Rick and Cheryl on Adventure

Cheryl has made some progress in her ability to be content doing nothing. Those of you who know her well will recognize the accomplishment here. In earlier blogs, we have hinted that the number and assortment of tasks for Cheryl to do here has not always been up to par. During the month of November, we (as it turns out, wisely) decided to embark on two jaunts to the Bay Islands of Guanaja and Utila in order to fill our time and experience a change of pace and venue. We had a lovely time exploring these islands and steeping ourselves in the incredible underwater world of the coral reefs. Our bank account took a hit but it was worth it - we took advantage of being in Honduras anyway and not likely getting a chance to visit them again. And it kept us from falling into boredom. Cheryl had only the cooking curriculum to work on which meant sitting in front of the computer searching for online resources, and she can only do that for so many hours a day. Rick continued to have a seemingly nev

Mission accomplished . . . There are two vehicles owned by the mission - one 11 years old and the other 8. While they were in pretty good running condition, time and rough roads had taken a toll on these units.  When I got to Trujillo, I was asked to do what I could to make sure they were completely checked over and repaired as necessary.  However, the mechanic shops are a bit sketchy compared to what I am used to in that they are mostly open air with a lot of junkers lying around - first impressions do not inspire confidence.  But over the past few months, I have found that many of the owner/operators are capable mechanics and charge a fair price. So one of my challenges and satisfactions was being able to find dependable mechanics who could understand what was wrong and fix the problem.  I did find two very good shops in Tacoa, which is 60 km from Trujillo, where the owners spoke English making the dialogue much easier.   I got some of the major work done there. For example, I got th

The school year is now over and graduation was held this past Thursday. The program went off relatively smoothly and really was something special for these girls and their families. We were a bit chagrined, however, when at 20 minutes after the program was due to begin, most of the girls' families hadn't showed up. We are all very aware of the more casual approach to start times in this culture, but last year this had not happened. Eventually, one of the teachers came in and happened to remark that there were lots of people visiting out on the street, while the program venue was about 100 feet to the back of the property. A lesson was learned that a sign announcing the event at the location is not enough; you need to have someone stationed out on the street to direct people to the entrance. So the program did get started half an hour late and the hall did fill up.  Processional Dance performance Drama - Jesus is temporarily thwarted by Satan