Miscellaneous January Happenings

The past few weeks have been filled with miscellaneous activities. The Honduran school year runs from February to November, and January tends to be a month of catching up on loose ends, as well as planning and preparing for upcoming projects.

Here's a summary of some of what we've been up to:

• Going to doctor and dentist appointments.
• Updating our emergency plan.
• Uploading documents and pictures as an online backup.
• Revising the Garifuna translation of Bible school materials for classes starting next month.
• Preparing for the start-up of new theological training groups (see below).
• Studying material to be covered in upcoming ETBIL classes.
• Continuing to use linguistics to study and describe Garifuna grammar.

January 6 is the "Día de los Reyes" (Day of the Magi Kings), celebrated in Latin America with a rosca cake. It's also the day Fernando and I met in 2006 (seven year ago - wow!). Our landlady gave us this rosca:

We also needed to clean out and organize our apartment. Part of that included purchasing second-hand furniture, including a bookshelf, file cabinet, and a tall chest of drawers to replace the piece of furniture below that our landlady let us use:

A big improvement (can you tell we are book people?):

We also have been preparing for Fernando's immigration interview at the embassy next month (with every possible document they might possibly ask for!):

I've also helped J with some of her writing assignments, and we went out to celebrate her 18th birthday!

In the midst of activities that don't often feel "spiritual," God has reminded me that He is always with us, teaching us, using us. For example, I have had opportunities to talk and pray with women while waiting for doctors appointments. While working around the house, I've also had more time to think and pray. Although I am looking forward to more "action" next month, I am thankful for this short season of reflection and preparation.

A main prayer request now is for the four new discipleship/theological training groups that several Garifuna pastors will start next month in their communities. Fernando will help coordinate as pastors who continue in their studies implement the same program in their churches to train more leaders. Pray also that the materials translated to Garifuna will be ready then. (To read about last year's classes, click here and here.) We will post updates on these groups as they get started.

Finally, I've changed the settings for posting comments, so feel free to comment on posts if you'd like. As always, we love hearing from you and knowing how to pray for you. Thank you for your partnership and friendship!