We have all read the story of Hannah, who could not have children. She prayed and wept bitterly before the Lord and he listened, giving her the son Samuel. After praying and hearing assurances from the priest, she left the temple and “went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.” While this story is used for illustrative purposes in many sermons and with lots of different points, I want to share a story very similar to Hannah’s. Her name is Mrs. Dunia. Mrs. Dunia teaches high school Social Studies at our school and is one of the most well liked teachers. She has been married for several years but does not have kids. As everyone knows, as soon as you are married people begin asking when you are going to have kids. Someone asked Mrs. Dunia this at the begining of the school year and I was shocked at her answer. She said that she had been trying for years and had not been able to get pregnant. BUT that she was praying one day and had a dream. God told her that she would be pregnant by the end of this year. Now I am all for prayers and for sharing when God answers them but I severally lack faith in God’s time table. I would never had told people that I would be pregnant within a year because frankly, I would just wait until God proved himself. Mrs. Dunia however had the faith of Hannah, she went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad because she believed God was in the process of answering her prayers. I began watching the calendar for her, thinking “only two more months till this school year is over. Hurry up God. Your going to make a liar out of sweet Mrs. Duna.” Yes, I realize that is not very “missionarly” of me but it truly what I thought on many occasions. But of course, God’s timing is perfect and thankfully he disregarded my lack of faith for Mrs. Dunia’s faith. She announced yesterday that she is pregnant and God has answered her prayers. She is a great example of a modern day Hannah who said in 1 Samuel 1:27 “For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him.”
Nathalie Oliva
Nathalie is a girl in my class who many of you have heard us talk about and have been praying for. She has one leg shorter than the other due to an infection when she was three days old and she does not have a hip socket on one side. The options for helping her in Honduras are very limited. Nathalie has been seen by the best hospital here in Honduras and they are unable to perform the services that she requires.
So since October I have been trying to find a doctor to help her in the United States. We began by applying to the Scottish Rite Hospital. The process took several months but they told us last month that they would like to do surgery (several of them) on Nathalie but not until she is around 9, at which time they will reconsider her case.
She is only 5 now and this leaves about 3 or 4 years without medical treatment and Nathalie is in a lot pain. I have talked to Dr. Evans, an Orthopedic surgeon in Stephenville. Dr. Evans also has volunteered with the Scottish Rite Hospital, is fluent in Spanish and has a heart for kids. He has agreed to see her after reading the Scottish Rite’s report. This is not to get a second opinion or to have the surgery, as he agrees with the report he read but it is to explore options until she is old enough for surgery. What the doctor is thinking without having seen her is that a crutch or a shoe lift might would help alleviate some of the pain. She will hopefully be seeing him in July and staying for several weeks with my parents in Bluff Dale in case she needs to see paraprofessionals to learn how to use the crutches, etc.
As you well know, even with insurance seeing a private doctor is going to be really expensive and their insurance does not work outside of Honduras. I am praying that God will lay Nathalie on the hearts of the medical professionals and they see her at a reduce cost. Of course I will also be applying/ have applied for grants to help with the flight cost and extra expenses that will occur. Please pray that God will lay the pathway for the cost of her treatment and for the medical professionals that she will need to see. Please also pray for her parents, that they would have peace in the care that Nathalie receives. They are very nervous because the U.S. is a foreign country to them, but they are also so excited and thankful that she will be receiving the care that she needs. Please continue to pray for Nathalie as I try to organize her trip. I have not ever done something like this so please pray for wisdom for me to know where to look for grants and fundraising. Thank you so much for those who have already lifted up prayers, please continue to do so.
Kids Say the Darndest Things
After mispronouncing a word in English Tyler said, “Well, I guess that a start. I have to start speaking bad English to learn Spanish.”
Last week we watched a movie in my class. When the kids complained that it was in English I explained that our school is an English speaking school and therefore our movie had to be in English. Josep, one of my newer kids, responded, “The school is not in English, only the Mrs. is.”
I was explaining to one of the kids in my class that she needed to speak English more. Her response, “Oh, since you speak bad Spanish, you need me to speak English.”
When asked by her teacher what the acronym for United States of America would be, Emma responded, “Texas.”
One of the girls in my class asked me who in my family speaks English. I told her that all of my family does. She then wanted to know which school they went to, to learn English. No matter how much I tried, I could not get her to understand that they did not go to school to speak English, that we speak English at home like she speaks Spanish. This was beyond her 5 year old comprehension.
Another of my boys wanted to know why I am so white. Funny it took 6 months for him to notice but ever since then he keeps comparing my skin to his and saying things like, “My palms are white but you’re whiter” or “My mom has white skin, but not that white.” I think I might be getting a complex about my skin.
During dance class one of my kids was sent to sit down. When I ask him what happened he responded “I don’t know Miss, but I think I was playing.” I love the honesty.
While learning about animals and their homes I gave the kids a worksheet that had a doghouse, fishbowl and spider web. They were supposed to draw the animal that belonged in each house. One kid however was not listening to my lesson on animals because in his spider web he drew Spiderman!
School
As many of you know, I am a Kindergarten teacher at a Vive Abudante, a bi-lingual school here in Gracias. I have had many people ask me what it is like to teach here so I thought I would share my last day of school before Christmas and my first day back after Christmas. It is a great example of the everyday things that I deal with while teaching in a third- world country.
School for us starts at 7:40 so we leave our house around 7:00 to drive the three miles and 20 minutes to my school. When we arrived, the teachers were told that our Christmas break was going to be extended by several days. Instead of starting on December 3 we would be starting on December 9. While this was great news I wished we would have been told earlier so that we could have stayed in the States longer. Oh well. I went on to class to get ready for our party. On our last day before Christmas, I had planned to decorate cookies, watch a movie and then have our party. I had taken the Christmas cookies to class the day before so I would not have to remember them Friday- this was a mistake. Rats ate all the cookies that I had made. Then I went to plug-in the computer to watch the movie I had rented and there was no electricity. There was really no use in trying to teach since out of the 5 school days we had only gone to school 2 of them that week so we played outside until it started to drizzle. After school we drove to San Pedro Sula to a hotel- where there was not hot water and then on the plane the next day, Tyler’s i-pod got stolen. Needless to say, I was really glad to land in the USA.
My first day back to school was a little better planned on my part but not on my administrators. My principle came in after class started and told me that I would not be having music class that day. Since I was not scheduled to have it I was very confused. When I showed him the schedule he had printed for me (after I asked three times for it), he said that the schedule was 2 years old and none of it was correct. Along with that, my class has been having half-day kindergarten but after Christmas we were suppose to go to full day. Then, right before lunch, I found out that my kids were not staying for the full day. So we hurriedly packed to get ready to go. After class my principle came in to tell me that I would be getting four new students and that we did not have enough desks or books for them but would order some. I had done my lesson plans for all of January- none of them work now but my Type-A personality has done a lot of growing in the area of last-minute changes and learning to go with the flow.
Yesterday my principle brought me a new and improved schedule for this semester, although we are now a week into the new semester. He told me that for the last hour of the day I needed to practice for the Kindergarten Graduation that will happen in June. Yes, you are understanding that correctly- one hour a day for 6 months. Ugh! This should tell you the importance of education verses entertainment and dances.
I do have lots of small joys in with the frustrations. In perfect English one of my kids ask me yesterday “Who is first in the line?” When I rejoiced in her English another boy said in not so perfect English “She speakin de English.” So funny! My 27 students are really beginning to understand and speak English now. I love it!
President of Congress
Last week the President of Congress came to our school and I didn’t get the chance to write about so here it goes… a week late.
All the teachers and the two principles meet together at 7:20 to pray before school starts. September 5, when we arrived Mr. Lara said that we needed to be prepared for the Congressman to be landing his helicopter in our soccer field and that under no circumstances should we let our kids leave the class to watch it. Of course while he was at our school, we were suppose to keep our kids under control, yada, yada. He was to arrive at 9:20. At 9:00 Mr. Lara came to my class and said the Congressman wanted to see an American teacher speaking English and teaching class so they had selected my class for him to visit. I was very honored that he thought enough of me to bring a guest to my class but….lots of pressure! 22 kids that I barely have under-control when I am speaking Spanish but now I am suppose to teach the entire class period in English and get them to behave, all in front of the big whig and a television crew.
Since the most important thing to kindergarteners is potty time, I decided we would do that before the guy arrived. So I quickly lined my kids up and off we went. However, the Congressman arrived early while some kids were still in the bathroom. Just imagine for a moment that you are a 5-year-old boy and a helicopter starts landing about 100 yards from where you are. What do you do? You take off running to it… regardless of whether you’re finished peeing and regardless of where your pants are. Yes, that is exactly what happened to the boys in my class. Particularly one who took off running with his pants around his knees and his whole “package” showing. This was really not the first impression my principle had in mind I’m sure.
After this incident though, the rest of the day went smooth. The congressman walked around the school and then came to my class for a while. I would say that I am famous, but I was so nervous that I just pretended he and the TV people were not there. So, all they videoed of me was my back…. So my back was on TV here in Honduras. Yea me! Mostly though, they videoed the kids repeating me in English, counting, etc. All the kids were very well behaved, I was very proud of them. And then, when the guy took off we stood on the sidewalk and watched the helicopter. I think the kids cared way more about that than meeting the congressman. Over all, an exciting day.
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