Super Nativity Scene

The other day, I went to see a gigantic Nativity scene with my friend Emil. Actually, it's lots more than a Nativity scene, it has clay depictions of the stories of the Old Testament, and up until part way through Jesus' life. Then, there's also another scene that is a gigantic Honduran village. It is so detailed! I would have thought it would have like a little market, houses, a church, etc. But it also included the traditional things about Honduran culture that I never knew about. For example, it had a "Duende" - a midget that robs and tricks kids, the Honduran small-town version of the Ghost of Sleepy Hollow, parades with strange characters, and other things that are mildly disturbing. Emil explained each of the things to me, so I got to know a lot more about Honduran culture than before.
The Nativity/Bible scenes were amazingly detailed too. The first picture is of Noah and the Ark, there was on the wall behind it lightning flashing, and they had rain coming down on it too.

The next picture is of Jerusalem in the time of Jesus' birth. This is not just your average Nativity set!

Here's me with the Honduran village scene.

More Photos of Christmas!!

My Honduran family and I on Christmas Eve in their home.
Mi familia catracha y yo en la Navidad

The youth group sang a couple of Christmas songs at Christmas Eve service at church

Cantamos el grupo de jovenes en el culto de la Navidad en la Iglesia

Franklin and other neighborhood boys doing fireworks on Christmas Eve

Franklin y otros chavos haciendo cuetes

Mauri lighting a firework for me

Marui e yo haciendo cuetes
Me and Vivian... Would you ever have thought that I'd wear a COAT in Honduras?!

Mi amiga Vivian y yo

Christmas Outings!

The other day, the youth group at the church I attend here in Honduras went on an outing as our special Christmas event. we had dinnerat the food court in an expensive mall... I had a Quiznos sandwich! Yum! My friend Luisa had a sub sandwich for the first time at my recommendation. We looked in a bunch of stores, but they are all so expensive that none of us can buy anything at that mall. But it was fun to be in a foreign mall at Christams time!

Me and Luisa on the third level of the mall... there is a Christmas tree behind us too!

Me and my brother Franklin

Our crazy kitty Toti climbing in the Christmas tree!

El Salvador Trip Part Two - Wonderful People!

During my weekend in El Salvador, I stayed with my friend Elsy and her family. They are soooooo hospitable. Elsy and I went to a way cool water park, and to a wedding. I met quite a few of her friends from her mission agency, and also was able to talk with another missionary couple who I met like 4 years ago. It is always a blessing to visit Elsy and friends/family!
She spoke in church about her ministry to those of false religions in Asia, so I was able to hear about that. I think I have it so easy being in Latin America – I can wear the same type of clothes as at home, the food is pretty much familiar to me, I can already speak the language to a large extent, and the thought pattern of latinos isn’t terribly different from friends in the States. Also, there isn’t a whole lot of persecution among Christians in Mexico, I am going as a missionary and we are allowed freedom of religion. Elsy on the other hand must wear different and rather uncomfortable clothes, eat weird foods, learn an entirely different language that doesn’t even have a familiar alphabet, and adjust to a completely different manner of thinking. Where she is going, she must not let it be known that she’s a missionary – that’s illegal. And she would likely get deported if she were caught teaching the Bible! Wow!
It’s really been amazing to hear about her ministry and go through the whole support-raising process to leave for missions with her. She leaves in March!
Now I’m back in Tegus (Honduras) loving it here too!


Carolina, Rene, and Elsy

El Salvador Trip Part One - The Strike

This past weekend I went to El Salvador by bus to visit my friend Elsy there. En route, I had a very Central American experience… We got almost to the Honduras El Salvador border when the bus stopped for like an hour and we didn’t know why. They told us that there was a strike. The public transport busses (not what I was on) were protesting to the government about the $4 per gallon ridiculous gas prices, so they blocked the highway with their busses so no one could get in or out of Honduras to El Salvador or Nicaragua. Thankfully, we were stopped right by a nice hotel, and the hotel let us hang out in their patio area, and the bus line fed us lunch. There was a group of young people going to an Herbalife convention in El Salvador, and I hung out with them at the hotel. We walked down to the strike and sure enough, there were lots of busses parked all over, with the drivers napping in hammocks under the busses. We had left Tegus at 6am, and finally arrived in San Salvador at 10pm. It’s normally a 7 hour ride! But such is life in Central America, it was definitely a test of patience! Hehe!

I couldn't fit many of the busses in a picture all together, there were probably like 50 of them!

Me, with Samuel and Katy who were on the bus also.

Happy Day!!

Yes, I have arrived! Safe, sound, and SUPER happy!
Despite the snafu with the airlines the other day, I arrived at the same time that I had told everyone that I’d be here. Unfortunately, the guy who gives permission for Suyapa (my Honduran mom) and family to enter the secured area was gone and they wouldn’t let them in to help me with my 4 suitcases. So that was rather difficult to carry all those! Last night I went to the birthday party of Pipe (pee-pay) who lives behind us. All the little kids, most of whom I don’t recall ever meeting before, always want to play with me, and show me their pets – cats, dogs, parrot, and the smallest rooster I’ve ever seen! I LOOOVE being here!! I leave tomorrow for Friday through Monday in San Salvador El Salvador. Then on to Christmas time with the Honduran fam!

Whoa!

Ok, so I am writing again from Oregon... I almost had a tradgedy! Which I'm embarassed to admit! I got to PDX and was checking in, and the lady with Alaska Air told me that my ticket was for YESTERDAY evening!! I was soooo upset with myself for mistaking that date - sure enough, my e-ticket said december 12! Ahhh! But I now am extremely fond of Alaska Air, they rebooked my tickets for free, I have basically the same itinerary, only I'm leaving a half hour earlier from PDX (where I'm writing this now), and that's fine with me! AND, my flight to Seattle, my seat is in the 5th row, sounds like first class to me, but maybe not... AND they waived my extra baggage fee beause they felt sorry for me! God is good!!!!!

I'll be passing through Seattle and Miami and then will arrive Wednesday in Tegus. I'm sickened by the fact that I could've (and should've!!) spent one extra day in Tegus and I got the date wrong! Oh well, it all worked out as good or better as I would've thought!!

All I Want For Christmas...

Is for my luggage to not be overweight! Not really... Well, I don't want it to be overweight, but that's not my Christmas dream! haha!

I woke up this morning at 4:45 and couldn't go back to sleep. So I got out of bed at about 6am, and here I am. I soooo wanted to be able to sleep in, as I'll be flying through the night tonight. Ha! It seems like everytime I fly somewhere, I'm so excited that I can't sleep. Oh well, in 29 hours, I'll be greeted by the smiling faces of my honduran family in Tegus! Of course I have to go through leaving my real parents first, that will be sad. But we'll live, and they're coming to visit me in March! So, I'm off to Honduras TODAY, and then on to Mexico January 5th!

Next time I write in my blog will be from Tegus!!

Bakery Party!

Yay! I went to the Great Harvest Christmas party tonight. It was a blast to hang out with my former co-workers, and in a casual setting! We had some super excellent food, and good conversation. I won a Starbuck's gift card... hmm, I'll either have to use it all right now, or "re-gift" it to someone who will be in Starbuck's land for longer than 2.5 days! Wheeee! I'm leaving in 2.5 days! Ok, so here are a few pictures from the party.

Carter, Mike, Andrew, Julie and Lauren

Erin and I. We used to both work mornings together, some of our favorite customers used to call us partners in crime. Pretty good description...

Great Harvesters and spouses at the party!

Mmmmmmmmm, Packing

Mostly-used gift cards… Clothes that are too small, but might fit me if I just lose a few pounds… 8 pairs of gloves… Jeans with a hole in the knee… Punch cards for various stores… Coupons... A half used bottle of shampoo… Old Navy generic flip flops in 4 different colors…

All these things have one thing in common… That is that I’m trying to get rid of them. The too-small clothes and the gloves can go to the Union Gospel Mission, and I just sent my mostly-used gift cards to Apryl! Ha! I think I’ll donate my punch cards and random coupons to people at work. And my mom can use the shampoo… Already gave her my old socks… Yeah, I had this grandiose idea of taking X amount of things with me to Mexico. Well, 5 suitcases with a 50lb weight limit on each doesn’t go nearly as far as I’d like! I can FIT everything in suitcases, but they’ll WEIGH too much! Argh! So, if there’s any doubt as to whether or not I should take something, it doesn’t go.

Yes, it’s been a busy week. Last week I took LOTS of time to relax. This week I’m starting to wonder if I can finish my list of stuff to do before leaving (which, of course, includes visiting with or calling lots of friends!). But it will all come together. I remember a few months ago saying that I could be ready to leave with 2 days notice. Yeah, if I wanted to spend the next year stressed about loose ends back home, and spend a ton of money buying things in Mexico that I already have here! Two weeks was a good amount of time though, and I knew the date I’m leaving like a month ago. It’s certainly not enough time to get bored, but still enough time to get things done!
I’m off for another day of fun! 50% off sale at Mervyn’s, Internet, post office, fabric store, WinCo… I’m getting quite familiar with the South Commercial bus route! Hehe!