Decisions

Making decisions is just so hard. I decided yesterday that I was just going to move back to Virginia. I hadn't heard anything about any jobs, and I think I may have found a sub-leaser and after talking to my whole family in Virginia I decided moving home for a while sounded great.

Then today I got a call from Discovery Cove! Well of course! Mind you, I have not been offered the job, I am swim testing next Monday, but now it is very likely I will be offered a position there. I have been praying about seminary and asking others for advice and I am not convinced RTS Orlando is the seminary for me. I think it is a great seminary and I do not doubt I would learn a ton there, but they do not have a missions degree. I have been encouraged to spend some time on the field first and then go to seminary. That does sound like a wise plan.

The 2 reasons for me to stay in Orlando are all the wonderful people I know and seminary. But my reason for moving to Virginia is my whole family now lives there. My brother and sister-in-law moved there recently and my aunt, uncle and cousins are in northern VA. So that is a huge draw for me to come home.

I think being happy with what you are doing is so important. I don't want to "work to live" I want to just live life and enjoy it! Money isn't important (I know my parents would love for me to support myself and I do agree:)), but I don't want to get some job just to make ends meat. So I have tons of thoughts going through my mind. I thought God was going to give me one clear path, but He certainly has other ideas. I am such a mess.

Do y'all have any input? I would love to hear it!

Autumn in Birmingham

This weekend my roommate Allison and I have been in Birmingham visiting my dear friend Sarah for her 23rd Birthday. Sarah is an RUF Intern at Birmingham Southern. Allison and I know Sarah from RUF at UCF (Happy Birthday Sarah!). Last week I was feeling a bit stressed about life, what to do, looking for a job, etc. This weekend has been a wonderful break. Yesterday Sarah, Allison and I spent the day in the Birmingham Botanical Garden. We had a picnic and just strolled around enjoying the crisp fall weather, the flowers and the changing leaves. We made homemade pizza for dinner and carved pumpkins and enjoyed baked pumpkin seeds and hot chocolate. I also had the chance to meet up with Joanna, one of the Kenya Interns (who goes to Samford University in Birmingham) and catch up and reminisce. It has been wonderful to be with sweet friends who love and encourage me in the midst of me being a mess, worrying about life. This morning we went to Sarah's church and I was encouraged by the reminder that Christ is indeed on His throne and is working out all things for His glory. I still have not heard anything on the job front. I am continuing to wait to hear about my old job and I have continued to apply for teaching jobs in Orlando. I am praying about seminary and missions and trying to decide whether or not to pursue seminary now or later. Thank you to those who have been praying.

Home Again

Waterfall we hiked behind
Chamelion
Tarzan Vines
Another beautiful waterfall!

6 weeks old!

Cute kids I got to play with

Pico Bonito

I have returned home from Honduras. I had such a wonderful time and I am missing it there. I am however enjoying sleeping under the covers again :)

Last Thursday I went with Mike and Erin to Armenia Bonito for ESL class and after class went to the home of a family they have been getting to know. There is a new baby in the household and the oldest daughter is also pregnant. So nurse Erin checked out the moms and baby and a couple of the kids. I had fun playing with the kids while we were there. They had a great time playing with my camera (I'll post some of those pictures).

On Friday Erin and I went hiking in the jungle to Pico Bonito. It was beautiful! We saw waterfalls and went swimming at one of them, even venturing behind it. You can read about it on Erin's blog.

Now that I am back in Orlando I am trying to seek God's will. I have many fears and hesitations, but I do believe God is calling me onto the mission field. Right now I think I am going to plan to go to Reformed Theological Seminary in the Spring and begin the process of being approved for the mission field soon. So we will see where God takes me in all of this. At this point I don't even think I know where God would want me to serve, but I have a heart for street-kids and actually for the elderly too. While in Honduras Mike took me to a senior home and there is such a need to reach out to the elderly in many places as well. For now I will be looking for a job in Orlando (I think I may have a good prospect at my old job), and serving God in Orlando until he sends me elsewhere.

Shopping

Street Vendors

Downtown

Look at the power lines!

The past couple of days I have gone shopping with Erin to get various things around La Ceiba. Pretty much you can find what you need, but rather than making one quick stop at Target or Wal-Mart, you have to make more like 10 stops to get all of the items you need. We went to one store for furniture, one for a bed (different from the furniture store), another stop for sheets and towels and yet another store for blankets. Then we went to a Department store where you could actually get pretty much all the main department store stuff, and a couple other stops in there. The employees in the stores work on commission, so when they see a couple gringos walk in they pretty much stick right by us helping us all they can. Everything we picked out they would take up to the front and they would always offer to help us to our car. I am sure at times this is annoying, but I really enjoyed the good service! I have enjoyed being able to live with the Pettengills this past week and ask them my tons of questions and just see what it is like to be an American missionary living in another culture.
Tomorrow we are going back out to Armenia Bonita for ESL class and Erin (who is a nurse) will have a clinic aferwards for whoever wants to be seen. I am excited to see the kids from last week again!

Electricity

The electricity project in the village

Traditional Honduran stove

Beach in La Ceiba

The Pettengills have two guys staying with them from Baylor. They are engineers and have been working on installing electricity in a village about and hour outside of La Ceiba. The village has 35 houses and 23 of them now have electricity because of this project. Yesterday I got to tag along with them out to the village. It was so cool to see the work they are doing (I don't think I totally understand it all, but I do know that 23 houses have power)! It was fun to drive out of the city a bit and see some more rural parts of Honduras. At one point it started to rain and we had to get out and push the car up a dirt hill.
I will post some pictures of the project. It is run by a waterfall. Last week lighting struck the converter? or something like that, so for a week they have been using the backup generator. So yesterday and today the engineers are working with the locals to fix whatever is wrong. The goal of the project is for it to be self-sustaining. They are training the locls to run the equipment and the people in the village even pay a small fee so that the project can be self-sustaining rather than run on donated money. The long term goal is to put the same system in several hundred more villages over the next 5 years. There are also plans to install water purification systems in several places as well.
I will post some pictures so you can see the project.

Como se dice...everything in Espanol!

Fishing dock in La Ceiba

ESL Class

Some students from the class

Litchi Fruit

Today was day 4 in La Ceiba. I have been extremely spoiled with "cool" weather. I believe it is extremely tolerable and comfortable although not everyone would agree (mom and Becca :)) It is in the 80s and very humid, but there is a nice breeze, and it is cloudy, keeping things cooler.
Yesterday I went with Mike to Armenia Bonito, the poor community they are working in, he taught an ESL class to 23 students. Since I don't speak Spanish and only understand a little I was able to help only with pronunciation. I would walk around saying words and listening to the students repeat them. After class a few of the kids hung around and had a blast playing with my camera. The kids also taught me a few words in Spanish and wanted me to tell them how to say names in English. They would say...como se dice Miguel...answer...Michael. Como se dice Pamela...answer...Pamela. And on and on the names came. They were fun kids and I loved hanging out with them.
Last night we met up with a couple, who are friends with the Pettengills, for an all night youth event. This couple, Megan and David, have a yoth group called "Flame" and last night was the 2 year anniversary of the group. We met up at KFC-that's right, they have KFC. Then we headed over to see a movie-something about Horror on Prom Night or something, not going on my list of top ten favs (although Allison guess who was in it-that's right Jason Street!). Then we went to play some futbolito-indoor soccer on a mini field. I LOVED watching these kids play soccer. I mean it is seriously awesome. Then we headed over to have a time of devotion and played some ping pong. And the final stop was at one of the students' house where the kids swam and we had a pancake breakfast. I came home and crashed for a couple hours and then Mike and I headed back out to Armenia Bonito to visit with a couple people. There is a shelter out there for boys called-Ninos de la Luz (Children of the Light). I got a tour of it and it is an awesome place.
This weekend we are gonna take it easy and rest a bit. I have been praying that while I am in Honduras I would just soak up my time here, learn all I can, and stop constantly dwelling on the future. I have been asking Mike tons of questions and I am really enjoying the culture here.
Today we tried some fruit-we had pineapple, oranges and a fruit called litchi (kinda like a grape).
I havn't seen too many creepy critters. So far just lots of geckos, a bat, and this morning there was a tarantula in the house (fortunately I was asleep at the time.)
I'll post some pics. Enjoy!

La Ceiba

Yesterday I arrived in La Ceiba, Honduras where I will be spending the next couple of weeks with the Pettengills. Today Mike showed me around the city and showed me several places where they hope to begin ministries. The Pettengills have been in La Ceiba for about 3 months. Some of their plans include planting a church, teaching ESL classes, ministering to the poor with medical clinics, working with street children as well as the elderly. There will be 3 interns joining the Pettengills next month and two more families in January. Please pray for the team here in Honduras as these ministries are beginning. It was exciting to see the opportunities here in La Ceiba and I am excited to learn more during my time in Honduras. Tomorrow morning Mike will be teaching an ESL class, so I'll get to tag along and observe that. Tomorrow night we are going to a youth function where we will stay up all night hanging out, playing games, and sharing the love of Christ.
Ya know those three years of Spanish I took in high school sure haven't helped me to communicate much. In fact, I think I have forgotten how to speak English as well. Ever since I got on the plane in Miami people have spoken to me in Spanish before English and I just give them this look and completely blank out, and they realize I have no clue what they are saying. Hopefully I can remember a few things over the next couple of weeks.