Hello!

It’s only been two weeks since my last blog, and here I am posting a new one! Progress! I would like to update you on Summer Learning Fun, city life, one-on-one instruction, and talk a little about what God has been showing me lately.

Amanda (one of my four roomies) and I were told a couple weeks before our furloughs finished that we would be taking over Summer Learning Fun–the half-day summer school program–when we got back. I had just assumed that I’d have two weeks to chill and hang out in the city when I got here, so I wasn’t super excited, initially. However, now that I’ve made it through the two weeks of the program, I can say that I’m so grateful we got to do it! It was a nice way to ease back into teacher life and get a read on the students I’ll be having this year. I had third & fourth grade and first & second grade for an hour each in the mornings, and then worked one-on-one with three of our new kids in the afternoons.

The third & fourth graders were my kids from last year, so everything was fine with them, except that I think they may be a little too comfortable with me. I’ll have to crack my whip when school starts again to straighten ’em out! 😉 The first & second graders were crazies last year, so I was actually a little nervous to work with them. We definitely did have some crazy times, but we also had some wonderful, productive times as well, so I’m optimistic about working with those little peeps. Oh! NEWS: I am now the teacher of first, second, and third grade Language Arts! Last year I just had second & third, and along with teaching Language Arts to them, I also taught Math to third grade and Science to second & third. This year I am solely teaching Language Arts and I’m very excited about it. Language Arts is my fave!!

Now, allow me to tell you about my afternoon one-on-ones. I worked for about 35 minutes each with two brothers, 4 & 6 (approximately), who came to the Ranch just about a week before I got back to The Hon, and a little 4/5 year old girl who came to the Ranch with her older sister at the end of May. I had the youngest boy first, his older brother, and then the little girl. We started out kinda rough, but we made progress! By the end of the two weeks, the older brother, who started his first day CRYYYYYING the whole time and refusing to respond to me or look at me, was sitting by me in chapel, holding my hand, and running out of his house to head down to the school when I came to pick him up for our one-on-one. Woohoo! I don’t know how much he actually learned, but I’m so glad that he’s not afraid to go to school anymore and that he feels more comfortable in the classroom. His little brother did well and I think that he’s going to fit right into Pre-K! The little girl is crazy smart and I feel very confident that she is going to excel this year in school! Here are a few pictures of the cuties:

We certainly have some gentlemen on the Ranch and we start ’em young! I love me some good manners. So, Summer Learning was a win, I enjoyed working with the little guys for one-on-one, and I’m excited for school to start!

Speaking of excitement and enjoying things…it’s been wonderful being in the city! I was sad to leave the Ranch and worried that I’d miss it, but city life has been so nice. We can go to the grocery store without planning ahead for the entire next week and it’s not a big deal if we forget something. There are so many cool places that we’re finding, we’re able to be part of a life group/home group now, and the drive to church is really short. We’re in a very good location, and it’s loads of fun being here. It’s more like real life. This past Wednesday, Amanda and I left the Ranch early because we had to be home so a repairman could come and fix our washer. After he left, we had so much time left in the day, so we went to this coffee/gelato/bakery place by our house, a cool grocery store we’d never been to that had some things we hadn’t seen here before, and we got dinner at a yummy baleada place.

And now, to the finale: what God has been showing me. These past couple of weeks, God has been showing me things about myself that I don’t necessarily enjoy seeing, but I’m grateful that He is exposing in me. I need to grow in loving people. And I want to. But I’m realizing that loving people is hard. I’ve started noticing how often I judge people and compare their words or actions to what I would say or do. I’ve realized that it doesn’t come naturally for me to help people and put them first and offer encouraging words. It also makes me so thankful that Jesus loves me unconditionally. He doesn’t feel differently about me based on the amount of good or bad I do. He isn’t constantly criticizing me or feeling disappointed in me. The love He has for His people is constant, unchanging, and unfailing. I think that as I grow in the Lord and rest in His Love for me, I’ll be able to love people better. As I am humbled by His Love for me, I’ll be able to humble myself to truly love others.

Would you pray that God would enable me to love people like He does? Would you please pray that this year will be a year of growth, encouragement, and deeper understanding of the Father’s love for us? I want my kids to excel this year. I want to be an excellent teacher that helps them grow in the Lord and further their education. Please pray that all of us teachers would have wisdom in how to teach, love, and discipline our kids. Pray that little hearts would be healed and that the Holy Spirit would have His way.

This is going to be a good year!!

Thanks for the love and support!

XO,

Lindsey

I’m happy to say that I am back in Honduras! Right now, I’m sitting in the kitchen of our new house in the city on one of the bar stools my brother built when he was here visiting. It was so nice having him come & letting him see the Ranch and meet my kids, see our new house, and go on unplanned adventures. I love my brother, so it was way cool that he was able to come and see my life here before I went back to the States for the summer.

It’s kind of weird having two lives. Two homes. Being part of two different cultures. Weird, but cool. It’s interesting to see the differences and similarities. There are some things I like way better in Honduras, and some things I prefer in the States. I have to say that I definitely prefer the movie theaters in Honduras. They’re cleaner and better quality for way less! I paid about $4 to go see Ant Man tonight with the girls and it was a lovely experience! While at home in the States, I went with my family to see the Avengers and I think we paid like $13 each (for 3D). It was hard for me to enjoy it just knowing that I could have seen three movies here for the same price! Also, if you pay about $10, you can go to the VIP theater with leather reclining seats and menu service. So yeah, on movies, Honduras wins! The US certainly takes the prize though when it comes to accessibility and convenience. Things are so quick and you have so much to choose from. When I first got back, I couldn’t stop freaking out about all the choices I had at HEB! And the States has Target. So that’s a big plus for them. I don’t think any country wins though. Definitely not. There are pros and cons to each and I’m thankful to get to experience the good (and bad) of both!

Wednesday night before I left to come here, I didn’t sleep. And for those of you who know me, you know it’s not just because I was super excited and couldn’t fall asleep; you know that I, of course, had saved my packing until the last minute and I was up until it was time to go getting it all done! I did get it done though AND (big plus) I was early to the airport! My flight was at 5:10 am and we got there at like 3:50. That’s the earliest I’ve ever gotten there for these early morning flights. So bam! I didn’t even have to rush. I will say that lack of sleep does not make for the best traveling experience, but I still made it to Honduras, and there were good things. I had coffee, the lady next to me on the plane was nice, I met a nice guy who is also a teacher & he helped me with my heavy bags, and I was greeted by my wonderful, beautiful friends when I came out from the baggage claim!! We picked up Popeye’s, came back to the house, hung out, I unpacked, we organized, etc. and then went to a store kind of like Sear’s (called Lady Lee) and paid for a couch and washer/dryer. They’ll be coming in tomorrow! We ran more errands today and I picked up curtains, a trash can, and a fan for my room. The curtains are awesome, the trash can is too small, and the fan didn’t work. We’ll be exchanging it tomorrow! And it’s sad because I was feeling so proud for figuring out how to put it together (with a tiny bit of help from Amanda). I’ll get another chance with my new one though and if it works, I can feel super proud!

I so enjoyed my time in the States. I loved getting to hang out with my sweet friends and make a million Target runs & drink lots of Starbucks. I got to go to Mid-Cities and go to the Spanish service! It was good to be with my family and spend time with them. My bed was really soft. And I had fun with my little animales. Driving was easy. And, you know, there was Target. I am so thankful for my six weeks back home, but I’m also really thankful to be back here. I know that this is where God has me and it feels good. I feel at peace (:

I’m excited to be living in the city this year, to be doing life with my four lovely roommates, and to be teaching second and third grade. I can’t wait to give you more updates as this year progresses! I’ll go ahead and tell you now that I’m planning to write a blog every two weeks. My original goal was once a month, but by the time the month was up, there was too much to write about and just getting started felt overwhelming! I didn’t write at all when I was at home during furlough and before that, I think my last post was at the end of May. So, sorry about that. Some of you may not have realized it’s been that long until now, but it has! Now though, that you know I want to write a blog every two weeks & you’ve seen it right here all typed up, you have permission to check in on me when I’m slacking. When it’s been 15 days and I haven’t posted a new blog, you can message me and say, “Lindsey, what’s up?! It’s been 15 days and you said you would write a blog every 14 days! I care about your life and your goals and so I just wanted to check in on you and help you to accomplish this goal that you have set for yourself.” It might sound like I’m kidding, but I’m really not. Help me out!! I’m giving you permission. I’m asking for it: Will you please check in on me?! Kindly..? (:

Okay. Thank you for reading my blog. Thank you for caring about my life. I appreciate it so much!! If you’d like to pray for me, I could use prayer to grow in loving people. Also, growing in obedience. God showed me while I was at home (through Spanish church) that I’ve been tolerating sin in my life and I don’t want to do that anymore. Please pray that I’ll continually choose the better thing (Jesus) and learn to truly delight in Him and enjoy Him. Pray that the next two weeks of Summer Learning with the kids will go well and be a good transition back into teacher life & that I’ll get everything organized for this school year. If I can be praying for you, please let me know! Message me, email me, Facebook me..whatever works for you!

May we be people who put our trust in God’s love and love others the way that He has loved us!

Love & blessings,

Lindsey

[Annnnd shout out to the people who came over to play games and drink coffee!! We must play Mafia again!]