Weekend Reflections by 3 different Knisses

Saturday we went to Cayos Cochinos. We went across the ocean in a little “Water Taxi.” When we got there we watched a short clip on the island. Then we went back in the boat to some land and got flippers, snorkels, and masks. Then we went snorkeling. Deanna and I wore life jackets so we wouldn’t get tired treading water. Well It’s a good thing I did because the breathing part on my snorkel came off! I got it back on with mom’s help. We swam back to the island and got back on the boat. Then we went for lunch. I tried a little bit of dad’s fish and sort of liked it. I had eggs and beans and rice. After lunch we got got back on the boat. It was the best day of my life!
~Stephanie


I’ll continue from my perspective (Rochelle) about our day at the islands. This being my first time out of the country, I’ve only seen the beautiful blue waters of Florida, but wow…I never saw anything so clear blue/green in my life.

Our boat ride over to the islands was around 30 minutes and it was quite enjoyable. Our guide, Melvin, was a character. First thing he said real seriously, “you have your passports, right?” Then he started laughing. (Ours were back at our host house.) He had many facts to share about the area, doing these tours for 8 yrs. Most of the islands were protected or privately owned, a few were used for the upcoming “Survivor-Honduras” season and one is owned by the Honduran president. This area is the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world, next to Australia. We were not allowed to take along any corral or other items from the sea, to protect the area for more tourists to enjoy and for the natural habitat to continue uninterrupted. After a short video at a welcome area, we took our boats to go snorkeling (which Steph shared about). The water was incredibly salty, so you didn’t want to swallow any water. It was my first time snorkeling and I got the hang of it eventually. The fish were beautiful and Carl even saw a large lobster. It was a time of amazing sites. What an awesome God to make such beauty. I was so blessed to experience a little part of his creation yesterday. After we tired of that experience, (my jaw was tired from biting down on the snorkel) we went to a small beach and went swimming in shallow water. The water had to be in the high 80’s.

Our last stop on our tour of the Cayos Cochinos was to a small island where there is a small Garifuna village. They cooked meals for probably 50 people and gave us time to wander the area. Katrina & Deanna had a big fried fish on their plates (head, tail, eyes and all), rice & beans and cooked platanos. I also ate seafood (tasted liked chicken to me). The people are from African descent and speak some English, Spanish and their native dialect. Deanna bought a necklace that the locals had made and we listened to Garifuna drummers and watched some dancing. We did some more swimming before heading back to the mainland. After returning back to our host family, we realized that the sun had done a “burnt” number to our backs and shoulders. No one suffered too much, but we used Gloria’s aloe vera plant to give us some relief. It was a special day to have this opportunity to swim, snorkel, eat and enjoy the beach.
~Rochelle


We’ve had an unusual Sunday morning. Neither our family nor our host-family went to church as there is a country-wide prohibition against group gatherings today, including even movie theaters and churches evidently. Added to that, the power went off around 7:00 a.m. so we’ve been without fans which we’ve found essential to survive in the heat here. The restrictions are due to the national unrest over recent political maneuverings by the Honduran president who has been attempting a single-handed constitutional change to allow multiple presidential terms. We’ve only been able to hear and understand bits and pieces about what’s going on, but there was evidently going to be a referendum vote across the country today on whether or not to change the constitution. There has been a lot of opposition against the president’s plan with demonstrations and marching in Tegucigalpa, the capital, the last two days. Nothing has seemed dangerous to us, only unsettled. If we’re understanding correctly this morning though, he has been taken into custody (protective or detention, I haven’t ascertained) and flown to Costa Rica. We’ll likely piece it together once we get an internet connection, hopefully later today. Chances are if it’s made the news in the US, many of you know more about it than us, but we wanted to let anyone know who may be worrying, (you know who you are) that there’s no need to. ☺

Now, shortly before lunch, the power has returned. Aah, the difference a bit of a breeze makes! Though we didn’t attend a service this morning, we attended the Saturday evening service with the Moncada family (our hosts) last evening. They attend a small house church that affiliates with the Church of God. It was a very meaningful service, Pentecostal in flavor, with the sermon given in English by an older American woman who is also a student at the language institute where we are studying. She is a retired missionary who is working at getting her Honduran residency. We’ve met a lot of interesting people with equally fascinating stories in this our first week here. We look forward to the remaining two weeks!
~Carl

Silly Gringos!

The best and most humorous Gringo-esque mistakes I’ve made so far have to do with my less than secure grasp on the Spanish language. The girls are having fun repeating the stories to others for laughs. On our second day here, Manuel, the school director came to pick me up to go to the bank to cash our traveler’s checks to pay our tuition. On the way, he asked how things are going, and I attempted to tell him in Spanish that our host family is very kind, but he just looked at me, puzzled. Then he brightened when I told him in English. It turns out I had told him that they were “very furniture”! (muy mueble vs. muy amable)

Then Thursday Rochelle and I went alone to the mercado and I wanted to buy a Honduran soccer T-shirt as a souvenir. Our host family’s son, in who’s room we’re staying, is a big soccer fan and I saw the name Salva Vida on the jerseys of the team-photo poster he had in his room. I figured I should get a shirt of the team that he roots for, so I asked a t-shirt vendor for a Salva Vida shirt when I didn’t see one hanging up. He dug through his stock and pulled out two that said Salva Vida, and they were cheap enough that I thought I’d buy both, in two different colors. I was proud of my purchases, but when I got home and showed them to Carlos, he said I had bought an “enemy” team shirt. (Think Phillies fan buying a Mets t-shirt) I said I was confused because the team on his poster had the same Salva Vida name on their shirts. Oh!, he said with a laugh, Salva Vida is the name of one of their sponsors, which happens to be a famous Honduran beer company!

Silly Gringo pastor!
~Carl

Hace Calor, Hace Mucho Calor!

Hoy es jueves 25 de Junio del 2009.

Greetings from Honduras! Today Carl & I are celebrating our 21st wedding anniversary. We are done with our classes for the day and Carl & I plan to take a walk to the Spanish school to send this blog, and then visit the mercado again. What a blessing these years have been and now at this point to be on this adventure…I look forward to many more years together, Lord willing!

Backing up just a little bit, on Tuesday we had our classes which begin each day at 8 a.m. Our host mom or dad always take us and pick us up. In the afternoon we went to the beach. We were allowed to swim at the beach in front of the hotel. (The director of our school is a friend of the owner). The water was so warm, just like warm bath water. (By the way we are taking cold showers here, as they have no hot water, which is very refreshing for us because of the heat.) We enjoyed relaxing on the very empty beach, finding sand dollars in the sea, and swimming. As we would look around while swimming, we could see the mountains. That was a new perspective for me since there are no mountains near the Jersey, MD, or Florida beaches.

There are many taxi cabs in La Ceiba and the traffic patterns are quite unique! Our taxi ride home from the beach was like an amusement park ride. Our driver must have been in a hurry, and on the main road he decided to drive down the middle of the road…as the oncoming traffic was coming. It’s just more common here to pull out in front of people, create your own driving lane and bikes or motorbikes drive wherever they want. The roads seem chaotic, yet everyone works together…so far we haven’t seen any accidents.

Our host mom has made us some traditional foods like pastelitos (fried meat pies), baleadas (avocado, beans, cheese & tortilla), also lasagna, and lots of rice & beans. Many hours are spent talking with our host family, especially Carlos (Alberto) the oldest son. He teaches at the Spanish school and his English is easy to understand.
They are a caring, Christian family and are so giving. Gloria & Hugo speak some English and we work together to understand each other’s language.

Wed. we went to school from 8-12 and then home for lunch. After lunch Deanna & Steph stayed home with the host family and Katrina, Carl & I went to visit The Peace & Justice Project/ministry that was started by the Honduran Mennonite Church with support from Mennonite Central Committee. Ondina Murrillo, the director, via translation by her granddaughter, shared with us about the four programs they have. Most of their work is with youth who are caught up in gangs and end up in jail, or working preventively with those youth at risk to end up in gangs. They also have conflict transformation workers they offer to the national church.

About 2 hrs. later, we left and walked to the mercado (market) and bought some fresh fruit and souvenirs. We looked at some hammocks but will do some comparison shopping before making a purchase. On the way home we made the mistake of jumping into a too-new cab that had not only ice-cold AC, but also an outside thermometer that read 95 degrees. We hadn’t really wanted to know how hot we were! The humidity is likely 95% as well.

Well, off to town, we’ll type later.
~Carl and Rochelle

Primera Dia de Escuela

Hola! Today it is Monday, June 22, 2009.

Honduras is incredibly warm!! I mean that in many ways. Warm (hazy , hot & humid) in temperature for June, but more importantly warm in kindness of people. They are so very hospitable. We feel so blessed to be with our host family. (We will take their picture soon and post it.) This morning Katrina woke up sick. She has the all too familiar stomach problems. She didn’t eat breakfast but did join us for the
first session at the school. (Illness is very common with the different types of food, but soon the stomach will adjust.)

We went to the school around 8 a.m. and met our individual teachers, and then the teachers took us for a walk as a group. We went all over town, seeing many fruit trees (like mango, guava, papaya, mazapan, etc.). We also went to a park owned by the Standard Fruit Co., walked near the mercado (market), looked inside the Catholic church on the square and just took in the interesting sites of the city. The younger girls were beginning to wilt, so we headed back after about 1½ hrs. and had a two hour session with our teacher. I have to say that I’m impressed that Rosetta Stone prepared me as well as it did. I’m not great on conversation yet, but I did well (at least I think I did) in my first lesson on singular/plural words, etc.

Even though our stomachs may have done a few flips, the food is amazing!!! We love everything our host mother is making us. Lots of rice, beans, delicious-spiced meats, and tortillas. I tried to make my own tortilla last night and it was pretty tiny and it was a lot harder to make than Gloria made it look.

The host of the school gave us many ideas of things to do on the weekends and even a pool we can go swimming at for free. We are having a great time and the trip is a muy grande bendicion!!

~Rochelle

Aqui en La Ceiba!

(Written Domingo tardes (Sunday afternoon) 21 Junio by Katrina)
Hola, from La Ceiba! We finally arrived at our destination yesterday, after a three and a half hour bus ride from San Pedro Sula. Even though the ride was a little long, it was very comfortable as the bus was complete with reclining seats, air conditioning, and even a movie. When we arrived at the station, the son of the language school director, Carlos, was there to take us to our host family. When we reached the right street, the oldest son from out host family, Carlos Alberto, jumped in to direct us to his house. There, we were greeted by his father, Carlos Hugo, and his mother Gloria. Today we got to meet their youngest son, Ricardo. The whole family is very welcoming and hospitable. When we had unpacked and settled in, Gloria gave us a wonderful supper of tortillas, rice and beans, ham, and eggs. Then Alberto sat down with us and we talked for over two hours. He speaks very good English, while Gloria speaks only a little and Hugo almost none. Alberto is actually one of the teachers at the language school, so while we had conversations in half English, half Spanish, he would teach us new words and correct our grammar. He is very patient and has taught us a lot in just the one day we have been here.

This morning Gloria drove us down town to the Mennonite church there called Iglesia Evangelica Menonita Central. Everyone seemed very excited to see us and even had us come up front and give greetings from Pennsylvania. It was a new and awesome experience worshiping with them. Despite the language barrier, it was evident that the Holy Spirit was present there. Another blessing was that there were two people there who were fluent in English. We stayed a while after the service and talked with them. One of them is a girl my age who attends a bilingual school. She hopes to someday become a cardiologist. The other is a woman who this fall will be moving to New York City to work with Mennonite Central Committee. It is always encouraging to see how God is at work all around the world.

Tomorrow is our first day of classes, and we are all very excited! We will tell you all about that later. Until then,

~Katrina

June 19 arrival in San Pedro Sula

Well, we had a good flight to San Pedro Sula. There was a lot of Spanish and English floating all over the airplane. We saw the beautiful mountains and landscape (bananas, palm trees, etc.) We arrived around 11:30 a.m. local time (1:30 EST). Stephanie summed up all of our feelings by sharing she was scared, nervous and excited all at the same time! We waited in line for a while to go through customs, but they were very laid-back and didn't inspect our bags as much as they did in DC.

As we were running our bags through the x-ray machines, we looked out and saw our host for the night, Luis, holding a sign with our name. He greeted us in Spanish and English all mixed together. The heat hit us terribly (hace calor). Steph, Deanna & I went with Luis, and Carl & Katrina went with another vehicle. We picked the non-air-conditioned vehicle, but we enjoyed his company and trying to talk together. It was very noticeable as we drove that we weren't in an affluent American city. We are staying overnight with Luis and his family in a bed & breakfast. His family was very welcoming and immediately brought us fresh mangoes (YUM)!

We were all so exhausted, but decided to take a short trip to the mall for some necessities and a meal. Luis dropped us off and we were on our own to trust Katrina's Spanish 1 learnings and what we haved picked up through study this year. We managed to exchange our money at the bank (banco) and then we got a cellphone for use while in Honduras. That took Carl & Katrina a while, but they did pretty well. The mall we were in looked like any mall in the US (Park City, Chambersburg or Hagerstown Mall). There were mostly American chains. We walked a few blocks (ourselves) back to the house and are now crashed out in our rooms with air-conditioning. It is now 6:30 Honduran time and we are very tired. We are looking forward to a good night's sleep before catching a bus for La Ceiba tomorrow.

Rochelle

Unplugging

OK, so I'm backing up a bit, but with all the bustle of preparation and packing, I couldn't take the time to reflect and blog about my first week of sabbatical.

It took, (or maybe is still taking) time to get used to "unplugging" myself from thinking and/or worrying about things I shouldn't be anymore since the congregation is in the capable hands of the pastoral team in my absence. I/we will of course continue to remember and pray with/for all of you at Marion over the weeks ahead.

After a few days of walking with the Witmer family early in the week, grieving their loss of Brenda, I spent the day Wednesday (after sleeping in) preparing for going away the next day for a hike in the woods to begin my sabbatical experience with some time of solitude. Wednesday night, Rochelle and I had the first of several planned summer date-nights at the Totem Pole Playhouse when we saw "The Cotton Patch Gospel" which was excellent both musically and theatrically.

Thursday morning I headed north, driving along the Susquehanna River then a bit east to Rickett's Glen State Park. I had heard of the park for years but never had the chance to visit it. It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon hike, hands down the most picturesque hike I've ever been on. It was a secluded, lush, five mile loop hike down one side of a gorge along one stream to "Meetwaters" where it met another, and back up out of the gorge along that stream. All told there were 22 named waterfalls along the hike ranging from 7 ft. to 90+ ft. I'll see if I can insert some pictures.



It was a worthwhile 24 hrs I spent in solitude attempting to hear God's voice for me as I began to unplug in order to immerse myself into experiencing what God has in store for our family this summer.

Halfway to Honduras

We're sitting at our gate in Atlanta, some of us napping, some too hyped to sleep so walking the corridor, waiting for our plane to start boarding for Honduras. We started out from home this morning at 2:30 a.m. and were up too late finishing preparations, so we're a bit bleary-eyed, but are all excited that we're finally on our way. Everything has gone smoothly so far. Thanks, Zeke, for driving us down to D.C.!

The girls all loved watching the clouds and the ground drift by as we flew. This is the first flying experience any of them are old enough to remember.

We'll type more later!
Carl

Our Summer Sabbatical

Our family has embarked on the beginning of our Summer Sabbatical. We are the recipients of a blessing twice over. In the first place we are blessed by the generosity of our congregation, Marion Mennonite Church, Chambersburg, PA, in receiving time and support for a sabbatical period of three months which we have chosen to take this summer. Secondly, we have been blessed by a Pastoral Sabbatical Grant from The Louisville Institute ( http://www.louisville-institute.org/Grants/programs/sgpldetail.aspx ) to fund the plans we had hoped to be able to accomplish during this time.

We've chosen the summer since the rhythm of congregational life is a bit lighter over that period, and the girls are out of school so we can enjoy as much family time as possible. After pastoring at Marion for 5 years, which has been my first full-time pastorate, we have begun to feel some of the toll that this vocation can take on a family if stressors aren't monitored carefully and balance isn't maintained. We are so thankful for the chance to hit the "reset" button as a family through our varied experiences together this summer. The timing feels as if it couldn't be better.

The largest one component of our plan is a trip to La Ceiba, Honduras for the whole family to study Spanish through an immersion experience facilitated by Centro Iternacional de Idiomas, a Spanish language institute. This will happen between June 19 and July 13. We have several other whole-family activities and several solo and part-family experiences planned. We will likely lay out our itinerary in some way on the blog, or else you can just follow along as we go.

The theme I chose for my sabbatical grant proposal is "Seeking Shalom: Finding the Path, Leading the Journey", and an excerpt from my proposal follows so you can get a sense of the rationale for my sabbatical plan.

My theme of shalom-seeking grows out of an emerging awareness that my life, like many, does not fully reflect God’s design and desire for our lives. If God dreams, I’m convinced the dream is for all of creation to once again return to the state in which it was created, which God called good. This goodness was, and will be, characterized by a life of wholeness and peace. A peace that goes beyond what we generally settle for, that is, the absence of conflict, but rather the peace that grows out of right relationship. I understand God’s vision of “rightness of relationship” for humanity to be deep and multi-faceted and includes all our relationships; not only with God’s self, but also with one another, with creation and with ourselves. This dreamed-of picture of wholeness and right-relatedness that we see throughout scripture is best summed up in the Hebrew word ‘shalom’.
The four facets of shalom that I hope to assess and address in various ways over the course of my sabbatical are in my own relationships to God, to others (in this case, my family), to creation and to myself.

The rationale for the goals of our whole sabbatical (and the motivation for my work in the Church) is that "We can’t lead someone on a journey that we’re not on ourselves."

Well, this first post is getting long enough, but hopefully it helps set the stage for what we are doing and what our goals are. As we go along this summer, we will post updates periodically, as we have time, so that you can keep up with where in the world we are! We will likely take turns writing submissions, and we'll try to remember to sign them so you know whose ramblings you are reading.

Signing off for now,
Carl

BonVoyage Blog

So this is a first for me, having never blogged before, but thought it would be a good and simple way for those who care to keep track of our family this summer. This first post is basically just a test to see how this all works. The first "official" post will explain why it is that our family may need to be tracked this summer in the first place, and who may care, and why they might. Type to you later!