I am in Arkansas and have been in the states for the past 4 weeks. Terri and I have had an amazing month of travel and God has opened a number of doors and opportunities for us to tell the stories of our kids and our friends in Honduras.
This week marks the 2 year mark for living in Honduras (for Terri & I together - I actually went in June 2 years ago). We had no idea that learining the language would be difficult. I am able to mostly communnicate with anyone but, it just isn't as easy as good old english! Terri is getting better at Spanish every day and I believe that in one more year, we will be a lot closer to where we want to be - speaking the language anyway.
Learning to live in Honduras really hasn't been too much of an adjustment as Terri and I had both been there a lot of times prior to the move. Some things though are still frustrating - getting anything done with the government is as slow as anything you can imagine. It took a year and a half to get our residency cards. Without finding a way to shortcut the transito department, it would take 2 days to get a drivers license. I lost a car tag and it took a week to get permission to get a new one! Driving is like a disney ride and - at first it was easy to get lost in a city with no street names.
We love what we do and we are amazed at the plans that God made for us and continues to reveal.
One thing we have both talked about is the change in the way we see things here in the USA. Living here our whole lives blinded us to the way our nation loves "stuff". Coming back to visit - especially this trip has revealed a lot about the USA's love for things.......big cars, big TVs, I-POD -I Phone, I Want's! In San Fransisco we saw some of these extremes - shoes and boots that sell for $300 to $1500, clothes that sell for $1500 to $3000 for one outfit. I went to Macey's department store with a friend and saw a bed selling for $8000 - on sale!
Coming from a place where the "I Want's" mostly consist of food, a dry house, or a pair of matching shoes to a place on the opposite extreme is pretty amazing. I just pray that we all open our eyes to the difference between need and want and learn to be happy (& thankful) when the need is met. I pray that we are able to learn to share some of what we use to satisfy the "want" side of things with those that still have some of the un-met needs of life.
Since we hadn't been in the states for an extended time - we had been reading and watching the television for news about the bad economy here in the USA. I know that the numbers have been bad but, from our perspective, it seems that there is still a pretty good amount of the "extra's" here. Seems everybody has all of their needs met - and large number of wants are being realized too.
After a couple of years, we still know that we have the best job in the world. We are blessed with an amazing number of people that love us, encourage us, and support our work. Living at Casa de Esperanza is more of a blessing than we could have ever guessed that it would be. The people that we work with are an inspiration to us.
We are blessed beyond belief.
Our God is Awesome!
Marc
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