try to reenter the USA. The humidity and the heat were awful, even in the middle of the night.
It was so good to see the Lanes! They picked me up in their little school bus and drove me to the hotel where we stayed the night.

     July 10th we woke up to plenty of heat and humidity to go around, that only got higher as the day went on. We did a lot of shopping that day in San Pedro Sula before taking the 3 hour drive home. Honduras has some of the craziest drivers! Thankfully Pastor Lane is a good driver, but I will say I did have to look away a few times..


     After picking up the necessities in the big city (like Honey Mustard Pringles) we started the long drive home. We also stopped on the side of the road to buy some bananas, coconuts, breadfruit, and a few other things. We were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way, that is, till we got close to where they live in La Esperanza, and it started pouring down rain. We made it home JUST in time to run through the puddles and the mud AND be soaked by the rain and the mini waterfall pouring off the roof! A perfect welcome to the rainy season! :)

Honduras is a beautiful country! I am so happy to finally be here!