house sitting

Currently I'm chillin' in the house of the missionary family who lives here at the Bible school where I'm staying in Honduras. Him and his family have temporarily left for a short vacation in Rhotan (sp?), so he's left the house to me and my buddy Kevin, the other intern/my bro here in Honduras. As a result I've taken over the kitchen and decided to bake a cheesecake. I don't think many Hondurans have had it before. I'm going to change that real fast.

I love learning Spanish. Its like a game, or a puzzle, or something like that. I'm taking language classes 2 hours every day on the weekdays with an incredible teacher named Raina (who can't speak English, which is actually a great thing), so I'm learning pretty quickly. Its awesome because if i say the wrong thing then i just share a laugh with them, and if i say the right thing then i get the satisfaction of doing something i've never done before. Its a win-win. There's a guy that works at the Bible school around here and goes to church that we partner with named Tungo. He knows very little English, but I've had some of the most fun hanging out with him so far. He teaches us Honduran slang like "Cheque" which means "its all good." Then there's this guy Roger (His name sounds nothing like the way we pronounce it who took us to milk a cow. I'm sharing this video, but i'll put the disclaimer: you may be grossed out.

Today myself, Kevin, and another missionary who's here for a year named Peyton all went to one of the churches we partner with and helped out at the Pastor's house. His name is Pastor Linin (the Hondurans usually say Pastor when addressing any pastor), and he's awesome. Peyton can speak spanish fluently, so thankfully we had a translator. Despite that, I tried my Spanish out and said a few things that I don't remember except them being absolutely ridiculous and far off from what I intended to say. I love how they can joke in Spanish and only say a few words I understand and we can still share laughter and companionship. The relationships I've built despite language barriers has got to be one of my favorite aspects of the trip so far. Here's a picture of Kevin, Pastor Linin, and I in front of his house (he actually lives next to the church).

Here is a picture of the church he's a pastor at.

The sign has the verse "1 Corinthians 10:4" written on it, which says "4  and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ." I liked that.

Here is a picture of me at the Honduran supermarket after Church with which I thought was a very large banana. Turns out its a plantain, which I tried to eat without cooking and quickly regretted it.

Sunday we went to what they call "the dump" because it is literally a dump where trash is burned with a neighborhood where its employees live next to it. They are incredibly poor, so we went over there and brought them care packages with Pastor Linin and told the about Jesus. They gave us a whole thing of a bananas to show their gratitude, which is ridiculous because they've been growing their bananas for 6 months (i think someone told me that's how long they grow before eaten) and have very little to no food otherwise. They pretty much live day by day. Hondurans seem to generally give you their best if they offer you something, that's just the way they are. Anyway, here's a picture of some of the houses... and a picture of this little kitten that stood on my shoe as we talked with them haha.

Below is one of the cutest pictures I've ever seen in the world of a sweet little Honduran girl who lives at the Bible school named Natali and her puppy basset hound Toby.

 I wish I could relate to you all what God is doing here with me, but I'm not really sure. Know that He is doing something and know that it is great and wonderful, but I just don't know what yet. He's unearthing a lot of pain in my heart, deep within the well. I know it has to do with my past and how I live as a result of the wounds the sins of myself and others have left in me. Times in the past when I would believe all of the lies whispered into my soul that I'm worthless, or stupid, or not good enough, or a failure have left me quite chained from the freedom of being myself. Deep down, I know parts of me still believe every bit of it. Deep down, I wonder if I have what it takes, if I can be who I know God has made me to be, if I can fulfill the image of Calvin Mark no one in the world can be but me, if I can take my place alongside Christ in this grand battle in the place He's made for me, if I can live fully alive in and reflecting His glory. Lord of the Rings is my all time favorite series/favorite movie ever and more than likely always will be for many reasons, but the character of Aragorn speaks to me with great depth. He was scared to take the throne and realize his destiny in becoming the King of Gondor. He slunk back into exile, out of the risk of failure. He did not want the power because he was afraid that like his ancestor Isildur, he would be corrupted and fail. He was afraid to fail, he believed he couldn't do it, that he didn't have it what it takes. I watched the Lion King the other day, and the same story goes for Simba in a different context. I know its kind of hilarious that I'm talking about Lord of the Rings and the Lion King, but seriously the stories scream at me because I see so much of myself in Aragorn and Simba. When Mufasa is up chillin in the clouds and says "Remember who you are..." in that ambient voice, it gives me the chills. So I suppose I have seen some of what He's doing haha, but I'm not sure what to do about it but cry out to Him. Cry out to my Father. He's taking me on a journey bigger than any physical journey can offer, and I know my cries aren't falling on deaf ears. So know your prayers are not going unanswered. Not at all. I've loved this lately: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed. To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." Its honestly kind of hilarious how boldly Jesus hops up on the podium, says this in front of everyone, and claims to be exactly what Isaiah prophesied about. Its so awesome and I love it.

Anyway... I honestly don't really miss a whole lot people yet because it hasn't even been a week, but I do wish everyone I know could share this experience here with me. I'll probably get homesick like right after I say this..

I'll leave with one last picture of Honduran beauty...

Are you freaking serious? Did you even know something like this existed? Its incredible.