If you'd told us, back then . . .

Preparing to head off to Honduras, as construction missionaries,
in 2000

As many of you know, fifteen years ago, in 2001, our family left the United States, thinking we would be in Honduras for 2 - 3 years completing one construction project - and you have heard how that worked out! If anyone had told us, back then, that we would find ourselves still here in 2016, feeding 12,000 children regularly, we would likely have laughed! If they'd suggested we would build bridges of the sizes we have now built, and in the quantity we have done - well, I don't know that we would have considered that very likely, either. The idea that we'd be working with a huge network of pastors to spread the gospel to remote villages in unevangelized areas of the mountains of western Honduras would have seemed preposterous, too. God has taken our willingness to serve, and created something much larger than we had ever envisioned!

What you may not know is that Allen and I had intended to head to the mission field much earlier than we did. When we married, in 1984, we had a plan. Allen would enter the military and learn to fly, and when his military commitment was over we would sign on to do missionary aviation work. It was a very nice plan . . . it just didn't work out. Allen has some very minor physical deficiencies which precluded him from flying for the military, and after 8 weeks of officer training school, we made the decision together that he would not accept his commission.

That was a scary time for us, as we were newlyweds with all of our plans wrapped up in being in the military - job, housing, health care, etc. Suddenly we were newlyweds with nothing! We looked into the possibility of paying for private flight training, but we couldn't afford it. We couldn't really afford anything, just then, so Allen and I each got jobs. We saved up to buy a house near our work, within a few years the children started arriving . . . and we lost sight of our original goal of serving God as missionaries.

The phrase we use to describe that time in our lives is a phrase we hear frequently from other people: "Life got in the way." Usually, when people say this, they are speaking about something they had planned to do, but they never got around to doing it because of the demands of everyday life. At some point, "life" became just about getting through the day, or about "living the American dream."

We are so glad that God turned us around, after we'd been married for 16 years, and pointed us back in the direction of serving Him full-time as foreign missionaries. What amazing blessings we would have missed, if we hadn't listened to the still small voice, encouraging us to return to our original calling!

Are you letting life get in the way of what God wants you to do? It isn't necessarily something as all-encompassing as living for decades in a foreign country, but we've found that, when we put serving God first, the other parts of life fall into place, alongside the main goal. It isn't an either/or situation.

It's exciting to see what God can do with people who are willing to step out and do something crazy, just because He asked them to do it. I encourage you to not let life get in the way of the blessings He has in store for you.

Poverty Enters my House

For almost 15 years now, my family has worked with the desperately poor, in rural villages in Honduras. I like to think my eyes are open to the needs and the problems, if not the solutions, related to the economic situation in Honduras. When visitors arrive, and exclaim over the level of poverty they see here, I nod my head sadly - because, of course, I've seen it.

But recently, our family hired a young woman to help with the cooking and housework. Most missionaries do hire help - it is seen as both a tool to allow the missionaries to concentrate on the work they are sent to do and also valuable employment to individuals in the community. Additionally, the missionary family benefits from the interaction with a speaker of the local language. We already employ a group of regular workers, men who have learned valuable skills while building bridges and water projects with us, and who are currently working with us in the coffee fields. But I've been reluctant to have household help . . . it's too personal for this hermit, having someone working right.in.the.house.

Recently, though, I gave in to the inevitable (I posted about this here), and hired a helper. I've had friends praying for this need, and then for the transition - mostly because, while I knew it was necessary, I was dreading it! I've been so grateful for the prayer support - and am delighted to report that things are going swimmingly! I really like my new household helper - not only is she hardworking, but she's also pleasant company, and she's fond of my menagerie of animals - which is huge when you consider how much extra work they create for her! We are already forming a friendship which transcends the differences in our ages (she's the same age as my oldest daughter), our communications difficulties, and so many other aspects of our lives. Either of us will stop at a moment's notice to share something with the other - a joke, a serious story, something silly one of the animals is doing, a beautiful view, an interesting bug, etc.

But, there has been another thing that has happened, with her arrival into my house. It's not unexpected, but somehow I managed to be surprised by it again . . .suddenly, poverty has entered my house. No longer can I sit back and view poverty as a problem to be addressed on a large scale. Now, it has a name and a face; dreams and aspirations. Poverty wonders how to make life better for her children. Poverty has a sweet attitude, and a brave smile, in spite of setbacks. Poverty is my sister in Christ.

Some additional thoughts on Homeschooling

Suzanne and Rachel brought up some excellent questions in the comments section yesterday, and I thought I'd go ahead and make my part of this discussion a separate post. In other words, I think this will get long! But, I'll go ahead and wade in with my thoughts on some of these questions and comments.

Suzanne commented that homeschooling must certainly take a lot of discipline and organization. Now, once we get beyond the fact that my husband would dissolve into hysterical laughter if anyone even used those words in the same sentence with my name, we can discuss this.

Here are my thoughts. Classroom education and homeschooling are extremely different enterprises, and I believe that teaching in a classroom requires these resources (especially organization) to a much higher degree than does homeschooling.

Consider the scenerio. Classroom teachers (and I have great respect for these folks) are vastly outnumbered by their students. Even a small classroom is likely to have many more students than there are children in my relatively large family. Just maintaining control of this many children is a huge endeavor, before any attempt is made to educate them.

Additionally, the children come into this classroom with baggage. One child's home life is difficult, and the student is distracted. Another child stayed up too late last night, and isn't going to be able to concentrate today. Some have fallen behind, and are struggling to learn what was already taught in the past, and are not prepared to learn what is being taught today. Other children are alert and ready to learn. Some are so far ahead of the rest of the class, that they are bored by the lessons being offered.

This isn't meant as an indictment of the classroom situation - ask most any teacher, and they will agree that this is a huge part of the challenge of teaching in a classroom. It's different in homeschooling. For the most part, the teaching is more like tutoring, with a one-to-one student/teacher ratio. It is relatively easy to tailor the lesson to the student, when there is only one student. You don't need to teach 20 lessons on subtraction, if the child has already caught on to this concept. You can jump ahead. Or, if the student is struggling with the lesson, there is no pressure to forge ahead - it makes perfect sense to repeat the lesson, until the child has mastered the material. In a classroom, the child who needed extra reinforcement might be pushed into a test before they had learned the material, and they would receive a failing grade, just because there is a schedule to be maintained. This student will also not be prepared for the next concept, if it builds on the one they just failed to master. But what can a classroom teacher do? They do have a schedule to maintain. If the teacher slows the pace of the teaching, to suit the slower students, the rest of the class suffers. Conversely, if the level of teaching is matched to the fastest and brightest students, others will be left in the dust. Most teachers I've asked about this have said that they try to teach "to the middle." Sadly, while this is necessary in a classroom, it does make learning more difficult and frustrating for the children whose skills fall outside of "the middle."

As the parent, I can teach my child from where they are right now. I am also aware of the child's daily "baggage" in a way that the classroom teacher will not be. I know the child isn't concentrating on math this morning because they were up too late last night, or had a fight with a friend, or just lost a beloved pet. I can let them sleep in and catch up later in the day, or have them work on something that involves less mental capacity (like, oh, handwriting, maybe, or doing some independent reading), or in some way match the lesson to the moment (perhaps writing a poem or creating a drawing to express their emotion is a better idea on this morning, than memorizing spelling words). There really is no need for me to maintain a schedule for the sake of the schedule, since there are no other students being hurt by my catering the lesson to the one.

There is a point to all of this rambling. Covering the same amount of lesson material, to a mastery level, can be achieved in much less time, and with less effort, when there isn't an entire classroom of students involved. So, although organization and discipline are certainly involved in the process of homeschooling, these skills are not required to a level that the average person can't achieve.

And now, that's all I'm going to say on homeschooling today. I know this isn't what my overall blog is really about, so I don't want to post on this topic to the exclusion of others - but I managed to write all of this, and only get to the first of the comments/questions. I'll try to post some more on this topic in the next couple of days, but not to the exclusion of pictures of and updates on chickens, scary roads, mountain scenery, and, oh yeah . . . the ministry work. ;-D

A Rare Post about My Thoughts, re: Russell's Traffic Accident

If you've read this blog at all, you know that it is about events. I write here about our everyday life: what we are doing in regard to our ministry, raising our children and just living life in Honduras. Obviously you know we have some very strong beliefs, or we wouldn't be living and working as missionaries. But this blog isn't about that.

I'm making a quick exception today, to just write my thoughts about Russell's recent accident. I've appreciated all of the kind wishes and sympathy we've received in emails and comments, relating to the injustice of the situation. But I want you to know that we aren't feeling as though we are being picked on because we are gringos, even though events could certainly make it appear so.

In reality, the poor in Honduras are regularly treated much worse than we have fared. Although we will have some financial difficulties related to the outcome of the accident, we certainly do not expect these difficulties to be long lasting or life changing. We may not buy steaks or other imported foods again for a good long while, and I might put off some fun purchases of books or movies or household items that I would otherwise have bought.

The injustices done to Hondurans by their own government, for generations and at all levels, dwarfs our situation so much that it is almost embarrassing to mention our loss. Citizens of a country ought to receive the basic services that governments provide, and in Honduras, many (perhaps most) do not. This is obvious in the lack of availability of safe transportation, health care services, schools, clean water and sanitation, police services, protection by the armed forces . . . the list just goes on and on.

The fact that we did not receive what we perceive to be justice, from a government which historically doesn't provide justice to it's own citizens, shouldn't really come as any surprise.

I'm reminded of a story we heard when we lived on the island of Guanaja. Several teenage boys went out fishing in a small boat, and when their engine conked out they were swept out to sea. The weather was rough, and it was too dangerous for the boats from the island to go out searching for the boys. The Honduran coast guard was called, but was either unwilling or unable to send any rescue boats. After some time had passed, someone thought about the fact that one of the boys had one American parent, and so was a US citizen. Within a short time, the US coast guard had arrived on the scene, found the boat, and rescued the one surviving boy. The point of this story is, whatever else you may think about the US government, there is a wall of protection and care around US citizens, all over the world, that is not available to Hondurans.

With this event, we have taken a small step toward entering into the suffering of the poor of Honduras, as we are directed to do by the example of our Master, who experienced injustice, as well. As His disciples, we consider it an honor to do so.