I wanted to write an update before I went back to the States. I’m cutting it pretty close, since I’m going back tomorrow 😉 Y’all know how I am.

This has been a good month for me. My amigas and I had been feeling a little stressed out and behind with work at school, so our Ranch director offered us a house at the Ranch to stay in for the two weeks before Christmas. We ended up staying a Thursday, Monday-Thursday, and then Monday & Tuesday. I was NOT excited about staying at the Ranch because I didn’t want to have to pack up all my things, bring food, everything we’d need for the week, etc. to stay in a house that was not my own. I really did not have a good attitude about it. I’m thankful though that God knows what’s best for me and that He got me to stay. It was fun & restful, and I very much enjoyed my time. I was able to work in my classroom, watch a soccer game, hang out with some fun kiddos, play soccer, and spend time with other families at the Ranch. It was great! I’m so grateful we got to stay there.

The last week of school was pretty crazy with a graduation for one of our high-schoolers, the Christmas program, and classroom Christmas parties. This year I got to celebrate with the third graders, and we spent the whole morning doing fun, Christmasy things. We talked about the significance of the candy cane, wrote in our journals about Christmas, read a book, played with clay, presented our door to the judges (for a door decoration contest), played outside, did a word search, watched Christmas cartoons, ate cookies & drank hot chocolate, and played a Christmas version of Would You Rather. It was fun!! And I got to give gifts to my little students. I wasn’t sure how excited they’d be, but they loved their presents! I gave them each a small journal, a dessert-shaped eraser, a mechanical pencil, and their own highlighter. Some were switching erasers, but there was one boy who said, “I will never change my things. I love them!” Goodness. I’m so privileged to get to be the teacher of these students. They bless me all the time. I’m thankful that even though I’m their teacher, that God uses them to teach me more about my relationship with Him and others. They’re sweeties. And one of the sentence stems I had them complete in their journaling time said, “If I could give one thing to every person in the world, I would…” In response to it, I had two students answer that they would preach the gospel to them. Ahhhh my heart. These kids are going to be world changers!

Here are some pictures from the last month:

This was during the kids’ Christmas program. They don’t look super happy, but still…they’re so cute. We always talk about how good-looking our kids are and how pretty/handsome they’re going to be when they’re older. “How did we get all the cutest kids?” “Man, the girls better look out. He’s gonna be a heartbreaker!” “Awww she’s SO pretty!”

I know only a few are looking, but these are my first graders coloring their Christmas trees and adding stickers to them. I’ve had 10, but we’ll have a new student joining us in January–the son of a new missionary family!

Here we have me and my third graders in front of our door. We all took part in planning and everyone joined in to create our door design and put it all together. When the judges came to ask us about it, they did such a great job of explaining why we chose it and what each part represented.

And our hard work paid off. We tied with fourth grade for 3rd place!! I’m very glad we won. My kids were SO excited!! {Also, we had pajama day during the Christmas parties. This is not our normal attire!}

I’m grateful for my time here with my Ranch family and all the wonderful people God has put in my life here in Honduras, AND I’m excited to go to the States and see my family & friends there too. What a blessing to have family & friends in two different countries. I’m thankful that Jesus loves me and takes care of me and wants the best for me. I’m thankful that He has been teaching me more about loving people. I’ve been saying that I want to grow in loving people for a long time & I think I’ve asked for y’all to pray for me in that area. Thank you for your prayers. Even just recently, God has been revealing things in my heart and in His Word, and I’m learning and improving. For example, this verse has impacted me:

“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself.” -Philippians 2:3

I knew that I liked to be better than people and that it was hard for me be happy for other people’s successes. And that I wanted people to think highly of me. And that I wanted to come across like I had it all together. But I didn’t realize until God spoke to me through this verse that all of those things fall under the umbrella of being selfish & trying to impress others. How can I love others if my focus is on myself and I want to show them up? How can I love others if I’m putting my significance in what other people think of me instead of standing on God’s opinion of me? The answer is that I can’t. I need God to teach me humility. I need Him to show me how to look for the best in people and compliment them and rejoice with them. I need Him to teach me to rest completely in who He says I am so that I’m living to please Him and not trying to impress or please others.  I’m thankful that He can do that and that He wants to. We have a good, good Father. And teacher. And friend and lover and every single thing that we need!

Merry Christmas!

I pray that this season is filled with sweet moments with Jesus. May you experience Him in new ways and receive exactly what you need from Him.

Blessings,

blessings,

blessings,

Lindsey