VBS

I don't actually have a designated day at our school in San Marcos, but occassionally I have given up my office day to go to school. This past week I was there, helping the SHINE group with their VBS program. Americans that come here for a week and do 3-4 "VBS"s don't really understand the impact they are making on the kids. What is great about these programs is the fact that groups actually spend time with the kids, helping them do crafts, telling them stories, and keeping them entertained. Most importantly, they show the children the love of christ and make each and every one of them feel special. This is something many will never get at home, and during the 10 weeks groups are here, they are showered with those gifts of love. It is easy to become numb to some things while we are here for two months, but I am always touched when I work around the beautiful children at our schools.
Molly

What I have learned at recess!

My last blog was directed mostly towards the teachers, cooks, and administrators at the school, so I wanted to write another blog about the kids in the school! Though recess seems liek the longest part of the day when working at the school because it is about 45-60 min long compared to our 15 min long one in the U.S., it is one of my favorite parts of the day because it is when I really get to bond and hang out with the kids. One of the first things that I noticed when I started playing with the kids at recess was how much they dont seem to mind whether or not you can speak much spanish, they are just glad to have a new companion to join in their games. I feel bad because most of the time I dont rememeber or I butcher them when I attempt to pronounce them, but that still doesnt stop them from wanting to play. They still run up and grab my hand and give me hugs and get excited when they see me, it always makes my day brighter. I have learned quite a few words in Spanish from the kids as well, such as pato pato gansol is duck duck goose and maseme is push me...and all kinds of other useful playground talk! But I really do love the kids and the opprotunity that I have had to work with them here. To be given the opportunity to just sit down under a mango tree with them all gathered around me singing the song, God is so Good, in Spanish and English seems to remind me that in some ways we arent so different! --Kenz

International VBS

My first day of working as an intern was a mixture of working at the school and helping with VBS. I helped in the preschool room where we attepted to teach the children how to write their names. I also played a game of pictionary with them. Later the VBS group came. I have worked VBS many times in the states but this was my first international VBS experience. I got to translate for the "mariposa" (butterfly) craft group. I can't describe how awesome it was to hear the children shout "Dios" (God) when I asked them who made the butterflies. Then they each got to make their own butterflies out of coffee filters, paint, clothes pins, and pipe cleaners. Since that day I have worked two more days of VBS. I have played Mary in the skit and I have also done a puppet show. I learned that puppet shows aren't as easy as they seem and I learned just how heavy an arm can get. At the last VBS I got to help in the kitchen serving the children their juice. My heart went out to each little child as they stared up at me with their beautiful brown eyes, waiting patiently for their cup of juice. It was such a blessing to work at each VBS and to spread God's love to each child. I pray that God pours his blessings upon all the people that came here and made VBS possible.
~Christie

Hey, my name is Kenzie, and I have been working in Honduras now for about 2 months and each week I have been working in a little school in the town of San Marcos up in the mountains here in Honduras. I remember my first day at the school here this summer, it was much different from what I expected it to be, but defininetly a good way. I love the teachers and the administration at the school, and I want to dedicate this blog to them. I have learned alot this summer from watching the teachers at the school and how they interact with the kids, how they are able to discipline the kids as well as show them love and give them a safe and clean environment to be in all day. I really appreciate all of the teachers and the administrations patience with me, they are all so welcoming to let me come into there classrooms and help them teach, especially when I dont know a whole lot of Spanish and communicating can be a challenge sometimes. But even with that language barrier, I am still able to learn from these people and have fun with them. One day during lunch the teachers were dancing in the kitchen and they asked me to dance for them, and I tried to do a salsa dancing move for them, it was akward, but it made them laugh, so it was worth it. I also really appreciate Roxannas humor and how she seems to just laugh at me everytime i mess up with my spanish or make a mistake instead of getting upset. For example, the other day she told the interns that there was ham in the kitchen if we wanted any for breakfast, and the word for ham in spanish is jamon and I thought she said that there was jabon for us to eat in the kitchen, and jabon in spanish is soap. But those are just a few examples of the fun things that I have experienced wit hthe people who work in the school, I love working with them, and learning what I can about them. The people at the school are great! --Kenz

Off The Ranch

One day a week, I get to leave the ranch and hang out with the kids at the Mission Lazarus school in San Marcos. And it's a blast! The last time I was there, Shanna, Seth, and I hitched a ride in the back of a fruit truck to San Marcos, which was pretty thrilling. We then proceeded to hang out at the school, where I got to help with the preschool kids all day. Yikes! What a crazy-fun bunch of niños! After going through their morning lessons, (in which the letter J that I colored got posted on the wall! Yes!), they had free time, which was free reign to do just about anything! So, some of their favorites that I experienced were the Sleeping Monster game (pretending you're asleep until the kids get really close to you and tug at your hair and your glasses and stuff and then waking up and growling and roaring and chasing after them) as well as picking them up with one arm and swinging them all through the air. Man, it's a blast! And they don't even care if you can barely speak a lick of Spanish; they just want you to pay attention to them and play with them. If only us "adults" could be the same way! Lunch time at the school is great, too, especially when you get to eat the divine chicken and rice on Fridays. And after lunch is recess, the crazy swing- and soccer-fest, packed with a million kids screaming "Dee-lan, Dee-lan. Mesa me!!!" It's great, too, because I look like I'm really good at soccer when playing against a bunch of four-, five-, and six-year-olds! Yes!! I love it! And, after sweating it out on the playground all afternoon, you can slip over to the ice cream shop and get a divine Giga caramel chocolate bar and feel like a lush!! The school is so much fun to be a part of, no matter what your main focus is as an intern. It is soooo amazing how God is using Mission Lazarus, in so many amazing ways, to reach the seemingly insurmountable needs of this corner of the world. ML serves these children and their families so well, and it is so evident in the kids' little faces how excited they are to be who they are in Christ. It's an amazing thing to see so much light in the midst of so much chaos. God's hand is here in so many ways!! The school is a flippin' sweet place to be; that's all that can be said.

-- Dylan Wann

So I Have Learned Something in College

For the past several weeks at the school in San Marcos, I have been tutoring two little boys one on one. My first student, Jenri, was having trouble keeping up in class. In his second grade calss, he was not participating like the other students and when called upon, he could not answer. I took him out of class to work with him and decide what he needed to work on specifically and realized very quickly that he did not even know his alphabet. So, first things first, I taught him the alphabet song. I will never forget the smile on his face the first time he listened to Emily and I sing that song (he probably just thought we were wierd). After singing the song a few times solo, he joined in and learned in pretty quickly. He still gets mixed up around G, H, and I and also around L, M, N, O, P, but who didnt get those mixed up when they first learned the alphabet? Teaching him something simple, like the alphabet, was amazing to me. Because of the emergent literacy class I took at Harding last spring, I knew exactly what his little brain was going through to learn that alphabet. So, here is some proof that I have actually been learning while in college. I know some people doubt the capability of college students to retain information, but here is some hard evidence that it does happen. Since teaching him the song, he asks every day if we are going to ¨do homework¨together. We have also been able to work on the sounds of letters (which is way easier in Spanish than in English) and also he has put a few letters together and has begun to read. The one thing that has amazed me in this process of tutoring is that he only needed a little bit of help. With only a few days a week of my help, his abilities have grown immensely and I am so impressed with his intelligence. He just needed a little extra time and needed to take a small step back to be able to reach the rest of the class. He is still a little bit behind the rest of the students in second grade, but I have no doubt that he will be right up there with them in no time at all.

Shanna Crossland

Bienvenidos a Honduras

The first day we were working in Honduras, I was sent to C.I.D.T to help with a teaching conference about the rights of children. The day started out pretty slow, just making name tags for the teachers, and meeting some of the people that work at the school where I would be spending three days a week for the rest of the summer. We set out cookies and coffee and Coke and ate lunch with the teachers. After lunch, Shelly came to get the other two interns and me because we were going to the house of a small boy, Giovanni, to find out why he had not been attending school. The social worker was going with us. So about 6 of us piled into a van and drove over the dirt roads to get to his house. It was there that I learned that Giovanni, the slightly autistic 6 year old, was left as an infant in the care of the elderly woman that lived there. His mother had not been seen or heard from since then and Giovanni just lived with this woman and her grown sons. He had two outfits total and no shoes to wear. After some discussion with his caretaker, the social worker decided he needed to be out of those living conditions immediately. The woman was not adequately taking care of the boy and no longer wanted the responsibility. He needed more attention than he was getting, and there was also a great possibility that he was being abused. So, just like that, Giovanni came with us to C.I.D.T. until the end of the day when they could send him to a new home. What a first day! I am not sure what I was expecting, but I certainly was not expecting to be able to see a child taken from an unhealthy living situation to a home where he will be loved and provided for and taught as he grows up. I was able to see Mission Lazarus in action, improving the life of one adorable little boy, and it was only my first day in Honduras. I can only imagine what else can happen, what else I will be able to witness and be a part of for the next 9 weeks.

Shanna Crossland