My Favorite Place

Didasko. I can't exactly place why it is my favorite place, but I just absolutely love visiting the kids out there. I have only been to Didasko a few times but all my visits have left a lasting impression on my heart. With each visit I feel more and more of my heart being left behind with the kids out there. This past week I had the privilege of visiting Didasko with my friends from home. Needless to say I couldn't stop talking about going all week. I knew it would be the highlight of my week, and give me a little rejuvenation that I really needed. When the day of the visit arrived I was antsy all day. Our first stop was out to the farm and after that we would head over to Didasko. No offense to Donnie and the farm, but I was ready to leave as soon as possible. As our bus approached the orphanage I was standing at the door ready to be the first one out of the bus, and I was. I got off the bus and was soon greeted by Juan Pablo with a big hug and an enthusiastic "COR!" I love this kid. He is so sweet and funny and I just love the time we get to spend together. Juan Pablo and I walked around and I introduced him to all my friends. After we met all my friends we sat down to talk and he asked to see my phone. He asked to see it not to play a game or take a picture, but to write me a note. It translated to english as "From Pablo, I love you a lot, with all of my heart. For Corey" Obviously he took a big chunk of my heart at that moment. The rest of the night was committed to watching a movie with all of the kids. I sat with Juan Pablo and his brother Maynor. The both loved the movie, and the popcorn. As we began to say our goodbyes the questions from some of the kids turned to the time of my next visit. I hope my next visit is soon, because I can feel my heart being tugged by the kids out at Didasko!

Me and some of the kids at Didasko!

Juan Pablo and I!

A Big Build

Build Day. If you have been in Honduras with me you have probably said or heard a joke about me and a build site. It just is not usually my cup of tea, but I am getting better, I promise. If faced with the decision of visiting an orphanage or building a house I will 9 times out of 10 choose the orphanage. This doesn't mean I don't participate in builds, but I can safely admit I don't do the most work at any of the sites. This past week when the team was here though I did more work than usual. It is probably because I knew how many kids would be living in this house. There would be more people than you could count with your fingers living in this house and the kids were all over the place, all day long! It was awesome to see all my friends from home serving so willing for this family and I couldn't help but join in on the fun. Seeing my best friend get up on the roof and work was pretty awesome. The whole morning and afternoon was filled with nothing but hard work, and the occasional break to go play with the kids of course. As the day began to wind down and the house was completed we all gathered inside with the family to pray over and bless the house. Mark Connell, who is the #1 Corey at a build site joke teller, walked in looked at me and told me since I actually did some work this build that I should be the one to say the blessing over the house. Luckily I didn't have to say it in Spanish. As God used me to bless this house I felt so grateful to be able to be the hands, feet, and voice of Him at all times. I realized how blessed I am to have the opportunity to bless others so frequently. As I finished the blessing the new home owner stood before us with her grand-daughter in hand, surrounded by her many kids, and grand kids. The first words out of her mouth was to thank God for this amazing blessing.

The team hard at work!

Some of the kids who just got a new house!

The team and the family!

A Day at Casa with Fernando

Every time there is a group here my favorite days are the days we get to visit Children's Homes. I have now been to a few of them a good many times and have fallen in love with some of the kids there. When a group comes and visits Casa I look forward to spending time with Fernando while we are there.

During this group's visit I was able to be part of a very special day for Fernando! We arrived at Casa early so that we could attend church with the kids. We sat and waited for the kids to walk in and they all strolled in dressed to impress. Fernando saw me and made a b-line in my direction and sat next to me and Caity, who was ecstatic to sit next to SiSi all morning. The service was enjoyed by all but not understood by all, being that it was entirely in Spanish. After church we headed towards the orphanage to take a look around and give the newcomers a tour of the grounds. As we approached I saw Fernando excitedly running back and forth from one house to another always with a handful of his clothes and a HUGE smile on his face. After we got a tour from Terri we were able to spend a little time with the kids before lunch. Fernando was extremely excited to show me and tell me his good news, he has a new room! He moved to the other room for a couple of different reasons and the result seems to be all positive for everyone involved. As the kids settled down for lunch we headed to Cafe El Gringo to enjoy a delicious lunch prepared by Byron and his workers. Yet again I ate way too much food but loved it all!

After lunch it was back to Casa for an afternoon of playing leading up to a hamburger cookout for us and the kids. Most of my afternoon was filled with soccer which of course I loved!

Then of course being as it is now rainy season our afternoon of fun got interrupted. The rain started coming down and we all headed inside to the main house. The group did a great job of improvising on this turn of events by dancing and singing with the kids. I kept looking around wondering where Fernando went when he showed up at the door wet and out of breath. Of course he was at the house with his room in it! He showed up to ask me to come play with him and the kids at the other house who were at the moment gringoless. We ran over in the rain and spent the rest of the afternoon checking out his new room and playing catch in the living room there! The night concluded with some delicious hamburgers that the kids and gringos both enjoyed!

Visit from Home

Yet again I am starting off a blog my saying how sorry I am for getting behind in my blogging. It has been over a month but it has been quite a busy month. Michael was in the States for a few weeks and that meant lots of homework and studying for me to do on my own with the kids. Everyone pitched in to help and the kids did great while Michael was gone! This last week I was able to spend time with a group full of some new friends and full of some of the people who are very important to me! It was an amazing week and I will be blogging this week about all the adventures and stories that were involved in our full week of service! So if I don't post a new blog tomorrow... yell at me

Didasko

Going to different children's homes will always be my favorite part of having groups here. I have only been to Didasko one time and it was just for around an hour or so when we brought the WOP band out to play with the kids and drop off food. Even though it was only for a short time I remember playing with a boy, Juan Pablo, almost the entire time that we were there. Since this was October I doubted he would have remembered such a short encounter. David and I showed up a little after the group and the were about to begin their Easter Egg Hunt. As I walked towards the starting line one of the kids ran up gave me a huge hug, it was Juan Pablo. Since nothing can take a kid away from the fun of an Easter Egg hunt we saved the catching up for after. He proceeded to tell me all about the last time I was there. He talked about playing soccer, how long I stayed for, when I visited, asked how my teaching was going, and of course remembered my name. I was floored when he asked the question why it took me so long to visit since I live just an hour away.

I told him that I will try very hard to visit more often, especially since I have the ability to see him being on a little under an hour away. He then showed me all around Didasko introducing me to all of the other kids including his two brothers that live at Didasko. His older brother is David and his younger brother is Minor. We then sat down and looked through pictures of my school and my old pictures where we found pictures from my last visit to Didasko.

As our time at Didasko came to an end we gathered up to pray over our meal. As we walked towards the cook out Juan Pablo asked me if he would be able to say the prayer. I asked the group if that would be okay and of course the agreed it would be awesome. As he prayed over the food and thanked God for the life he has and the great visit from loving people I was floored again at what an amazing litte guy he is and how I knew right then and there I would be finding a way to return to this awesome place on a regular basis to do what I can for the children of Didasko.

Return to the City Dump

I have not been to the city dump here in Tegucigalpa for weeks. With working at school and the normal feedings taking place on Wednesdays and now on Fridays also I am rarely able to go feed. However this week being Semana Santa gave me the opportunity to help on a very special feeding day. We started the day early as we were building a house in one of the nearby communities. Our group was amazing this week and was able to have three walls up and the roof started by 11 when we headed to the dump. This day Mark Tindall was spending the entire day working with the the people of the dump, digging through trash and sorting what would be valuable enough to sell back. David, the teenagers, and I went looking for him when we arrived and found him on a large pile of cardboard trying to tie it all up in a tarp. David and I ended up jumping in to help some of the people carry their findings.

As I was helping carry some cardboard I looked back to see Jose Antonio, one of our BC teens, also lending a hand to help. It was really amazing to see him jump in and help. After our first dump stop we headed up to the top of the dump to give out the rest of our food. When we arrived one of our teenagers, Arnol, asked me if he would be able to go around the outskirts of the dump to hand out water to those too busy to come get food. Of course we said yes. So Arnol and I walked around the perimeter of the dump handing out water. Seeing these two teenagers begin a journey of helping is truly amazing. I pray that God continues to work in them and mold their servant hearts to provide more and more assistance to the less fortunate members of their society.

Semana Santa

So yet again I am way behind on my blogging and so much has happened it seems impossible to begin but I guess I will try. I'll start by talking about Breaking Chains! The kiddos fromt he building that go to my school (Dayana, Jonatan, Arol, and Escarleth) are all doing great at school! I am so proud of all of their hard work in and out of school. Michael and I have our up and downs with them but overall it has been an amazing transition for them. They all seem to have no trouble making friends at school and are all well known around the school already, however much of this might be because most all of the students think they are my children.... I absolutely love seeing them all play with their friends at school, especially Jonatan! He was brave enough to dance in front of the entire student body this past Friday to Michael Jackson's Billie Jean with his friend. It was one of the cutest things I have every seen! Arol continues to show off how smart he is by excelling in all of his classes which makes me very excited to get a peek at his report card when I get back to school! Dayan is improving everyday and the time and effort that Michael has but in with her is showing! She can even write her name know! Escarleth is well Escarleth, I love this sweet little girl so much even though sometimes it would seem otherwise. I love seeing her enjoy her new environment and I love doing homework with her because the look on her face when she accomplishes something new is absolutely priceless!

Other than the little ones we have some great victories and some struggles from our teenagers. My main focus with the teenagers is Arnol. He was really the only one of the teenagers who would attempt to do a lot of communicating when I knew absolutely no Spanish, so as of right now we are able to communicate extremely well. I love this little guy so much because I see a lot of myself in him. He struggles a lot with being a bit of a loner, and can be quite annoying at times ( just ask Amber). He lives in a building full of 50 other people but really only spends time with us gringos and his girlfriend Rosa. I love when Arnol's brother Jorge comes to visit because Arnol just lights up when he is able to play and talk with his brother and best friend. I worry a lot about Arnol especially with him and Rosa, his girlfriend, expecting a baby in a few months. He is currently going to a vocational program to learn about computers and he loves it! The first thing he tells me everyday after I get to the building is the different things he learned. I pray everyday about his continued growth as a person and as a soon to be Dad, I remind him whenever I can that we will all be here for him as he and Rosa embark on their challenging journey of parenthood.

Exams! So Interamerican School has wrapped up the first Partial of school! This was quite a challenging period for me and my students. I am so happy with how my kids have adjusted to my method of teaching and teamwork. They are a great group of kids, even if some days I have trouble remembering that. Some of my kids surprised me so much these past few weeks. They studied hard for their exams and tried to make everyday better than the last in the classroom. I also just recently grew to 18 students! Since 18 is my favorite number this means that this year is meant to be amazing! If I keep going I will end up talking about my school until your ears fall off so I'll move on to recent events this past week.

Semana Santa! Semana Santa or Holy Week is underway here in Honduras. During the Holy Week all schools have vacation which means a nice relaxing week off for Mr. Corey... well not so much. David and I are hosting a group this week and they arrived on Saturday. Yesterday they spent the day at Breaking Chains and cleaned and scrubbed our church room! I loved their work ethic and seeing them fall in love with the people that live at the ministry. They also paid for a water filtration system to be installed at the building which will allow us to better serve the street population by being able to provide clean water to anyone who needs it! Then today was Build Day! As anyone who has built a house with me will tell you, I am next to useless on a build site. I do some work but I like to spend the majority of my time playing with the kids and talking to them about their school. Today we built a house in Rio Abajo a community near the Dump. The family has 11 members in it and were in need of another structure where they could spread out and live more comfortably instead of in their current very small mud house. One of the people living in the house is 7 year old Melvin. I like to say that I speak U-12 Spanish, which means I have passable Spanish when talking to kids but atrocious spanish when talking to adults. Well, Melvin and I talked about his school, his family, his pets, and then we talked about how excited he and his family were about the house we were building for them. We have many more awesome things planned with this group and I can't wait to see what else God has in store for our week!