I shall not be shaken

I have some of the sweetest friends a girl could ask for. Before I left for Honduras about a month ago, I had breakfast with two dear friends of mine. They each wrote me a few letters to read throughout my trip. One of the envelopes was labeled: "read this when you need some encouragement." I will be honest, I was hoping that I wouldn't have to read this one all summer, but the real truth is that God has challenged me in more ways than I could have imagined since I have been here. The other night as I was having a minor emotional meltdown, I remembered this letter. After opening it, I clung to the words written on it: words of love, words of affirmation, words of true encouragement. The tears were flowing even more now. Although my friend had written that she saw Jesus in me, I was seeing Jesus in her and her words in this moment. She had listed a number of verses on the back, but the first one was enough to get me going and thinking for this entire week.

"For God alone my soul waits in silence;

    from him comes my salvation.

² 

He alone is my rock and my salvation,    

my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken."

Psalm 62:1-2

If you are like me, I have heard this verse many times throughout the years, but I never really took the words directly to my heart. 

When my heart is trying to pull me in a million different directions, my God is the solid rock that holds my salvation. 

When I feel like my world is crumbling around me, God is my fortress. 

And I certainly will not be shaken!

Honduran Culture

This week, the three interns and I have been in Siguatepeque, a city about two hours away from Tegucigalpa, HN. We have been spending the week with the wonderful people here at the YWAM base. Throughout the week, we have been doing seminars and activities involving Honduran culture. This has been a perfect way for the interns to spend their first week here, learning a lot about the people they are here to serve. We have learned how to make lots of traditional Honduran foods, learned some new slang words, and even learned how to do a typical Honduran dance. Yes, we looked like dancing fools, but that isn't even the best part. Last night we had a block party on the street outside the base, with tons of food (that we helped prepare), a fun band, and tons of people. At the beginning of the party, we performed the dance we had learned in front of everyone.... We were also wearing some traditional Honduran outfits, too. It was such a blast! This week has been such an amazing learning experience for all of us. It has been such an honor and a blessing to learn so much about the people and culture that has such a huge place in my heart. So here are some pictures!

Monica getting her hair done for the dance. 

Getting my hair done was a little painful...

My lovely dance partner!

Little Critters and More

For some reason coming to Honduras has made me fear little critters a lot less. But instead of just lacking fear of them, for some reason I all of the sudden want to pick them up and play with them. Yeah, this is shocking for me too. Not spiders and beetles and such, but nonetheless some critters. We have started to document each of these moments... here's what we have so far:

biggest frog I have ever seen

wittle baby froggie

and a crab?

Don't ask me where the crab came from up at 4,500 feet in the mountains, but it happened. He was quite the feisty little guy. A medical/construction team has been trickling in over the past few days, so we have been getting to know them and working/playing at the Children's Home a good bit. I kicked booty twice in two Egyptian Ratscrew card games with some of the team.

Lots of things have been going on since the team arrived:

- Suzy got her hair cut. Suzy is the founder of the LAMB Institute (where I am working this summer). She usually gets her haircut in a barrio for $2.50 (but I heard her barber just recently went up to $3). This was quite the little treat for her and for everyone watching who received lots of entertainment and laughs from how fun(ny) it was!

 

- We sanded some railings and some doors at Sala Cuna (the nursery) at the Children's Home in preparation for some new paint! The team had fun with that!

the little ones wanted to know what we were doing to their doors..

- We rounded up the kids and played an interesting game of kickball. This didn't last very long before they wanted to play soccer again, but we managed to keep them interested for almost an hour! We also had the little girls jumping rope, and we had a wipe out after an attempt to demonstrate the 3-legged-race for the kids.

after the 3-legged-race wipeout

Caty doing her thing

Jose David kicks one out of the park (or just very far off of the concrete slab)

making sure Jose David doesn't steal any bases

I know, we all look really legit.......

- There seems to be a trend spreading with the sunglasses...

Alyssa and Alex

Marlon

Isaac

                     

- Here are some pictures of random cuties and other things that have been going down.

I had to include this for its preciousness- Noe!

  

Cute tummy hug from Andrea

We ate our breakfast in the dark after the power went out..

Alyssa had her first fall ever at the Children's Home- battle wounds!

Johanna's learned a new eyelid trick... gross

Giancarlos- the awesome pewter shop nearby

Alyssa, Amanda and I went to the Alonzo movement Wednesday night (an AWESOME part of our ministry here in HN)

the people next door are getting new tiling, and mixing the concrete right there on the street. interesting...

And last but not least, we received a special treat when Menguin 9one of our staff members) rapped for us on the spot. So much energy and so much talent!

"Malia"

 I arrived in Honduras yesterday, with the usual applause for the pilot as we landed in the second most dangerous airport in the world. This was my first successful flight into Honduras flying solo! Traveling alone to a foreign country can be a little nerve-racking sometimes.

After I arrived, we headed over to a pool party for Elsa, one of Suzy's children. It was very fun to swim in that refreshing water, while the air above was humid and caliente. We ate PB&J's, some yummy cake, and then hacked at the piñata for a good while. People... this piñata is the largest piñata I have EVER seen...

After the party, we packed up some food and clothes and headed out to the Children's Home for a sleepover! We played and played and played, then we had a fogata (bonfire)! It was a blast, we played games, sang songs, told stories. It felt like I was at camp again. It was fun to see such joy in all of the children.

Just singing some songs

Dance contest?

Amanda telling Marvin the story of how Chicho died...

By far the best part of the trip so far is walking into Sala Cuna. Sala Cuna is the nursery for our littlest ones. I knocked on the door and Lester David opened, and after doing a double-take, he came running into my arms and yelled, "Malia, Malia!" (in an attempt to say Maria). After hearing this, the rest of the children came running from the back room, and my name became a chant with their small, little voices- "Malia..Malia!" It warmed my heart so much to see how much they loved and missed me. That they remembered me by name, just as I have remember them.

It was a reminder in that moment that I was loved. That not only do these children remember me by name, but my God in heaven above remembers me by name.