A Day in the Life of...
Well, our daily lives have taken on a bit of a routine lately, so I thought I give you a peak....

Each morning, we wake up at 6:00, a bit of a shock to both of our systems, but we're adjusting. Dave makes his coffee (he loves all of the local choices here) and we sit at our little table and eat breakfast. Most mornings, when we look out the windows, we see white, as the valleys around us all are blanketed in fog. By about 6:50, we head outside, and walk the couple of minutes from our house down to the camp gate. Since we only have one set of keys, Dave unlocks the gate for me and for the workers who are also just arriving. He then heads back up to the camp, and starts his day. Suprisingly for a non-morning person, our early walk has become one of my favourite parts of the day. It is hard to describe the scenery around the camp, but I am in awe each morning as the fog lifts. We feel blessed to live in a place surrounded by God's beautiful creation.

After saying good-bye to Dave, I walk the few minutes to Ken and Sue's place. Normally, I see a few neighbours on the way, and greet them with a "Hola" or "Buenos dias". While it is difficult to be so limited in our communication skills, it is wonderful to have people acknowledge you and smile. At Ken and Sue's, we all pile into their car and head to school.

My first week of school was actually terrific. While at Queen's, I sometimes feared that I would spend so much time preparing to be a teacher, and then I would actually be one, and hate it. But, thank goodness, that is not the case. I love it! I have 19 students in my Grade 10 class and 10 in my Grade 9 class. The schedule is a bit hard to get used to, with 8 classes each day, but I'm adjusting. I teach 19 classes a week, and soon we will start after-school tutorials, so I'm definitely not running out of things to do! I will also be helping Sue with a running club, which should be fun.

The camp is keeping Dave very active as well. We had a wondeful weekend with all of the Union Biblica volunteers. There were over 120 people at the camp, and we met lots of great people. Even our attempts with Rock Painting turned out! We will have another leadership training conference at the camp in a few weeks, which should be great. This week, Dave has also been off on some day trips, checking things out for future camp outings. He went rapelling in a canyon, biking to a waterfall, and today is rock climbing in Tegucigalpa, the capitol of Honduras. What a life! It has been great for him to get out though, as he does get a bit stircrazy at the camp sometimes, as the amount of work seems never-ending.

Most nights, we spend at our house, trying to make it a home. It is quite different than setting up a place in Canada, as you can't just go down to the local Canadian Tire or Sears to buy what you need. This is where it comes in very handy that Dave is a talented carpenter! He is currently creating wooden holders for our curtain rods, and plans to build a bookshelf next. While he sits outside on the porch with his chisel and sander, I work away on school projects in the office. We finish the night with a cup of tea (we have a little Red Rose stash), and an hour or so practising our Spanish. We have flash cards, and little stickers all over our house to help us. It is actually working though, as we find ourselves able to use more words in conversations, and understanding more of what is said to us.

Last night was a bit of an added adventure, as we had the craziest thunderstorm yet! We both love to watch the black clouds roll in, and the house light up with the lightning, but last night took it to the next level! We saw the lightning coming down all around the camp, and some pretty louds claps of thunder, which is pretty normal. Then, all of a sudden, there was a crazy blue light, and a noise that actually shook the house, and made me cover my head in fear. The lightning struck about a metre from our house - not exaggerating! It was nuts! My heart was beating a million beats a minute. Then, we both realized that there were people outside - some of the welders were working late. We headed to the window to see a guy, obviously shaken up and holding his heart. He had been within an arm's length of the lightning! Freaky! By God's grace, no one was hurt, but it was seriously scary!

In comparison, today has been fairly calm. Dave headed off early to go rock climbing, and I slept in and then went to help with swimming lessons. Tomorrow, we will go to the market super early to try to find some curtains. Sue found a little lady who sells all types of used fabrics, so we're going to check her out. We enjoy shopping for our veggies and things at the market, though it can be a bit crazy, with so many people trying to get you to buy from them. After the market, we'll head to church and then hopefully spend the afternoon relaxing. Though, that depends somewhat on getting my school work done today, so I better get started.

I'll finish with a few prayer requests. We feel so blessed to be here, and we praise God for leading us to this place.

Prayer Requests

• continued safety as we live and work here
• building relationships with co-workers and students
• our finances and the possibility of buying a vehicle
• learning Spanish
• growth in our marriage and spiritual lives

We appreciate your love and support so much!

P.S. The picture at the top is me looking a bit nervous on my first day of school. There are more pictures of our life at www.daveandesther.shutterfly.com