What´s new

Well.... first it´s great to have the internet working again. It´s weird, we´ve had a LOT of rain over the past two weeks. Some of the country has extreme flooding and ten of thousands are homeless. But we haven´t really had a problem with losing electricity, which is really nice, but the internet seems to always be down as of late. And he´s another weird thing... my laundry.
Well since I got back here over a month ago, I started to clean my own laundry. I would wake up at 5 am on Saturady and do my wash and have it all on the clothes line by 7 am so it can dry before the afternoon rain and have it done in one day. Then one weekend, it rained in the morning, so I got no laundry cleaned. Later that week I took my laundry to local cleaners, since the lady had a washer & dryer. I paid about $15 to get three loads cleaned and folded. Well when the lady at the orphanage that does most of the laundry found about me taking my laundry somewhere else to get it cleaned, she got really offended. The reason I stopped letting her clean my laundry in first place was that she made it clear, before I came home to visit, that she didn´t want to clean it anymore. She told my sister-in-law once, when she was here, that she needed to clean my laundry. And when this worker was cleaning my laundry, I was having to wait close to 5-6 days to get my laundry back. But now she wants to do it again, she don´t even want me to clean my own laundry. She insist I let her do it. And now it´s that rainy season, and we´ve gotten a lot of it. I figured it would take DAYS to get my laundry back. Nope... I get it back it in less than two days now. Weird, when it was sunny, I waited 6 days..... and I don´t pay her to do my laundry.
I´ve been busy in San Juan Pueblo(SJP), I started my new youth service and I average 25 youth each week and about 50 total in the service. I´ve organized a couple youth soccer teams in SJP to play games against teams in La Masica. I play with the older team, youth in their 20s. I´ve got some new friends that speal english. They´re four sisters that are teachers and secretary at the new bilingual school in SJP. So I´ve started spending time there hanging out also. It´s good to meet some people my age that speak english. My spanish is doing better, I´ve planning on preaching my first sermon in spanish in January. I really think I´ll be able to do it.
It seems with this rain, more people are getting sick. I got something right now, but I think I ate or drank something bad in the Colony last week. As for my wieght, I´m at 220 lbs now, that´s 35 lbs less since June. With the rain and being busy, I haven´t been able to go for a walk in about 2 weeks. All the kids in the orphanage are doing really good. Oh, I´ve been finally added to the chores list at the orphanage. So,now I feel more official here.
Well, I have more to type, but the internet is about to close so I need to hit the road and head back home. Take care and God Bless.

Thanks again for all your prayers!
Tim

New youth service

Well, I have finally started the new youth service in our San Juan Pueblo church. The service takes place on Saturdays and I picked the best Saturday night to start the service. I picked a night that the Honduran national futbol (soccer) team was playing. Even my new translator wasn´t the happiest having to miss the game. Half of the guys that showed up for the service, left after about 30 mins for the game. But it´s all good.
But Saturday CRAZY!!!!!! Only one person that agreed to show up to my meeting on Saturday morning, to get ready for service, showed up. The person that had my memory stick to add music to it for service, went out of town without telling me. I wasn´t planning on singing during praise and worship, but since there was only one other person with me at the planning meeting, I had to learn some spanish songs fast. My translator got back into town about an hour and half later than we planned, just in enough time to get ready and make to service on time. I planned time for prayer before service for the service and only one person showed for that. And everywhere I went, I saw people waering their futbol jerseys and carrying their flags. And all I could think was that I´d be lucky if one person showed up to service. Oh, I miss typed one of the songs for our transparencies for worship. But I put in the Lord´s hands and the Lord took care of everything.
We had some mess ups in service, but it went great. Everyone loved the games at the beginning of service and I hadn´t heard so many of the youth sing during worship since I´ve been here. They are usually just clapping, but Saturday they were singing. I believe I only put two people to sleep during my surmon, one of them goes to sleep in almost every service, so I felt good. All of the responses have been great since the service. Oh, and I got everyone out of service by half time of the game, so I even got the chance to see Honduras weep up on Canada.
Please pray for this new service and the youth in San Juan Pueblo. The Lord has done many things here and I can´t wait to see what else He has for this community and it´s young people. Thank you to all for you continued prayers!!!!

Take care and God Bless
Tim

Education in Honduras

We always hear jokes about public education and we all know how bad Georgia test scores have been over the years. But after realizing how bad the education program is here, I'm happy to say I graduated from a Georgia public school. I would rather go to a Clayton County school than down here... by the way, can anyone tell me if Clayton County got their accreditation back? Anyway... right now the public school teachers are on strike... AGAIN! Our school is private, so we don't have to worry about the nationwide strikes. But this is the fourth time since July they've been on strike.

Now let me tell you a little about the education here. The highest required grade for kids to complete is sixth grade. Yes, I said, "sixth grade." But get this, not even half of the kids in this country get that far. It's not rare to find a 9 yr old kid in first grade. After sixth grade, school is called "college." And that takes kids through our 12th grade. And when they graduate from "college," they receive a degree in a certain area. And the education in the college is no way near the education in our middle and high schools. And very rarely do find kids that graduate "on time", or as we think of it as around the ages of 17 and 18 yrs old. A lot of kids are in "college" into their twenties. And if you go to school at night, usually starting at 6 pm, you can forget about your teacher showing up. Maybe for the first couple classes of the night but not the whole time. Class is supposed to last until after 10 pm, most students are home by 8:30pm.

But the main reason for this blog is because of the strikes. While the teachers are on strike, because of money, like always, they're getting their full pay. They're supposed to be at the school while the strike is on, but we all know, they're not. And what about the kids, no one cares about them. The kids think it fun not being in school. But if the teachers strike long enough in a school year, the kids can all be held back and lose a year a school. The teachers don't care, they still get paid. I have heard of a story of teacher that got caught teaching her students during a strike, and she got her pay taken away. It's sounds ridiculous, but what doesn't sound ridiculous here in Honduras.

So I ask all of you, please keep these kids in your prayers. That they may be able to get some kind of education so the may have a some chance of leaving a life of poverty.

Take care and God Bless!!!

PS - There are universities here, but very few attend there.

Where am I?

For those of you wondering, let me tell you where I am. I'm living at Proyecto Alcance, Reach Out Orphanage Inc., in La Masica, Honduras. La Masica is on the northern coast of Honduras, it lies halfway between the cities of Tela, to the west, and La Ceiba, to the east. We about ten miles south of the coastline and a little over a mile north of the "Sierra de Nombre de Dios" mountains, in english... "Name of God Mountain Range." Proyecto Alcance (PA) is a nonprofit christian organization run by David and Dialis Romaro. Our main project is an childrens' orphanage of about 19 kids. We also have our own private christian school in the town of San Juan Pueblo, about 8 miles to the west of La Masica, with grades kindergarten - 3rd currently, with plans to expand up to 6th grade at the start of the next year in February. We also have two churches, one is in La Masica, inside the main project, build for the kids, but we also serve the community. Our other church is located about a half mile from our school in San Juan Pueblo (SJP), to serve the people of SJP. Behind of church in SJP, we have a colony where we bought a large piece of land and divided it into lots. We have given all the lots away to extremely poor families and have raised funds to help some of them build of home on their land. In our colony and else where in the two communities we serve in, PA has bought and given away over 41 lots. We also have a sponorship program for the kids that attend our two churches and the kids in our orphanage.

As for me, my job is one of many. Here is list of jobs that I preform.... bus driver to/from church and school in San Juan, construction helper @ school, calculate monthly finances, substitute teach the english for the kids, teach english everyday to the teachers during student breaks, personal assistant to Dialis, preach, revitalize the youth service in our San Juan church, and many other small jobs, including my chores at the project.

I've been here at Proyecto Alcance since June '08 and I have written a few blogs early on, but my jump drive was stolen and I thought I lost them. But I was able to fins some of them. So some of these early blogs were written early on.

I want to take this time to thank everyone who has supported me financially, donations, and through prayers. Everything you've done is great appriecated and is needed for me to fulfill God's will in my life. Thank you!

Take care and God Bless
Tim

Where are the days going?

Where are the days going?
16 September 2008

Another busy week has pasted and it’s already almost half way into this week. Last week was really busy with kids’ days on last Wednesday. Kids’ day is like mothers’ day or fathers’ day. We had lots of games and candy. We had to celebrate over a few days b/c of having to worry not just about the kids in the orphanage, but also the kids in our school and in the colony. I spend that evening with the kids and families in our colony in San Juan Pueblo. They had three piñatas and the kids went CRAZY when they burst with candy. Kids in America are mild compared to the way these kids reacted. There were even parents jumping over chairs to get to the pile to get candy. After the celebration I hung out in a couple homes and watched Honduras beat up on Jamaica. And when I drove home, back to La Masica, I realized how passionate these people are about their football (soccer). When I got to the highway I realized I was in the middle of huge celebration parade. And when I got out of San Juan Pueblo, I thought it was over until I made to the first corner and realized I had caught up to a line of about 25 cars. All of them had the hazard lights on, flags flying, people hanging out of cars and yelling. We traveled on the highway from SJP to La Masica and a whopping speed of 30 mph. Every little town we pasted through, people were along the road screaming and yelling in celebration. I, of course, joined the celebration. I turned on my hazards and rolled down the window and laid on the horn. Our parade turned down the main road into La Masica and went up and down almost every road in town. I stayed on the main road and went back to the house. But I could hear the whole town going crazy. From what I hear, it was the first time Honduras has ever beat Jamaica at home.

This past weekend was a celebration for Independence Day. Independence was actually yesterday, 15 Sept. They had parades Sunday and Monday, and they are so slow moving. I was cool to see them, but they were a bit boring. I did get to see some of the parade in SJP yesterday and that was entertaining. Because of the holiday, we don’t have any school all week. So I hoping the week don’t go by too slow. Tomorrow I get to bus a soccer team of 16 yr old boys to La Ceiba for a game, so that should be fun.

I'm Back

I’m back

Well it’s about 1:30 am here in Honduras, which that makes it 3:30am back in Atlanta. It was another adventure traveling down just like my last flight down here was. I had no problems getting to Fort Lauderdale, but then I had a ten hours layover at FLL. I was able to find an empty info counter to camp out at in the airport, with the help of one of the workers at the airport telling me the best place to take a nap is at. The only thing is, I didn’t realize there was still a sign over the counter that said, “Airport information.” So each time I poked me head up from behind the counter, someone would usually approach me and as me for some help. With the help of some Tylenol pm, I was able to get close to three of sleep.

Our flight left FLL on time and we got into San Pedro Sula (SPS) a bit early. The plans for my ride changed just before I left Florida, Instead of David driving two hours in the dark to get me, Stef was going to pick me up and take me to her hotel to stay the night since she is already in SPS. And tomorrow, David is supposed to pick me up in the afternoon. The problem is Stef fell asleep and didn’t wake up to pick me up at the airport. I tried calling her cell for about 45 mins, but no answer. I got lucky and actually remembered the name of her hotel and I got a taxi to take me there. And that taxi flew through the roads.

When I got to the hotel, everything in the lobby was pitch black. I didn’t realize, but the there were two guys sitting on the sits near the door. I knocked, hoping someone might hear me. When the guy came to the door, he told me he had no rooms, but luckily Stef had saved a room for me and when “I told them who my sister is and my name, they let me in. I called Stef’s room and woke her up… she was really surprised to hear my voice.

My hotel room reminds of what I would think a rehab room might look like. It’s just big enough to fit my bed and a little desk with a fan, phone, and pitcher. The bathroom is actually a decent size and nice a clean. I guess I’m going to try to get some sleep. Until next time, take care and God Bless to everyone!

Lights????

A driving adventure not to forget.... On the night of July 28 I had to ride to the airport in San Pedro Sula. The trip is a two hours drive from La Masica. I had to go to drop off a couple that had been staying with us for a few weeks. And on the incoming flight they were leaving on, David was arriving back from the states. I was happy to see that the flight landed on time, unlike the week before when Dialis’ flight came in two hours late. The unfortunate part was that David sat in the back of the plane and it took him almost 2 hours to get through immigration and customs. So my drive back to La Masica didn’t start until 1:45 am. The first half of the trip went the best it could, considering most of that part of the trip, the roads had little to no markings or signs. I did get stopped at the police checkpoint at one of the bridges, but there were no problems there. On the second half of the trip it got a bit interesting. Now unlike to first half of the trip, this half the roads are marked and there are signs. I was starting to round a sharp corner when David told me I might was to slow a little more since there is a cliff to our inside right. Just after I rounded to corned and started to go down this hill, the headlights of the truck start to flash. Then all the sudden, everything died in the truck, the lights, the engine, everything. I could not see two inches in front of my face. I hit the brakes and started to pull to the right, but didn’t know how far I could go b/c of the cliff. David kept telling me to pull more to the right but I was thinking, “What about the cliff?” And during this time, I’m trying to crank the engine, but nothing is happening. Then I’m trying to get my flashlight out of my pocket, but my headphones are wrapped it, making it hard to pull it out. Luckily David was with me, b/c he knew what the problem was. The battery became disconnected from the wires. He got of the truck as I popped the hood and reattached the cables. It was not fun sitting in the pitch black in place where the drivers are more than crazy. But we were back on our way in just a few minutes. Night driving in this country is not fun, definitely since some people feel it´s smarter to drive with no lights on. Also you have the people that sit on the white line, where you can´t see them, plus the bikes and motorcycles. So having the lights go out adds something to the already nerve racking drive.

Take care and God Bless