It's been a while...

Tuesday October 28, 2008

So it’s been a while since I’ve blogged and a lot has happened…in the beginning of last week we had really bad rain and just outside of Tegucigalpa (not where we are) and a lot of flooding occurred and mud slides. A ton of people lost their homes and have been living in churches and schools since everything happened. It was kind of like what happened with Katrina, except here there isn’t any huge organizations to come in an rebuild or offer supplies. Don’t get me wrong, people and churches etc. are gathering stuff together and everyone’s trying to help them but they just don’t have the back up plan or resources like we have in the states…it’s really sad.

We were also busy trying to get things finalized for Mission Of Mercy and for the garage sale the youth had on Saturday and Sunday. The youth have Camp which we’re going to as well on November 21st where we’ll go to another city 2 hours away from here and stay in cabins and they have a lot of things they have planned to do while their there. The price for camp is L400 lempira’s which comes out to about $22.00 US dollars which is a lot for the kids in Reynel Funez. They got together old clothes and had gotten donations and old shoes, etc and held a garage sale for the village. We had a lot of people show up and kids got new clothes, new shoes, jackets etc…some of the stuff was really old but you could see in their faces how excited they were. They were digging through the stuff because maybe they didn’t have a good sweater for when it got cold or their shoes were really old and didn’t fit anymore and they were able to get some new stuff for a price that the people here could afford, so it went really well! We were playing Christian music outside and the kids were playing and they were advertising it over the church’s PA system. They ended up making about L1100 Lempira’s which should take a chunk off each youth price that they have to pay.

Then, this Monday we had Mission of Mercy come out to Reynel Funez and they registered all of the children and did all of the interview processes. Now to finalize everything before they actually came out was a ton of work for the youth. We had to go back out to all of the houses that hadn’t checked in with us and make sure they were coming on Monday and were still going through with the program…and remember these people don’t live right in the same area, they’re spread out across the whole village some on top of a mountain with another on the completely other side. It was hard work but these youth put in the hours and are amazing. On Sunday night we were at the house all day after church and lunch working on stuff and we worked into the night doing stuff for the next morning. We went through each child and Amber and I were down there until about 2:30 am helping them. The youth spent the night working until 3 and left to go home at 5:30 am and we all had to be back by 7 am. Amber got up and cleaned the church with one of the youth Yensel and as people started forming a line I was handing out numbers to the people as they came. Over night the weather had completely changed and it was rainy and really cold and yet all the people came and waited in the cold with their children. Monday was such a long day and it went a lot slower than I think any of us expected. The interviewing process takes about 20 minutes with each child and their parent, filling out paperwork and if the child was old enough they answered personal questions about their likes/dislikes etc. When each child was through with that part we went outside and I took their picture with their numbers so we could keep track and then a picture for the sponsors and for the program. We started at 7 am and we finished at 6pm…with the youth running the interviews and all of us working non-stop except for a short lunch break taking turns. It was a very successful day and the children were so cute. They had been there all day but no one was complaining and everyone was happy so it went very smoothly.

Then after we were finshed about 30 minutes later we all sat down to discuss the day and we lost power and it was completely pitch black. We all huddled up in the Pastor’s house and got some candles and eventually we drove everyone home and went and bought some chicken and a little tiny place by Reynel Funez. The pastor’s house had electricity and so when the power goes out they can’t cook anything. Amber and I made it to our room by candlelight and just called it a night since we couldn’t see J I woke up today sick with a cold and still no power and it‘s so cold here…overnight it literally turned to winter with odd crazy wind (no rain just wind) that’s opening and slamming the doors and sounds like there’s a hurricane outside . I love the cold but I wasn’t prepared for it to change overnight so its caught me off guard, not to mention I was already sick so freezing didn’t make it any better :) Amber taught English to the children in the afternoon and we got to talk to our Mom and Dad (YAY :) ) and the power came back on just in time for us to make something to eat…earlier in the day I couldn’t take a shower and get ready because I thought better of the soaking wet hair mixed with a cold and it freezing outside…so when the power came back on I decided it would be good to get ready before church because we have a Tuesday night service. I took my shower and got out and then the power went off again…wet hair J haha just my luck! We went ahead with the service but moved in inside to Pastor Macklin’s house and set up candles and had church in the living room with Bessy speaking. They just started praying for the power, for Mission of Mercy, for sickness, for the people in Reynel Funez who don’t have heat, or warm clothes, food, etc. It was an awesome night and I know I say this a lot but I can’t say it enough how dedicated these youth are. They are here all the time, always working, doing everything you ask of them and witnessing to the people of these village…if it means they have to work through the night and spend the night and get up and do it again then they do. It’s truly amazing to see because they never once complain, this is their ministry and their village and they are doing everything in their power to change these people lives and witness and pray over every family in it. They don’t ask for time to hang out with friends or a break they just come every time the doors are open and are helping in some way daily. I love these people and I know Amber and I will continue to be friends with a lot of them long after we leave Honduras, they’re the most amazing sweet people.

As we’re finishing up October and go into November the kids are going to be getting out of school for their “summer” break (which is really in their winter ) and we’re going to be getting a lot busier. They’ll be having day camps and things planned daily for the children to do and the youth will have camp in November as well. Continue to pray for this team here and for the families that lost their homes. The rain is a huge problem here and it’s destroyed roads and highways have split in 2 because of it so just pray for the country as a whole. November is also their coldest month and many people here don’t have good jackets or cold weather clothes or heat etc, so pray the God provides for them and just keeps a hedge of protection around this village J I’m sorry this blog is so long but a lot has happened here in the last week so I had to share. The power is still out and I’m writing in the dark and my battery is about to die but we love you guys so much and miss you all! Natalie we’re sorry we couldn’t call you on your BIG 2-0 but we couldn’t get to a phone…we love you and I hope it was amazing. Amber was very upset she missed the first one in 15 years...we miss you! And another very special birthday happened this week, my best friend Katie’s little girl turned 4 on Saturday :) I’m sorry I couldn’t call, believe me I wanted too! I can’t believe she’s already 4 Katie…she’s growing up so fast and the time has flown by! I hope she had fun and give her a big kiss for me, I love and miss you guys so much! Thanks for the continued support and prayers, we love yall!

Love, Alisa and Amber

WE FOUND OUR 100 CHILDREN!

So this weekend we continued looking for children for Mission of Mercy...Sunday the youth and all of us and Pastor Macklin skipped church and about a team of 20 of us set out in teams all over Reynel Funez to reach our goal of 100 children...we all left at 8 am in the morning and were out all day. We went to every part of the village and into the surrounding areas in the village...we found so many children that needed help and signed them all up for Mission of Mercy. It was really hard work but the teams did so good and with Sunday alone combined with the work we had already done, WE FOUND OUR 100 CHILDREN! The kids are so sweet and all excited to be given a chance to go to school and receive help :) Yesturday we were at the house all day doing papaerwork adn making the final selections to make our goal...the children and their parents came by all day to see if their children had made the list. It was really rewarding to see because you just know they have nothing and their lives about to change so much!

This next Monday Mission of Mercy is coming to Reynel Funez to register all the children, take their pictures and get everything ready to start the program :) It may be starting as early as December so I'll update you more on that when we find out! O, and Amber is learning how to play the guitar, she wanted me to let you know that ;) Yensel who is one of the youth here started to teach her yesturday and she really liked it...so I think he's going to start helping her! Maybe she'll come back home knowing how to play :) We're having a lot of fun and are really getting close to all of the youth here and starting to feel really comfortable around them...so it's been fun getting to hang out with them on a daily basis :)

We're still waiting on the internet to have in the village...they said most likely Friday so hopefully it will be soon and we'll able to talk and communicate a little more often :) We love you all so much, thanks for the continued support and prayers..we miss you guys!

Love, Alisa and Amber

Mission of Mercy

So this past week the pastor and soem of the youth that are the leaders of the group attended meeting for Mission of Mercy. They are the same organization that my brother Jordan and Children's Cup are partnered up with in Africa. They come in and provide meals, schooling, medical care, etc. for children that have nothing. They've chosen 7 churches/villages in Tegucigalpa to get involved with in Honduras and each church is starting out with 100 children. They leanred about how the organization works and all that is required of the program on a daily basis.

Yesturday we started the selection process. in a village like Reynel Funez there are way more than 100 children that need help so we have to narrow it down to 100 with the most dire circumstances. The catch is there can only be 1 child from each family and they cannot be receiving aid from anywhere else. HOW DO JUST PICK 1 CHILD?! Every one of these families have more than 1 child, most with between 4 and 7. Their homes have dirt floors.arely anything to eat, no electricity, no bathrooms, rain leaking in etc...it would break your hearts to see how these families live on a daily basis.

It was raining all day and we went out all over Reynel Funez, down one side of a mountain and climbed another. The youth had to have each family answer questions for paperwork and explain how the program would work. We were out all day and after the parent picked which child would go we took their photo, signed them up and prayed over each fmaily. It was really sad to me because before yesturday I wasn't aware of the 1 child per family rule..Ithought it was jsut 100 unsupported children. However, this 1 child is going to bless every family that they're in and bring hope to them and show them that someone cares about their life. God will begin to shine through these children through the church & this program and lives will be forever changed...startign with these 100 fmailies and 600 others around Tegucigalpa. So yes, it will start with 1 child, but you could see it across the mother's faces how happy and fortunate they were that their child was going to be given oppurtunity as well as us having the oppurtunity to bless them in return. After 2 years and the program gets started they will be able to have more of the siblings and additional children added to the program and it will expand.

Please continue to pray for us, we went out all day yesturday and we have 11 children but need 100...it's very hard work physically and emotionally picking these families so just pray for this team here. Also, Amber and I are really starting to miss home and sometimes having a hard time being away from home and everything so jsut please keep us in your prayers! We love getting your comments and messages too...we don't alwasy have time to write back bc internet time is very short but we love you and appreciate hearing from home. We miss you guys so much! I have to get off because we're going out again today to find more children! Love yall!

Love, Alisa and Amber

SKYMILES!!

SKY MILES!!!

If anyone has sky miles they would like to donate to my sister and I it would be so greatly appreciated! We have to change our ticket and will be returning on January 28th because it can only go 120 days out from when we flew here. The airlines fee to change the ticket and then pay the difference is CRAZY so I just wanted to throw it out there to see if anyone had extra sky miles or ones that you weren’t using to help us out :) Although they have to be from one person and each ticket will be round 60,000 skymiles, so if you would like to donate for a ticket it would be greatly apprciated! We will be having to purchase the tickets by the end of this month so if you would like to help you can e-mail me at calichic2005@yahoo.com or my mother, Holly at msholly05@yahoo.com. Thanks so much, love you all!

Love, Alisa

We're learning SO MUCH!!

Saturday October 11, 2008

Today we went to visit the homes again…it was just the girls and there were about 10 of us that went out. We walked to the front part of Reynel Funez and it probably took us around 25 to 30 minutes to get there. Some of these youth live in the beginning and walk to and from church whenever the doors are open and are always doing walks through the villages, services or working on the building….they’re dedicated! We went to pray with one of the Nora who’s one of the youth’s Aunt, Catherine and her story was a sad one. Her son got sick at 18 and was living with epilepsy in Reynel Funez with no medical care. He’s now 26 and stays in bed and is very sick and can’t really do much. She just started to crying and although Amber and I could only pick up on certain things in the conversation you could tell this woman was so worn out and hurting. She just poured out her story and we went into the bedroom where her son was sleeping and prayed over his body. She tried to get his attention and he looked but couldn’t speak and just rolled back over…it was so sad! I’ve never heard pray so strong before I heard them pray over him….these were youth screaming and calling out the sickness from his body and praying over his life and his family…they’re just kids themselves and have so much power already, more than anyone I know. We then went to Wendy’s house who is one of the man youth. She’s nineteen and is an authority in the church…she sings in the praise and worship, teachers the little kids on Sunday mornings, oftens leads youth and services and can pray like nobodies business! She has 3 younger sisters who are all just the same and are very active in the youth group and they all live with their single mother in a very small house with their sick grandmother…heart breaking. These girls are so powerful and the happiest, strongest , most beautiful girls you will ever meet and they have NOTHING! They have SO MUCH JOY and are completely sold out for God and their entire life is about doing his work. When I walked into their house their aunt, uncle, young cousin and brand new baby cousin, and another aunt were all in the house, as well as their sick grandmother is bed and the entire youth group. Everyone showed up and went into the bedroom and completely just started praying over body. They’re so strong and supportive of each other. Back home we might plan something far in advance and maybe half of the people show up...here these kids LIVE for it!

We had another great night of teaching our class and because we were already with our entire class out praying we just all followed eachother back to the church and went right into class…ON A SATURDAY! Yep they ALL showed up :) Then after the class they immediately got ready for youth group which started 30 minutes after class. The service is completely done on their own with a lot of music, prayer, different people come up to share and a whole illustrated sermon done by one of the older youth…SO AWESOME! These kids are nothing short of amazing :)

Love, Alisa

Everyday is something new...

Friday October 10, 2008

So yesterday I was sick ALL day…it was horrible! I’m not sure what caused it but I woke up nauseous and it stayed with me and came in waves all day long...NOT GOOD! I wasn’t much use for anything. However, Amber got some practice teaching the little kids by herself and she had 10 children and it went really well. Then they went visiting homes and the people in the village. They talked with 4 or 5 families and prayed over them. I was sorry I missed out but Amber had a good time and it was good experience for her. She also went to the home service by herself, (they hold a service on Thursday nights in a different person in the church’s home each week ) which went really well and was very intense with a lot of passion.

Today I was feeling a lot better and they went to visit families in the village again and I was able to go with them. Amber and I, Luis, Wendy and Yensel all went out together and visited a really rugged part of Reynel Funez, Sector 3. It’s in the very back of the village and no cars can get back to it. A lot of the houses are built into the mountain and are in the middle of what looks like a jungle. These people are in living conditions even worse off than the rest of the village and they’re really far from most things. We had to travel down into a canyon and then up the other side of the mountain to get to the houses. The physical stuff is kicking my butt haha…so much walking! It was a really good experience though and so beautiful once we got to the top. We prayed with a few families and we met with one younger man probably in his early 20’s with a little 2 year old boy. He let us come to his house and talk with him and found out he wasn’t saved but was really open to everything and ended up getting saved right there. We all prayed for him and Yensel led him to Christ. Yensel is 18 years old and he can preach better than most preachers I’ve met…he just sat there and explained everything to him and was so natural at preaching…these youth are complete leaders! We continued walking and it started raining so another family let us come into their house and we just sat and talked with them as well. Everyone in the village is really nice and most welcome you to come in and pray over their families. We prayed for a brand new baby who was only a month old and her family. This mother had about 4 kids, an older gentlemen, her daughter and her daughter’s baby all living in this tiny house that was the size of 1 room…it was crazy and yet they’re still happy and consider themselves blessed. Life here is so much harder and we could all learn a few things from these people...I know Amber and I are.

After we got back we taught the youth English again and they are really getting good! Our class is fun and we’re all starting to find a rhythm and get into it. We’re with these youth all the time and then we’re teaching them so it’s fun! J They’ve now learned on top of the others, the seasons, the months, the days of the week, action words that are “doing something” , all of the family members including extended and all the parts of the body! Really proud of them and they all show up to class and participate so that’s a plus because at least we know they’re all excited to learn!

Tonight we got to experience our first Spanish Birthday party for one of the youth and it was neat how their party was much different than ours. Everyone said something to him and had a word for his life. They read verses and kind of thanked him for being the man he is and then what they believed his life would become and prayed over him. In the US our parties are fun but it’s a neat custom and something that was very special and traditional for them…they had taken time and had thought about what they would say. ALL IN ALL it was a good day!

Love, Alisa

ENGLISH!!

So a lot has happened these past few days. Monday was our "day off" and we got to go to the internet cafe and get away from everything for a few hours. Monday night was Donna's last night before flying back so she cooked an American dinner for everyone and all the youth came over. We watched "Santa Clause 2" in spanish and then we all stayed in the living room in a circle and taught them all english in a fun relaxed way. We did different exercises where they would say their names, their favorite hobbies, colors, music, etc. They loved it! It was so simple but it occupied most of the night and it got some of the shy ones to practice their english :) After, the youth had praise and worship practice for the Tuesday night service. The youth are in charge of most of the planning for the services. The preacher Macklin preaches but they run the music and do the announcements and prayers. And when I say pray...they PRAY! The youth are so passinonate and strong in their walk and are born leaders as young as 14 and 15 years old. All the youth, boys and girls are prayer warriors. They had four people on microphones, the pastor and another boy Freddy on the guitar and a girl, Sheyla rocking it on the drums. Also one of the youth ran the sound board and 2 girls had tamborines...EVERYONE IS INVOLVED! This church is the place they can come and get away from their circumstances and they're here whenever the doors are open...which is always :) We sang with them tryign to learn the words in spanish and we taught them some of the same versions in english :) Amber and I are starting to fall in love with these people. They are the nicest people you'll ever meet and every single one of them stand in line just to hug and kiss you...they're so grateful that someons has come there to help them or taken the time to teach them something. The kids are PRECIOUS! Us coming here is such a BIG deal to them and they're so excited they're going to learn english! So thank you for all of your support and helping us make a difference in these people!



Tuesday we took Donna to the airport and said good-bye to our translater :( We picked Celeste, pastor Macklin's daughter from school and went to eat chinese for lunch. Already we were missing Donna, a whole chinese menu in spanish...we had NO idea what we were ordering :) haha We had our first class for the adults and youth at 5:30 on Tuesday. Amber didn't feel well all day so I taught the class myself with the help of one of the youth Luis to translate. WE HAD 15 PEOPLE SHOW UP!! This was huge because it was the first class and most people don't even know about them yet..so we're expecting a lot more people once they all start talking :) I taught them all the Alphabet adn how to pronouce everything and we went over all of the basic greetings....Hello, how are you?...what is your name?, my name is____....How old are you, ETC. I also taught them the days of the week, the colors, the numbers and I had them partner with their neighbors and hold a conversation and had some demonstrate for the class...I think it went really well, I might have a future in teaching :) haha After the class we had the service and it went really well...I could actually sing to some of the songs that I had learned the night before :)



Today I got to teach the kiddies....we had a morning class and an afternoon class because some have cschool at different times. We had 9 in the morning class and 10 in the afternoon. They were all really excited and brought their notebooks and were copying everything down. They're young but they are SO SMART! They were picking up the english really fast so I'm pretty positive they all learn how to speak before we leave :) We taught them all the same things but used some different tactics with them becasue they're a little more shy :) I had them screaming the alphabet and their numbers and maybe because they were allowed to yell they got a lot more into it and prounouced everything really well!

Everyone is already coming up to us and speacking their english..I taught them all hello, hey and Hi and they're all saying "God Bless You" in english now...two of the grown men came up to me after the service last night and were nervous saying it but the youth was like "go ahead and tell her" and he just blurted out God Bless You really fast, it was hilarious...and these are grown men so it was really cute! haha Tomorrow we'll teach another class for the children in the morning and the afternoon and a service at night at one of the homes...pray for us that we can keep up the momentum and energy for each class and for strength...this experience is a great one but it's also a hard one. We're away from home and everything is so much harder here so just pray for us :) We love you all and will blog again when we can! Until next time...

ONE UPDATE: You can view my pictures on picasa at this address, http://picasaweb.google.com/alisamflores
it goes straight to my pictures! I can't get them on facebook and it takes forever on here but there are the mountian pictures and some from the music practice...GO LOOK :)

Alisa

Our Trip to The Mountains

WOW..is the only word to describe our Mountain trip yesturday. We left around 8 in the morning and the drive was about 5 hours south towards the Nicaragua border in the mountains/jungle. We had 12 people in a van with us and the youth and then the pastor followed in a little SUV with 5 more and the baby…no air conditioning and a lot of people smashed into the car made for an interesting trip J When we got close we were driving through the mountains and picked up a lady walking carrying food on her head…we must of drove with her for at least 20 to 30 minutes in the car…a walk that she would have had to make. I can’t even imagine how long it would of taken her…it would of taken me a day…and that’s how far they walk all the time to get into the village for food or supplies. We could only go so far in the car and parked it and then had to hike down the mountain and CROSS A RIVER! You can’t drive across so all 17 of us crossed the river that was about up to our knees carrying the toys and supplies for the children above our heads….it was crazy! We just get into our car in the states and these people have to cross a river to get anywhere! After we crossed we had to hike back up the other side of the mountain, which was so hard by the way…I’m not used to hiking up a mountain…and what made it harder was we were all in flip flops bc we were crossing the river so it was pretty difficult. When we finally got to the top the youth and us were sent out to go invite all of the children in the pueblo to come to where we were meeting. The people there don’t all live together but are spread out across the mountain so we all followed in a line and continued to hike through the mountain inviting all the people and children that we saw. These people lived in the most desperate situations with animals and feces just laying around everywhere. They were self sufficient with the outside stoves built by clay and their own livestock...I felt like we were in a different world.




After we were finished inviting everyone we headed back to the center of the village and the children started coming in, changed into their best clothes and dresses with all their hair fixed...they wanted to look their best and they were so precious. They gathered all of the children into a circle and began to explain why they were here and we all introduced ourselves…and then we sang songs with them J They were so happy! We couldn’t understand the words to the songs because they were all in Spanish but we knew the tunes and they were all the songs that we grew up with in children’s church J Two of the youth got dressed up as a clown and one had on a tiger outfit and ran out doing a drama for the children…some of the little ones cried but overall the children loved it! They did a mini sermon staying in character and acting it out and then we did the chicken dance and played games with them. They were so cute! Then, it was time to break out the piñata! The little ones went first and I don’t think I ever seen kids get so excited for 1 piece of candy falling on the floor…they were diving and falling on top of each other to get a piece. It was the saddest thing, because you could see that us being here was probably the best thing that’s happened to them and to get a toy or a piece of candy was the biggest deal! It started to rain and we had to move all of the kids inside and so we were all crammed into one room. They said the river starts to rise really quickly and if we didn’t watch and hurry we wouldn’t be able to get out. We had all of the children standing in a line, 1 for the girls or and 1 for the boys. They were pushing and shoving to make sure they didn’t lose their places in line…so afraid they wouldn’t get a toy. We handed each child a goody bag of food and then the boys got cars and trucks and the girls are got baby dolls, or play kitchen sets and jump ropes….they were so happy! We prayed with them and they are bowed the little heads and closed their eyes…it such an awesome thing to see! The grandmother of the house made us tortillas and beans and we ate and stayed with them a little while and then it was time to get back across the river…when it came time to cross it the current was really strong and it had risen to about mid thigh. All of us girls held each other in a line so we stayed above water and didn’t get pulled with the current! It was CRAZY!! I wish I had pictures but it was still raining and we were crossing a river so definitely wasn’t bringing the camera out J We got the car and once we all got in we had about 4 extra people in the van because we were taking them to their houses. We got up probably 5 minutes not even and our van got completely stuck in the mud…I mean STUCK! It had been raining for hours and all their roads are just dirt so it was DEEP mud. Everyone got out and pushed the car and we were already completely soaked but now we were covered in mud and still had a 5 hour drive ahead of us. This happened 3 more times right after each other and we ended up spending about 2 ½ hours trying to get up this one hill! We finally had to have two cows pull the car up the hill…COWS! Donna said no one would believe us if we told yall but it was the craziest day of my life…after crossing a river, getting stuck in the mud in the jungle like 4 times and now cows were pulling our car!! Now Honduras the people can’t drive…they’re absolutely crazy. The roads aren’t like normal roads, they’re potholes and different pavements and really bumpy. Well our driver was driving really fast and we would hit these bumps and everyone would come out of their seats…well we hit one and something happened to our tire…so we had to stop again! And did I mention that I was sitting in the backseat and had 3 LIVE CHICKENS in a box right behind my seat!!! No one told us there were chickens back there and I kept hearing things move and make noise I was getting really freaked out like there was something under my seat...and they were chickens! It’s no big deal to them because chickens are a part of everyday life…but every time the moved the would kick my seat and I couldn’t help but jump every time! I was freaking out! HAHA They were in a box taped but the box wasn’t secure at all and they were starting to get out…it most definitely made for a very interesting trip! We finally got to really start driving and stopped to eat Wendy’s in Choluteca, about 3 hours away from Reynel Funez. Because it gets dark here so early, by like 6:30 we’re worn out really early. We didn’t get back until midnight and it felt like the longest day ever! Defiantly an experience we’ll never forget and one that most will never have, not to say that I would like to have to car ride all over again though.




Today, we’re getting the rest of the supplies for our room because we are putting in a sink and a refrigerator. Our shower is still not done being built so we’ve had to use buckets and wash our hair for each other…life will be much easier once these things are done. We’re going to start English classes this this coming Monday and will be holding them everyday at 4 along with the services that’s the village had nightly. We’re going to be very BUSY! Continue to pray for us as we are making this adjustment and that we can make a difference in this village, we love you all!


The internet is so slow it won't let me add any pictures..I'm trying to add to myspace so check there :) www.myspace.com/alisamarie87 Also I'm uploading the pictures to Picasa http://picasaweb.google.com/home and if you click on the slideshow you can get to them or search the username alisamflores :)


Love, Alisa

Hey from Honduras!

WE'RE HERE! Sorry it's taken so long to blog, but it has been crazy here! We were a little bit culture shocked...okay A LOT! The city is so different from back home. People everywhere, cars literally coming from every direction and cars weaving in and out of eachother. They're absolutely NO driving rules and the people are crazy, not even in lanes...they do whatever they want. HAHA It's been interesting!

We left Tuesday really early in the morning and flew to Miami and then to Tegucigalpa. Everyone met us in the airport and we went to eat lunch and then onto Reynel Funez. The village is going up the mountain about 35 minutes from the city and the living conditions are the poorest of the poor. These people have absolutely nothing. Houses or huts made out of any scrap pieces of materials that they could find. The "roads" are rocks and it's very hard to drive on them. There is a man on the roads without a job or a place to living filling the holes in the road for change. The village is big with a lot of the houses built into the mountain. There are chickens, roosters, cows, bigs, horses,cows and a ton of stray dogs just wandering the streets. First thing we did in the village was going to the Pastor's house and the church, Agua de Vida. His house is far better off than the rest of the village but still very poor and basic. The building here is very different from the U.S. and a lot of it doesn't make sense to us , like steps not matching or ceilings being too low and rooms without windows. There are things that they are learning. The room Amber and I are staying in is new and clean. We checked everything out, but after all of the traveling and waking up at 3 am for the airport we were ready to go back to the hotel. We got the hotel for the 1st night because there wasn't any furniture or beds set up in the room yet. I'm glad we had the hotel for the night because it was nice to get relax and just take in everything...it's a huge adjustment from life at home so it was good. We fell asleep at 9 we were so tired...and for someone who doesn't usually go to sleep until at least 1 it was crazy! Although it gets dark so early here and there isn't anything to do at night so it makes you feel a lot later than it is. Here are some pictures from our first day here, the city of Tegucigalpa and us getting our room ready!

On Wednesday we woke up and got breakfast down in the hotel, our last good breakfast while we're here. We got to talk to Donna about everytihng we want to do here and what she wants to try and get accomplished. Also how the teaching english is going to go. These people need a lot and some kind of structure so hopefully we'll be able to set something up for them thats official and offer certain classes on different days and keep the same people so we'll be able to build on certain concepts and move up levels. They want to learn so bad and get so happy when they learn a new word. We taught them the english words to "Take it All" by Hillsong and they taught us them in spanish. It was hard but we all eventually got it! it's neat knowing a song in another language and knowing the tune and what the words mean. It's really frustrating not knowing what everyone is saying and having the language barrier. Peopl keep talking to us and we have no idea what they're saying and I feel bad but I'm so lost! HAHA Hopefully Amber and I will be able to pick spanish up fast :)

Anyways, I'm getting side tracked. we went to a store that had alot of American brands and bought 2 twin beds with blankets and also a storage unit to keep our stuff in. Then, last ngiht we went and got bottled water and some soups that we could cook in our room. Little by little we're setting up our area so we'll be ok when Donna leaves next Tuesday. Today we cleared out old construction materials on the roof that have been there forever. Old wood and trash that hadn't been taken to the dumpsters. The youth cooked us lunch which was plantains (bananas) with beans, eggs and piece of ham that we got form a little cantina in the village and tortillas...it was different, but good.

Tommorrow we're going to the mountians which is about 4 hours south of Tegucigalpa near Nicaragua. We're going to a really poor village to hand out toys to the kids and minister to them. They have no church or anything in their village. We were told that the car cannot go to the village so we'll ahve to hike it up and cross a river....very interesting! I'm not sure how well that is going ot go but they have done it before so hopefully we'll be ok :) We have to bring our own food and water and are all sleeping in a house of one of the people that goes to the church's randmother, ho lives in the village there. Pray for us haha...we'll be roughing it! haha

I'm sorry this blog is so scrambled and all at once but this is the first time we've gotten to a computer and I'm not sure when the next time will be. The computer won't let me add any pictures right now so I'll try again later. I love you guys! keep us in your prayers!

Love, Alisa