As with any place, our days have settled into somewhat of a routine and not too much new and exciting jumps out that we haven't shared with you already. It looked like the rainy season was upon us, but there hasn't been much rain this past week. As I write, Hurricane Patricia, which you are no doubt hearing about in Canada through Facebook or the news, is threatening the west coast of Mexico. We are aware that savage storms can hit Honduras, and Kim is currently in the process of arranging for roll down hurricane shutters to be made for her windows. However, we don't think of this as a dangerous place other than the possibility of sweating to death!

On our early morning beach walk 

Classes have wrapped up at the ministry centre and a deep cleaning is underway. This involves windows - taking off and washing the screens, scrubbing all the glass slats that open and close, and cleaning the window grates on the outside; water tanks - climbing inside and scrubbing/bleaching them; flooding rooms with water (the girls have no concept of water conservation here); cleaning and oiling the sewing machines and testing that all the stitches and functions work; and much more. They were going to scrub the moss off the outside steps to the second level, but Rick volunteered to do that with the pressure washer. The girls took some of their belongings home with them this weekend and will return on Monday to continue cleaning, make the famous "Tres Leche" cake to serve guests at the closing program, and make other preparations for the big day which is Thursday, Oct. 29. The grad dresses were completed this week and the girls wore them in their final dress rehearsal yesterday. Cheryl has been making herself useful helping some of the girls with pressing and hemming their dresses and making props and a Jesus costume for the drama performances. Six girls are graduating from the 2-year program this year and each one of them shines in her own way. Cheryl has gotten to know their personalities from the small English class and hopes that some of them are able to continue their education next year in high school, which is one way to become more confident and independent. If they are to take any type of college or career education, high school is a prerequisite. The other option is for them to use the skills they've learned at Mision Verdad y Vida to generate some income for them and their families. They are beautiful, sweet, disciplined girls precious to God and to the centre staff. We wonder what their lives will be like after they leave the school, but we must leave them in God's loving hands.

Our six beautiful second year graduates

 

Our 12 first years, dresses all made by the girls

Out at the beach house, we have many coconut palms.  As they ripen, they turn from green to yellow to brown and all colors and sizes fall to the ground.  Coconuts are valued here.  The water is nutritious and delicious and the meat is desired, but not everyone has a grinder to remove the meat from the shell.  We get one coco molido (ground coconut) every second week when we go to the fish market. The owner seems to do a pretty brisk coco molido business.  All the cocos have a thick pulpy hull over the brown fuzzy seed and it takes an experienced husker with a sharp machete less than a minute to remove the hull.  From there the hard outer shell can be chipped off with the machete or cracked in half and put on a laterally oriented grinder which allows the coconut meat to drop into a bowl. The cocos on our property have proven to be a temptation for certain young people to come back in the dark, cut a neat hole in the fence and retrieve a couple of sackfuls.  We have a few patched holes to show for it.  So we have been gathering up all the coconuts that are either on the ground or hanging ripe in the tree and piling them in a safe place.  Juan the grounds keeper has found a couple of buyers for the cocos and this past week gathered 350 of them and sold more than 220 to a neighbour for 1.5 lempiras each.  They will be sold to a restaurant or middle man who will eventually sell them to vendors like our fish guy who sells one coco molido to us for 15 l.  The supply chain is at work very effectively here. The upside for us is that with a clean yard it reduces temptation to cut the fence and come in, and we get a bit of cash for lawnmower gas!

One of several dozen coconut palms on the property

After removing the outside husk, there is a hard shell which in this photo has also been removed. Under this is a brown skin which I removed on half of the coconut but would not have to.  The result is clean white coconut meat.  A bit of a chore to get to the good part!

As we were walking along the beach yesterday morning, we watched 3 big brown pelicans hanging out near a fishing net. I asked Rick if pelicans dive under the water or just dip their heads in when they see fish. This led to a little lesson about the two types of ducks: divers and dabblers. Divers sit on the surface of deep water and plunge for their underwater food sources. They dive as deep as 20 feet - it's a commitment. Dabblers, on the other hand, tend to sit in shallow water where they reach here and there for whatever they can by paddling around and darting their necks out. They may upend to reach something deeper but they do not want to go all in. It occurred to me that there is an application to us as we consider our involvement in development work over the next few years. Right now, clearly we are dabblers getting our feet and heads wet as we spend 3 months helping out and learning in a new place and culture. Is God calling us to make a bigger commitment and dive in to longer term service? Please continue to pray with us that we would hear His voice and find our place among the dabblers and divers who work for Him.

Blessings to all!