God's Grace

The theme on my heart tonight as I enjoy a quiet evening at home is God's grace. As I recall all the things He has done the past few weeks and even when I look farther back at my entire life I see the Lord's sweet hand of grace woven in and out of every moment of it. How unworthy I am to be so blessed, but I thank and praise Him for His goodness in my life. The best thing I know to do to express my gratefulness is to offer my life as a living sacrifice to my Lord. I am His and I long to be used by Him for His purposes and to spread His love and the gospel wherever He takes me. The Lord's plan for me to come to Honduras has been yet another beautiful display of His love and grace over me. In the month and a half I have been here not a single day goes by that I am not completely overwhelmed with joy and thankfulness to be here. 

Well, lets see where to begin...Last week Amy and I started teaching in our real studio. The barres are up and the air conditioner is installed. It has been so wonderful teaching with more space and having the students able to have proper placement at the barre. They were all so excited and said they felt like real dancers now! We are eager to get mirrors up and the floor installed!! *Exciting side note* MY PARENTS ARE COMING!!! They just booked their flights and they will be here in a little over 2 weeks! My heart is so full. I cannot wait to show them off and let them see what life is like down here. I know they will love it! My dad and a good friend of his will be building the floor for our studio. The next big challenge is getting the special dance surface we need to dance on. It is quite expensive, but we have a sweet brother in Christ working on getting a sponsor for that. We will keep praying and trusting!

At the Saturday movie night last weekend we watched Fiddler on the Roof and Amy and I taught the entire group a simple folkish dance to the song "If I Were a Rich Man" from the movie. We practiced it before it started and then danced to it when the song came on in the movie. It was a time full of laughter, fun and community as we were all dancing in a circle being silly. Great memories!

The Lord has continued to grow friendships with the great people here. Last week we had a girls sleepover and it was a precious time. We ate chocolate, watched movies, talked and giggled and stayed up wayyy too late then made breakfast in the morning. It was so fun!

This Thursday, Amy and I were asked to share a message and dance for the High school award ceremony at the school here. It was a great experience and definitely challenged us. High school is such a crucial age for kids so it was a blessing to speak into their lives. I pray The Lord impacted them and stirred their hearts. They certainly were attentive as we shared...I guess that is a perk of being the "Ballet Girls from America!"

At church this Friday we put a drama together and had one of our Creative Dance classes perform it. It was fun to be a part of and watch how they took it and made it their own. The congregation really enjoyed it and I believe it was a blessing to many. The theme was the Blood of Christ...we depicted how before Jesus died on the cross there was a wall separating us from being with Him and in His presence. He was holy and we were not, but when He died on the cross and shed His blood the wall was destroyed forever and we now have access to Him. He is in us and leads and guides us on the path of righteousness and protects us from the temptation and evil of the world and uphold us. We were able to use red fabric and do some fun choreography and movements with it! I'm not sure who had more fun...us or them! :)

The Lord let me be a part of ministering to a woman at church the other night and I can't tell you how much it blessed me! Because of the language barrier it's easy to feel somewhat removed from all that is going on in the church, I often long to pray with people but need more Spanish to do that. However, on Friday night during church I was being summoned by Pastora Abbie to come up to the front. I definitely had a panic moment as I walked up there...all I could think was "She knows I cant speak or pray in Spanish...surely she remembers!" All she wanted me to do was hold this woman. She said just hug her...and I did as she sobbed and sobbed. It was such a powerful time of feeling the love of The Lord flow through me. It was so humbling to know The Lord has brought me through so much and there have been times I was the one broken and sobbing, but here I was holding and being a comfort to someone in their brokenness. Even though I couldn't pray for her in Spanish the common love of the Holy Spirit was so strong and at work. So amazing that He uses us for His purposes!

Well, the secret is officially out...Honduras now knows that I can bake. On Friday night before church Hansi and I baked my famous Browned-Butter, Nutella-Stuffed, Chocolate Chip and Sea Salt Cookies. Yes they are as amazing as they sound...maybe more amazing! Pastor Elias tried one and then made an announcement to the ENTIRE church about them. It was funny and slightly embarrassing...but then...the next morning I got a message from Pastor Elias asking me to make 200 cookies to sell. Yes that is what I woke up to! So my morning on Saturday started in a panic as I tried to make a list of ingredients for the sweet man going to the store for us. 16 sticks of butter...how many bags of flour and sugar?!...16 eggs...ahh it was all a jumble in my brain. I wasn't even fully awake yet but thankfully after many phone calls...picture messages and patience all the ingredients were acquired. Amy, Hansi, our roommate Wendy and I baked for 5 hours straight. We used the churches economy sized kitchen and made 8 batches of cookies. It was a fun, exhausting and crazy adventure. The power went out for about 20 mins which added an extra challenge but we managed to get it all done. They sold them at our family movie night on Saturday night and a Bazaar fundraiser the church was having on Sunday. After it was all done I just looked around and couldn't really comprehend how all these cookies got there...it felt like a whirlwind of a day! Everyone enjoyed them though!

That is all the stories I have for now, but we do have some prayer needs...

-Pray for sponsors/funds for the dance floor we need. Once my dad builds the sprung floor we will be dancing on plywood which will be a blessing and a challenge. It will be better than hard concrete but also difficult to train our flourishing dancers. The cost of the "Marley" dance floor is somewhere between $2000-$3000!!

-Continue to pray for diligence and hard work ethic for our students. May they challenge themselves for the glory of The Lord.

-This Wednesday Amy and I will be performing for a large gathering of about 800 people at an outdoor event. We will dance one song and hopefully share a brief message. Pray for clarity as we will use a translator and that our hearts for The Lord will be known.

-Amy and I are starting to work on putting a recital together for our students. They will perform it sometime at the end of November. Pray for The Lord's creativity to flow and for ease of choreographing and teaching it to the students. We haven't had much time with our students yet, so their ballet vocabulary is limited. Our prayer is that the students would enjoy performing and be inspired to worship The Lord in a new way.

-Continued grace for learning Spanish! :)

Love you all! May you be blessed and encouraged to seek The Lord in whatever situation you are in...He is enough and the answer for all that we need!

A small glimpse of some of the critters here...this iguana is actually really pretty!

This is my friend Manu holding a LIVE tarantula!! Yikes!! I was not there when this picture was taken, thankfully, although we did see one in the church and I freaked out!

My sweet housemate, Wendy! We both love coffee and aprons...and well I love her too!

Some of our cute ballet students in our new and almost complete studio!

The infamous cookies! I think it will be awhile before I make this recipe again ;)

The sweaty glow of a baker in Honduras. :)

Amy, Hansi and I having a wonderful time baking!! Love these girls!

Embracing the Changes of Life

Life is full of change...some changes are good, some are hard, some are necessary and others unavoidable...either way I truly believe that change is just what you make of it. If you embrace it, thank The Lord for it, and search for the joy in it, life will be so much more enjoyable. The Lord is our constant source of joy and it is such a comfort, for me, to rest in His perfect peace and trust His plan for my life. He knew every change that took place and He sees all the change coming up. He uses each situation to draw us closer to Himself and removes every thing that takes the place He longs to hold in our hearts. The past year has been quite a stripping process for me and full of changes (most of them completely out of my control) but looking back, as I sit on my bed in Honduras writing this, I am overwhelmed at the goodness of The Lord to take away all He did for me to end up here. Of course through the process it hurt and didn't make sense, but if we know the heart of our Father we can trust Him and trust that His ways are ALWAYS for our good! 

Life here in Honduras is following the pattern and lesson I've been learning...embrace change. Some little things and some big things. Overall, I have and am learning to just enjoy the spontaneous way of life here. Hondurans are much more laid back, in general, than us crazy Americans. There is just a different drive behind all they do and I am truly learning to love it. Schedules are not set weeks or months in advance. They take time for family and friends and are more available to be involved in the community around them because of the less busy lifestyle. It is refreshing to not constantly be rushing around all the time. 

This past week has been so great! Last monday we had a day off (it was Independence Day for Honduras) so we went to the beach with Pastor Elias and family as well as some other friends from church. We had such a relaxing time at Pastor Elias' father's beach house. It was like a mini vacation and so peaceful...just what I needed. 

The following week was full of teaching and still trying to arrange all the students in the correct classes. I think we almost have it figured out. Our studio is coming along. We now (as of a few days ago) have ballet barres installed and expect to have the air conditioner installed this week or next. We have been holding classes in a small room with a wooden floor which has been great so far; however, we are eager to have more space and an official ballet classroom setting. Mirrors should come soon and then the challenge of building the sprung dance floor. There is a possibility my parents will come help with building the floor since my dad has built several dance floors before. I am overjoyed with the idea of them coming and am trusting The Lord to provide financially for them to come. He is able! I would just love for them to meet the wonderful people I am daily blessed by and to get a feel for what life is like down here. I have been asking The Lord for contentment and He is definitely answering my prayers. I am growing to love this place and I know as I grow in relationships with all the people in the community the love will only grow stronger.

Something fun we have been doing the past two Saturday nights is a family movie night on the lawn outside the Arts School building. It is a time for the students of Adoremos Arts School (which include more than just ballet...we offer piano, guitar, voice, bass and drum classes as well) to get together and reach out to the community for a time of fellowship, food and a small presentation. The first week Amy and I danced and the second week one of the very talented guitar teachers performed a song to open the evening. We have been showing old musical films that are good for the whole family. It has been great for Amy and I because the movies are in English. :) I have so enjoyed getting to know people from church and feel like I am sitting there with my family laughing and enjoying the outdoors.

One of the very special things about living here and literally being on the school/church campus is how accessible everything is for us. We get to see the same people everyday as we walk to and from our house to various places. Since most of our ballet students attend Sunshine school, as we walk past the classrooms many of them come running up to hug us. It really makes us feel so loved and involved in the lives of everyone. Most of our students also attend the church here, as well, and it is absolutely precious how much they adore us. Most church services during worship time Amy and I get dragged to the open space in the back of the church by adorable little hands and eager eyes. They just want us to dance with them! As I begin to worship The Lord through spontaneous dancing I will glance behind me and there is a group of 10 or so precious little girls following my every move. It is so humbling to realize how much they look up to us and it makes me lean more and more on The Lord. I want Him to shine through me so that they see Him and long to be more like Him rather than me. It also makes me think how much we should have that child like eagerness to follow our Lord and mimic His every move.

I do have a few specific prayer requests if you wouldn't mind interceding with me:

- Pray for Amy and I as we are trying to instill the disciplines of ballet into these young girls. We want to inspire them to work hard for The Lord and to challenge themselves. The strict structure of ballet is a new concept to them. Please pray for patience and wisdom on how to teach them the importance of being diligent students but also how to encourage them in their walks with The Lord.

- As mentioned before, please join me with in praying for The Lord to make a way for my parents to come. It would mean so much to all of us and I know they would be a huge help and blessing to the community here.

-Please pray for Amy and I to press forward with learning Spanish. We are expanding our vocabulary but could really use extra grace and wisdom from The Lord. I know so many more connections could be made and testimonies from our own lives shared if we could speak the language and interact with believers and unbelievers here. 

Love you all and miss you!

We were invited over by some sweet ladies of the church to have Baleadas...a very delicious and traditional Honduran meal. I was so touched by their love and hospitality.

The sweet ladies from the office. Hermana Ninfa and Hermana Xenia. They do so much for us and I love them!!

The gorgeous beach house!

The soon to be finished studio!! We can hardly wait :)

One of our house mates (Rebecca) Myself and Amy enjoying the beach.

Just relaxing...missionary life is tough :)

The new normal

I just got home from teaching ballet classes for the day. We are into week two and things are going well. I barely got in the door before the downpour of rain. Nearly every storm here is a tropical storm which makes for buckets of rain, super bright lightening, and the loudest crashes of thunder I could ever imagine hearing. Oh yes and the power just went out...let me tell you- life is never dull here, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than where I am right now. 

It has been a whirlwind since I got here. I can't believe tomorrow will be week 3! It seems like its been at least 3 months (in a good way). The friendships and bonds we are building with the people here are so wonderful! I am daily amazed at how The Lord has prepared me to be here...even in the little things. How faithful He is! One of my biggest struggles before moving here was not knowing how to prepare (dancers are used to always rehearsing and preparing)...yet The Lord knew all along what I needed and has been growing me and knitting my life together is such a way to make this transition smooth and enjoyable.

Within the first week of being here Amy and I had a TV interview to promote the ballet school and two radio interviews. Talk about jumping right in. :) We are definitely being stretched past our comfort zones, but I am loving the challenge and finding so much joy in my inadequacy so that my strength is only found in The Lord. What better place to be?! The second of the two radio interviews I had to do on my own (Amy was teaching class and couldn't go) but it was such a great experience. I was able to share more about my personal life and talk about what ballet and worshiping through dance means to me. It is so humbling to know The Lord has chosen me...me of all people... to come to Honduras and teach His children how to worship and glorify Him with their dancing. That fact has really hit me the past few days...Amy and I have the great pleasure of teaching others something that is so rare and beautiful. There is so much joy and freedom in worshipping with your entire body and all these people are looking to us for direction. Some of them have expressed to us how much they long and feel in their hearts a desire to worship more freely but don't know how. They know The Lord has sent us here to show them and they are so willing and excited! It causes me to be in prayer constantly asking The Lord for clear direction and wisdom on how He wants us to teach them.

So a normal day in our life here in Honduras would look something like this:
4am prayer- optional but The Lord really put it on my heart to be obedient and go. Yes, I know it's early but I am enjoying it so much. The believers in this community earnestly seek the face of God every day and are desperate for so much more. It has challenged and encouraged me to press in for more as well. It truly is a great way to start your day.
6:30-8:30am Spanish lessons (three times a week) with a precious young couple from the church. They are quickly becoming our very closest friends. They also are our translators for the sermons on Sundays so we interact with them a lot. I am so grateful for them and love them dearly! They are wonderful to be with and always have an encouraging word or nugget of wisdom to share.
8:30-12 This time slot is either ballet class or rehearsal for Amy and I, office work, lesson planning...etc. Soon we will use this time to go visit and minister at orphanages, hospitals, nursing homes, and other local schools to dance and/or share our testimonies with people. We are getting things going with the ballet school first and learning more Spanish so we can communicate better ;).
2-5pm Teaching ballet classes - we have about 14 classes a week right now.
Evenings are spent either in a discipleship class, studying Spanish, attending Friday night church service, cooking, or visiting with friends.
On the weekends we teach creative dance classes (less ballet and more worship) to several different age groups and even women from other churches come to learn how to worship with dancing.
Our days are quite full, but I am learning and growing so much. The speaker this past Sunday used the analogy that we are in a greenhouse here - it is a safe environment to be grown and matured so that we can be sent out and replanted elsewhere to thrive and share the Gospel. Such a great visual. I honestly was not expecting to be so nurtured here in Honduras, but I am so grateful and soaking it all in.

Some highlights of life here:
*We have an iguana that lives in the rafters of our house (yes the big ones you usually see in a pet store or at the zoo) It keeps Amy and I awake at night as it scratches and walks around with its long claws sounding like a dog walking on a tile floor. Still not sure what to do about that.

*There are tarantulas here. I've only seen one dead one and it was outside but I am praying I never encounter one in person. However, I am working on a bug emergency kit to keep in my room just in case. ;) A girl has got to be prepared.

*Milk and eggs at the store are not sold in the refrigerator section. That was a bit shocking at first. 

Amy and I with our fresh-off-the-road coconut. Yum!

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Our sweet friend and Spanish teacher Ana Rebeca. She made us Nutella crepes with ice cream. :)

 My long lost sister, Hansi. I just absolutely adore her!!

Thank you to all of you who are praying and following my adventure. I love you all and would love to hear from you!
Till next time...

Home Sweet Honduras

Well...I've officially made it to the beautiful country of Honduras. (I have been educated that the "H" is silent in that word so I am actually in Onduras with lots of rolling of the "rrrr") :) I could not have imagined a warmer welcome from the amazing people here. They painted our room according to our favorite colors and decorated them so beautifully. I am now finally unpacked and settled in to my small but cozy home. Pictures are on the wall and the mosquito net is hung...clothes are put away and there is even food in the cupboards. Amy and I had our first experience with grocery shopping and it was a little bit challenging. We were so thankful to have the help of 12 year old Hansi (the pastors daughter) to guide us along. She is already becoming like a little sister to me. I love her! The Rodriguez family (our sponsors who brought us here) are the most wonderful people. Pastor Elías and Pastora Abbie along with 12 year old Hansi, 7 year old Ian, and precious 3 year old Joy are quickly becoming my Honduras family. 

The church family here is so very sweet and excited to have us. Some people speak English but not very many so we are working on our Spanish. Slowly but surely! I am surprised at how much I remember from college. 

Amy and I are getting excited to start teaching in a little over a week. We start ballet classes on September 2nd and although we have much to prepare, we know The Lord has so much already planned. We will definitely be stretched, challenged, and learn to grow over this next year. We are thrilled to use the gift of dancing as a tool for worshipping The Lord, but more importantly teaching others how to do that as well. All the little girls we meet are almost star-struck to see us and they follow our every move. They are just precious!!

Yesterday was a day of adventures and fun, first memories. We went to San Pedro Sula (the large city about 20 minutes away) and ventured around the mall with our Honduras Family. We also tried Rambutan...

It is a fruit that tastes kind of like lychee. It was a fun experience to eat...it's a bit gooey. Pastor Eliás bought it off the side of the road for us to try. The prickly part was a little intimidating and I was relieved to find out you don't eat that part,...just the inside. Whew!

Here are some pictures of my house. It is small but I am thankful for how quickly it feels like home. 

 The house from the outside. There are like 3 different gates that we go through before we get to our house. We aren't sure if that makes us feel safe or worried, but we do feel very protected and have the Rodriguez house literally right across the road.

The kitchen and small dining room. 

My princess bed which is also functional for mosquito-free sleeping. :)

The Rodriguez' beautiful house! Pastor Elias is an architect. 

Today Amy and I danced for the first time in Honduras. We performed during the church service and had so much fun despite how our bodies felt. The Lords name was exalted and we pray He was blessed. We spent the rest of our day meeting and hanging out with new friends from church. It is so fun to know we will be here for an extended time and will get to keep building on those friendships. 

Thank you to all who are reading this and praying. I am so grateful for each of you!

Prayer needs:

Peace and clarity as Amy and I have some publicity to do with local tv and/or radio. Neither of us like public speaking!!

Organization of details and time to get our minds ready to teach next week. 

Open hearts and ears to hear the Lords leading and to follow His agenda for what He wants to do thru the ballet school this year. 

Quick learning of Spanish! 

Love to all!

The beginnings...

Well...this is really happening! In a few short months I will be living in Honduras! The reality of that has been hitting hard as I begin to make lists and pack up my life. I will be partnering with Ballet Magnificat as a part of their International Outreach Program. Myself and another dancer, Amy from Virginia, will be heading over sometime in the beginning of August. We will be living in La Lima which is just outside of San Pedro Sula. The Lord has truly arranged all of this, and although it seems thrown together at the last minute for both Amy and I, we know that He has had this planned all along. There is so much peace and joy among all the craziness that comes from moving to another country. Very thankful for that!
I must admit I have never been a fan of blogs because who has time for them?! However, I am eagerly anticipating all that the Lord is going to do in and through us during this season of living in Honduras and I long to give the Lord all the glory and honor He deserves. So...this is an outlet to share with friends and family all that the Lord accomplishes. I pray it is a blessing and encouragement to you as you read this. May you be inspired to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.