Post-Op.

I have now been home from C.A. for over a week now.

I must admit, leaving was sad for several reasons, but home has also proven to be quite nice in a lot of ways. First of all, flushing toilet paper down the toilet is still a novelty, even after a week and a half. Also, I keep catching myself hestitating to open my mouth in the shower, chew on ice cubes, brush my teeth in the sink, etc. Oh, the little things in life. ;)

When I returned to the States, I did have slight culture shock maybe at first. Like, waking up in my bedroom and realizing how much stuff I had and how comfortable and cush my life is here was almost even a little bothersome. I'm not really sure how much of this I have retained, but I'm definitely still aware of it... Every time I look in my closet and see my clothes and shoes!

One thing I've been pondering is how God will use this experience to help me further His kingdom. What perspectives does He want me to have now that I've been to a place like Honduras? How has the experience of getting used to a new culture prepared me for what God has for me in the future? Now that I have seen this poverty, do I have more responsibility?

So I have been thinking and praying about all of that. In the mean time, I have begun CollegePlus (online college) to get my B.A. in Music. That is exciting and I feel quite ready to get back into school (this is the longest I've ever gone without it...). Along with that, I am jumping back into life at home, but kindof trying to do it slowly, so as not to get too busy and overwhelmed (though some people seem intent on making me so! haha...).

God is good all the time.

"Y no podria esta ante Ti
Eschuchandote hablar
Y llorar como un nino
Y pasaria el tiempo asi
Sin quierer nada mas
Nada mas eschucharte hablar"

Dios te bendiga amigos!

~Bethany~

Dos Mas Dias...

It's true. Two more days til I leave this amazing country.

I'm quite sad and happy at the same time. It has been amazing here, and I cannot express my gratitude and happiness in the fact that I got to have this experience.

The last few weeks I've mostly been taking things easy. Last weekend we went to a fortress that the Spaniards who used to live in Honduras built to protect themselves from pirates. That was really cool and quite an educational experience. Really cool building though, and very pretty- right near the coast.

The board members for the mission here came down on Monday to visit and make some decisions. It was fun to have them here- they're both homeschooling Dads from my corner of the woods. =) While they were here, they had their official board meeting during which I took minutes. But it's okay- we went to this really nice restaraunt and had steak. I was okay with it. =)

Then this last Friday (which would be yesterday) we went shopping at the market place before we dropped them off at the airport.

Then today I decided (since it's so cheap here) to go to the salon and get some "work done." =) It was quite a relaxing morning and I feel great!

After all of that, this afternoon Toby took the kids and I on a walk to the jungle. That was very beautiful and fun- and now I can say that I've been in the jungle!

Tomorrow I will go to church in the mountain and say goodbyes to the people there. Also, I'll finish packing my stuff up and getting ready to leave.

I pray for God's peace and grace in traveling and leaving all of this.

He is so good.

Counting Down

Well, I have a few more weeks left here in Honduras. It's hard to believe it's been two months since I boarded a plane with Dad and Daniel. In a way, it feels like I've been here for years. In other ways, it feels like ten minutes.

This last week we went to the Copan Mayan ruins!

Now, I haven't done a whole lot of studying about Mayan history or anything, which made going to the ruins even more amazing and fascinating as I learned about their culture. The Mayan empire was absolutely incredible, and although they were a brutal and completely messed up culture, they were genius, and built some absolutely gorgeous structures.

Did you know the Mayans actually did the things that they do in Indiana Jones?... Like, the whole thing where they take the beating heart out of that guy's body... They really did that! The really sad thing was that they sacrificed infants. They had a lot of gods (that we got to see the statues of) and did a lot of sacrificing in order to please them.

So anyways, that was really fun. After we went to the ruins, we still had half the day left, so we went to a 'bird park' where they have, in captivity, a bunch of the native birds. That was really really cool too. Honduras has waaayyyy better birds than we do...

Mackaws live up to 100 years in captivity and mate for life. They also are extremely beautiful and make extremely loud and obnoxious noises. If I was an animal, I'm pretty sure I'd want to be  Mackaw. =)

Then a couple of days after we got back from Copan, I had the pleasure of getting another sortof taste at the missionary life- I got a nice little (or, not so little) stomach bug! I would have guessed it was food poisoning, but since no one else really got sick, I'm guessing it may have just been a virus. Anyways, that knocked me out for Sunday and Monday. No fun. As Amy put it, I was... "one with the bathroom." That's pretty much how I felt. But the Hills were troopers- they cleaned up after me, got me medicine and gatorade, and made SURE I was getting enough liquids. I am very grateful to them for that. =)

These last couple of weeks I will continue to help with kids and schoolwork and such.

Pray that these last days would be meaningful and that I would be able to use them well and be in service to the Hills.

Con Mucho Amor,

Bethany

The Amount of My Love for Roatan Almost = The Amount of My Hate for Dead Cats

Greetings. =)

Whence last I left you, I had not had the pleasure of traveling to a beautiful tropical island. I can assure you- I am much more experienced as a person now that I have done so. haha...

We started off to the island of Roatan around 4 in the morning on Tuesday, September 28th. I slept in the car as much as I could, but the kids are much better than me at sleeping in the car while going over bumpy roads. We then got on a boat for about an hour ride over to the island of Roatan.

We got there only to experience yet another tropical storm! I was a slight bit more nervous about this one because we were actually RIGHT on the shore with the strong winds blowing hard. The power went out for the whole island, but thankfully, the resort we stayed at had a generator. =) The next few days especially, the waves were pretty high coming into the beach. This made for lots of fun with playing in them and "racing" our floaty-toys to the beach. We spent much of the days at Roatan doing just this.

Then one day (as you can see from the picture above), I decided to get my hair braided by a lady on the beach. Afterwards, I found out that this is apparently illegal. Oops. ;P

One new experience for me during this week at Roatan was snorkeling. I've decided that snorkeling is one of the better things in life. There are, however, disadvantages. Mouthfulls of saltwater are not preferred, but seemed to be ever-present in my snorkeling experience. In these snorkeling adventures, I got to see some very pretty fish, including a four-foot baracuda! That was... exciting, and made me more than a little nervous. ;-) But apparently, the only way a baracuda would bite you is if you, "stuck your hand in it's mouth."

So this resort we stayed at had different means of entertainment every night. One night, they showed a movie, the next they had live music, that sort of thing. Well, Friday nights were karaoke. I, never having done karaoke, sat and listened from our porch. There weren't a whole lot of people that night willing to sing, so, after some convincing, I decided to try. Unfortunately, I'm a little too young to know most of the songs that they had. But after some searching, I was able to give my renditions of "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You," and "We Are Family." If any of you know the song "We Are Family," you may remember how repetative it is. Let's just say I got a little bored when it got to the 5th or 6th time through the chorus, and so I decided to kindof go around to the people listening and, well, I got them to clap and sing with me. They were a pretty good audience, I'd say.

(excuse the alcoholic beverages haha)

The next day was a beautiful Saturday. I decided to spend some money and go to the "Dolphin Encounter." It happened to be 2-for-the-price-of-1 day, so I took Cassandra with me! We had a great time, and learned a lot about dolphins in the process. The dolphin we got to meet was named "Mr. French."

Here are a few more pictures of the beauty. =)

We left this beautiful island the following Sunday.

This past week we did clinics, as usual. One day while at the clinic, we learned that the guys had found a dead cat in our water tank! Thankfully, they didn't think it had been in there for long... But nevertheless, we decided to spend the afternoon out while the guys fixed the problem. Fixing the problem included draining the tank and scrubbing it down good with clorox. The life of a missionary is never, ever boring. =)

This past Saturday, there was a carnival to benefit the Ruth Paz foundation (one that helps the children of Honduras). Amy, Leonel, the kids and I went down for the afternoon. There were some small rides and carnival games to win prizes, which the kids loved. There was a 'circus show' which included a family of trampoline-jumpers, a rather scantily-clad lip-syncher who was really bad at it, some clowns, and a juggling guy. There was a place for 'tree climbing' (a process of pulling yourself high up by tightening ropes attatched to a tall tree), which Cassandra and I did, and also CAT truck driving, which Leonel did with Sarah and Jonathan while Amy ran around and took pictures of everything going on. =)

I decided to take my braids from Roatan out last night, because my scalp apparently got sun-burned and was peeling quite badly- I really couldn't take it any longer.

Oh. Yes.

Needless to say- it did a bit of damage to the ends of my hair.

SOOOOOOOOOooooo....

I am going to go to the salon tomorrow! And not only am I getting a haircut, but Amy and Toby decided that I can have the day off-- I'm spending a couple hours at the salon (probably get my hair cut, nails done, maybe a massage?... It's a whole lot cheaper here), and then spending some time at the mall. I'm very grateful. =)

Well, I've got a busy day tomorrow. I best be off.

God's blessings on you all.

Medical Charts, Matthew, Messy Roads, and Mail

Greetings. =)

It has been a while since I've given an update, though I've meant to for a while now (probably since a week after my last update...).

Life has been fun and busy here in Honduras. I've continued to work on school stuff with the kids and help around the house. Cassandra, Sarah, and Jonathan are never without energy and fun, which is great, and sometimes a bit tiring. A few weeks ago their Grandma sent them a package with a set of Badmitten raquets and such. Cassandra and I have been out a few times to practice our skills, many times ending up with the birdie stuck on the roof ("We're smitten, while playing badmitten... Where's my kitten?..." okay, inside joke haha). Also, they've been able to introduce me to some great films like "Spy Kids" and "Barbie Fairytopia." Jonathan decided the other day that he wanted to play "attack Bethany" which was fun, and the girls are, little by little, finding how violent I get when I am tickled.

I've begun typing up charts from the clinic onto the computer. This may sound monotonous but I find it quite fun, actually. It gives me a quiet job when the kids are doing homework, and I get a kick out of some of the names that people have down here (about 1/3 of the male population's first name is Jose).

Last week, when we were at the clinic, Amy casually mentioned something to Anabel about how I wanted to learn some of the songs that we sing in church. Anabel proceeded to bring out some words to songs and teach me, then asked me if I would like to sing with the worship team the next night. I (a bit hesitantly)  agreed and the next night, I was at the church about an hour and a half before the service to practice. Thankfully, I know (sortof) how to pronounce Spanish words, and the songs were pretty easy to pick up on. It was a really fun experience, and nice to sing with a worship team so little focused on performance.

Added to the list of things I get to experience here in Honduras was tropical storm Matthew, which hit us this past Friday night. Thankfully, the storm didn't hit us too hard here in San Pedro, and I'm fairly certain that this storm did not reach hurricane levels when we were experiencing it. Although, you can keep us in your prayers, as it is hurricane season here in the tropics.

Later, after the storm had hit (on Saturday), we went to the city to get some things and pick up mail. In the mail that day happened to be a package from a certain boyfriend of mine that quite excited me. =) After that, we went to the coast to pick up Araceli (the maid who works for the Hills) who was there taking care of her sick mother. On the way back I fell asleep in the car on accident (the storm had kept me up in the night so I was a little sleepy). That night we relaxed and watched movies (my favorite of which was Camp Rock 2.. haha).

Then Sunday morning we decided to go to an English-speaking church service in the city. It was quite nice and relaxing to sing songs that I know and to hear preaching in English whilst drinking American-style coffee! After church we ate Chinese while we had the laundry and the laundromat place. Of course, once we had spent the money on washing clothes, the power came back on not long after we got back home! Such a blessing is electricity!

Today, we're packing for Roatan (a small resort island off the coast). We'll be there til next week and I'm really really really excited to have this opportunity. We're taking many of the Hills' staff too, so it'll be quite the party! I'm hoping to go snorkeling and swimming with the dolphins. We'll see how much money I want to spend once I get there.

Speaking of such, I have a bit more packing and helping out to do before the day is out! We'll be leaving quite early tomorrow... Oh boy. ;-)

Photographic Highlights

Taking blood pressure.

Daniel's biological family.

Kids at the medical brigade.

The beautiful mountains.

Kids at church.

Pinata at the church for Children's Day.

I'm sure there will be more to come. =)

Spanish Word of the Day: Lindo= pretty, lovely

And what a grand week it was. =)


Monday, we had another clinic day. I took blood pressures and observed, mostly. However, after we had left the clinic, we got a call that there was a girl who needed stitches put in her hand. It had already been almost a day since her cut, and her mom had put coffee on the wound (to soak up the blood). She was about five years old, and very nervous about getting stitches. The poor thing screamed and cried while we gave her local anesthetic and cleaned the coffee out of the wound. It was my job to lay on top of her, immobilizing her hands and blocking her vision so she wouldn't be afraid. I'm not really sure how much good that it did, because she beat me on my back and screamed, "Yo no quiero!" (I don't want it!) pretty much the whole five minutes it took to stitch up her hand. Poor girl.


After the clinic, I went with Anabel to sit in on her class she teaches to high schoolers about Honduran history. The class that afternoon consisted of three sixteen- or seventeen-year-old boys. It was really fun because Anabel asked them to speak with me in Spanish and ask me questions so that I could practice speaking-- but that I already had a boyfriend, so I'm not interested! She cracks me up. Anyways, it was a pretty fun time, and I did manage to learn some new Spanish words. Poco a poco...


One thing that happened this week in Honduras is the celebration of Children's Day (Dia de los Ninos). On Thursday night, we had a pinata at church, and then today, we went to the city for activities for the kids. We went to two different malls and a supermarket. There were balloons, face-paintings, pinatas, cotton candy, and lots of parents buying toys for their kids. It's like a 2nd Christmas, in a way. Anyways, free candy and stuff for the kids is cool. =)


Now, I'm relaxing after an afternoon in the city. I started making pillows for the Hills living room, finished a book on being safe as a woman who travels, and even made a girl with Bronchitis do her homework (I know- I'm a horrible person).


Ta-ta for now!

Tarantulas, Waterfalls, and Boys with ADHD

This past week has not necessarily been the most eventful week here, but a fun one (for me, anyways) none the less. Amy experienced some major back pain this week and had to stay in bed for a few days, leaving me to just do some homeschooling, play and do art stuff with the kids, and read.

Also this week the men have started digging a hole (15 ft. deep) in the front yard for a new septic tank (a fairly desperate need at the moment). This has been fun for the kids (especially Jonathan)  because there is a big pile of dirt in the yard that they climb/play in. However, there was a drainage pipe coming out from the house due to some of the septic problems. Apparently, there were some critters that decided to climb up this pipe and into the house to grace us with their presence. Last week this critter was a scorpion, this week, a tarantula. The tarantula had Amy, Cassandra, and myself all screaming and standing on chairs in by the table in the laundry room... until Toby came and promptly smashed it with a broom. =)

When we're not doing school or art or violin, the kids like to play with other kids (mainly the maid's daughter, Eliana) and watch movies. I believe I saw the same parts of Camp Rock three times in one day. Today, it was High School Musical- in Spanish, so I can practice. =)

Yesterday Toby drove the kids and I to a waterfall about 1/2 an hour from the house. The water was really cold and refreshing, and it was relaxing to just splash around in the water. I gave Sarah my camera and she took about 80 pictures or so... Fun to look at later-- mostly of rocks and grass. =)

I've also been able to read some books while I'm here. I finished Elizabeth Elliot's "Passion and Purity," and then Amy suggested I read a book called, "Boys Adrift." This book addresses the problems regarding the lazy young men in American society today- including video games, bad role models, and ADHD medications. Although not from a Christian perspective, this was a really interesting/eye-opening book, especially considering all of the statistics that it contains.

Today, we had some people over to the house after church and we cooked chicken, corn, green beans, baked beans, Honduran beans, cole slaw, potato salad, stuffing, bread, and Pepsi. We ate the delicious food, I held the cutest baby possibly ever, and we watched the Looney Tunes movie with Michael Jordan in it. Quite the relaxing afternoon.

Then this evening, Toby, Leonel, Sarah, Jonathan and I went to a church so that Toby could teach. I played outside with the kids- Sarah and Jonathan made friends with some of them and played in the waterfall-ish thing by the church. The kid that Jonathan played with was about a head shorter than him, and yet would chase him around and tackle him and hold him down for a few seconds, then help him back up. It was really really funny to watch. Then on the way home we were able to watch the storm from the edge of the mountain-- Que bonito! ;-)

Tomorrow I'll probably go to the clinic and do more stuff with the kids. I'm excited about what God will do this week. He is so good...

P.S. I'll try to post pictures soon, for those of you who don't have facebook. =)

The First Two Weeks

Hello, anyone who cares to bother to read this blog (hi, Mom!).

I will begin by attempting to describe some of my adventures thus far, though I'm at the point of forgetting some of the details-- a lot has gone down in the two weeks I've been here!

My Dad, my brother Daniel and I flew down here on August 17th. After a flight change to detour us through Charlotte and Miami instead of Houston. When we arrived, Toby Hill and Daniel's biological father came to the airport to pick us up. Daniel's dad greeted him with kisses and Spanish ramblings that Daniel couldn't understand, but he just smiled and hugged his dad tightly anyways. =)

The first day in Honduras (Wednesday, August 18th) was spent by my dad and I at the clinic with Amy. These clinics are proving to be one of my favorite parts about being here with the Hills. My dad was able to do stitches, listen to lungs, remove an eyeball-sized piece of skin cancer and even remove an extra finger! I'm learning how to take blood pressure and listen to lungs- many children have breathing problems here in the mountains. Not too long ago we had a little girl with a bean in her nose. We got it out by my dad's suggestion of closing her other nostril and blowing hard through her mouth- worked like a charm and the bean almost landed in her dad's mouth!

The day after we worked in the clinic, Dad, Toby, Daniel and I made the hike up to Daniel's mountain village of Guanales to have aroz con pollo (rice with chicken) with his biological family. This hike was strenuous to say the least, and took about two hours of nearly constant walking uphill. Great cardio-vascular exercise. The people going up the mountain with us helped us carry our stuff and laughed at us weak gringos. Once we got up there, Daniel was greeted by many of his aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and friends. However, Dad, Daniel and I made it up before Toby (the only one who can really translate) could be there. This was fun because then Dad and I had to awkwardly try to understand and communicate with Daniel's relatives for about twenty minutes... But it worked out okay. =) We ate the rice and chicken with them, and Daniel's biological mother made us tamales (delicious!!!). Then, we took pictures and drank coconut milk (also delicious) before heading back down.

The following day my dad and I went with Amy to do a medical brigade for the poor near the city. This is done in a small, hot structure with a line for seeing the doctor/nurse and a line for getting medicine and vitamins. My job was to keep the kids busy with some craft stuff that we had bought for the occasion. This was probably the most overwhelming experience I've had thusfar. It started out fine, but after a while, there were probably fifteen or twenty kids all swarming around me basically pulling the bracelets or stickers or whatever I had out of my hands and I really couldn't even explain to them that I'm not a vending machine (because I don't know the word for vending machine in Spanish). So after a while, I went inside and hid from them. =)

Later that afternoon, we left for the city of Tegucigualpa to visit Daniel's foster mother and sisters. We had made reservations at a hotel in the city, however, when we got there, the woman at the desk told us we needed identification for everyone in the party- including Toby and Amy's small children. Feeling uncomfortable at this supposed "requirement," we decided to locate elsewhere, and ended up staying at the very nice and comfortable Clarion hotel, where many of the staff even spoke english. I'd say that was a win.

Visiting Gloria and her daughters was as wonderful as I remember it being the last time we were in Honduras. Her daughter, Gina, speaks english and was able to translate for us. They shared many stories about Daniel (some that were quite amusing that I never heard before) and asked about the rest of our family and how they were doing. They were quite glad to see Daniel, and Daniel glad to re-visit the home where he spent three years of his childhood.

Sunday, we left Teguc. and traveled back to the Hill's house. Monday was another clinic day, and then on Tuesday, Dad and Daniel boarded a plane back to the states. It was hard to say goodbye, and I felt like I fit right in there in the airport- there are usually many teary eyes in airports.

Since they left, life has slowed down a little for me. I've been put to work doing homeschooling activities with the kids- mainly Cassandra, who is in fourth grade this year. I really enjoy working on stuff with her, and it almost makes me miss being homeschooled myself... almost. ;-) I'm also working on teaching the girls violin. In fact, I heard them practicing on their own today and it sounded quite lovely. =)

The church that the Hills go to here in the mountain is quite enjoyable for even me, a non-Spanish-speaker. The songs are up-beat with lots of clapping and loud singing, and I'm learning more Spanish by listening to the sermons. Also, after the service, everyone shakes everyone's hand and says, "Dios te bendiga (God bless you)!" and "Amen!" It's a nice place to worship. Some of the songs are even ones that I know in English (although it's hard to sing English words over their Spanish ones).

Not all of life here, however, is work. Not too long ago I was able to go with Amy and the kids to "Zizima"-- a water park with some pretty amazing slides! This park is open year-round and is quite cheap compared with most U.S. water parks! Also, the other day Amy and I stopped by the salon- her to get a massage, me to get my fingernails and toenails done- an hour treatment for $17. Oh yes. =)

Well, that's been my life so far. There are many other details I could grace you with, but I need information for later posts, and my fingers are getting tired of typing at the moment, so I will leave you for now.

Remember to pray.

Dios te bendiga!