I'm a teacher?

So I've slacked on blogging this past week, but I'll try to condense things as much as I can so this won't be a super long post.

Let's backtrack to a week ago where I experience my first church in Honduras. A bus came around to most of the teachers' houses to pick everyone up and took us to a church in el centro called Santidad. On a normal Sunday, the service is only in Spanish, but since the pastor knew a group of us would be coming he had someone translating everything in English for us. The translator was Eduardo who is the recruiter for IST. He actually remembered me from MVNU and I got to take a picture with him after the service so he could send it to Enrique who is the guy I tutored at the Naz who graduated from IST. Long story, but it's still wonderful to see all of the connections God made to bring me to this beautiful country. Anyway, the church service was pretty wonderful as everyone was so welcoming and gracious to us. After church, we went to one of the administrator's houses up at the top of a mountain for lunch. It was a wonderful, relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

Honestly, this past week is kind of a blur in my mind. Like I said before, I've only been here for a short time, but it feels like it has been a while. I worked another 6 day week because the school had an Open House for most students on Saturday. It made for a rather long week, but a lot was accomplished in that time. I attended more training, met with the vice principal many times to talk about what CIRA (the intervention program) will look like this year, separated and organized all of the materials that were left in my classroom, and divided up the students who will receive intervention services among the three CIRA teachers. I am now so looking forward to meeting students, especially the 16 on my case load. I'll be working with lots of 5th graders, a few 4th graders, and four 2nd graders. I can't wait to put names to faces and start building relationships with them. This week has definitely had its stressful and overwhelming moments, but when I remember that I'll actually get to be teaching soon, it makes it completely worth it. Although I probably won't actually start teaching until next week, the school will be full of students tomorrow. The silence will be replaced with voices, and the chaos and delight of working in an elementary school will start. I'm super nervous but excited to really become a teacher.

The view from one side of my classroom!

The view of the Pepsi and Dunkin Donuts plants on the other side of my classroom!

More on the transition side of things, I think I'm still doing pretty well! My housemate invited people over for dinner a couple nights this past week so I was able to spend some time with people I wouldn't normally. I also went over to a house of some of the other elementary teachers just to hang out and take a night off. We even had people over to the house last night to simply fellowship and play games together. It's been wonderful to see how God has brought everyone here and be able to listen to their stories. I think our community is pretty tight and supportive of one another which is a huge blessing. I'm encouraged by so many of these Christ followers and I'm looking forward to investing more in those friendships.

I can't really explain it, but I have a really good feeling about this year. I'm not quite sure what God has in store, but I know that it is something bigger than I could imagine. I mean, He already brought me to Honduras. That was big in and of itself. I know that very difficult times may lie ahead, but I'm just so awestruck by God's majesty and provision that I look forward to seeing the mystery of the future revealed. I pray that God will use me in the lives of my students, the staff, and of the Honduran people who I come in contact with. I pray that He would change me and break me so that I can look more like Him. Your prayers and support are greatly appreciated as I continue to seek God's will in my life here in Honduras!

The Beginning

Well here I am! I've officially be in Honduras for 3 days now although it feels like it has been longer. I think I'm adjusting pretty well to life here now that I'm settled into my room and getting to know the teachers of IST (the school where I'll be teaching) more and more each day. These past few days have been packed with meetings, training, devotions, and lots of food, but everyday I am reminded that this is where I have been called to live and serve.

I was nervous on Wednesday as I began to take off from the Cleveland airport, but God showed His provision even on my way to Tegucigalpa. On my flight from Houston to Tegus, I met two other teachers going to IST and I was comforted even before I arrived. Once we got to the airport in Tegucigalpa, I was warmly welcomed by my lovely roommates and many other teachers returning to IST. We waited for a couple of other flights to arrive and went back to our houses.

I live in Casa Naranja, and it truly does have an orange wall facing the street. It's such a cozy little house complete with a place for my hammock out front. I'm sure that it will be an absolutely wonderful home for the year :) The rest of the night was pretty relaxed as we ate with most of the North American teachers who had arrived and talked some about the culture.

Thursday was our first day at the school, and I can say that IST has the best views of any school that I have ever seen. The campus is absolutely gorgeous with palm trees everywhere with the mountains in the background. During our meetings that day, the new headmaster strongly emphasized how we need to be a Christ-centered school. In order to do that, it is the responsibility of all of the teachers to ensure that Christ is the center of all of our lives. It was absolutely wonderful to be reminded right away of my purpose in working at the school. Not to be a fantastic teacher or become the best in my field, but my focus needs to be on building my life on Christ more and more each day so that I can show Christ's love and compassion to my students.

This morning after having devotions and a quick faculty meeting discussing the book we all read over the summer, the preschool and elementary staff and teachers did a prayer walk throughout the preschool and elementary school. This time was such a blessing to me. It was a wonderful time to pray for students, parents, staff, and faculty, and to really focus on following God's guidance of the school for the upcoming year.

In between meetings and time working at school, I have made a Walmart trip, ate a baleada (which was absolutely delicious), played Wii, met Lucy (my roommate's cat who has now joined us), killed a lot of ants, attempted some Spanish,  and had conversations on the school bus. It's been a very busy 3 days, but I'm seeing more and more every day of why God has lead me here.

I love being a part of a school that takes time to pray and be reminded of Who we are serving. I have greatly enjoyed getting to know the hearts of the teachers I will be working with. The love these people have for Christ is simply beautiful. I'm excited to continue to have conversations with people from the school and meet even more people from the community at church tomorrow. I would appreciate prayers as transitioning can still be difficult at times, but thank you so much for encouraging and supporting me already by lifting me up! There will be more to come :)

Waiting in Expectation

"In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."
Psalm 5:3

     Oh what a day. Today was filled with more packing than I would ever enjoy, saying hard goodbyes to loved ones, and coming to the realization that this is really happening. I'm moving to Honduras tomorrow to teach for two years. I know that I'll be back home to visit within those two years, but to think that I am making such a huge commitment to make a new home in Honduras seems crazy. A few years ago, I never would have even imagined moving more than a few hours away from my family for a job after college. However, while in college God gave me such a deep passion to learn more about His people outside that now I'm traveling the world to do so. To say that I feel completely humbled and blessed to have this opportunity would be a drastic understatement. 

     Currently, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, nervous, scared, anxious, and very excited to fly to Honduras. This morning, however, was a quite a different story. All I felt was stressed and scared. There was so much left to do and so little time to complete the list of tasks in front of me. Then I looked at my phone and saw that I had an event on my calendar. When I decided to take this teaching position in Honduras and booked my flight, I put an event in my phone so I wouldn't forget the day I would leave (not that I could have anyway). The event was titled "Leave to fulfill God's calling". Although I was still stressed throughout the day, those words stuck in my head. No matter went wrong or right in the last day before I would leave, I would still be leaving to fulfill God's calling in my life. I know that God lead me to teach in Honduras, and that has been confirmed so much even since signing my teaching contract. I know this is what He has for me.

     And so now I wait. As I began talking to God this morning, Psalm 5:3 came to mind. I am confident that He has me going to Honduras for reasons that have yet to be revealed. As I pray that God will use me in ways far greater than I could ever imagine, I will wait in expectation to see how He will begin to reveal His plans for my life in Honduras. I expect Him to change me. To break me. To use me. To show me His love for people. To better love a different group of people. To teach me more than I thought I could ever know. I will lay my requests before God and wait in expectation. I am so excited to start this adventure and strive to glorify the Father every step of the way. Because none of this is for me, but all for His glory.