How far would you walk?

An aerial view of what the mountains in this area can be like. We have some with even more rapid elevatin changes

I have recently been teaching some guitar classes at a worship conference that is in the area . I am there three times a week for two hours. Not that big of a deal for me I spend maybe a few hours a week preparing the lessons for the classes and then the two hours actually teaching the classes. I drive there because I can't carry two guitars on my bicycle, and so it takes me about seven minutes to get there. Not a huge effort or sacrifice on my part. Not so for one of my students, as I recently found out, he walks every day for an hour to get to Pena Blanca. Now the conference has been going on for three weeks now and there is something every weekday and every weeknight. The days usually consist of workshops and instrument lessons, and the nights are teachings. This kid in my class has been there every day and every night. Which means that not only does he walk an hour in the mornings but he walks an hour at night in the dark through the jungle up the mountain behind Pena Blanca in order to get to his village San BuenaVentura. To say the least I was impressed byt this kids committment, and it made me think: Have I ever wanted to do something to such a large degree that I would walk two hours a day to do it? Not only does this kid walk to Pena Blanca but he also comes to the guitar classes even though he will have to share a guitar with several other students. When was the last time I did something eventhough I didn't have every resource necessary? I am not ripping every one who drives to work ( I very often drive to work here), I was just rather impressed, as were others, this story has a happy ending. Some of the people who organized this conference are giving this young man a guitar. 

The Chaffing is back!

The chaffing is back and boy do I LOVE IT! Life here in Honduras had thus far been fairly "tranquilo" as they say here - calm tranquil and somewhat slow-paced. I had classes in the mornings at the University, and then I would come home and things around the house like sweeping and dishes and what not, and church related work was still few and far between and slow going. It was nice but boy was I going crazy. As many of you know Leah and I moved here immediately after I graduated from UNM, the last year and a half of which was madness for me. Every semester I had full loads of upper level classes (350 and higher, including a couple of 500 level courses), meaning I had loads of homework. The majority of this homework was for the political science portion of my degree (as I had already completed the majority of  my Russian Studies requirements), and just like the world of politics the world of political science is chock full of long-windedness. So much so tht I once wrote a 54 page paper, that's like a small book or something! Anyways it was riduculous. I used to have to schedule myself down to the minute in order to get everything done in a day/night tht I needed to finish. In conjuction with my discoveries of coffee and Yerba Mate (an odd yet strong South American tea) mixes that could keep me alert for hours, I had the art of rapid quality paper writing down perfectly, such that I was able to finish out my degree with high marks. It was crazy yet I somehow loved the business. Moving here and switching to the siesta - mañana mentality from the result driven mentality of the university was a bit difficult. Well though it is not anything like UNM, things have gotten busier here, in fact so much so that I have had to start scheduling my days. For example I currently meeting with two young men from the area who want to learn English, I want to tell them about Christ, so we have English lessons once a week. I am also teaching six one-hour guitar classes this week with a group called Musicians for Missions. All of this on top of exams and an extra weekend class at the university. These are just a few of the things that are going on. In addition to this the church has really picked up some steam in many areas and Chris and I are busy with these as well. It has been rather nice to have the busyness back again. In fact it has been so much so this past and coming week (did I mention my parents also were just here for about a week - no offense mom/dad you just came when it was busy:) that my old friend has returned. Many of you probably have a similar friend - you know that painful bump on the back of your neck that only goes away with more coffee. man it chaffes to be busy. But man do I love it!