Blog en espanol!

Estar en Honduras me hace sentir como si estuviera en mi pais, Mexico.  A final de cuentas, somos Latinoamericanos y compartimos muchas cosas; cultura, idioma, clima, comida, etc. Asi como tambien compartimos el tener a tantos ninos en la calle que han sido abandonados o que han escapado y preferido vivir ahi porque es mejor que estar en una casa donde son muy maltratados…

Siempre he tenido un Corazon especial hacia los ninos latinoamericanos, y estar aqui y ver a todos los ninos de Manuelito, me inyecta mas ganas de siempre hacer algo por ellos. Admiro mucho lo que hacen aqui, tendria que escribir una lista MUY larga de todo ello!  Son realmente un ejemplo a seguir. Solo creanme que aqui en Manuelito existe y se puede ver un VERDADERO AMOR por el nino de la calle.

Hoy en nuestro 5o dia aqui y nos estamos derritiendo! Pero no nos quejamos, y mucho menos ahora que nos enteramos que en Maidenhead estan a 4 grados C!!!

Manana tenemos el evento tan esperado con las mujeres de Talanga. Hoy vi al Pastor que las esta invitando y no sabe si tendremos a 75, 100, 150, 200 o mas! Tenemos preparados 222 regalos para ellas, si llegan mas de este numero, espero que se multipliquen de forma sobrenatural! Jaja!! Ya les platicare… 

Quiero tambien compartirles lo bien que me hace sentir el ver a mis otros compatriotas, los ingleses, amar tanto a toda esta gente hondurena. Los britanicos ayudan mucho y son caritativos, pero su ayuda se ve mas hacia Africa y otros paises Asiaticos. Personalmente, casi no me ha tocado verla hacia Latinomerica por lo que me siento privilegiada de ser parte de este equipo.

Alejandra

Thanks for reading the blog

This is just a quick post to say thank you to everyone who is reading the blog and our tweets, and also coming back to read again and comment. We have recorded 193 pageviews for Thursday, and 976 in the last 7 days, which we think is amazing, as there is probably more unrecorded, and we have gone international with visitors from Australia, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Italy, Jersey, Spain and USA,

This is a real encouragement to the team, as it helps us to know that you are interested in what we are doing, and also that it is worth us adding new posts and tweets as well.

We are sorry to not be able to add new photos (which we are taking), but at present 1 image would take up 1 day's worth of data, and when the Manuelito home reaches its limit for the month, no more internet for the rest of that month. We are working on uploading via another way, so will see what we can do, or else there will just have to be a flood when we get back to the UK.

thanks,

The team

Day 4 - a guys perspective

To give you an idea of our time here, I will let you know that the team are in dormitories with bunk beds, and the guys (Sam, Dunc, Dyl and Ben) are in one room, while the girls are split between two. All the guys got the bed they wanted, and ear plugs have obviously only been deployed due to the night chorus from outside, rather then the noises from inside!

As has been mentioned before, we were lucky enough to see all the school children (from the Manuelito home and the poorer kids from the nearby town Talanga), be able to spend their points that they had accumulated in the last month for doing positive things, on clothing, toys, sweets and other items. It was touching to see a young boy come out proudly displaying the toy cars he had got, as while they were for an younger child, they may have the first proper toys he had ever had.

We also found out that we had been able to give in the donated clothes at the right time, as they were able to be included in this month's choice, especially the boys clothing, as they find it hard to get enough boys clothes as so many more. All the football tops went very quickly, so lots of new Arsenal and Chelsea fans!

In Honduras, the most popular sport is football, and they watch and know lots about Spanish and English football, with the spanish team Barcelona being the most popular. Baseball is the second most popular.

At the holiday club, it was great to hang out with the kids and see them really enjoy us put this club on for them, so much so that they would get involved and be really concentrating as they enjoy the stories and the creative craft. There is nothing like having about 50 kids who have been cheering loudly for last few minutes suddenly fall silent for 30 minutes as they add colour to a picture (including butterflies, boats, fish and bees) that they can then keep and have on their bunk bed wall, to bring home how much this means to them. Also, one of the older boys wanted to do the closing prayer for the club, which was great as well.

In the evening, while the ladies were preparing for the pamper evening, Dyl, Sam and Ben played American football and normal football/soccer with some of the younger boys, and you know that you are really out of your comfort zone when you are being lightly tackled and wrestled on the ground by four boys you barely know the name of, and are still really enjoying it and seeing them really enjoy it as well.

Later in the evening, Sam, Dyl and Ben (with some technical help from Dunc) organised a movie night for the children, complete with sweet popcorn from UK (which the children had never tasted) and watched 'The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!/ Band of Misfits' in spanish with english subtitles. The kids really enjoyed it and we had a good time, and got back just before the rain started (it was started to become brown again, so was needed)

Hope you enjoyed reading this, and come back soon for the next installment.

The Guys (Ben, Dyl, Dunc and Sam)

Day 4 - Pamper evening!

Hello viewers of our amazing blog... Well, today has been another scorcher, in more ways than one.  Not quite a lie in - up at 4.45 again (although most people managed to sleep til 6) to the most beautiful pink & misty sunrise.  We're so fortunate that although it's been meltingly hot during the day, it gradually cools overnight to revive us.

We prepared the house for the pamper evening this morning, and were then told that the children from the school would be receiving their monthly 'positive discipline' points, which they were then able to spend in the 'shop'.  This was a big deal for the children - they had all built up their points through good behaviour, manners, taking care of their clothes, respecting each other, taking care in their appearance and doing their chores.  Each one reappeared at the door clutching their gifts and Helga took a photo of them.  We were moved almost to tears when one of the older boys told us that he had got two gifts for his mum...wow.

This afternoon was another brilliant 'Pirate Holiday Club' with a much overacted story of how Jesus calmed the storm on the lake. Alejandra managed to persuade some of the kids to sing 'Wide & Deep' in English to everyone which was brilliant.

We then split into the older & younger groups where the older children were taught how to play Benchball, with great success - impressive to see the teamwork and how the older kids helped the younger ones.  We went outside and created our own version of Duck Duck Goose, 'Pirate Pirate Treasure', played by squirting water on each persons head as they went around the circle - inspired by Naomi, we were all soaked by the end, thankfully as it was boiling out on the field.

The most incredible part of the afternoon was also the most unexpected - today's 'craft' activity was to stick coloured stickers onto a sheet with different animals - the 14 year old boys sat perfectly happily for half an hour doing this activity....wow!  It's such a humbling experience being here.  We have all said how brilliant it is that they all enjoy the activities, no complaints or boredom.

This evening was our much anticipated and prayed for 'Pamper' evening for all the women who work here.  We decorated the living room with posters in English & Spanish ...'Jesus loves You'; 'God Bless You'; 'We are sisters in Christ' and draped many of the wonderful scarves that had been donated over the chairs, around windows and over tables to create a calming atmosphere with rose scented candles and worship music in the background.

We sang to them in Spanish - 'Vine adorate' and thanked them for their generosity of time, love and care towards us, and in their work here.  We then washed and massaged their feet and hands and prayed for them.  At the end we gave them each a bag of 'goodies' which we had put together with all the wonderful gifts donated by everyone at home.

With Alejandra's professional colour training, we had taken time to match all the items and then give them specifically to certain people if we felt 'called' to do so...the results were only possible through divine intervention - one lady was in tears saying the verse on her bookmark was written for her, another had earrings which she'd lost previously.

Many others were in tears of joy opening their bags, trying on their scarves and smelling the scents of their lotions.  We also noticed that some of them started to do each others hair.  Brilliant - it even led to us washing each others feet - even Ben's(!) afterwards.

Right now there is a storm with 'proper' rain...hopefully the air will have cleared a bit and tomorrow might be a little less hot.

Good night and God bless,
love Carlotta aka Charlotte

Day 3 - Happy birthday to Ben!

Today we were more upbeat after a better night of sleep, laying in until half 5 (...) and enjoyed a morning group session outside. This was followed by a filling breakfast of yummy pancakes and watermelon!

After this, we sent the students to study for around 2 hours whilst the rest of the team itemised the donations we brought to give to the home, this was 4 full suitcases of clothes alone!! And painted the boat for the holiday club. We were living the high life for lunch as we enjoyed a good 6oz steak with salad!

Following this began the holiday club where we shared the story of Peter walking on water, this lead to Lorna further explainig the story and encouraging the kids in their spiritual journeys. We then split in to two groups, the older kids group lead by Sam and Naomi, played dodgeball indoors. After what seemed a simple game, in translation became very complicated. Despite this, it's a new game they can play for life!! Meanwhile, the younger kids (10 and under) enjoyed water games, target games and captains coming. This was outside on what the Hondurans referred to as a hot day and what we referred to a 'flippin' hot day'. Despite this, it was overall a very fun day as the kids get very stuck in. After 40 minutes, we were glad to hear it was snack time and we all congrigated in the dining hall for drinks and crafts. We came to an end with the song 'wide and long and high and deep' with verses in both Spanish and English.

Finally it was time for team meeting followed by a free relaxing evening.

Please continue to pray for the work we are doing and specifically for the pamper evening we are running for the female staff members tomorrow evening.

In terms of the confusing title, Duncan bought some flapjacks and pretended it was Ben's birthday.

Lots of love,

Lois and Ruth xxx



Messages to home;

Ruth - 'Shout out to ma peeps Hannah and Mark, all is going well mum and dad and not too home sick but still missing you! Hope your all good. Thank you for all the scarfs Grandma.'  

B&B - 'Feeling healthy and happy and just about recovred from jetlag! Blown away by what we see God doing already in Honduras!'

Pippa- 'Hi mum and dad, I hope your having a good Easter! Mum I know you'll be worrying, but we're all happy and healthy and getting on and uninjured, no problemos! Give Spot a cuddle from me. Sam, hope you're not working too hard, missing you (and you mum and dad, awks love you) and see you all soon :) keep safe!! xxx'

Ellie - 'Hey guys, don't worry, I'm not feling sick and I actually enjoyed our landing in Teguc!'

Day 2 - the pirates have landed!

Hello fellow fans. Our first night in Honduras was OK, however we went to bed early which meant that we woke up early, for some people at 3:00am! I know you all want to know what we have been eating so here is the low down:

Breakfast: sausages, eggy bread, scrambled egg, watermelon
Luch: spicy rice and beef
Dinner: Tacos and chicken

Om nom nom. We had our first day of the pirate themed holiday club today. We looked at the bible story where Jesus meets Peter and catches loads of fish and about how we can follow Jesus and be fishers of men. We were quite nervous about the language beeing a barrier but with the help of Captain Jack Loco (Captain Crazy Jack a.k.a Duncan) and our wonderful Alejandra we managed fine and the kids had a great time! During the rest of the afternoon some of us wih exams coming up did some work (please pray for exams!) We then followed up the evening with a Veggie Tales Pirate film which we watched outside underneath the stars on a big screen.

We are all very tired but at the same time very excited to be here serving God. He's got big plans for us and the project and its really specail being able to be here witnessing God's work. I am especially looking forward to the club tomorrow as I am getting to do the talk! Please continue to pray for us and that we feel renewed, refreshed and revived with energy each day! It's amazing to see how God is with us on this trip and how he is bringing it all together! In traditional pirate talk; Argghhhmen!

P.s please comment so we know how you are all keeping in Maidenhead!

(Lorna)

Day 1 - We are here!

Hello all! We are in Honduras! !

After an early morning and breakfast in the housten hotel we got the bus to the airport and were ready to fly. Had a good flight to Tegucigalpa and went for lunch at popeyes chicken place. After that we picked up Naomi from AFE (shes practically Honduran now).

Finally, after a 2 hour drive we arrived at Manuelito.  We are all extremely tired, jet lag! But after playing with kids for a bit and having a quick meeting we are all ready to go to bed. Night! - dont worry mummies and daddies we are here safely! (Written by Sarah and Ellie)

Ps. Happy Birthday Grandad from Sarah and Ruth x

Lornas Corner
Hey y'all. We are here in the Manuelito home. So awesome to see all the kids again especially as some of them recognised us! Special shout out to the Young clan back in M-head. Missing you all lots. And Courtney Im now a pro at basketball by playing with the kids. Miss you too. Keep us all in your prayers! God is doing awesome things. A to the men!