Ever Mindful

Hey gang! Well, this is it...my very last day in Honduras before the start of my official job here at NPH. Tomorrow I begin my work with the babies of Casa Suyapa, but not until noon, so that's great! My regular work days will begin at 5:30 AM! Yowzas. Life has been a whirlwind the past 2 weeks, and today was the first day in which I had NOTHING planned...it's been great. I slept in until 9, had breakfast with the visitors here from my old church, and then took a nap at noon. I've been told that napping becomes the volunteers' best friend here, which I can totally see becoming fact for me as well. We're all exhausted everyday, but it's been good. The group is getting along great, and we're all ready and excited to start our jobs tomorrow. I hope that I'm able to remain in good touch once the 'real deal' begins, 'cause I'll be working 50+-hour work weeks from here on out!
Let's see...wow, the ride has definitely continued to be full of ups and downs...some days are amazing and I wonder if I'll ever leave this place, and other days I'm totally frustrated and wonder if I'll ever really survive here...ha! I am still constantly praying about my attitude with the language...I'm excited to get over that hurdle for sure. But the biggest thing that God has been showing me over the past 2 weeks has been His mindfulness of me and my EVERY need. I can't even begin to tell you how many 'little' things He's been working out for me every single day. Sometimes I feel like I pray about something, and my prayer is answered within hours...it's unbelievable. There are so many examples, and they cannot be expressed in a blog, but a few of them include a small community for me to pray with every week, many conversations with the kids about God, the little kids' LOVE for my 'Pajama Bible' that my mom bought for them, random people we have met on our travels to and from the big city, and a few little necessities that I forgot or couldn't afford to buy that have just been placed in my lap. WOW. The Creator of the Universe is AWARE of my very need, hears my every prayer, and DELIGHTS in showering me with His good gifts and presence. I am in awe of how such a Worthy God would find pleasure in such an unworthy servant as me. Why He would choose ME, a sinful, selfish, even lazy (I know, hard to believe, huh?) human to declare His good works and advance His kingdom unto SO many people. He wants to do SO much here.
PLEASE pray that I am a faithful instrument of His goodness. I want so badly for His spirit to move in this place, and I do not in ANY way want to stifle His work. Please pray that I keep my standard at His and that I remain pure and holy in my thoughts, words, and actions here. I want to become less so that He can become MORE! And please pray that He gives me His divine love and patience for everyone here!
Love you all!

P.S. I tried to post pics here but for some reason was having trouble...I will try again soon! Sorry!

A Plethora of Adventures

Hey everyone, I'm now at my final destination for my stay in Honduras: Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos, the orphanage which I call home. Our group of volunteers arrived here late Sat. night, and we've been touring the place for orientation ever since. Of course my highlight here thus far has been getting to see my godson, as well as the many kids whom I know so well. I was SO excited to share my surprise 1-year stay with Fernando...unfortunately, when I first saw him, he was watching a video (his favorite thing, it seems), so I didn't get quite the reaction that I was anticipating...haha. But our time together, though minimal, has been great so far...wow, I really love all of these kids.

Well, I better sum of the rest of my stay in Copan...it was great, though I was really getting antsy to just get here, since the orphanage was my purpose for this trip...I don't make the best tourist! But I did get a chance to do a lot of great things, since our school sponsors a fun outing for its students each week. I went to Parque de Aves, a sweet bird park with plenty of tropical birds to perch on you, the gorgeous hot springs nearby (I felt like I was on some tropical island while we were there! It was surreal), and the famous Mayan Ruins (weird and cool at the same time:). I also spent time getting to know my awesome host family, other American students there, and my maestro...all of whom I know I'm going to miss! I'm really hoping to go back to Copan in 6 months or so and show off my much-improved spanish...haha.:)

Well, the 3 days here at the orphanage have been pretty overwhelming for everyone; we're all super tired (even those fluent in spanish, haha)!! We are a very big group of newbies...18 in total...and there are 10 girls sharing a dorm room right now...ayyyy caramba! But thus far there have been no cat fights.:) The culture of it all is so interesting...there are volunteers from Germany, Holand, Belgium, and Spain, and there is a good group of us from MN as well.:) The difficulty has been figuring out what language to speak with each other...I guess in the past, the volunteers have just gravitated to english during down time, but now a few in the group don't speak english well, so many times there's a convo. in spanish while another in english...cool, but kind of awkward sometimes!

Let's see...prayer requests...please just pray about God's calling for me here...I feel like there's so much I can do to serve everyone around me, but I don't even know where to start. Well, LOVE will do for now, right?:) I know I have been called to be a light here, but I can't let my feelings of inadequecy keep me from a-shinin'. I will be spending a good amount of time w/the volunteers for another week and a half, until my job with my babies officially starts...so there is lots of transition continuing!

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!
Keep in touch! I love hearing from you!

"If I speak in tongues of men and angels...but have not love...I am nothing.

Love never fails."

-1 Corinthians 13:1,8