Russian Language

I love Russian and I am so thankful for every word I can speak in Russian. Sadly, my Russian does not help at all in Honduras, as a matter of fact, it kind of gets in my way. I can be told how to say something in Spanish and then two minutes later, I attempt to say it and it comes out as a Russian word. It makes it more confusing for the people that are talking to me and that I am trying to talk to. It is a little hilarious! The whole team is laughing at me and telling me to stop - I really am not doing it on purpose - it turns out that I have two language files in my brain the one I don't have to think to process (aka English) and the miss matched, ill labeled, hard to process file - where my two years of Russian seem to have come to the forefront, but the 4 years of French and the random words and phrases from other languages are all jumbled together. Earlier, I was talking with a young Honduran man from the Bible Institute and I managed to speak in English, Russian, French, and Spanish - all in the same sentence - none of which really help either of us understand - pity that!

Some of the team members are struggling with with wildlife here in Honduras, bugs mostly. Nick is sure there is a conspiracy and thinks that the queen wasp called the CIA about him. Deanna pointed out that we tolerate flies, but other equally harmless insects make us scream and run. It turns out, Nick thinks the flies work for the wasp CIA, because he is afraid of them now too!

Shushan

Sweat Muy calor

I rolled out of bed. The temperature was comfortable. I moved my arm and my body started to sweat profusely. The temperature is like 3000 degrees here. But the people are very nice and try to communicate with us. I miss air conditioners and secondly, I miss communication. The only way most of them understand me is if I do charades and then they laugh at me and nod. 90% of the time I think they are making fun of me. But I smile and nod graciously and say, "Mi no comprende" which means "I do not understand."

I am loving the adventure and the I love my co-workers. They are the best! I am the bad person J.J. talked about in his story..in case you cared at all.

Danny.....

the riviting story of a young man from slave to supervisor

As i walk down the dirt road in the humid air of Honduras i see a building.This building holds many secrets, most of which probably do not exist because i made them up, but that is beside the point. The one secret that i know is true is the story of a young American that traveled far across the ocean to come to a totally different country. He was not prepared for what was coming to him, for he had packed no food, and because his new found friends would betray him into slavery.
Well this man made it to his destination and made new friends, which you have probably guessed made him into a slave. The building i referred to earlier was where they forced him to work for hours at a time in the sweltering heat, he almost died a couple times from the heat. On top of all this he was tortured paint was thrown in his eyes. Ceiling tiles were dropped on his neck, and he was forced to sleep without air conditioning. This young man knew he could not live his life like this for he knew that God had a purpose for his life. So one day he devised a plan and his journey to freedom had begun.
When his supervisor called for him he answered the call as usual, but not so usual was the fact he was armed with a hammer and nails. wen the supervisor was not looking he nailed his pants to his shoes and he was so excited his plan had worked. but the supervisor was a bad man and put cocking in this young mans hair. but as the day progressed the young man had gained respect and the next morning he was supervisor. this story is heart warming as i well know and i would hate to leave you without telling you the name of this brave young man. his name was Jonathan Jack and he will always live in our memories as the young man who achieved higher job status over night.
Jonathan Jack

Nick 2

Well, i was one of the 2 leaning over the shoulder of ms Sarah :) Was not in on the fun time with the tree frog, although it would have been amusing. Loved climbing the mango tree yesterday and picking mangoes...i didn't use a board, i'm not that short of a timer LOL But Omar (one of the Hondurans) called me a monkey...that was interesting, haha i gave him a mango in return for the compliment :) I also found out real fast that mangoes that are purple and green taste alot different than the ones that are yellow and red...ones ripe and ones not...Sarah enjoyed them though. Hilarious hearing Danny speaking with three of the Hondurans last night, they seemed to enjoy his effort as well lol i think they may have seen it as entertainment by they way they were laughing. Loved having devotions last night, the worship was absolutely wonderful and we invited another one of my new friends Andrey (which i think is Andrew in English....not for sure how that works but Sarah thinks its right so it probably is, she studies a lot) Well i am looking forward to another exciting day in Honduras wondering what people are saying and what they may be laughing at us for hahahaha i think the bugs have formed a conspiracy against us too, God bless you,
In His name and for His glory,
Nick Armstrong

Second Day, First Hour

First adventure of the day:
Neglecting to check inside the shoe before putting it on. Result: the rather humorous discovery of a large cockroach in the shoe, at which my roommate informed me that she would have screamed.

Second adventure of the day:
The discovery of a large tree frog in the dining room, followed by the subsequent chase, capture, and photography of said tree frog. Later handed it to Shushan, watched her drop it, and was amused by her attempts to catch it again.

Third adventure of the day:
Saying something silly in the breakfast line, getting called a "weirdo" by Shushan, and getting flicked in the eye by same Shushan... followed by a heartfelt apology on her part, because she didn't intend to actually hit me.

And all this within the first hour. :-)

Today we shall continue caulking, replacing ceiling tiles, and painting at the Bible School. Our clothes were washed last night, and surprisingly most of the paint came out. As far as I know, none of us are suffering serious health problems yet. I look like a lobster in some areas and it smarts a bit, but I'm not going to complain about Central American sunshine. :-) I thoroughly enjoyed the cooling rainstorms we had yesterday, as well.

Well, there are a few leaning over my shoulders wishing to post their own blogs now. I pray that you all have a wonderful day, and praise the Lord for His goodness and His humor!

Sarah

Special Events

May 15
Got no sleep whatsoever
made julianna do my laundry (did a good job)...also got no sleep

May 16
flew on plane; had a bad landing
getting out of way of the luggage vehicle and ran into a lady an almost got ran over anyways
flew on another plane; had a worse landing
took a four hour drive for six hours

May 17
MY BIRTHDAY (minor detail)...not :)
ate breakfast at 7am (we were told they extended it for us tired folk...and it will never happen again)
swept cobwebs off ceilings while on wobbly ladders and sweated like a waterfall
watched as some ppl painted one an a half walls with wrong paint...and watched as they redid it !! best times ever!..i helped a with the trim :) (only on the bottom...top was too high)
sat on the porch of missionaries while swatting at BIG bugs
sang songs with a Honduran named Andres (i was the malfunctioning translator)he taught us spanish songs and we taught him english songs
LOVING HONDURAS!!!

~Shianne Jack~

Mangoes, T-Shirts and Russian

This evening, after a day of painting, the team settled down for a good dinner and a meeting with two of the VIA's (Volunteers in Action) to chat about Honduras and missions. Our conversations were generally interrupted every four minutes by Nick asking if there are two kinds of mangoes in Honduras, or if you can eat the peeling, or if they have banana trees at El Sembrador (no to all by the way). But you can (if you are an ignorant short-termer at the school) knock unripe mangoes off the tree with a board. Sarah says they taste good. Thanks, Nick! After Nick had exhausted his five unnecessary questions on mangoes, bananas, pedicures, and how to say help and "Do you have Jesus in your heart?" in Spanish, we moved from entertaining the VIA's to playing around until group devotions at 9:00. That was ten minutes ago. . .
I am currently sitting at the computer located in the common room, watching a T-shirt purchase. One of the students from the Bible Institute is selling the shirts to raise money for the school. It is interesting to watch translation going on. Shushan, as team leader and missionary to Ukraine, is heading up the deal- translating into Russian by default. :) It's quite confusing for the Honduran student to be spoken to in English and then have it translated into Russian. We have just been rescued by Jerry, our missionary host and fluent Spanish speaker. Shirts are being purchased and all is well with the world- and the Honduran student is no longer confused, but rather well paid.

~Angel