Greetings All,
This year has already flown by. I can't believe the holidays are upon us! We haven't started gearing up for Thanksgiving yet, but we are hoping to get started with all of our Holiday Planning. We love the Holidays and we usually start planning pretty early, but with the girls in school, there is always something going on. This past week they were in training for their first 5K marathon! Jake and Rachael, directors of the Abundant Life School that the girls attend, were their trainers. They would run from the school to the mission, which I thought was pretty impressive. I don't think I could have made it down the hill to the school, let alone up that hill and then all the way home!! Jake and Rachael asked me if I wanted to start training with them. Those guys are so sweet to include me in the training plans, but normally the only time I run is when something is wrong, i.e. there is a fire, a toddler has a stack of folding chairs collapse on top of her while she was trying to help, or trying to get my phone that I left on a table somewhere. Also, I am too busy being amazed at how well my girls are adapting to all this running everyday. We have had some girls that have benefited greatly by all the endorphins that have kicked in. They have had a super great attitude and we are amazed at the difference in their responses in general. The girls are sleeping better, doing better at school and at home, and are more excited about life in general. Training for this marathon gave them a dose of self esteem that has been amazing. The 5K was a fund raiser for an organization in La Esperanza that help young people with special needs. Miledy came in First Place in her division and Maite came in 3rd Place. The other girls did really well and all of them finished the race!! Two of my girls developed nose bleed and they kept running until they got over the finish line. Even though I was anxious about this new development of nose bleeds while running, I was so proud of all of them.
This week end the girls have a trip to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras to go see the Honduras Symphony Orchestra. When I lived and worked in the States, I would go to the Symphony Event in Valdosta. It was a wonderful event a great fund raiser for children who wanted to learn how to play instruments. This night is also a fund raiser for the Abundant Life School, to help kids go to a bi-lingual christian school, who would not have that opportunity otherwise. I am going as a chaperone to help with the "50 some" children from the Abundant Life Christian School, where the girls from our PTC mission go to school. WE are all excited about the trip. I will send photos before, during and after the event.
I have moved up the road a bit. I had to go into a hiding place. I am still at the mission, just in a different house. I am settled and it seems to be be working out. I am at the mission house and the mission house is my old house. There were some practical reasons why I moved such as:
- It will keep the teams closer to the girls and we don't have to haul all the luggage through the mud and mire to the mission house. We just unload right here.
- The other day we got a container and we just unloaded it in the mission house. It was great. No moving stuff from here to there, it just goes to one place.
- We are closer to the team members and can know what they need and the storeroom is right here close to the mission house.
- They have an internet for their team leaders that works on the porch or kitchen.
- Not a long walk for circulo
- Closer to the kitchen and dining hall.
- The other good news, is that I have a place to stop. I walk to the former mission house and say goodnight to the girls and my day is over.
- I can be quiet.
- Read my Word
- Pray
- I have Sunday afternoon off! It has been a great 2 weeks! Once again, the Lord shows me He knows what He's talking about. We need a day
- I needed some rest.
- I needed a day off (first official day off ever)
- I needed no internet.
- I pray first thing when I wake up which hasn't happened in a while. I have read some books, but more exciting is that I have been sleeping all the night through! That my friends is amazing! I was beginning to think it was never going to happen again. I had coined a phrase that "sleep was overrated" I had never even considered moving away from my house, because it was mine and I thought I had to be right here with the girls. God is able to keep us all safe and He is able to send the people I need who are very competent to help me with the girls. I have a great group of interns and I am blessed.
Since I have moved, the girls have been talking to me in Spanish, faster and faster. I guess they want to get it all in before I go back to my house. I have to look them in the eyes and watch their lips move, and sometimes I have to get them to repeat themselves, or ask them to speak in English. Either way, I really have to be focused, and I am enjoying being with them more than ever. My prayer now is to keep focused on what else the Lord has been trying to tell me. I know I have wasted a lot of time, but even in that remorse, He doesn't condemn me. I saw a cartoon on Facebook a few years ago. It had a lamb in a lawn chair with headphones on listening to his music, his cell phone in one hand, a cup of coffee in another, and a stack of Christian books beside his lawn chair. The caption was the lamb saying, "I just don't understand why I can't hear from the Lord". Sometimes we get so busy ( even with good things) we don't take time to listen to Him speak to us. He is speaking to us, sometimes it is in HIs silence, but other times it is in a still small voice. We have to be in the silence and focused to listen. I pray you find your spot where you can be alone and hide with HIM.
Thanks to all of you who continue to love on our girls, and pray for them. We appreciate everything you have done to keep this ministry going through all the gifts and prayers. Thanks to all of our interns and other missionaries who are on the field with us here in Honduras. Thanks for helping them to be able to stay here. WE are blessed. Blessings to you all from the Hidden away Honduran MOM.
You are my hiding place, you always fill my heart with songs of deliverance whenever I am afraid I will trust in you. Let the weak say I am strong in the strength of my Lord.
