Thank you Girls Club!!!

A special thanks to: Sydney, Zoe, Jenna, Laiken, Bekah, Sophie, Monica, Faith, Emily, Keely, Katie, Megan, Amanda, Hannah, Faith Anne, Holly, Jocelyn, Anna Sarah, Vanessa, MaraBeth, Kalee, Naomi, Alexis, Courtney, Bailey, Colleen, Samantha, Kelly, Lilly, Natalie, Carolyn, Maggie, Janelle, and Kierstin. (If we forgot anyone we sincerly apologize but we think we got everyone!)

This week we wanted to give a special thanks to the Girls Club at Five Forks BIC for their support. We received from them a big box of goodies which as you can see we have already started to enjoy!! We also received homemade cards from each one of the girls. It was really special for us to read the encouraging messages that they sent to us. So, to the girls club, thanks so much for all of your support and we look forward to being able to share our stories with you when we return.

Micah Project and Jerico

For the past 3 weeks we've been at our first ministry site. Shaun and Leo were at the Micah Project and Gina and Jenny were at Jerico Ministries. The Micah Project is a ministry that was started in 2000 by a gentleman named Michael from Missouri. He takes homeless boys off of the street and gives them a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear, and even gives them an education. Most of these boys are found on the street addicted to sniffing glue non-stop (the common, cheap drug used among many young people here). Some of the boys have used other drugs as well and even get involved in robberies and assault.

15 of the 16 boys who entered the program initially, have graduated from the Micah school and most of them are now in college, some in the US and some in other parts of Central America. We took one day and went to visit some of the other homeless boys on the street who have not chosen to enter the Micah Project. When you compare their lives to the lives of the boys who have gone through the program, the change in their lives is astounding.

Currently, there are about 15-20 guys living at the Micah House. Leo and I spent most of our time teaching English classes. We also taught a few classes on family values. The Micah Project also sponsors a poor colony near by. In this colony, they have built a school and help families build houses and find food to eat. Leo and I had the opportunity to spend some time sanding and painting a couple of the school rooms. It has really been neat to get to know the guys at the Micah House. While Michael is a Christian and even gives Bible classes, the majority of the Micah boys are not Christians. It gave Leo and I an opportunity to share with these boys what God has done in our lives.

Jerico Ministries started out as a ministry to help prostitutes. They would go out at night and share Jesus with the women trying to support their families (mainly their children) by selling their bodies. They bought a place for the women to stay and even helped them to start a sewing business to make money as an alternative way to support their families.

Now this ministry mainly works with the children of prostitutes. They have a school in the city and they also have a home out in the country for the more troubled children. Many of the teachers at the school have adopted these children as their own.

At the school, the children have devotions every morning before class. Class runs from 8-12 with a half hour break from 9:30-10. They get fed lunch at the school before their parents pick them up. Gina and Jenny taught English to a group of 7-9th graders every morning for 4 hours. We had between 3-4 well-behaved students. We had to teach in English which was sometimes a little difficult for the students. As my first experience teaching English, I think the students really learned a lot and enjoyed most of class. They really hated it when I made them write paragraphs!!! Overall, it was a great experience and I got to know some really great kids!

Costa Rica

On Thursday morning we got picked up at 4am to go to the bus station to head for Costa Rica. We had to go to Costa Rica to get our visas renewed so we can stay legally in the country through May. We left Tegucigalpa at 5:30am and arrived at our hotel in Costa Rica at 8:30pm. It was a 15 hour bus ride. We had to travel through Nicaragua (for all of you who are geographically challenged (mom)) and then an hour into Costa Rica.

On Fri we swam at the pool all day, watched TV in our air conditioned room and ate. Sat looked exactly the same as Fri. Then on Sun we decided we´d like to go to the beach so Shaun, Jenny, and Gina got on a bus and headed to Playa del Coco. It took us about 40 mins to get there, standing in an unairconditioned bus. But, when we finally arrived, it was worth it. The beach was really beautiful and we had a great time just relaxing and enjoying the view. It was a dark sand beach so the water looked a bit murkier than what we´re used. But, the water was warm and so we got in anyway.

We got to eat some pretty good food while we were down there. Shaun really liked the coffee at the hotel restaurant. They brought him out his own little pot so he could refill his own coffee. All the fruit juice was freshly squeezed and we even had lunch at the pool on Sun. Shaun´s holding some apples in one of the pictures that came from an apple tree right beside the pool. They were delicious but a bit different than the apples we´re used to.

It was a very relaxing weekend we only wish that it could have been a little longer. On Mon morning, we got up and left at 6am and arrived back in Tegucigalpa at 9:30pm. We hope you enjoy our pictures!