Adios for now

So we've made it to what will probably be my last blog update until February.  Sorry about no pictures in the last several blogs, I haven't had good enough connection to upload any.

First off, I want to thank everybody who has read these.  Its meant more than I can explain to know that folks are keeping up with me.  Before I left, I was really afraid of leaving everything I've ever known in America.  But its been amazing to know that people are still here with me in a way.  Your encouraging words and prayers have meant far more to me than you can possibly understand.

So, I'm here for about 9 more days, but I probably won't post again.  Any fun things that happen in my last days, I'll probably just tell you guys in person when I get home.  I've got more stories than I can keep up with.  I can't wait to sit and reflect and talk with everybody.  I'm too pumped about it for words.  But for the last 9 days, I'll probably be at the farm with the girls for a majority of the time.  I've already started to get sad about the thought of being away from them for 2 months.  But, somebody has to put pan on the mesa.

So thats December 1st that I'll be back.  I'm working for 2 months with my wonderful big brother.  Thanks for the job Sam and Mark.  You guys rock.  I'll be home December and January.  If any Sunday School classes want me to come talk or share, please let me know.  My number in the states is 770-616-6673.  I would absolutely love to come share with anybody and everybody about how God is working in Honduras, how wonderful these girls are, a plethra of stories about life here, or about the needs and ministry opportunities that are down at PTC.  I really think that some of the reason God has allowed somebody like me to be here is to tell people.  I don't want to tell people MY story specifically, but about these girls, this ministry, and my amazingly loving and compassionate God.  So feel free to contact me.

Jesus said in the gospels that loving Him might require us to leave our homes and families and not look back.  I'm feel incredibly blessed that he's allowing me to come back and see the people I love though. I look forward to seeing everybody very soon.

-Ben Heath

Bears come out after dark

Hello all.  Honduras is a pretty crazy place.  Lots has happened since the last blog.  I’m going to forget something, but no worries.

I’m actually not even sure where to start.  So I was sick for about 2 weeks straight.  When I sleep at the farm, I have a hard time waking up.  In Yamaranguila, roosters start to crow at about 5:15.  I haven’t needed an alarm clock for the last 3 months.  Yet, at the farm, there are no roosters.  So I slept late one day on accident.  I woke up and ran in the cold all most of the way to the kitchen.  For the next two weeks, I was sick.  I’m just now finally getting back to feeling like myself.  I didn’t really get to take any time off; maybe a half a day.  Instead, I’ve been staying extra time at the farm to help girls study and for crowd control while Mrs. Pam is in the states.  I’m glad I’m finally over whatever I had.

Lets complain about discipline for a while.  My two least favorite things in Honduras are 1) walking to the Mission house in the dark at night and 2) disciplining girls.  I don’t really have to discipline the younger girls since they aren’t in my classes at school.  Only the older girls.  The older girls do some interesting things.  I’ve learned to read the girls’ actions as to tell if someone is doing something they shouldn’t be.  Its pretty awesome.  I feel like a detective most days.  Yet, the better I get at spotting trouble, the more punishment I feel obligated to hand out.  Also, its getting to where I can’t punish one girl without upsetting most of my class in the process.  Some of these girls have lived together for around 10 years.  They’re about the only family any of them have ever had.  So if somebody does something ridiculous at school, my classroom turns into a battlefield real quick.  I’m learning to handle the situations better, but those girls keep me on my toes.  I feel like I’ll be better for it in the future.

Speaking of discipline and punishments, girls have been getting in trouble.  A handful of girls earned a big punishment.  They received about a month of manual labor every day (but don’t worry, the punishment fits the crime).  So after a particularly stressful week and a rough day (with a sick Ben), one girl decided the punishments were too strong.  So, come about 4:30 last Saturday, she up and left the farm.  Folks started searching the houses, hoping she was only evading her work.  I planned for the worst and took to the streets in the truck.  After not finding her at the farm and not seeing her on the street, I returned about 15 minutes later.  We got a call from Don Chilo who said he saw the runaway in the woods.  So the next 2 hours of my life were spent treading through the woods, looking for a girl wearing a green and brown jacket.  I eventually started yelling things like, “its going to be cold soon!” and “bears come out after dark!”  Those didn’t really have any effect.  Yet, after about 2 hours, a lady came walking up with the girl.  She didn’t really have anywhere to go, so she went to this woman’s house.  It turned out alright, just pretty scary for a few hours. 

So in my last post, I asked for a big prayer request.  I had two girls that were studying for a HUGE test on some pretty difficult material.  Well, after lots of studying and even more lemonade, the girls passed their test today.  They both made right around a 90.  I think I was happier than they were.  But thank you to those of you who were praying.  I wasn’t sure that they would be able to learn the material, but somehow it happened.

So guess who has less than two weeks left till he comes home.  No really, guess.  Did you guess me?  It is me.  Good job.  December 1^st is coming up pretty fast.  I’m not sure how I feel about it.  Half of me can’t wait to get home, see my friends and family, make some money, and enjoy the comforts of my normal routine.  Yet, the other half of me is not looking forward to leaving these girls.  It seems like every time I get close to being frustrated with the farm, something will happen that changes my mind (and/or heart).  After a long and trying day yesterday, a 5 year old climbed into my lap and fell asleep on my shoulder.  I think I appreciated the act of being needed more than she appreciated the warm place to sleep.  So as ready as I am to get back to my “home”, I fear that I’m going to be leaving a lot behind here in Honduras.  Two months might be a bit too long after all.  Please pray for me in the next two weeks if you get a chance.  I look forward to seeing you all in December.

-Ben Heath

Sick-Day Monologue

"Lets go ahead a make a real short blog entry three days after my last one," I says to myself.  "Well, why not," was my reply.  So I just posted here a few days ago, but I feel like posting again today for a few reason.  First off, I actually have the time to.  Secondly, I have internet connection.  Thirdly, I got some stories.

I have time because I'm taking a sick day today.  I'm not actually that bad, just caught a little cold.  And on the grand scheme of things, it reminds me to be grateful to God that this is the only illness I've had on my first trip to Honduras.  Alot of Americans catch some really nasty stuff or debilitating stomach bugs.  I've decided to take my cold with a smile on my face.... and a slight cough.  But I'm heading to the farm tonight and then staying through the weekend.  I decided that I should take the first half of this day off and rest before the coming onslaught.

But a few cool things happened this week already.  First off, we recieved the long awaited arrival of our crate.  Some folks from the States sent a crate of school supplies and clothes that we've been waiting on since long before I've been here.  And they were just in time.  In the last week, its become drastically colder here and the girls needed new jackets/coats.  TADA!  And there they were.  It was a really neat thing to help these girls pick out new jackets from the crate.  And it made me feel bad a bit.  These girls were so incredibly thankful and excited about picking out new (used) jackets from a box containing maybe 30 in their size.  How spoiled are we?  We have malls full of stores full of jackets, pockets full of money, and we completely forget to thank God for what he's given us.  I hope I can learn to be grateful someday like these little girls are.

I also have a HUGE prayer request that I want to send out.  So there are two girls here that are preparing to graduate from sixth grade.  The only thing standing in their way is a large tests on a small book of Honduras political writings.  They need to memorize this book before Monday.  They've had the last 3 months to do it, but but for unsaid reasons have fallen behind.  I've been working with these girls really hard in the past week or so.  If they don't pass this test, they'll be in the 6th grade again next year.  Please pray for these girls.  They're working really hard and scurrying to do the best they can.  I've been impressed by how much they've learned.  But if you think about it, throw a prayer out for them.  Their test is on Monday, so we're going to have a REAL busy weekend.

So I reckon thats about it.  Today is marks my 9th week in.  I'm not actually counting the time, just aware of it.  I'm excited about coming home the the States in 3 weeks, but I'm going to miss the farm alot.  I don't know if I've posted it on here yet or not, but I'm returning to the farm in February for another 3 month trip.  So my time home will be filled with manual labor to pay for my February-May trip.  Its pretty hard for me not to be pumped about how life is going right now.  See you all soon.

-Ben Heath

Surprisingly Amable

Science project with both of my classes

Wowzers.  Goodness gracious.  That’s all I got.  So, first off, let me apologize again for no blog update in a little while.  Its not that I’ve lost interest in posting here.  Usually I have a difficult time finding internet connection.  The last week I have had absolutely no internet.  Its been pretty tragic.  Also, I usually have little time to do blog stuff.  Yet, in the last week, I have had absolutely zero time.  At nights, when I finally get to stop and get ready to sleep, it feels like I just got off a rollercoaster.  Things have been going so fast and busy, when nothing is happening it feels wrong.  But yes, lets get on to at least some of the stories that I can share.

Jenny and her best friend (who I live with), David

So there are a few reasons that things have been nuts here the last week or so.  For starters, Mrs. Pam is in the states.  The girls have been surprisingly good and even sweet in her absence, but it still is just a ton of work trying to do what she does when she’s here.  Responsibility is not something that Mr. Ben is familiar with.  Secondly, it’s the end of the school year here.  For that reason, things are nuts.  Girls have huge tests to take, girls have makeup tests from 5 months ago, girls are trying to memorize the Honduran national writings, girls are in trouble for failing classes, and their teacher has a cold.  I mean, its not bad.  Its actually been an amazing week or so.  This is probably the most glad I’ve been that I’m in Honduras yet.  But really, its still been nuts.

I’m not really sure what all stories I can share here.  Some have rough parts about specific girls.  Some have unprofessional topics in them.  Some are so funny that I have to wait until I can get home to tell them in person.  Josh, I have about a dozen stories that are going to make you wet your britches.  I have one story that ends with the punch-line of “man-parts”.  I’m ok with the inappropriateness, but I want to save it for when I can tell it in person.

Milay can fall asleep anywhere

So after I absorbed the middle school class, school got challenging.  I am now in charge of 2 classes spanning around 7 or 8 different grades.  It’s rough trying to figure out what to do everyday with such a large learning gap in each class.  Yet, I was originally up for the challenge.  I made out a schedule of what times I needed to be in which classes, what we would learn, when I needed to start the videos for the high school, and when I could answer questions for the middle school.  The whole system revolved around the fact that the high school class has lessons from a home school video program.  Well, first day in the VCR broke.  Second day in, it had been decided that we were moving rocks and not having school.  Occasionally I get to work and learn we aren’t doing school.  I’ve become alright with it though.  God’s really been showing me that I need to be prepared, but not to stress out about it, because things here are not according to my plan. It’s an incredibly comforting thought. 

Some people might enjoy this sight

At one of the recent church services at the farm, one of the older girls decided to translate for me and my other “gringo” friends in attendance.  The service for me was incredibly moving.  One of those real nice ones, you know.  It was only after the service that I realized why.  That was the first service I’ve heard in a language that I understand in 2 months.  I mean, I’m getting better at Spanish.  I pick palabras (words) out of orraciones (sentences), but I don’t really know enough to get the real meaning of the sermon.  It was just cool to understand adults speaking about our God of unfailing love.  Since then, I’ve had a translator for every service.  Boring story?  Maybe.  Did I feel like telling it?  O ya.

So, long story short, Honduras is nuts but really awesome.  I think its going to feel strange when I get home and things are normal speed.  I also think I’m going to be involuntarily throwing Spanish words in my sentences.  My Spanglish is surprisingly amable.  But yea.  Please be in prayer for us down here.  We really need it.  Between the business of whats going on, the responsibility of handling it, and the knowledge that I’m going to leave it all in less than a month, I really need your prayers.  Also, please remember my good friend BJ Brown.  He’s a kind soul and an amazing man that recently shipped out to Afghanistan.  We’re all praying for him down here, please remember him in the states.  Ok, I wrote this while it was late at night after 4 days straight of running and with a cold.  There are probably grammatical errors everywhere and a lot of boring things.  But I needed to get this out.  For those of you who suffered through it, thanks.  Again, it really means a lot that you all still care enough to read this.

-Ben Heath