New House!

One thing I've discovered about myself while living in Honduras is I don't like anyone to think I'm "too good" to live they like everyone else here does. One thing I've known about myself for quite some time is I also don't like to feel I've let anyone down... ever. Sometimes I think I let these things get in the way of taking care of me, and in order to take care of me, I need a few comforts from home.

THEREFORE I am proud, elated, yet humbled to announce I am moving into a new home walking distance from JEC.

This little "typico" house belongs to a retired couple in Zamorano who rent this house, around 200 yards off their main home, to locals who need something fully furnished. Not only is the house comfortable, but its SAFE.

The house has its own gate on my end (directly to the right of this picture), but the owners have their own gate as well. These are high gates which usually ward off any unwanted guests. Then if the gates don't cut it, they have 5 german shepherds to do the trick. I received this email earlier today from my landlord:

"Please remember we live in the country, therefore snakes and wild animals are pretty average. Luckily the dogs usually take care of this before we have to see them."

I'm not sure I can say it enough - Thank you, Lord, for german shepherds!!!

kitchen area

The house has a small kitchen, also fully furnished (amazing!!), a living area with a kitchen table (YOU MEAN I CAN ACTUALLY SIT AT A TABLE AND ENJOY A MEAL?), one main bedroom with a closet, a small guest bed with a closet, and a bathroom. I still have my outside washing board and basin - for all those of you who were worrying!

living and dining room area

On a more serious note (I know you can all tell just how excited I am), I am very humbled this was able to work out the way it did. For a while now, I've felt very bogged down by the culture, the people, and often have questioned why I have put up with it all. But the one unwavering call I cannot deny is these boys. They have been faithful in their need for me. They don't let me down. And sometimes even though they're frustrated with me (as an authority figure), I know they love me and appreciate me. And sometimes I cannot even say that much about the adults here.

I have a hot water heater (see shower head) even if it does come out in a trickle!

When people ask me what I miss the most about home, obviously family and friends come first to mind. Shortly after I think about the little luxuries like in my last post, but most often I miss my culture. I miss the ability to talk to someone and fully believe every word they are saying. To know they aren't lying just to lie. To not have to question friendships and motives. No one is perfect, but this is something I am telling you all - we do not appreciate it like we should.

master bedroom

I am more grateful now than ever to have been brought up in a home where no one lied to me. Where my parents taught me honor, trust, and all good things. Sometimes I think this culture is so wrong for so many reasons because they simply know no better. This was the way they were raised. And THAT means these boys at JEC have a strong advantage. They're growing up slightly different than most young men in this country. They're being raised by loving, christian families who teach them about Jesus and His qualities. This is something we should ALL be extremely grateful for if we care about these boys.

where I will wash clothes/water source

So, starting on May 7th, I can walk to work. I can go to bed and not have to worry about something happening to me in my sleep (sorry mom). I can rest assured God is truly watching over me and has been the entire time. I can walk over to the green house and watch a movie on Saturday nights. I can stay late and do homework with the bilingual boys and not have to worry about getting home late in the dark. These are simple things, but they have uplifted my spirit and washed my worries away.

I needed a private place to relax and renew my spirit, but moving out of JEC came at a cost of feeling lonely and unsafe at times. God has answered a prayer and a worry I didn't realize I had until it was taken away.

Now if that's not a God who's looking out for me, what is?

**Lastly, I am fundraising to live in my new home. The price of rent here is over 3 times my last rent. If you can help, I cannot tell you how much it would mean to me. Checks can be made to Harpeth Hills Church of Christ with "Annie Brown - Honduras" on the tag line. Please check out the DONATE page of my blog for more details. 

Hasta la playa, neña!

A week ago today we packed up two, school-size buses, three of our work vehicles, and Jovenes en Camino headed south. 

An annual beach trip was something our director, Ronald Millon, wanted to make a priority at the beginning of each year. Not only is it special for the boys, but we also extend the invite to all employees and their families. This being said, we also let the families know the trip is in no way luxurious. We sleep on a concrete floor inside a hot church in Choluteca, where even the night temperatures are over 80 degrees. Plus you sleep inside along with 120 people, so you can imagine the body heat generated. 

Therefore not everyone always comes, but most decided they wanted to bare the heat this year. We headed out on Friday midday and returned Sunday afternoon. Luckily a church in Choluteca (about an hour away from the beach) always opens their doors for us to sleep and use their bathrooms/other facilities to call home for that weekend. 

This year I drove my car along with my 4 friends who visited, Scat, Richy, Lindy (Wendy), and Cassie. We packed up fans, sleeping bags, and snacks for the road trip we had ahead of us. The boys followed behind on the big, blue JEC bus, and we arrived just as dusk was settling in Choluteca.

After a church in Barrio Brazil led a devotional, they fed us dinner and each of the boys got a “welcome cupcake”. We set up camp, played soccer, and got ready for the busy day ahead of us on Saturday.

This year we decided to join Ronald and his family on the “terrace”. This means we slept outside under the stars on the second level where only the roof has been poured - no walls, no sides, etc. My mom would’ve died. No one slept close to the edge, and luckily being hot was not one of my concerns. The night wind kept us chilly, so my beach towel and twin air mattress were my best friends. *Picture credit to my friend, Cassie.

Saturday (early) we got up, watched the boys bath in the river behind the church and got ready for the short hour drive to Cedeño. The water was chilly early morning with lots of wind, so again, we lucked out since the south in Honduras is known for extremely hot and humid days. After helping the boys get sunscreen-ed up (yes, Hondurans still wear sunscreen) we hit the water. Here people swim in clothes (shorts, tshirt) as a cultural thing. Even though it felt weird, I didn’t have to worry about burning this time! 

Our big treat on Saturday is a local fisherman always prepares fried fish (the whole thing, eyes and all, baby), banana chips, and repollo (salad). The boys go crazy over this, so we all sit under the tiki huts with our feet in the sand and fill our bellies. 

After lunch I had helped orchestrate the best surprise ever for my best friend, Sarah Catherine. Her boyfriend and I had been in communication since New Years to discuss how he would pull off the surprise engagement of the century. 

Needless to say, she was surprised and everything went as planned. She and I met while in Honduras, so it only seemed fitting to help her beau pull it all off in her favorite place in the world. 

Saturday night we headed back to Choluteca, celebrated Scat and Richy’s engagement at KFC, and then watched the boys play soccer until late. Sunday morning early meant church, and then it was back to reality.

My friends headed home on Monday, then we all decided to get sick in different ways. Today is my first full day back at work, so thank goodness we’re all getting back in the groove of things. 

The boys had an amazing trip and all came back exhausted before starting the new school year (public school boys) on Monday. Needless to say no one wanted to get up Monday at 5:30 in the morning. 
Here's a picture of the boys all ready to walk to school at 6 AM. 

Excited, right???

New Year, New Look

Well as you may notice, I've updated my blog. A new year called for a few new changes.

I've put up some great new pics (only two for now) from the amazing John Hillin. He was here shooting a promotional video that's going to be premiered this March, so check out his other stuff in the meantime.

Also I've added a few new pages you can see at the top. All the informational stuff, such as About, My Story, How to Help, Donate, etc.

My personal favorite, because pictures truly do say volumes more than I could possibly write on here, is my gallery page. This has a personal link to my photobucket account where you can browse 1000s of photos from my time here in Honduras.

So in honor of a new blog and new year, I am hoping to do a better job about blogging. It will be difficult during our busiest season (March-August), but its one of my new year's resolutions to be better.

And lastly - please take a look that you can SUBSCRIBE to my updates. PLEASE DO THIS. This avoids me emailing you a big chain email just to say, "Hey... what's up? I updated my blog. Alright, cya".

So please take a gander to the left side of the blog on the home page, enter your e-mail, and click "subscribe"! It's that easy, and I would really appreciate it!

For today, this is all. Thank you all for your sweet words of encouragement. It helps drive me everyday to remember why I'm doing what I'm doing!

Christmas, New Years, and Everything Else

Well apologies for my absence, but as the holiday season is for everyone, its been an extremely busy few months both at JEC and in my life!

Starting a two weeks ago, we had the blessing of sharing a sweet moment from the local bilingual school, Alison Bixby. They have been so supportive and patient to our 6 boys we have enrolled there, and we cannot be more grateful for their time and hearts for Jovenes.

For the past several years the faculty gives out one or two names a piece to each student at the Alison, and they in turn bring a gift for the assigned boy at JEC. Usually the boys at JEC only get one magi box to open for Christmas, and this has been an extra special day (when they come to turn in the gifts) for us at JEC. The boys sit and wait as a teacher or student from ABSS calls our their name, and then all 56 open their presents at the same time.

Thank you so much everyone from ABSS. We are so grateful for your constant help and love for JEC.

We received Christmas blessing #2 one day last week when a group of first year medical students from VCOMM showed up in a big, yellow bus with endless gifts and Christmas fun. They shared the first part of the day splitting up in groups, teaching boys about healthy habits, and giving check ups. After providing lunch for all our employees and boys, we broke pinatas, had a water balloon fight, and passed out a Christmas gift to each boy. Every single boy received a backpack filled with special treats such as a watch, a soccer ball, and school supplies for the 2013 school year.

The smiles on the boys faces at the end of that day were just too priceless. To say they were spoiled would be an understatement. We are so grateful for all of those who bless our boys at Christmas time.

The rest of the activities included an employee Christmas dinner, the Alison Bixby Christmas program, and a fun game of secret santa between the staff.

Another blessing was a kindergarten service project from St. Paul Christian School in Nashville. The kindergarten children had all collected items from flip flops, toothbrushes, school supplies, and books to send down to give the boys another present to open on Christmas Eve (tradition in Honduras). It has been a blessing putting these bags together and seeing the anticipation in the boys eyes as we placed them under the Christmas trees in each house. Its a special treat to have more than 1 present to open this year, and we are so grateful to all the kids and parents who helped participate in this special project.

Last but not least, my friend, Marcos, is finally almost able to move into his new house. The final touches are being added, and I had the joy of running Christmas errands this past week with him to buy a new bed for each of his two kids and other fun outings. God is so good, and He has shown His unending love for His faithful servant, Marcos.

Thank you, everyone, for all for your support this year. I can't thank you all enough for your kind words, donations to the boys, and prayers. I was lucky enough to spend Christmas and New Years with my family, and now I'm back at Jovenes working and back in the swing of things. This week we are working on filming a promotional video for JEC, so look forward to that in the spring!

Please pray for me as I start 2013 back in Honduras and seeing what the year holds for me here.