Holiday Season - MVP Shoutout

What an incredibly busy time since my last blog. I really think the months of November and December are two of the busiest of the year. This says something considering we don't have near as many visitors as we do in the summertime, but lots of activities within JEC because of the boys' year end schedule.

November marks the end of the public school year for the majority of our boys. This means exams, class parties, etc. This year all but two passed all their classes in high school and all our elementary boys are continuing on to the next grade.

Three baptisms in the month of November!!

This may seem like something expected in the US, but here in Honduras this is an incredible feat. Where the education system is sub-par, many times it is expected of students to fail at least one class in high school and possibly repeat grades (multiple times) in the younger grades.

Renovations on camps - big things to come!

When I first joined on full time at Jovenes, there were several boys who could not read nor write and had repeated lower grade levels several times. And because of God's never-ending goodness and the hard work of our houseparents and education director, those boys can now read (including a 20 year old who never learned to even write his own name), write, and not be ashamed to attend class and be made fun of by others.

Our on site advisory board meets every month, but the November meeting has the possibility to go either way. It can be super uplifting or even a little discouraging. This year we were so blessed to have seen the growth in each boy, including a special case of Selvin.

Had to use Selvin's headshot - never lets you take pics

Selvin was one of those boys who could barely read or write when I first arrived at JEC. He had repeated grades a few times, and you could tell he wasn't exactly happy. Selvin, two school years later, is passing with flying colors. This year he even finished on the honor roll. We could not be more proud of the change he has made in his life. It took some hard work, but with the support and encouragement of everyone around him, you can noticeably see he is proud of himself. It warms my heart to know this was a changing point in Selvin's life - to see the challenge, overcome it, and change his future forever. The best part is Selvin's voice is starting to change... reminds me he's not this little baby boy I used to know anymore, but rather growing to be a young man with an incredible future ahead of him. So proud of you, "Chocolate".

Back when Selvin let me hold his hand :)

While I'm giving out MVPs this year, I have to give a shout out to another boy. Jose Carlos (15) really had a tough end to 2012. His older brother, Luis Alexander, decided he no longer wanted to be at Jovenes. So Luis left to return home with his mother (who lives in extreme poverty). This was obviously extremely difficult for Jose Carlos considering his only family (by blood) left him and chose to leave him behind.

We were worried this would have a negative effect on Hueso's (Jose Carlos' nickname) grades and attitude, but he humbly proved us wrong. This boy is so talented. He realized at a super young age the opportunity he had been given, and he is taking full advantage of all that Jovenes has to offer. He attends carpentry shop in the morning and has become an incredibly talented carpenter (please see our JEC promo video and see Hueso talk about what carpentry has taught him). He made great grades this year in high school. And on top of his good behavior and talent as a carpenter, he is taking art classes on Saturdays in Tegucigalpa (the capital of Honduras). He rides a bus with 3 other boys by themselves each Saturday morning to take classes there. His next goal on his to-do list: learn english.

And by all means, I know this boy can do anything he puts his mind to. 

Jose Carlos, I am so incredibly proud of you and humbled by your outlook on life.

I am currently home for Christmas until the 30th of December. I will return to spend NYE with the boys. We will have our summer interns down to ring in the new year, so the boys are ready to party!

While you are spending time with your families this Christmas, please remember our boys and staff. Many would say "poor things don't have any family", but this is a common misconception. We are a family of 56 boys and 25 staff members. Jovenes is home, and we are each other's family. We simply ask you thank God for the people He uses daily to keep this home open and changing the lives of these sweet, sweet boys.

Merry Christmas to all, and happy new year!!

Reading Month - November Update

reading outside with Luis Fernando

For the third year in a row our bilingual boys are participating in “Reading Month” at their school, Alison Bixby. Reading and writing are a huge part of their bilingual education, and this year the 4th grade boys have to read 20 minutes a day in english, write four journals a week, and then read 40 minutes a week in spanish. Each quarter they have a spanish and social studies project due as well.

"el gato con botas" - Antony, 1st grade

Luis and Cristian, 4th grade

So even though the month of November is dedicated to reading at the school, these boys are no strangers to the concept of reading every day. The school, as a whole, is trying to reach a goal of reading 1000 books this month and rewarding kids for reading outside of mandatory items (ie- class time). This means if any child is reading during recess, before school, etc and seen doing so, the teachers give them tickets to collect. At the end of the month the child with the most tickets will get to choose between several (really nice) prizes. This is a great incentive - reminds me of when I could read for Accelerated Reading and win personal pan pizzas (I wish this was still possible). 

MJ, or Cristian (4th grade)

At the beginning of the month we have “dress like your favorite character day”. This year we had Michael Jordan (Cristian), a funny character from a spanish book (Luis F), the cat in boots (Antony) and the Wizard of Oz (Norman). It is a fun day where the kids get to be someone (or something) from a book they admire. At the end of the month we have the PJ party where we all go to school, wear our pj’s, drink hot cocoa and parents read their favorite books to their child’s class. It’s all very Christmas-inspired. 

reading on the way home from school 

Speaking of Christmas time, the public school boys have finished up their academic year! They finished final exams last week and are currently busy decorating their houses with the tree, lights, and other handmade/Christmas-themed crafts. I’m excited for them as they enjoy Nov-Jan off for “summer break” (weird, right?). 

Another big announcement would be our newest addition here at Jovenes - William Javier Palacios! He’s 9 years old and has been at JEC for about two weeks. He’s adjusting pretty well in the yellow house, and I usually find him playing as close to the Christmas tree as possible. 

William playing with toy cars by the Christmas tree (now fully decorated)

One of my favorite memories when I first arrived here was talking to the sweet new boys (at the time), Obed and Issac, about Christmas, Santa, snow angels, etc. Yesterday we started talking about Santa again, and all the boys gathered round like I was telling stories. Its so fun to see the amazement in their eyes. Although it is very sad to hear them say, “so why doesn’t Santa visit us?” and “but Santa only visits gringos”. Ha! The last one made me laugh. I told them they have to be on their VERY BEST behavior for Santa to come, so even one rotten egg could ruin it for the whole bunch. Hopefully this means some good behaving little boys for the next month and a half. 

In other, more unfortunate, news my car is in big trouble (yes, again). I really seem to have the worst luck in vehicles here (and mechanics - see this blog). The car has been in the shop for a total of two full weeks, and is currently sitting at Jovenes idle. Two weeks ago I had to purchase a new alternator since it was broken and wouldn’t charge my battery - my car kept dying on me (luckily I was never alone when this happened). This past week it has been in the shop while they tried to find out what was wrong with it. It seems (after three mechanics giving us their opinions) all agree I need a new transmission. This is kind of the pits considering a little over a year ago I went through this exact same problem with my first car - forcing me to end up selling it and purchasing my current one. My boss wants to purchase a new transmission ASAP in hopes that once installed my car will work very well and not have to go to the shop every week or two. We've put a mechanic in charge of getting us a quote for a lightly used transmission and am praying to find one as soon as possible. Hopefully God can send me a trustworthy and capable mechanic to install it as well. Please pray for my patience and for this situation. Its really trying at times, because I need a working vehicle to do my job here (the only other cars at JEC are all stick shift - which I cannot drive) and keep my sanity. Its been a trying few months with this vehicle, so this kind of the cherry on top of the sundae. Thank you for your prayers!

Trip Home Update

Well Wednesday I returned from 2 weeks home to help out with our Jovenes en Camino Fiesta 5k (more in a minute), experience fall, and have a quick (very minor) oral surgery. Things went really well, and my mom even stole me away to the beach on her fall weekend break while I was recovering from my surgery.

Our long sleeve dri-fit shirt for the race

I had to rush back for parent/teacher conferences and the International Fair at the ABSS (boys' bilingual school), so I hit the ground running.

the "Little Honduras" table at the race

Our 5k went super well. We were really pleased with the turn out since it was a busy fall weekend and many who love JEC were unable to attend. We had approximately 150 people and about 30 volunteers, bringing in a grand total of ~$16,000!!! We had an incredible morning with so many people who love and care for these sweet boys in Honduras. Please feel free to check out all our amazing pictures (David Thomas Creative) on our JEC Facebook Fan page.

mi familia

As some of you may be aware of also - the morning of the 5k marked the last day in our 100 days campaign to raise $100,000. I am so pleased and grateful to announce we REACHED OUR GOAL and surpassed the $100,000! God is so good, and my heart swelled when my boss here, Ronald, announced this to our employees. They are so deserving of decent salaries, because the job they do is so unique and really takes special, special people.



Yesterday was Luis Fernando and Junior's birthday. Luis F is one of the boys I work closely with each day since he attends the bilingual school. Being a private school, almost all parents bring something on the day of their child's birthday to celebrate with their class after lunch. Usually this is just a cake and coke, but sometimes people go as far as bringing piñatas and goodie bags for all their classmates. In the past sometimes the administration has provided a cake for the scholarship boys (Luis being one of them), so I emailed the director in the morning to see if they had anything for Luis. They had forgotten about it, so I rushed to two stores before finding a cake that would do the trick. I had to speed (sorry, mom) to make it back to the school in time (I had already gone to drop off their lunches and had to leave again to get the cake). Luckily I walked into the cafeteria with 2 minutes until lunch ended, and what happened literally made my day.

We made Fredy a mexicano for the day (2014 Calendars)

People know me as the Jovenes gringa, so since they had heard it was Luis Fernando's birthday and saw the cake box, obviously all the kids put two and two together. All the sudden EVERY KID IN THE CAFETERIA started to chant Luis Fernando's name. Once he finally realized what was going on, he turned bright red and couldn't hide his smile. It was the sweetest, most innocent thing I have ever seen from him. The fact that everyone turned their attention to him for just a few minutes before the other classes were dismissed obviously made his day. It might have even made his week.

Post birthday celebrations

We sang happy birthday and then cut the cake. It's crazy how fast kids can eat cake. Anyway I didn't have my phone on me, so these pictures were taken by another teacher's camera phone - sorry for the blurriness.

Needless to say it was a great day. We are preparing to celebrate October birthdays next week on Halloween and holding a big costume party. I went shopping today after parent teacher conferences for supplies. It's going to be great!!!

This Is What I Do

For those of you who have followed me for over the past 2 years, this is what I do.

I work at Jovenes en Camino, an all boys home in El Zamorano, Honduras, Central America. We have 55 incredible boys (and young men) who range from the age of 6 to 18.

There lives have been nothing but easy. Luckily some of them don't remember life before JEC, meaning this is home and most likely will be there home until they decide to leave.

What is my job here?

My job description does little to cover all sides of what I do to help out here. I spend most of my days doing a LARGE variety of things. One of my main jobs is working with six boys who are currently receiving a bilingual education. And let me tell you, they are P I S T O L S.

This means I take them lunch, pick them up from school, help them with homework, attend all after school activities (soccer practice, homework club, etc), am their "parent" for all school gatherings, and basically I am the one they call when they are in trouble (I've spent a few afternoons in the principal's office unfortunately in the past 2 1/2 years).

I also am in charge of organizing all our international visitors. I work specifically planning our summer calendar for visiting groups - all which range from youth groups doing mission work to large groups coming to work on a certain project. This means groups contact me earlier in the year to see what dates would work best for us and their group, we see if they have a budget to work on a project here on site, or we plan an activity for them to do something with the boys. While most groups do one of the things I just mentioned, some just simply come to play and love on the boys for a few hours. We love this too.

In the off season (Jan-Feb, September-early Sept) I am busy with the bilingual boys and employee activities. I am in charge of organizing our employee breakfasts once a month to boost moral, our once-a-month birthday celebrations for all the boys, and any other special occasion such as holidays and outings.

One of the things I do which I absolutely love is try to be a link between the boys and their sponsors. Luckily several of our sponsors are from Nashville (where I am from), therefore meaning I can bring notes, small gifts, and hugs to send their way. We encourage a special relationship between the boys and their sponsors, meaning anytime someone wants to send an email/note, I simply translate it and deliver it to the boys. You wouldn't believe the affect it has on their week.

I am also in charge of updating sponsors on the boys' needs. Sometimes one will have a specific need, and if he has a relationship with his sponsor we may feel inclined to ask if they are willing to help. Sometimes this includes me having to fundraise for events or special occasions as well (Christmas presents, stateside fundraisers, shoes, holiday celebrations, etc etc etc).

I manage our gift shop. I run our social media pages (Facebook, Twitter). I work on building relationships with community members who possibly could help JEC in the future. I am a chauffer. I am a mom. I am a tutor. I am a friend. I am a big sister. I am many, many things to these boys, and it is my greatest honor.

I am incredibly lucky to have them in my life.

Even though there's no way I could sit and type up ALL I do, this is usually one of the questions people tend to ask me.

So why share this today?

Mainly because I know I am so blessed to have many people who follow up with me, pray for my work, and care for me. I am also blessed to know many people who love Jovenes just as much as I do. So when I was asked to help with our annual 5k Fiesta Run/Walk, I was confident many would support this cause.

We are currently in the home stretch for the event. We have space for MANY more people than those who are currently signed up. WE NEED YOUR HELP.

If you support me and what I'm doing, PLEASE consider walking or running this 5k. This financial support we gain from the 5k will go straight to Honduras and to our boys' home.

Share this link  - www.jovenesencamino.org/fiesta  - with all your friends, family, coworkers, Facebook friends, etc. We would love to have a successful event on October 12th.

The 5k takes place at Battle Ground Academy in Franklin, TN at 8 AM. We are also having a kids' run that will take place during the 5k at the registration location. This is a 1 mile race and there will be special prizes for those who are 12 and under and want to participate. This costs the same as adult registration ($30).

For those of you who live from afar and want to participate but can't make the trek, we ask you to still considering supporting us that day by making a "sleep in" donation for $20. This means you "sign up" for the race, but won't actually be participating in it. Please consider helping us in this way as well.

Life Lately, According to Pictures

it's almost independence day!

church at JEC

celebrating national kid's day at JEC with special guests

Less than one month until our 5k Fiesta Run/Walk!
Sign up NOW!

all the kids from the public school came over to play soccer and swim last week 

Angel and me

Honduras is trying hard to make it to Brazil 2014

Loving On Your Enemies

Today started pretty great. I started by reading my Jesus Calling and reading some of God's word.

Then from there it seemed as everything went downhill.

Let me backtrack by explaining my past week. Clearly by now (2 years at Jovenes this month) everyone knows how in love with this place I am. Incase I haven't vocally claimed this before, I am incredibly blessed by this job and, in some ways, would be perfectly content staying forever. These boys have changed my life. They have changed the way I see the world, and they have especially changed the way I see myself.

While all of this is positive, the devil finds other ways to bring me down. For starters I have found it extremely difficult to trust people in Honduras. Because of the "looking out for number 1" attitude a lot of people have here, the art of lying comes naturally or is taught at a very young age. Sometimes its coworkers or friends I've met outside of JEC, but today it's mechanics.

I cannot find a trustworthy mechanic. 

For the past year and a half I've had a vehicle here. This is one of those things that, for me, is necessary. I need a car to be able to grocery shop, run errands for JEC, and to be able to get home/to work each day. So since arriving last Monday, my car has been in trouble. Who knows how long it was working poorly, because I left my car in great condition when I returned home for a wedding. I had just purchased brand new tires (because of a really amazing donor) and had some needed work done. Therefore you can imagine the disappointment when you've been gone for 3 weeks, and your car is returned to you worse than when you left.

This is one of those things we are taught (maybe just in the South?) - when you borrow something, you return it in the condition it was given to you or BETTER.

I won't go into detail, but my car has been in the shop for over a week. Twice its come back from the shop, I've tried to use it, and I've ended up breaking down on the side of the road (including Friday night having to be rescued at 8:30 by my boss and his family all in their p.j.'s).

This is frustrating. 

It's even more frustrating because I am a single, naive gringa who doesn't know too much about cars. In the past year I've learned way more than I ever thought, but people keep cheating me over and over ... and over again.

I apologize if this seems like a way to whine. That's not my intention. My intention was simply to ask for prayer. While this may not seem like a big deal to you, this is one thing my mind cannot wrap around.

How is it that people, knowing I am here to voluntarily help the children of Honduras, continue to cheat me? How is that okay in their head?

I think this, more than anything, is what really disappoints me. It makes me feel defeated - like I want to just throw my hands up and be done with it.

I think about how we are taught only to surround ourselves with good people. People who make us better. As christians, we are taught to only surround ourselves with people who encourage us to be better followers of Jesus.

In Nashville I constantly felt like I was surrounded but such an incredible group of people. But here I am being tested. Every single minute of every single day.

As much as I hate to admit it, I am frequently saying to myself "SO WHAT'S THE POINT" if everyone keeps taking advantage of me? Why do I continue living here in a culture that I find so difficult to live in in many ways, yet so easily in others.

Then my heart lurches.
Then I think of the boys. 

I can't imagine leaving them. I can't imagine not seeing their faces each day. I just can't.

But I know God is doing His work here. I am sure He is here.

And sometimes I just need reminding this is HIS work and HIS plan... not mine. I have to trust that with or without me, God won't forget about these boys.

So please pray for me today. I am selfishly asking for your prayers and encouragement. I feel broken and am needing God more than ever today. It is one of those days when you just need the comfort of home in many ways.

I am however reminded of a verse I read this morning in Galations 5:6

"...the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love"

This is what is driving me today. Continuing to love on these boys and love others, even when they do wrong by me over and over again. Because in the long run, I know I do the same thing to Jesus, right?

Back At It Again

jumping into the pool with the boys on July 4th

So after an insanely busy (yet blessed) summer at Jovenes en Camino, things are finally starting to slow down. We had over 25 summer groups who passed through during the months of June and July, we opened our first ever gift shop for business, and had four pretty amazing interns who served as well.

groups brought LOTS of little caesar's 

One of my main jobs is being in charge of planning group projects and visits for all the incoming summer guests. I start planning on the JEC calendar as early as January for groups in spring break then again the summer months. Our first summer groups started coming in late May and we currently have our last one of the summer here on campus today. They will be here until Sunday.

rocking our OLIMPIA jerseys

I can never put into words what an enormous blessing it is to have visitors come back time and time again to see these boys grow. It means the world to them, therefore it means the world to me.

My friend Lindy (another bridesmaid) at the wedding

After one of our largest (and most sponsor-filled) groups left, I rushed home for my best friend's wedding. Sarah Catherine and I met in Honduras, she got engaged in Honduras with all the JEC boys, and I could honestly say our friendship is so strong because our hearts swell at the thought of the people here. As her maid of honor, it was hard not being able to be by her side through all the planning, showers, and other wedding festivities - which made it all the more special to spend the week before her wedding with her. It was so beautiful, and I'm so grateful for her and Richy (her new hubby).

Sarah Catherine Thetford Teixiera

I also was so blessed to spend some much needed time with my family on my mom's side this past weekend. We gathered at my grandparents' farm to have a fish fry (which if you knew my grandparents you would know this was oh-so-fitting) and visit with each other. It was so sweet to reminisce of our loved ones and precious memories.

my mom with our new baby cousin, Gradi Kate

As of yesterday I am back at JEC just in time for classes for the bilingual boys. Five will start there tomorrow, and Nelson had registration yesterday at his new high school in Tegucigalpa. Please pray for them as they start the new school year. Pray for their teachers (who will need patience) and for us here at JEC as we encourage them to start (and finish) strong.

Nelson and me (he's starting high school tomorrow!)

I will return in October to Nashville for our first ever Fiesta 5k to benefit and raise awareness about Jovenes. Please consider joining us in Franklin, TN on October 12th at 8AM to support the boys! All information can be found on the JEC website. If you are not able to make the trek to Nashville - please share our information and tell all your friends! It's going to be a great day.