Thanksgiving

This week has consisted a lot of getting ready for Thanksgiving and getting ready for our Christmas program that is coming up. I am making stockings with my students that they can put up in their house. I don't think any of my students will have Christmas trees but at least they will have a stocking. This weekend I get my first taste of American food in about 3 months. We are going to Tegus for the weekend and I think pretty much everything is paid for so I am pretty excited about that. We get to hang out with the administration of the school for the long weekend. We have also had a ton of rain here lately so the roads are really bad right now and getting to many different places just takes a lot of time if you want to use a car. I also got to experience a quincinera (sp?) party which is when a girl turns 15 and it was pretty cool. I didn't really know the girl at all but it is always fun trying to speak in Spanish to all the people sitting around me. Well I think that is all. It is almost Thanksgiving and in a little over 3 weeks I will be home which is quite crazy to think about. Specially since I haven't been home since May.

Parent Teacher Conferences

I just had my first round of parent teacher conferences and it went well. It was interesting meeting the parents and trying to communicate with them as best I could with the help of another teacher. You can see where a lot of the kids get their personalities. What was interesting is that for some of the people they could not even write their own names. We had to write their names for them. That is one that I am really not used to seeing. Also it is crazy to hear how many parents of the struggling kids say all they do is watch television all night and then tell me how they are going to start giving them vitamins so they will get better grades. Vitamins are not a bad idea but I don’t think that is going to cure your daughter who is watching television or has dyslexia and really just needs a special teacher just for her. There were no parents who said anything negative about my teaching and were grateful overall that I was there so that was nice.

What was sad is that I have a lot of sponsored students in my class which means that they are very poor and someone else is paying their tuition for them. Now in some cases but not all cases these students sometimes have trouble getting homework in on time or just don’t study. Sometimes I struggle to figure out why this is the case and why they don’t try harder since they have such a great opportunity. Well I have come to the conclusion that for one 5^th graders aren’t exactly looking ahead for their future as adults and really just want to play soccer everyday. The other case is that some of these parents didn’t even care enough to come in and pick up their son or daughters report card and talk to me. So I am sure they don’t exactly pay much attention to whether or not their son or daughter is doing their homework. When I was in fifth grade I probably wouldn’t have done my homework if no one pushed me to do it. Now, even if a student doesn’t do homework it doesn’t mean they aren’t learning. Every student in my class has a pretty good grasp on English and most subjects. Even if they get poor grades and don’t try very hard they are at least given the option of a life different from their parents who may not even know how to write their own name.

One last note is that in just a little over a month I will be back home for a couple weeks for my brothers wedding and to celebrate Christmas. I am quite excited to see some English speaking people. Dios Bendiga

P.S Since writing this post I just had a family at my church give the school a lot of money and we are going to be able to buy a whole lot for the school and everyone here is just extremely happy about it since the kids don't have a lot of the luxuries that we have in American schools. God is awesome

Its been a while

It has been a little while since my last update. Right now we are in the middle of an absolutely crazy time in the week. We have to have all of our grades in and get ready for our Christmas program which is quite an undertaking and involves me having to teach my students to dance. It should be exciting.

Just to finish the last blog and update on what actually happened. The girl is alright and it ended up one of the girls brothers was actually setting fire to her and then claiming it was her. He even set fire to himself. But I guess while the pastors were praying over the girl they felt the Holy Spirit say that it was the boy who was doing it and he confessed to it all. It is a crazy story and I don't know how all these things happen exactly.

We also had a tipica festival last weekend which involved lots of dancing, singing and eating food. It was a fund raiser for our school and we did really well so everyone was pretty happy about it all.

Today I only taught two classes for a variety of reasons so I have felt like a big slacker but I have been able to get a lot of work done as well. I will hopefully update more later and put up some pictures.

A scary sick note

So when you can't make it to school you need to have someone bring a note for you so you don't get marked with an unexcused absence. Well today we got a sick note from one of our seventh graders. Today the sick note that came in was not normal in any way shape or form. Witchcraft here is something that does take place and is not unusual in some circles from what I have heard. The note today said that one of our students was attacked with witchcraft and is according to the note burning. The burning is not physically hurting her but it sets things on fire whenever she gets close to them. I guess the mom ran out of her house scared and they tried to bring the girl to a different house because they thought it was just the house but then the student set things on fire in the next house as well. I guess when the mom ran out they ran to the pastors in the community one of which is the man I live with so I am sure I will hear more about it later but it is something so far out of what I consider normal I don't even know what to think about it. I had a teacher once who said that the devil targets the poor and this would be another case of it. I guess all I can say is pray for this student because I can't even really imagine what is going on.

Some Thoughts

Right now I am listening to a song by Alabama and I am not even really sure of the name of the song but the part of the song that I really like is “I’m in a hurry to get things done, I rush and rush until life’s no fun.” Now if you know me the fact that I am listening to Alabama is probably scary enough as is but it fits for today in my mind.

I keep getting faced the question of whether or not me being here in Honduras is only going to be a one year commitment or if I will be here for longer. Now before I left for Honduras I had pretty much decided to only be here for one year. There are many reasons for this like being away from my family, I like to visit other places, I hate the idea of settling down, I didn’t go to college to be a teacher as well as many others. For some weird reason I have been having a weird feeling of peace here. Now why that is I don’t know maybe because it is only 50 degrees out right now and I need to wear a sweatshirt and I like that or maybe its something more then that. Then today I was talking to one of the administration at the school and they were curious what I was thinking and they presented a potential possibility for me. They really want someone to be a recruiter for potential teachers for the United States because as they keep opening up schools Vida Abundante will need lots. So I will be doing that and it might turn into a position that I could do along with teaching. Now as I look at what I would to do for a job I think being a recruiter / teacher would be about exactly where I would want to be right now. A mix of business and teaching. We will see what comes out of it but it looks pretty likely especially for this year being something along with teaching and coaching that I will be doing and might even mean a trip back to the U.S in the spring to do interviews.

Now to describe this worship service that was in a house that I was at tonight. I will try to describe the scenario half of the 30 people in this little living room are under the age of 18. A couple are over 80. Two people are absolutely drunk. Everyone is filthy and sitting on plastic chairs, stools, the floor, stools kinda whatever. As the devotional started the two drunk guys walked in saying they needed prayer and now I couldn’t even imagine this in the U.S because if that happened in front of a bunch of kids like happened here we would shield our kids but here they took the drunk guys and everyone gathered around and prayed for them. Then the pastor who is the guy I am living with made the men stay for the rest even though they were quite loud as drunk people often are. Then the rest of the service went on without any thing real different happening. At the end the pastor normally always takes people in front to pray for them. During one of the prayers for one of the guys the Holy Spirit came and knocked the guy to the ground where he lay for a few minutes. Then we took an offering and the pastor who lives on about 300 dollars a month for a family of 5 and often doesn’t have any money at all took the money that was for him and gave it to a young girl who looked rather poor and in need. Then right after that we all had cake and pop for a celebration of some sorts. Now I am not real sure what to make of this all but that is what happened. All this to say we are a motley crew of believers.

This post is rather huge, and now I must curl up into my bed with my comforter because it is literally only 50 degrees out. Who knew it would be that cold in Honduras. God’s Blessings

Post

Well, we have another day off for some random holiday so I am pretty excited about that. So part of my day I am spending on the internet checking out what I am missing out on. Life here has been quite normal the past week. I wish I had some way exciting stories for you all but it is rather hard to get out of La Union specially with all the rain we have been having. It is once again raining outside. There is mud pretty much everywhere but life is good. Everyday I realize how good God is. Yesterday I was at church and realized that most of the people in the church had become Christians in the last 5 years. If we had 200 people come to Christ over 5 years that would be pretty awesome in the states. Here that is typical. God can really work in peoples lives taking away violence and filling the space with peace and love. Well I hope you are all doing well. God Bless

A Normal Monday afternoon post

Well it has pretty much been raining for about 4 days straight and there has been a lot of problems because of it. Yesterday one of the buses going to La Union went off the road and there were a few injuries. I guess 4 or 5 of the bridges on the highway between Tegucigalpa and San Pedro are pretty much impassable right now so we need the rain to stop but according to the forecast that isn't going to be the case. Pray that we don't get more rain and the sun comes out because mudslides can be a big problem for the poor who are built on the sides of mountains and people can be killed because of it.

This last weekend for a little dose of American cooking we made nachos and I must say they were really good. Beans, Jalapenos, onions, sauce, Meat and nachos that they finally got in one of our stores so it was a good meal.

Also I have been tutoring a few people on English although it has been hard because one girl is a maid and can only come when she is given permission which isn't all the time. She is 21 it has to be hard to have to ask permission for everything that would drive me crazy. Life here is much different that is for sure.

Well I think that is all for today. God Bless

My Birthday

Hey all,
It has been a long while since my last post. I tried to update a couple times but the connection here is awful. Today is my Birthday and I just got done having a party in my class. I think I recieved about 30 cards today from a variety of kids. I also recieved a birthday cake from my kids that they all pitched in to buy so I thought that was really cool as well. I realize they were probably more excited to skip a class for the party then for the fact that it was my Birthday but still it was fun how much they got into it. Tomorrow I think we are going to try and start up the volleyball and basketball teams here both of which I am a coach for. Also I have begun tutoring a few people on English on an everyday basis so that has kept me quite busy as well. Tomorrow is Friday and that makes me quite happy as well. I think La Union is starting to feel like home. Although I havent seen the sun for a few days and all it has done is rained. I think it has something to do with a hurricane. Hope all is well with you all. I will try to put more pictures up on facebook sometime if I can get on a decent connection. I hope all is well with you all. God Bless

A quick Update

Another week of school is done and completed. Some of the big heads of the school came out this week and were monitoring our classes and what not. They even brought me some books for my kids and I never knew how much it helps for them to have a book to write in so I don't have to copy everything on the board. This week I was a little sick so I went to get medication and the person who was selling them saw me from a distance and was really scared because I looked so pale. She didn't realize I was North American. The medicine cost about 50 cents so I can't complain. Pretty soon I am supposed to help set up both the Volleyball and Basketball programs so that should be a good time. The problem is the equipment and place to play is a little hard to come by. I have a day off of school Monday so I am going on vacation again to Gracias. See and castle and sit in some hot springs. Life is good. God Bless

A Wedding

So I just called home on Saturday and my brother proposed to his girlfriend of a little over a year. So come December or so Ary will be my new sister in law!!! I am pretty excited for them and for the wedding it should be a lot of fun. The only problem is that it makes me feel quite old since it is my younger brother who is getting married. Its crazy to think about.

A Different Topic

What is normal? So I was talking to another teacher today asking her some questions about my students. One thing that I brought up was that one of my students always seems to be sick. The girls name is Delmy and she is probably one of the smartest students in my class but she always complains about being sick. At first I kind of took it as just a way to get attention but as I talked to another teacher I realized it is not that. I guess this girl comes from a very poor home and he parents actually work in the fields of another student in my class. I guess Delmy has been sick to her stomach frequently for at least the last 4 years. She sometimes faints from the pain and other days she has to be sent home. Normally this would be a problem you would get tests on to try and fix the problem. However, in this case the family either doesn’t have the money or just thinks it is normal to get sick a lot and in Honduras advanced health care is only in the big cities. Some of the teachers worry that it could be stomach cancer or bacteria. Either way it is sad. It would be terrible to have an awful pain in your stomach almost every day. Kids get sick here much more often then in the states and it is almost just a part of life for these kids. Education is needed here not just in schools but for parents. All of our waste is just dumped in the rivers. You often see pipes going right from bathrooms to the rivers and then at the same time you might see kids playing in the river as well. You also see people sweep up their garbage into a pile on the street and just set it on fire to get rid of it. Trash pickup is almost nonexistent. Sometimes driving down the highway you see truckloads of trash just dumped down the side of mountains and then just set on fire. The other day I was out playing soccer with a bunch of the community kids and kids from my school and we were literally playing on a horse field complete with lots of poop and mud. It was crazy. I am no longer in America.

Other then that I watched some Monday Night football last night, which was nice and made me feel like I was back home, although Brett Farve looked kinda sad throwing a couple picks. Oh well life goes on. God Bless

A slow day at ALCS

Well today is a slow day here at school for me. I really only teach about half the day so the other half I just sort of sit around but I can't complain a whole lot. I just got done reading other peoples blogs and its crazy how I can have such good friends in Egypt, Kazakastan and South Korea. Those places probably almost make Honduras seem normal. I enjoy reading about the adventures of others. These last few days have been pretty chill for me so I don't really have much to write about. I just booked my ticket home for Christmas however, so if you want to hang out and possibly go snowboarding let me know and we will figure something out. I am quite excited about it all. God Bless!

A new Note

A story of how Jesus can change a community…. So I was talking with a teacher today and they told me a story of how only about 4 or 5 years ago La Union was a violent place. I guess you would never go out after 6 in the afternoon because there were regularly shootings and people carrying around AK 47s and what not. It was a tough place and families hated each other and whole families I guess were killed. Churches then started to come in and things got much better and the shootings suddenly stopped. When I walk around the city I never feel threatened or have had anything said in a threatening way towards myself. Jesus can really change people’s hearts. I guess even the pastor I am living with was one of those really tough people and drank and did drugs a lot. He says he carried a pistol around with him all the time as well. Now he is totally different and probably one of the most crazy on fire for God people I know. It was just a really cool story to hear because sometimes you feel like communities can’t change.

This last weekend I had the opportunity to visit the Mayan ruins in Copan, which were really awesome. We had a four day weekend because September 15 was Independence day for Honduras. So I ended up seeing about 4 parades over the course of the weekend which was pretty fun. Sometimes the parades would be in the middle of the road while we were driving so we had no option but to stop. Hopefully I can put up some pictures of Copan because it was really beautiful and something you would never see in the states. Last night at like 3 in the morning kids came out and lit off what were pretty much equivalent to bombs to wake up all the teachers for teachers day because that is what they do every year. I guess it is some sort of twisted tradition. I was ticked because those bombs proceeded to wake up like every rooster in town including the one that sleeps next to my room. I will just say I slept quite poorly the rest of the night. I guess the positive events were an extra day off of school on Tuesday and lots of nice notes and candy from my students.

Well I guess that is all, I hope everyone is doing well wherever you are. God’s Blessings!

My First Week!

So it has been about a week since I have updated. A lot has happened since my last post. I have finished my first 5 days of teaching now and surprisingly it has been going really well. A few highlights of the first day were first of all I was writing on the board and my marker went dry and one of my girls said “I can fix that for you” so without thinking I handed her the marker. Well she proceeds to put the thing in her mouth taking out the tip and flipping the tip around and puts it back in the marker. She of course then had to go to the bathroom to get all of the marker stuff out of her mouth. Another moment came when I told the kids that they don’t have to have my permission to drink out of their water bottles. I figured since it was like a hundred degrees in my class and they were asking me every 3 minutes to get a drink and it was disrupting class like crazy. Later today I was told by another teacher that I am not allowed to do that and they need to ask my permission to even get a drink out of their water bottles. How crazy is that. A few other things I have to get used to are every time I walk into the classroom the students all stand up and tell me good morning. There is a lot to get used to. The students here don’t exactly think for themselves when they are in the classroom and constantly are asking if they have to write what I am writing on the board and normally I proceed to tell them that it will be on the test so it up to you to decide but my suggestion would be yes. Tomorrow or I guess it will be today when I actually get this post up is children’s day here in Honduras. This is a big holiday here so all we do all day at school is play games and hand out candy. All the money for the candy has to come out of the teachers pockets though so that is kinda different but that is what happens when your school is extremely poor. The 7^th graders don’t have any of their own textbooks and even the teacher hardly has even a teacher’s edition for most of the courses. It makes learning a much slower process because so much more writing on the board has to happen. This next weekend is our first vacation already for another holiday so we actually have a four day weekend so I am pretty excited about that. I will be hopefully heading to Copan which is the site of Aztec ruins which I am really excited to learn about and see. Something else that I have been doing since I have arrived here is drinking a little bit of coffee. I never thought I could ever stand it but here the coffee comes from the hills right next to where I live and it isn’t very bitter it is a little sweeter. They roast it themselves and do all the work themselves so it is fun to enjoy the coffee they produce with them. The principal of my school even has a farm where he packages and sells his own coffee that he grows. One thing that needs prayer is I got an email from one of the teachers in Gracias which is another school owned by Abundant Life Schools which they just bought and I guess things there are terrible both academically and discipline wise. They are debating about whether they will even stay through the week. I actually graduated high school with these teachers so I know them pretty well. Please pray that things get better and that they stick it out for the year because if they leave they will be more short teachers then the school already is. Well this is turning out to be a rather long post but I hope it gives you a better idea about my life. Hopefully I will be able to put up pictures once the Internet connection here allows me. I miss you all more then you know. God Bless

P.S wow this weekend already is my one month anniversary of being in Honduras…time flies.

P.S.S So after actually writing this post we had Dia por la Nino's or somthing along those lines. It was pretty crazy. Very little was planned and basically it was like summer camp for the kids for a day all we did was play games all day. While we were hitting a pinata one girl got hit in the face and so I had to fill out an injury report. Meanwhile all the kids were stealing the candy out of the pinata. At least the injury was only a small cut on her head and really wasn't a big deal it just scared her.

Teaching

So I start teaching tomorrow...... I think I am in a lot of trouble..... Things are pretty disorganized I feel and I really have no idea what I am going to be doing for the whole day... I will need prayers.... Although they are only a bunch of 5th graders.. How bad can it be?

I also found out it looks like I will be heading home for Christmas so if anyone wants to snowboard let me know!

God Bless

Poverty...

I think I may try to do my journal entries a little different….. It gets kinda dull writing about what I did for the day so I think I will reflect more on what I have seen and done specially since that is what a journal entry is really supposed to be for. It also gives me a little more time to write them because normally when I sit in the “internet café”, which is really just a brick room with a couple computers, I just feel so hurried and only write about what I did for the day. Today one thing that really struck me was when I was at Osunas’ house, his neighbor, which is a family of 4, lives in pretty much literally a mud and straw house that is about one room. The daughter often comes over to watch the television with us and you see her poking her head in the window when she wants to come in but she never really says anything. She is a beautiful girl of about the age of 13 who lives in poverty and it’s hard to see. Not everyone here lives in houses like that but there are more then just that one. The family I live with has a huge family of about 6 kids and relatives that are always over. However, they have a family room that looks pretty decent with a TV that is like 13 inches that they sit around at night and watch but there is a curtain covering the hall. That is because behind the curtain it no longer looks nice and the house looks like it is falling apart. Many houses here in this town have that exact same thing going on so it is hard to see as well. The thing that I have to deal with is the fact that even though I am hardly making any money here the teachers at the school including me are probably in the top quarter of the wealthiest people in the city. I live in a small room that is like 10x10 but I have people who cook for me, iron my clothes and wash them everyday for me. I also have a room with no bugs, a queen size bed and I am using a laptop which is a luxury very few can afford. This basically just goes to say that I am very blessed and have a lot to be thankful for.

On a different note today I tried to ride a motorcycle which sounds fun except for the fact that I stalled it really badly and made the thing jerk really bad. The positive note that came out of it was that I entertained everyone around me who was watching me laughing while I made an idiot out of myself.

Oh yea it is also raining again… I think it has rained almost everyday since I have arrived (quite literally)… I now know what a wet season is like…

God Bless

“My family’s not rich by any means but I feel we won the lottery” – The Format

La Union

Well I am finally in La Union and it is really beautiful. I also finished my first day of getting my classroom ready. It is nothing like a school in the states. We have very few materials and it is pretty much just a concrete room with a small window. I have been meeting some of the kids and they are really awesome and just seem thankful to get their uniforms and what not. I also moved in with a pastor and his family. They are quite poor and have a huge family but they are so kind and welcoming. I have been eating bananas and oranges right off the tree and the lady who cooks my food makes lemonade with real lemons so that is really wonderful and it tastes amazing. What I really do realize though is how much I miss having friends all over the place. A lot of the teachers here are quite a bit older and have families and this is their home so it is very different in that way. Other then that I have been surviving well and life is really good. I will hope to post pictures either here or facebook in the next few days once I can get my laptop hooked up to the internet. Well I hope life is going well for everyone and continue to keep in touch. God´s blessings

The Roads

Well since the last post I have now moved to a town called Gracias which is about 5 hours away from Tegucigalpa and in the middle of the mountains. The Abundant Life School here is at the base of the tallest peak in Honduras. The park is called Celaque National Park and it is beautiful. They say that up in the mountains are Ocelots, Jaguars, Tapirs and all sorts of birds. I guess they are pretty hard to actually get to see though. It is actually a cloud forest so most of the time it is really damp and cloudy at the top. Yesterday is poured there about all day. Right now I am just sitting in a real nice hotel room with wireless so I am pretty happy about that. The best part so far is that the school has paid for everything and I haven't had to pay a dime which makes being here more fun because I don't really have to worry about money. Today there is a big game between Honduras and Mexico so that has been all over the news and television so we are going to go to a restaurant tonight and watch the game it should be quite sweet. On Saturday morning I actually head to La Union to get everything ready for the school year like where I will be sleeping and my classroom and that jazz. Whats pretty sweet is that the other teachers for Gracias here are Americans so I can actually talk to them and I guess a couple is coming from Michigan and they thought they might even be from Holland. How crazy would that be if I actually knew them! Yesterday on the way here we took some of the craziest roads I have ever been on. They were dirt roads but it was more like dirt, mud, places were they mine rock and we just drove through while they were working. It was a crazy trip here to Gracias. Well I think that is about all for now. God Bless

A day in the life....

Well I must say this last weekend has been pretty crazy. We had a teachers orientation this weekend which sounds nice and all but it was different then expected. First of all I realized that I am the only teacher out of about 140 that is from anywhere other then Honduras. I also realized that very few speak English. Only about half the teachers on my staff speak some form of English. Then lastly every speaker this weekend spoke in Spanish so I could pick out hardly anything that was being said so it was kind of a culture shock. Other then that the weekend was fun I did get to meet the other teachers on my staff and they are real nice even if I couldn't understand what they were saying exactly. Here is a picture of me and most of the staff I will be working with for the year. Osuna the guy on the right will most likely the guy I will be living with for the year. He is from Nicaragua originally they he lived in New Jersey and now is working here. He's kind of a crazy guy so it should be fun.

As for other events from this weekend the power went out one night so we had to get around without electricity. Today driving down the road there was a big float driving around shooting confetti advertising some product holding up all sorts of traffic. Life is much different here then in the states to say the least.

A few statistics about Honduras that I learned through the orientation.
60% of the people in Honduras life in extreme poverty.
25% of the people can't read or write.
Half of the population is 18 or younger.

I think that is about all... As for next week I head out to La Union with textbooks that are about 10-20 years old and set up my classroom for the start of class which is September 1. Pray that I learn some more Spanish and become more comfortable with it so I can meet people easier. Wow I am going to miss wireless internet for the rest of the year....God Bless!

A Few Pictures and More Details

Well after sleeping for about 13 hours last night I think I am pretty much rested up. Today I went out for Lunch then ended up going to a movie and a mall with one of Barbara's friends Kweity Chan. It was a fun day. Then I got picked up by Vicente and he took me to his apartment which is where I will be for the rest of the week as far as I can tell. He wanted me to ask if anyone else would want to come teach in Honduras because they still really need more teachers including the same school I am at. So if you would like to or know anyone who might be interested let me know. I am meeting tomorrow now with some of the high ups at the school so that is something to look forward to. Here are some pictures from the day.
Here is a picture taken from the balcony of Barbara's apartment. In the foreground is a soccer field built by Fifa. In the back is part of the city. It is actually a decent part of the city. The inner part of the city is actually pretty nice with a lot of nicer houses with huge walls and razor wire. The outer parts of the city are made up of lots of poverty and pieces of wood put together pretty much so there is a lot of disparity.

This is a picture of a public high school. It is really small and kind of in shambles but a lot of students attend it every day. Some days teachers don't even show up to teach so students just wait outside then go home after a while. It is a pretty sad situation.
Here is a crepe. This was my lunch today. I just took a picture of it because I thought it looked cool. It was very tasty as well.

Well... Other then that I start actually teaching on September 1 and head out to La Union next Monday so I am really looking forward to that. I guess that is all for now. God Bless

An hour of sleep......

It has been a crazy last 24 hours. I have spent my time watching The Bucket List, then finishing Rent and then watching P.S I love you. After that we had a fun filled car ride of dancing in the car to the airport at 3 in the morning. I then boarded my plane and flew to Houston and an hour later was on my way to Tegucicalpa Honduras. After I arrived I met some other people from a Bible college who were going to teach in Honduras as well but unfortunatly not in my area or with my school. As I made it through customs I had both Barbara and Vicinte waiting for me. Then Barbara´s family took me home and treated me like a king. My first meal here in Honduras was Burger King so I don´t really have a good feel of what the food is really like. After that we met up with some of Barbara´s friends and went paintballing on the top of a mountain which was simply amazing. During our drive around town when they gave me a tour I saw someof the craziest driving I have ever seen and thought I was going to die multiple times but somehow we survived. The weather here in the mountains is actually quite pleasent. I would say on top of the mountains its about 70 and in the capital its around 80. There is a major disparity between the poor and the rich in the city. You see both huge hotels and pretty much shacks that people are living in. So far it has been a great experience but I have only had an hour of sleep in the past 36 hours so I am thinking I should really try and get some shut eye. Tomorrow I meet with a lot of the heads of Abundant Life School so I am really looking forward to that. I miss you all and hope to hear from some of you. Oh and by some crazy coincedence I met some youth who had been on a youthworks trip in Montana in the airport. I only knew it was them because they were wearing a one word shirt. It was crazy stuff. God´s Blessings

Honduras

Wow I leave for Honduras in like 5 hours. Kinda a weird feeling.... I will update this blog with the rest of my pictures from the summer later assuming my internet connection is capable of it. Keep me in your prayers... God Bless

Another week completed

Well another crazy busy week has been completed and I am sitting in a nice restaurant/coffee shop instead of the typical bar that is right by the school that I am living in. This week we had groups from Wisconsin and Indiana. The youth were really awesome this week and we had a good time. One pretty cool thing that happened was for Sports Camp this week we had a native come and teach everyone how to play Lacrosse and that was a lot of fun. Then Thursday I took everyone to a workshop on Slam Poetry which is almost like rap and it was a really awesome time. Now this weekend we are having an area retreat so I have been able to hang out with a lot of people that I did my early bird week with. It is also nice because I won't be able to see them at exit ramp since I have to leave early for Honduras so this is my chance to say goodbye. Other then that life has been good and we slept in tepees last night. We even had an elk stew which was pretty awesome. Here are just a couple pictures from the week. They all start to look the same after a while. One other fun thing was I got a nice letter from my Grandma and Grandpa and it really made my day so thank you! Joe and Leah's wedding is now in less then 2 weeks which is really crazy to think about. It will be awesome seeing everyone who is in the area again.

This is our group from the past week. An amazing group!
Here is all the staff that came to the area retreat. They are all really amazing people.

I think that is all. I can't believe I leave August 10 for Honduras it is really crazy to think about but exciting as well. It will be a whirlwind last couple weeks up here at Cass Lake.

The 4th of July and Weeks 4 and 5

Wow what a whirlwind of a couple weeks. Life really seems to be moving at about a billion miles an hour. Two weeks ago we had a really awesome group come through. There were some guys who were all seniors and were really great guys.
They did this to me as well I just don't have a picture of it since I was getting hung over the water.

Here are a couple of the girls that were on the trip, Beth and Maggie and this picture was taken in front of Bemidji Lake.

Here is the whole group we had that week posing in front of our school. The end to a busy but good week.

That weekend Ryan, Emily, Sarah and Lisa came out to visit me from Dordt and it was really awesome. It was amazing seeing familiar faces and just having a chance to see some of my best friends. They were really awesome for driving out to see me because it was a pretty good drive. It was an awesome weekend and just what I needed. Having good friends is awesome. We had the opportunity to go to a Pow Wow and also check out the 4th of July Fireworks while they were here. We had some nice campfires and spent the day on the beach all Saturday.
This picture was taken at the Pow Wow. It was really cool to watch. There were about 500 dancers out at one point.

Here we all are at the fireworks it was a good night. It was Sarah's birthday that weekend as well so it was awesome to be able to celebrate it with her.

So that was my weekend last weekend. It was a really awesome weekend and just what I needed at that point.

This last week was a harder week but we made it through. The students came from a little bit wealthier backgrounds and in some cases acted like they were entitled to things which was hard but we got really good feedback from them anyway and they said they had a very life changing week. So I will continue to hope and pray that God continues to work through the group we had last week just like I will pray for every other group we have had come through. Here is a picture of the whole group.

This morning I got to go fishing for Walleye and it was amazing although it was quite windy. We got 3 keepers and lots of small ones and well as some perch and northern pike. Now I am sitting at a bar writing this. Its a good day :). I also just found out Emily Wierenga got engaged not to long ago so congratulations to her!

One last update. I just got an email from the people in Honduras and they booked my plane ticket for me so I will be leaving Minnesota on August 10 to start there. It is a really crazy surreal feeling so if you could keep me in your prayers that would be amazing because I am at the point of actually realizing that this is for real and it is a little nerve racking. Well best wishes to you all and God's Blessings.

Weeks 2 and 3 in Cass Lake

Well it was once again another really busy week but it went quite well. We had over 70 people this week that came out for a mission trip so it was busy. The groups came from all over such as Maryland, Wisconsin and Missouri. In the first weeks we had groups come from Michigan even so it was fun to see people wearing shirts I was familiar with because a lot of them were from Grand Rapids. It is kinda a rainy weekend here but this week was really warm and beautiful so I guess it balances out. I also just found out that next weekend for fourth of July, Ryan, Emily, Lisa, Sarah and maybe Erin are coming out to visit me so I am quite stoked about that. There will be a pow wow here that weekend so it should be a great time to hang out there. Here are some pictures of the last 2 weeks.
Here is the group from Grand Rapids from the first week in Cass Lake. They are in front of Babe the blue ox and Paul Bunyan.
Here is the entire group from Week 2 in Cass Lake. It was a good first week. This picture was taken in front of our school.

Here is a picture taken on Cass Lake while I was fishing during the weekend. Too bad I didn't catch any fish... Such is life.....

This picture was taken during one of our evening activities which is called Spirit of the Living Forest. Here the youth are learning about artifacts from before Europeans came to America and how Native Americans used to live. It is very interesting. This takes place on Monday nights.

Here is the entire group from Week 3 once again they are all in front of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.

Here is a picture of all of us doing a traditional Native American Dance at our Pow Wow that we have every Wednesday. It is one of the highlights of the week.

One final update one of our staff members Derek had to leave us this week due to being sick too long so we have another guy coming here in about a half an hour or so and his name is Jacob so it will be fun to meet another new guy. Hope all is well for you all. God Bless

YouthWorks! Week 1

Hey,
My first two weeks at Youthworks are finished and it has been crazy busy. The first week we worked up in Red Lake, Minnesota and hosted about 80 students from all over the United States and it was a ton of fun. It has been about the busiest I have ever been. During our training week we stayed at a church. We have been sleeping on air mattresses and that is how we have been living all summer. The training lasted 1 week and was crazy. There was very little free time and just a ton of info thrown at us but I was able to meet some really awesome people and hear a lot of what I will be doing for the summer. Here are the cars we have for the summer although we did just trade in the small black pickup for a bigger one so that is pretty sweet.
This is our area staff. They are all really awesome and a lot of fun. hmm.. The picture is a little blurry though.
Here is a picture of a guy named Ben he reminded me a lot of a friend from back home named Mark a really awesome guy.

Here is our first group of youth all together on the last day. It was a week of a lot of learning for me. I had to do things like break up gang fights and lead worship lots of things that I have never done before but it was really awesome. I will have to up date about week 2 later since this battery is about to give out. Hope you all are doing well. Hope this gives you a little flavor of what I have been up to. Sorry for the choppiness of it. Its what happens when I am sitting in a car stealing internet with a computer that is dying. God Bless

A couple weeks at home

This post is more to see if I can upload a picture correctly. Basically in my weeks at home I have gotten my boat out about every night and played tennis with Betsy a bunch. Now lets see if I can put a picture here.... hmm.. that seems to work alright... One night we went out and caught some walleyes. It was a good night of fishing. The largest fish was a 27 inch walleye caught by Ary. We couldn't really believe it when it came up but yea the walleye was big enough that a lot of people would have mounted it. I think she was just happy she caught a fish... Too bad Josh wasn't able to put any Walleye in the boat. He needs some tips from his girlfriend. Well this weekend I head out to Chicago for Joe's bachelor party where we are going to go to Six Flags and eat some Chicago Style Pizza. It should be sweet. Then Monday it is off to Minneapolis to start training with YouthWorks!

The Purpose of this Blog

Hey Everyone,
I am not sure who will be reading this blog exactly. The purpose of this blog is to keep everyone updated on what has been happening in my life. As many of you know already I am first heading out to an Indian Reservation in Northern Minnesota and will be running a sports camp as well as working with mission groups. Then right after I finish with this adventure I head out to Honduras to take on another adventure. I will be teaching there for a year and experiencing a whole new culture. During this next year or so I will be seeing and doing a lot and this blog will make it possible for people to keep up to date because if it comes to me sending individual emails then no one will know what is happening at all with me because I am terrible at keeping in touch. So this will be my best attempt at keeping in touch. I invite people to send me emails at jake.compaan@gmail.com I will do my best to respond in a timely fashion to them. Also if you would keep me in your prayers over this next year that would be greatly appreciated because I am sure there will be many challenges ahead in my future. Also leave me comments as well because especially when I am in Honduras I am sure I will get lonely and will appreciate knowing that people still think about me once and a while. I will try to post some pictures as well when I take them. Thanks. God Bless