Do You See What I See?

We hope your holiday season was filled with joy and making new memories! We were blessed to spend our holidays with our families in the United States. This update will cover through the end of the Honduran school year in early November.

I thought it would be helpful to give you a glimpse into some of our day-to-day activities at our elementary school. Some of them are similar to what you would see in the US: art class, math drills and doing science projects. Others are more unusual. For example, I’ve included several pictures of the students and teachers cleaning our school restrooms. We have no janitorial staff, so the whole school is cleaned this way! Even larger schools and secondary schools operate this way in Honduras. It is a part of Latin American culture that I found strange at first but have come to wholeheartedly embrace.

As our school year drew to a close, we celebrated all of the accomplishments made this year by our students. Part of that celebration is setting aside the last two days to have some fun! The second-to-last day we call Game Day. This consists of board games, team games, and competitions. The final day is Movie Day, where we watch some animated movies with the kids and eat popcorn. This tradition predates my time at the ministry, and I wasn’t too thrilled when I was told it in 2021. However, I have come to see the positive effect these two short days have on a child’s school experience and their relationships with their teachers.

This year we had five students graduate from kindergarten and the ceremony that was put on for the occasion was grand indeed! The best way I can describe it is to think of your typical university graduation with much smaller people and only five names to call instead of 500. Also, I don’t think most universities have the graduates dance with their mothers and fathers! The students definitely felt special, but I am unsure of how much they really understood what was going on. Don’t worry; their proud parents sure did!

Slight change of gears: pun intended; we were finally able to purchase a used 4×4 vehicle! Our great friend Gustavo found the perfect car for us, a 1990 Toyota Landcruiser GX. That’s right, it is 33 years young :). These vehicles have a reputation for being extremely reliable, which was our number one priority. Even as I write this, Gustavo is overseeing a top-to-bottom overhaul and repair of all things large and small.

Sharon here…My mom, Phyllis, was able to come down to Honduras for six weeks this fall. Her instructions to me were this, “Put me to work! I’m not coming down there for vacation!” So that is what we did. Though after a few weeks of getting up at 5am every day, I do think she was ready for a little bit of vacation! My Mom spent most of her time at the primary school working with Noel, another volunteer. Mom, who has her master’s degree in special education, helped guide us on how to best approach instructing several of our students with learning disabilities. However, the highlight of mom’s visit to Honduras was reconnecting with Miryan. A girl she has sponsored since she was in the 7th grade and who is now getting ready to graduate from university! It was an amazing visit all-around!

For me, Chris, reconnecting with former students, including Miryan, is such a special experience. When you first start teaching you never think about running into your students twenty years later and meeting their kids! After you get over the shock of having taught students that can now have kids of their own it warms your heart to see how well most of them have turned out. You have to remember, the last time I saw them was in middle school, so you can understand my surprise :). I’ve included a few photos of former students who I have run into and others who have literally chased me down the street to say “Hi” and ask how I am doing. On top of all that, we are living on the same property as FIVE of my former students! Fortunately, they were all good students :).

Sharon again…So pretty much everyone that is sick or gets hurt comes to me. I see lots of childhood illnesses like viruses and stomach bugs, ear infections, upper respiratory infections and so on. I have also helped with machete cuts, burns and minor motorcycle accidents. Lastly, I see the house moms and regularly consult with them. A lot of the women also come to me about their husbands’ illnesses, because just like in our culture, men tend to be more hesitant to seek out medical care! All of this nursing takes place on our front porch or living room!

Nursing is about way more than treating the sick, but about promoting health and being proactive. And I am passionate about this! With that in mind, one of the things that I have focused a lot of time and energy on this year was doing Developmental Checkups on all our kids under seven. Children that come from traumatic backgrounds are significantly more likely to have developmental delays. My hope is that we can identify them and intervene to help that child progress. I did this project in conjunction with each child’s house mom. We spent hours together focusing on each kid individually over a period of many weeks. I learned a lot from this experience and continue to gain appreciation for what our house parents do. They really are the heroes at GH2K! I also gave all 55 children vision exams and encouraged nutritional eating by offering vegetables from my garden.

We are thankful for:

• The time with our families and so many of our friends during this holiday season. It was sweet!
• A 4×4 vehicle and our friend Gustavo who made it all possible.
• That the difficulties we faced this year helped us recognize our need for God and his grace (1 Peter 4:12-19)
• God’s incredible financial provision, as we had unforeseen costs during our time in the States.

Please pray for:

• Sharon’s sister Kim and our niece Alaina who are both battling cancer
• Clear direction from the Lord for Sharon moving forward
• Wisdom and patience for Chris both as principal and teacher
• Committed teachers for GH2K school
• That we would continually rely on God as the One who provides all our needs