Fall Newsletter

Literacy Program in the Community

Our ministry has started a new program in the community on Wednesday afternoons. We have a literacy program where our older kids are able to teach adults in the community how to read and write in Spanish. While the adults are in their classes, we have a program for their kids. I have been helping with it. A typical day consists of singing songs, telling a Bible story through a skit, puppet show, etc, praying, and learning a Bible verse. The goal of these ministries is to get the kids here at the ranch involved with reaching out to the community and sharing Christ with them. There are several teachers and one of the Honduran house parents that are helping to plan everything and the WGO youth is slowly taking on more and more responsibility. So far we have taught about the parable of the Lost Sheep, the Prodigal Son, and the Parable of the Sower. For the month of October we had the theme of “Trusting God” and told the stories of Job, Joseph, and the centurion in Matt. 8, and Joseph. For the story of Joseph, the kids enjoyed making tie-dye t-shirts. I have enjoyed this opportunity to work alongside the youth to minister to the kids in the community.

Concrete Floor

On September 29th, many of the teachers, families, and other missionaries from the ranch had the opportunity to help put a concrete floor in the house of one of our house assistants, Betulia. She is an assistant in one of our houses of boys we have here at the ranch. The house has six boys, ages 1-17. Although she works at the ranch, she lives about 10 minutes down the road. It’s hard to judge distances because the roads are bad and it sometimes takes a long time to go a relatively short distance down the mountain. Many of the houses in the community only have dirt floors. Their walls are made of mud bricks, and are easily washed away when there is lots of rain. We were able to mix and pour the concrete floor for her house, and work in her yard. We made a new flower bed for her and cleaned out a lot of weeds and things that were beside her house. When all the work was completed, we had the opportunity to pray for Betulia and her family. This was a fun day to work with some people at the ranch that we don’t usually have the chance to interact with while helping Betulia, who has been a huge blessing to the ranch.

Celebrations at School

Honduran Festival

Honduran Independence Day was in the middle of September so we had a “Honduran Festival” at school. One Thursday afternoon the Honduran teachers and some of the kids prepared a program for the rest of the ranch to teach about the history of the country, some of the national symbols, and different regions of Honduras. A few of the house parents also prepared Honduran food for us to try. A lot of their food includes plantains, yucca root, beans, tortillas and rice. Most of it was pretty good, and all of it was definitely different! I enjoyed this time to learn more about Honduras and try some of the food.

Day of the Child

Another celebration we had at school was “Day of the Child.” This is basically like a Father’s Day or Mother’s Day would be in the states, but this one is for kids. They get all kinds of candy and toys. One morning at school, each of the primary grade teachers came up with a game for the kids to play. We spent the morning playing games and then ended the morning with the kids hunting for bags of candy that we had hidden outside the school. It reminded me of an Easter Egg hunt. The kids (and teachers) enjoyed this fun little break from the routine of a normal school day.

Home for the Holidays

I’ll be back in the states from November 23rd-January 2nd! I’m looking forward to this time at home to see my friends and family. I will miss everyone that I’ve developed some great friendships with, teachers and students, over these past four months. After spending pretty much all day everyday with them, it will be weird to not be around them for several weeks. I would love to see you while I’m in the states! Email me or call me so we can work something out. I’ll be in New Orleans for several days in December, but I should be in the Dallas area for the rest of the time.

2008-2009 School Year

After a lot of prayer and thought, I have decided to extend my initial 1 year commitment for another year. So, I’ll be here for next school year too! I’m very excited about this because I love being here and feel like it’s where God wants me right now. Thanks to everyone who was praying with me about this! You should be receiving an email over the next couple of weeks regarding additional financial support needed, so please be praying about that. I look forward to going home for the holidays so I can talk about it with some of you in person.

Cute Quotes

“Miss Hannah, why do I have to multiply my choices?” –One of my students after seeing a multiple choice section on a test… and again the other day, “Why do I have multiplication choices?”


“Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! I really want to say God’s name in vain right now, but I can’t!”- One of my students after hearing that a container filled with shipped from the states with personal belongings had finally arrived at the ranch.

Contact Information

I have enjoyed getting emails and a few cards from people! Please continue to send them my way! They are good reminders that I have people praying for me at home and I love hearing about what’s going on while I’m gone. I promise I’ll reply to emails and return letters…it just may take awhile. It takes about 3-4 weeks at least for me to get letters and cards and I have to wait until there is a team here to send them back with. There’s not a reliable mail service here, so when we want to mail things to the states, we ask a team to mail them for us when they get back.
The best address to mail things (letters and cards only please) to is in Miami:

Hannah Dakel
World Gospel Outreach
TGU 144
P.O. Box 02-5387
Miami, FL 33102-5387

(If you would like to send a package, please contact me for the best place to send it.)
My email address is Hannah.dakel@gmail.com.
You can read WGO’s most current newsletter online at http://www.wgoreach.org/.

Prayer Requests:
· Pray for the kids, that they would have a great attitude about school and be ready to learn new academic and spiritual things each day.
· Pray for wisdom when answering spiritual questions my students have.
· Pray that I would continue to develop strong relationships with the youth here at the ranch.
· Pray for unity and healthy relationships between all the teachers and other missionaries here.
· Pray for a safe and refreshing time back in the states for the holidays.

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

It's been a while..

I'm still alive! Our internet hasn't been working for a while, so I haven't been able to write anything.

Everything here is still going well! We only have a week and a half left of school in the semester! I can't believe time has gone by so fast! We have graduation on the 21st for our 6th graders. The Honduran school calendar ends in November. Two or three of our kids who are in the spanish curriculum will be graduating on that day! It should be a fun day. Many of the teachers are planning things for their students to do for graduation...it will be kind of like a talent show/program kind of thing. I'm not doing anything with my kids b/c they are already doing things with several of the other teachers....music, spanish, etc.

The community program with the kids has been going really well too. This past week, they made tie-dye t-shirts after talking about the story of Joseph and trusting in God. The kids loved it and the shirts turned out really cute! Here's a picture:

In other news, I'm coming home in a couple of weeks! I'm excited about it, but it will be sad being away from here for about 6 weeks. I'll be in the Dallas area for most of the time and in New Orleans for about a week. I'd love to see you if you're around!!

And about my newsletter.... my fall newsletter will be coming by the end of the month. I apologize for the lack of updates. I've been really busy and like I said before, the internet hasn't been the best, but I hope to see you soon and then I can update you in person!!

As always, thanks for the prayers and support!