A hero and a grease ball

JUDE AT SCHOOL


Last night, thanks to Jude's great desire to have friends, we had our first Honduran guests over! It was a really nice time as he played with our 6 year old neighbor and we visited with his mother. Just another reminder, as he says to me when he kills an insect or does something helpful, “I am a hero.” And he is my hero because while I sit and fret about what we are doing here and if we will ever learn to properly conjugate these verbs he is reminding me daily that we must reach out to every opportunity presented to us. My favorite quote from him this last week is, “yes I have friends at school – I just don't know their names.” Oh and also, he goes to a bilingual school where they teach in English (which his teacher knows less of than I know of Spanish – that's bad). Anyway, he brought home this worksheet of identifying family members in English. He did fine until he got to a young girl which he called a “SEA-STAIR.” And I was like, “You mean 'sister'.” “No,” he said, “It is SEA-STAIR in Spanish.” So we may be ruining the one language he has.

All this to say that for the last 3 weeks we have prayed together every morning and every night, “Please God help us to do the hard things,” and often he openly admits he doesn't want to pray that because he doesn't like the hard things. And, well, sometimes neither do I. To prove how far the standards have fallen we had to bribe him with fast-food and play-place to get him to sit quietly through the church service yesterday, although Sunday school went great because they watched TV! And on the way home while I was actually contemplating getting a TV so he could practice his Spanish he asked, “Which play place are we going to? The one with the guy with the gun outside? That was SO NICE.” They all had guards with automatic weapons so we went to Burger King.

LIKE THE BITES?

The girl on the other hand is not having any trouble making friends – either with the people or the misquotes here. If I learn anything in Spanish it is going to be how to say my daughter is beautiful 10 different ways. And if I learn anything about healthcare it is going to be 20 different ways to keep off misquotes – right now we are slathering her with baby oil 3 times a day so she looks like a greased little piglet.
And if the guns, fast-food, TV, and misquote bites weren't enough – this morning they both came down with low-grade fevers (which Jarod is sure are just a cold and teething and I am sure is malaria)... so please be praying for their health and my anxiety.
Overall the past week has been full of school and meeting new people – both nationals and American missionaries.... and so far the people have made all the 'hard stuff' worthwhile... because even if we all do get malaria... we have learned so much in just 2 short weeks!


JUDE W/ OUR MINI FRIDGE COLLECTION



DOES EVERYONE LIKE THE NEW HEADING? THANKS JAROD