Fun facts: 

Our school has a little over 300 students.  Each year they add a grade, and next year will be the first year we have 12^th grade, meaning there will finally be a graduating class!  

It is pretty exciting! It costs about $250 a month to send a child to this school, so it is pretty expensive.  That doesn’t include the cost for books, uniforms, lunch, or the monthly bill for bus transportation.  

PAST FEW DAYS!

Sunday morning Jen, Jaime, and I tried out a church down the road.  The service started at 7am.  A lot of churches here have either a really early morning service, or a more popular night service.  We were going to try out Tabitha’s church this morning and Sarah’s church at night.  The service was all in Spanish obviously, and I picked up very little of what was being said.  Today there was a husband and wife giving their testimonies, which lasted over an hour and half itself.  Then, the band went up to play and people began praying for one another up in the front.  This was when things started getting really interesting.  The people being prayed for would all of a sudden fall into what seemed like a deep sleep, and be helped to the ground to lie down.  Jen and I had never seen something like this before, and Jaime explained to us after that this was a common Pentecostal church thing (even in the U.S.)  I guess it is called being “slain in the Spirit” and as you are being prayed for, you are overcome by the Spirit and fall into a deep like sleep.  The people were being covered in cloths as well, and Jaime explained that this was just a “conservative” thing, in case a woman was wearing a skirt or dress, or if a shirt had risen up a bit.  Now I have been to a number of different churches in different cultures, and this was by the far the most interesting church service I have ever been to!  We went to another church for an evening service and the same thing happened, but also people were getting “lost in worship” dancing on the floor uncontrollably.  

Parent Orientation:

Parent orientation went really well!  I was a bit nervous, but my nerves were easily calmed.  I had a fellow teacher translate for me as I discussed things about myself, my goals and expectations, my classroom, and the curriculum. I explained to the parents that I felt God placed it on my heart to come to Honduras and serve Him and the people here.  God’s love has no limits, and I strive for my love to be of that same manner.  I stressed to them that we are on the same team, working towards the same goal: for their child to receive the best education, one that they fully deserve.  Every day I want to lead, inspire, and care for each student, stretching them to learn more about God’s world, and to love Him more and more.  Everything we do in our classroom, I want us to do for the glory of God.  A huge thing in my class is “respect.”  I will be using the book “Fill a Bucket,” explaining to my students’ that we are to fill one another’s buckets with our kind words and actions, instead dipping into each other’s buckets by saying mean and hurtful things.  We will be a bucket filling class, I am certain!  Basically, I want to help my students’ fall in love with learning!

The parents seemed really engaged with what I was saying (or with whatever the translator was saying I said, haha) which was comforting to see.   The kids weren’t supposed to come with the parents, but I did end up meeting two of my students.  One of them even gave me a kiss on the cheek, which was pretty cute!  I love listening to the older students who know English (some of them very well).  Their accents are so sweet to listen to; they make me so happy just listening to them.  It’s very obvious how much they have learned at this school, and I am proud to say I work there. 

After 14 hours at school-it was time to call it a night! We were all starving though so we ordered a pizza and went to one of the house’s to scarf it down!  It started pouring out just as the five of us who live together started to walk home.  We were completely drenched by the time we made it to our house 10 minutes later.  What a day!  

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL:

First day of school for my first year teaching is one that I will never forget.  I will humbly admit that it can only go up hill from here.  Hopefully.  The kids didn’t understand me at all (my assistants obviously still don’t either, so I couldn’t communicate with either).  I couldn’t get them to sit down for a story even, and music didn’t seem to help.  They pretty much played all day long, and I wiped crying eyes and running noses, and spilled drinks and food.  I didn’t accomplish any of the things I wanted to, it’s kind of hard to go over classroom rules when I’m the only one who knows what I want!  So, I am just praying that next week, when I try and start the curriculum, it goes a little more smoothly and things somewhat fall into place.  My plan is to learn common teaching phrases in Spanish, so my assistants can at least help me out and translate to the kids what I expect from them.  Any extra prayers that you have, can be graciously be directed my way—please and thank you :)!