Honduras Update – January/February 2007

Surprise visit!
On January 19, I was planning to return to Honduras with my father. When we arrived at the airport, my mom, Mary, pulled out her suitcase and said, “I’m going, too!” Unbeknownst to me, she had been planning her trip behind the scenes since September (I guess in response to my surprise trip home last Christmas). Surprisingly, the closeness to her surgery date made her feel more comfortable coming. She had no problems whatsoever and is ready to go back.
*At her most recent appointment, my mother’s doctor felt that her surgery is not as urgent as he previously insisted. She will still require surgery, but a little further down the road than was previously thought.
My parents helped with the pizza party at the hogar for the choir kids. After cleaning all day, we watched the concert video with the kids, played games, ate pizza and homemade chocolate chip cookies, sang, stayed the night and brought them back to their families the next day. We were also able to hike to the waterfall, do the zipline and gather many ideas for future trips.
My dad, Randy, did some electrical and mechanical work and general handyman fixups at the hogar. He was also able to replace Carmen Garcia’s roof with the help of Mario Rodriguez. Carmen had been mopping her floor constantly during the rainy season. She had looked into a government program that provides tin roofing sheets, but she was not eligible to receive them. Her new roof will allow her to live in a cleaner, dryer environment.

Update on Carmen’s health
Instead of purchasing her groceries every week, healthy food will be purchased for her bi-weekly and the rest saved for a doctor’s appointment in June or July. Please pray that the doctors are able to diagnose and determine an appropriate treatment plan for her.

Teachers' meeting
I was able to have one last meeting with the Bible class teachers, Roxana, Maybelline, Nelia and Karen, before leaving. We planned the lessons through June, when I hope to return to bring more supplies. Bags of materials and curriculum were left for Glenis, Norma, Waleska and other teachers of the area congregations.

BECAs
The high school and college scholarship program is up and running! There are currently 14 students in the high school program and 3 in the college program. It looks as though around 80% of the funds needed to carry the program through the end of the year have been pledged. If you are interested in sponsoring a high school or college student, please contact me at naytay78@hotmail.com.

A new mission field
While I was in Honduras, I received an email from the school district that approved the leave that allowed me to work in Honduras informing me of a long-term substitute position that began the day after I returned and will last until the end of the school year. I will be teaching high school special education in the afternoons. I know many of the students as I had them in middle music classes. I pray that I will always be able to view this job as as much of a mission field as Trujillo, Honduras.

Speaking engagements
Stephanie and I have two speaking engagements this spring: the first at Rochester College on March 17 and the second in Cadillac, MI on April 21. Please pray that we will be able to speak about our experiences in a meaningful and inspirational way. If you are interested in more information, please feel free to contact me.

Continuing the work…
Though the couple who was planning to move to Honduras is unable to do so at this time, they will be leading a short-term mission to Trujillo in June or July. I hope to return at that time to help translate and carry out the VBS they are planning for. Also, it is possible that my parents and others may be able to return as well. Please pray that all details will come together as the Lord wills and that United will offer me a flight voucher to rectify the situation that occurred in December.

May the Lord bless you this day!

Nadine Taylor

Experiences of Grace

I have tried to summarize the significance of my experiences in Honduras and what to take to the States with me as I strive to maintain the “mission” mindset. It came to me one day after watching a movie. I had been wanting to see Freedom Writers for some time as I had heard of Erin Gruwell’s story in undergrad. I wondered if they would glorify her as some amazing person with a super personality or maybe some great teaching techniques. I was impressed by the two things that I noticed about Erin Gruwell: she was willing to struggle with her students, to engage with them and she strove to provide them with experiences that they had never had before. She was willing to take a chance on them, several chances really.
You see, the beautiful thing about grace is that it is free and undeserved. Erin Gruwell did not look at her students as a group of ruffians who did not deserve trust or respect. She saw the opportunity to expose a group of hurting people to some things that would expand their world view and change them.
Christ did the same thing. The woman at the well. The woman caught in adultery. The many people he healed. He saw them. He reached out to them and showed them grace. He didn’t blow them off. He didn’t rush to his next appointment, meeting or speaking engagement. He fully engaged in those people’s pain and freed them.
That is what we are called to do. We are called to engage in people’s experiences, not because they deserve it, but because they don’t. But neither do we. None of us do. That’s the point. Grace is undeserved. That’s why it is so beautiful when it is freely given. That is why it is so effective. Grace is the heart of the Good News.
Whether I am in Honduras or at my teaching job or in the grocery store, I pray that I would extend some form of grace to those I meet. That I would engage with them, if even for a moment. That I would extend a smile, a caring voice, a prayer, or even, Lord willing, a life-changing experience. Because He first loved me.