Peru: A New Journey Begins

A Peruvian Beginning

2012-01-26T18:31:00.000-08:00

Putting the past behind me:

I felt a little beat up from my last Honduran experience but I loved all the people I met in the ministries I was given. I came back to the US poorer with very limited financial means to care for myself which did not bode well for future missions, hence my prayer in the above intro. God is blessing me with a new journey.

And a BIG thanks for the past summer:

BIG thanks for the past summer has to rest on one person and that is Gale Bell. My former neighbor who took me in when I came back from Honduras and was living on my past savings.

Looking back IT WAS ALL GOOD as the expression goes. It was my time of "waiting on the Lord" and as usual, once we begin to accept our current woes and strengthen faith to deal with it, time seems to drag but then the clouds part. I got a great part time job delivering hospital equipment (thanks Gary) and I got the full time gig in Peru that may last a while.

And contact with friends and family helped pull me through as well. Thanks all!

The Present:

After 2-3 exhausting days of packing and putting affairs in order, I am now safely in Lima, for a few days at the home of John and Susan Parks, Anglican Long Term Missionaries, that I have been so blessed to reconnect with. John is traveling but Susan today gave me a priceless background on Peruvian culture and FOOD which in Peru is taken very seriously!!! My kind of place. I feel strengthened in my period of waiting and in being willing to accept any work or situation that came my way and now after this day of rest I will again prepare to reach and teach a third grade class to the best of my abilities.

One more comment is that I actually enjoyed leaving for this assignment without having to raise funding. God was faithful to my request. It " looks" like all my travel/health insurance and living expenses will be fully met by this teaching position of doing what I enjoy. We have a great God.

I hope all of you right now reading this will offer a prayer on the success of this journey that I be faithful in spreading God's love in all contacts and not given to griping etc. I find I am a seed planter and I pray that I do that well. Harvesting is for others so blessed and I am grateful that some of you out there have that task. We are all part of one body in a way, contributing our strengths to others and being strengthened ourselves by others we meet.

A Final Look Back:

I finally want to say thanks to all the teachers I served from NC, PA & NJ etc. and others I've met in the past two years especially. These younger teachers really enriched my life and I am proud that some of us will stay in contact for sometime. I almost can't believe the faith that many of them have. That witness to me is more of a miracle than seeing one.

The Bible says Jesus will draw all men to Him, as I get older, I am blessed and enriched by seeing this and especially seeing changes in people I've known. His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts, looking back my thoughts have never been perfect but His are, let's trust in God to complete things perfectly as we sure can't. More to come God willing, :)

Science Fair - Final 2010-11 School Blog - - Good Bye For Now!

2011-06-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

YES, the school I worked for was small but a lot bigger than it was a few year ago. Part of its shining accomplishment is the Science Fair they held in May.

As many of you may remember the thought of doing a science project was daunting but, done right, it yielded rewards for the student in terms of academic accomplishment, not to mention being a shining accomplishment for the school itself.

This year's Science Fair went really well. All grades had to present something. Fourth through eighth grade all had to do individual projects.

First is a picture trying to show you the thirty or more presenters.

The student had to stand by his project and present it to as many people who wanted to learn about it.

Here is Carlos a sixth grader presenting his project to Morissa the Language Arts Teacher.

This was great for my ESOL students who were able to to a great job in English explaining their project.

Here is Alexis, tied for 1st place with a solar oven baking project.

And here is Mariana, my fifth grader who shared first place with her experiment on, "is lung dis- place- ment affected by smoking?" You bet it is!

Finally is my student Maycol, a fifth grader who took third place explaining his hypothesis on which soil is better to grow read beans. Somehow the sandy soil won.

Here is Maycol again with his friend Luke, another of my students. Take a good look at this picture...

This was the dream of the school, that gringo children, islanders and poorer Colonia children could attend the same school and learn from each other.

In Maycol's situation, the dream is becoming a reality. His parents could never afford to send him here but he is working very hard and is being sponsored by a person who believes in giving the gift of education to him.

It saddens me somewhat that more people aren't interested in truly making a substantial difference in other people's lives. I see so many that do but there are so many more faces that could be helped. Do people let let selfish considerations stop them from making a difference and then wonder why the world is as it is? I believe we are commanded to love one another and that my brothers and sisters in Honduras are a part of my family like my blood brothers and sisters that are my biological family.

I gave this school a year as it was what I could afford to do. I am so thankful for all those that offered prayers and for those who offered financial supports to make this year a reality. Your thanks is here and I believe one day you will hear it from God as well. If you doubt that, please take another look at Maycol's picture. One happy academically accomplished child courtesy of his sponsor who pays $300 a month to keep him there and for all those who prayed for his teacher and for those that helped get the teacher there and back!

My thanks can never be enough. You know whose thanks is good enough though, so praise God, the author of all that is good.

Mothers Day SBAS Style

2011-05-23T19:48:00.001-07:00

Greetings once again from Honduras!

As promised as this school year becomes more of a blur the pictures increase and the print decreases reflecting nostalgia and the desire to communicate the rapidly passing time more simply as students and teachers alike begin to yearn for the school year to be completed.

Here is our MOTHER'S DAY celebration.

Note the anticipation in pic 1

As usual in Honduras as soon as your attention is focused somewhere else is when you can be stolen blind by a thief you least expect!!!! :)

The show begins with second grade putting on a skit, "where's my mama?"

Many are paraded by this girl but she keeps saying "no my mama is the most beautiful women in the world."

Finally a poorly dressed woman limps by and the girl exclaims, "that's my mama the most beautiful women in the world."

It speaks volumes of what we think of our moms, right?

Giving the highlights, these are my 4th and 5th graders singing a song in Spanish.

In Honduras it is traditional for the Honduran Spanish and Estudo Sociales to host the event so here I was a bystander.

Finally we had individual performances by Ariane,

and then followed by

Chirsta. Both these ladies are excellent presenters of information.

Our guy tries again!

Of course you know the brownies were rationed to the moms and we teachers didn't get any, which is okay. I bring it up in case you ask "how were the brownies?"

The moms did get a beautiful Valentines Day card hand-made yet!

This is final finale which ended at 11:00 am so the students still had a half day of school classes to attend.

In this school I am a light in a dark place on a spiritual darkened island as well. There was no prayer offered up for Mother's Day and no blessing sought. I don't know but after serving in Christian schools, the days are more special when God is acknowledges and honored in these events.

A New Year Update

2011-03-01T20:17:00.000-08:00

A March 1, 2011 Update

Yes the intervening time from Christmas flew by! A new year brings a promise of hope. A new day for democracy in Egypt and in the Middle East as well as Africa. A new baby for my niece Eileen and her husband Elliot named Bode, born about two weeks, so our family rejoices!Yet for others especially on the prayer lists that I am attached to such as ACOW, I touched by the suffering of many and the need for prayer. So I pray for healing and above all for God’s will in each circumstance to reign. It gives some peace to do this, and I pray that we are all in God’s will and doing what the Lord would have us to do each day.

Down here in Roatan, I was fortunate to attend a two day, “T3” Conference which name is derived from “Teachers Teaching Teachers.” This conference was held at Escuela Internacional Sampedrana in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on February 24^th and 25th. Attending were 450 teachers (mostly Hondurans) who were immensely blessed by the different workshops offered there. I learned a lot about cooperative learning, lesson planning, spelling words, and teaching to accommodate dyslexia.

Hey, did you know that the three "Rs" are being replaced by the four "Cs?" It's true, the “4Cs” - communication, collaboration, critical thinking/ analysis, and creating/ innovating are convincingly being recognized as the skills future workers need on top of the "3Rs" - reading, writing, and arithmetic. If you want to learn more about preparing students for the 21th century employment skills, please see, www.p21.org or the chart at: http://www.p21.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=120

The T3 Conference was a truly blessed time for encouragement, academic stimulation and to hang out with fellow teachers. The keynote speaker, Kjell Fenn, and I had a lot in common. We originally both entered the mission field wanting to help out and soon realized that we would touch more people by teaching than by doing mission projects, so we shared some quality time in reminiscing. I was very impressed with Ronald Vair, the director of Escuela Internacial Sampedrana and thanked him for hosting such a wonderful event that truly helps raise the scholarship level of teaching in Honduras. Thanks again Ron!

Other News:

Teaching has continued at the usual unrelenting pace which I enjoy. Also my duties as a department head has me evaluating other teachers during my free periods etc. I find that my ministry in school is to try and pour myself out to my students especially pointing out the way to live through occasional bible-related stories. My homeroom 4^th and 5^th grades can easily relate to a lesson about people who offend them and we do role playing which always ends in forgiveness and some form of a hug or handshake. It is never too early to model forgiveness in anyone’s life.

I also find myself looking anew at the 6-8^th grade students I have and realize how important it is to model good behavior and to reign them in on the not-too-often occasions when they need it. Like yesterday I had to give two warnings to a young women who has never had one before. This is a big deal as to receive four means a school detention. She was “greatly vexed” as they say down here, but the next day, she seems to admire/ respect me more as her and many of her classmates genuinely want someone to care enough to set and enforce boundaries for them and I’m happy that some of them do get it!

My work as many of you know is a seed planter. I don’t get to harvest, just plant and water. It is not too dramatic but it does have its moments like above. In my personal life I still wrestle with God’s will for me. I see the small gestures, considerations and coincidences that could only come from Him, yet I yearn for a more direct contact/ direction of where I should be for the next part of my teaching career/ ministry.

Technology-wise, I've also realized that I should have replaced my laptop computer as it is now over ten years old! Toshibas rock! --at least the ones built in 2000. I have to admit that it is finally technologically outdated even though it works. The 1.0 port makes digital connections too slow and the RAM cannot go about 512 so it is time to say goodbye as soon as I can replace it.

Mechanic-wise, it is with thanks mixed with a little regret, I've also said goodbye to my 1998 Yamaha 175 cc moto as the engine died again after having been rebuilt less than six months ago. It was nice but it never had a working headlamp which prevented me from attending night youth ministry and the bill to fix it was way more that its book value.

So I move on and look forward to finishing out the next three months. Please pray that I will find a teaching opportunity that will be more financially viable for the future. As I learned from Kjell Fenn, the keynote speaker, powerful ministry is done through teaching in developing countries and many of the leading schools are able to meet the needs of these teachers. If that is God's will for me please pray that I am blessed to find a the right school abroad or wherever He wants me.

Well, have a great week and I should be doing another update soon as "the doughnut girls" are at this moment getting a new home built for them!
To be continued, God-willing...

An Amazing Christmas Ministry!

2010-12-21T18:35:00.000-08:00

One of my reasons for leaving the excellent school of Children’s Palace Bilingual School and going to Sandy Bay Alternative School (SBAS) was more for the outreach ministries that take place nearer to that school.

Laura Annett, the one on the right in the first picture, works for SBAS as a guidance counselor, coordinated a trip for my 4^th and 5^th grade homeroom to go to a local orphanage as a Christmas outreach. It was an incredible success! Here she is talking with the mother- in- charge, Ms. Vanessa. Next picture, Wendi, our SBAS school admin- istrator also went with us.

We took two SUV-loads of children to the “orphanage” as it is called but which in reality a crisis center for children in trouble usually ordered there by Honduran courts. The center is very strict about who they let in and for what reasons which is under-standable.

We were given permission to enter, meet and read with the children, present Christmas stories and poems and finally to wrap presents many of our students donated for these children and finally we took a picture of the wrapped presents around the tree with the excited kids!

It was such a blessed day! I will let the pictures speak for themselves. I only want to tell you that while we were wrapping presents a few of the children keep trying their best to peak in the windows! Kids are the same everywhere and this particular crisis- center/ orphanage is very good at providing a nuturing and caring envi- ronment.

The orphanage itself is called Sandy Bay Lighthouse Ministry and is a Christian ministry providing love, care and guidance for these children.

Go ECO-Rangers!!!

2010-12-21T17:58:00.000-08:00

Go ECO - Rangers!!! As you may know, orderliness (discipline) of lines for children helps lead to more ordered and educated lives and is so important! Here is Giovanni teaching line order and here is a quick update of a ministry that I have recently been involved with. ECO-Rangers seeks to bring poor children of black islanders and of “the colonia” together and give them a place to play and learn together about taking care of the ecology and learning about their Creator as well. We meet Wednesday from 3pm to 5:30 pm and Saturdays, 2-5:30 PM.

GO ECO RANGERS!!!!

This is our team spirit cry we call out!

For those that don’t know, third world countries suffer horribly the pollution of plastics that we give them. No matter how isolated the desert island you go to Coke or Pepsi has been there first and left a ton of trash. This is unfortunate. The only way to reverse the flow of trash into the ocean reef’s delicate eco-system is to help train the youth into appreciating where they live and to take care of it.

Every meeting, on Wednesday and Saturday involves teaching, beach clean up and play. Giovanni, Mike and Kerry Tischi, and Torri and I are spearheading this project that draws between 30 and 40 children each time.

Every time, I offer a prayer and ask for God’s protection on us and to help disciple all of us in how to keep this island clean and for the guidance to do all things in accordance with His will!

It is through love, order, education, working and playing together that these children will build a foundation for being productive caring citizens. I believe also that one needs to have an appreciation of how wonderful God constructed this world and that through caring for it, we are doing His will.

Finally you see here kids able to play care-free on a beach that is now trash-free!

From Halloween to Thanksgiving Eve!

2010-11-24T13:11:00.000-08:00

Hi, Thanksgiving is upon us and I am thankful of all of you, family, friends, and my South Florida A.C.O.W which I wish will have a wonderful Thanksgiving! This blog update covers differing topics so please peruse the bold heading and read in depth when you have time. Also I don't have the normal amount of photos as my camera need replacing. I should be able to do it if I visit South Florida for Christmas and work a few days for Habitat for Humanity of Miami.

1) First a GREAT BIBLE THANKSGIVING REFERENCE: Chris Tomlin writes in the famous song “Forever,” “give thanks to the Lord, for He is Good, His Love endures Forever.” This similar phrasing appears at least three times in the books of 1^st and 2^nd Chronicles. My most favorite part is when King Solomon, after many years, finally completes the Temple and is holding a rather long ceremony of dedication. The exuberant writer, who records the moment, says that it was such a festive occasion that so many sheep and cattle were sacrificed “it was beyond count.” The Ark of the Covenant processes in and was being installed into the Holy Place. The priests, trumphet players, other musicians and the people raised their voices and sang, “HE is good, His love endures forever.” As they were singing and praising and as the priests were withdrawing from the Holy Place after installing the Ark of the Covenant in it new home, suddenly the writer records “a cloud descended and the priests could no longer perform the service as the glory of God came and filled the temple.” What a moment that must have been…amazing, incredible, hold that thought!

Let’s take a moment and consider this. On Thanksgiving, to whom is our thanks being directed to? Are we thanking God, ourselves, or luck for all we have? It's amazing that no matter how faithless we can be at times, His love, God’s love endures for us forever. That indeed, is something to be thankful for. So no matter how close or far from God we feel sometimes His love for me and you endures forever so as Chris Tomlin writes, Sing praise! Sing praise! God confirms this in 2^nd Chronicles 15 above. Imagine the joy the priests must have felt when the cloud of glory descended. Imagine too,the joy the people must have felt that the dedication was now over! (just kidding) But I’m sure that when the cloud descended the people were filled with God’s presence and it was glorious! One day we too will witness that glory. Happy Thanksgiving as I'm thankful for you and for all that we have and will one day have as we do God’s will on earth!

Here is the planned UPDATE...

2) Second, our Halloween night was a huge success. Big smiles greeted my fifth and fourth grade as I guess people loved the haunted house and all had fun! Most Spanish cultures like Honduras are offended by Halloween and see it as demonic. However my school strongly feels in the Americanized version of a chance for the kids to have fun. So I politely refused offers for tied nooses etc. and stuck to fake blood and limbs made out of cardboard, paper and washable paint. Our line was "oh no how can we be saved or escape the Mad Doctor?" Angel of Light where are you? A narrow LED bright beam of a head light clicks on and the people ran to be pointed the way to safety (saved) by the angel. I had two missionary families whose children go to this school helping me and the Haunted House met with their approval as well! Praise God as I considered it making lemonade out of lemons and a chance to meet more of the community! This working together has also lead to me to telling more people about church on the island and planting seeds. We do have a youth group at the church that is pulling in some parents to the Sunday service!

3) Thirdly, justice Honduran style. Late last week, concerning the theft of my Ipod and Stereo dock, my landlord John found the thief again in Coxen Hole and had the police arrest him and I ended up getting $200 back! The thief was in jail for about 5 hours till my landlord contacted me and said his sister wanted to bail him out and pay for the stolen iPod and stereo. The thief gave a couple of names out of who he sold it to but that didn't work out. So the next best thing is that even though replacement value is about $300, I decided to ask for $200 and to my landlord's surprise, she gave me $200. It is almost replacement value. Probably a first in Roatan! Apparently this particular thief was not as poor as the first two suspects and I found out later that one of the parents is in the States and the oldest sister is taking care of two other brothers. So though it was better to error on the side of caution. 1 Peter 2:19 tells us, "For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. Jesus also tell us that (sometimes) it is better to be wronged that to seek our day in court. Anyway, yes it would be great if this prison scare will straighten the teenager out but Honduran jails are like revolving doors usually with not much justice so my outcome was a true blessing!

4) Fourthly, I bought my teaching friend's motorcycle for $200. Harrison offered to sell me the motorcycle that is being repaired for $200 so now I have a clunker motorcycle that runs…most important. (I had agreed to buy this months ago and since Harrison was able to buy an SUV cheaply all is working out.) It runs great in the day and I am discerning whether to fix the lights or not. For you gear heads, the magneto is bad and so is the voltage regulator, but for safety it may be worth repairing. Praise God again.

Fourthly, a prayer answer is that we received an extension on the VISA that is probably good for another 90 days…please continue to pray for wisdom here and that hopefully my Visa is good til at least til Christmas. Please pray for a relatively inexpensive flight back to Florida for Christmas!

5) Fifthly there is some more movement on the selling of my house. Please PRAY that for this time it will be sold and the second mortgagee will also agree to the short sale! I feel God has recently been moving on this as I had a breakthrough talking with a foreclosure lawyer (pro bono) and he gave me some good advice. I spoke with them today and I am sending them a new letter.

Well thanks for reading and pray that I can make it to Florida for Christmas. Thanks all of you for dropping a quick note.

God bless and please pray that while I am able to do excellent work with the students and to witness to them, that God begins to show me where He wants me for next year(s). I'm hoping for a teaching ministry opportunity that may have a better fit than teaching year to year.

May you be blessed,

John R. Shivy

Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Three D's and having them redeemed...

2010-10-23T17:55:00.000-07:00

A calm before the storm…platitudes are great sometimes as they help us relate to an experience of another more easily; at least I think so. Right now we on the island are awaiting either Tropical Storm Richard or Hurricane Richard that definitely will hit Roatan, Honduras. That is my first “D” for “potential Disaster.” I am saying prayers that this doesn’t happen and many of you have as well. I've sent a few shots of the calm before the storm and the prep. My camera batteries are not working so well and I missed a few I really wanted. One was of my landlord, John, helped put up these sheets for me and I wanted an action photo. The storm hit or will hit Sunday October 23^rd after 1:00 AM. I believe it will be okay as the weather is always in God’s hands and people have been praying.

Second D is for “dirty deeds done dirt cheap.” This was a great ACDC song from way back about someone making their living by doing under- handed deeds for others. Well in this photo possibly you can see my black Ipod and Ipod dock stereo that were stolen by one, two or three villains of whom we’ve interviewed. What is unclear is whether they were working together or not. The last person, who we found yesterday, admitted to breaking in but he fled later that night. This is a small enough island however and my landlord wants to track him down which will involve the police. Being a teacher, I’ve learned time and time again that if you don’t correct bad behavior you sanction it, so having the police involved may not be a bad idea. One thing I’ve noticed of the first two kids, is that I’ve never seen them in a school uniform. I will inquire about school the next time I see them. If they cannot afford it I will see if I can get them in school. The third kid is bigger and dropped out so I cannot do much there unless he does the right thing. Thanks for your prayers on this as God is still moving in this and I’m surprised that developments keep happening. The redeeming factors are my Ipod and Ipod Stereo dock were both gifts quite unexpected so you can say that Lord giveth and the Lord taketh…and may give back. Secondly if these two kids need to get back into school that could turn a negative into a positive.

Third "D" is for “Disappointing.” The incident that is most disappointing is that we are in actuality working illegally.

The government had decided to enforce very old laws that state that teachers must have a work Visa or be fined and/deported. I cautioned the founder of the school (NOT Wendi here who was just hired) before I accepted that she must come to some accommodation with Immigration on this or risk very strong consequences. Now working under a tourist Visa as a teacher has been done in Honduras for as long as I can remember. However, this school did not come to an accommodation with the government and did not warn us. We are at risk of having to leave the country. Next week we will probably pay for import and export stamps which give a new Visa but it may not be good enough. What is disappointing is that the school’s position has been to ask the teachers to be part of this deception to deceive and to misinform the government. The school says they have a lawyer working on this. I hope so. I pray for a resolution to this and that Honduras will see the continuing need for a cultural exchange that teaching in a foreign country provides. This is truly a situation that needs redeeming. I will keep you posted.

Well, God bless. Lastly, the one thing I’ve been realizing for these later years in my life is how important blessings are. You have nothing if you are not blessed. Blessings are from God, all that you have “good” in your life, is something to be thankful to Him for. Jesus said it best, “why do you call me good? No one is good-except God alone.” (Mark 10:18) “Blessing” implies good things coming to you. Jesus clarified “good” by attributing that all “good” has to come from the source which is God. So Jesus was telling the rich man that if he truly believed Jesus was “good” then that meant for him and everyone there that Jesus had to have been sent from God. Those people truly didn’t know how blessed they were to hear Jesus speak and be in His presence…nor do we sometimes…well I’m waiting for the tropical storm/hurricane to come…God bless.

OH ALMOST FORGOT A TRUE BLESSING THAT JUST HAPPENED. This is a picture is of my niece's newborn, Zoe, born October 23rd, 12:47 AM, all are well. Truly a wonderful blessing!!!

Year 2 Sandy Bay Alternative School - serving the community

2010-09-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

Hello, I hope this finds you well. It’s me, John Shivy, and I’m back for a new academic year in Roatan, Honduras. Before I make excuses about how late this update is...please look at the first picture as this is what this teaching mission is all about and it's not about me.

It’s about educating children in a country that has almost all but given up on providing a quality education for its public school children. Emmy is in picture one with her grand mother as she is taken to Sandy Bay Alter-native School where I now work. The wages Emmy’s grand mother and all her family makes cannot afford to send her to this school. A sponsor pays the $300 a month tuition; and Emmy, not realizing the sacrifice someone is making for her, is just as happy as a clam that she is attending this school. I love that picture as it signifies active faith, that some people care and will help to support a brighter future for God’s children that happen to live some place else, in this instance in very poor communities on this island of Roatan in Honduras.

So that enough for one update, short and sweet. Unless you are new, you've been on my list for about a year. I appreciate every prayer you've made and the financial help. You are on the list because in some manner you've befriended me or are related, and I took a leap of faith that by emailing you updates that hopefully you would be blessed as well. Last year, the Lord working through many of you provided just enough resources but this is a new year and a new opportunity. Please help me educate a child to the best of my ability by prayer and financial help if you are able. Please email at johntravelhere@yahoo.com to say hello and let me know if you can help. "May God bless you in a way that you truly sense His Presence. Amen."

FYI: Picture 2 is the entrance to the school. Pictures 3 & 4 are my combined 4th & 5th Grades that took this picture after school as a favor to me on "Student Day." Picture 6 is seventh graders and Picture 8 is a "Student Day" celebration as well. Thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts, a Dilemma, and the Future

2010-07-09T08:47:00.001-07:00

All things come to an end. Here are some pictures of Fiesta Catracha. A holiday that celebrates all things Honduran, like dance, costume, crafts and food. Please enjoy the pictures.

As you may be able to tell, the children at Children's Palace Bilingual School have parents that are able to afford tuition and hopefully these children will lead Honduras to a future that cares more for their poorer neighbor. My class especially certainly learned about loving their neighbor.

However the heart of a missionary seeks to serve more representative children in Honduras, i.e. the ones that are deserving but cannot afford an education. The school I am serving at this next year strives to keep a 30% scholarship rate to educate their neighbors. Sandy Bay Alternative School is a school that is trying to education the representative cross section of who lives on the island. Also working at this school, I believe will provide opportunities to do more ministries within the poorer communities.

I am hoping that I can gain a following of supporters as I seek to make more inroads into Honduras. I am more sure of God's will in hindsight sometimes than in staring directly into the future. However I believe God will bless our best attempts at seeking to care for our neighbors and educate children in a way that motivates them to want to serve God and their neighbor. So with some hesitation, I am going to this other school in the hopes that more ministry opportunities await me there. So yes, I will go. Hopefully you will also go with me in some way and will update me on what's happening at home. God bless,

Doughnut Girls 1 of 3

2010-06-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

One of the most satisfying mini-ministries was to make friends with the donut girls.

Meet left to right, Enna, Susanna and Daniela. I wish I would have taken a picture the first time we saw them. They were so very reserved and so serious for their age.

After selling us several doughnuts and getting to know us better they really made our apartments their home away from home. They stay about an hour, get to act silly and play games after their usually long day. Enne, Susanna, and Daniela go to school for five hours a day and then sell doughnuts until they are all sold, sometimes another five or more hours a day. So when they come to us they know they can just be themselves for a while. The credit goes to Amy for starting sanctuary of sorts for them.

Doughnut Girls 2 of 3

2010-06-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

After about 3 months of hanging out from time to time, it seemed a good idea that if they came at dinner time, they should be invited to dinner.

It'd be nice nice if Enne did not reflectively close her eyes for a photo, but here, I like to image that she is just savoring every bite! Here they enjoy the famous Mr. John spaghetti sauce.

Doughnut Girls 3 of 3

2010-06-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

Enne, Susanna and/or Daniel in whatever combination they show up in, LOVE to wash dishes and clean up. I'm sure they feel that this is their contribution to the meal and/or and it is.

It was kind of fun so see them get right to work, because I never asked them to and while they are working the jokes and fun doesn't stop. They enjoy putting each other on.

Of course, Ms. Amy the high school English teacher is in this picture because she started this ministry, (with Jessica's help) and then we kind of alternating-ly shared it, with help from Harrison and Mitch at times as well.

The one thing I think I learned about the spending time with the girls and letting them have their moments, is that I should always look forward to buying the doughnut with enthusiasm almost before they ask. That seems more a gift than them having to ask.

Just so you know, I usually take the doughnuts into school and cut them in quarters and they disappear real fast in the faculty room. They are good!

And finally if they don't come quite at my meal time they get a liquado usually. This is a smoothie which I make from papaya, banana, vanilla, ice and some milk. It is good and perfect for the constant 90 degree days.

Doughnut Girls Addendum

2010-06-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

Finally, yes there is a beautiful beach about 40 minutes away by taxi, and it is beautiful but we could not afford to get there too often. However one fine sunny day Amy took the girls there and Harrison joined here. I was not able to go but helped with the taxi. Here are kids have a chance to be kids and see a beach.

Teacher Bible Study Group

2010-05-09T06:52:00.000-07:00

Starting in about October, once we were settled into our routines, we began a Bible Study. We met at Harrison's apartment. Eric led the worship and I led the bible studies. I didn't take pictures of the studies so here were some of the participants.

We started out strong in Fall and Winter. By Spring we were a smaller group but a very blessed one. God rewarded our continuity as we held the study as long as two or three or more were gathered in His Name. We felt His Spirit. Our praise and worship always helped us maintain perspective being far from home and in dealing with the heat and humidity.

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of Noreen, a mother and future next year teacher who enriched our study in Spring.

Bug Project 1 of 4

2010-05-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

Welcome to The Children's Palace Bilingual School's 4th Grade Science Bug Project!

What fourth grade would be complete without a Science Bug Project? The criteria was for two partners to research one of the bugs we studied about and present their findings on posterboard, by model, and through oral presentation. Almost all of the work was done in class. The presentations were so good that we invited the 2^nd grade class in to hear them as well. Here Rene,(back toward us) and Dylan present their findings of the Praying Mantis to the second grade.

Bug Project 2 of 4

2010-05-01T11:37:00.001-07:00

Here Maria, Der- annie, and Daniela listen as a second grader asks an inter- esting question about Ladybugs.

This group was well prepared to answer all questions on their Ladybug. They put all of their research into their own words on the posterboards behind them, in English, which is really their second language.

Bug Project 3 of 4

2010-05-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

Deigo, looking upward, is in heaven as he tries to recall an obscure fact he learned about the “Walking Stick” insect. Arlington, his partner, is staring intently at the picture.

This is their original presentation where my 4th class naturally tries to stump the presenters with a question about their bug that they didn't think of.

Bug Project 4 of 4

2010-05-01T11:17:00.000-07:00

Leaundre and Jose, who initially did not want to work together, presented their “Earwig” insect project, and enjoyed every minute of their presentation. (Earwig model on the desk.)

In all, this entire bug project was well received by the students and they for the most part enjoyed working and learning from each other.

While doing this, I thought of a quote application from Job 34:3-4 says. ³ For the ear tests words as the tongue tastes food. ⁴ Let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good.

This passage resonated with why I chose to invest a year with these children at this school. Every day, we start school with a ten minute devotion which includes a situational short story usually of children reacting poorly and learning something. So my class discusses how the story characters acted, how we would act, and how we should act in this situation. Also we discuss that we must ask God for help in doing what is right as we usually don’t want to respond that way.

Through numerous incidents that happen in a school year, I see after a long period of time, a gradual and hopefully permanent improvement in their behavior towards each other. I also believe that some of them are learning how to find their own way relate to and hear from God in their lives. May they be blessed.

Addendum - Didn't know I had this one!

2010-05-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Ooops, I just found this photo ... Here we have Gimaya, Rizza, and Whitney who presented a Monarch Butterfly.

Coming up next, the Doughnut Girls.

A Safety Net - Something I've learn about finding joy

2010-04-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

Hello, with much forgiveness for not adding to the blog for so long, I decided to try again.

Theses are short & sweet updates that contain a lesson I learned and/or how God has worked here in Roatan, Honduras.

Meet the gang, through these 1st year teachers, I learned to separate time from work to plan to enjoy more of the precious time God has given us. They invite me to do things with them and that is a blessing. Meet Mitch, 3^rd grade, Harrison, PE and HS Bible, Jessica, 1^stgrade, me, 4^th grade and Amy, HS English. Proverbs 17:1 "A friend loves at all times..." and Proverbs 18:1, "A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire, he rages against all wise judgement." From day one, we’ve looked out for one another.

Meet the August Newlyweds

2010-04-19T16:17:00.000-07:00

Of course I should have introduced two others. Eric, sixth grade, and Dulce, our nurse, newlyweds this last August. It took time to find them and to get acquainted. Eric and Dulce invited Mitch and me to her mom's home in La Esperanza for Semana Santa and that was a blessing.

A Beginning Music Ministry

2010-04-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

Eric, a music major in trumpet, has taken to the guitar like a Honduran takes to a baleada! (l'll explain someday.) Eric and I were invited to play worship on Sunday, April 3rd, and we have been invited back! A side note is that Eric and Harrison seldom miss our weekly bible studies and we are blessed because of it.

The Lord has seen my need for companionship here and has abundantly blessed it beyond what I could have imagined for this year. "Many, O Lord, are your wonderful works, which YOU have done, your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to you in order, if I would declare and speak of them speak of them, they are more than can be numbered." (Psalm 40:5)

2009-10-06T18:15:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, October 2, was the fourth grade’s turn to present the chapel lesson for the week. We had a 40-minute time slot, which I chose to fill by writing a play and having my students perform and sing in it all in one week! If it sounds like a massive undertaking, it was. I think I started writing it on Sunday night and then rewrote it a few times as we did some afternoon rehearsals borrowing time from Health, Social Studies and Creative Writing. This was being creative right? (Picture One: Audience riveted to the action)

If you’ve ever taught 4th graders you know that having them be in one place doing something new is a challenge. But they were troupers after some strong encouragement.

(Picture Two: Sleeper having a serio-comic nightmare) The Play (Act I) starts out with a character named in the script as “Sleeper” dreaming about all the tests he had to do the next morning. He is fretting in his sleep he did not study enough. He hears angels singing “caste your burdens unto Jesus.” He wakes up momentarily, “What? Who’s there?” Fortunately I found the perfect student to milk this role and it went well. This student is comforted by the fact that there is going to be a chapel that morning and he decides to praise God and ask for His help for his day. The scene ends with all the chapel singing “Come now is the time to worship!”

The second part (Act II) takes place at school where the character named in script as “Overachiever” is boasting and bragging about how smart she is and how she may be the best at everything. Somehow there are angels in the background that chant “stop bragging!” (Picture Three: OverAcheiver At Work)

“Overachiever” is visited by an angel who tells her that only Jesus has the right to brag because the true achievement of gaining eternal life can only come through His sacrifice for our sins. After some give and take, Overachiever is humbled by this whole affair and decides to pay compliments to others and help them in class. The whole chapel sings “Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord.” Overachiever lead the angels in song hand and body movements of course! The play also explained that being humble meant putting God first and to always be ready to help and serve others with joy.

(Picture Four: Play Complete With Scene changes and...)

(Picture Five: ...sound man, script girl (who doubles as lead angel) and orchestra pit. Who is that guy?)

For song selections, we also did “Power In The Blood” which is one of my favorite Pentecostal songs. We rounded the singing selections with “This is the Day that the Lord Has Made,” I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy Down In My Heart,” and ended with “Blessed Be The Name,” which I was later told had almost all the chapel, Kinder to sixth grade singing! Final note was that the power went out right before our performance and we didn’t skip a beat. We used a megaphone that worked well and then the power came on right before we ended. We were not going to let anything interrupt our chapel service being a gift to the other students and to praise God. I’m glad you didn’t see the final rehearsal as it was not great, but I had a feeling that the actual chapel would go really well and it did. (Picture Six: It All Ends In Praising God)

May you feel God’s presence in your life today,

The Longest Yard

2009-10-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

After an exhausting summer of preparation, about two months ago, I moved to Roatan, Honduras to begin a ministry of teaching fourth Grade at Children’s Palace Bilingual School (CPBS) in French Harbor, Roatan, Honduras.

School has been in session for about 7 weeks and I am familiar enough with all the new teaching demands to be able to give you and update of what’s been happening. Usually my updates will be very short and contain most of the information in the first paragraph. This is a little longer because it contains some very interesting information about the Honduran government’s response to their national crisis, right after this next paragraph. Also I get the summer move experience out of my system.

Regarding this ministry, could you say a prayer for it and please email me with any prayer requests of your own so that I can pray for you? Secondarily, if you feel that you would like to contribute to this ministry, the address in my email signature you received gives you an opportunity to do so. With the economic climate we are in, and yet knowing that this is the right ministry to do now, I believe God would not have put it on my heart to go if He would not find support for me. When I pray about what to ask for as hopefully a monthly donation, the answer comes back to ask for lunch money. If a person can pray for this ministry and send the cost of a lunch hopefully once a month then I believe the needs of this ministry will be taken care of.

Now I want to report one very positive interesting thing about how the Honduran government responded to its political crisis.

As you know the same economic times we have in the U.S. (coupled with government stability concerns) are happening in Honduras. Our U.S. Government’s continued pressure on Honduras such as: the recent actions of cutting of all U.S. aid, the State Department restricting visas and its admonishment not to travel to Honduras has hit this country hard but life goes on, why? Has it been reported what the Honduran response has been to this international pressure?

Early last month, the Honduran government called on its people to fast and pray for at least half a day for God’s blessing on Honduras. The notice came to each school (public and private) for that Friday recommending that the high school (secondaria) children participate in fasting and praying as well. (Primary was excluded.)

It’s wonderful news to hear! Do you think one day a U.S. President would ask our country to do the same thing? I hope that it will one day happen. If you read the Books of 1st Kings and 2nd Kings, whenever a king did consult God first for help and relied on God to get out of a crisis, it went well for the nation. Perhaps that is why Honduras is still functioning. Let’s pray the for the Honduran Government and for our U.S. Government to petition for God’s help and guidance in restoring relations and having the Honduran November elections goes off well as scheduled and be internationally recognized as valid. Finally, let’s all pray for our President as well for God’s guidance for him to govern wisely.

This leads me to what my update is about. First, “prayer” is the most powerful weapon we have (as someone high in the Honduran government wisely knows). Secondly is “to teach and pass on to our children a love of God and how to walk in His ways.”

I have two Bible verses I added to my newly created email signature. The first is “train a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it (Prov. 22:6). I know I am preaching to the choir, but to teach the children is God’s calling on my life. Once I finally embraced that (though at least I not quite as old as Moses was), I see how important that is to God. Deuteronomy 4:10b says, ‘Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’ So often the ends of verses fall on deaf ears as we think we hear it and then forget the ending has equal weight. Our jobs as adults are never done until we teach the same faith, the same ways to our children. That is my mission in Honduras.

Children’s Palace Bilingual School (CPBS) believes that in addition to teaching children academically, children should be given a biblical education as well. I have a ten-minute devotion time every morning with my students and we have chapel once a week that is rotated among the elementary teachers. At the high school level we have a science teacher who teaches evolution as well as exploring the creation approach and the students are taught to critically examine the proofs and to find the answers to questions that many of us in the United States are unable to address. I believe this will help prepare them well for the future. A failure to train and teach children about God, his love and his commandments, is to lose the next generation to a worldview that wants to wipe out every public reference to God.

Why be concerned about this? As I grow older, I realize that having a growing relationship to my Creator brings peace, contentment and at times great joy to my life. I don’t claim to hear from God as much as I’d like and sometimes months seem to go by and I realize, wow, I haven’t been seeking God as I should. However when I put aside time everyday to read my Bible and invite God to instruct me, as one who is a beggar searching for a crust of bread, God always meets me there. God, at least for me doesn’t make my choices too easy but more and more I realize that I can trust Him enough to step out and serve as called.

AND by the way what a fourth grade I have by the way! They are a wonderful mix of Islanders dating back to pirate ancestry where this island was a chief haven for pirates and pirate treasures! (One such chest was found recently as they were building Roatan’s first shopping mall and it has subsequently disappeared. Everyone knows exactly where the chest was found but no one knows where it went!) I also have many Spanish speakers that need their language acquisition skills developed as well. This summer I had been in training to do just that. So I have begun to strategize on how best to meet their needs as the recent quizzes I have given have shown me just how far some of these children need to go.

Yes there will be more coming about current events but a look back at a quick story about how my summer went…

THIS SUMMER was one of the most challenging ones in a long time. I had to: leave my house in Florida; complete three summer teaching certification courses; attend a Kairos Prison Ministry 4-day event, clear out my house; have a yard sale; ship some things to Roatan; rent a small storage for the rest; change addresses on a multitude of websites, stop utilities etc, book travel by air, land and sea to get to Roatan in less than three weeks (with numerous emails in Spanglish); and by some miracle, make it on the plane on time. After almost getting to the airport exit, my brother realized that my laptop was still on the kitchen table and we had to go back and get it. BUT I knew that no matter how hard the road was, that this is what I had been called by God to do and He made it a reality. The flight was closed but the agent called and they let me on after selling me a return ticket that they said I needed for Honduran entry. It’s no wonder it is hard to keep in touch sometimes right?

Besides the airfare and shipping to get here, current daily expenses here include transportation in taxis (local $1 a ride up to $6 for distance rides), any medical needs such as for prescription pills, internet access for $45 a month and food. Food is expensive as almost all of it is imported to the island so it costs more. The internet is necessary to stay in touch, for online teaching research and for an online course I will start soon. Then there are always airplane tickets home that I need to budget for a roundtrip at beginning and year-end and for Christmas if possible. I also have a cell phone but calling the U.S. on it is pretty inexpensive so if you want a call from time to time I can do that!

My most important emphasis though is to move ahead and be faithful to the ministry that God has called me to do. My invitation to you is that you would join me in prayer for this ministry and be a part of it.

Please drop me a brief note of what is happening with you. If any of you are closely connected with the church or a school perhaps maybe my fourth grade can be pen pals with another fourth grade or Sunday School.

Finally I will always incorporate a Bible verse in my letters. Today’s is, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your ways (make straight your path).” Though I know not the end of the journey or where I will even be next year, I will trust that God already has a plan in place for that for me and for you.

Thanks for reading this and I hope you feel God’s presence upon you today.