Talking Coffee Plants

It's coffee season! That means that we have lots of workers from the community coming to the ranch to pick the coffee. They come and are starting to work between 7:30 and 8am. Anyways, sometimes when I'm walking to school in the mornings it sounds like the coffee plants are talking b/c there are people picking coffee,  but you can't see them because the plants are so dense. It always makes me laugh or reminds me of some movie or children's book or something imagining plants that can talk. I always like coffee season because I enjoy seeing some more people from the community and this whole agricultural process if you can call it that. Growing up in Richardson, there wasn't much going on in the way of harvesting any kind of crops, so being here and watching them work with the coffee and moras (blackberries) has been very intriguing.

Chicken Feet

On Monday, one of my students came back to school after lunch and showed me a bag of something that she said she brought for the boys in our class. I didn't think much of it until later one of my boys came up with a chicken foot hanging out of his mouth!! I asked him about it and he said it was given to him by this other student. He thought it was delicious and continued to eat several of them in front of me of course because I thought it was disgusting and was making a big deal out of it. Just when I thought it was safe to uncover my eyes and actually supervise the rest of the kids at recess again, I looked to my right and there was another boy in my class with a chicken foot in each hand taunting me with them! It was disgusting and of course they thought it was hilarious. Then I felt bad thinking that maybe I shouldn't make a big deal about it if maybe it was a cultural thing...but then one of the Honduran teachers reacted the same way I did about them. Here's a picture I stole from my roommate:

3rd grade quotes

Here are some fun quotes from my 3rd graders...just a tiny glimpse into my daily life:

"Guess what? I have a new boyfriend at church. He's really awesome. You know why? He knows how to control the TV."

Me: "Who can tell me what two categories animals are classified into?"
Student: "Ummm....mammals and femammals?"  :)

Me: "God made us different from the animals. Who can tell me what the difference is?"
Student: "Well, animals, when they have babies, they just kinda pop out, but humans have to go to the doctor and have lots of help...and people have to go inside to use the bathroom, but animals can go wherever and whenever they want."

Student: "Miss Hannah, you should be Princess Jelly."
Me: "What do you mean?"
Student: "You know, like on Star Wars?"
Me: "Oh, you mean Princess Leia?"
Student: "Yeah, yeah...that's what I meant."

Student: "Miss Hannah, we should have really hard spelling words this week."
Me: "Like what?"
Student: "Something like....Rock and Roll"

(while working on spelling)
student: "Miss Hannah, I need moist (one of the spelling words)."
me: "I don't understand. You mean you need to know how to spell it?"
student: "No. Don't you know what moist is? We talked about it with the plants. I'm so thirsty, I need moist."
me: "Oh, you mean you need water."
This lead to a discussion about the difference  between moist and moisture, etc.  :)

Mr. Fluffypants

One of my students brought in a caterpillar she had caught today. His name...Mr. Fluffypants. His habitat consisted of a cardboard box with the top cut out of it, and a hole just the size of a plastic "insect-catching- aquarium-thing" turned sideways to fit in the side of it, the whole thing covered with a piece of fabric. Inside this home were sticks, leaves, and several torn pieces of cardboard. I thought they were just regular pieces of cardboard, but it turns out they were a bathroom, TV, remote control, and video game for Mr. Fluffypants.

When it was time for prayer requests this morning, a student raised his hand and asked for prayer for all the people in China to be able to talk about Jesus without getting trouble. (Our Bible lesson was about China). The owner of Mr. Fluffypants then raised her hand and said, "the same...for mr. fluffypants." So I asked if she was saying she wanted all caterpillars to be able to talk about Jesus. This led to a discussion between the rest of my students about communication between caterpillars and rather or not caterpillars talked about Jesus. I tried to end the conversation by saying, "Caterpillars don't talk, and they don't have souls, so they don't talk about Jesus." to which one of my students replied, "But what about Hermie and Wormie? They're caterpillars, and they talk about Jesus?"  :)

She ended up praying for people in the whole world to be able to talk about Jesus.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It's been raining A LOT here. In the morning it may be sunny and look like it will be beautiful day, but then it will start raining in the afternoon and continue pouring on and off all afternoon/night. I actually love the rain. I love putting on my rain boots and taking my umbrella and walking through big mud puddles. I like how hit cools everything off and how a lot of times the clouds linger over the trees and mountains. I like how sometimes there are thunderstorms with really cool lightning.

Earlier this year we were praying for more rain b/c we were in a drought, but now we're praying for the rain to stop b/c it's causing lots of problems. Part of the main road in the city that we take has collapsed and is impassible. The river has been too high to cross many times. The tractor has been needed to pull vehicles out of the muddy patches on our road. Because of all these things it's taken people anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 hours to get into the city when it usually takes about 45minutes. As you can imagine, this can be very tiring for those who commute back and forth every day....all this to say, please be praying!

Pray for the safety of those in the city and everyone who has to travel on these roads!

Thanks!

Super Heroes

Today we were reading a book about super heroes. One of my students said, "Right, Miss Hannah, there are no real super heroes?"
I replied with, "You're right. They aren't real people, just pretend."
In all seriousness, the student then responded, "But, dads are super heroes. They do lots of really cool things like make breakfast for us every morning!"

July Newsletter

Spiritual Emphasis Week
“Reconstrucción Total” (Total Reconstruction) was the theme of our Spiritual Emphasis Week this year at the ranch. It was named after the Spanish version of the TV show “Extreme Makeover Home Edition.” During this week we explored four different types of relationships we have: our relationship with God, our relationship with others, our relationship with ourselves, and our relationship with the world and its resources. We discussed how each of these relationships is broken by sin and needs “total reconstruction” through our relationship with Christ.


During this week, we cancelled school for the week and had somewhat of a “retreat” here on the ranch. Every morning we opened the day with an hour session including a time of worship, an icebreaker and a brief message regarding the theme of the day. Each day we focused on one of the aforementioned themes. After the morning session, our preschool through fourth graders participated in various activities related to the themes while our older kids and some of their families attended workshops taught by teachers, parents, and a couple of our guests. After the workshops the whole family came back together by a time of activities designed to explore the dynamics of the family and help them figure out how to work through various problems they may be having. Each day was concluded by a short time of worship and reflection.

On Tuesday night, we transformed our meeting room by placing as many candles and oil lamps as we could around for an intimate time of worship. On Wednesday, we had day of service with groups going to the city to pour concrete floors and help another ministry with a feeding program, while our youngest kids stayed to do a gardening project at the ranch. On Friday, we ended the week with a fun party at a nearby pool. We enjoyed some typical Honduran food and ended the night with another time of worship and reflection.

It was amazing to see how God worked during this week. At least two of our children accepted Christ and several of them came to some meaningful realizations. I know God is doing even so much more than this. Please pray with us that the kids would remember what they’ve learned this week and that God might use this week as a milestone in their lives.

Blackberries are Everywhere!

We grow blackberries here at the ranch. There are berry patches lining the road between my house and the school. It’s currently blackberry season and I think this is the biggest harvest of blackberries that I’ve seen in the past 3 years that I’ve been here. We have workers picking them during the day. Once they’re picked, they’re taken to our “Casa Grande” where they are made into jam, jelly, juice, and dried to make teas. The jam, jelly, and teas are then sold to visitors and teams that come through as a fundraiser for the ministry. A lot of the families pick the berries and make homemade cobblers, pies, cakes, and smoothies. On the way home from school, the blackberries make a nice snack for all of us too!

New WGO Website!

Our WGO website has been updated! It looks amazing and has lots of interesting information on it. Even if you’ve read stuff on the old one, you should look at the new one. Maybe you’ll learn something new! Here’s the link: World Gospel Outreach

I would appreciate your prayers for these things:

• Pray for the transitions of the new teachers coming and old teachers and other missionaries leaving.

• Pray for the continued spiritual growth of all our kids.

• Pray for a strong beginning of the school year with teachers and students adjusting to their new classes. (School starts August 2nd)

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and encouragement!

Find me on facebook to see more pictures!