The Adventures of Julie

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  Romans 8:28

Last week I had malaria. Fortunately for me, the strain of malaria common down here is relatively mild and easy to treat. Still, it was the sickest I’ve ever been away from home; possibly the sickest I’ve ever been in my life. I started feeling like I had the flu on Thursday, and I didn’t fully recover until the following Wednesday. Being so sick away from home was harder on me emotionally than it was physically. All my worries ended up causing an anxiety attack. Being so paralyzed by fear was one of the worst experiences of my life. But it also helped me realize how much I need God to trust in. If something so small as sickness can affect me so strongly, I know I could never handle greater trials on my own. I would never want to be that sick again, but God has definitely used it for my good.  In everything that happens, he can work out something beautiful and lead me closer to him as well.

I know I haven’t written much in a while, but I’ll try to sum up recent events.  I left Honduras on the 5th of December and visited my family in Cali for 3 weeks. Then I got to go to Houston, Texas for a week and see my wonderful cousins. The vacation was great, I had a lovely Christmas with my family and even got to see my cousin who’s engaged pick out here wedding dress! Even though I had a lot of fun in the States, I wasn’t sad to leave again. I think when you know where God wants you, it’s hard to be away for very long. I had also experienced the phenomenon known as “reverse culture shock” when I arrived. Coming back to the States after 3 months in Honduras was so much harder than I ever expected. I’d never heard anyone mention anything like it in my life, and the feelings of isolation it brings are pretty terrible. It actually frightened me a little, and I’m worried about how it will be when I come back for good. A friend who was a short-term missionary to Honduras too gave me some wise advice about coming back to the States. She said that she realized that “Honduras wasn’t the climax of my life, and God still has a plan for my life.” This really encouraged me and is helping me not worry about the future.

Love isn’t an earthly thing. It isn’t a manmade invention nor is it possible for civilization to exist without it. Love is all about sacrifice. God demostrated this by giving up his only son, his family, for a world that didn’t even know it needed him. ”This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” Love connects us to God. “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” His love gives us confidence and is our hope. “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.”

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out  fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” The law of the Prophets has been exchanged for new life and freedom in Christ. He was the ultimate sacrifice and the way to reconcile with God. “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.”

Along with the love he showers on us, God also sets down a command. “Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” “For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” God gave us love, and we can never forget that. “We love because he first loved us.”

Yesterday I got to hold a lemur. It was pretty rad.

There are so many things I could tell about my life here in Honduras. So I’ll just ramble and try to make sense.

First off, I absolutely love it here. It amazes me that it took this long for me to realize how much I want to learn Spanish. I love the open, friendly, hard-working culture and all the wonderful people I’ve met. I love the challenge of explaining myself in another language. For someone who talks as much as I do, it can also be a little frustrating.

The bilingualschool where I’m working is great too. We have five MKs (missionary kids) and five Honduran students. Three of the Hondurans went to the school last year and have a pretty good grasp of English, whether they use it voluntarily or not. The other two little girls are very new to English and need me to explain things en espanol. One of the little girls is my little buddy, we go everywhere together and she helps me with my Spanish. She’s adorable and hilarious. The other day she was laughing “with me” for so long because I accidentally called my flip flops pigs. (The words are fairly similar and I couldn’t remember what each one meant.)

The building where I’m staying, known as Staff Housing or El Hotel, is such a fun place to live. It’s full of awesome people all around my age and we do all kinds of group things almost every night. Tonight we’re going to watch the sunset from the water tower on the hill for my friend Mackenzie’s last night here. We watch movies a lot in the evenings and cook together and hang out all the time. It has really helped me deal with being away from my family and friends and home.

I go to school every weekday from 8-3. After school I go home for a little while and rest and eat. Then I usually walk down to the Children’s Center (a place for children who have nowhere to stay or need to be near the hospital) and play or watch soccer. Sometimes I go to Miss Christie’s beach, which is right behind the CC. The sun sets about 6 PM every day and the sunset over the mountains is gorgeous.

The best people to practice my Spanish with is children. For one thing, they don’t talk about complex subjects and for another they’re not trying to confuse me. A lot of people around my age like to talk to me really fast about stuff I wouldn’t understand with my limited vocabulary. But at least it motivates me to learn faster!

Anyways I’m having a great time here and I’m super busy which is why I haven’t written much on my blog. But I’ll try to be more consistent. Please pray that I’ll be encouraged work to the best of my ability in everything I do and that I’ll show the love of Jesus to everyone I am around.