Que Tal?

Not very much has happened in the past month or so. School ended the first week of November, the school years here are kind of opposite of ours in the states. Here, school is in session from February thru November. It's been really nice not having to make lesson plans.
As a result of NO SCHOOL (!!!) I've gotten to spend more time with the kids here at the hogar and I think I've decided that maybe they might like me. They ended up having a small Thanksgiving dinner here for us, so that was nice. I ate a lot of mashed papas, I had to make up for the lack of turkey! We decorated for Christmas the other day, that was fun. Christmas is going to be different, I've never not been home/with my family for Christmas... it will be really different, but I think it's an experience I need to have, something to help me gain a new perspective.
During break, I'm still having to teach english two days a week, then on the other two days of the week I teach choir. It's actually kind of exciting! I think it was 2 weeks ago now that we had our first performance and it was so good!! They did so well, I was so proud of them. Right before, I was a little nervous, I have to be honest, I was really nervous about looking bad in front of the people at the church, but then I decided that I didn't care what they thought about me and I gave it up to God, I had to remind myself that the kids were singing for His praise and glory only, not for their praise and definitely not for the praise of their director, mwa, and then it ended up turning out really good! I just couldn't help but smile. That's a lesson that God has been teaching me lately, in order to get something, I have to let it go. I have to be willing to give it up and in the end He'll decide what's best for me and when it should happen. I am constantly reminded that I don't control things, He does! It's a good thing He does, other wise this world would be in chaos!
We're also well on our way to planning the evangelistic series that I told you about. So please continue to pray for us as we continue along with that.
Happy Holidays and God Bless!
xoxo
C

En Serio?!

UPDATE: Mandy no longer has lice (I actually haven't had it in a long time, I found out I had it on a tuesday or something and on Thursday when I had someone check, it was gone!). No need to worry, Mandy is still alive and well, a little disturbed, but ok.
Honduras is good. It's been cooling down lately. We're in rainy season now so there has been a lot of that going on lately. Actually we found out that this is the most rain they've had since Hurricane Mitch which hit them 10 years ago in 1998, so in other words there's been a heck of a lot of rain! The main bridge going into the capital, Tegucigalpa, which is like 3 0r 4 hours from here, was actually run over (or however you say it) by water and 4,000 people have died so far from drowning. In other parts of the country there are floods as high as 2 or 3 feet. It's pretty serious. Pray for them, who ever knew rain could do so much damage.

Ok next topic of discussion, we, the volunteers, have officially decided that we would like to put on a evangelistic series here in Santa Barbara. Now this will not just be your ordinary evangelistic series, we're putting a lot into it. We are planning it for late January/early February for right before school starts (the school year here is Feb-Nov). It is going to be eight days long Saturday night to Saturday night. The program will consist of a short sermon, singing, special music and other such things. We will also be providing transportation to and form the place where we are having it in hopes that more people might come. There will be a children's program as well so that people can bring their kids. We are also hoping to have some kind of snacks to pass out every night as well. It doesn't stop there: we are wanting to advertise on the radio, the local television station and by passing out fliers. We are also wanting to broadcast the programs on the radio and/or t.v. Big goals, we know, but we know that nothing's too big for God and we feel that He has big plans for this. The kids, volunteers, and staff members here at the hogar will be involved in all of this as well. Ok, now you ready for the catch? - We need two things: fervent prayer as we go through the planning process and you guessed it = $. In the next week or so we are all going to be making/sending short videos back to our churches to ask them to help us raise the money for this. This is a way that you too can get involved! 

I am now praying that God gives me something to do that causes me to think, stress out a little bit, gain/use some skill, work hard on, initiate, stretch my ideas and most of all point to His work within me. 

hmmm... that's it for now. Thank you once again for reading :)

Mandy (Taco Bell deprived in Honduras)

JIMMENY CRICKET!

I can't believe I am actually going to say this on an international level (the internet) but I feel that you (my readers) would be interested to know, that for the first time in my life, today, Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at approximately 5:45 pm discovered that I Amanda A Corea have/had lice....AAAAHHHHH eeewwwww, gross, gross, gross (please take note of the picture)... Okay okay, no more talking about it anymore, I can't think about it, I'm too disgusted. I never thought I would utter those words..EVER! Please just know, that all of the "Mandy never bathes" jokes can stop right now, because I do...everyday! I wash my hair everyday... which you're not supposed to do because it's bad for your hair, but I do anyways...!!!! They only found like 5 or so little ones but still.... when they found those little stinkers, I started telling everyone goodbye because I was dying. I told them I might as well go into seclusion because I was so dirty and unworthy of anyone's presence (and my roommate thinks I'm dramatic! psh!).

So back to the whole bathing thing: I do wash my hair, it's because all of the sweet little chilens' rub their heads up on mine all the time because they love me so much ;) No really though, they do rub their heads against mine.

*sigh* ok well now that I've gotten that disturbing news break out of the way, another small piece of interestingness: I learned how to make pupusas!!! Yay!!! (for those of you who are unaware of what a pupusa is - look it up!) Gente, do you know what that means? I am officially a true Salvadoran!! YAY!!! 

Ok... that's all for now...tata... :)

Not About Me

So I've realized that pretty much every blog has been about me, granted I am the one in the foreign country but, this year is not about me, it's about Him and them, Him being God and them being the people that God chooses to touch through me.... or am I wrong, is this whole thing about me and my spiritual, personal growth? I think it's both. You always hear people say, I went into the mission field thinking I was helping people and they ended up teaching me so much more than I ever could have taught them: this is true, I've experienced it before. But at the same time as a part of my personal ministry and work for Christ I have chosen to come here to Honduras, b/c I want to do something for someone else for once, I don't want it to be about me, I want to completely submit to doing God's work in serving others completely and wholly, not partially or with ulterior motives. I want Him to work in me and through me... wait that makes it about me then doesn't it?!
At the hogar here, we have a grand total of 42 kids (I think). We used to have 43, but a girl left this past Monday. She is the first one to leave since I been here and much to my dismay, I do not think that she will be the last. This time it was ok because I haven't been here long enough to have really built up any deep personal relationships with the kids yet, but I know that as time goes on, kids leaving will not be an easy thing to deal with. It's different here, than in the States where most of the time if someone has no skills they can kind of get by. When a kid/teenager leaves there are so many factors to worry about: Have you taught them everything they need to know in order to survive out there on their own? Will they be smart enough to not get caught up in anything that they shouldn't be doing? Where will they end up in life and how will they get there? With the schooling that they have or haven't had, will they be able to provide for themselves? And most importantly, how do they view God and where He fits into their lives? Life here is HARD!

Among the 42 kids here their ages range from 8 to 19, including three or four older ones that grew up here and either haven't left because they aren't mentally capable of being on their own, or because they have yet to find a job, so they still live here and work/help out here.

Not all, but most of the kids that are here are here for one of four reasons: 1- they are true orphans, meaning that they have no family and were found on the street; 2- their parent(s) abandoned them because they simply didn't want them; 3- their parents brought them here or abandoned them because they were not physically/financially (money, in jail...) able to provide for their children; 4- the home situation was not a good one: abuse, not eating, parents wanting to use/sell their children for different things (food, clothes, drugs, etc.), children running away, etc. 

At this point there are some kids that I know better than others, but I can very quickly see myself getting attached to each and every one of them, the older and younger ones. Besides some weekends, for the most part life isn't that boring here. When it's time to work, all of us, children, adults and volunteers alike, work hard. But we can also have so much fun :) They make me laugh, which I love and when in doubt I can always someone to accompany me.

Also included in our large family, there are 6 adults that work here, live here, and run the hogar, plus the 10 volunteers that are here.

Ok, well, I think this is enough for now. Thank you so much for your emails and prayers, they are greatly apprecitated!!

Until later.... Mandy :)

It's been awhile

*sigh*

Life in Honduras is tiring... but that's a good thing. At the end of each day, when the sun has set, I feel as though I have completed another step in accomplishing the tasks that God has given me. It's a nice feeling to have, a feeling of purpose and direction!

When I really think about it and analyze where I'm at and what I'm doing at this point in my life, it's kind of cool to know that I'm doing something that I have been called to do, I'm working for something and towards a reachable goal. The only life goal I've ever had was to graduate from college with a degree, but once I hit high school that goal seemed too far off for me to feel that I was actually getting somewhere. This is different because I know that with everyday comes new ideas, new challenges, new lessons to learn, new feelings and new people.

After a brief appearance in the US last week due to a death in the family, I returned to Honduras last Monday rejuvenated and ready to take on the world. Since the last time I blogged, 7 other volunteers have arrived and we are still expecting one more this coming Monday. Our volunteer family consists of 2 German girls and 2 German guys, a young married couple from Southern, another girl from Southern University, myself and my roommate from Andrews, and another guy from Chicago. Everyone seems nice and we have all been getting along so far (knock on wood!).

Since, for the most part, we are all here now, our job titles have been decided and I am now the official english teacher at the elementary school for 1st-6th grade and for 10th and 11th grades at the high school. I must admit I am not super excited about this, I had really wanted to be in charge of the little boys: wake them up, put them to bed, eat with them, etc. I like them, their fun! But alas, God has other plans for me. That's usually how it works, I get the absolute last thing that I wanted so that God can teach me some kind of lesson from it! ahh... Looking at the glass half full, I will get to take care of the little boys on the weekends, so I'm happy for that.

In an attempt to stop myself from rambling on, I shall end this blog, but please take note of the address change in my previous blog.

Thank you for reading :) Please pray for me and my fellow student missionaries often!

Later gators...

My Addy...

I finally found out what the address is here...

Amanda Corea

Reach Intl. Hogar de Ninos

APDO 20

Santa Barbara, HONDURAS

That's it, hopefully it will work! I shall be patiently awaiting your     letters and gifts ;) haha

I'm Here!

I am now in Honduras. Actually, I've been here since the 3rd, but I've been fairly busy and haven't had many Internet opportunities (i.e. it's slow and I don't have the patience!), so this is my first official post.

So far it's been a slight roller coaster, not a big roller coaster, more like a kiddie coaster. Some days I think that this is going to be fun, some days I just don't want to do this anymore, and some days I'm too exhausted to function properly. As in any situation some days are good and some are bad. Let me start from the beginning:

When I very first arrived I suddenly had this overwhelming feeling and immediately wanted to change my mind. I have been here 3 or 4 times before and it's always fun and games when you are here visiting with a group, but as a "staff" member/volunteer, it's completely different. I realized that living here and working here means that I can't depend on my dad to translate for me forever, I actually have to try to learn Spanish! WHAT!? For some reason I hadn't thought of these aspects before hand. Anyhow, I knew the only way to start was to dive straight in. That first night I moved into my room had to remind myself that this would be a different experience than what I was used to having here, but that's ok. 

Before I left, I was asked the same question over and over again, "What are going to be doing? Are you going to be teaching English?". My reflex response was always, "Ha, No! I'll do whatever they need me to do, but I won't teach English." Guess what... God couldn't be sending a stronger message to me! Haha the guy has a serious sense of humor... it's ridiculous. Not only am I teaching English, but I am teaching english at two schools to 8 grade levels. When I found this out in the beginning I kinda freaked out a little. I went to the high school, colegio, for 2 days and shadowed a teacher to get familiar with the schedule and then I went to the elementary school, escuela, and shadowed there for a day. I felt really strongly that I was not capable of teaching English and especially because I can't even speak their language, so how can I explain things to them. I was really overwhelmed, I can't explain to you how much I DIDN'T want to do this! There was just NO way. I had to let it out, so I complained, whined and expressed my feelings to my dad, just saying that I couldn't do this. When I finished I miraculously felt some what better and thought that teaching might be fun.

So my schedule is now as follows: Monday-Thursday I teach english at the escuela from 7:15 to 12:30 or so. On Wednesday afternoons I go to the colegio and have class from 12:20-2:30 and on Fridays I'm at the colegio all day. Then every afternoon I help both the little kids and the big kids with their homework until 4:30 or 5. The director would also like me to teach and put together a choir at the colegio. In the beginning I wasn't willing to do this, but I'm starting to warm up to the idea. But I won't start the choir until I get better accuatinted with my routine. It will be after school probably a couple times a week. I'm trying to come up with ideas for songs, so if you have any let me know.

My days start early I wake up anywhere between 5-5:30: exercise, have devotions, take a shower, get dressed and go to worship at 6:00. Around 6:15 we have breakfast, afterwards I help clean up, come back to my room finish putting deodorant on or whatever and then it's off to school.

Teaching and having to be organized with lesson plans it a little bit out of my territory, but there's always room to grow and learn right?! Just please pray for me that I have the discipline to actually plan my classes correctly and not treat them like i did my homework assignments, with MAJOR procrastination (if you have any creative ideas on how I can make my English classes fun please let me know because I'm wracking my brain)!!! My friends in the group that I came with and my dad leave tomorrow, so once they leave, my full regular routine begins!

Ok, this is pretty long, my posts won't be this long normally. *sigh* I'm so tired!

Keep me posted on happenings at home!

Ta ta for now!

Mandy

PS - I shall be posting my address soon.