We traveled to Honduras last week and were met with some answered prayers. We spent the first few days looking at schools, looking at houses, visiting old friends, and trying to understand what was going on using our limited Spanish. We also visited church, visited bible study, went to children's church, and attended a soccer game. It seemed like a long trip because things move slowly there, as it is a very calm, slow paced culture. 

      We found a house we like, three bedroom, two bath, garage, large courtyard. It will be about $210 a month, and about $40 for electricity and water. We did not pay a deposit because we will still look. It was a great house, but not ideal for a dog. We need a little yard, or grass at least. Because the school year goes from February through November,  houses will come up for rent pretty soon, and our friends are going to continue to look for us. In the meantime, we can stay in an apartment above our friend (and the pastor of the church we will attend) Arturo's house. We will also need to buy a car. We were initially going to ship our car, but found out recently that it can be a terrible, super expensive endeavor. Our friend Jim has a friend who buys cars in Miami and ships them to Honduras. We can get a used SUV there, using money from selling our cars here.

      The biggest news of all is that we will have jobs! I was offered a teaching position at two christian schools, and JD was offered the chaplain job at one of those schools. We have an offer from one school for a relatively good paycheck (we will still need support) and airline tickets to America at the end of each school year for both of us.We are calling them on Monday night to discuss further what this would entail.  The other school has not cemented their offer. Please pray for wisdom as we decide what school to choose.

      Besides working in a school, we will have other endeavors in the city. We will work with a school for street kids, possibly teaching English there. We will also be working with the youth of the church. This group ranges from age 13 until they are married. We will also minister to the people who inhabit the cities trash dump, bringing food and clothes to them on a regular basis. There are many different opportunities to minister in Danli, and all of our plans are subject to change. Most things are subject to that.

It appears as if we will be moving sometime in January or early February. Please continue to pray for us as this time draws near.

I threw up on the way to work today. I feel fine now, aside from some cramps and such. However, this day at home alloted me time to read my e-mail, which rarely happens.

I found out that a person from my past and his wife are expecting. I don't quite know what to do with this information. He really hurt me, and that wound still aches at times, even now, five years later. I have begged the Lord for deliverance from this pain and hurt, from the anger and the shame, yet it still plagues me. I am learning to rest in the fact that God is in charge of everything. Nothing surprises Him, nothing happens apart from Him. I also know that He loves me and He does what is best for His children. Lord, I need you now. I need you to hold me, and reassure me that where I am is where I am supposed to be. Freedom.

God is good. God is in charge of everything. Bring freedom, Lord!

 

I saw this today on Post Secret. This does not apply in my life, but I know it does in others. People who fear gluten, or fear meat, or only eat organic. All of that is still disordered eating. True freedom comes when we choose to honor and glorify God in whatever we do. So before you eat something or don't, think about if your heart in the moment is honoring to God.

The ousted president of Honduras, hanging out with Hugo Chavez, and Raul Castro, as in Cuba.

So, the old president of Honduras is a communist fool, the only people who still want him in power are the mafia members and drug lords, because they are paying him off so they can do what they want without risk of arrest. They people of Honduras are glad that he is gone, and the overthrowing was done in a peaceful way. I am very angry at our current administration for supporting the old president and Chavez. Too bad our country elected a socialist fool who supports other communist leaders across the world. If this would have happened a year ago, the United States would have supported Honduras for enacting a constitutional overthrow, and would not tolerate Zelaya trying to return. Please pray for this country. What happens in Honduras in the next few days could really set the tone for how Obama will deal with Hugo Chavez and his plan to take over all of central and south America.

In regards to my "junior high" freakout yesterday. Feeling much better today, God is good to me. He is healing me and I am learning to have grace for myself to feel what I feel and not what I "should" feel.

I have been so dang busy this past month! To start with, school has been super busy. Since it is summer, more kids are coming and attendance is up. We now have four children with autism in our class, and are up to about eleven each day. That is almost twice what we had last semester. Luckily we have this week off. I also began teaching swimming lessons on Friday mornings, so I have things each day. Lots of things are going on in our house as well, as we are going to Dave Ramsey's financial peace class. Living out of an envelope is a nice thing. It really helps curb my spending in the area of clothes and trips to QT. We will be purchasing a video camera this week to take with us to Honduras. We are excited to show all of you our friends and our new home as soon as we get back!

We leave in about twelve days for Honduras, so I will spend this next week packing up things to move and clothes for the week. I will also be going through all of my clothes to figure out what I want to sell. I will also be taking pictures of all of the things we are selling and posting them on here. It is a busy time for us and I feel like it is just going to get worse as our departure gets closer. We need about $15,000 before we can leave permanently, so when the Lord provides that for us, we are off. It will be as early as September and as late as January. Man, busy busy days.