Sunday, October 16, 2011

Trouble on Two Wheels...

The day before we left the US to head back to Honduras, a cousin of Hailey’s invited me to go mountain biking with him just outside of Nashville, so I decided to join him. Of course I did not have bicycle, so I rode his wife’s bike. Even though it was a very nice bicycle, it was a few sizes too small. Nonetheless, I had a TON of fun riding the trails. At first I was a bit nervous, as the bike handled much different than my motorcycle in Honduras, and it actually took some effort to make it move (instead of just turning my wrist). As we were nearing the end of the trail, I had a minor accident. Nothing too bad, just a big bruise on the inside of my left thigh.

I learned today that accidents on motorcycles are motorcycles are worse than on bicycles. On my way into town to take one of our students to catch a bus back home, we hit a slippery patch in the road and my back tire slid out from underneath us. We slid on the dirt/rock road and finally came to a halt with the motorcycle on top of our right legs.

“Duele mi pierna…duele mi pierna,” cried Martha. (“My leg hurts, my leg hurts”)

I lifted the motorcycle off our legs, and we both lifted ourselves into a sitting position. My attention immediately turned to Martha, ignoring the fact that my shoulder and knee were in pain. After firing off several questions, I determined that Martha was not hurt seriously and a quick trip to the neighbor’s for some gauze and bandages would be the best choice. It was as I climbed back up on the moto that I realized that I too was injured, though I knew it was nothing serious.

When I returned from the neighbor’s, Martha was standing up with a small smirk on her face, so I knew that she was ok. We treated her cuts and bruises, and she even joked with me. “Last night I prayed that if this trip to my family’s house (the reason for going is not important) was not right, that God would not allow me to go. This is not what I had in mind!”

I told Martha that we had three options:

1) Continue on to Zambrano for her to catch the bus

2) Return to campus

3) Ask a neighbor if he could take her in his truck

She chose option one, so we hopped back on the motorcycle and finished the remainder of the trip with no problems. I waited with her for the bus and we joked about how the morning did not go as either of us had planned. I apologized to her many times and asked that she tell her father I was sorry and explain that I was not being reckless.

After I returned to campus, I cleaned my cuts and took Ibuprofen for a very sore shoulder. My injuries are nothing serious, but I will take a fall on a bicycle over a motorcycle any day. I am sure I will be very sore tomorrow, but am very thankful that our injuries were nothing more serious. It was a good reminder to live every day with joy and to be grateful for the life that God sustains every day.

Back in Action...

After a two-week break in the United States visiting family and friends, we arrived back in Honduras last Monday, October 10th. We landed in the airport and headed off in a taxi to the “bus station” where we would catch a bus to Zambrano. After arriving in Zambrano, we waited another 2 hours before our ride was ready to head back to campus. On our way back, we came to a river that is usually only a foot deep, but this time there were cars lined up on both sides waiting for the river to subside so that they could cross. We, on the other hand, decided that our truck was big enough to cross. After Hailey, Micah, and I exited the car and crossed on a small bridge, Elias took the plunge in the blue truck. Even though the water flowed over the hood of the truck, he safely made it to the other side. After another 40 minutes, we arrived on campus, exhausted from the long day of travel.

The next day, I was planning to head to San Pedro Sula to have a meeting with our organization’s attorney. However, two hours into the trip, our bus came to a sudden halt. After sitting for 15 minutes, we learned that there was a 5,000 person protest in the middle of the highway and that we would be stuck for hours, if not the entire day. After sitting a talking with my new friends on the bus, I decided to head back to campus since there was no way I could make the meeting on time. I got back to the nearest town, Zambrano, without a ride to campus. I started walking, thinking that not long into the 10 mile trip someone would pick me up and I would hitch-hike back to campus. Finally, after walking 5 of the 10 miles, I got a hold of Ira and he came for me on the motorcycle. We rode back in the pouring rain and returned soaking wet. What a day!

Now that we’ve been back for almost a week, we are starting to settle in again. We are enjoying our lives back here and the simple way of life. Although we are having problems with our water supply and electricity, we are grateful for what we have down here.

Thanks to everyone who made our short trip an enjoyable time. We look forward to seeing you all again (hopefully soon)!

Back in Action

After a two-week break in the United States visiting family and friends, we arrived back in Honduras last Monday, October 10th. We landed in the airport and headed off in a taxi to the “bus station” where we would catch a bus to Zambrano. After arriving in Zambrano, we waited another 2 hours before our ride was ready to head back to campus. On our way back, we came to a river that is usually only a foot deep, but this time there were cars lined up on both sides waiting for the river to subside so that they could cross. We, on the other hand, decided that our truck was big enough to cross. After Hailey, Micah, and I exited the car and crossed on a small bridge, Elias took the plunge in the blue truck. Even though the water flowed over the hood of the truck, he safely made it to the other side. After another 40 minutes, we arrived on campus, exhausted from the long day of travel.

The next day, I was planning to head to San Pedro Sula to have a meeting with our organization’s attorney. However, two hours into the trip, our bus came to a sudden halt. After sitting for 15 minutes, we learned that there was a 5,000 person protest in the middle of the highway and that we would be stuck for hours, if not the entire day. After sitting a talking with my new friends on the bus, I decided to head back to campus since there was no way I could make the meeting on time. I got back to the nearest town, Zambrano, without a ride to campus. I started walking, thinking that not long into the 10 mile trip someone would pick me up and I would hitch-hike back to campus. Finally, after walking 5 of the 10 miles, I got a hold of Ira and he came for me on the motorcycle. We rode back in the pouring rain and returned soaking wet. What a day!

Now that we’ve been back for almost a week, we are starting to settle in again. We are enjoying our lives back here and the simple way of life. Although we are having problems with our water supply and electricity, we are grateful for what we have down here.

Thanks to everyone who made our short trip an enjoyable time. We look forward to seeing you all again (hopefully soon)!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

I got Scammed!!

OK, it isn't quite as bad as the title makes it sound, but last Friday I was about as frustrated as I have been in quite some time. That doesn't necessarily mean a ton from a guy whose high school baseball coach told him, "Joe, you gotta get mad every once in a while. Throw a bat, kick a glove, yell at somebody. Just do something to show me that you care when we lose!!" But still, I was upset.

We (The Lucia family and I) arrived in Puerto Cortes on Thursday afternoon in time for me to call Emilio (A Honduran I had met my last trip to Cortes) to make sure everything was on schedule for the boat to Belize the following day. He assured me everything was good and that he would pick us up at the hotel a little bit after 7. I thought, "Great, we will leave at 8 and be in Belize by lunch."

For background information, Honduras has a boat company that leaves Honduras on Mondays and returns from Belize on Fridays. However, we wanted to leave Honduras on a Friday, so Emilio supposedly set up a boat for us on Friday. This is where things went wrong...

Emilio picks us up at the aiport on Friday around 7:45. A little late, but no big deal since we are only 3 minutes away from the boat dock. We hop in the car for the short car ride and start driving in the opposite direction. "Hmmmmm," I thought, "there must be another dock in Cortes that I am not familiar with. But after 20 minutes of driving I ask Emilio, "Are we going to Guatemala?" I asked him this because I am familiar with the other methods of renewing a visa by going to Belize, one of which is taking a boat from Guatemala (The very reason I called Emilio in the first place is so that we DIDN'T have to go to Guatemala).

"Yes," Emilio replied, "we are only 45 minutes from the border."

To spare you of all the details, I will just summarize what followed in the next several hours:

-I had to pay an extra $50 US to get to Belize because Emilio lied to me repeatedly.
-I had to painfully endure one of the hottest and most uncomfortable taxi rides of my life.
-We almost didn't make it out of Guatemala because I had no Guatemalan currency to pay the departure tax.
-I expressed my anger quite loudly to Emilio in the middle of the port, which attracted some attention by people passing by. I am quite certain it isn't every day that they get to witness a Gringo angrily accusing (in Spanish) a Honduran of being dishonest and disrespectful.

It is sad that I am becoming less and less trusting of the very people that I am striving to serve. The more I give of my time, abilities, and finances, the more I am lied to, stolen from, and cheated. At the point of my greatest frustration with Emilio, I was reminded of Christ's love for us. That while we were still sinners, He died for us and provided something that only He could provide...forgiveness of sin.

So after apologizing to Emilio and calmly explaining (once again) why I was so frustrated and what he could have done differently, we boarded our boat and were off to Belize. After a 1.5 hour boat ride, a 2 hour bus ride, and another 15 minute boat ride, we arrived in Placencia, Belize. We had to walk about 20 minutes in what felt like the Sahara desert with humidity, but we finally made it to our hotel.

We have enjoyed the last 5 days in Belize, although 10-15 degrees cooler for us Northwesterners would be greatly appreciated. We leave on Friday to head back to campus and start up classes after the girls vacation.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Serve, Protect...and Steal??

I had the privilege of visiting some of the families of our students this past week. Our students left campus on Tuesday morning for a two-week vacation. I too, along with the Lucia Family, left campus early in the morning and began the long drive from campus to Tocoa, Honduras to meet Mayra's family. We spent Tuesday night in a hotel in Tocoa and left Wednesday mid-day to drive to Rio Esteban to meet Martha's family. After spending the night in a soon-to-be orphanage, we drove to Puerto Cortes, where we would catch a boat to Belize in order to renew our passports (and have a little vacation ourselves).

I'm not sure how many miles we put on the car, but I think it was near 20 hours of driving in three days. Along the way, I was stopped by Honduras police somewhere between 8-10 times (I lost count at 7). This is not an unexpected occurrance for someone driving a black Nissan XTerra with black tineted windows. Instead of having police cars out on the road, Honduras has "checkpoints" along the roads, usually at the entrance or exit of a decently size town or village. These checkpoints are locations for the police to stop anyone they feel like stopping. If they are suspicious of your car, if they thought you were driving too fast, or if they flipped a coin and your car lost the flip, they will stop you at a whim.

The majority of the stops went something like this:

1) Police signals to me to pull over
2) I roll down my window as I am pulling off to the side of the road and they look surprised to see a Gringo (White person)
3) The police walks over and asks (in spanish, of course), "good afternoon, is everything ok."
4) I say, "good afternoon, yes sir, everything is going just fine."
5) He looks at my drivers license and car registration and says, "you're fine, have a great day."
6) I drive off thankful that I have escaped another opportunity for the police to steal my money

However, the first time I was stopped (only a few hours into our drive) did not go so pleasantly. I could tell from the start that this guy was interested in finding something I was doing wrong so that he could steal some money.

-He asked for my license and registration: Check
-He asked for my passport to verify I had not been in the country longer than 90 days: Check
-He asked for the passports of the other 4 Americans in the car: Check
-He asked to see the fire extinguisher: Check
-He asked to see the emergency triangles: Check
-He asked to see the ID's of the two Honduran students in my car: Oooooops

One of the girls did not have her ID, which somehow translated into him thinking that I was kidnapping them. So he threatened me saying that he would keep Martha (the student with no ID) in the police station and that I could continue on my way. Of course that was not an option, so I continued talking with him. We explained the situation, why she didn't have her ID, and thought he was going to let us go on our way. Then he called me over to the side and told me he would let us all go if I bought a gallon of gasoline from the police station for over $10 per gallon (more than twice of what it would cost at a gas station). I told him, "Thanks, but I am actually fine on gasonline now." He didn't appreciate that and decided (once again) that Martha would stay with him. After much conversation and back-and-forth bantering, I finally convinced him that $2 US was sufficient and we were on our way.

I was thinking about the police and their checkpoints and was thankful that most of them are just a quick pass. I was also thinking about the one bad apple who wants to take advantage of any foreigner who can spare an extra few bucks and thought, "maybe this is just one reason why Honduras is the 2nd poorest country in the western hemisphere." Not because one officer stole a few dollars from me, but because corruption and bad behavior is so tolerated in this society.

I think I will change the Honduras police force slogan to "Serve, Protect...and Steal" based on my experiences from this last week.

Oh, I also learned the hard way that driving with sandals on is also against the law in Honduras...ooops!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Textbooks Anyone?

We are trying to get a few introductory textbooks in Honduras for the teachers to use as guides for lessons. Up until now, most of our lessons are focused around teaching English, but the students have learned enough that we are starting to teach other topics as well. If you have any textbooks that you'd like to donate, or if you'd like to sponsor a textbook purchase online, please let me know. Here are the topics we are looking for:

-Accounting
-Finance
-Economics
-Marketing
-Leadership
-Psychology

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Sixteen People, No Bathroom

I learned something shocking (well, not really...I'm living on the 2nd poorest country in the Western Hemisphere) just the other day. Our cook, who is one of the most generous and loving people I've met my entire life, lives in one house with 15 family members. This, I already knew. What I did not know; however, is that the 16 of them do not have a bathroom. They just use the woods every time they need to go. I couldn't believe it. Could you imagine every single time (especially as a woman) that you needed to go having to walk out in the woods with TP in hand, dig a hole, do your business, and cover the hole.

What happens when you dig a hole in the same place that your sister dug yesterday? You have to dig another hole. Then you dig a hole where your aunt did last week. Dang it! Hopefully the third time is a charm!

Anyhow, when I heard this, I started asking around here what it would take to build this wonderful family a bathroom. Here is about what it would take:

-Lots of physical labor to dig the septic hole in the ground (With 15 people in the family - we pretty much have this covered)
-About $300 worth of bricks to lay the walls of the septic tank
-About $100 worth of PVC pipe
-A toilet (Cost ???)
-Less than $100 of cement

If anyone is interested in helping this family not to have to dig holes every time they use the forrest (I mean, bathroom), please send me an email at rahm.joseph@gmail.com and I will let you know how you can contribute.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Two Become One...

The phrase "Two become One" that is so often used in weddings and in reference to married couples has always been a bit of a mystery to me. Sometimes I feel like I understand what it means intellectually, but how can two people actually become one? Of course, they can't literally become one, but how can they even become one emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, or in a variety of other ways? I certainly don't want to waste anyone's time trying to explain that, nor do I want to give myself a headache, but it is an interesting phrase that I have been thinking about today.

It has been on my mind because my better half left with our son this morning to spend two weeks in Nashville, TN visiting her family. We decided that it would be best for her to see family, get some good food, and have some extra help with Micah since her morning sickness has been so bad. I do what I can to help around here, but my schedule gets busy with the students and volunteers.

Back to the point...I actually feel that part of me is not here in Honduras. Hailey and I have spent some time apart, but for some reason it feels different this time. While I have a lot of work to keep me busy while she is gone, the first 10 hours haven't felt right. I've done the usual routine - teach class, shower, eat dinner, and hang out - but it doesn't feel normal. It feels like something is missing. Something IS missing!

So from now on when I hear the phrase "Two become One," or a phrase meaning something similar, I will understand on a new level.

I am missing part of me.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Joy in the Midst of Trials!

In the book of James in the Bible, the author writes in the first chapter - "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds..." (Joseph Paraphrase). This statement, while I understand the intent, has always seemed a little backwards to me. Sometimes I think it should say, "Just try not to be raging angry when you face trials of many kinds. As long as your anger doesn't hurt anyone, you are OK." At least that way it would actually be doable.

These last couple weeks, my family has faced MANY trials. I will list just a few for you:

-Hailey (surprise if you don't already know!) is pregnant and has horrible morning sickness. With Micah, she was sick a couple hours a day for a few weeks and only threw up a few times. This time around, she is throwing up almost daily and has been extremely fatigued. For some reason :) the rice and beans here don't look appetizing to her and she is having a hard time keeping other food down. The result is that she has to spend a lot of time relaxing, which makes my schedule that much more busier. I am not complaining because we are thrilled to be having our second child, but it makes for quite the trial.
-Micah, thank God, has stayed extremely healthy through many sicknesses that have passed through our campus. However, he got something this last week and woke up two different nights and vomited all over his crib. He was up crying both nights for a while as we changed his sheets, clothes, and blankets. This was not fun!
-I was very sick for a couple days. I will spare you all the details - use your imagination!

I will be honest; there were several days that I thought, "What in the world am I doing in Honduras and how quickly can I get back to the U.S.?" I wanted a carpeted floor, butternut squash soup with a spinach salad, a cold smoothie, a bed with no mosquito nets, and much more. Hailey and I were not doing well. We were discouraged, annoyed, frustrated, tired, and sick of being sick.

However, just the other day we were sitting out on our back porch enjoying the lovely weather while Micah was taking a nap. I think Hailey had just thrown up minutes earlier and I was afaid (once again) that I was about to poop my pants. And in that moment, Hailey looked up at me and said, "I really do like it here! I love the weather - the landscape is beautiful - and Micah absolutely loves having a playground all around our house."

I can't remember my exact response, but I think I just sat there and stared at her thinking, "You must be crazy! Yesterday, we were talking about going back to the U.S. and dreaming of brownies and ice cream; what has changed?!?"

Then I realized, nothing changed. Hailey truly had joy in the midst of trials. We didn't know if Micah was well or not. There were no signs that Hailey would be feeling better soon. And I was still rushing off to the bathroom at the drop of a dime. But someway, somehow, Hailey had joy in the midst of trials. And it was contagious!

So today, we are pretty much the same. I feel quite a bit better, but still emptied liquid from my hind-side this morning. Micah is doing better and hasn't thrown up in several days. But Hailey is still sick and lacks energy. The organization's truck had a flat tire this morning. It wouldn't fill with air so I had to put the spare on. Then I got it stuck in mud on a hill and almost ran over a huge rock and into a tree. This made me late to class, and I am currently sitting here writing this blog with sweat dripping down my face while my students take an exam.

And for some reason, I am joyful. It is amazing how we can change our perspective and how joy is contagious from person to person. If we allow God to act in our hearts the way that he wants to, we truly can have joy in the midst of trials. It is possible!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Harvest Time!

Hailey harvesting the radishes...

The beautiful basket of radishes

Hailey with a radish in her hand :)

 Hailey harvesting cucumbers...

Yummy cucumber for a vegetable salad...

Hailey with a basket of beets!

Our first garden ever has been a success. We have harvested remolacha (beets), rabano (radish), pepino (cucumber), and zapallo (squash). We still have a few more vegetables that we haven't harvested yet, but the garden is very healthy and the vegetables are tasty. It has been a lot of work, but also a lot of fun and we are excited to provide some much needed nutrition to the students!

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Common Phrases

It’s quite amazing how one character in a movie can say something that all of a sudden becomes one of the most popular phrases in The United States. Just think how long people quoted Napoleon Dynamite after that movie was first released. I can’t even count how many times I heard people say, “Eat your food, Tina,” “Goooosh,” or “Vote for Pedro.” Or if you’re not a Napoleon fan, then maybe you like “Bond…James Bond,” “Hasta La Vista, baby,” or “My momma always said, life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.”

While the Rahm and Lucia households in Honduras don’t have quite the same influence as Hollywood actors, there is one phrase that has been quite common this last week. It’s not funny, though it may appear so. It’s not dramatic to others, though it is extremely dramatic to the person saying it. And the action that follows it is not pleasant, nor would anyone ever care to make a movie out of it. However, given the current state of our lives here in Honduras, we are shouting it out right and left. Usually it comes in the middle of an important conversation, in the middle of a grammar lecture in class, or at 1 AM as almost everyone is sound asleep.

“I NEED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM BEFORE I POOP MY PANTS!”

I assume that this phenomenon is quite regular when Americans with little exposure to third world food, water, etc. choose to move to a Third World Country. In Honduras, for the most part, we are very privileged to have extremely clean drinking water and great food preparation methods, but every once in a while, someone forgets to use the filtered water for a pot of coffee or to wash the vegetables. The result is what you may expect – the Gringos (White People) spend 25% of the next few days sitting on the toilet. A good friend of mine (Gringo, of course) down here said it correctly when he wrote me an email. He said, “last week, for the first time in my life, I realized that it was possible to urinate out of my rear-end. I was driving down the road and had to stop to wash my pants after having butt explosions.”

So, there you have it. These last few days have been quite the experience. Ira started off with a bang on Friday, spending at least 30% of the day on the toilet. Then Sarah and Olivia followed (although their bodies haven’t quite adjusted since day one). And today, Hailey, Micah, and I are the lucky ones. Oh, the joys of third-world living!

I would write more, but “I need to go to the bathroom before I poop my pants.”

Friday, July 29, 2011

Taking Technology for Granted...

Contrary to many people my age (but common to people my grandmother’s age), I am a bit turned off by technology and all the “wonderful” new inventions that modernization has brought to humanity. I will never own an IPhone, Itouch, IPad, or an I-put-an-I-in-front-of-anything-and-it-will-sell, nor are they even that appealing to me. Now that we live in the middle-of-nowhere, Honduras, these gadgets are even less tempting. I often think they are just wasting everyone’s time. Instead of doing important things, we often hide behind the newest gadgets like a recluse who doesn’t want any human interaction. However, today I had an experience that reminded me that technology, even with the many downsides (in my opinion), has amazing capability and can be extremely wonderful and helpful. Let me explain…

Micah ate pistachios for the first time today, and his little body didn’t quite agree with them. Not too long after he consumed this tasty snack, he began talking like a man who smoked a pack of cigarettes every day of his 70-year life (OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration). Soon after, he started developing a rash of sorts on his face and neck. We gave him some children’s benedryl, which made him drowsy and he fell asleep about 2 hours after the initial consumption. He wasn’t acting different than usual, besides being sleepy.

(Here’s where the modern technology part comes in)

Without giving a Honduras cell phone lesson (of which I have had many) via blogspot, I wasn’t able to make a phone call due to a variety of reasons, but remembered that my parents are often on Skype while they are home. So, I got on my computer (praise God the internet actually had a decent connection) and skyped my parents (can you use the word Skype as a verb?). They were able to call a doctor to be able to confirm that indeed this reaction was nothing to be overly concerned about so long as it didn’t get worse.

It’s not as if technology saved someone’s life today, but it did allow a couple parents in Honduras the peace-of-mind that their baby boy was safe and healthy. So here’s to the man or woman who invented Skype…thank you very much!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

MICAH UPDATE



Here is a picture update of our growing son:


Favorite snack: crackers



Our happy boy!




He loves putting his hand out and feeling the rain drops fall from the roof!

Showing us that he is "one" year old


Micah loves hanging out in the back of pick up trucks :)






Loving our new hammock chair!




Helping daddy hang a hammock for the Lucia Family.


 New Haircut!






Thursday, July 14, 2011

These are a few of my favorite things...

I just thought I would share a few of my favorite things about my life in Honduras :) 


*Hanging out with Micah on our bed, underneath the mosquito net while we read books, watch movies on the laptop and eat cornflakes :)

*Chatting and praying over a cup of coffee with Joseph early in the morning when no one else is awake; the fresh morning breeze is wonderful!

*Tending to my flourishing garden!

*Favorite Foods:  Fried plantains; peanut butter on fresh, hot tortillas; and Baleadas.

*Going on walks as a family...Holding Joseph's hand as we watch our little son run ahead to look at the "vacas!" ("cows!")

*Favorite Plant:  Dormilonas. They are fern-looking plants that fold up when you touch them! God is so creative!  *Check them out on youtube if you are interested :)

* Watching the children of the community run around my house;  the laughter fills the room and my heart with joy!

*Watching my son and husband play together...especially when Joseph's gives Micah rides in the wheelbarrow and when they head for an afternoon walk together.  Doesn't get any precious than seeing son and father hand in hand.


Taking the time to write these favorite things out reminds me of how blessed I am!  
Thank you Jesus for these priceless moments and new treasures!


"Every good and perfect gift is from above!"  
James 1:17

Monday, July 4, 2011

What a Month!

When Hailey and I decided to move to Honduras (actually, before we made the decision), I spoke with several people who have done similar things. I spoke with people who lived in Guatemala, Turkey, Africa, the Middle East, and other places as well. There were two things in common that every person told me:

1) You will not regret moving to Honduras for one year if that is what you decide to do.

2) Even though you will not regret going, you will face many obstacles that will be difficult. They will be difficult for you in your work, with your family, and with the community you live in.

Hailey and I consider ourselves “go with the flow” types of people. We are not easily upset and generally handle changes in our lives with ease. Even though we didn’t (and still don’t) speak Spanish fluently; even though we were leaving behind our family and closest friends (except the Lucia’s); and even though there were many unknowns about our new life in Honduras, we felt ready and we were not intimidated but a change of such magnitude. I will even admit that I didn’t think it would be as difficult as some other people thought it might be.

I think the last month made me realize that the people who I spoke to about living overseas and working with a non-profit organization had more wisdom that I gave them credit for. There hasn’t been one or two things that have happened to make this last month particularly busy and difficult, but a combination of many small things.

As most of you know, I am working as the director of a new school that teaches English and Leadership to poor women in Honduras. Those of you who are in education probably cringe when you read the words “new school” because you may understand what that entails. It requires organizing classes, creating rules for the students (with regards to classes, but in my circumstance also with regards to life and safety since the girls all live here on campus), creating a student handbook, determining which teachers are going to teach what and when, and many other things. Also, since all the students live here, I also spend time making shopping lists, going on motorcycle to the nearby village to purchase food, medicine, and other supplies, and doing everything else that may be required of a Resident Advisor at a university in the US.

While I do have one of the most patient and understanding women in the world as my wife, she understandably would like to hang out with me and spend time together as a family. This last month, I have been so focused on my school responsibilities, that some of my responsibilities as a father and husband paid the price. Hailey and I have had some great conversations over the last couple weeks and she has really helped me prioritize my responsibilities and change some things so that I won’t be so busy. I have also told the students that after 4 in the afternoon I am going to spend time with my family and will not be “working” except in cases of emergencies or things that need my attention immediately.

In addition, we have had many volunteers coming and going, which also takes a lot of effort to coordinate. Each time a new volunteer comes, it is my responsibility to make sure they are up to speed and understand their responsibilities in the classroom, etc. This also means more trips in the motorcycle to town, which is more time away from campus and my family. I have been blessed to have some great volunteers since I’ve been down here and am not complaining about that, it is just another responsibility that takes time and effort.

Finally, because this is a new school, I have spent a lot of time creating lists of expectations, rules, and consequences if the rules are broken. This takes a lot of time and effort, and being a rule-enforcer is definitely one of the only things that I don’t like about my position. But, it is necessary. So this last month has been busy talking with the students to agree upon a set of guidelines that they understand and can live by.

All of these things added together has made for an extremely busy last month. For our entire marriage, I have ALWAYS been the first one to fall asleep at night while Hailey lays there thinking about something (I should say everything). For the first time in our marriage, Hailey is falling asleep before me as I lay in bed thinking about the things I didn’t get done that day or the things that are waiting for me the next day. Yet even with all the responsibilities and busyness, I would not trade this opportunity for anything. Hailey and I feel like we are right where God wants us and that we still have a lot to do. We continue to make strides to make my job easier and less busy. I have implemented monthly report cards, weekly exams, student handbooks, student code of conducts, and many more things to help make my job easier. I am not exactly laying back in a hammock sipping on a pina colada, but my life has seemed to slow down a little bit in the last week and I am grateful for that.

Ira and his family arrive here in one week from tomorrow, and then I can dump half of my workload onto him. Then maybe I will be napping in the hammock on our front porch. (It’s a joke Ira…well, kind of a joke)

Sunday, July 3, 2011

The Garden - step by step


I thought some of you might be interested in hearing about the garden and 
seeing pictures from the start until now. 



I chose a spot between our house(on the left) and the kitchen(on the right) because it is close to where we are and we can tend to it easily and because it was close to a water source.  The soil wasn't that great
because as you can see in the photo below it was used as a construction site and to store materials, but I 
thought I would give it a try!  


We removed all the "stuff" and began chipping away at the soil and removing a fair amount of soil
that we knew just would not do, it had a huge amount of clay in it, as does most the soil around here.


Here is Micah and his friend, Jared on the far left and a son of one of the workers, 
Johnathan in the middle, just hanging out in the garden :)


Soil getting chopped up...yes, we did this all by hand, using shovels and hoes. 


The soil, now chopped up finer. We also brought in some better soil from the coffee farm.


Hailey at working(top right of the garden), making 3 wide, raised beds to plant the veggies!


Hailey enjoying the hard labor!


The three final, wide, raised beds. You can see the two on the right have some 
richer soil on top; we added more on the third one as well.


 Horray! It's time to plant the seeds!


Joseph and Micah watering the garden together!


 The vegetable markers Hailey made...yes, they are in Spanish!


 The trellis we made for the cucumbers.



 Here you can see a gate was put up and the garden is surrounded by chicken fence....
to keep ALL the chickens and dogs out!  


Here is our garden now...the walkways are covered in pine needles..."Thanks Mom!"
And you can see that things are growing!  We got beets, cabbage, cucumbers, onions, and watermelon
that are growing well!

 Well, that is it for now.  Maybe once things get REAL big I will post another picture.  




I Live In A Palace




Living in a Third World country really opens your eyes to ALL that you have in the States.  You are reminded that your lifestyle in the States really is luxurious compared to most the world. 

When I had spent 3 months in Malawi, Africa in 2005 I came home and struggled with feeling so disgusted at how MUCH stuff we have in the states and how ungrateful we become; we forget how rich we really are.  When Joseph and I visited Calcutta, India in 2009 and did our daily walk through the streets where families, young and old, lined the streets laying underneath the only thing they owned, a blanket, some didn’t even have that.   I remember going to bed every night thinking “I can’t believe I was just wanting to redecorate my home…I can’t believe I wanted to get a different bed spread.   I really do live in a palace; I have all that I will ever need and more!” 

And now I am living in Honduras.  Last night I was lying on my comfortable bed, underneath our mosquito net, in our cement home with a tin roof and that same thought that I had in India returned… “I live in a palace!”  Just a few miles down the street from us lives a family of FIFTEEN who live in a smaller house than we do, they don’t have mosquito nets or a feather comforter to sleep under….oh yeah, and between the 15 of them, they share 3 beds. 

I LIVE IN A PALACE. 

So what does that make our old apartment in Seattle….definitely more luxurious than I thought!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

New Opportunity!

Update 6/29: Here are two pictures from us teaching this last Monday:



Hailey and I met the one-and-only school teacher in our community the other day. She teaches 28 children from our community, ranging from 5 years-old to 14 years-old. Once children finish this school at 14 years-old, they will be done with school for the rest of their lives (unless their family has the money to send them to school in another village, which is extremely rare).

Starting tomorrow, Hailey and I (and Micah) are going to the school every Monday to help the students learn English. We are SO EXCITED for this opportunity to help our community, and it will be a great way to get to know other people as well. In addition to each Monday, I will send 5 of our students each Thursday to help as well. Not only will this be a great way for our students to get involved in the community, it will be a great way for them to use their English. Teaching is a great way to learn!

When we were at the school, one of our employees (who came with us to introduce us to the teacher) explained the current condition of the school. The government is supposed to bring food to the children (rice, beans, corn for tortillas, etc.) to eat each day. However, the food is not prepared and often does not come. If the food doesn't come, the children don't eat for 6 hours while they are in school. If the food does come, the mothers of the children are responsible to cook the food at home and cary it (some for several miles) to the school. Even then, the food is cold and the portions are so small. In addition, the water supply to the school is contaminated and dirty, and many of the children are often ill.

Hailey and I were truly touched and want to help with these two problems. For the materials to construct a kitchen/dining room, it would cost about $700, and to provide clean drinking water it would cost about $600. We have the volunteers and people from the community who will work for free to help these young children, so all we need to buy is the materials. If you are able to help in any way (every $5 helps), please see our "Support the Rahms" section of our blog. If you send money to our church to sponsor this project, please write "Honduras School Project" in the memo line.

Location for the New Kitchen


Current "Kitchen" that is unusable


We recognize many of the people who read this blog have already helped us financially, so if you are unable to give, please pray that we are able to raise the money. These children's education, health, and well-being will be vastly improved by making these few changes. Thank you for considering sponsoring this project! We are blessed by your thoughtfulness and generosity!



Friday, June 24, 2011

More pics....


Mom helping a student with an assignment.

Micah and "Ni Ni" working hard together :)


 "Hi Ho, Hi Ho it's off to work we go!"

Eating a snack together after a hard days work.


 Making homemade tortillas.

 A precious moment.


 Business Leadership class; mom uses her Dave Ramsey skills. :)



A week with Mom

My mom arrived last Friday and will be leaving this Sunday.  The time with her has been so wonderful and such a blessing.  We have done many projects and just enjoyed each others company and conversations.  Here are some pictures from this week:


Mom arriving on the back of Joseph's motorcycle!

Reading a Bible story to Micah before he goes to bed.


Washing her clothes on the Pila and enjoying it!


 Mother and Daughter cleaning clothes together.


 Planting carrots in the garden.


 Micah enjoying jumping and sitting in the puddles by the river.


For some reason I could not post more pictures on this post so a second post
 with more pictures will follow!