I would like to introduce Maritza, our “trabadora.” Maritza is from a village called Catulaca, about 30 minutes from Gracias.  She is 18 years old and lives with her mom and dad and ten siblings- yes 10!  She is one of the middle children so she has plenty of experience with taking care of kids (although Emma may still be a challenge for her!)  In Maritza’s village she does not have electricity or indoor plumbing.  To spell that out, she uses a wood-burning stove, has no refrigerator, no kitchen sink, bathroom or clean water.  They do have running water outside where showers are taken in something similar to an outhouse and dishes and clothes are washed in the same water they drink with.  Her dad works in agriculture and her mom, of course, works at home taking care of 10 kids.

Maritza will be living in a detached room at our house and help with the cooking, cleaning and adjusting to the culture here. She does not know English at all so this will also be a huge help in learning Spanish for the kids and me.  In exchange for living with us we will pay her approximately $50 a month plus room and board. All of the money she makes will go directly to help her family.  She will also get to continue her education here in Gracias (she goes to school on Saturdays only). In the States a trabadora would be equivalent to a Nanny/ housekeeper.  Here it is customary if the woman works outside the home to have a trabadora.  I am pretty sure I will love this custom!

Please pray for Maritza as she adjusts to all the changes in her life. While we look at electricity and indoor plumbing as a great thing, it is a little intimidating to walk into. The biggest change for her and the thing she is the most nervous about is living with a family who can barely talk to her while being away from her family.

Please also pray for our family as we adjust to having her here and me going to work. I have not worked outside the house since Tyler was born so this will be a huge change in the structure of our home. I start school Thursday and the kids will be staying with Maritza after that. They are nervous about being left with someone they can’t communicate with so please pray for them.

On a different note, we were at a house church last night and I looked over and Tyler was playing tick-tack-toe in the dirt with a group of boys. Then they taught him a couple games. The last couple days have been an encouragement to him. Sunday he also played with some kids at a different house church. Many of you elders probably played this game when you were younger but he had never seen it. One boy stood at the top of the hill and rolled a wheel down the hill to another kid. Tyler loved it!  Thanks for your prayers regarding our kids.  They are defiantly helping!

One other side note- we ate at a hole in wall restaurant today while our truck was being worked on and it cost us a total of $2.50 for all of us to eat.  So cheap and we haven’t even gotten sick from it yet!

This past week the Watson family from Teague came to visit us and help get our water purification system installed.  We loved having them here for encouragement and familiarity. They could not have come at a more perfect time. Shannon and I have been a little down and their encouragement and love was such a blessing.  This is especially true for our kids. Maddie and Alie are two of my kid’s most favorite babysitters and they loved on and played with Emma and Tyler. I think our kids have been a little neglected with all that we have going on here and the Watson girls gave them much needed attention.  Janet helped get school stuff lined out so I am now ready to have a classroom and Cliff and Seth worked for three long days on the water system. They go to experience first hand what life is like here.

Sunday we went to a church about an hour from our house on a dirt road up the mountain. The people at San Manuel are Lenca Indians and do not see too many white people. They formed a group and watched as we climbed out of our trucks.  Then they stared all during church… especially the children.  The pastor at that church is extremely evangelical and has seen up to 20 baptisms in one month. At children’s church there were 63 kids!  It was amazing to see that many kids brought before the church. They went outside and had children’s church for the very first time. I am so glad I am not in charge of that many kids at children’s church!  As we left the adults all hugged us.  It is always a little shocking to me because the grown men and women come to about my shoulders- and I am only 5’3″.  I am not sure if this is genetics or malnourishment.  I would like to find out though.

Monday through Wednesday the guys worked on clean water. They had a couple of obstacles such as no electricity, a water leak in the bathroom that caused the wall to be knocked out to get fixed, an O ring broke and there was not enough pressure to send water to our house. All this was overcome and we know have water! YEA!

Thanks for all who have been praying for us. We have seen progress, though it has been slow going.  We know have beds for all of us, Shannon can preach in about 50% Spanish, Emma is slowly making friends with the girls in our neighborhood, I made a weekly menu out of meals that all the ingredients can be found here and Tyler as learned to mow the grass with a machete (the mower of choice here).  Continue to pray for us as we learn the customs and become satisfied with our living conditions and the lifestyle here.  Our house is still a major issue of concern but we are not sure if this is just what to expect or if this house is just really bad. For example, as a type this it is POURING outside as it has for the past three days. Because of this, the ceiling in my bedroom is leaking and the walls in the kitchen and one of the bedrooms are leaking as well.  We are not sure if this is just what happens when we get this much rain.  Pray for us as we try to look at the positive (it is not leaking over my bed) and remember why we are here (three people came to Christ at church this morning- two were in there 80’s). Pray also for the kids that they would not get frustrated at the language barrier but would push forward.

Yesterday was July 20, Emma’s 6th birthday and Lempira Day. Cacique Lempira is a national hero that fought against the Spanish Conquest. We were told that this is a bigger deal here in Gracias because Lempira was from here. Lempira was the Lenca Indian chief when the Spaniards landed. He joined several tribes together to fight the fleet of 30,000 Spaniards. Ultimately his army of 200 lost but he is still regarded as a war hero. The money system is named after him as well as the “state” that we live in. In honor of his heroism a celebration takes place every year where children in the public schools dress up like indigenous people groups and put on a parade. It was by far the longest parade I have ever seen in my life. All of the costumes were very interesting. Each school had a Princess that represented them. According to a student we talked to, any girl who wanted to make a dress could and then they were judged. Only items found in nature were used to tell the stories on the dresses- feathers, beans, wood, ect. Tyler was most impressed with the kids dressed up like Indians. They had hand made bows and arrows made out of wood. Tyler found one left after the parade and played with it the rest of the day. Along with the parade has been a three-day festival. Booths with pottery, hammocks and food have been set up and there have been activities downtown everyday. My highlight of the day was watching Shannon be interviewed on TV. We were approached to see what we thought of the procession and they asked if we could speak Spanish. I quickly volunteered Shannon. I am pretty sure they put it on TV just to laugh at our horrible Spanish! We finished the day with cake and ice cream in honor of Emma. Brother Armando and his wife and son came as well. They are the missionaries that have been living here for the past 4 years. All in all, a very interesting day.

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