It's hard to believe it is December and I'm sure at home all of you are getting ready for Christmas already – seems so strange. Here the people are started to decorate their houses too, some have Christmas lights up, and others have little Santa type of decorations, etc. It looks very out of place, I must say.
Anyway that is quite beside the point. Today was a kind of day off, although not exactly. We were supposed to be going on a trip up this one mountain to Don Mario's coffee plantation, basically just to sightsee, but it ended up that the trip was postponed until Monday, which I was happy about, and so we worked today since we will have Monday “off”. A group of 7 or 8 was taken to Talanga (the nearest “town” where we go to use the internet) to work in the Tamarind plantation, but thanks to my Canadian status I stayed back here. (In other words, I volunteered to stay back, and Rob picked me to help him with the painting over the others “because I was Canadian”). So our task was to paint the outside of the church, and since there is only one roller here, I painted the base and around the windows with a paintbrush, and we listened to some good ol' Great Big Sea in honour of our East Coast Canadian heritage. :) It was an enjoyable time, and we were soon finished and had the rest of the day to do what we needed to. Following lunch the other crew came back and I was reminded that the girls had been invited by the famous Maria and Mariela to go to their place at 2:30pm, and it was nigh unto that time right then, so we took off and went to their place. It turned out to be a bit of an unfortunate time because this lady was very quiet, and the girls were quiet today too, and the TV was on, so we sat there and spent most of the time watching the show that was on, which was entitled something to the effect of Duel of Passion, and it was quite an odd show with the worst actors I have ever seen, and of the poorest quality. Shortly after it's end we told them that we had to go and went on our merry way. I had to go back to get my computer first so the others went on without me, but it was not fully charged so I decided to come back in an hour to pick it up, but since I had nothing to do in town and was alone, I went back to Buenavista and cleaned up some of my stuff and then Rob and I went back to drop off more stuff to charge and to pick up my computer.
Tomorrow we will be going to Tegucigalpa for the afternoon/night and part of Sunday. We were invited to various things out there and so will be travelling in their bus and will be billeted out for the night, and will hopefully be able to go to some stores and also use the internet...
Sunday, December 9, 2007
December 6, 2007 - Another Day With Maria & Mariela
Another day, another night.
We awoke to Rob being severly dehydrated, for the fourth time in his life – which will hopefully cause him to think about how he needs to drink water in the future...Poor guy.
Anyway, this morning we were kind of slow to start the day and there wasn't really anything that I needed to do, so I spent some time studying and talking to people who also were not working, etc. Then after lunch I went to help get some firewood, and carried out a big log, and following that I was so warm and tired that I rested for a time, then readied myself to go play games again with the children at the plaza. When we got there we were surprised to meet up with a whole busload of other Gringos, who came from Chatanooga Tennessee – very close to Southern, so they informed us. They were only here for the day and had spent the rest of their time in Honduras in Tegucigalpa where they have an orphanage type of thing, a ministry called the Forgotten Children Ministry. We talked to them for a little while, and then they took off and the games began. Once again Maria and Mariela found me, and they were excessively hyper today and it began to wear on my nerves very quickly, being pulled here and there, whilst you had to endure their yelling and attempts to speak to you and tell you where they wanted to take you; etc, etc, etc. I also had my camera and they were constantly begging to take pictures with it, and were just hanging off of me the whole time. Then, there were these guys who would “send their greetings” to Elissa, via Maria or Mariela, guys she had never seen before, much to her horror. And shortly after another message came about how this guy wanted to get a picture of Elissa and I on his cellphone. We of course refused, and the message was sent again, and we refused again, so finally the girl came over with the cellphone herself, but we didn't exactly notice it right away and couldn't make our escape, so she took this horrendous picture of Elissa drastically saying “NO!” and me looking ridiculous in the background. She ran off to give the cellphone back to the guy. I quickly told Elissa to ask the girl to bring the cellphone back because we “wanted to see the picture” AKA delete it! She brought it, and as quickly as possible, Elissa figured out how to delete it, and the picture was removed. The funny thing was that when we opened the cellphone up, there is a place where you can write a little message on the front screen, and what it said was: ElisaSarita – which is what the people here call me, in other words little Sarah.
Anyway, these girls were begging me to first go with them to worship or something like that (not sure why there was a worship at such a random time in the afternoon, but whatever) and then to go to their Grandmothers house (Sarah) where they took me the day before. I refused about a zillion times because it was majorly awkward since I didn't know enough Spanish to carry on a conversation with them, and so they spent half an hour or so begging me and calling this person and that person over to try to translate to me, and finally they went to get Henrietta to try to get her to go. She also refused, unless someone else would go with her, so I said that I would, and Marylin also joined in on it. So off we went. We arrived and Sarah warmly greeted us because she's nice like that, and since they (Henrietta and Marylin) have a much better grasp on the Spanish language they brokenly asked questions and managed to understand a fair amount of the conversation, which was nice. We were brought coffee and some pastry type of thing again, and after we had consumed it we thanked them and told them that we had to depart due to the darkness that was falling, and because we did not have a light for the way back. We were waylaid once on the way back by two girls who were their cousins asking us to go to the Prophecy church for worship, but we once again explained that we had to get back before it got too dark, and we eventually were able to carry on our way.
We got back and had several different visitors, Freddy, Noel, Dani, and Diego. Noel and Dani were looking at the Spanish-English dictionary with Rob, trying to find a synonym for the word creepy, which they are now obsessed with, since I tried to explain to them that their friend and the one who is apparantly in love with me, is creepy. But unfortunately, in Spanish this word does not seem to exist, which is kind of ridiculous because a culture like this definitely needs such a word...Or at least that could be said if you did not understand the culture, and were not used to such attention. Anyway, the evening was quite enjoyable and amusing, and a good time was had by all.
December 5, 2007 - Wednesday
I feel as though I have spent the last week without sleep, but in actuality I have slept more than I have since I was but a small child...
Yesterday, we worked on cleaning out the dam on the property (removing the sand and various other things from the inside) so that we can have a place to swim, for example. It was fun due to the company of Dani's friends who arrived to help, Noel, Mario, and another guy whose name we do not yet know. They were rather amused by all of Rob's antics, and now hold him in high regard due to his hilarity. That evening, I recalled that we had been invited to the Prophecy church for their worship, so a group of us went to that. It was fairly uneventful compared to the last experience people had there (speaking in tongues, excessive loudness, falling on the floor, etc.) and the sermon was of the most random assortment, not really making any sense whatsoever, but it was kind of nice to do something different.
Today I was on the team to collect firewood again, and I felt mildly useless because Dani who is our fearless leader, would not give me any job (plus there was not another machete) and so I basically just sat there whilst they chopped on trees, until the end whereupon I had the privilege of being useful and carried a bundle of wood down. In a way though it was nice I suppose for the day was very sunny and when you are climbing mountains you become rather warm, especially when you have to wear long pants and shoes to protect yourself from the various bugs and thorns that thrive in the area. Following the morning of work and lunch we readied ourselves for the afternoon wherein we have games in the afternoon with the children in the village, and I had my very first hot shower. It was absolutely amazing – it started off cold as usual, which I was disappointed about because I had a theory that it would possibly be warm since the day was so sunny, but after about 1 minute it gradually warmed up, and kept warming up until the very end whereupon it became as warm as I usually have the water to be! And when the water was off I actually found the air temperature to be cold, which goes to show how warm the water actually was – needless to say it was most pleasant to have a shower that was that close to being normal. :)
Anyway then we went to play games with the children, and I dropped my computer off at Marta and Werner's place to charge in the meantime, and arrived a little late at the games, but they had not really started yet anyway. What they were doing was getting the kids to apparantly draw something to do with not getting AIDS, which turned out to be pictures of houses and flowers and mountains and hearts – don't ask me what that had to do with anything, but I suppose there was some other purpose spoken in Spanish that I did not catch. Basically all I had to do was hand out pieces of paper to the children, and after the drawing competition was finished, I was taken by the hands of these two girls whose names are Maria and Mariella (sisters, ages 12, 9) who have attached themselves to me in particular it seems, and they proceeded to attempt to speak to me as usual, in Spanish, to which I can only reply “No entiendo!”. For some reason they are under the impression that I will understand them if they repeat themselves a million times, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way. I feel absolutely horrible that I cannot communicate with them, but there is not much I can do about it. So anyway, they took me by the hands, telling me that they were going to take me somewhere, and at first I attempted to resist them, but there IS no resistance with these two, so I was led away down the street, wondering where our travels would lead me this time...We walked for a few moments and arrived at a humble abode of this adorable old lady, named Sarah, just like me. I am not sure how they were related, but I am quite sure they were. They all tried to talk to me, and once again all I could tell them was that I didn't understand and I didn't speak Spanish. So instead they all stood there and looked at me, which made me feel even more awkward than I already was feeling, and I also couldn't ask how long we were staying for, or why we were there, or tell them that I needed to go back to the area where I was supposed to be helping out with the games. If there was some way possible that I could learn Spanish immediately, I would be the first to go for it, my goodness...I have come to absolutely HATE language barriers, and also to constantly have to rely on other's to translate; aiyiyi. I'm so sick of it and it's frustrations, for the people here are such lovely souls, but I have no way of talking to them, other than to tell them dumb things, you know like, I'm sorry I don't know what you are saying.
Anyway, so I sat there, nearing the verge of tears of frustration that I couldn't communicate/understand. One of the little girls that was a cousin of theirs I think, came over lugging a baby in her arms, and I guess they asked if I wanted to hold the baby, and ended up with it in my arms. Eventually I got rid of it, and was then led outside to sit on the doorstep with Mariella. The next door neighbour across the road had to come out and decided to stand there and watch everything that was going on, once again causing major awkwardness for me...then the lady, Sarah, brought me coffee and a cake, and so there I sat on the doorstep, many watching me, eating the cake and drinking the coffee, and teaching Mariella the various words in English she wanted to know.
After I was finished, I tried to say that I had to go, and so we finally left. I felt bad because Sarah had gone to the trouble to make me coffee and gave me cake, but I could not speak so my existence there was quite useless I felt, so I thanked her as well as I know how, and off we went. We were stopped here and there on the way home by this curious person and that one, and then we arrived back in the plaza to discover that all had left already, so I went and collected my computer and then came back here to the mission station by myself – but I arrived with no unfortunate incidents and for that I was glad.
And now I am weary, so I bid thee a goodnight from Honduras, with love.
Yesterday, we worked on cleaning out the dam on the property (removing the sand and various other things from the inside) so that we can have a place to swim, for example. It was fun due to the company of Dani's friends who arrived to help, Noel, Mario, and another guy whose name we do not yet know. They were rather amused by all of Rob's antics, and now hold him in high regard due to his hilarity. That evening, I recalled that we had been invited to the Prophecy church for their worship, so a group of us went to that. It was fairly uneventful compared to the last experience people had there (speaking in tongues, excessive loudness, falling on the floor, etc.) and the sermon was of the most random assortment, not really making any sense whatsoever, but it was kind of nice to do something different.
Today I was on the team to collect firewood again, and I felt mildly useless because Dani who is our fearless leader, would not give me any job (plus there was not another machete) and so I basically just sat there whilst they chopped on trees, until the end whereupon I had the privilege of being useful and carried a bundle of wood down. In a way though it was nice I suppose for the day was very sunny and when you are climbing mountains you become rather warm, especially when you have to wear long pants and shoes to protect yourself from the various bugs and thorns that thrive in the area. Following the morning of work and lunch we readied ourselves for the afternoon wherein we have games in the afternoon with the children in the village, and I had my very first hot shower. It was absolutely amazing – it started off cold as usual, which I was disappointed about because I had a theory that it would possibly be warm since the day was so sunny, but after about 1 minute it gradually warmed up, and kept warming up until the very end whereupon it became as warm as I usually have the water to be! And when the water was off I actually found the air temperature to be cold, which goes to show how warm the water actually was – needless to say it was most pleasant to have a shower that was that close to being normal. :)
Anyway then we went to play games with the children, and I dropped my computer off at Marta and Werner's place to charge in the meantime, and arrived a little late at the games, but they had not really started yet anyway. What they were doing was getting the kids to apparantly draw something to do with not getting AIDS, which turned out to be pictures of houses and flowers and mountains and hearts – don't ask me what that had to do with anything, but I suppose there was some other purpose spoken in Spanish that I did not catch. Basically all I had to do was hand out pieces of paper to the children, and after the drawing competition was finished, I was taken by the hands of these two girls whose names are Maria and Mariella (sisters, ages 12, 9) who have attached themselves to me in particular it seems, and they proceeded to attempt to speak to me as usual, in Spanish, to which I can only reply “No entiendo!”. For some reason they are under the impression that I will understand them if they repeat themselves a million times, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way. I feel absolutely horrible that I cannot communicate with them, but there is not much I can do about it. So anyway, they took me by the hands, telling me that they were going to take me somewhere, and at first I attempted to resist them, but there IS no resistance with these two, so I was led away down the street, wondering where our travels would lead me this time...We walked for a few moments and arrived at a humble abode of this adorable old lady, named Sarah, just like me. I am not sure how they were related, but I am quite sure they were. They all tried to talk to me, and once again all I could tell them was that I didn't understand and I didn't speak Spanish. So instead they all stood there and looked at me, which made me feel even more awkward than I already was feeling, and I also couldn't ask how long we were staying for, or why we were there, or tell them that I needed to go back to the area where I was supposed to be helping out with the games. If there was some way possible that I could learn Spanish immediately, I would be the first to go for it, my goodness...I have come to absolutely HATE language barriers, and also to constantly have to rely on other's to translate; aiyiyi. I'm so sick of it and it's frustrations, for the people here are such lovely souls, but I have no way of talking to them, other than to tell them dumb things, you know like, I'm sorry I don't know what you are saying.
Anyway, so I sat there, nearing the verge of tears of frustration that I couldn't communicate/understand. One of the little girls that was a cousin of theirs I think, came over lugging a baby in her arms, and I guess they asked if I wanted to hold the baby, and ended up with it in my arms. Eventually I got rid of it, and was then led outside to sit on the doorstep with Mariella. The next door neighbour across the road had to come out and decided to stand there and watch everything that was going on, once again causing major awkwardness for me...then the lady, Sarah, brought me coffee and a cake, and so there I sat on the doorstep, many watching me, eating the cake and drinking the coffee, and teaching Mariella the various words in English she wanted to know.
After I was finished, I tried to say that I had to go, and so we finally left. I felt bad because Sarah had gone to the trouble to make me coffee and gave me cake, but I could not speak so my existence there was quite useless I felt, so I thanked her as well as I know how, and off we went. We were stopped here and there on the way home by this curious person and that one, and then we arrived back in the plaza to discover that all had left already, so I went and collected my computer and then came back here to the mission station by myself – but I arrived with no unfortunate incidents and for that I was glad.
And now I am weary, so I bid thee a goodnight from Honduras, with love.
December 3, 2007 - AIDS Parade, etc.
Well, I have been slacking off in my blogging so now I will do my best to remember the details of the last period of time...
Sabbath we had our church service for the people that had been coming to the meetings in our church here – lots of kids came, and quite a few adults came as well which was excellent. Also many people came from the Tegucigalpa church to join in with our service/run aspects of the service such as the childrens program, etc. The sermon was about baptism to which a call was made for people interested in baptism, and I believe 7 came forward, or perhaps it was 6, I cannot quite recall. Anyway, they did not have a baptism that day because I guess they decided it was a little too early on, which I thought was a good choice. Then that afternoon after lunch which was kind of like a potluck, a small group of us desired to go into the village and visit some people. The first house we stopped at was to visit a lady whose acquaintance Eli had made, and she is in need of a new house. Her house is small of course, and is not in the greatest of shape, so we visited her for a while and have the possibility of helping her with it. She took us to her bean plantation also to show us what it was like, and she had some amazing mango trees on it as well which were enormous. (Mango season is not here which I find to be most unfortunate..) Then we continued on into town a little farther and visited some other families. The first one we stopped at was a lady who also had house issues – this one was much worse than the other. They had a fairly decent house, tiny as well, but a little bigger probably. Unfortunately though, they had this lovely next-door neighbour who decided to expand his house, and in doing so he destroyed her wall, so he could put his own up. Sooo, her roof was half caving in since it no longer had a wall to support it, and this had happened four years ago – so since the roof is in such a precarious position, she only uses that part of the house for the daytime, and at night they go with their kids to her mothers place to sleep, where it is safe. During these four years they have been collecting material to build a new house, but the process is very slow, and the workers charge a great deal of money to build a house, so it is difficult for them. We had a prayer with all the people we visited, and when we prayed with this lady she had tears in her eyes at the end of it – it was a very touching situation, to see the hope these people had, and to see all the difficulties they had to go through to achieve something fairly simple for us...
This lady was very talkative and after she took us to see the area she wanted to build her new place, she took us to see her sister, or maybe it was her aunt, I forget which one, and on the way she told the story about her, which was that the woman had lost her daughter when she (the daughter) was only 22 years old, and it was some sort of a tragic death, and this woman was now so disturbed that she would not leave her house, because whenever she left she would be reminded of her and it would all just bother her deeply, so she has spent the last however many years of her life in her house, not venturing out.
We did not stay for too long at this woman's house because she didn't seem like she was really up to having so many visitors, so we kept it short there, but she did thank us for visiting and invited us back again which could either have been out of politeness, or she really did appreciate it.
Anyway, we talked to some other people, and then headed back home. Then that night, we had been invited to attend the graduation of the school where we had given talks some time ago, so we set off to that adventure. It was fairly uneventful – Marta and Werner had the delight of sitting at the table of 'honoured guests' or something like that, and were given some nice wine or champaigne for the purpose of a toast, (which I do not believe they partook of), and there were many speeches and things said, and yes, was not particularly thrilling.
Sunday...We had classes in the morning which involved some unpleasantries and I did not enjoy them in the least, but we will leave that to remain in a dormant state, then we had the rest of the day to do what we wished. I wanted to go to buy a flashlight (since mine unfortunately broke) so Rob and Philip accompanied me on that mission, and I also needed to pick up my computer which was charging in Marta and Werner's lovely abode, and after we came back I studied a little, and then there was lunch, and following that Philip and I accidentally came across a coral snake, which is apparantly quite highly poisonous (10 times more than a rattlesnake) so it's life was swiftly ended by Alexander (one of the locals) and then just for fun it was slashed at by a machete and divided into three pieces, just cause somebody wanted to feel cool and “kill” something...
Today, we had class and then work time and for work time I was on the team to go and get firewood from the yonder mountain. That was an interesting experience on skinny little trails that you slide down, but we succeeded in our bid and a good time was had by all. Then, the four of us girls (Hannah, Elissa, Marylin and I) had been invited by these two adorable girls name Maria and Mariella for cookies at their aunts house. So we went to that, which ended up being quite a little jaunt away – and were greeted warmly, and their English speaking son was summoned to talk to us and he told us about how he had lived in Texas and Vancouver and had a wife and child who is now 8 years old, over in Vancouver still, etc. And we were served cookies and Honduran coffee, and then were given the leftover cookies to take back to the rest of the group. Then we were supposed to go to the Health Centre to meet up with a bunch of other people because we were supposedly going to be in an AIDS parade. When I heard we were going to be in a parade I found it to be a little unfortunate because I already feel like I'm in enough of a parade when all the Gringos go walking through town, but no we now had to be in a true parade...incidentally enough it ended up being mostly us anyway – there were possibly 5 others present, plus part of our group...very small parade. Anyway that was interesting. Once we arrived at the plaza, we were informed that there were supposed to be activities for the children, and we were in charge of that. Go figure. I love how everything is last minute here...anyway, I ended up being gone for most of that experience because the girls Maria and Mariella (who were still tagging along) drug me here and drug me there speaking to en Espanol, repeating themselves over and over again thinking that the more times they said it the more sense it would make to me...if only that was the case! I felt so bad not being able to understand them, but alas there was not much I could do. Then we came back here to Beunavista (our mission station) and set about the task of removing the kernels of corn from the dried out cobs, so that it can later be made into tortillas, not because we had to, but because it is somehow an enjoyable task. And that is how the rest of the evening went – good conversation ensued, a very good worship was had, and we were graced with the company of a couple of visitors for a time.
All in all we were blessed this day with all that happened, and for that, we give thanks.
Sabbath we had our church service for the people that had been coming to the meetings in our church here – lots of kids came, and quite a few adults came as well which was excellent. Also many people came from the Tegucigalpa church to join in with our service/run aspects of the service such as the childrens program, etc. The sermon was about baptism to which a call was made for people interested in baptism, and I believe 7 came forward, or perhaps it was 6, I cannot quite recall. Anyway, they did not have a baptism that day because I guess they decided it was a little too early on, which I thought was a good choice. Then that afternoon after lunch which was kind of like a potluck, a small group of us desired to go into the village and visit some people. The first house we stopped at was to visit a lady whose acquaintance Eli had made, and she is in need of a new house. Her house is small of course, and is not in the greatest of shape, so we visited her for a while and have the possibility of helping her with it. She took us to her bean plantation also to show us what it was like, and she had some amazing mango trees on it as well which were enormous. (Mango season is not here which I find to be most unfortunate..) Then we continued on into town a little farther and visited some other families. The first one we stopped at was a lady who also had house issues – this one was much worse than the other. They had a fairly decent house, tiny as well, but a little bigger probably. Unfortunately though, they had this lovely next-door neighbour who decided to expand his house, and in doing so he destroyed her wall, so he could put his own up. Sooo, her roof was half caving in since it no longer had a wall to support it, and this had happened four years ago – so since the roof is in such a precarious position, she only uses that part of the house for the daytime, and at night they go with their kids to her mothers place to sleep, where it is safe. During these four years they have been collecting material to build a new house, but the process is very slow, and the workers charge a great deal of money to build a house, so it is difficult for them. We had a prayer with all the people we visited, and when we prayed with this lady she had tears in her eyes at the end of it – it was a very touching situation, to see the hope these people had, and to see all the difficulties they had to go through to achieve something fairly simple for us...
This lady was very talkative and after she took us to see the area she wanted to build her new place, she took us to see her sister, or maybe it was her aunt, I forget which one, and on the way she told the story about her, which was that the woman had lost her daughter when she (the daughter) was only 22 years old, and it was some sort of a tragic death, and this woman was now so disturbed that she would not leave her house, because whenever she left she would be reminded of her and it would all just bother her deeply, so she has spent the last however many years of her life in her house, not venturing out.
We did not stay for too long at this woman's house because she didn't seem like she was really up to having so many visitors, so we kept it short there, but she did thank us for visiting and invited us back again which could either have been out of politeness, or she really did appreciate it.
Anyway, we talked to some other people, and then headed back home. Then that night, we had been invited to attend the graduation of the school where we had given talks some time ago, so we set off to that adventure. It was fairly uneventful – Marta and Werner had the delight of sitting at the table of 'honoured guests' or something like that, and were given some nice wine or champaigne for the purpose of a toast, (which I do not believe they partook of), and there were many speeches and things said, and yes, was not particularly thrilling.
Sunday...We had classes in the morning which involved some unpleasantries and I did not enjoy them in the least, but we will leave that to remain in a dormant state, then we had the rest of the day to do what we wished. I wanted to go to buy a flashlight (since mine unfortunately broke) so Rob and Philip accompanied me on that mission, and I also needed to pick up my computer which was charging in Marta and Werner's lovely abode, and after we came back I studied a little, and then there was lunch, and following that Philip and I accidentally came across a coral snake, which is apparantly quite highly poisonous (10 times more than a rattlesnake) so it's life was swiftly ended by Alexander (one of the locals) and then just for fun it was slashed at by a machete and divided into three pieces, just cause somebody wanted to feel cool and “kill” something...
Today, we had class and then work time and for work time I was on the team to go and get firewood from the yonder mountain. That was an interesting experience on skinny little trails that you slide down, but we succeeded in our bid and a good time was had by all. Then, the four of us girls (Hannah, Elissa, Marylin and I) had been invited by these two adorable girls name Maria and Mariella for cookies at their aunts house. So we went to that, which ended up being quite a little jaunt away – and were greeted warmly, and their English speaking son was summoned to talk to us and he told us about how he had lived in Texas and Vancouver and had a wife and child who is now 8 years old, over in Vancouver still, etc. And we were served cookies and Honduran coffee, and then were given the leftover cookies to take back to the rest of the group. Then we were supposed to go to the Health Centre to meet up with a bunch of other people because we were supposedly going to be in an AIDS parade. When I heard we were going to be in a parade I found it to be a little unfortunate because I already feel like I'm in enough of a parade when all the Gringos go walking through town, but no we now had to be in a true parade...incidentally enough it ended up being mostly us anyway – there were possibly 5 others present, plus part of our group...very small parade. Anyway that was interesting. Once we arrived at the plaza, we were informed that there were supposed to be activities for the children, and we were in charge of that. Go figure. I love how everything is last minute here...anyway, I ended up being gone for most of that experience because the girls Maria and Mariella (who were still tagging along) drug me here and drug me there speaking to en Espanol, repeating themselves over and over again thinking that the more times they said it the more sense it would make to me...if only that was the case! I felt so bad not being able to understand them, but alas there was not much I could do. Then we came back here to Beunavista (our mission station) and set about the task of removing the kernels of corn from the dried out cobs, so that it can later be made into tortillas, not because we had to, but because it is somehow an enjoyable task. And that is how the rest of the evening went – good conversation ensued, a very good worship was had, and we were graced with the company of a couple of visitors for a time.
All in all we were blessed this day with all that happened, and for that, we give thanks.
November 28, 2007 - Ticks & Tamarind Trees
On This Day...
Following breakfast and worship, we were informed that we would be working on a tamarind plantation for Don Mario, the man who is kind of behind this whole trip. He is a rich man, with about 4 houses, acres and acres of land, and two trucks – definitely much more than most people in this area. This caused me to see a little bit of the lack of logic that is being used here – since the way I understood it was that we were coming on a mission trip to help those less fortunate than ourselves, but it turns out that we will be helping those more fortunate than ourselves and leaving the others to live in their state of poverty...
Anywayyy, this guy has 1600 tamarind trees on this plantation, and there were 7 or 8 of us working on this one part which was hoeing circles around the trees, cleaning out the vegetation that grew beneath the trees. There were thorns and various other pests such as ants, which delighted in biting our feet. Now the previous day during the intense bucket/sand removal/river adventure, I had a peculiar pain in my foot, but since I had previously kicked something I assumed it was from that, and that the pain would gradually decrease as time went on...night fell, it hurt just as bad as it had, and I began to think that possibly I had broken something, so I decided to get Marta to look at it the next morning (or today) but I never got a chance. So when I was working, it was still hurting just as much, so I decided to take a look at it, and lo and behold, rather than a broken bone it turned out to be a tick which had embedded itself into my foot, right between my two toes. Because it was in that location, I hadn't seen it until that moment and so this horrendous creature had been the cause of my pain, and had been slowly eating itself into my skin for the past day. I was none too pleased to say the least. I went to find Eli who is the closest thing to a nurse that was there, and he set about to removing it with a credit card or something like that. And of course as all good ticks work, it's head remained, and so it still does even until this moment. We tried many different ways to try to get it out, but there is a layer of skin covering it, and so it is difficult to remove the creature especially with it's location. But tomorrow we will hopefully be able to get the rest of him out so that he will stop causing me pain forevermore.
Other than that, the day was quite good and the Lord blessed us as He always does. :)
Following breakfast and worship, we were informed that we would be working on a tamarind plantation for Don Mario, the man who is kind of behind this whole trip. He is a rich man, with about 4 houses, acres and acres of land, and two trucks – definitely much more than most people in this area. This caused me to see a little bit of the lack of logic that is being used here – since the way I understood it was that we were coming on a mission trip to help those less fortunate than ourselves, but it turns out that we will be helping those more fortunate than ourselves and leaving the others to live in their state of poverty...
Anywayyy, this guy has 1600 tamarind trees on this plantation, and there were 7 or 8 of us working on this one part which was hoeing circles around the trees, cleaning out the vegetation that grew beneath the trees. There were thorns and various other pests such as ants, which delighted in biting our feet. Now the previous day during the intense bucket/sand removal/river adventure, I had a peculiar pain in my foot, but since I had previously kicked something I assumed it was from that, and that the pain would gradually decrease as time went on...night fell, it hurt just as bad as it had, and I began to think that possibly I had broken something, so I decided to get Marta to look at it the next morning (or today) but I never got a chance. So when I was working, it was still hurting just as much, so I decided to take a look at it, and lo and behold, rather than a broken bone it turned out to be a tick which had embedded itself into my foot, right between my two toes. Because it was in that location, I hadn't seen it until that moment and so this horrendous creature had been the cause of my pain, and had been slowly eating itself into my skin for the past day. I was none too pleased to say the least. I went to find Eli who is the closest thing to a nurse that was there, and he set about to removing it with a credit card or something like that. And of course as all good ticks work, it's head remained, and so it still does even until this moment. We tried many different ways to try to get it out, but there is a layer of skin covering it, and so it is difficult to remove the creature especially with it's location. But tomorrow we will hopefully be able to get the rest of him out so that he will stop causing me pain forevermore.
Other than that, the day was quite good and the Lord blessed us as He always does. :)
November 27, 2007 - The River, Sabbath Meeting, & Lecherous Guys
Today consisted of hard work. There is a river that runs alongside this mission compound, one of very small porportions mind you, and in this river there is sand, which is apparantly quite expensive here, so since it is right there at their reach, they decided to take the sand from the river so that they could use it to make bricks. The particular place where we had to remove the sand was a place where there is already a dam made, and there is a path going down to it.
Problem number one, the path is real steep. We had about 3 people in the river filling the buckets with sand, and then we had a line of us passing buckets up to the top where they were emptied into a pile. Problem number two, the path had water running down it for some reason, which caused it to be rather slippery and difficult to maneuver on. This path is about 40 feet from the river to the top, or so I would estimate. I was kind of in the middle, and it happened to be one of the steeper parts and there was a big gap between me and the next ones, so I definitely got a workout, walking down to get the bucket and carrying it up to the next guy – speaking of which I was the only girl helping, since the others had gone to clean, and the guys were joking about how I would soon have the biggest muscles of all of them with the work we were doing...
Anyway so that was a very difficult task, and I became quite muddy in the process, and then they were trying to fix the showers, so they had turned the water off so I was not able to get a shower for quite some time which was rather unpleasant I must say, but all is well.
Following that, lunch, and clean-up, we had to go to the town hall to practice special music for that night, which first of all started out being a combination of Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, and O Worship The King, and ended up being It Is Well With My Soul, which was the original plan. It was fairly good, but we were missing two singers, so the volume was not what it should have been, but the Lord blessed us nonetheless.
After that I went to help out with the kids, but it was so loud in there that I had to leave because I couldn't deal with the noise anymore, so I came back to the town hall (calmly ignoring the calls of “Hey Baby” that followed me) and listened to the rest of the meeting, which was about the Sabbath. I came for the last little bit, whereupon he made an appeal and asked those who wished to keep the Sabbath to stand up and come to the front – and the result was wonderful, about 30-50 people came up to that appeal. From what I had understood of the meeting and from what was translated to me, he presented the topic very well, he didn't mess around at all and said it like it was, and it was well recieved, and even a pastor from another church stood up, which was quite incredible to me, since you would think they would be the last ones to admit they were wrong.
After the meeting, after we cleaned up a little, I left the building because we were going to come back, and I went outside and saw that Kestas was talking to this guy, thereby informing me that he spoke English, so I went over to them. (This guy was probably around my age, perhaps a little older, I am not sure) and I approached with the comment of, “So you found someone else who speaks English!” And then this guy was asking us in very broken English whether we knew Spanish or not, and then after we had responded he turned to Kestas and was like, “She is so beautiful!” Which caught me by surprise since it was completely random, and then Kestas was responded by saying, “Yes she is” whilst I responded with a loud “Pfffft” and then loudly proclaimed, “Ok well I'm going home now, Good Night!!!” And I started to walk away, then Kestas called, “Are you going by yourself??” And I realized that everyone had already gone on, so I was like, “Nope, you're coming with me!” And I took him by the shoulder and off I marched. Ohhhh man. If you don't know Kestas you will not understand the full humour of the situation, but it was such a classic “Hi my name is Sarah and I have no tact whatsoever” moment that I had to share it. Dad if you were here I think you would probably build me a barracade that I could take with me wherever I went so that no male could set eyes on me. All of us gringo girls get plenty of comments and looks by the guys here, it is quite ridiculous. You walk down the street, and silence falls, and the guys just stop and stare, mouths agape, as they watch you go by – all the way by. But it is usually accompanied by comments of “bonita!” which means pretty, and also this noise they make which is like “Tsh tsh tsh” apparantly kind of like 'hey' or something like that, and various other comments...the worst of it being that I don't know what they say.
Anywayyyyyyy it's an interesting time, but fret not, Rob lent me his knife...I just flick it open every once in a while if they're leering...:P
Problem number one, the path is real steep. We had about 3 people in the river filling the buckets with sand, and then we had a line of us passing buckets up to the top where they were emptied into a pile. Problem number two, the path had water running down it for some reason, which caused it to be rather slippery and difficult to maneuver on. This path is about 40 feet from the river to the top, or so I would estimate. I was kind of in the middle, and it happened to be one of the steeper parts and there was a big gap between me and the next ones, so I definitely got a workout, walking down to get the bucket and carrying it up to the next guy – speaking of which I was the only girl helping, since the others had gone to clean, and the guys were joking about how I would soon have the biggest muscles of all of them with the work we were doing...
Anyway so that was a very difficult task, and I became quite muddy in the process, and then they were trying to fix the showers, so they had turned the water off so I was not able to get a shower for quite some time which was rather unpleasant I must say, but all is well.
Following that, lunch, and clean-up, we had to go to the town hall to practice special music for that night, which first of all started out being a combination of Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, and O Worship The King, and ended up being It Is Well With My Soul, which was the original plan. It was fairly good, but we were missing two singers, so the volume was not what it should have been, but the Lord blessed us nonetheless.
After that I went to help out with the kids, but it was so loud in there that I had to leave because I couldn't deal with the noise anymore, so I came back to the town hall (calmly ignoring the calls of “Hey Baby” that followed me) and listened to the rest of the meeting, which was about the Sabbath. I came for the last little bit, whereupon he made an appeal and asked those who wished to keep the Sabbath to stand up and come to the front – and the result was wonderful, about 30-50 people came up to that appeal. From what I had understood of the meeting and from what was translated to me, he presented the topic very well, he didn't mess around at all and said it like it was, and it was well recieved, and even a pastor from another church stood up, which was quite incredible to me, since you would think they would be the last ones to admit they were wrong.
After the meeting, after we cleaned up a little, I left the building because we were going to come back, and I went outside and saw that Kestas was talking to this guy, thereby informing me that he spoke English, so I went over to them. (This guy was probably around my age, perhaps a little older, I am not sure) and I approached with the comment of, “So you found someone else who speaks English!” And then this guy was asking us in very broken English whether we knew Spanish or not, and then after we had responded he turned to Kestas and was like, “She is so beautiful!” Which caught me by surprise since it was completely random, and then Kestas was responded by saying, “Yes she is” whilst I responded with a loud “Pfffft” and then loudly proclaimed, “Ok well I'm going home now, Good Night!!!” And I started to walk away, then Kestas called, “Are you going by yourself??” And I realized that everyone had already gone on, so I was like, “Nope, you're coming with me!” And I took him by the shoulder and off I marched. Ohhhh man. If you don't know Kestas you will not understand the full humour of the situation, but it was such a classic “Hi my name is Sarah and I have no tact whatsoever” moment that I had to share it. Dad if you were here I think you would probably build me a barracade that I could take with me wherever I went so that no male could set eyes on me. All of us gringo girls get plenty of comments and looks by the guys here, it is quite ridiculous. You walk down the street, and silence falls, and the guys just stop and stare, mouths agape, as they watch you go by – all the way by. But it is usually accompanied by comments of “bonita!” which means pretty, and also this noise they make which is like “Tsh tsh tsh” apparantly kind of like 'hey' or something like that, and various other comments...the worst of it being that I don't know what they say.
Anywayyyyyyy it's an interesting time, but fret not, Rob lent me his knife...I just flick it open every once in a while if they're leering...:P
November 24, 2007 - Sabbath
Well some days have passed since I have sat down to write an update...
On Friday we went to Talanga again, the nearest town, or “town”. It is small, but has the internet. We get there via the back of a pick-up truck, about a 45 minute drive. It is quite enjoyable, the journey there, unless it rains, but so far we have stayed fairly dry on our trips there. After we use the internet we have been eating at a chinese restaurant, and then we go to the market so we can get what we need, or try to.
Today we had the first kind of introductory meeting to the evangelistic series, which was actually a concert. We performed 3 numbers, the first a choir, the second a violin duet, and third, an “orchestra” of three instruments, flute, trumpet, and violin. The rest of the concert was Samuel's brother, Elijah performing. He had a very nice voice and all in all it went well. The place was packed with definitely over a hundred people, but I'm not sure how many, if it was a couple hundred or what. We had to introduce ourselves once again to all of them, name and country, and were loudly welcomed afterwards, and then following the meeting we were initiated to shake everyone's hand on their way out. We were standing there a while...
Tomorrow we have the childrens program again, and I along with another couple have to clean the town hall wherein we are having these meetings, and then we have to have another special music prepared, andddddd then we will have the meeting.
I have taken to going to bed at about 7:30-8:00pm every night, and since this night's concert went until around 7:45 I was quite near to sleep the whole way through. I am not sure what my sleeping pattern will be like when I get back to Norway, but I have a feeling that staying up until an unearthly hour such as 10:00 will be utter torture! Nahh, I'm sure it will change when there is a light switch that causes a light to be turned on...but when you rely on flashlights after 5:30, it causes you to lose your ambition to stay up too long past the fall of darkness.
Anyway, now it is a horrendous 9:18 and sleep is loudly calling, so I bid thee all a good night.
November 18, 2007 - Sunday
Greetings – several days have now passed between entries, and unfortunately it was because these days were fairly eventful, but alas the time never came for me to be able to sit down and record them so I will go over it in point format due to the fact that this is probably quite long and boring in general to have to wade through, so I shall attempt to shorten my entries.
Friday – we went to town in the back of a pick up truck, standing, for all 45 minutes of it. It was most enjoyable I must say. Whilst there we were able to use the internet, and then we went to the market for a short while whereupon some bought necessities such as flip flops, and others bought things such as leechee fruit, bananas, oranges, and other various comestibles. Then we came back to our home base, and had an evening vespers. During this time, some local males came along, quite out of the blue (well, black I suppose since it was quite dark outside) and joined us. They ranged in ages from 14-19, I would guess, and there was about 7 or 8 of them. They lingered around as long as possible afterwards, making eyes at all of us white girls, and being generally quite lecherous.
Sabbath – we had our first church service in the church that is about a 15 second walk from where we stay, and had some visitors from the village, which was nice. Werner preached the sermon, and we all took part in various different ways. Following that, we had a potluck type of lunch, and then in the afternoon we had some time, wherein I, along with some others, listened to part of Patrick's testimony which he shared with us, and then some of us took a short hike up the mountain behind our abode. The view was lovely, the day was hot, and the sun shone brightly in the sky. We descended, and stopped by this swimming hole in the little river that goes by, and Johannes and I jumped in due to the extreme temperatures. The others were quite unprepared for such a jump and therefore remained at bay, on the rocks looking on. Following this we returned to our mission station (which by the way is what I have referred to as our abode, etc.) and had some supper. After supper, Samuel, the bible worker who lives here, had arranged some evening activities, and lo and behold, our lecherous young friends showed up again, having had grown in number since the previous night, until there was approx. 12 of them. They were just as they were before, and spent most of the time gazing at the white girls, with great longing...It was slightly disconcerting, yet most hilarious as well. The games were rather entertaining though, silly of course, yet fun nonetheless. After the games had been played, we attempted to call it a night, hinting that it was time for these guys to go back home, but they of course insisted on lingering as long as possible, doing all in their power to get our attention and win our favour. We had to practice a play for the following day though, so they were quite ignored, yet not unperturbed. Eventually, they left, for a while at least, because one of them had forgotten or perhaps “forgotten” his cell phone, so he along with another couple had to come back to get it...mildly sketchy to say the least, but they finally vanished.
Sunday – We had classes for a couple hours in the morning, and then had to go to la casa de Alexander, where we are going to be having a children's program, every Sunday, at 11:00 am – 12 something. We arrived there, right around 11, and lo and behold, no children. Since it is slightly difficult to have a children's program when there are no children, we split into a couple of groups and set out to find children to bring them in. Our group was probably gone for about 20 minutes or so, and by the time we came back, there were about 40 kids there, and the number continued to grow. I am afraid I do not know the exact number, but it was fairly high to say the least. The program went very well and the kids seemed to really enjoy it, for which we must say praise the Lord! And if there were some not there, I am positive that the children will spread the word about it, and next week the number will definitely have increased. After the program we returned here for lunch (it is about a 10-15 minute walk to go from the village plaza to this mission station.) And then, since the day was also hot, some of us wanted to go back to the swimming hole to go swimming again. (A short word about the swimming hole: it has a radius of about 1.5 meters, and a depth of a little less than a meter, therefore you cannot really swim in it, but it works for cooling off in.) But we had to go to a meeting first, and during that time, guess who showed up?? Yes, those lovely lecherous boys again. Luckily, we managed to tactfully send them away, and managed to sneak off and go swimming after all. Then we had outreach at 4, so off we set for that. Oh, backtracking a little, when we were coming back from the childrens program, we were passing by this one house, and all of a sudden this guy comes out (perhaps around the age of 25ish) and is kind of calling to us in English, and I stopped thinking that it was someone that I had met on outreach, and felt I should talk to him So he came up to the gate and was speaking rather difficult to understand English, and was like, “What is your name?” I replied, and then he said, “You are looking so beautiful today!” And I was just kind of like umm okayyy...and then he asked where I was going, and I vaguely waved my hand and said that we were going back to eat lunch, and he in a very excited tone of voice said; “So am I!!” And once again I was thinking okayyy this guy is making no sense. And then he asked me if I came from Houston, and I responded that I come from Canada, and he again said something about how beautiful I looked, and I simply waved and wished him a good day and carried on with my life.
So that is a short example of the types of scenarios you may find yourself in if you come to Central America, are white, and are female.
Ok, going forward again now...so. We set off for outreach, and went met up with this guy that has been showing us around, Luis, who had lived in the States and knows English, and he took us to his aunts place to meet her. While there the guys got the job of cutting down a few trees via machetes, so they can have a place to build their new house. They are quite elderly, she is 69 but looks as if she is 90, and he is 89, and looks as if he is 60...quite peculiar I must say. Anyhow, they are very nice people of course, and we were happy to have found someone who we could do something for, and hope to find more in the future.
So that sums up the weekend – so much for my keeping it short...sorry!
Friday – we went to town in the back of a pick up truck, standing, for all 45 minutes of it. It was most enjoyable I must say. Whilst there we were able to use the internet, and then we went to the market for a short while whereupon some bought necessities such as flip flops, and others bought things such as leechee fruit, bananas, oranges, and other various comestibles. Then we came back to our home base, and had an evening vespers. During this time, some local males came along, quite out of the blue (well, black I suppose since it was quite dark outside) and joined us. They ranged in ages from 14-19, I would guess, and there was about 7 or 8 of them. They lingered around as long as possible afterwards, making eyes at all of us white girls, and being generally quite lecherous.
Sabbath – we had our first church service in the church that is about a 15 second walk from where we stay, and had some visitors from the village, which was nice. Werner preached the sermon, and we all took part in various different ways. Following that, we had a potluck type of lunch, and then in the afternoon we had some time, wherein I, along with some others, listened to part of Patrick's testimony which he shared with us, and then some of us took a short hike up the mountain behind our abode. The view was lovely, the day was hot, and the sun shone brightly in the sky. We descended, and stopped by this swimming hole in the little river that goes by, and Johannes and I jumped in due to the extreme temperatures. The others were quite unprepared for such a jump and therefore remained at bay, on the rocks looking on. Following this we returned to our mission station (which by the way is what I have referred to as our abode, etc.) and had some supper. After supper, Samuel, the bible worker who lives here, had arranged some evening activities, and lo and behold, our lecherous young friends showed up again, having had grown in number since the previous night, until there was approx. 12 of them. They were just as they were before, and spent most of the time gazing at the white girls, with great longing...It was slightly disconcerting, yet most hilarious as well. The games were rather entertaining though, silly of course, yet fun nonetheless. After the games had been played, we attempted to call it a night, hinting that it was time for these guys to go back home, but they of course insisted on lingering as long as possible, doing all in their power to get our attention and win our favour. We had to practice a play for the following day though, so they were quite ignored, yet not unperturbed. Eventually, they left, for a while at least, because one of them had forgotten or perhaps “forgotten” his cell phone, so he along with another couple had to come back to get it...mildly sketchy to say the least, but they finally vanished.
Sunday – We had classes for a couple hours in the morning, and then had to go to la casa de Alexander, where we are going to be having a children's program, every Sunday, at 11:00 am – 12 something. We arrived there, right around 11, and lo and behold, no children. Since it is slightly difficult to have a children's program when there are no children, we split into a couple of groups and set out to find children to bring them in. Our group was probably gone for about 20 minutes or so, and by the time we came back, there were about 40 kids there, and the number continued to grow. I am afraid I do not know the exact number, but it was fairly high to say the least. The program went very well and the kids seemed to really enjoy it, for which we must say praise the Lord! And if there were some not there, I am positive that the children will spread the word about it, and next week the number will definitely have increased. After the program we returned here for lunch (it is about a 10-15 minute walk to go from the village plaza to this mission station.) And then, since the day was also hot, some of us wanted to go back to the swimming hole to go swimming again. (A short word about the swimming hole: it has a radius of about 1.5 meters, and a depth of a little less than a meter, therefore you cannot really swim in it, but it works for cooling off in.) But we had to go to a meeting first, and during that time, guess who showed up?? Yes, those lovely lecherous boys again. Luckily, we managed to tactfully send them away, and managed to sneak off and go swimming after all. Then we had outreach at 4, so off we set for that. Oh, backtracking a little, when we were coming back from the childrens program, we were passing by this one house, and all of a sudden this guy comes out (perhaps around the age of 25ish) and is kind of calling to us in English, and I stopped thinking that it was someone that I had met on outreach, and felt I should talk to him So he came up to the gate and was speaking rather difficult to understand English, and was like, “What is your name?” I replied, and then he said, “You are looking so beautiful today!” And I was just kind of like umm okayyy...and then he asked where I was going, and I vaguely waved my hand and said that we were going back to eat lunch, and he in a very excited tone of voice said; “So am I!!” And once again I was thinking okayyy this guy is making no sense. And then he asked me if I came from Houston, and I responded that I come from Canada, and he again said something about how beautiful I looked, and I simply waved and wished him a good day and carried on with my life.
So that is a short example of the types of scenarios you may find yourself in if you come to Central America, are white, and are female.
Ok, going forward again now...so. We set off for outreach, and went met up with this guy that has been showing us around, Luis, who had lived in the States and knows English, and he took us to his aunts place to meet her. While there the guys got the job of cutting down a few trees via machetes, so they can have a place to build their new house. They are quite elderly, she is 69 but looks as if she is 90, and he is 89, and looks as if he is 60...quite peculiar I must say. Anyhow, they are very nice people of course, and we were happy to have found someone who we could do something for, and hope to find more in the future.
So that sums up the weekend – so much for my keeping it short...sorry!
November 15, 2007 - Unfinished
I meant to finish this one a little later because I was too tired when I wrote it, but unfortunately I didn't ever get around to it, so it kind of stops in the middle of nowhere I'm afraid.
Today was a day filled with adventures by all, mainly occuring during the outreach part of the day.
This morning I woke up feeling rather ill in my stomach from the water (I assume) I have been drinking. Several others have been experiencing this condition as well which is unfortunate but hopefully it will pass quickly. So due to my ailment, after breakfast I returned to my bed and slept for a while longer, and then Marta came in to visit me to see how I was doing and suggested that I rest for the rest of the morning, since it was a fairly slow day and there was not much for us to do. So that is precisely what I did until a little while before lunch where upon I got up to make myself useful and see what the others were doing. After lunch we had classes with Jose on intercultural mission, and then we went for outreach where the adventures began.
We were supposed to go to this man's house whom we met the previous day, who spoke English and had been with the Merchant Marines for many years and had lived in the States for a long time also. I thought him to be a little bit of a sketchy character upon meeting him – when we talked to him it was Monica, Johannes and I. First a short word about Monica – She is an elementary teacher from Lithuania. She dresses mostly in black. She has died red hair, always messy and has a particular unkempt look about her. She doesn't know very much English. She is very...vocal about her opinion, and I hate to say it, but I find it very difficult to like her, but perhaps I am merely misunderstanding her. In any case I am trying. So we were all standing there talking to this guy, and he was talking about his house and how it was nice and we were welcome to come there any time we liked, (specifically directing the comment towards Monica and I) and I was just trying to be nice and said thank you and it was very kind of him to offer, etc. So he was like yeah you guys should come back tomorrow, and proceeded to go on about how his place was all nice and private and secluded...this is the point where I really started to find him sketchy.
So, tomorrow, being today, that is what we set out to do. We met up with another guy we came to meet the other day who also speaks English, and he offered to show us to his house. This was most kind of him, since we didn't know the way and would not be able to find it otherwise. When we arrived there we discovered that he was not at home, but his garden keeper guy came out and talked to us for a little bit. (This guys place is HUGE comparatively speaking. He has about 30 mandarin trees [and possible other kinds as well] out front, and beautiful flowers and stuff all around.) Anyway the garden keeper informed us that he was out playing cards some distance away and probably wouldn't be back until later, so we decided to carry on, along with our other friend whose name is Luis. We were going around meeting people and telling them of the childrens program we are having on Sunday, and so we just continued on with this, deciding to come back to this guy's house a little later to see if he was there. The first place we stopped at was where one girl was going through the process of making coffee, which we observed for a few minutes, to see how it was done. (We are in a coffee growing area – up on a yonder hill is where they have a huge plantation I guess you'd call it, where they grow alot of coffee..)
Today was a day filled with adventures by all, mainly occuring during the outreach part of the day.
This morning I woke up feeling rather ill in my stomach from the water (I assume) I have been drinking. Several others have been experiencing this condition as well which is unfortunate but hopefully it will pass quickly. So due to my ailment, after breakfast I returned to my bed and slept for a while longer, and then Marta came in to visit me to see how I was doing and suggested that I rest for the rest of the morning, since it was a fairly slow day and there was not much for us to do. So that is precisely what I did until a little while before lunch where upon I got up to make myself useful and see what the others were doing. After lunch we had classes with Jose on intercultural mission, and then we went for outreach where the adventures began.
We were supposed to go to this man's house whom we met the previous day, who spoke English and had been with the Merchant Marines for many years and had lived in the States for a long time also. I thought him to be a little bit of a sketchy character upon meeting him – when we talked to him it was Monica, Johannes and I. First a short word about Monica – She is an elementary teacher from Lithuania. She dresses mostly in black. She has died red hair, always messy and has a particular unkempt look about her. She doesn't know very much English. She is very...vocal about her opinion, and I hate to say it, but I find it very difficult to like her, but perhaps I am merely misunderstanding her. In any case I am trying. So we were all standing there talking to this guy, and he was talking about his house and how it was nice and we were welcome to come there any time we liked, (specifically directing the comment towards Monica and I) and I was just trying to be nice and said thank you and it was very kind of him to offer, etc. So he was like yeah you guys should come back tomorrow, and proceeded to go on about how his place was all nice and private and secluded...this is the point where I really started to find him sketchy.
So, tomorrow, being today, that is what we set out to do. We met up with another guy we came to meet the other day who also speaks English, and he offered to show us to his house. This was most kind of him, since we didn't know the way and would not be able to find it otherwise. When we arrived there we discovered that he was not at home, but his garden keeper guy came out and talked to us for a little bit. (This guys place is HUGE comparatively speaking. He has about 30 mandarin trees [and possible other kinds as well] out front, and beautiful flowers and stuff all around.) Anyway the garden keeper informed us that he was out playing cards some distance away and probably wouldn't be back until later, so we decided to carry on, along with our other friend whose name is Luis. We were going around meeting people and telling them of the childrens program we are having on Sunday, and so we just continued on with this, deciding to come back to this guy's house a little later to see if he was there. The first place we stopped at was where one girl was going through the process of making coffee, which we observed for a few minutes, to see how it was done. (We are in a coffee growing area – up on a yonder hill is where they have a huge plantation I guess you'd call it, where they grow alot of coffee..)
Saturday, December 8, 2007
November 14, 2007
56 days remain until the time when we will all be reuinited again, and I must say I am looking forward to that time; not to say that I am not enjoying it here, but it will be nice to see everyone else again.
Today we had classes as usual, and now we are preparing to go on outreach again. Some people have ones that they will be giving a Bible study to today, but we had none, so we will carry on our way and meet more people, probably changing the way in which we approach them as well.
Today we had classes as usual, and now we are preparing to go on outreach again. Some people have ones that they will be giving a Bible study to today, but we had none, so we will carry on our way and meet more people, probably changing the way in which we approach them as well.
November 13, 2007 - First Day of Outreach
On this day:
We awoke, showered, ate, went to class, worked, ate again, and then departed for our first experience with Honduran outreach. We treated it as if it were a normal day at EBS, following the same basic schedule. We all went out to meet at the house of a man named Alexander, and his wife who does our laundry whose name escapes me as of current, and their children, whereupon we divided ourselves into smaller groups with people who spoke spanish and were teamed with one of the Hondurans to kind of guide us to the places we were supposed to go, etc. We started off and went to the first house. The people are nice and friendly, and even if they are doing something they always lay it aside for a couple minutes of conversation. Patrick was our group leader as such, since he speaks excellent Spanish, and so he made some light conversation with the people, and then casually said that if they needed help with anything, we would be around for the next little while and if they needed something we would be happy to help, and also we were able to give them Bible studies if they were interested. The people would then generally respond with a 'Gracias' and the conversation would end shortly thereafter and on we would forge. It was a nice time, and although people were not nescessarily gung ho for these things, they appreciated it and I think they enjoyed meeting us and learning who we were.
It was an enjoyable experience, and encouraging to see the interest that people here have for such things.
By the way, for those interested, the weather here is fairly nice temperatures not too high, nor too low, but it has been a little wet. Today it has been raining off and on – although it was nice and sunny this afternoon, but the rain has begun again now in earnest, but it is still very nice out, temperature wise. Personally, and biased-ly I so far prefer Belize in all aspects of life to here, but I definitely am enjoying it here as well, so that is not a complaint, merely a preference. :)
We awoke, showered, ate, went to class, worked, ate again, and then departed for our first experience with Honduran outreach. We treated it as if it were a normal day at EBS, following the same basic schedule. We all went out to meet at the house of a man named Alexander, and his wife who does our laundry whose name escapes me as of current, and their children, whereupon we divided ourselves into smaller groups with people who spoke spanish and were teamed with one of the Hondurans to kind of guide us to the places we were supposed to go, etc. We started off and went to the first house. The people are nice and friendly, and even if they are doing something they always lay it aside for a couple minutes of conversation. Patrick was our group leader as such, since he speaks excellent Spanish, and so he made some light conversation with the people, and then casually said that if they needed help with anything, we would be around for the next little while and if they needed something we would be happy to help, and also we were able to give them Bible studies if they were interested. The people would then generally respond with a 'Gracias' and the conversation would end shortly thereafter and on we would forge. It was a nice time, and although people were not nescessarily gung ho for these things, they appreciated it and I think they enjoyed meeting us and learning who we were.
It was an enjoyable experience, and encouraging to see the interest that people here have for such things.
By the way, for those interested, the weather here is fairly nice temperatures not too high, nor too low, but it has been a little wet. Today it has been raining off and on – although it was nice and sunny this afternoon, but the rain has begun again now in earnest, but it is still very nice out, temperature wise. Personally, and biased-ly I so far prefer Belize in all aspects of life to here, but I definitely am enjoying it here as well, so that is not a complaint, merely a preference. :)
November 12, 2007 (Again)
This evening we had the opportunity to go to a local bible study that Samuel has every Monday evening in the village at the Nazarene church. It is more like a small meeting than a personal bible study, but it was very good. First we left at about 2:30 to go around to invite people to the meeting. (Those of us who went included Patrick, Elissa, and I, along with their whole family). They would go up to the houses and inform them of the meeting they would be having, between 4 and 5 this evening and they were more than welcome to come. (All en espanol of course). They would make some conversation for a few moments with them, we would be introduced, as the missionaries from a school in Norway, and then we would carry on to the next house. The people here just gawk at us as we go by. People in the street don't take their eyes off us, and then you see people coming to their windows and doors to try to see what you are doing and who you are, and it makes you feel as if you are a parade or something like that. It takes some getting used to, to feel like such a spectacle and as if all you do is being watched closely.
Anyway, the meeting was very good - the topic was the law of God, and he presented the topic in a very clear manner bringing out some aspects that were very true and not thought of by most. Patrick was very kind and translated for me so I got quite a bit out of the meeting, and it was very interesting indeed. Following that we went to this one person's house whereupon they gave us water, and talked to us for a few moments. At this point I was very resolved in my heart to learn Spanish because having such a language barrier between yourself and the others is rather unpleasant, and causes me to feel very out of place and kind of useless. I want to be able to talk with these people. Although I can pick up on some things, it is not enough yet, and I have a long way to go, so I hope to learn very quickly – not only to understand, but to be able to talk with them as well. That is one of my main goals of the next 5 weeks.
Anyway, the meeting was very good - the topic was the law of God, and he presented the topic in a very clear manner bringing out some aspects that were very true and not thought of by most. Patrick was very kind and translated for me so I got quite a bit out of the meeting, and it was very interesting indeed. Following that we went to this one person's house whereupon they gave us water, and talked to us for a few moments. At this point I was very resolved in my heart to learn Spanish because having such a language barrier between yourself and the others is rather unpleasant, and causes me to feel very out of place and kind of useless. I want to be able to talk with these people. Although I can pick up on some things, it is not enough yet, and I have a long way to go, so I hope to learn very quickly – not only to understand, but to be able to talk with them as well. That is one of my main goals of the next 5 weeks.
November 12, 2007 - First Days Here
We have now arrived at the home we will be staying in for the next 5 weeks. It is called Suyatal, and we are staying with a family who is here to do bible work I think. Their names are Samuel (36), Doris (24), Roxanna, & Andony. Roxanna is 3, Andony is 8 months old – they are adorable children, and are warming up to us already.
Our schedule looks like it will be fairly close to how it is back at EBS with classes and work, although it will be slightly adapted to fit what we have to do accomplish here. We will be doing outreach on Sundays, as well as a childrens program, and the rest of the week will include classes and work to help finish the church here, clean out a dam so we can have a swimming pool, make connections with the people in the village nearby, and a variety of other things. We will be kept fairly busy and it will be a good experience here meeting the people and trying to make their living conditions a little bit better than they are now.
We were told that eight out of ten Hondurans make about $1 per day, which is a very low amount for us to fathom, but they survive. The conditions here seem to be averagely better than what we saw in Belize; for example in Belize they were lucky if they had a cinderblock house, but here they almost all have cinderblock houses, versus the houses made out of a few pieces of wood, a car door, and whatever else they could get their hands on.
Hopefully we will be able to accomplish much in our stay here and will be able to reach out to all in this village. The people are certainly very curious about us, because I'm sure it is not every day that they look out of their doors to see a group of 16 gringos walking down their road...
Our schedule looks like it will be fairly close to how it is back at EBS with classes and work, although it will be slightly adapted to fit what we have to do accomplish here. We will be doing outreach on Sundays, as well as a childrens program, and the rest of the week will include classes and work to help finish the church here, clean out a dam so we can have a swimming pool, make connections with the people in the village nearby, and a variety of other things. We will be kept fairly busy and it will be a good experience here meeting the people and trying to make their living conditions a little bit better than they are now.
We were told that eight out of ten Hondurans make about $1 per day, which is a very low amount for us to fathom, but they survive. The conditions here seem to be averagely better than what we saw in Belize; for example in Belize they were lucky if they had a cinderblock house, but here they almost all have cinderblock houses, versus the houses made out of a few pieces of wood, a car door, and whatever else they could get their hands on.
Hopefully we will be able to accomplish much in our stay here and will be able to reach out to all in this village. The people are certainly very curious about us, because I'm sure it is not every day that they look out of their doors to see a group of 16 gringos walking down their road...
November 10, 2007 - Sabbath
On this first Sabbath we were told to be up early because breakfast would be at 7 and we would leave at 7:45, so that is what we did, only to wake up to a house with no water, therefore no showers. We were all in a slightly greasy state and were in need of showers, but that seemed a little bit impossible. Eventually though, the problem was resolved and all managed to become clean, just in time for 7:45.
We began to walk to the place where the bus was scheduled to pick us up, but since it was not there yet we decided to continue walking down the driveway towards the road. We arrived at the end of the road at about 8:10, still with no bus in sight, so we waited. And waited. And many school buses drove by, but none ended up being our school bus, or at least not for a long time. Around 9:00 he finally came, jolly as ever, and quite unconcerned about how late he was.
We drove for some time to go to the church that Antoinette (our student from Honduras) goes to along with her family, located in Tegucigalpa. The building turned out to be an enormous and beautiful structure which was not simply a church but was rather a bible institute where they print bibles, or something to that effect. They have been renting one room out of this enormous building for their church for a while, and it is quite nice. Their church service was a little backwards, and they have the sermon first then Sabbath school; Eli had the sermon, which was very good, and we got to hear of some of his experiences in the airport after we had left him, and how he had been blessed from the experience. Following that we all introduced ourselves, who we were, where we came from, etc., and since that ate up some time of Sabbath school they skipped it and just had a short testimony by Jose's father.
After church we were treated with a potluck lunch wherein they told us to go sit down and then proceeded to serve us, which was quite abnormal, and a little interesting because you could not pick what you wanted, but the food was good nonetheless so it mattered not. Then we were told we were going to go to this place called The Valley Of Angels, about an hour away from the church, and proceeded on our way in the bus, but we never actually got there due to other detours that we went on, going to see Jose's university, the second largest basillica in central america which was most impressive, and other various tours. Then we went back to the church and collected a couple of other people, and went to one family's house for vespers and supper, which consisted of these amazing tortillas, papaya chips, and lemongrass tea. (Mom: I'm growing a little patch of lemongrass when I come home, k?? It makes real good tea!) The people were lovely and were very hospitable to do all of this for us on this day, and it was a very nice time.
Tomorrow we are going to the other mission station that we will be staying at for the rest of the time, or most of the rest of the time at least, so we have a little bit of an early morning, sooo sleep calls me very strongly, since in Norway it is...4:30 in the morning, and jet lag is apparant in my life right now...
Buenos Noches.
PS the word of the day is Lamado which means Beloved.
We began to walk to the place where the bus was scheduled to pick us up, but since it was not there yet we decided to continue walking down the driveway towards the road. We arrived at the end of the road at about 8:10, still with no bus in sight, so we waited. And waited. And many school buses drove by, but none ended up being our school bus, or at least not for a long time. Around 9:00 he finally came, jolly as ever, and quite unconcerned about how late he was.
We drove for some time to go to the church that Antoinette (our student from Honduras) goes to along with her family, located in Tegucigalpa. The building turned out to be an enormous and beautiful structure which was not simply a church but was rather a bible institute where they print bibles, or something to that effect. They have been renting one room out of this enormous building for their church for a while, and it is quite nice. Their church service was a little backwards, and they have the sermon first then Sabbath school; Eli had the sermon, which was very good, and we got to hear of some of his experiences in the airport after we had left him, and how he had been blessed from the experience. Following that we all introduced ourselves, who we were, where we came from, etc., and since that ate up some time of Sabbath school they skipped it and just had a short testimony by Jose's father.
After church we were treated with a potluck lunch wherein they told us to go sit down and then proceeded to serve us, which was quite abnormal, and a little interesting because you could not pick what you wanted, but the food was good nonetheless so it mattered not. Then we were told we were going to go to this place called The Valley Of Angels, about an hour away from the church, and proceeded on our way in the bus, but we never actually got there due to other detours that we went on, going to see Jose's university, the second largest basillica in central america which was most impressive, and other various tours. Then we went back to the church and collected a couple of other people, and went to one family's house for vespers and supper, which consisted of these amazing tortillas, papaya chips, and lemongrass tea. (Mom: I'm growing a little patch of lemongrass when I come home, k?? It makes real good tea!) The people were lovely and were very hospitable to do all of this for us on this day, and it was a very nice time.
Tomorrow we are going to the other mission station that we will be staying at for the rest of the time, or most of the rest of the time at least, so we have a little bit of an early morning, sooo sleep calls me very strongly, since in Norway it is...4:30 in the morning, and jet lag is apparant in my life right now...
Buenos Noches.
PS the word of the day is Lamado which means Beloved.
November 9, 2007 - Miami - Honduras
Time for update number 3!
I am now writing from Honduras, in the area of Tegucigalpa from a mission station. Last story included that of hoping we would get on the 10:15am plane from Newark to Miami...Well we did, or at least most of us. There were the five of us, and they called every single one of us except for Eli – who had signed in last, in case such a thing would happen. So that was a little on the unfortunate side because we were hoping he would have been able to join us as well, but it may have been for the best because he and Patrick had just been making friends with some Jewish guys that were also waiting for their plane, and so he most likely engaged in some interesting conversations during that time.
Anyway, moving along with the rest of the story.
The four of us got on the plane much to our delight – and off we went on the 2 hour and 25 minute flight from Newark to Miami. Once we arrived, we set off to attempt to find out when the next flight was. We looked at the Arrivals/Departures screens and lo and behold we found that the flight we were supposed to be on had been delayed and was leaving in about half an hour from that time. Off we went to try to get on the flight. Unfortunately we couldn't find the place we were supposed to go to, so we asked a couple people on our way, but they told us to go elsewhere. Finally we went back to the Arrival/Departure screens, and found that we had been looking at the Arrival side, so there really was no flight going out to San Pedro Sula. This meant we had to move on to plan B of finding when the next flight would be going out, hoping it would not be too late. We started walking about again hoping to find someone working with American Airlines inside so we would not have to leave the secure area and go through that again. We did after some time, and they were very nice and understanding and informed us of the next flight which was going to be around 4:30pm, which was only a couple hours away. This news was quite delightful, and we proceeded to inquire as to when the next flight from Newark was coming in, to see when Eli would get there. The next scheduled flight was set to arrive at 4:30pm as well, just when we would be leaving, so there was no hope for him to get on unless the flight was delayed for a long time for no good reason. Unfortunately this was not the case, so off we went again on the next flight. It was an incredibly empty plane with only about 40 people on it so there were many free spaces giving us the option of stretching out and being a little more comfortable than previous flights. Patrick and I were seated together and Kestas and Marylin were seated together, although we were all in the same basic place. During this time Patrick and I had some good conversations, and also played some games of Tic Tac Toe, and one other one that he taught me, whose name I do not know. All things considered it was a nice flight and a couple of hours later we arrived in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. The airport was small, but not as small as the Belize airport is. It was very easy to navigate through, and none of us encountered any problems. The group that had come through earlier (the other 9) were still there waiting for us because we had informed them that we would be coming through within a couple of hours, and since the drive takes about 4 hours they decided to just wait for us. We were warmly welcomed by them and by Jose who is a former EBS student and is who has been helping us to organize/arrange things on the Honduras end.
From there we embarked onto leg 5 of our journey which was the 4 hour bus ride going to Tegucigalpa, where we currently are now. The roads were quite nice and so was the bus so the trip was fairly decent although we were all so tired (being 7 hours behind Norway time) that we mostly ended up falling asleep in various uncomfortable conditions, waking up every now and then.
Along the way at the beginning of the trip there was much mayhem experienced by the paranoid hypochondriacs who were constantly yelling “CLOSE THE DOOR AND THE WINDOWS AND TURN OFF THE LIGHTS OR ELSE WE'LL ALL GET MALARIA!!” because of the lovely population of mosquitoes that were entering the warmth of the bus to attempt to bite this one and that one whenever was possible. Then there was me who is generally considered the paranoid hypochondriac, quite at ease, not taking the time to bother about the concept of mosquitoes and the potential harm they would cause...how quickly the tables turn.
Anyway, we arrove about 4 hours later at the mission station where we are spending the weekend. We unloaded our baggage and went to the house (casa en espanol) and went to bed shortly thereafter. Once the morning had come along, we (the girls who were staying upstairs) awoke to the sight of the floor being slightly flooded, where all of our bags had been lying. This was most unpleasant and some time later we discovered it was coming from the toilet which seems to have a problem of a leak which causes incessant dripping, which caused the bathroom to ooze its water out onto our floor, causing a great number of our belongings to become rather soggy, which was not very nice. And even to this point they hang in the window, still not dry due to the humidity of the air.
On the weather topic, it has been kind of chilly for us since we have been here. It was about 22 degrees today, but the sunshine was mostly covered by clouds therefore hindering the warmth factor quite severely, and plus with the humidity added on to that it only causes us to feel even colder than it is; now that we are used to the dry air of Norway.
Then today we had breakfast consisting of Tortillas and beans, which was excellent and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. Following worship and breakfast we had some free time which we spent doing what we needed or just chilling until 11:30 whereupon a bus (school bus no less) came to pick us up and take us to the mall in the city so we could do whatever shopping we needed to do which was nice. My main goal was to find a Spanish-English dictionary, or a nice book to help me learn my Espaol a little better, but unfortunately I could not find one, so I shall hopefully get another chance to find one in the near future.
After our town trip, we returned here and consumed some comestibles and had another worship to open the Sabbath, and following that within a short time everyone went to bed, despite the fact that it was only 7:30pm but then again in Norway it is most definitely not only 7:30.
Now it is 8:51pm and I am feeling the results of lack of sleep and jet lag, so with this rather long entry, I bade you all a beunas noches.
I am now writing from Honduras, in the area of Tegucigalpa from a mission station. Last story included that of hoping we would get on the 10:15am plane from Newark to Miami...Well we did, or at least most of us. There were the five of us, and they called every single one of us except for Eli – who had signed in last, in case such a thing would happen. So that was a little on the unfortunate side because we were hoping he would have been able to join us as well, but it may have been for the best because he and Patrick had just been making friends with some Jewish guys that were also waiting for their plane, and so he most likely engaged in some interesting conversations during that time.
Anyway, moving along with the rest of the story.
The four of us got on the plane much to our delight – and off we went on the 2 hour and 25 minute flight from Newark to Miami. Once we arrived, we set off to attempt to find out when the next flight was. We looked at the Arrivals/Departures screens and lo and behold we found that the flight we were supposed to be on had been delayed and was leaving in about half an hour from that time. Off we went to try to get on the flight. Unfortunately we couldn't find the place we were supposed to go to, so we asked a couple people on our way, but they told us to go elsewhere. Finally we went back to the Arrival/Departure screens, and found that we had been looking at the Arrival side, so there really was no flight going out to San Pedro Sula. This meant we had to move on to plan B of finding when the next flight would be going out, hoping it would not be too late. We started walking about again hoping to find someone working with American Airlines inside so we would not have to leave the secure area and go through that again. We did after some time, and they were very nice and understanding and informed us of the next flight which was going to be around 4:30pm, which was only a couple hours away. This news was quite delightful, and we proceeded to inquire as to when the next flight from Newark was coming in, to see when Eli would get there. The next scheduled flight was set to arrive at 4:30pm as well, just when we would be leaving, so there was no hope for him to get on unless the flight was delayed for a long time for no good reason. Unfortunately this was not the case, so off we went again on the next flight. It was an incredibly empty plane with only about 40 people on it so there were many free spaces giving us the option of stretching out and being a little more comfortable than previous flights. Patrick and I were seated together and Kestas and Marylin were seated together, although we were all in the same basic place. During this time Patrick and I had some good conversations, and also played some games of Tic Tac Toe, and one other one that he taught me, whose name I do not know. All things considered it was a nice flight and a couple of hours later we arrived in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. The airport was small, but not as small as the Belize airport is. It was very easy to navigate through, and none of us encountered any problems. The group that had come through earlier (the other 9) were still there waiting for us because we had informed them that we would be coming through within a couple of hours, and since the drive takes about 4 hours they decided to just wait for us. We were warmly welcomed by them and by Jose who is a former EBS student and is who has been helping us to organize/arrange things on the Honduras end.
From there we embarked onto leg 5 of our journey which was the 4 hour bus ride going to Tegucigalpa, where we currently are now. The roads were quite nice and so was the bus so the trip was fairly decent although we were all so tired (being 7 hours behind Norway time) that we mostly ended up falling asleep in various uncomfortable conditions, waking up every now and then.
Along the way at the beginning of the trip there was much mayhem experienced by the paranoid hypochondriacs who were constantly yelling “CLOSE THE DOOR AND THE WINDOWS AND TURN OFF THE LIGHTS OR ELSE WE'LL ALL GET MALARIA!!” because of the lovely population of mosquitoes that were entering the warmth of the bus to attempt to bite this one and that one whenever was possible. Then there was me who is generally considered the paranoid hypochondriac, quite at ease, not taking the time to bother about the concept of mosquitoes and the potential harm they would cause...how quickly the tables turn.
Anyway, we arrove about 4 hours later at the mission station where we are spending the weekend. We unloaded our baggage and went to the house (casa en espanol) and went to bed shortly thereafter. Once the morning had come along, we (the girls who were staying upstairs) awoke to the sight of the floor being slightly flooded, where all of our bags had been lying. This was most unpleasant and some time later we discovered it was coming from the toilet which seems to have a problem of a leak which causes incessant dripping, which caused the bathroom to ooze its water out onto our floor, causing a great number of our belongings to become rather soggy, which was not very nice. And even to this point they hang in the window, still not dry due to the humidity of the air.
On the weather topic, it has been kind of chilly for us since we have been here. It was about 22 degrees today, but the sunshine was mostly covered by clouds therefore hindering the warmth factor quite severely, and plus with the humidity added on to that it only causes us to feel even colder than it is; now that we are used to the dry air of Norway.
Then today we had breakfast consisting of Tortillas and beans, which was excellent and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. Following worship and breakfast we had some free time which we spent doing what we needed or just chilling until 11:30 whereupon a bus (school bus no less) came to pick us up and take us to the mall in the city so we could do whatever shopping we needed to do which was nice. My main goal was to find a Spanish-English dictionary, or a nice book to help me learn my Espaol a little better, but unfortunately I could not find one, so I shall hopefully get another chance to find one in the near future.
After our town trip, we returned here and consumed some comestibles and had another worship to open the Sabbath, and following that within a short time everyone went to bed, despite the fact that it was only 7:30pm but then again in Norway it is most definitely not only 7:30.
Now it is 8:51pm and I am feeling the results of lack of sleep and jet lag, so with this rather long entry, I bade you all a beunas noches.
November 8, 2007 - Newark
(The actual date is December 9, 2007 and I am in Antoinettes house in Tegucigalpa where there is a wonderful thing called WIRELESS INTERNET!!!)
I am now writing from the Newark airport at 6:05 am. The good news is that 9 of “us” got the flight by being on what they call stand-by. The not so good news is that 5 of us remain, awaiting the next flight, still on stand-by. Since we did not get this flight, we will also not get the next one, which means extra costs most likely, but then again if you manage to have the right people at the airport help you, sometimes they will be very understanding and will not charge extra. So we shall see how that goes. Those of us who remain are as follows: Patrick, Eli, Marylin, Kestas, and myself. Our luggage has gone onwards towards Honduras, so we will be living out of our carry-on bags for the next little while, until we manage to get the next flight. Another positive thing is that those who have gone on ahead of us left us their meal vouchers, so we will have no shortage of food in our wait.
It was a miracle that all 9 of them got on the plane because at first there was supposedly 8 people missing, but pretty much all of them came at the last minute, but our guys had gotten on already. Then the next two on our list were thinking that they were most likely not going to get on, but the last two guys came along, and one of them had lost their passport between the security gate, and the boarding gate, so he could not go. Unfortunate for him of course, but it was nice that more of them got on, because it means less extra costs for Marta and Werner.
All things considered, we have been looked after these past few days of travel from the very beginning problem of one of the girls having lost her luggage due to the fact that someone took it with on the bus to Africa, but luckily they left it at the airport for our Honduran gorup who was leaving at a later time, so she managed to get that – until now when we still have a chance to go at 10:15am on the next flight.
More updates will come in the next little while I think...
I am now writing from the Newark airport at 6:05 am. The good news is that 9 of “us” got the flight by being on what they call stand-by. The not so good news is that 5 of us remain, awaiting the next flight, still on stand-by. Since we did not get this flight, we will also not get the next one, which means extra costs most likely, but then again if you manage to have the right people at the airport help you, sometimes they will be very understanding and will not charge extra. So we shall see how that goes. Those of us who remain are as follows: Patrick, Eli, Marylin, Kestas, and myself. Our luggage has gone onwards towards Honduras, so we will be living out of our carry-on bags for the next little while, until we manage to get the next flight. Another positive thing is that those who have gone on ahead of us left us their meal vouchers, so we will have no shortage of food in our wait.
It was a miracle that all 9 of them got on the plane because at first there was supposedly 8 people missing, but pretty much all of them came at the last minute, but our guys had gotten on already. Then the next two on our list were thinking that they were most likely not going to get on, but the last two guys came along, and one of them had lost their passport between the security gate, and the boarding gate, so he could not go. Unfortunate for him of course, but it was nice that more of them got on, because it means less extra costs for Marta and Werner.
All things considered, we have been looked after these past few days of travel from the very beginning problem of one of the girls having lost her luggage due to the fact that someone took it with on the bus to Africa, but luckily they left it at the airport for our Honduran gorup who was leaving at a later time, so she managed to get that – until now when we still have a chance to go at 10:15am on the next flight.
More updates will come in the next little while I think...
Friday, November 16, 2007
so here i am
so i am currently in an internet cafe with no way to update my blog because my friend philip has the flash drive with all my stuff on it. but i hopefully will be able to real soon - and so everyone knows i am doing fine and all is going well here. :)
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Day One of Travel...
What luck! Access to the internet the first night - unfortunately there is some not so great luck as well to go along with it.
We departed this morning about an hour later than we were supposed to because our flight was delayed. The flight was from Oslo to Newark, and it was a brutal 9 hours and 25 minutes. This was enough to cause me to lose my patience and all feeling in every part of my body due to the long sitting, and I have ended up feeling rather dehydrated because the flight attendants were none to pleased about bringing us drinks, and when I called for one the response I got was not exactly pleasant, so I just decided to leave them be and not drink water for the remaining 3 hours. We would have gotten in within 9 hours, but unfortunately since we had been delayed there were other planes who were trying to land at the same time, so we spent some time chilling in the airplane going back and forth and up and down, until there was a time when we could land. We had no hope of catching the next plane, but over the intercom system on the plane they assured us that we would be looked after when we got there and would be sent on to the next available flight with no problem. We were not exactly worried about it, because it sounded very easy to do, and so off we went to clarify these things to get on the next flight.
Unfortunately, the flight people didn't see it as reasonable that it was their fault that the flight was delayed and so they wouldn't send us on the next available flight. We tried with American Airlines who were our connecting airline, but they as well would do nothing about it. Continental, although they wouldn't give us another flight despite the fact it was their fault, did very kindly give us free hotel rooms for the night, along with 3 meal vouchers each. And that is precisely where we are now...In the Howard Johnson hotel in Newark, New Jersey. Rob and Eli have gone back to the airport to try and work out the problem, because there is now the possibility that we will be able to go to JFK in the morning real early and all of us can catch a flight and will then make it to our connecting flight in Miami. If that does not work out the other option is for us to go to the Newark airport again in the morning at 4:30am and hope that 14 people don't show up for that flight. We will see which option works; so some of us may be around the states for a couple days and some others may be on their way to Honduras.
Oh how I love travelling and all the wondrous events that always end up happening to thwart our endeavours...And that was not sarcastic by the way, I actually don't mind things like this happening, just as long as it doesn't unnecessarily cost us extra, that we don't have.
Also a sad tale, is about how Jen appears to have forgotten her camera at the school, so there may be no Africa pictures from her...I'm sure she will be very upset when she realizes it.
Well I have not slept in I think about 48 hours now, so I must go sleep in my nice big hotel bed...:) Especially since it will be a very early morning for us...
P.S. We flew over Halifax today and I kind of wanted to jump out of the airplane, but then I realized it wouldn't be the best of ideas so I didn't. :P Made me miss Halifax a whole lot though. But I must say it's kind of nice to be back in North America; there's something homey and comforting about it, even if it is the US rather than Canada!
We departed this morning about an hour later than we were supposed to because our flight was delayed. The flight was from Oslo to Newark, and it was a brutal 9 hours and 25 minutes. This was enough to cause me to lose my patience and all feeling in every part of my body due to the long sitting, and I have ended up feeling rather dehydrated because the flight attendants were none to pleased about bringing us drinks, and when I called for one the response I got was not exactly pleasant, so I just decided to leave them be and not drink water for the remaining 3 hours. We would have gotten in within 9 hours, but unfortunately since we had been delayed there were other planes who were trying to land at the same time, so we spent some time chilling in the airplane going back and forth and up and down, until there was a time when we could land. We had no hope of catching the next plane, but over the intercom system on the plane they assured us that we would be looked after when we got there and would be sent on to the next available flight with no problem. We were not exactly worried about it, because it sounded very easy to do, and so off we went to clarify these things to get on the next flight.
Unfortunately, the flight people didn't see it as reasonable that it was their fault that the flight was delayed and so they wouldn't send us on the next available flight. We tried with American Airlines who were our connecting airline, but they as well would do nothing about it. Continental, although they wouldn't give us another flight despite the fact it was their fault, did very kindly give us free hotel rooms for the night, along with 3 meal vouchers each. And that is precisely where we are now...In the Howard Johnson hotel in Newark, New Jersey. Rob and Eli have gone back to the airport to try and work out the problem, because there is now the possibility that we will be able to go to JFK in the morning real early and all of us can catch a flight and will then make it to our connecting flight in Miami. If that does not work out the other option is for us to go to the Newark airport again in the morning at 4:30am and hope that 14 people don't show up for that flight. We will see which option works; so some of us may be around the states for a couple days and some others may be on their way to Honduras.
Oh how I love travelling and all the wondrous events that always end up happening to thwart our endeavours...And that was not sarcastic by the way, I actually don't mind things like this happening, just as long as it doesn't unnecessarily cost us extra, that we don't have.
Also a sad tale, is about how Jen appears to have forgotten her camera at the school, so there may be no Africa pictures from her...I'm sure she will be very upset when she realizes it.
Well I have not slept in I think about 48 hours now, so I must go sleep in my nice big hotel bed...:) Especially since it will be a very early morning for us...
P.S. We flew over Halifax today and I kind of wanted to jump out of the airplane, but then I realized it wouldn't be the best of ideas so I didn't. :P Made me miss Halifax a whole lot though. But I must say it's kind of nice to be back in North America; there's something homey and comforting about it, even if it is the US rather than Canada!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Another Adventure Begins
Ahh the joys of travel; the wonders of aeroplanes; and the excitement in the unknown...
At around 6:45am tomorrow, I, along with a group of others will be embarking away from the cold landscape of Norway and will be spending the next 6 (or so) weeks in Honduras, where it is summertime and the livin' is easy...well probably not that easy, but that is half the fun of it.
I greatly look forward to the warm air which will bring back to my mind fond memories of Belize and Dominican Rebuplic where I have had the opportunity to go on other mission trips in the past. I look forward to entering into experiencing how others live - in what I am expecting to be alot more laid-back than things tend to be in 1st world countries...I look forward to being useful to others and having the opportunity to help those who are in need, and to begin to understand more of what I need to be doing and how I need to be living.
Life is always such a quandry - filled with many hopes, dreams, and desires, but so often they end up being taken from our arms and we see them smash to little pieces before our very eyes, and although this is quite painful to see, when all is said and done, they were most likely smashed for a reason. Perhaps because they were not the dreams we should have had, or maybe because we were putting them up on a higher plateau than what should be on that high plateau. Whatever the reason may be it was for a purpose and although it is a hard lesson to learn, it is a necessary one.
Now that, my friends, was rather off topic and I apologize, but alas the hour is late and my mind tends to wander.
Moving right along.
I will most likely have very little, if any, connection to the internet in my absence, and so as a result I will be cut off from those back home on a communication level until probably a later date. The chance does exist though, and I may be able to be connected every 2 weeks or something to that effect, and if that is the case, this blog will be the first place I will come to post a little on the activities of my time there, and so I encourage you to check this from time to time if you are at all interested in the happenings in Honduras.
I trust that all will go well, but still ask for your prayers.
And now my mind has reached the point when it shuts down, so with this being said I wish you all a good-night, and a good 6 weeks!
At around 6:45am tomorrow, I, along with a group of others will be embarking away from the cold landscape of Norway and will be spending the next 6 (or so) weeks in Honduras, where it is summertime and the livin' is easy...well probably not that easy, but that is half the fun of it.
I greatly look forward to the warm air which will bring back to my mind fond memories of Belize and Dominican Rebuplic where I have had the opportunity to go on other mission trips in the past. I look forward to entering into experiencing how others live - in what I am expecting to be alot more laid-back than things tend to be in 1st world countries...I look forward to being useful to others and having the opportunity to help those who are in need, and to begin to understand more of what I need to be doing and how I need to be living.
Life is always such a quandry - filled with many hopes, dreams, and desires, but so often they end up being taken from our arms and we see them smash to little pieces before our very eyes, and although this is quite painful to see, when all is said and done, they were most likely smashed for a reason. Perhaps because they were not the dreams we should have had, or maybe because we were putting them up on a higher plateau than what should be on that high plateau. Whatever the reason may be it was for a purpose and although it is a hard lesson to learn, it is a necessary one.
Now that, my friends, was rather off topic and I apologize, but alas the hour is late and my mind tends to wander.
Moving right along.
I will most likely have very little, if any, connection to the internet in my absence, and so as a result I will be cut off from those back home on a communication level until probably a later date. The chance does exist though, and I may be able to be connected every 2 weeks or something to that effect, and if that is the case, this blog will be the first place I will come to post a little on the activities of my time there, and so I encourage you to check this from time to time if you are at all interested in the happenings in Honduras.
I trust that all will go well, but still ask for your prayers.
And now my mind has reached the point when it shuts down, so with this being said I wish you all a good-night, and a good 6 weeks!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Happiness
I received this forward in an email this morning and I found it to be a good thought to keep in mind throughout one's existence here on Planet Earth. Enjoy :)
A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably combed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.
His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.
As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.
'I love it,' he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.
'Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait.'
'That doesn' t have anything to do with it,' he replied. 'Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged .. it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away. Just for this time in my life. Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories! Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.'
Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.
A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably combed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.
His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.
As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.
'I love it,' he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.
'Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait.'
'That doesn' t have anything to do with it,' he replied. 'Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged .. it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away. Just for this time in my life. Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories! Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.'
Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Lessons Learned In Life
This is a tale, a sad tale indeed of the past few days of my life.
Let me begin by listing the first lesson to be learned in life:
1. Never ever EVER attempt to create your own sermon in both English and Norwegian in 24 hours.
It all began one lovely Saturday afternoon, when a girl named Sarah decided it was high time for her to begin in earnest to go over her sermon for the following evening. She set to work with vigour, and began to go through it - slide by slide - looking for about 60 slides that could be discarded. The topic was the Remnant Church; one that she was not overly familiar with in the first place, and the way the program had set it up was quite ridiculous and contained about a million and one tangents, that made it seem as though the point would never be reached. This confused the girl greatly, and after hours of failed attempts, she began to become very frustrated indeed. She set out to seek out some assisstance from a more knowledgable source that could aid her in understanding what was crucial and what was alright to dispose of. Her attempt at finding assisstance also failed, for those capable of this assisstance were involved elsewhere in various other activities that she felt she could not disturb them from. So, in vain, she returned to her place of study and tried again. Once again, her attempts ended in failure and she could not make sense of the topic that was being presented. Finally, one came along to see if there was a chance they could be of assisstance - they were to an extent, and she appreciated it this greatly. After some more time was spent going through the presentation, along came a greater source of help, much to the girls delight. This one looked through the first few slides, whilst listening to the woe's of Sarah, and after those few slides saw what the problem was, and hypothesized that the most logical solution would be to scrap the entire thing altogether and begin from scratch. Sarah liked this idea quite alot, but before this could be carried out she had to ensure that this move was legal and would not cause any problems anywhere. And so another mission began; to seek the approval of her endeavour. This mission did not fail, and the permission was granted with ease. Sarah, feeling rejuvinated by this small step in the right direction, went to share the good news with the one who was helping her, whom we refer to as Lyndsay. She too shared in the jubilation of the matter and proceeded to flourish a different presentation that she had used once upon a time when she had preached on this precise topic. Sarah looked it over and saw that it was good, and just by the different set-up of the presentation, the entire subject began to make much more sense to her. There were only a few catches to this grand scheme.
1. It was only in English
2. It was only Bible verses - no notes.
3. Sarah nor Lyndsay were fluent in the Norwegian language.
4. Sarah did not have a Norwegian keyboard.
5. They only had that night and the next day to prepare an entirely new presentation.
Despite these set-backs, it still seemed very feasible to them, and so with great determination, they set about the great task of making a new presentation, in both English, and Norwegian. They worked for quite some time that night; ironing out the wrinkles with the program, and learning how to import new slides and the texts into it, as well as finding an online Norwegian Bible to aid in the translation of the texts. Eventually, when the hour was late, Lyndsay began to feel quite tired, and retired to her bed chamber. Sarah, still quite awake, carried on long into the night, until she was far too weary to keep her eyes open. She listened to a sermon that Lyndsay had told her about which was on the exact same topic, and this helped her to understand much better what it was that she was supposed to be presenting the following night. Eventually, sleep got the better of her and her weary eyes laid to rest for the remaning hours of the night. Morning came quickly and Sarah awoke again with determination filling her soul, and immediately set to work, editing more on the presentation - inserting slides, texts, and converting them to Norwegian. The process was slow since it had to be done for each slide and text individually, but as the morning hours wore on, she finally accomplished this process around noon that Sunday. Lyndsay came along, ready and willing to help again, which Sarah appreciated beyond all imagination. Lyndsay began to work on inserting the Bible text references in Norwegian, which was also a very slow process, while Sarah listened to the aforementioned sermon a few more times in desperate hope of becoming familiar enough with the topic to be able to speak it with clarity, and also went over the slide presentation which was on Lyndsay's computer as well. Time flew by, and before Sarah knew it, it was 4:30pm which meant that a mere half hour remained before the bus would be leaving, taking Sarah to the inevitable doom of presenting the topic. The issues at this present time were as follows:
1. Sarah still had not added notes to this presentation.
2. Sarah was still not feeling familiar enough with the topic.
3. The presentation had not been gone over by someone who spoke Norwegian to verify that all was according to how it should be.
4. Sarah was feeling like she was on the point of regurgitation due to the stress and lack of sleep.
5. Sarah was feeling on the verge of lachrymosity.
6. Sarah gave in to lachrymosity.
7. Sarah had not practiced yet.
8. Sarah had to leave in 30 minutes.
Finally, one who spoke Norwegian was called to look over the presentation because the editing had been finished (except for Sarah's notes still...) and thankfully, there was only one minor problem with it, and a new verse had to be added. Sarah was still experiencing some issues with becoming lachrymose, and after some comforting words had been spoken, she was instructed to sit down and go over it to try to pretend she was preaching it, so that she could make the correct bridges between verses, etc. She did so, then shortly after she had begun, she was told that time had come for departure, so with a hopeless aura wrapping her in it's arms, she packed up her computer and traversed to the bus, hoping to be able to finish the note adding over the next half hour of bus travel. She accomplishd some, but discovered more issues with the presentation during that time which were important to fix, so she managed to experience even more setbacks on her note addition. They arrived at the church and approximately 5:30pm, leaving her with an hour and a half before the fateful moment would come where upon she would be called to the front to present the topic of the evening. She set about some more editing and adding notes and fixing the various problems, and began to realize that there were still a great many slides whose verses she did not understand and did not have the capabilities of explaining. So, she summoned the help of one named Eli, who started to go through it with her to see if it was all correlating together. It was lacking some things, and including some things that were difficult to explain due to the set-up of the previous meetings, so they tried to edit it as best they could. Finally, 15 minutes remained, and any confidence that Sarah had previously enjoyed had melted into a small pathetic puddle on the floor at her feet. Eli sensed this and asked her, "Do you feel comfortable with this?" Sarah replied, tears once again coming to her eyes, "Nope. Definitely not." Eli said, "Hmm..well, there are two options. You can just go up there and do your best with what you have, or...someone else can do it. So you can choose which you would prefer and either let it go or do what you can in the next 15 minutes to better prepare." Sarah by this time was once again experiencing the phenomenon of having rivers running from her eyes, and with a pathetic look said, "Well I guess I'm just going to let it go then, because I really do not feel comfortable enough to do this right now, and I really don't want to screw it all up..." She was the picture of misery and frustration. With that Eli said "Alright" and took the computer from her lap and began to theorize about what could be done within the next 15 minutes. He decided to go back to the original program and began the process of eliminating the slides that were more unnessescary, with an air of focus and trust. Sarah, in no state to stay, went from the room and fled to the bathroom where she could attempt to cease her sobbing and could dry her eyes. Meanwhile, word was slowly spreading of the recent events, and people were coming by to condole and hug which caused great difficulty in Sarah's bid to put her crying to an end, but eventually she managed to at least retain a certain sense of composure, although her eyes had the telltale red hue that caused her to appear as though she had been on a few too many drugs in the past day, but that was beside the point. She emerged from the bathroom to meet up with one named Robert, who proceeded to tell her that she was going to do a great job, to which she tried to explain in short version that she was not doing it, but the message did not get across, and at that particular time, the MC of the meeting began to say; "And now I would like to introduce the speaker of this evening..." to which Robert gave her a smile and hug of encouragement, and then heard that the MC was not saying the name of Sarah but rather...Eli?? "You're not speaking? I thought it was you tonight...?" Sarah proceeded to tell the tale of how the cookie had crumbled over the past 15 minutes. It was understood, and the meeting began, so Sarah went in to find a seat.
Before she did though, she was surprised to hear that Eli was rambling on about himself and what he does at EBS, etc...Sarah was slightly confused by this, and then heard that the computer (her computer in fact) was not working, and was in the process of being fixed. After about 10 minutes the problem was resolved and the meeting commenced. Eli did an excellent job of it, or rather God did, and no one would ever have known that the time spent preparing consisted of 15 minutes of looking it over for the very first time. The meeting ended, everyone having received a blessing, and Eli came over to see how Sarah was now that it was over. Sarah responded that she felt absolutely horrid, to which Eli inquired why she felt that way. Sarah proceeded to explain (along with more tears) that she felt absolutley horrid for failing in her responsibility, and for putting it on the shoulders of another with such short notice, and for causing so much trouble. But Eli was most understanding and told her it was quite alright and to not worry about it all, for it had all turned out well regardless. Sarah appreciated it greatly, and purposed in her heart to go on a mission of baking cookies for both him and Lyndsay for all of the amazing help they had given to her over the past 24 hours.
Moral of this story is:
1. Look at the possibility of not speaking about a topic you do not feel overly comfortable with much earlier than 15 minutes prior to the time of speaking.
2. Try to avoid so much lachrymosity in life.
3. Be thankful that there are people who are understanding and willing to help, regardless of the circumstances.
4. Have an ever-present supply of cookie baking supplies.
Let me begin by listing the first lesson to be learned in life:
1. Never ever EVER attempt to create your own sermon in both English and Norwegian in 24 hours.
It all began one lovely Saturday afternoon, when a girl named Sarah decided it was high time for her to begin in earnest to go over her sermon for the following evening. She set to work with vigour, and began to go through it - slide by slide - looking for about 60 slides that could be discarded. The topic was the Remnant Church; one that she was not overly familiar with in the first place, and the way the program had set it up was quite ridiculous and contained about a million and one tangents, that made it seem as though the point would never be reached. This confused the girl greatly, and after hours of failed attempts, she began to become very frustrated indeed. She set out to seek out some assisstance from a more knowledgable source that could aid her in understanding what was crucial and what was alright to dispose of. Her attempt at finding assisstance also failed, for those capable of this assisstance were involved elsewhere in various other activities that she felt she could not disturb them from. So, in vain, she returned to her place of study and tried again. Once again, her attempts ended in failure and she could not make sense of the topic that was being presented. Finally, one came along to see if there was a chance they could be of assisstance - they were to an extent, and she appreciated it this greatly. After some more time was spent going through the presentation, along came a greater source of help, much to the girls delight. This one looked through the first few slides, whilst listening to the woe's of Sarah, and after those few slides saw what the problem was, and hypothesized that the most logical solution would be to scrap the entire thing altogether and begin from scratch. Sarah liked this idea quite alot, but before this could be carried out she had to ensure that this move was legal and would not cause any problems anywhere. And so another mission began; to seek the approval of her endeavour. This mission did not fail, and the permission was granted with ease. Sarah, feeling rejuvinated by this small step in the right direction, went to share the good news with the one who was helping her, whom we refer to as Lyndsay. She too shared in the jubilation of the matter and proceeded to flourish a different presentation that she had used once upon a time when she had preached on this precise topic. Sarah looked it over and saw that it was good, and just by the different set-up of the presentation, the entire subject began to make much more sense to her. There were only a few catches to this grand scheme.
1. It was only in English
2. It was only Bible verses - no notes.
3. Sarah nor Lyndsay were fluent in the Norwegian language.
4. Sarah did not have a Norwegian keyboard.
5. They only had that night and the next day to prepare an entirely new presentation.
Despite these set-backs, it still seemed very feasible to them, and so with great determination, they set about the great task of making a new presentation, in both English, and Norwegian. They worked for quite some time that night; ironing out the wrinkles with the program, and learning how to import new slides and the texts into it, as well as finding an online Norwegian Bible to aid in the translation of the texts. Eventually, when the hour was late, Lyndsay began to feel quite tired, and retired to her bed chamber. Sarah, still quite awake, carried on long into the night, until she was far too weary to keep her eyes open. She listened to a sermon that Lyndsay had told her about which was on the exact same topic, and this helped her to understand much better what it was that she was supposed to be presenting the following night. Eventually, sleep got the better of her and her weary eyes laid to rest for the remaning hours of the night. Morning came quickly and Sarah awoke again with determination filling her soul, and immediately set to work, editing more on the presentation - inserting slides, texts, and converting them to Norwegian. The process was slow since it had to be done for each slide and text individually, but as the morning hours wore on, she finally accomplished this process around noon that Sunday. Lyndsay came along, ready and willing to help again, which Sarah appreciated beyond all imagination. Lyndsay began to work on inserting the Bible text references in Norwegian, which was also a very slow process, while Sarah listened to the aforementioned sermon a few more times in desperate hope of becoming familiar enough with the topic to be able to speak it with clarity, and also went over the slide presentation which was on Lyndsay's computer as well. Time flew by, and before Sarah knew it, it was 4:30pm which meant that a mere half hour remained before the bus would be leaving, taking Sarah to the inevitable doom of presenting the topic. The issues at this present time were as follows:
1. Sarah still had not added notes to this presentation.
2. Sarah was still not feeling familiar enough with the topic.
3. The presentation had not been gone over by someone who spoke Norwegian to verify that all was according to how it should be.
4. Sarah was feeling like she was on the point of regurgitation due to the stress and lack of sleep.
5. Sarah was feeling on the verge of lachrymosity.
6. Sarah gave in to lachrymosity.
7. Sarah had not practiced yet.
8. Sarah had to leave in 30 minutes.
Finally, one who spoke Norwegian was called to look over the presentation because the editing had been finished (except for Sarah's notes still...) and thankfully, there was only one minor problem with it, and a new verse had to be added. Sarah was still experiencing some issues with becoming lachrymose, and after some comforting words had been spoken, she was instructed to sit down and go over it to try to pretend she was preaching it, so that she could make the correct bridges between verses, etc. She did so, then shortly after she had begun, she was told that time had come for departure, so with a hopeless aura wrapping her in it's arms, she packed up her computer and traversed to the bus, hoping to be able to finish the note adding over the next half hour of bus travel. She accomplishd some, but discovered more issues with the presentation during that time which were important to fix, so she managed to experience even more setbacks on her note addition. They arrived at the church and approximately 5:30pm, leaving her with an hour and a half before the fateful moment would come where upon she would be called to the front to present the topic of the evening. She set about some more editing and adding notes and fixing the various problems, and began to realize that there were still a great many slides whose verses she did not understand and did not have the capabilities of explaining. So, she summoned the help of one named Eli, who started to go through it with her to see if it was all correlating together. It was lacking some things, and including some things that were difficult to explain due to the set-up of the previous meetings, so they tried to edit it as best they could. Finally, 15 minutes remained, and any confidence that Sarah had previously enjoyed had melted into a small pathetic puddle on the floor at her feet. Eli sensed this and asked her, "Do you feel comfortable with this?" Sarah replied, tears once again coming to her eyes, "Nope. Definitely not." Eli said, "Hmm..well, there are two options. You can just go up there and do your best with what you have, or...someone else can do it. So you can choose which you would prefer and either let it go or do what you can in the next 15 minutes to better prepare." Sarah by this time was once again experiencing the phenomenon of having rivers running from her eyes, and with a pathetic look said, "Well I guess I'm just going to let it go then, because I really do not feel comfortable enough to do this right now, and I really don't want to screw it all up..." She was the picture of misery and frustration. With that Eli said "Alright" and took the computer from her lap and began to theorize about what could be done within the next 15 minutes. He decided to go back to the original program and began the process of eliminating the slides that were more unnessescary, with an air of focus and trust. Sarah, in no state to stay, went from the room and fled to the bathroom where she could attempt to cease her sobbing and could dry her eyes. Meanwhile, word was slowly spreading of the recent events, and people were coming by to condole and hug which caused great difficulty in Sarah's bid to put her crying to an end, but eventually she managed to at least retain a certain sense of composure, although her eyes had the telltale red hue that caused her to appear as though she had been on a few too many drugs in the past day, but that was beside the point. She emerged from the bathroom to meet up with one named Robert, who proceeded to tell her that she was going to do a great job, to which she tried to explain in short version that she was not doing it, but the message did not get across, and at that particular time, the MC of the meeting began to say; "And now I would like to introduce the speaker of this evening..." to which Robert gave her a smile and hug of encouragement, and then heard that the MC was not saying the name of Sarah but rather...Eli?? "You're not speaking? I thought it was you tonight...?" Sarah proceeded to tell the tale of how the cookie had crumbled over the past 15 minutes. It was understood, and the meeting began, so Sarah went in to find a seat.
Before she did though, she was surprised to hear that Eli was rambling on about himself and what he does at EBS, etc...Sarah was slightly confused by this, and then heard that the computer (her computer in fact) was not working, and was in the process of being fixed. After about 10 minutes the problem was resolved and the meeting commenced. Eli did an excellent job of it, or rather God did, and no one would ever have known that the time spent preparing consisted of 15 minutes of looking it over for the very first time. The meeting ended, everyone having received a blessing, and Eli came over to see how Sarah was now that it was over. Sarah responded that she felt absolutely horrid, to which Eli inquired why she felt that way. Sarah proceeded to explain (along with more tears) that she felt absolutley horrid for failing in her responsibility, and for putting it on the shoulders of another with such short notice, and for causing so much trouble. But Eli was most understanding and told her it was quite alright and to not worry about it all, for it had all turned out well regardless. Sarah appreciated it greatly, and purposed in her heart to go on a mission of baking cookies for both him and Lyndsay for all of the amazing help they had given to her over the past 24 hours.
Moral of this story is:
1. Look at the possibility of not speaking about a topic you do not feel overly comfortable with much earlier than 15 minutes prior to the time of speaking.
2. Try to avoid so much lachrymosity in life.
3. Be thankful that there are people who are understanding and willing to help, regardless of the circumstances.
4. Have an ever-present supply of cookie baking supplies.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Better Late Than Never...?
Life is always full of great intentions, and the blog aspect of my life was no different...
Since I was moving to a new country, moving on to newer and greater things, I thought to myself, “I should do the sensible thing in today's world and make a blog so that the many souls that exist in the world that look for ways to pass their time by reading the stories of other people's lives will have a little insight into what I am doing whilst across the ocean...” But alas! I arrived in this great land called Norway, and lo and behold, when I attempted to sign up for this particular blog, I was saddened to find that all of it was in Norwegian, and I, being a Norwegian illiterate sort, did not take the time to try to decipher the language to find the language option, and due to lack of time, never got around to it until, well, now... And now that I am done hanging my head in shame about such a pathetic story, I shall carry on as if none of that ever happened, and start approximately 2 months into the tales of this great voyage.
First I suppose I should give at least a brief summary of the past couple of months, for I had planned to document every aspect of the trip from the day of departure 'til the end, but as we have learned so far, I failed miserably at that, and so I will merely give a brief rundown of the events.
We, (Jen, Rob, Marcus, and I) embarked on a great voyage, from yonder Nova Scotia, across the great of water known as the Atlantic Ocean, and arrived some time later in the land of the Norwegians, known to most as Norway. We departed on August 13 and arrived in the late eve of the 14th, and the purpose of this voyage was to attend the European Bible School. There were many adventures along the way, but they would take far too long to expound upon, and I'm sure most of you know of them already.
So, the schedule at this place is as follows:
Sunday = Study day. In the evening we now have an evangelistic meeting which begins at 7:00pm, but other than that the day is to do as we please, which I greatly appreciate.
Monday - Breakfast: 6:45
Worship: 7:40
Classes: 8:10
Lunch: 1:15
Practical Education: 2:00-6:00
Supper: 6:45
Curfew 9:30/10:00
Tuesday - Same as Monday until 2:00-4:00 which is Talk Time/Study Time
Outreach 4:00-6:00
Evangelistic Meeting 7:00-8:00ish
Curfew 9:30/10:00
Wednesday - Same as Monday
Thursday - Same as Tuesday
Friday - Breakfast: 6:45
Worship: 7:40
Classes: 8:10-10:00
Cleaning Duties: 10:00-1:00 (or however long it takes you between that time.)
Lunch: 1:15
Free Time: Post-Lunch
Worship: 6:00 (which takes place down at the church, approx. 15 min. walk.)
Curfew: Unknown?
Sabbath - Breakfast: 7:15
Church: 9:45
Lunch: 1:30
Free Time
Worship: 7:00ish
Curfew: 10:30/11:00
So that is the schedule of the week. Our classes are about Evangelism mainly, and our homework consists of making bible studies and giving them to a fellow student, so that they can fill out an evaluation form about your presentation.
That will have to be all for now for my inspiration has completely left me for what else I should enlighten you about...
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