Honduras Day #4 Friends, tortillas, princesses...

March 7, Day #4

• Breakfast
• Digging for clothesline. Haley, Taylor, Garrett, Rob. (Some of my favorite classmates.) Shade tent. Refilling bottles. Back rub. More support of others (safety consultant stuff) than actual work. Carolina scared me. xD Fell and scraped knew. Garrett – “Is someone picking on you? >:( You tell me!” x)
• Lunch. Andrew – “You did really well speaking last night. I enjoy watching you because you are doing all this by God’s grace – by His ability, not yours. And you can see it on you all the time. Some people speak, but you don't’ see it in their lives. But not you.”
• After lunch, about 4 hours making tortillas with Lenti and Emily. (Pastor Brian has picture on iPad.) [Insert picture here if I ever get it... try to remember to ask Emily.] Communicating. Learning. Enjoying the company. Oh... I dreamed of this for so many years. x)
• Shower, then dinner, then gather in basketball court. So good! Lots of hugs. Lots of dancing. Both before and after. Full love cup. Contentment. Promise. ¡El es bueno para me! I smiled so much. The atmosphere was just so charged with appreciation, value, love, care... everyone smiled so big, everyone flooded from the chairs to give a smile and a hug... it was good. It was like family.
• After service, prayer. “Ellas son su hijas. Usted quere. Usted dice ellas es bonitas. Muchas gracias por su hijas. Es princessas!” First one girl, then several at once. And then my heart cried out in English for Him to embrace them tonight, for hope and future for them. And I was moved. My eyes moistened. Because I am free to give. To speak life. And because they are so precious, and... and... I love them. I want them to know His satisfaction. And I thought also of Neleydy. All the princesses... they are precious. And I felt it. And my heart rejoiced. After prayer, many hugs. Then playing and dancing. Chalk. Balls. Chasing, tickling. Translating or Garrett where and how he and the Honduran guys were going to play soccer.
• ...Such a good night. x)
• Hanging out in house. Pictures on my phone. Getting ready for bed. Writing this. 11:55. 

Brushing Taylor's teeth! xD

Millie in one of the bedrooms! ;D

The sweetest dog in Honduras... most of them ignored people, like big cats. Without the attitude.

Annie, Rachel, Taylor, Alicia...

Taylor and I

Rachel and I

I just loved having sleepovers with my friends every night... x)

The kitchen... Honestly, this house was sooo simple. I fell in love with how simple it was. I want a house like that. I want a country like that. I want a community like that. I want a life like that.

Taylor and Rachel

The hammock! It was such a comfortable and fun bed. x) Rachel tried it the first night and didn't like it, Taylor tried it the second night and didn't like it, I tried it the third night... and loved it. So I had it for the rest of the week.

Bathroom behind the pantry, two bedrooms on the back wall, front door to the right, kitchen to the left.

Standing in the kitchen with the camera...

Simple sink! One of the faucets was purified.

Stovetop!

My luggage staid very neat and organized the whole time. U_U 

The bathroom. The walls didn't go all the way up to the ceiling, so when you turned the light on it light up the whole house. Well, half the house. The bedroom walls are the only ones that went all the way to the ceiling.

Pantry!

Fridge and front door!

See, the walls don't tough the roof.

Hammock connected to the rafters.

It was such a cozy little house... SO SIMPLE! So easy to focus on... well... on things that are important! There's just so many distractions here. I just love the simple. Simple, simple, simple!!! @_@ I'm enamored with simplicity. x) It's a good thing. I want a house like that. @_@ xD Haha, I'll be content with whatever and wherever I am. But I love that place. I love... not the house, but the people. It's so simple. It's so easy to focus on the people. It's so easy to forget about insignificant things and just enjoy life and friendship.

Honduras Day #3 Testimonies, children, dance...

March 6, Day #3

Breakfast. Work 7:30 – 11:30. Hole. “Sam, go find Zach. Take his place, and send him down here. He appreciates Spanish!” xD But when the Honduran men arrived they sent Rachel and I off. Cleaning up trash burn pile. Timothy Green narration. ;) 11:30 shower. 12:00 – 12:45 washing clothes in sink. Tail end of lunch. Missed announcements. First group went to school without me. I went with second group. Lilia and Jeffery ran right up and jumped in my arms. X) Rob introduced stomp. 5 guys. Cydney talked about beauty. Something else. Then hokey pokey and chicken dance. Then prayer and farewell. Some rode back with us. Lilia showed me she lives in the green house. Working on testimony stomp intro in girls house (around 12:45 Meghan told me to do that instead of a longer message, because Pastor Brian was taking the keynote). Millie worked on intro for Simply Free. Dinner. Sat with Kaitlin and Amanda. They said I’m REALLY good with the children and that all my Spanish practice has paid off. “You can communicate!” After dinner I worked on my intro more, then we piled into the truck and drove to the next village. 15 min drive? 10? Some children, too. Alejando (spelling?). That boy is very patient! I’ve asked him his name so many times. This time he mentioned he should write it for me. And he was so patient in helping me understand – to some extent – what he was saying in Spanish. When we arrived, there was music and worship for about an hour. Afterward Carolina wrote out her full name for me. xD And Megan took a picture of us.

[Insert picture here if I ever get around to getting it from Megan]

The Hondurans gave a service, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was mentally practicing my message. I changed some, put more heart in it, and focused on remembering my transitions. But I am writing too many details. It was my first time giving a message. Some comments afterwards – 

Esther: You made me cry!

Taylor: You have such an evangelical anointing.
Me: Oh! Teaching and evangelical?
Taylor: Anything with speaking, really. You’re such a good communicator!

Emily: (in Spanish) You gave me goose bumps!

And Millie did amazing introducing Simply Free, too. That was before stomp. And we had the best translator. I introduced myself in Spanish – talking about how WA is cold and CA is hot and I like Honduras. Megan said it was completely understandable. My grammar wasn’t all technically correct, but completely functional.

Anyway, comments were afterwards. Next was Pastor Brian keynote. Then worship. Recibe toda. 
Then, running high fives with niña. Then everyone started dancing. SO AMAZING. Lasted long time. Drenched in sweat. GOOD NIGHT! x) Back home, this and that, ready for bed, talk with Rachel y Taylor. Writing this. Now 11:50 PM.

Honduras Day #1-2 Launch into Honduras!

Well, I suppose I'll just start with posting my transcribed notes without commentary, since there's no time to sit down and write the commentaries!

March 3-4, Day #1 

Departed in evening. 10 PM – 3 AM (6 AM) flight to Atlanta, GA. 3-4 hour layover. San Pedro noon central. Lunch in Spanish! Bus ride! No seatbelts. About an hour on top of the bus with Clara, Megan, Rachel, Isaac, and Garrett. 20 mph? Dinner. Hanging out with girls. Tree. Scary stories. Cold shower. Girls house. 10ish girls. Hammock. Pallet couch. Mattresses on floor. 2 rooms with bunk beds. SLEEP!

March 5, Day #2

Orphanage property. 6 houses. Big house, girls house, worker’s house. 3 children homes. Library, offices, basketball court/church. 6:45 AM up! Breakfast. Work. Bricks. Cleaning yard. Madera for fuego. Stump removal for baños. Digging a 8’ diameter pit for burning. Rachel, Zach, Honduran house dads. So much fun! Trabaja y jugar. Arboles. Bannanas. Chocolote. Good for cuts, no come fruta! Teira, lombres, insectos, picos. Good time. Beautiful Hondruas! 18 oz water, refill and bathroom every hour. 80*? Less? Hot in sun, but not to hot. Well hydrated. Not Matt, though. Kelvin told us not to work too hard and get burned out. Take turns with the tools and sitting in the shade. Such a good time! x) I love being here. Lunch. Very good meals! So Good choir practice. Washing up the kitchen. Meeting Daisy and Carolina. Writing this log. First performance! No limit, Rachel’s testimony introducing So Good. Playing with children. Futból with Jeffery. Swinging. Nancy/Carolina/... 3 names! SO much fun. x) So funny. I am crazy. Lilia. Junior. Fredrico. Daisy. Many children. Shower. Dinner. Spaghetti, sauce, fruit salad, garlic bread. On porch, singing. Praying. I almost cried. Such a powerful moment. Surrounded by my people as we worshiped and prayed... to bring down a spirit of religion in this region. Rules rather than relationship. Surrounded by my people. It is REAL! There is unity here. This is real. I almost cried. Then getting ready for the service. Walk to church. Talk with Amanda while walking. Now sitting in blue church. First time performing So Good for a congregation. Stomp. No limit. Testimonies by Andrew, Kaitlin, and Meghan (because no students volunteered). Good night! Bought food for fundraiser afterwards. 10 L. 50¢ each! Jim asked me to speak, longer message, next evening. =D Stayed up until 12:00 writing forgiveness message.

Ahh! It's such a struggle not to write a commentary!!! But I must. Or I'll never get any sleep. Ah well, I'll put this on auto post and move on...

Treasure Maps

I haven't taken the time to sit down and work on Honduras posts yet... indeed, I don't believe I've touched my computer since my last post until now! Life is just too full and rich and fast-paced to make much computer time... for this season of my life, that is. Anyway, I had to get on to request to be excused from jury duty. I've been summoned once before, and the case looked interesting. I was sad that I didn't get picked! Haha, and now I'm excusing myself from this one. But they're sure to summon me again later at a more convenient time, and maybe I'll get picked next time. ;D Everything in its own season and timing.

Road trip. The countdown has been on for a while, and we're down to about a week! Hopefully I get the Honduras posts out before then. (Not much chance of that! =P) I don't think I'm going to take my computer with me. The only reason I would want to is so I can download pictures off of my phone, which fills up fast. But I can probably just upload them to Dropbox or whatnot.

Sunday was a really fun day! I spent nearly all day playing with my house niece and nephews. Here's a picture I took in the evening.

They each drew a map of the property on large paper I had in my project supplies, and took turns marking hidden treasure on them! I grabbed five mason jars from my closet and put knick-nacks in them, and the two children took turns hiding them and searching for them, based on the treasure maps. :)

... This is what childhood is about. To live, and live life abundantly. To enjoy life to the fullest. To be active, creative, to use our minds and let wonder thrill us, adventure call us, puzzles challenge us. And maybe it isn't just childhood, after all. But for the children's sake... may there be more play, more fun, more education, and less text books.

A yearning has really awakened in my heart this year... My heartcry has been for the children ever since I read For the Children's Sake as a young teenager many years ago. But it has increased... and grown. My heartcry is now not only for children in general, but for my future children. Before this year, I wasn't sure whether or not I would walk that road... wife, mother, homemaker... but now I know for sure that I am going to. =D And with that certainty in mind, a yearning for my own future children has awakened within me. I'm so excited to meet them! "Oh, they'll love this!" I think to myself, as I pin ideas on Pinterest... as I imagine scenarios... as I wonder what their personalities will be.

And, a couple weeks ago, something dawned on me. I honestly don't have that long to wait. Many girls dream of this from early childhood. A girl may dream about her future husband and children for 20 years before she enters that season. But me? I've just really started to dream. I'm already twenty years old.  In five years I may be standing at the alter. I may be holding my first child (or, preferably, twin children). It's really really not that long! But it is long enough. For as excited as I am for that... I'm just really enjoying this current season. May these next five (or whatnot) years, this season of singleness, continue to be a rich and full time of contentment. The future need not hurry at all... I'm content here. It's just so good. It's amazing. It's beautiful. 

I like being 20. I'm old, yet young... I'm firmly established in my adulthood, if I can put it that way. I look at myself in the eyes of my younger self, and am silenced by the quiet dignity of it. 20 years old. There is dignity in living and breathing and existing on this earth. And there is a dignity in knowing that I'm not stuck feeling like anything different than what I am - a young adult. I love childhood, and part of childhood never leaves (or at least is not meant to). Yet in some ways, my childhood came to an early end, and I had about 7 years where the child Jamie had died, and the adult Jamie had not yet awakened and become established. Because the child Jamie wasn't meant to die yet, but we live in an imperfect world and these things happen sometimes. So I existed in that strange state for quite a while, hovering between childhood and adulthood. Three years ago, at age 17, I stepped towards my adulthood. And now, three years later, I am firmly established in it. I am capable. I am valuable. I am loved. I am powerful. I am beautiful. I am energetic. I am creative. I am forever filled with child-like vigor and joy. I am an ambassador and a daughter. 

I am free.

News about news!

Well, I brought a mini notebook with me to Honduras. Usually I would use my phone's "Notes" app for such purposes, but in Honduras everything returned to the delightful old fashioned primitive way of doing things! =D I filled more than 2/3 of it, scribbling a total of 4,420 words just in log notes alone. No, I didn't keep count. xD But today I finally sat down and got it all typed up, so that's how I know. My log notes were more detailed than usual, so when I post them here to the blog I may at times rely on them for the main content of the blog posts.

I didn't bring a camera with me, and I wasn't able to have my phone with me much. I was able to take it out and get a few pictures a few times, so I'll post those. I took pictures on others' cameras, but I haven't collected them all. Ah well, so be it. I will, perhaps, collect them in future. For now, I'll just post what I have. I don't have any posts prepared yet, but it shouldn't take long, considering that my notes are all transcribed now! ;D