Graduation

This brief trip home culminates and continues (can both of those happen at the same time and be correct?) a vision God gave our youngest daughter while she served in Helene with us for two years. Susanna came to Helene with her sisters and parents in 2004 having just finished her sophomore year in high school. Her routine before she arrived in Honduras included homeschooling, working at a local pharmacy and constant involvement with her friends. Like most teenagers, she had acquired her driver's license which greatly aided our schedule as she played on not one, but two basketball teams. Her life was full already, living four miles from the Atlantic Ocean, babysitting, and actively embracing relationships of all ages. After the second week of living on an island accessible only by an international flight, followed by an hour in a van and then a 35 minute boat ride, it was understandable to say she was in another world.
For the first two weeks, she isolated herself in front of her computer to constantly IM her friends (before Facebook). Her dad and I came to her and grounded her computer use. "Back home is not your focus. It's time to get out and begin your ministry." And she did just that...her ministry. On our staff each person has responsibilities that are specific to them. There are not just jobs to be done. It is something that represents who you are. Since Susanna had learned some sign language, she was a terrific help to her mom who was the kindergarten teacher. One of the little girls in the class was deaf from a childhood fever. Susanna taught her some signs and they had great fun with each other. A year later a youth mission team visited our site. Included in the group was a high school teacher of the deaf and 3 deaf high school students. Susanna and our deaf kindergartener were almost constant companions of the four people visiting who used signs to communicate everything. For Susanna it was heaven to interact and learn more about ministry to the deaf from the teacher. To Kiera it was heaven to see other people who relied on signing in real life. She had never been around so many people who "talked" this way. In the weeks to come, Susanna would discover that God had placed her in Helene as a teenager to show her His plan for her life and ministry.
On Sunday Susanna graduated magna cum laude with a degree in deaf education from Barton College. Four days later, she attended orientation for the master's program at the University of Southern Mississippi with a full scholarship. She will be doing her coursework for a year while working at the Magnolia School for the Deaf and then will intern in Memphis, Tennessee at a school for the deaf. She is especially interested in intervention, working with parents whose child has just been disgnosed with deafness. Working with parents who are dealing for the first time with learning how to communicate with their deaf baby is intervention. We can only look to the Lord and praise Him for His hand in her life. It is exciting to see where He will lead her next.

re-entry in reverse

It is known among the staff here that the week, esp. the two or three days before we return to Helene, can get crazy. Moving from one culture to the other is stress enough without last minute chores, travel issues and just the anxiety of separation from those we love and leave. It's reentry in reverse. Just like the time before a baby is born, it's transition. Usually in this transition I become a basket case, emotional, oversensitive, ridiculous. This return from the states was escalated the “week of” by feverish waiting for a child to be born. This baby had to be born BEFORE I had to returned.
On Monday (June 7) Larry flew back to Honduras. On Tuesday the doctor tells us that if our new granddaughter refuses to arrive, he will meet us at 6 a.m. at the hospital on Thursday to induce; all of his calculations about the baby's weight show that she is a healthy, fullterm baby. Wednesday, the excitement grew as we tackled the To Do List - little things that make for a wonderful homecoming. The other grandparents are called to come, schedule laid out, groceries picked up. Then in the middle of Wednesday afternoon, I receive a frantic call from my sister in Tennessee. She is enroute to the place where our mother with Alzheimer's resides. The administrator has called her to come as soon as possible. They noticed mother had not come to breakfast or lunch and they found her crying in pain in her bed. My sister plans to take her to ER. I plead with her instead to call EMTs and an ambulance. I promise to come immediately if I need to. When she arrived, there was no question about calling 911. On the busiest day her company had had in the last two years, my sister left work and endured 8 ½ hours with our mother, not only answering questions from the doctors, but the endless repetition of our mom's illness. The same questions over and over. After going through tests and diagnostic procedures to discover our mother's pain was a severe infection, all were back home by 1 a.m.
Thursday morning at 11:25 a.m. Felicity was born weighing 8 lbs. 15 oz. I was so honored to be beside my daughter during the birth process. What a joyous event! The next day was homecoming. And then, as subtle as ever, my transition began to process as I realized my visit was completed, my mission for this time was done. God so graciously walked me through the hassle of traveling back to Honduras without tears shed or the longing ache to stay. It was time to return.
Still I leave my sister in charge once again of our mother and her needs, two daughters with their husband/family, and one daughter who has graduated and moved to a new place,and two precious grandchildren. Some missionaries never have the opportunity to be present at graduations, births, emergencies, deaths, etc. I am thankful for all the people in my family's lives that afford me this opportunity to be here.

Nana for 3 weeks

I have three weeks to be "Nana" at ground zero in Kill Devil Hills. Week one involved laundry on Monday, mopping and cleaning on the first floor on Tuesday, playgroup on Wednesday, story hour at the library on Thursday, plus a dr. visit, and who knows, maybe a new baby sister on Friday. This is such precious time. There are a lot of memories that flood me as well as some things I had forgotten about taking care of a toddler. One always more wonderful thing is being greeted in the morning from a crib. All smiles, pudgy little reaching arms, nothing like it. The most wonderful way to start a day is just that few minutes of snuggle and lovin'. Off with the night diaper, on with the pre-breakfast diaper. Downstairs, welcome the sunshine as we open the blinds and curtains, sprinkle the Cheerios on th table, sing a morning song, fix breakfast. While breadfast is cooking, we find a pot lid and a metal spoon to be a great instrument. Besides that, they make a lot of noise. On with the bib; I had forgotten how sticky and dangerous oatmeal is to the unsuspecting. Hair is a magnet for it, so is anything else basically. It is also amazing how difficult it is to get into a sealed container, such as a fruit cup. And when we are "done", it is time to move on to other activities immediately. There is so much to see and do when you are 18 months old. I can't remember the last time I stopped and squatted to watch ants march in the crack of a sidewalk, or listen to the machine clearing the lot next door, or watched the wind whipping flags on poles. A day full of this kind of thing is priceless, and such good exhaustion. We are waiting on little sister to arrive. I can't imagine how much fun it will be when she gets here!

the circus, uh, the rodeo

A few weekends ago, we went to the rodeo. We thought it was the circus, but it really was the rodeo. Let me explain...Larry and I went downisland one Saturday to pick up a visiting dentist at the Roatan airport. We planned to return by late afternoon, and because the plane was an early flight, we got up extra early (4:30/5:00 a.m.) to leave at 8:30 a.m. The plane was scheduled to arrive at 10:30, but when we arrived at the airport, the plane was late and the ETA was now 11:00 a.m. We visitied with folks we know on Roatan and at 11:00, we were told the plane would be there at noon. We visited some more, did a Sudoku, drank a soda, and the plane did not arrive at noon. It would be 2:00 p.m. before our dentist would be here. Having expressed several oohs and ahhs, thinking we were jumping through the hoops of a circus ring, we decided to take an intermission and get some lunch. When we returned at 1:30, the whole show was becoming rather anti-climatic. Alas, we were yet in for a true shot "out of the cannon" at the announcement that the plane would definitely arrive at 4:00 p.m. Finally, our suspense was satisfied and our dentist arrived!
But wait,...the real contest began as we tried to "rope" his luggage from the conveyor belt! To no avail, the luggage was not with us and now it was 5:00 p.m. Even with a fast van we could not "round the barrels" (the curves on the road) in time to reach our boat docked an hour away before nightfall. We considered this to be the calf roping event since our hands and feet were tied to the island of Roatan for the night. You see, we cannot travel on the water after dark unless it is an emergency.
Wearing the same salt-soaked clothes we wore from the morning ride down gave us the appearance of clowns which are at circuses and rodeos. Not to mention what our hair looked like, windswept and salt-coated. No shampoo, no toothbrush, noclean...anyway, we had a marvelous time worshipping at rChurch the next morning. A successful round up of luggage at the airport after church, a quick lunch led us on to our boat. Our driver was waiting decked out in a yellow poncho. Larry and I smiled secretly, the unspoken message that the ride home would offer a water adventure unparalleled at any amusement park. And we were right. As our driver carefully manuevered the crests of the waves and then paused in the troughs before speeding ahead. Occasionally a wave would catch us unaware and a great spray of salt water drenched our faces and bodies like someone throwing a bucket of water on us. The ride demanded that we hold onto the seat like a cowboy on a bucking bronco. No cap remained on a head and glasses were questionable. Up and down, back and forth, over and over. We squealed as our own seats left the bench of the boat and we toppled onto each other. Ah, there's nothing like an island rodeo! You never know what will happen next, but you can be sure it will be a real kick in the pants!!!

special days in Honduras

Holidays and special days have a different slant in this country, or perhaps these islands.  I have never been overly zealous for Earth Day, but I encourage environmental awareness.  We found this was totally out of place in Helene, along with endangered animals (this would be a story for another day).  Some folks are very conscious about litter/trash disposal and their yards are swept (raked) on a regular basis.  But we do not have a sanitation dept. here, no regular weekly pickups and garbage is burned to get rid of it.  We have talked about Earth Day in school, but it is not a celebrated event.                    May 1st is Honduran Labor Day.  All businesses close for this day, more so than the American Labor Day in the U.S.  This year it falls on a Saturday which would not affect the school schedule, but nevertheless, some students tried to convince us that all schools were to cancel classes on April 26 for Labor Day.                   Cinco de Mayo or the Fifth of May is recognized here, but not necessarily celebrated.  Someone has told us that the U.S. celebrates this day more than even the country of its origin, Mexico.  So far these three days have not taken away a day of class in school.                  But now we come to Mother's Day.  This is by far one of the most important days celebrated in Helene.  Every school has its own festivity around this event.  English school did not do a party because there are so many other ones planned.  But organizing the Mother's Day gift was planned in advance and pre-empted any lessons for an afternoon.  The Spanish school in Bently Bay had their ceremony on Friday morning, the Spanish school Southside planned their party for Friday night.  On Saturday the Church of God Pentecost acknowledged mothers with a special evening service.  And on Sunday afternoon the Methodist Church had "recitations."  The Northside church decided to postpone their celebration for a couple of weeks.  They came to the other events and a good time was had by all.

Changing times

    The roar of a bulldozer hit my ears with sudden realization that reminded me that I was in a place that has never had these kind of machines. Almost every day we hear it coming from the west and slowly heading to the east on the path. At least it was a path for a very short time. The broken concrete in front of our building is still in place, but the wooden bridge (as well as our dock) have not withstood the weight and have a few gaping holes. No problem for the bulldozer; it simply goes around the bridge on the ground. As Deirdre and I were on our way to Friday afternoon Bible time on Northside, we heard the bulldozer on the path in the bush. We usually took the path on that route, but on this Friday we had to make a medical stop in Seco. We could see a very small amount of yellow some distance down the path behind us with a little crowd watching. As we returned later we met a few island friends taking a stroll on the newly carved roadway. We were told there is talk of buying scooters and golf carts, and there may be a bus for our teachers to RIDE to school. I have never lived anywhere in all my lifetime where life was changing so drastically. Everywhere I have called home has had an infrastructure in place for over a hundred years or more. Can you imagine where you live without a road of any kind? To reach any destination you can only walk? Ok, well, there ARE boats. This is really fun, but our dinner table talk is all about how our island home is changing, what will be the effect and what will this do to life as we know it on the island called Helene.

    

a typical "untypical" day

A most typical "untypical" day is more the norm than the exception here. Many people complain about Mondays being another day in the grind. But in a third world country, Monday equates to nothing different than any other day. Some days do seem to carry more than a fair load. This seems to be exaggerated by our small team this year - only four compared to twice that many in the past. The stress usually happens when we're preparing for a big event like a short term team. Take a particular Tuesday not so long ago.

Larry had a trip downisland planned in a couple of days, but the weather, esp. the water, was not good. So he changed plans and left as soon as possible to buy supplies, groceries, diesal fuel (by far, the most important). that left Deirdre, Dominic and myself to handle anything that could happen - oh, Emily was here to lead Teacher Training. The medical clinic had a few unexpected visits to slow Deirdre from making her home visits for the morning. Dominic and I were busy in constant interruptions - we call them divine appointments sometimes. Emily was preparing for our Teacher Training in the afternoon and had a few tasks for us also. Since Dominic and I had a teaching period in the training, we were also scrambling for time to check our plans and notes. Before we knew it, it was time to eat a fast lunch (not to be confused with "fast food") and change into appropriate clothes for Teacher Training. As we sat in training we crammed for our own sessions with the teachers. Numerous times we left the classroom to "run the kids" - chase them off the deck near our classroom - it becomes a game, and took care of matters with islanders or other visitors to see Larry. Then, the real crunch. There was a water leak somewhere. Note: water is more crucial than even power here! So while TEacher Training was continuing quite well, Dominic was checking every faucet and toilet in every building on our property. After that, all the pipes under the buildings. Before dark, as Training dismissed, the boat arrived with supplies to be carried up the hill and stored, groceries to be put away, and supper to be fixed. All in a day's work. All in what God has for us here.

back at it

We've been in Helene for a month now and our first STM arrived yesterday afternoon! It has been a busy week with Teacher Training beginning on Monday. Every afternoon from 1 to 6 we have had our annual Teacher Training with FOURTEEN ladies from the island!! It has been fantastic to watch these ladies learn and share and sacrifice their family time. Some who do not even want to take on a teaching job, but simply want to get the English training. We are thrilled to see the interest since the school board had suggested that we start adult education classes in the evenings. Not sure if that is doable yet, but this could be God's directing by opening up the interest.

Everyday here in Helene is such a unique experience. Life is so totally dependent on prayer and God's provision, sometimes on an hourly basis. (well, it SHOULD be always like that, nah?) Next blog will be about a typical "untypical" day here on the site. Always something new.

Recap of 2009

When we returned from the states after Camas and Emily's wedding, we made a big decision. It did not affect the operation of the mission here in Helene, but it DID change its name. Alternative Missions who established the site here in Helene beginning in the mid '90's decided to concentrate their efforts in other directions and release the Helene ministry. It was suggested that we form our own mission organization to continue on the island until we felt we could successfully leave the ministries in the hands of the nationals. After much prayer and counsel on the matter, we started efforts to become Mission Encounters International. This was quite a challenge to initiate from a third world country! Due to the efforts of a number of folks in the U.S. we were officially MEI in November. We even have a website www.missionencountersintl.com!

The staff left Helene during the first week of December with plans to return in February. The first Board meeting for MEI was held the last weekend of January on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the middle of an unusual storm for this area - SNOW! It was a special time for our family to be together as Larry and Emily joined Heather Campos, Jim Dale, Scott Griffith, and Burnie Staples, our new Board of Directors. We praise God for these people and their sacrifice.

What happened in July?

So the last entry in my blog is the end of August. I was actually trying to catch up on the summer months, including Camas and Emily's wedding and getting back to Helene. What happened to four months?? I get the bad, bad blogger award. Will put aside all excuses and cover the past territory and move on to what is happening NOW. It is absolutely amazing how God's timing and work has brought us to this end of November and what He seems to be designing for us in the next month and year 2010. Wow.

First, let me tell a little of our latter half of the year. As my last post showed, we were blessed with two young ladies to be here in Helene as interns and our dear friend Sharon while we were in the states for a whole month to celebrate a special wedding. Dominic and Deirdre were the only fulltime staff here in Helene during that time. What a terrific trip it was, spending time with family and friends. The time was all so short, of course, but what a sweet wedding ceremony and fun reception we had in July. I only wish we had had more time with our families (relatives) and Camas' family. What a treat to have my sister and nephews, too. (I so regret I cannot load pictures onto this post, but my computer crashed.) Larry and I were so blessed to spend time with Camas and Emily - in between their work shifts! We really absorbed the time we spent with granddaughter LucyKate, Bethany and Josh, and Susanna. It was hard to leave, but after all, it was only for four more months. Little did we realize how those four months would challenge us in some new directions! Next post will fill you in...

Here's a random shot of our fulltime staff this year in Helene (compare to the picture when we arrived in March).  When we realized we would be leaving in July to come to the states for Emily and Camas' wedding, we did not realize David would be returning for a short trip at the same time.  Praise the Lord (!) we had two interns arrive who would be here to serve during our absence.  Deirdre and Dominic directed the routine activities and kept things going.  The next pictures are showing Jennifer and Jessica, our summer interns who have a special place in our hearts and our history here.  

ReadAloud

One of the special experiences many mission teams talk about is their opportunity to be in the English School.  Everyday we have a break in the middle of our day.  It's the perfect time to have ReadAloud.  Here's one of the team members reading a book to the first graders.  

Here we are - teaching staff and STM celebrating our newly remodeled Teacher Resource Area!

As it turns out, the minister who was to do the ceremony felt the water was too rough that afternoon to come, so Larry ended up doing the wedding with another islander.  Larry's knees were bothering him that day so he came by speedboat, docked just outside the house where the ceremony had begun!

from the sidelines

Fun to watch from the sidelines!  Intern Jessica behind me & Dominic & friends on the right.

Here's the beautiful procession waiting to start down the "aisle" - there are carefully executed steps in the processional and it has been practiced many times in the previous weeks.

an island wedding

While Sunset STM was with us, they were privileged to go to an island wedding.  These do not happen often and when it does, they are a huge event.  The bride is actually the sister of one of our teacher assistants.  It's fun to see everyone dressed in their best at an occasion like this!

Job well done!!! and a good time was had by all...

Half mile walk from lumber locker through bush