Sticks and stones may break my bones... actually, more like my stomach

I guess it's about time I update this. I have no new or exciting news about what I've done because I literally haven't done anything. What started as horrible cramps on Thursday led to really bad nausea, which led to not being able to keep any food down, which led to not being able to keep any water down, which led to total dehydration, which led to being put on IV fluids on Saturday. I'm still sick. I've had horrible stomach pains since Thursday, but after a very painful IV on Saturday I've been drinking more than enough liquids. Today has been the first day I haven't thrown up, thank goodness. Dr. Don and I were discussing what in the world could be wrong with me, and I mentioned that I hadn't felt this sick since when I had kidney stones a year and a half ago. A few little taps on the back led him to believe they might have struck again. Convenient timing, body.

So today I had the wonderful opportunity to experience Honduran healthcare. Thankfully, Hospital Loma de Luz is a great place. Although, the Hondurans move in slow motion. Vitals are all taken in the waiting room and blood is drawn in the hallway behind a short wall. Dr. Joel, one of the missionaries here, checked me out-- somewhat of preferential treatment. I felt half-guilty waiting in his airconditioned office rather than in the muggy hallway with the rest of his patients. But, after peeing into a cup (which I'm an expert at now) and a couple hours of waiting, Dr. Joel informed me that I do in fact have kidney stones again. He gave me some medicine, and now its just a matter of time before they pass. Sooner rather than later would be preferred, it hurts pretty bad. I still have no appetite, but hopefully in the next couple days that will come back.

I guess the timing is actually pretty providential for such a thing to happen. I know everyone's like "oh that must suck to get sick in a foreign country" but honestly the hospital is like 1 minute away and I live with a doctor. They didn't charge me for any of the tests or medication because I'm here as a missionary, which was pretty humbling. And it's not like I'm missing out on too much because all the schools are closed! The current political turmoil in Honduras has caused teachers to stop all classes. We're not too sure how things are going to end up with the government; each day things change. One day its peaceful in the capital, the next it's not. The roads from La Ceiba are all closed and there is a curfew from 9pm to 6am, which restricts a lot of travel. Amanda is supposed to come down on Friday, so hopefully that can still happen. Pray for this country. And pray that Obama doesn't continue to support President Zelaya. It should be a bad sign when he's supporting the opinions of Castro and Chavez. Pray that this country will have peace.

Thats all for now. I'll update again when things get more exciting.


En Cristo,
Lauren

Spiders, Snakes, and Scorpions, OH MY!

Paul didn't lie when he said we shouldn't boast. Well, silly me was all excited these past couple weeks because I hadn't been bit by any mosquitos or bugs, hadn't seen anything decently scary yet (with the exception of this crazy stick bug the other day). Well. Spoke too soon. Today alone, we saw a huge boa at the water tower, we found a huge tarantula climbing on the bilingual songbooks in the house before Alfa, and I squashed a little scorpion in the casita about 10 minutes ago. I hope that's the last of that. Gross.

The past few days have been surprisingly not TOO crazy. Although, we pretty much all have gotten sick hah. Amy has a fever, Liz and Julia have had some stomach issues, and I had this like super weird fatigue all day Sunday. Natalie is the only one who has not fallen victim. Give it time. But, for the most part, we're all getting better, so not to worry!

Saturday morning was pretty great though. We went to Margarita to give guitar/piano lessons again. Last week there were like 20 people that came, which was pretty chaotic. It seems that they fulfilled the Great Commission and told all their friends, because this week, there were over 40 people there and only 4 of us. So, in a crowded room with 6ish pianos, and probably like 9 or 10 guitars, we added to the praises in heaven. The kids I taught seemed to understand pretty well, so that was good to see. Probably my favorite part though, was a young man whose name escapes me. He has cerebral palsy but I remember Penny Alden (one of the missionaries here) saying "this young man just absolutely wants to play the guitar so bad! that's all he talks about, so he's coming to your class on Saturday". So, I went up to him and he had a guitar in his hands, and I taught him like 4 different chords. And he was so good! I would say "Toca D" and he would play a D-chord without me having to reposition his fingers! And I wish I could put into words the smile on this boy's face. It was just so so so full of joy. And as he played his D-chord and sang "Alabare" with such happiness, I could just imagine the look on God's face. He quite possibly had a bigger smile than that boy did.

At 4:00 every afternoon we go down to Lucinda to teach English. Yesterday Julia and I went and spent about 40 minutes trying to simply teach "What's your name? My name is...". It took awhile for the two girls we were teaching to comprehend, but they finally got it. So today when I went back with Liz, we stood in front of the class and went up to every single person in the class and said "What's your name?" and they responded with "My name is (their name)". It was so exciting to hear them finally understand. I think the class enjoys us gringos as well hah.

I think a lot of times when people think of missions trips (and Dr. Don has said this a lot too), they think a group is coming to simply put on a VBS or paint a building or bring all kinds of stuff down. But every day I'm seeing that that's not what it should be! We're here to build relationships-- to meet new people and to show them Christ's love in how we act and how we love them. As I mentioned earlier, there's two girls from Rio Esteban that we've recently become friends with; Deyni and Delmi. They are Victelia's daughters. They really want to learn english (and naturally we really want to learn Spanish) so they are spending the night here tonight. We went to the water tower together, went star gazing, and they're constantly asking us different phrases in English. The two of them are such an encouragement. They shared tonight at Alfa about forgiving others because Christ forgave us. It's just really cool to see them like, taking a leadership role in their community. And it's been really neat to hear what it's like to be a Christian in such a different place. They're both very patient with us when we speak Spanish, and they speak very slowly so we can understand. It's just very encouraging and we've definitely been having a lot of fun getting to know them. I'm pretty sure we're all staying the night at their house on Friday-- that will definitly be a cultural experience haha.

So, all in all, life is going well. It has its ups and downs but thanks to encouragement from friends from home and here, we will keep pressing on. We drive down the roads now and know many of the people by name. We always smile and wave-- everyone smiles and waves back. This country is beautiful and I wouldn't trade this opportunity for the world.

Go read Matthew 6 and be encouraged. God, the Grand Creator of this incredible world we live in-- cares about you more than anything. If only I could learn to tell people that in Spanish...

Con amor en Cristo,

Lauren

The Five F's of Missions: Flexible, Flexible, Flexible, Fun, & Frijoles

So I think I'm finally getting really tan. Actually, I think that might just be a thick layer of dirt that is eternally plastered to my skin. Either way, maybe soon I'll start to look like a Honduran.

An unbelievable amount of stuff has happened in the past few days. It's sort of hard to make it short and sweet so as to keep anyone's interest, but I promise it has been quite the adventure.

For starters, Amy's best friend Shelby & her family finished their 3-year stay at Hospital Loma de Luz on Sunday. Even after knowing Shelby for only a week, we all absolutely love her and were very sad to see her go. To celebrate her last evening with us, on Saturday night we all climbed up to the water tower which overlooks much of the coast of Honduras and many of the little villages. It was dark, so we couldn't see much, but you could just sense how vast it was. The time up at the water tower is something I don't think I'll ever forget. Me, Liz, and Chris reflected on how cool it was to hear "Open the Eyes of My Heart" (Abre mis ojos, Senor) sung in two languages together while we were teaching guitar/piano at a school in Margarita that morning. It was one of those moments where it really hit us how truly universal the Gospel is-- it transcends any culture or any language. Read Revelation 7 to see what Heaven will be like. Not everyone's going to be speaking English there. That's what's going to make it so beautiful.

Sunday I had the opportunity to go into San Luis and Balfate to sing with the kids in the churches there-- thankfully I felt much more comfortable than last week.

Monday was probably the highlight of the week though-- an experience that I will truly never forget. I feel like the life that the Rumbaugh's lead isn't real. But when you step back and realize that it is, it's so so cool and it's such an INCREDIBLE blessing that we get to have a little part in their ministry. Sometimes Dr. Don goes up into the mountains, and on Monday, we went with him. Sort of. Natalie, Julia, Chris & I hopped in the back of a pickup which was headed up to the mountain town of Satal. Julia was going to work with John at a pre-natal clinic there. John drove us up the mountain (with the most breathtaking views EVER) and dropped us off along the way in a village called Las Flores. We were of course accompanied in the truck by like 10 other Honduran women who were hitching a ride. Cramped much? In Las Flores, Nat, Chris & I headed to a river to wait for Dr. Don. Then together we all hiked through the mountains and forded two rivers, with books in a cat litter box, bookbags, and guitars at the ready. We were supposed to teach in the schools up in the mountains, but none of the teachers had shown up, so alas, no school. So, as Dr. Don says, we became missionaries and became very flexible. We went to a couple houses and read through picture bibles with some teens, and at a woman named Dominicana's house, we sang songs with her daugthers. She then proceeded to cook us the most delicious rice & beans (and only rice & beans?) I'd ever had. The juice she gave us was pink with black floaties in it, but that didn't affect me, thankfully :). Although, I can't say the same for the others hehe. We then continued on a 4 mile hike up and down hills headed to Satal. Well, Natalie & I did, Chris & Dr. Don rode the motorcycle. After sweating more than I think I ever have in my life, we stayed in Satal for a few hours reading Picture Bibles with some kids and singing tons of songs with them. It was an incredible time. They were so eager to read. And when we drove back down the mountain, we all just reflected on how blessed we were to have been able to do that, and how incredible God's creation is as we looked out over the expanse. What a beautiful God we serve.

Less serious things to note:

• Hondurans are AWFUL at basketball. Nat, Dr. Don & I played against 5 Honduran men at Alfa (the youth group hosted here on Tuesday nights) and let's just say, I felt like I was a good player. Hilarious.



• Honduran kids are also AWFUL at frisbee. But it's really cute and it made it a lot easier for me to play with them. They even passed me the frisbee sometimes! Imagine that happening in the United States!
  


• Honduran cows like cat litter. As we were in the mountains on Monday, a huge cow wouldn't let Chris pass on the footpath. Instead, he proceeded to constantly sniff the cat litter container that Chris was holding that contained books. One of the funnier things I've witnessed in my life.




• Honduran cows poop everywhere. ATVs, when driven by Liz Pinero, sometimes runover said cow manure. And, if you're lucky, the wheels will hit it at just the perfect angle where the cow manure will squirt all over your feet. Mmm.



• Honduran futbol games with hundreds of screaming kids, is wonderful. (Riding a bus with about 50 of those screaming kids, also wonderful.)
  


• Getting stung by a jellyfish in the Caribbean actually hurts really bad.

More serious things to note:

We keep reading in The Purpose Driven Life (and I just read this morning in my devotions) about how if we're trying to figure out God's plan for us, just look at where our passions lie-- what brings us the greatest joy. And I think I can honestly say that the look on a little kids face when I've just taught him a D-chord and A-chord on the guitar and he can now successfully play "Alabare", is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Just, that smile.

Every day has just been something new. I can't even put into to words the joy that God has given me while being here. And I'm so excited that theres still a month of this left. New adventures to have, new people to meet, new ways to serve. Bring it on.

Padre, nuestro que estas en el cielo, sanctificado sea tu nombre. Venga tu reina, hagase tu voluntad, en la tierra como en el cielo,

Lauren

Fun picture of the week:

Chris, Julia, Mike, Amy, Shelby, Liz, Me, Natalie.. Caribbean.

ven, ahora es el tiempo para adorar

Things don’t really slow down here—that’s for sure. Every day has been full of new adventures and new opportunities to teach. This week we’ve gone to many different places to teach guitar/piano/English and we’ve met so many awesome people. Probably my favorite has been a woman named Victelia. She is the director of the elementary and high school in the little village of Rio Esteban. We visited her home on Wednesday and met her two daughters, Dayni and Delmi—girls who are our age and who are extremely passionate about the Lord. Dayni is in med school and wants desperately to become a missionary—we’ll be helping her this summer to improve her English so that this can be a reality. Delmi is a teacher in the bilingual school. Victelia is very excited about the idea of having American college students come and help with English or music or even in putting computers in the schools. Probably something that stuck out most to me about Victelia is her incredible hospitality. On Thursday, Natalie and I had the opportunity to go on a hike up a mountain/through rivers with Victelia, Delmi, like 20 some kids, and a few others. At one point in the hike, my shoes were really badly cutting into the back of my ankles, so she offered me her shoes. And she was very insistent. It was incredible to me—people just don’t offer their shoes! It’s very humbling to realize that yes we’re here to be teaching these people, but at the same time, they have so much that they can teach us.
One of our projects while we’re not in the schools is to use Liz’s Macbook to record Dr. Don’s bilingual songbook. We’re going to make a CD and then distribute it to the schools we visit so that they can hear the Spanish and English tracks while they’re in their own homes. Definitely a lot of fun.
In addition to the incredible Hondurans we’ve met, we’ve also been blessed by the presence of a lot of short term/long term missionaries here too. Last night, myself, Liz, Natalie, & Julia were joined by Chris, a girl named Hannah, and a guy named Mike, in addition to Dr. Don, Mrs. Rumbaugh, Amy, & Shelby up at the Rumbaugh’s house. We had homemade pizza and Dr. Don told us we had to tell a cool God story—he said to “brag on Him for a little”. It was awesome to hear everyone’s stories and it was such a great time to get to know everyone a little better.

I’m feeling very adjusted to being here. We all learned how to drive the ATV so that’s been a fun adventure. We’ve seen the most unbelievable stars here at night—and last night we rode on top of a Land Cruiser. We felt like we were in Indiana Jones or something.
(<--)Please continue to pray for Dr. Don’s ministry down here that we continue to help with. Pray for the students in the schools that they might have open hearts to learn the gospel and pray that we’ll have the energy to teach them. Hasta luego, Lauren

espero que puedo hablar espanol

(<-- our view) hola! estamos aqui, finalmente. We arrived in San Pedro Sula on Friday night after many airport adventures. When we were in the Houston airport during our 6 hour layover, Dr. Don decided to whip out his guitar and we sang all the songs we needed to learn right there in the terminal. It happened that there was a big group of kids from Wyoming going on a mission trip to Honduras in the terminal with us, so we taught them a bunch of songs, including Los Diez Mandamientos (the ten commandments). It was hilarious, but definitly fun. After cramming into an SUV and a mustang :) we drove into San Pedro Sula to a small hotel. In the morning we headed out to go to Balfate. Chris Daggett joined-- his flight came into San Pedro much later than ours. Saturday morning we immediately headed to a small church in San Pedro and taught a big group of children there the Pilgrim's Progress songs. We were thrown into it, and it was hot, and it was fun. We tried talking to some of the kids afterwards but it was defintily much harder than i expected; my spanish needs a LOT of work.

The 4-5ish hour drive to Balfate was much like I expected. The landscape of Honduras is beautiful-- it is very poor but very gorgeous. It reminded me a lot of when i went to Jamaica 2 years ago. We made a pitstop in La Ceiba to get groceries and we switched cars, so Julia and I had the opportunity to drive with Astor in the Mustang. Astor is a man that Dr. Don mentored and who lived with them all of last year. He came here for a couple days to help bring us to Balfate. He mostly speaks Spanish, so that's always fun.

The Rumbaughs' home is absolutely gorgeous. I wish there were words to describe how beautiful it is here, but I've got pictures :). We're staying in the left third of their house, aka the Casita. It's awesome. We have a room for the 4 of us, our own kitchenette and living room area. It's definitly a blessing to be staying somewhere so nice.

Today was the first real adventure in Honduras, though. Sunday School Bible Study was held in the Rumbaugh's house with a couple missionary kids. Amy made us waffles. At about 10, Dr. Don, Astor, Natalie, and I hopped on the motorcycles and made our first trip into the village to teach songs for Sunday school. As we were driving along, Natalie said that our motorcycles would be splitting up. So Astor & I went to a different church by ourselves. When we arrived at this small church, there were only men there and a few kids, and I found myself being the only one who had no idea what was going on. I tried to understand as much as I could. Luckily, there was a little missionary kid named Antonio there who spoke English and Spanish-- he was cute. Astor & I went in front of the church and sang about 5 songs with the kids. And then that was it. It was sort of awkward and Astor & I found the whole situation very funny. We drove down the mountain to meet up with Dr. Don and Natalie at a bigger church. We did the songs for the kids there too. It was a lot of fun, and it was funny to watch Chris in the back dancing along with the songs. When the kids were gone, we sat with three Hondurans about our age and taught them how to play the guitar/piano and sang about a million songs with them. It was a great experience. I mean, we'll do that every day so that's pretty exciting.

After a little pizza party gathering with a lot of the Missionaries, we rode a half hour on the back of a pickup to get to this awesome waterfall. Natalie, Julia, & I jumped off the side. I screamed. Whoops.

These past couple days have been incredible. I'm so excited to learn more Spanish, spend more time with awesome people, and get adjusted to this beautiful culture. God's beauty is so evident here and it will be good to spend some quality time with Him.

Thank you for your prayers. We're learning to pray in Spanish. You should too-- He might hear them better :)

Adios a hoy!

p.s.

Mrs. Rumbaugh was saying that if a Honduran man cat calls us, we should say "que feo", like, what an ugly thing to say. And then Dr. Don appropriately said "...or if you have a gun, just shoot them!"

kidding...

obviously.

Numero Uno

Hola todos :)Thank you so much for your prayers and support for my upcoming trip to Honduras. While I'm there, I'm hoping to keep this updated as much as I can. The internet might be spotty, so be patient with me. I'm so excited for this trip and the exciting things God's able to do while we're all there. Keep myself, Natalie Youngquist, Liz Pinero, Julia Borghi, Chris Daggett, and Dr. Rumbaugh and his wife Suzanne in your prayers. We're all excited for the opportunity to serve in whatever way we're able.

Friday here we come.


Love,
Lauren