A request

Our house is the “stop-in” zone.  We have lots of people come by to ask for food or clothes or work, sometimes even just water.  But there is one little group that has caught my heart.

The first time they came by there were three of them, Lilian Teresa being the oldest at age 12.  And when I asked her for her name, her whole face lit up b/c I cared enough to find out who she was.  Lilian lives with her mom and 9 other children.  Some of them are siblings and others are cousins.  We know that one of her aunts left her kids and went to Mexico.  This is unfortunately entirely too common…

Anyway, they’ve come back for food and we’ve gotten to have some conversations.  I would love to eventually be able to spend more time with them and tell them about Jesus.  They are in school and learning to read, and it just got me thinking.

I love the Jesus Storybook Bible, I know I’ve said it before.  I love the way it points to Jesus in every story.  And I love that it is in Spanish!  It makes it so much easier for me to tell Gospel-based stories to kids in a language that they can understand when read it to them in Spanish.

I want all the girls who live in my home to eventually have one to read to their kids.  I’d love to have some to give away to kids like Lilian once I get to know her. 

So I have a request… if you’re willing to help me.  I’d really like to have a stack of these Bibles sitting at my house to give out to people.  They cost $12 on amazon, if you buy a few you even get free shipping!  If you’re willing to buy a Bible and send it to my parent’s house, I’ll find a way to get them down here.

Here’s the link… http://www.amazon.com/Biblia-ninos-Historias-Jesus-Storybook/dp/082975606X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306765341&sr=8-1-spell

Send it to the address…
1338 Falkirk Ct.
Cary, NC 27511

If you want to let me know that one is on the way, you can email me at ssinnes@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading.  And keep on praying!

A long trip…

After a 24 hour delay in the Fort Lauderdale airport, my brother is here in Honduras!  He’s going to live with a host family for the summer, work on his spanish, work out in Armenia with us, and just enjoy being graduated from college!

Today I made him speak to car mechanics in Spanish on my behalf.  I am SO thankful to have him here :)  Apparently there is something wrong with a radiator fan maybe?  I don’t have a clue.  But he has car knowledge and Spanish knowledge and jumped right in to help.

Also, I got to spend a few days in San Pedro Sula while I waited for him to get here.  I visited some friends, the Coats, who I met in language school.  But the crazy part is that they actually attended my high school in Apex just a few years ahead of me!  It’s a really small world.  Anyway, they have a new baby, 2 weeks old!  And I got to cuddle with him and have some sweet baby time with little Micah.  I also took pictures, of course… what a cutie.

I guess my brother’s arrival should have warranted a picture… but he’s just not this cute!  Pictures will come soon, I’m sure.  He brought an underwater camera with him that we’ll try out and then we’ll have really fun pictures to share.

At the moment I’m enjoying a couple minutes on the hammock after a long day of errands and cooking 35 pounds of Spaghetti sauce.  That’s right, that’s a LOT of sauce.  But we are feeding a whole lot of teams this summer.  I have more to make tomorrow, but I don’t have any more pots!

Pray for rain, Honduras needs it…

Wow, this was a random blog post :)  Thanks for sticking with me!

A year ago today…

A year ago today I drove my car across town loaded up with baby items, a welcome home cake, and a little boy who had stolen my heart.  A year ago today I cried tears of pain for the goodbyes, but I also cried for the joy of answered prayers and a God who does miracles.  A year ago today I was more sure than ever that God has given me the heart of a mother and surely he would give me a chance to love like that again.

A dear friend of mine gave me a chance to be a mom, even if just for a few short months.  The Lord did a miracle and allowed us to be friends and then she had a son when she was just 15.  I got a phone call at 3:30 in the morning on January 6th that he would be coming soon!  I got to hold him just hours after he was born.  I got to snuggle with him and love on him and act like the paparazzi taking way more pictures of him than any baby ever needs.  To be honest, I fell in love with him. 

She and I spent lots of time together as she learned how to take care of him and be a mom.  But in the end she loved him enough to know that at 15 she just wasn’t ready to be the mom that he needed, and that’s when he came to live at my house for awhile.  She had lots of decisions to make and it took some time.

Meanwhile, I was loving every second of soaking up my time with this little one.  He cried through every bath, loved to coo along with me to “I love you Lord”, slept in the cutest Pooh Bear sleeper you’ve ever seen, and continued to win my heart.  And I prayed a lot.  I prayed that his mama would know Jesus, I prayed that he would grow up to be a Godly man, and I prayed that the Lord would put him in a family with a mom and a dad who know and believe the Gospel and would teach it to him with their words and actions.  My heart was a mess over this precious little boy and his mama who I love.  But the only thing that I could hold onto is that the Lord loves Him even more than I do, if that’s possible!

But a year ago today I can honestly say, the Lord answered almost every prayer that I had prayed.  Although I was sad in my own heart, I could not deny that the Lord’s hand was on every step of this little boy’s life.  As I took him to his new parents and 3 new siblings, I knew without a doubt that this was his family.  And, even more than I could have dared to hope, they even love me too and let me be a part of his life, although obviously its from a continent away :)  And his birth mama knows that I still pray for her to know Jesus almost every day.  I am so proud of her for the choices that she has made that have been so hard and for the woman that she is becoming.

But the story doesn’t end there.  A year ago today may have been the day that started it all.  The Lord opened my heart to a whole new kind of ministry that He was preparing for me in Honduras.  I have always loved babies and always had a heart for teenage girls, but for the first time He put it on my heart that those two things could go together.  And the same way that I saw His faithfulness in answered prayer in the lives of these two, He would show it to me again in the lives of young girls in Honduras.

Today, it seems fitting, was the beginning of that dream coming to fruition.  I had a preliminary meeting with a lawyer who is excited to help me.  I have a long to-do list and a headache from the Spanish.  But it’s the first step in being able to work with girls here who are young and scared and don’t know how to be moms.  I cannot wait to teach them about Jesus and about loving and teaching their children.  I cannot wait to see if their babies love bath time or singing or wear cute things while they sleep.  Adoption is not really an option here in Honduras, so these girls need to be taught how to love and care for their children.  I know I’m going to fall in love with these girls and their little ones and that the Lord is going to give me the chance to use this motherly heart once again. 

Please pray… the task is daunting.  There are girls that could move in today if I had beds where they could sleep.  The need is so great.  But we’ve taken the first step.  And as I look back I’m reminded that the Lord answers prayer and He will lead us in the way that He has in mind for us to go!

Projects…

In my new house I have a lot of projects.  Today I made this cover so that it looks a little less like my kitchen is invading my living room.  I’m pretty excited about how it turned out and how nicely it matches the wall.  Am I allowed to be a little proud of myself?

A house in progress

Finally I have some pictures.  It’s a house in progress :)  I went yesterday and bought some fabric to make curtains and some coverings for cabinets and things.  So that will help it to feel a little more like home once all of those are done.  I cheated and only took pictures of the rooms that look like they are coming together!

My bedroom and bathroom… you have to envision that volcano picture hanging on the wall, not sitting on my pillow!

Living room/dining room… please note the metal pantry/extension of the kitchen cabinet.  I’m going to make a cover for that, well in theory I’m going to make a cover for that.  We’ll see how it goes!

Kitchen

My favorite part, the shower caddy turned spice rack!

What house is complete without a hammock?

Manzana

I don’t go by Shannon in Spanish-speaking countries.  Its too hard to say.  They don’t use “sh” and they only use a soft “a”.  So, I go by Susana instead.  Its so much easier.

So today I introduced myself to a kid as Susana.  He didn’t understand me at first and said, “Manzana?” (which means apple).

The other kids started laughing, but of course it caught on.  So I started calling them by fruit names as well.  I will probably never know these children’s real names, but continue to call them banana, mango, and watermelon forever :) 

Dear Honduras…

You’re throwing off my groove.

I have spent one glorious night in my new house!  I wish I was writing to post pictures my house to show you since we’re finally mostly unpacked and arranged.  But just when I was feeling settled and getting ready to cook dinner and relax, Honduras threw me another curve ball.

We came home to people setting up booths on our street.  Tomorrow our street will look like this…

Okay, without the parade, so maybe like this…

This week is Carnival in La Ceiba.  People come from all over the country for this festival.  The city almost quadruples in size.

Well, I’d been warned that Carnival was actually going to take place on OUR street one day this week, but with moving in, I had totally forgotten about it.  Well, its here.  Starting at 7 tomorrow morning and going all through tomorrow night people will be partying hard  right in front of my house.

So I called Kathy… “Hey… can I sleep at your house?”  “Of course, what happened?  Is everything okay?” “Yeah… Honduras threw off my groove.”

That’s kind of how the conversation went anyway.  Bethany and I are spending the next two nights here since we can’t drive on our road.  But I do hope to go by tomorrow and take pictures!  I guess house settling will just have to wait.

It finally happened…

Pictures to come.  But I have a new house :)

Tonight I’m sleeping there for the first time.

Since I don’t have pictures, I will tell you some of my favorite things…
1. Using a shower caddy as a spice rack, it is honestly super cute
2. Having a bookshelf!
3. Having extra space, its been a year since I’ve had more than one room to put all my stuff.
4. My mixer
5. The kitchen.  Its little, but we managed to make it feel roomier.  And the fan blowing in through the window actually makes it cooler than the rest of the house.
6. Comfy couches
7. Lots of fans
8. Playing my music as loudly as I want and singing along
9. A fridge full of food that I choose and bought
10. I’m staying

Its amazing the difference that all the little things make :)

Home is where the rump rests

“Home is where the rump rests.”  - Pumba (The Lion King)

I feel like this needs to be my life motto these days.  I’ve been living in different places for the last 11 months always being in transition.  A few months here, a few weeks there, hanging clothes in a closet, now living out of a suitcase.  Home has had to just be wherever I am for the time being.  I remember after visiting Honduras in January getting really overwhelmed to find 3 currencies of money in my wallet (colones from CR, lempira from Honduras, and dollars) and knowing that I would actually use all of them again.  It made me feel homeless or like I had too many homes, I couldn’t decide.

Tomorrow I move into my newest house, so my newest home.  I’ve been waiting for the landlord to finish up work on the house (which isn’t done, but done enough to live there) for the last 2 weeks.  And today I moved in all my stuff, got it sprayed for bugs, put sheets on my bed, and started to feel like I was going to get to stay somewhere for awhile!  What a blessing :)

I think it hit me today that transition is hard, harder than you may even let yourself believe as you are going through it.  Today someone said something to me that I could usually have handled b/c I usually don’t get my feelings hurt all that easily.  And they didn’t mean it offensively at all.  Oh, but today I couldn’t handle it.  And then it was as if the tears had a mind of their own.  I think I cried for everything that is uncomfortable and hard and different, for every moment of my brother’s graduation weekend that I couldn’t be there, for every day that I’ve lived out of a suitcase, and for every goodbye that I’ve had to say.  And then my house was a mess, it took two trips to the bank to get rent paid, and when I got home after moving and cleaning and desperately wanted a shower, the water was off.  It was just one of those days.

And you know what.  Its still worth it.  Even on one of “those days”.  There is still no place that I would rather be than right here.  I am confident the Lord put me here and I am confident that He sustains me and goes before me in every step.  He has given me a great team who didn’t judge me for falling apart, but instead saw through the momentary frustration and saw someone who is adjusting to a new life. They’ve been here, they’ve walked this.  They get it.  And I think we would all say that its worth it.

So, maybe home is where the rump rests when you are following Jesus and you know you are resting right where He has you to be.  And that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have its moments and you would rather rest your rump elsewhere.  Today I wanted to rest my rump in an air-conditioned hotel room where I could take a shower. 

But tomorrow I get to move to a new house where I get to settle and be and know that I’m here for awhile.  And that may be even better than a hotel room :)

Gringo church

Every Sunday my team has gringo church at the Pettengill’s house.  We also attend a local church on Sundays in Spanish.  But it is truly a joy to meet together and sing and study Scripture in English.  Today I led worship for gringo church and led a new song for the first time.  I came across this song because Caedmon’s Call sings it and added a chorus to it and titled “The World will Sing His Love”.  Well, I’d never thought to drop the chorus and do it as a congregational song until someone else used it during chapel in Costa Rica.  And then I found it in the RUF hymnbook.  So, it may just be my new favorite.  And the words are SO good!

I’ve been struck recently with the concept of verse 2… “Though the world may change its fashion, yet our God is ever the same.”

I feel like I’m seeing a lot of change.  Some of it is a different culture.  But some of it is just being struck with the way that the world is changing.  So many things are acceptable that used to be totally taboo.  Media is allowing more and more to be talked about and shown.  Technology is taking over and I feel like I need 6 different technological gimmicks to be on the slow side of keeping up.  And sometimes all of it just overwhelms me.  And I know the Lord is here, right in the middle of all the change.  And He is unchanging.

Today Mike asked the question, “if we stopped believing God’s truth, would it stop being true?”  Of course it wouldn’t.  The word of Scripture is TRUE.  The end.  Whether we choose to believe it or live in line with it, it doesn’t change because He doesn’t change.  Though the world may change its fashion and accept and approve all kinds of things, our God is ever the same.  And I am really thankful for that.  He is loving and gracious and merciful and kind.  And at the same time He is just and righteous and totally holy.  He can be trusted and He is to be worshipped.  And that will never change.

He is the same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow…

Father, Long Before Creation

1. Father, long before creation
Thou hadst chosen us in love,
And that love so deep, so moving,
Draws us close to Christ above.
Still it keeps us, still it keeps us
Firmly fixed in Christ alone.

2. Though the world may change its fashion,
Yet our God is e'er the same;
His compassion and His covenant
Through all ages will remain.
God's own children,
God's own children
Must forever praise His name.

3. God's compassion is my story,
Is my boasting all the day;
Mercy free and never failing
Moves my will, directs my way.
God so loved us,
God so loved us
That His only Son He gave.

4. Loving Father now before Thee
We will ever praise Thy love,
And our songs will sound unceasing
'Til we reach our home above,
Giving glory,
giving glory
To our God and to the Lamb.

MotoCross

Today I went to watch 7 year old Evan race in motocross.  I’ve never been to a race like this before, so it was pretty fun (and hot and dusty!).  We watched a couple rounds of bikes and a couple rounds of ATVs.

Doesn’t he look like a professional?

I love this picture, looks like he should be in a magazine.

Please note that BOTH tires are off the ground, he was proud!

In Honduras…

· I sweat… a lot and take two showers a day most days

· I drink lots more water than I ever have before and I love drinking out of stainless steel cups (random, I know, but they get so cold and cool you off)

· I found real diet coke, not coke lite!

· I have to swerve around bikes, walkers, and horse-drawn carts while driving

· I am learning that being given a time line by your landlord actually means a week or more from the date given

· I drive a car with tinted windows that would be illegal in NC, but they keep me cooler

· I am teaching guitar again :)

· I have yet to sleep through the night

· I have to have a shorter to-do list so as not to be disappointed when one thing takes half the day

· I got my first pieces of mail

· I haven’t gotten lost yet

· I found an awesome fruit juice place that will likely be my favorite

· I went swimming in a mountain river

· I am still reciting Spanish phrases in my head before I have to say them out-loud

There is your bullet-point summary of life here!  There is a lot to absorb and I feel like I’m on information overload as I try to learn names of people, stores, roads, towns, etc.  And I’m trying to just settle.  I’m thankful to have a couple weeks before summer teams and a team leader who gives me time to just adjust.

This summer I will split my team between working with summer teams out in Armenia and working to start a ministry to teenage single moms here in the city.  I am itching to get started.  But I can honestly say that I need the time to just figure out how to be here before I set off running.  That will come soon enough.

So I’m waiting and learning and processing and enjoying my team and getting to know them.  This time with them will be invaluable later when we’re needing to work together.

So, that’s life.  Nothing profound.  Just another day moving forward.

House

So, here’s the deal on the house.  Things just move a slower here than one might like.  So, it was supposed to be ready on May 1st, then it was supposed to be ready last Saturday, and today its “mostly” ready :)  But we’re going to go ahead and start cleaning tomorrow. 

Since its been about 6 weeks since people lived in the main part of the house, and there has been tons of construction, its kind of a mess.  Today I was just overwhelmed when I saw it and had to come home.  So, Kathy offered to tackle it with me next week.  That’s real friendship!

Here are some pictures for now and the I’ll post more once I get in and set up…

Here is the front from the outside

The paint colors I got to choose for the bedroom and one of the bathrooms

And look what’s right down the road… :)

Armenia Bonito

Today I went out to Armenia Bonito for the first time since I got here.  I’ll be working out here this summer with our summer teams.  Today we visited the building project and looked for construction projects for the summer teams.  I also got to meet lots of people and made plans to go back and learn how to make coconut bread with one of the families that my team knows really well.  Eventually my work will probably be focused in the city, but I am excited to get to know this community that my team loves so much!

La Isla

June 4th our first short term team will arrive in La Ceiba.

In the past the short-term teams have lived in the Pettengill’s house, where it is a very tight squeeze.  So, the team began building a dorm facility downtown that will eventually house 60 person teams, an intern apartment, a seminary, a church, a street-child drop-in center, high school, and medical clinic.  That is a lot!  And a lot of work still needs to be done, as well as trusting that the Lord is going to provide more funds.

But for now, John and the Honduran workers have done an AMAZING job building the first floor of dorms!  I missed the tough part and got here just in time to help pick paint colors and tile and see the whole thing come together.  It is SOOO exciting!  We are praying that everything will be finished by June 4th.  Please pray with us!

Cambio de aceite

I miss BJs and the nice men there who changed my oil in my car.  I dropped my car off, walked over to Red Robin for a burger, and came back to a car ready and waiting.

Welcome to a new city where the many unknowns include not knowing which mechanic to trust to change your oil and do it right without trying to rip you off.  So yesterday John gave me a crash course.  I was supposed to ask to see the old filter (which he drew a blue sharpie X on so I would know it was the one), check my oil levels, see how many quarts the guy put in, see if my air filter had been replaced, etc. and then pay for the work.

Have you ever heard Brian Regan’s joke about taking the car to the mechanic?  If you have, that’s me.  If you haven’t, look it up.

I’m spoiled.  I’ve lived near my dad all my life and never really had to figure out the car thing.

So, armed with my limited car knowledge, my limited Spanish, my even more limited car Spanish knowledge, I set off today to get an oil change.  I had been practicing my speech in my head all morning… “I’m new her, I’m trying to find someone I can trust, can you show me all this car stuff I don’t understand when you’re done doing whatever you’re going to do, and p.s. I have a friend who will know if you didn’t do it right even if you totally hoodwink me…”  Well, that was roughly the speech.

So, I would like to report that I think it went well.  I played the pathetic gringo girl card and I don’t think he was even offended that I didn’t trust him.  Then he took me outside to the car and told me all the things he’d done… I saw the things John told me to look for and then honestly stopped listening.  But it was a job well done.

Needless to say, in an effort to not have to repeat this terribly humbling experience, I will be returning to my new best friends at the trustworthy mechanic next time I have car trouble.  At least they already know that I’m clueless and asking to see things I don’t understand so they won’t think I’m such an idiot :)  One can always hope…

Team Honduras

Team life is ever-changing with people coming and going, my coming being the most recent change for us.  Team Honduras also has people in the states raising support, people in language school in Costa Rica, and people in the works that we haven’t even met yet that God is going to bring to work with us.  It's excited that the Lord is putting together a team of people to work together here, but also exciting that in that He is building us into a community. 

Today we had gringo church together and I think its going to be one of my favorite times of the week.  We also attend Spanish speaking churches, but there is just something about being together and worshipping and studying the Word in our own heart language that is really special.

I am really thankful for these people and thankful the Lord has put us all here at the same time.

So, now I will introduce to you the current “Team Honduras” living in La Ceiba…

Pettengills (Mike, Erin, and Madison)
Clows next including all four kids in the front (John, Kathy, Abi, Bekah, Josiah, and Evan)
Me! Bethany and Leo

Many thanks to the Clows this week in particular for letting me stay in their houses, cooking for me, showing me around, answering my thousands of questions, and just generally being loving and supportive!

Driving

Today I did two driving things that were the opposite of what they would have been in the states…

1. I stopped to wait while the driver in front of me turned instead of going around him.  I got honked at by all of the 10-12 cars behind me.

2. I stopped in the middle of the road, double parked beside cars that were already parallel parked with my emergency flashers on.  I waited for Kathy for about 7 minutes.  No one honked.  They drove around me like it was no big deal.

????????

A herd of cows

I wish I had a picture.  Yesterday we were driving back from the store and passed two men herding about 30 cows down the middle of the street… that’s right.  Random.  Well, random for me.  No one else seemed to think it was a big deal.

Welcome to Honduras, I’m adjusting :)

Its been a great week.  It has seemed busy to me, but its not like I’ve gotten tons of stuff done.  Mainly I’m Kathy’s shadow just tagging along with her while she goes to the store or the bank or other errands.  I’ve been doing the driving so I can start to figure out where things are.  However, without street signs some of the streets look exactly the same to me!

I met the team’s lawyer this week and I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other.  After I meet with her again I’ll share the whole story.  But, let’s just say that once again the Lord knows exactly what He’s doing and has given me a lawyer who knows exactly how to help me.  She already has a personal passion for the demographic of girls that I want to work with and is eager to help me get started!

I met with my landlord this week as well and should be able to move into my house the middle of next week.  It will be nice to be there, but I’m not in a huge hurry.  The Clows have been wonderful and welcoming and I love the company.

So, there’s your Honduras update for today.  Cows and Clows and driving and lawyers… :)

Day 1 in Honduras

1. Drive my new car - check
2. Attend a 3+ hour team meeting – check
3. Eat Honduran food – check
4. Get overwhelmed by the upcoming summer – check
5. Buy a cell phone – check
6. Pick out a paint color for my bedroom – check
7. Sweat a lot - check

And now I’m tired :)

¡Estoy Aquí!

¡Bienvenidos a Honduras! Welcome to Honduras!

This is what the shirts of the guys read as they helped me get all my bags off the belt at the La Ceiba airport.  “I’m moving here”  I wanted to yell as they eyed my 4 bags suspiciously as if asking what gringa could possibly need that much stuff for her week long vacation at the beach.  Honestly, I was just excited to see all my bags get there after being told earlier that two of them had to ride on “stand-by” (I didn’t even know that was an option for luggage!)

It was a long day of travel while not feeling great, but ended well.

I was so happy to see Mike waiting for me on the other side of customs, and he even thought ahead to bring a camera so that I have a picture to share with you.  Beka and Abi came running through the door to give me huge hugs and Kathy was there with a hug and a ride home in my new car :)  Evan greeted me by jumping out from behind the door and yelling, “Happy Shannon Day!” (who wouldn’t love that?) and Siah had a big hug waiting even when Evan ruined his behind the door surprise.  John carted all my heavy suitcases upstairs, for which he should get a metal. 

And… I’m here.  Staying with the Clows for a couple of days ‘till the house is ready and getting ready to go to team meeting this morning.  My new Honduran life is beginning!