It's almost 6 months since I moved to Santa Rosa and I have slipped into a pretty good routine. Overall, it is a quaint town that allows a single female a great degree of independence (and this is much appreciated). I enjoy going to the gym regularly and walking all over town. Recently, I have had a slew of visitors to my home, and have been running a little hotel side-business...not as lucrative as one might think, as most guests are MCCers, but I get by ;)
Work keeps moving forward, although most days it feels like 2 steps forward and 6 steps back...or 3 steps to the side. We are still working with 4 groups of women, though one ended and we have started a new one. Although this 4th group will be behind the others in terms of the training schedule, our goal is to catch them up in an accelerated fashion. We have just started business trainings since the new year started, which are mostly my territory, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I have been able to utilize some of the curriculum I worked on last year in Teguc, which is an exciting thing for me. We are also collaborating with an MCC friend to do some worm-composting trainings at the end of this month and hope that this will give a good start to family garden projects with our beneficiaries.
Most recent work excitement: I got my first dog bite on the moto! It didn't bleed so everyone tells me it doesn't count as a bite, just a scratch...but there was some stinging involved when forced to pour lemon juice on it...so its going on the Honduras memories list as a bite.
Church has been a good source of community for me since I moved to Santa Rosa and got involved in the Mennonite congregation here. Although it can be intense and a little demanding at times, I appreciate being part of the church family and feeling cared for by people of different generations. Most recently I was roped into helping write the "Plan for 2012" to delegate tasks to all church committee and narrowly avoided being part of the leadership council in youth group. I think I may be a chronic church-aholic and am trying to work on this to reach a better balance in life!
MCC relationships are a source of support and refreshment in the challenges of living and working in another culture. I have been blessed with great friends on the Honduras team and this month brought us the unfortunate task of saying goodbye to the Stephens family who are ending their 3 year term with MCC. We had a team reunion in San Pedro to spend a few days together having fun, eating lots of pizza, and reflecting on all that we will miss when the Stephens are gone! They will be heading home for a few months, but ultimately returning to Honduras to work with an orphanage on the north coast.
So...although they won't be part of our MCC team, we know we'll see them again soon.
I also realize that I have not been documenting my life in Santa Rosa with many pictures...I guess it usually requires having a visitor to do touristy things with that inspires me to take lots of photos. So, let me know when you want to come down for a visit and book your stay at my hotel! I offer very competitive rates.
I am also talking about going home for a visit in May to see my family, so that is an exciting prospect on the horizon!
Prayer: Just to keep you posted on some things you can be praying about for me...
> focus at work to know how to help ACDIM and what my role is in developing the organization
> safety in all aspects of living/working/traveling in Honduras (and for the safety of all MCCers here)
> opportunities for refreshment and peace to allow myself a break
> wisdom in relationships and opportunities to connect with more foreigners
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