Surprises and Miracles

Hola Amigos y Familia,

I am in Honduras now, safe and sound. My flight yesterday went rather smooth and customs was no big thing. Thank you for your prayers and concern.

As predicted, there have already been a few surprises in the last 24 hours. The amazing thing is, all of the surprises have been wonderful! Here’s a small list of just a couple of the surprises…

1. My feelings when the plane landed in Honduras. I’m not going to lie, I was worried that I would arrive in Honduras and regret my decision to come back. You just never know for sure how you are going to react in a situation. At the least I expected myself to be nervous and anxious for the first week or so, but this is not the case. As soon as the wheels of the plane hit the ground on Honduran soil an other worldly peace came over me. I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be. It was a feeling of coming home. This feeling has not left me since arriving. It is as if I just left Honduras for a day instead of a year. Everything is coming so naturally.

2. Which brings to surprise number two. I believe this surprise has to do with the prayers coming from the States. All of my Spanish has come back,…and then some. It is a miracle! I find myself speaking words I had no idea I knew. It is incredible and I praise God to no ends for it. Today I spent the day in the mountains translating for a short term group that is here. What? How is that possible? Only with God. This is not to say my Spanish is perfect. I have already made a fool of myself a few times by messing up some phrases, but everyone is patient with me and truly wants me to succeed. There is still a lot to learn and I am looking forward to it.

3. This next surprise is just a huge blessing. As some of you know, last year I lived in the bunk house here on campus. This is where short term groups stay. I was just fine with this. I had a bed, I had a shower (in the middle of the room) and I had a little privacy. That is, until short term groups would move in. It became a bit overwhelming and cramped then. But I survived and was planning on the same living arrangement this year. Not until I got off the plane and was driving to Plan Escalon did I learn that the directors had finally moved into their new house they have been building leaving their old house, right in the middle of campus, unoccupied. I am currently living in a room of their old house! There is no furniture except a bed and a small vanity, but that’s really all I need. The house does serve as the staff daycare building during the day, but I have my own key for my room so no one can get in and I’m not around during the day much anyway. I have my own room and my own separate bathroom! I feel rather spoiled. I will post photos of said room another day.

What have I been up to?
Reconnecting with old friends
Setting up my OWN room
There is a short term missions group here for a couple days. Part of my job here in Honduras is to play host for the short term groups. This means answering questions, making sure they have everything they need, doing a little translating and really just being there for them.
Because of this I left for a mountain village at 6:00am this morning. Where the group goes, I go. This worked out perfectly because the other part of my job is these mountain trips. I sat/stood in the back of an old pick-up truck for three hours as we trekked up the mountain. While there I translated, handed out food, played with some kids and kept the group busy. The main reason we were there was actually to finish up the villages first running water system. There are 17 houses in this village with approximately two large families living in each house. I’ll let you do the math. Today the men in our group were putting in the pump at the bottom of the mountain where the spring is. The pump then, well, pumps the water to the top of the mountain and then they let gravity take over as the water travels down into the village. They actually have rather good water pressure just because of how high and steep the water is coming at them. I did end up taking a few trips up and down the mountain as I brought water to them men and checked up on them. The hike was only about ten minutes down, and fifteen minutes up. One thing is for sure, I will be in good shape by the end of this summer.

Prayer Requests:
Praise that my Spanish is back! Also prayer that I will continue to learn and comprehend.

It almost makes me weary that everything is going so well and easily so far. I realize it has only been a day, but I want to stretch and grow here. I want to be challenged emotionally and spiritually this summer because through those challenges maturing occurs. I want a mature faith. I seek a mature faith. I want to get to the point where there is absolutely nothing I can do but rely on God. This is a beautiful and freeing place to be. Bring it on.

For my parents. I am so thankful for their support. I now they are proud of what I am doing and understand why I have to do it, but they worry, as any good parents would. I want them to have peace over the next two months. If you happen to see them, give them a hug from me please.

That is it for now. I love you all and will talk to you later.

God Bless!

-Katelyn