Yay, I'm happy to be home! 

Thank you again for all of your prayers & encouragement, friends!  Serving in Honduras was an awesome experience, & it wouldn't have been possible without you!

Things I learned:

- from people

Honduran people say "Si Dios quiere" ("If God wills") a lot.  This is the way we should approach life! 

“Instead you ought to say ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live & do this or that.'”  ~ James 4:15

- from God's Word (& Walking by Faith, by Jennifer Rothschild)

“O Lord, You have searched me & You know me.”  ~ Psalm 139:1

à God knows us because He wants to know us.  He has searched us - this is an active process, something He chooses to do, & to me it is evidence of just how much He loves us.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author & perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning/despising its shame, & sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” ~Hebrews 12:2

à “Scorning/despising” graphically describes how Jesus dealt with strong emotion.  In the original Greek, the word is kataphronos, which means to consider with disregard or to esteem lowly.  What an awesome example Jesus gave us!  He had feelings of shame but He held them in low esteem.  (i.e. He experienced shame, but He did not allow it to govern His life.)  What we hold in high esteem will eventually govern us, but what we hold in low esteem, we will govern.  We need to acknowledge our feelings, but never to regard them more highly than God’s Word. (from Walking by Faith)

I'm going to miss Julia!  She says she'll come visit me in California, though! 

Valle de Angeles (Valley of Angels)

The people who lived in this house didn't know how to get to the waterfall, but they were friendly.

A future church!

Flowers in the garden just outside the house

Valerie & Anita's last moment on dry ground...

before we walked into the water (thinking if we followed the river, it must lead to the waterfall eventually)

  Super Julia & Valerie!

Catholic church

Souvenirs for sale

Can you tell what this ship is made of?

On the streets of Valle de Angeles

On the way back, there were several of these roadside shops

Back in Teguc, these cows were crossing the road

Praise God for an awesome day!

  Un dia en mi vida en Honduras (A day in my life in Honduras):

On the way to clinic, we stopped at a bakery to buy bread.  We even got to watch them making it!

It starts like this...

& ends up like this.

A view from the road to clinic.

We pass by this Mormon church every day, & there's usually some traffic.  & if you ever wondered what happens to the old yellow school buses, now you know - they get driven down to Honduras, where they're used for public transportation. 

There's our clinic.

 Let's get closer.

There's a line of people waiting outside when we arrive at 8a.m. each morning.

Dora cooks for us while we're in clinic!

We might eat rice, chicken, & potatoes.

Yesterday Dora made tacos de pollo (chicken tacos).

Felipe says this is how to properly garnish them (his plate, full of chicken tacos covered with thousand island dressing & cabbage).

I think they're delicious just the way they are.

Today Dora made arroz con pollo (rice with chicken).

This is Valerie's exam room, where we see patients.  Today we saw a patient with Marcus Gunn jaw-winking syndrome.

The driver of this truck uses the megaphone to announce what produce he is selling; he will stop if you have lempira & want to buy some.

This is what lempira look like.

We usually get back to Felipe & Valerie's house around 5p.m.  (I have to admit it's a good life, only being in clinic Monday - Friday 8-4.  If Julia was back home, she might be working 3p.m.-3a.m., or at best 1p.m. -1a.m.!)

This is Julia's & my room.  Sorries, it's almost always a mess...we're usually online, Skyping with Ben (me) or family (Julia), emailing, chatting, reading our Bibles or our Bible study books, eating, sleeping, journaling, or praying rather than cleaning.    G'nite & God bless!