Colors, comments, companions, clothes, culture, and closure:)

The many colors of Honduras...
Honduras, and from what I know pretty much all of Latin America is a very colorful place. For example, the houses often times are orange, yellow, blue, green, or a combination of various colors. They also have lots of wild flowers that are beautiful bright pinks and purples. I really like colors so the many colors of Honduras have been something that I have enjoyed very much!:) Last at school week we celebrated "Dia del indio" which is a day to celebrate a native Honduran who fought for the freedom of the natives against the Spanish. Students dressed up in typical honduran clothes (that people don't wear every day, but instead for special cultural events), students had different stands where they sold food and represented different the different states in Honduras, and there was a contest for the girl who was best dressed like a native Honduran and knew the most about Honduran history/culture. Here are some pictures of the day!:) They show just a little of the many colors of Honduras...

Some girls in typical dresses:) 

 Honduran pottery and some maracas that was at one of the stands representing a state in Honduras

 Sandra, one of my students who came dressed in some typical Honduran clothes:) 

 A Mayan clay mask

 On the left what looks like bananas are "plantains" which are similar to bananas but longer, they are often eaten cooked or fried with meals. They cannot be eaten without cooking them. In the center is a coconut (I believe), coconut is common here also. One of my taxi driver's has a coconut tree in his yard! I thought that was awesome! On the left are very green bananas that people here call "guineos". They slice them and fry them kind of like sweet french fries! Or should I say banana fries... This picture also shows some of the colorful flowers from Honduras. 

 One of the girls in the contest walking to the stage in the gym

 The girls in the contest on the stage

 Myself, my student Karla, and the winner of the contest who is from the bilingual secretary area of the school:)! All the girls were so excited that she won!

Some of the girls I teach and I:) 

 Some more of the girls that I teach! Silly picture!:) 

"Never let your heart harden..."
Have you ever been annoyed because someone or something interrupted your plans? Maybe you had laid everything out for the week, or day... who you were going to see, what tasks you were going to accomplish, and things looked like they were going work just great! Until... the monkey wrench ruined everything! If you have experienced this before you can relate somewhat to how I was feeling not too long ago. My monkey wrench entered into my life on Sunday when the Pastor asked me if I would be able to help him study for his English exam. I was already feeling a little too busy when he asked me for help. That week I wanted to set side time to meet with two of my students individually one who is pregnant and another who is having boy issues and wants advice. I also needed to prepare to give two different sermons, and start planning for a girls retreat/sleepover, while still maintaining the normal activities of helping with English and Christian formation class, going to band practice, going to Church and praying for, talking with and encouraging the youth. Since I am learning to take enough time to rest each week I had already accepted the fact that I wouldn't get everything done, however if I helped the pastor... even less of my plans would get accomplished. Nevertheless, one thing I value very much is having good relationships with people we work with and working at a team. I work with the Pastor and therefore I want to help him when I can so that we can have a better relationship and work better as a team. I also respect my Pastor very much, and thought that it might be culturally unacceptable if I said no... so I told him that I could help him and we set a time... 


After high school I waited for the Pastor to arrive so we could start tutoring at the church (which is right next to the high school). While I was waiting, a woman from the church sat down and began to talk to me. I am an extrovert, so I enjoy talking with people, but there are also times that I need to rest, reflect, and pray by myself. At this time.. I wanted to be by myself. The woman I was with stayed longer than I expected she would and proceeded to share with me some things that she has struggled with in her life. This caused me to feel bad/annoyed for two reasons: 1st I was annoyed with the situation/the woman because I really wanted to be alone, 2nd I was annoyed with myself for not being moved by or wanting to pay attention to what the woman was telling me. Most of the women's stories were about friends who have let her down and treated her badly. All her life she had been a person who had helped many people, but in many ways she had been mistreated. She told me that eventually she arrived to a place where she didn't want to help anyone... but then she said that one day she went to a place where there were some poor kids, and they came to her and started hugging her. She said that she could no longer say now to helping others. She said she could no longer say "It is not my problem that they are suffering." She said that we never know what it is that has brought the people to a place of poverty and suffering that they are in. She urged me "never let your heart harden, but to always seek to help others." And there I was... listening to her.. with a hardened heart. Not caring about what she was saying nor really having the desire to help the Pastor (who goes to college, is a Pastor and has 2 young kids). 


In Honduras there is a lot more poverty than there is in the United States. in 2009 the unemployment rate was 27%. Although I have come here to help the people it is easy for my heart to become hardened and to only go through the motions of helping others when I feel like it. There are many things that I can't do to help people in Honduras. I can't stop the injustice that is filled in the political, judicial, and police systems, I can't stop the drug dealers from killing, or bribing people. And I cannot feed all the hungry people. There are many times when I need to say "no" to people who ask me for a favor because I must take time to rest and be rejuvenated. But I can do something. And the more time that I spend worrying about my schedule, and what I have planned, and the less time I spend remembering and thinking of those who have less than I, the more my heart will become cold to those in need. The more annoyed I will become with those who ask for a listening ear, or help on an exam. In Honduras I see need a lot more than I do in the United States. If my heart can grow cold here, it will surely grow cold when I go back to the United States if I am not intentional about preventing that from happening. 


There are many ways to "help people" that doesn't really help them... people take advantage of things. but there are ways to help that can change someone's life! One quote that I really like from Mother Teresa is "“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

Another quote I like goes something like this... "I may not be able to change the world, but I can change the world of one person" 

Teaching about good relationships...
Here is a picture of me and some of the youth from the church at a retreat. A pastor from Costa Rica came to talk about dating relationships/sex. He was a great speaker and did a great job! I am talking with my Christian Formation classes about similar topics... in Honduras there are even more repercussions for girls having sex young because girls who are pregnant are usually not aloud to go to private schools. In my classes we talk about different reasons why it is good to wait to have sex until after marriage. We also talk about forming a "plan" of how to accomplish the goal of not having sex until after marriage if that is their goal. I am currently planning a girls only retreat for girls from my church. We will talk a lot about having good relationships. We will cover having good relationship with oneself (self-esteem), with friends, with parents, with boyfriends, and with God. 

 Practice on the beach? I'm not complaining;)

 Man's best friend... or Haley's best running partner...
Below is a picture of Beethoven and me:) We very much enjoy running together on the beach!:) At first I had to slow down so Beethoven could keep up with me, but now he is gaining endurance and ends up pulling me at times! Beethoven was lost for about a week and a half (we think someone stole him while he was playing on the beach without a collar) but he is back now, Yay!:) 

The end is coming near... 
Four weeks from tonight I will be boarding a plane back to the United States. I feel like I have so much I want to do before I leave. I will do what I can, and what I don't get done, I will leave that to the people here and to God. The main reason that I will be sad to leave, is the main reason I will be excited to go back home: people. I have some many friends and family that I will be excited to see back home, but I will miss the people here greatly also. I thought for a second about trying to get all the people who hold a special place in my life to live in the same place... but I quickly realized that will not happen. Instead I am going to try to find a way that I can travel to different places in the blink of an eye... I know it might be difficult but it's worth a shot right;)