Half Way There
Karen & Oberly in central park Santa Rosa, Copan We have reached the half way mark to the nine months we allotted for learning the Honduran Spanish. Just like "waiting" for a new baby, sometimes it seems as though we will never get there and at other times the days fly by and we wonder how we will be ready in time. As we look forward with anticipation to beginning work at Orphanage Emmanuel we thank God for continuing to bless us with this time in Copan Ruinas. We thank him for his grace and mercy. We thank him for sending us out with his light to guide our path. We thank him for the many people who have crossed our path on this journey. Each has been a gift that has made an impact on our time here. We serve an awesome God!
Everyone Is A Vender
Sitting in our classroom at La Escuela de Español Ixblanque, the market place comes to us through the open windows as the venders walk around town selling whatever they can: tortillas (usually corn), pan (“bread”), nances (small yellow cherry looking fruit), snow cones, wall hooks fashioned out of old pieces of metal, firewood gathered with a machete and carried on thin shoulders or horseback, and everywhere children selling dolls made from colorfully dyed cornhusks.
This particular hombre above reminds me of the Fuller Brush man who used to come door to door when I was a child. Every street has a dozen open doorways where families sell clothing, bottled water, odds and ends, snacks, eggs, tortillas or other necessary items. Every other doorway is a repair shop, internet shop or cellular phone store. Opportunities to buy are plentiful but few have Limpira (Honduran money) to spend.
Surrounding Copan Ruinas
Recently we visited La Pintada, one of many Chorti Maya villages, located above the Copan River on the side of a mountain outside Copan Ruinas. It is only accessible by hiking or by horseback. La Pintada, like most of the Chorti villages, is a subsistence, farming village growing mainly corn and beans in small plots of ground cleared, cultivated and harvested by hand. They supplement their meager income by selling colorful manteles (table runners, placemats, tortilla cloths), bufandas (scarfs), and other simply woven articles (bracelets, belts, purses etc.) as well as the colorful cornhusk dolls made by the women and children. Frequent summers of droughts and low tourism have made their survival marginal. In some villages, where it is not possible to grow crops, the men and boys walk for hours to work for others, usually receiving food for payment. Houses are made from tin and wood, some with thatched palm roofs. There is a government built public school (with electricity) in the village staffed by three government provided teachers. Many people here have less than a sixth grade education. The children learn early that to eat, one must first work.
This particular village is directly across the river from the Mayan Ruins in Copan and has stellaes (monuments erected by Mayan royalty to show power and to mark the boundaries of their territory). If you look closely, you can still see the features of a frog, an ancient fertility god, in this 2000-year-old stone carving.
We Have Moved, But Not Very Far
looking off our balcony As our language skills and knowledge of the area have increased, we have taken another step in immersion, lliving more independently. We recently moved from living in one room of a family’s home on the outskirts of town to living in a two-room apartment above a family in town. With the help of our maestras (instructors/friends) we have settled in to doing our own shopping for food, cooking, laundry, etc. Our new family consists of Señora Rosita and her husband Señor Rudolfo, their daughter Gilda, her son Christian, and a new addition, Frodo (a one month old puppy). Rosita and Rudolfo cater partys and gatherings of many kinds. Gilda teaches kindergarten at the Mayan Bilingual School where her son will attend 4th grade starting in two weeks. We have the opportunity to practice our Spanish every day as we walk through their main living area to go in and out of the house. Even though we live in town now, water is still rationed every three days and electricity comes and goes as it does all over Honduras.
More and More
 We continue to study Spanish and the Honduran culture in as many different arenas as possible. The market place, church, the orphanage, new friends, local school and community events, and especially the central park all offer opportunities to practice and learn. | 
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the churches local industry helping new friends
community events the market place feeding the children
Prayer Praises and Requests
Praises: Please join us in praising God for all the blessings he brings as we strive to be obedient to his will.
Requests: Please keep us in your prayers
- We thank God for the new and continuing support we are receiving from partners in the United States
- We thank God for our fellow disciples who continue to share the story of the children at Orphanage Emmanuel to raise support for his ministry.
- We thank God for continued good health, strength and endurance
- We thank God for the support, encouragement, and time with our first family in Copan Ruinas
- We thank God for the new family who welcomed us into their home
- We thank God for his continued mercies and grace for us as we learn this new language.
Requests: Please keep us in your prayers
- for rain to help the farmers grow their crops so their families can have food and fresh water
- for rain so that electricity can be provided
- for the children of Honduras that they may experience and know God's love
- for our discernment of the Holy Spirit's leading to be examples of God’s love in all we do and say
- for continued physical health and for increased physical strength to enable us to continue working
- that God will bless our efforts to learn this language and discern how to use it for his glory
- for the power of the Holy Spirit to be evident in our lives so that our actions speak only of God's love
- for the continued faithfulness of our financial and spiritual partners and raising up of additional support
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