The second half of our month here... (Andrea)

We have been in Honduras for almost exactly a month now, and what a journey it has been. Many of us have gone from barely being able to ask what time it was, to now being able to have conversations with our host families and some of the other nationals that we have been able to meet. The last two weeks have been very busy for the team, and I will try not to bog you down with an extraordinary amount of information.

Early last week we all piled into the busito (van), along with two of our new friends here, to traverse across many mountains driving along a winding, twisting road, having two incidents where we had to change tires, and twice when we had to stop by the llanteras (tire repair shop) to fix the tires again. I would be at fault if I did not first give God all the glory and honor for a safe trip. Through the many hours of driving there were many times when we could've been in an accident, but God was faithful and we were safe the entire time, and were able to see the beauty of God in many things from the gorgeous scenery to learning the story of the Mayans of Copan. We spent three days in the northwest area of the country for a cultural trip to the Copan ruins, the banana plantation, waterfalls, and caves.

Upon our return to Tegucigalpa we all had Spanish and culture class on Thursday and then the guys departed very early on Friday morning for a Christmas vacation with their brothers to the island of Roatan. This was a wonderful opportunity for the guys to have some bonding time with their host brothers, and be able to interact with them in a different setting. While the guys were gone the girls spent Saturday cooking up a storm in the kitchen as we had fun making cookies for our families for Christmas. It was fun to serve our families in this way.

Christmas is very different here, and it was a wonderful opportunity for us to refocus on why we celebrate Christmas, as all of our traditions, families and things familiar to us were absent, and in place we celebrated with our larger family, our brothers and sisters in Christ here in Honduras. Here the celebrations are at their height at about midnight on the twenty-fourth. Each of us went with our families and therefore each celebrated in different ways. I had the opportunity to help my host mom make some of the food, and then at about nine we went over to my abuela's (grandma's) house to celebrate with the rest of the family. We ate some of the traditional Honduran food, which consists of turkey, rice and vegetables, torrejas (kind of like pancakes that are in a very sweet cinnamon sauce), salad, and torta de papas, which I believe is a potato pie. Then around 12:30 we went back to my house and opened our gifts.

Thank you so much for all the prayers, we have felt them as we continue on this adventure of serving Christ. Please keep us in your prayers and may God bless you all! and a late: Feliz Navidad! May you all always remember the celebrate the love of our Father, and the wonderful gift of His Son.

A Las Ruinas de Copan

The Journey Continues! (Joshua)

Thanks to all for your prayer support as we began this journey. Our team has become very close over the last two weeks and we are sure we will continue to bond as these five months pass. Our days currently consist of Spanish and culture study along with group processing and discussing what we have learned living with our host families.

Two of our members had fallen ill this week, those two members being the guys, Andy and Joshua. But thanks to a great leader and quick response, both are feeling better and acting like the kids they are. As far as we know, no one has fallen too ill with the food which has been a great blessing. It is fun to get together and discuss the different experiences we have had.


Our team leader, Karen Hess, celebrated her 29th birthday this week and we were able to celebrate with her and have a good lunch as a team at TGI Friday´s. Karen made it through her birthday without getting her face shoved in the cake which we hear is a tradition. If you hear the words, ¨Bite the cake¨ (probably in Spanish), don´t - unless you want to get to know your cake very personally.


Our Spanish teachers have been giving us a healthy dose of culture as well. Several times this week we ventured out to local shops and street markets and ¨ïnterviewed¨ local venders. This has been uncomfortable for most everyone, but has been good and the venders usually are very enthusiastic to help us. The people here are usually excited to see someone studying their culture and language.

Prayer requests for this week are directed towards travel. On Monday morning the team will be traveling to Copan to study the Mayan Indian (an indiginous group) culture and visit the ruins. We will be returning on Wednesday after a visit to San Pedro Sula and tour of a local banana plant (a major industry here). Friday morning Andy and Josh will be leaving with there host brothers for a trip to the island of Roatan and will ask for prayer for traveling safety as well.

Thank you again for your ongoing support and love, we could not do this without you.

Week #1 Down (Karen W)

"We also rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance..."

This is the verse of the week, contributed by Andy. I know it doesn't fill you with the fluffy mushy gushy feelings that you might get once in a while knowing the affectionate presence of our Heavenly Father. However, these words have been a bit of a reality for us this week. It all started when we moved in with our host families last Saturday (December 1). It hasn't been easy. We have been stripped of everything we know and are familiar with and have been placed in completely new surroundings. We now have to do things in ways we aren't used to and can't insist on doing them our own way. We aren't able to ask simple questions, tell jokes, or communicate what we want or don't want. We have even been, in part, stripped of our own personalities since it is impossible to fully express our style of communication to the Honduran families and friends we are with. And so because of all these trials we have come to realize how much we appreciate every other member of our team and the precious time we get to spend with them turning our tears to laughter and being able to speak English.

Despite it just being hard most of the time, each day has been an easier step and God has been showing Himself faithful to us in very simple and basic ways. It is a huge blessing to have another team member just come over and visit one evening. It's a huge accomplishment to successfully have a five minute conversation with your host mother or brother. It is an answer to prayer when our host younger host sister isn't forcing us to sit through her own Spanish lesson. It is wonderful to know we are wanted by the kids in the family who are excited to have us in their home. It is so helpful to have family members who do know some English. So join us in praising the Lord for his faithfulness and for desiring us to know Him better through perseverance through struggles.

...perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:3-5

A Few Random Facts about Honduras:

1. There is no flushing toilet paper. Instead we have to throw it away in a trash can. Some of us have already had to fish it out after forgetting.
2. Driving rules seem to be nonexistent. If they are, it's not obvious. To put it bluntly, the drivers here are crazy. And using the horn is not offensive here so they use it all the time.
   
3. Hondurans point with their lips. Not all the time of course, but when it's just easier or necessary.
4. All Hondurans who lives in Tegucigalpa are either Olimpia or Motagua. These are the two futbol (soccer) teams in Honduras and they are pretty hard core about it.
   
5. There are girls selling tortillas up and down the small alleys/streets where our houses are so every now and then you hear someone who is carrying a basket on their head yelling "Tortillas!...Tortillas!"

(and hopefully more to come)



This is the team at a concert one of the first nights. Accompanying us are some of the locals: Ronal, Anita, Bessy, and Allan

First couple days in Teguz! (Karen H)

This was written on Saturday, but due to time constraints and internet connections - is just now posted on Monday. We will give another update every week if possible! Thanks!

We have arrived in Honduras after the long anticipated day! Tegucigalpa is surrounded by mountains so as we flew into the airport it was a rather close landing. It looked like we were feet away from the mountains while the airport runway was still far away. Teguz has one of the shortest runways in the world, so it was a rather close and quick stop. After we had landed successfully, I heard it was normal for people clap for the safe landing and it was no different this time.

We were greeted by beautiful weather and Rachel and a friend met us at the airport. Since then, we have been getting a taste of Honduras. We are just beginning to get a feel for the area both in surroundings and food. Just to summarize, there are lots of people, cars, lots of Spanish, and exhaust, which, hopefully will soon become a better smell to us.

We move into our host families today (Saturday) and that will really immerse us into the culture. The technical "orientation" is ending, but it's just really beginning as we will become part of another family today. We will be diving into language and culture learning so the learning curve is about to begin. (Karen W. was fixing her hair in this picture, sorry for the lack of visibility of her face.)

Tegus is about 1.2 million people and here is the team with the city in the background. We actually saw an airplane land and some take off as we were on top of the mountain. Quite amazing.

Praises:

* Safe arrival

* We each met our host families and it seems like each family will be a great fit for us individually

* A more relaxing start than we thought before being immersed into the culture

Prayer Requests:

* For a smooth transition into our homes without being able to communicate. Grace and patience for us as a team and for our host families.

* Health

* That Christ would be reflected in our lives through our actions and facial expressions because we can't speak or explain ourselves yet.

Glimpse into our lives (Andrea)

Hello Hello!

The first entry is being written! I know that we set up our team blog site a long time ago, but with our busy schedules among other things we have not posted anything...until THIS ONE! :-) You may want to take a peek at this site periodically in the next six months, especially once we are in Honduras because we will not have as much time to do e-mailing and it will be a convenient way for our friends and family to see how things are going. Training here in Harrisburg has been a great experience so far. We are learning many new things about God, and how to have him in our everyday lives, and have a life of worship to him. I have found that the more i learn about God the more i find that i don't know yet, and want to learn about!
I shall let you have a little glimpse into our lives here at HDC. This last week we had some great sessions about hearing God's voice, and the Father heart of God. This coming week we will be learning about discipling new believers and evangelism and compassion, among other things. We also have language study two times a week. It is a good time for some of us to review the Spanish that we have already learned in school, and for the others to get a good foundation to prepare for the intense language classes that we will be having upon arrival in Honduras, as well as communicating with our host families there. Thank you all for your interest in what God is doing in our lives and what he is going to do!
Andrea

The STEP Team 07-08