Videos!!! Lots and lots of them:)

Hi Everyone:) I am currently in Iowa getting ready to go back to Honduras. I had to come back for a short time to renew my Visa. I got to see some friends and family which was great and do some time reflecting and refreshing for the rest of my time in Honduras. However, I wish I would have gotten to see more friends and family... but that will have to wait for another time. I have lots of videos to share with you! I am not able to upload videos to the internet in Honduras, so I had to wait to share these with you now.. I hope you enjoy them!:) 

Video #1) The first video is of band practice!:) There are two girls whose back we can see that are holding up a little metal xylophone. They are my girls:) I help them play the Lira (which is the metal xylophone) and teach them to play the marimba:)

Video #2) This is a video of the band practicing from the back:) 

Video #3) Another video of band practice!:) 

Video #4) Two girls in my english class doing an English cheer/chant that I taught them:) They like learning english this way, and I like teaching it to them this way too!

Video #5) One of my English classes saying hello to you and showing you some cheers we do when they do a good job:) I taught them the english "Whatever" cheer. They do one that is similar in spanish but say "O Sea!" which means "whatever" in English

Video #6) This is a video of my other English class doing some more cheers they do!:) I will try to explain what they say in the last cheers in my next post

Video #7) My little brother Jorge doing a typical Honduran drum show! Jorge plays the snar drum in the high school band that I work in!

Video #8) This is at a Quincenera, which is a 15th birthday party for girls in Latin America. It is kind of like a celebration of a girl becoming a woman and is a big deal in the Latin American culture. Sometimes it is almost as big as a wedding celebration. The birthday girl is on the left and the other girl was one of the girls that was part of the birthday celebration. Both of the girls attend the church and the school that I work at and the one on the right is in one of my English classes:) In the video I say that they are "dando vueltas" which means turning around. They got dizzy so they stopped:) 

More pictures, more stories:)

 Hello everyone:) I hope you are doing well! I am very excited to introduce you to more people and places that are a part of my life here in Honduras:) The first picture is of the part of the high school that I work in. The school's name is Bethel. Like many schools in Latin America (from what I've heard), the students stay in the same classroom the whole day, and the teachers more from classroom to classroom which is opposite of my high school where students moved from class to class and teachers stayed in one room. I work on the second and third floor of this section with girls who are in a grade equivalent to 10th grade. I get good exercise every day walking up and down the stairs:) 

 This is alejandra:) She is one of the students studying to be a bilingual secretary. She is in 11th grade so I don't normally teach her, but I helped her with her pronunciation for one of her English assignments. She is a sweet girl. In this picture she is enjoying a chicken taco that she bought at school during one of her breaks. I got to hang out with Alejandra and some of her friends during a time that they didn't have class and they made an awesome video for me to show you all, but it is not uploading well on my blog:( I am planning to try to upload all my videos in May because I have to come back to the USA for a short period of time to renew my visa. Then I'll be going back to Honduras after that. Alejandra is wearing the uniform that every student wears at school. 

Now I am going to introduce you to Vicky:) She is also a 11th grader at the high school studying to be a bilingual secretary. I have gotten to help her with her English outside of class also. She is holding up part of the bulletin board that said "welcome" that fell down. I told her to hold it up for a silly picture:) Vicky invited me to go to a special service that her church had for youth two weeks ago. I really enjoyed it! :) They had a very good band that led the songs we sang as a part of our worship that played a lot songs that I really like. Another one of Vicky's friends came also and I learned that she moved to Honduras after her home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. She came to Honduras because she has family here. I have met many many people here who have family members living in the United States. Both of the parents and the brother of one of my students have been living in the United States for over 8 years. This same student has to get up at 5 in the morning to drive an hour to get to school on time. One of the teachers at the high school has not seen her mother for 20 years because her mother lives in the USA. Regardless of one's opinions on immigration into the USA I think everyone can agree that it is sad that there are many children and parents, and other family members who live so far away and have little chance of going to visit each other because of the cost and difficulty in getting visas to visit. I hope that while I am here I can give extra support to the youth and children who are far away from their family. 

The Liristas! If I haven't already explained it, liristas are the girls who I am helping to play the xylophone in addition to the lira, which is similar to a xylophone:) This is one of my favorite photos:) These are the girls that I am working with in the band! There were some others that I was working with also but they had to stop coming for various reasons. The girl poking her head from the back is Daira. Gabby is on the far left, then Astrid, Jesse, Pamela, myself, and Dorcas. Jesse, Dorcas and Pamela are already in the band, and Gabby and Astrid are practicing to pass a music exam so that they can join the band. I hope they pass!:) These girls are a lot of fun, but many of them face very real problems. I have been able to continue to build good relationships with the girls which has been good! One of them has already come to me to talk about her struggle with depression, one of her parents passed away recently and since then she has been battling depression on and off. Another girl is being abused by her parents. One of the horrible things here in Honduras is that if a police officer asks a parent if they are abusing their children and the parents say that they aren't the police take their word for it. I was advised to try to have a meeting with the girls parents and the pastor at the school who also knows about the situation. I am thankful for the many wise adults who care about youth who can give me wisdom about how to best help this young girl. 

The band! This is a picture of the band of the back of the band while they were practicing one saturday afternoon:) They are practicing in the middle of the high school. In front of them and to their right are two story-columns of classrooms. 

Here is a closer picture of the saxophones! The clarinets are behind them. 

Now you can see the trumpets and part of a tuba is on the far right. The trumpet player that is in between the two saxophone players also goes to the church I am working at. His name is Mauricio. He was one of the narrators in the drama that I directed that the youth did for fathers day. Mauricio did a great job and was a super leader during the practices. He plays trumpet and the drum set for church also. The drama went very well and many people commented on how meaningful it was for them. I have a video of part of the drama so I will wait to say more about the drama until I put the video up. 

Welcome to Bethel church! This is a picture of the inside sanctuary of the church that I am working at:) 

Meet Maria! Maria is one of the youth that goes to Bethel Church. She is studying at a bilingual school so she likes to talk english with me. I taught her the phrase "Just chillin" which she likes:) She is interested in going to college in the United States to learn more English. If someone knows English here they have many many more job opportunities than those who don't know English. She still has a couple more years until she goes to college, but I am excited to do what I can to help her in that process. 

Another Birthday party!!!!!This is riek (I don't think I spelled his name right). Riek is the younger brother of Alondra, and Alondra is the girlfriend of my Honduran brother, Eduardo. Riek in this picture is opening a present at his birthday party:) 

Here is a picture of the pinata at Riek's birthday party. 

Get the candy!!! All the kids going crazy over the candy. 

This is another picture of Bethel church. This is on the side of the pews. They have the names and maps of countries on the wall of places where there are Honduran missionaries working, which I think is super cool! However the maps of the countries keep falling down which is no good. 

"Hi my name is Justin, and I am the cutest little boy ever!" Well, Justin didn't actually say that, but I would if I were him! Justin is the son of my other Honduran sister, Nancy. Justin was in one of the pictures of Cenia's birthday party in my last post. I love it when Justin says "Buenas Noches Haley!" (good night haley). It is too cute! He also has told me good night in the afternoon, and then we had to tell him to say "Buenas tardes" (good afternoon) instead:) 

I went to an Island! Last week was our spring break and one of my friends from college, Raquel, who is from Honduras invited me to go with her and her friends to and Island for two days. Roberto (the guy in the picture) is Raquel's good friend works at the Island so he showed us around. He is pointing to the place that we stayed on the island. 

On the ocean:) This is a picture of stacy (one of raquel's friends) and I when we were on a boat. 

Beautiful horizon on the ocean:) This is the front of the boat that we were on. My favorite part of the ocean is the horizon. It reminds me of how big the world is, and how beautiful it is! I also like looking across the ocean and thinking of family and friends who are on the other side of the ocean. :)

Hello fish and coral!!! I got to go snorkeling;) It was super fun! The Island that we were on has the second larges coral reefs in the world! A couple times when I was snorkeling I noticed that there was a school of fish swimming with me! That was fun! At first it was hard for me to breath, but then my friend reminded me to breath out of my mouth and not my nose....after that it was fine:) Haha...

 Si hombre! (one of my favorite new spanish phrases which means "ya man!" This picture is of Raquel and I on the ferry going to the Island! Raquel is currently teaching at a bilingual school in Honduras. Raquel has a passion for making a difference in the lives of the students she is working with and it was so encouraging to talk with her! She said the best advice she got about teaching was to not let the lesson planning and grading burden her, but to instead seek to focus on her relationships with her students. This encouraged me a lot. Being prepared for class and working hard is important, but if I get too distracted by my work and forget to ask my students how they are doing, and if I forget to support them when they're going through hard times, then I am probably focusing too much on the legistics of teaching. 

Swings+ocean=amazing! Swings are one of my favorite things, the ocean is another one of my favorite things... so the two combined is amazing! I was so excited when I found out that the place we were staying at had swings on the doc to the ocean!

Swings+Ocean+Haley=a very happy haley! Here I am on one of the swings! I spent a lot of time relaxing, reflecting, and enjoying the beauty of the ocean from that swing:) I am learning more about the importance of getting enough rest. I usually tend to overwork myself, which is not good. The trip to the Island was another good step in the direction to choosing to get enough rest-physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. 

Thanks once again for your interesting in seeing what's going on with me in Honduras! As always let me know if you have any additional questions or want to hear about anything else!:) Have a wonderful day! 

Picture time:)

Here is the beginning of my photos of my time in Honduras! For those of you who have wanted to see pictures earlier I am sorry that it took me so long to put them up! The first one is a picture of me and my little sister Cenia<3

We decided to make funny faces in a picture:) 

Another silly picture:) 

This is a picture of the director of the area of the high school for the students studying to be bilingual secretaries. He is standing in front of the trophies that the bilingual secretary area of the high school has won. Some of the trophies were given by the high school, and some were competitions between other schools in the area and perhaps in the state and country... but I can't remember exactly. The point is they do a good job:) 

This is a picture of my room in Honduras:) 

Another picture of my room!:) I wanted to put this one up to show the sign (on the left) that some of my friends from Huntington made for me that I took with me!:) 

Celebrating Cenia's birthday at my house in Honduras!:) 

Cenia's mom, Olga (lighting the candles), is the maid for the family I am staying with. She started working with for the family when she was pregnant withe Cenia (12 years ago) and they have been part of the family ever since. Olga teaches me lots of Honduran sayings. We love to sing together, even when we are just saying each others' name:) I sing "Ollllga, como estaaaas?" (Olga, how are you?) and she sings back to me the answer:)

Cenia with friends and her little nephew Justin on the far right. Justin and his mom come and stay with us every once in awhile. They are wonderful also! Justin is so cute! He smiles all the time except for when he is crying. And he smiles more often than he cries:) 

Singing happy birthday to cenia!!! At the end we say "Ya queremos pastel, ya queremos pastel, aunque  sea un pedacito, pero queremos pastel, y coca-cola tambien" which is "Now we want cake, now we want cake, even if it is a little piece, now we want cake, and coca-cola also:)" they say something else but I didn't understand what it was. 

Another picture of my room!

A valentines day card that my student gave to me!!!!:) 

I had my students write me letters to practice their English and this is a picture of one of them:) I told them to write about themselves and I got to know a lot more about many of them! It was also encouraging to read many of the letters that said that they said that they liked me, liked the way I teach, and thought I was friendly and happy. I want to make sure that they know that I care about them, that I am excited to teach them and I want them to have fun learning English:)

this was the first picture I took with my web camera on my computer in Honduras. 

Once again, sorry for the delay! Have a wonderful day! I will put up more pictures at another time and hope to post again soon!:) Thanks again for your interest in knowing what's going on with me in Honduras:) 

Buenas:)

Buenas!:) Buenas is a common greeting that people say here in Honduras. I have now been in Honduras for over three weeks!

The band-the joy of teaching
I have really enjoyed teaching band members to play the marimba. I have about 9 girls that I am teaching to play the marimba. I like being able to teach a smaller number of people (I have about 25 in my english classes). I get to see the same girls every day. Another reason I like it so much is because I can use what I already know to give the youth a positive activity to care about. The band has a lot less resources than my band had in the USA, but nonetheless they love being in the band! And they are good! The students who have been in the band for awhile help the new students learn, and they do a great job. I can already depend on the girls that I have been teaching for longer to help the new students. I greatly enjoy encouraging the girls, helping them get better, celebrating with them in their success, giving them the gift of the knowledge to play the marimba that I was given! They are really enjoying learning how to play! I have had a couple very small discipline problems. However, the problems have been very minimum because I have been able to build good relationships with the girls and because they really want to learn:)

Honduras- "It's more like a party..."
The band is a marching band, but it is a little different than most marching bands in the USA. When I asked the director who is also one of my brothers here in the Honduras (I live with his family) what he thought the differences were between my high school band and his band, he said "It's more like a party." Which is so true! The band uses more dance moves, has less formal marching, and usually plays louder than bands in the USA.  Life in Honduras in general is more like a party also. Everything is a little more laid back, and when their something to celebrate, they celebrate and they do a good job of it! We took two whole class periods to celebrate the birthdays of some professors in my area of the high school. The girls planned it all. There were three cakes, three different people sang songs, other girls presented gifts to the professors, we played games and had a pinata! It was a blast!

Teaching English- Aplausa de bomba! :)
 Teaching english has been going very well. I try to make my lessons as fun and interesting as possible. One thing that I saw some of the girls doing at the party for the other teachers was "aplausa de bomba" which means bomb applause. It's a different way to clap. We do that and other different things like it when they do something well which is fun and they love it! I'm hoping to video tape the girls doing the different ways we applause to put on the blog sometime:) I have had some difficulty managing my classes (keeping the girls focused instead of talking to each other) when the teacher I'm teaching with hasn't been able to come to class (which has only been a couple times). However I have been learning about how to manage a classroom and think I have been growing in this area! Classroom management and discipline are definitely my weaknesses in working with youth and teaching and they are areas that I want to grow in while I am in Honduras. At times I feel very discouraged about not managing a class well. Last week when I was feeling discouraged about being able to manage a class I went to a service at church and we talked about using the gifts that we have been given. I do believe that I have a gift for teaching even though I still have things to learn. That message was a great encouragement to me! We all have different gifts and we have to develop those gifts as best as we can:)

Sharing story with students-A meeting with the wrong person turned right...
The week after I got here the pastor at the church I'm working with (Bethel Church) asked to meet with me to talk about my internship. So later in the week I asked one of my honduran brothers to help me call him because I didn't have his number. After I finished setting up a meeting with him, my brother asked me, "Haley, did you want to meet with the pastor from the church or the school?" He then proceeded to tell me that I got the names of the pastor's mixed up and I had set up a meeting with the pastor at the school. At first I was at a lost for what I should do. Should I call the pastor back and say "Sorry I really don't want to have a meeting with you,"? I decided to keep the meeting with my pastor and ask him if I could help with chapel (which is kind of like a church service that the students go to once a week). Our meeting turned out wonderful because I ended up being able to share with the students about how I meet God in the chapel last week! It went super well! I want to thank everyone who prayed for the chapel service:)!I also sang a song that my students taught me that I love that is called "Perfume a tus Pies," which means "perfume to your feet" and is about being amazed because of who God is and wanting to know him more. The most feedback that I got from the students was that they liked my singing a lot, which was a surprise to me! One of them even asked me when I am going to sing in chapel next! Others also told me that they really liked my story which I first told as a parable. Two girls told me that it made them cry and one told me that her story of how she grew to know God was almost the same as mine! There were three different chapel services for different students and after the one with the younger students a lot of the girls came up to me to talk which was so cool:)! I was glad to hear that I was able to be a blessing to the students:) One of my friends who also teaches at the school video taped the whole service and I will put that and a copy of what I said in English and in Spanish on my blog once I get the video from her:)

Now, the youth at the church and I are preparing a Drama that we are doing for father's day! I presented the drama to them and they are excited about it:) I will write more about that later!

Extra:) Living with Beethoven, puchicamano!, and Wonderful Water!
I am living with Beethoven:) He is the families' dog! I have never lived with a dog and it is so cool! He is a great dog:) I get to pet him for a little bit every time I come back home!:) Last week I touched the ocean!:) I have always lived roughly close to the center of the United States and now the ocean is about four blocks away from where I live! Right now I'm going to have a water balloon fight with my younger Honduran siblings and their friends! Playing water games is very refreshing since the weather here can get pretty hot! Puchicamano is my new favorite Honduran word. It means "oh my gosh!" or "oh my!" It is so fun to say:)

I'll put some photos on my blog when I put up the video tape of me during chapel also:)

Sorry if my post is really long for you! If it would be better for me to write shorter posts more frequently please let me know! Also, let me know if you have any specific questions:)

Have a wonderful week:)!! And thanks again for your interest in knowing what's going on with me in Honduras:)

Greetings from Honduras:)

Greetings from Honduras:) I have now been here for four days and things are going very well so far! I am excited to share with all of you how things have been going so far! Please let me know if you have any questions that I don't answer in this post! :)

The Arrival-Smooth sailing...

The trip went very well!!:) I was concerned that I would have trouble finding my connection flight, but there was someone who was waiting where I got off my first flight to direct people to their next flight! I also got to talk to a girl around my age who was also flying alone and had been to Honduras several times for mission work. She explained some things about the airport in Honduras which was very helpful!:) 

Relationships in Honduras-"What Machine!"…

One of my favorite things about my time here has been getting to know the people in Honduras. The best way I can describe them is welcoming, loving and expressive! As many of your know... I tend to get very excited about things, talk loudly, use my hands to express things, and have lots of facial expressions. Well…the people from Honduras do all of that but more so! It is so fun talking with them and getting to know them! I told some of my friends that I think I am going to go back to the USA with a six pack because of laughing so much. One of the teachers, Armando, from the school that I teach at taught me the phrase in spansih “Que maquina” which means “cool/awesome”. I like that phrase a lot, because the translation in English “What machine!” makes me laugh a lot. I have gotten the chance to play a lot of games with my new little sister Cenia. She is around 12 years old and is so precious! She loves to play games and so do I so we get along very well! Also, there is female teacher who is around my age who comes over to the house I live a lot because she is related to the family I am living with. She is super fun and nice. She lives very close which is great!:) Lastly, there is another young adult who is during her internship teaching English at the same school I am doing mine at! She has lived in Honduras for 2 years and we are going to get together sometime also.

Teaching English-A memorable first class to say the least!

I am teaching English with a teacher named Ms. Dilsa. Ms. Dilsa is amazing to say the least. She loves her students, has a ton of energy and a great teaching method! The first thing she said when she saw me was that we were going to be a team! She is giving me the opportunity to teach all of her English classes (which is about 8 classes a week). She will be present at all the classes and help me. The first Monday that I came here was the first day of class for the year (they start in February and end in November)! What perfect timing! Each morning the teachers get together for an encouraging word from one of the leaders which has been awesome! The teachers have such a passion for teaching and mentoring the students, and such a deep love for God! While waiting to go into my first class one of the Bible teachers at the school was playing guitar and he played the song “Here I am to worship”; he sung in Spanish and I in English. It was a really cool experience!

Okay now on to my first class… during my very first class… I fainted! I have fainted a couple times before because my blood pressure is on the lower side. I think that there were several factors that caused me to faint, but I doubt that it will happen again. Since I teach with Ms. Dilsa, we were both in front of the class before I fainted and I told her that I needed to sit down because I could tell that I was about to faint and then I started to dream (because I had fainted). Then I woke up and I told Ms. Dilsa that this was normal and that I just needed some water. I rested for a while, got some sugar and salt in my system in addition to the water and was fine. Myself, and many others have had some good laughs about that. When people asked me how my first day of school went at times I say… “It went good, but I fainted.”

I taught my first class today and it went really well I think! Ms. Dilsa helped me when I needed some guidance which was good! Today we also had parties in our class to celebrate “Dia de Amistad” (Friendship day). In Honduras Valentine’s day is not only to celebrate love, but also to celebrate Amistad (Friendship). The parties were so fun and I had the chance to get to know some of the girls in my class better. They are so sweet! I am very excited to teach them more! I have been told that some of the students come from broken homes, so I am especially excited to show them love and give them the opportunity to learn English well to be able to get a good job in the future.

The Band

Today I also went to my first band practice! I was introduced to the percussion section and then went with some girls to get the marimba. The marimba is a Nicaraguan marimba and doesn’t have flats or sharps so it is different than marimbas I am used to playing. However, my friend David, who is studying to be band director, gave me some suggestions on how to play and teach this kind of a marimba which helped greatly! I got to teach the girls basic things about how to hold the mallet and hit the keys which went well!

Challenge and spiritual growth

Even though everything in Honduras has gone very well, I have experienced many fears, doubts and challenges. The thing that has been so cool is that every time I face a challenge I shortly after receive the exact encouragement that I need! This has happened day after day! At times I have to look for this encouragement, in notes that people have sent with me, in wonderful emails and facebook posts from friends, in books I have, or in the Bible, but other times this encouragement has simply came from places that I had to be, such as the church, school, or from the family I am living with. I am thankful for these challenges because they cause me to grow a lot! I am thankful that these challenges remind me to keep seeking to get to know God better and to depend on Him. I would much rather go through challenges and be reminded of this than to walk this journey by myself.

Extra note-Soccer and food! & "Jesus is beautiful"

I went to my first professional soccer game which was cool!! I also have not gotten sick at all because of the food due to many friends good advice about what to eat and not eat and the wonderful maid, Olga, who cooks at the house I am staying at. "Jesus is beautiful" is a phrase that the bible teacher at the school I am teaching at turned around and said to me when we were in the office. Many people in Honduras have the same attitude and perspective of this man. I think it is super cool:) or should I say "What machine!"

Welcome:)

Welcome to my blog! Thank you for your interest in visiting it! 


What's this blog about? 
Although I am excited for my time in Honduras I am also sad to have to be far away from dear family and friends. I hope that this blog can be a way that I can stay connected with others while I am gone. I hope that people who wonder "What's happening with Haley in Honduras?" can come to this site and find their answers to their question. I plan to write about what is going on, what I am learning, the ways I am being stretched and am growing, funny stories, and anything else I think might be interesting or that I would like to share. I will also post photos (and maybe videos!). I apologize if I write more or less than you would like. I really enjoy writing and journaling so my guess is that I will err on writing a lot. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask me and I will try my best to respond to them! Also, if you have any suggestions for my blog please let me know (this is my first blog so I could use all the help I can get!). 


Opportunities for updates. 
If you would like to receive email/facebook updates when I post something new in my blog please let me know and I will add you to a list of people that I will be letting know when I update. 


What I'll be doing in Honduras 
For those of you who I haven't gotten the chance to tell yet, while I am in Honduras I will be working with a United Brethren Church and School. I will be teaching English to high school girls who want to be bilingual secretaries, helping out with the youth activities at the church and teaching the marimba in the high school band. I will probably also be doing some translating and perhaps other things that will come up while I am there!:) 


What I'm doing now/when I'm leaving for Honduras. 
I am currently in my home town in Iowa spending some time with friends and family and preparing to go. I just got back from a retreat with my church which was such a blessing and I am so glad I got to go on it before I leave. I'll be leaving for Florida on the 4th of February and spending a week there with family and friends and then will go to Honduras on the 11th of February (in less than 2 weeks! oh wow!). I've been learning about the importance of rest and preparation these past couple of years, and I am very thankful for the time that I've had to rest and prepare. During last Fall semester Dr. Eilers (a professor at my school) shared the quote with our student body: "the battle of waterloo was won on the playing fields of eton" which implies that the battle of waterloo was won by the preparation that the soldiers did. During this "eton" I am seeking to prepare as well as i can so I can serve, learn, and transition as best as I can to my time in Honduras. 


Thank you again for visiting my blog! I hope you have a wonderful day!:)