Healing Rain.

Let's start at the very beginning, I hear it is a very good place to start.

For five years, I have been in constant knee pain. It gets a little bit better, then a little bit worse and I have been playing this volleyball game with pain for far too long. We have prayed, we have pleaded, we have asked for and we have declared healing, and still the pain hangs on. It is sharp. At times it is blinding, some days I cannot walk, other days, I feel okay. It's troublesome, it is tiring and it is annoying.

Before I moved here, my mom said, "I believe that God is going to heal you while you are in Honduras." I never really agreed or disagreed with her, I just know that God has a way of working here that I haven't see in the states.

Well, I laid down in my bed last night, and right as I was falling asleep, I felt something in my spirit, I knew that Sunday was the day I was going to be healed. I could just feel it.

I woke up on Sunday and I didn't want to go to church to be honest with you. It isn't because I don't like church, I just thought that I needed a day to spend alone with my Savior, reading and worshiping. But I still felt like something was going to happen. And because I miss singing worship songs in English collectively, I just prayed that one of the worship songs at church would be one that I knew in English.

So I went to church, and we sang Revelation Song, and somehow I knew that we would. And the message was incredible, I took a lot of notes and I got really into it. And during the message, the song Healing Rain kept popping into my head, and I kept reflecting on the words. I knew that it was close, I knew that the healing rain was coming.

Here at the church, they often pray for people at the end. People go forward and the leaders lay hands on them and pray for whatever they need prayer for. Samira leaned over to me and she said, "You need to go up. They are going to pray for healing," So I went up. The pastor was speaking in Spanish, but he looked at me and said "Today you will be healed." And I started crying and as he was laying his hand on my head, I felt all of the sharp, chronic pain that I have felt for years disappear and it was gone. And I was sobbing and I was praising the Lord and thanking Him over and over, it was all I could say, "Thank you Lord." And then I started laughing while still sobbing. I was so full of joy, I was so thankful that the Lord had released me from pain and from suffering. And as I was sobbing, and laughing and thanking God, I felt someone lay their hands on my hips and then my knees and then my ankles and then my feet. And I started sobbing harder and I knew I was healed and I was overjoyed. And then a friend came and laid her hands on my knees and she began to pray over me and she prayed not only for physical healing, but spiritual healing too. And I was just sobbing and thanking Jesus. WOW! I walked back, pain free, it was incredible.

And here I am tonight, I showed you all the video, I have been overwhelmed by the wonderful comments and just the joy that people have. This has been such a long process for me. And I gave up hope a lot. But God never fails, and He is faithful and He can heal.

I am sitting in bed, reflecting on the day. My chronic pain is gone. I have only a little bit of soreness and some achy arthritis, but it is nothing compared to the pain I have felt for years, And even with the soreness, I know that I am 100% completely healed. And I praise God for that.

This is only my first month here... and honestly I can't wait to see where else I go.

Christmas Music

I have taken to listening to Christmas music to think "cool thoughts." Each day it feels like it gets hotter and hotter and each day I feel like I am adjusting to the heat less and less. This week I had air conditioning installed and it fells absolutely incredible! I slept in long pants and a sweatshirt, and it is the little stuff like this that makes me feel more like I am at home. I have a bunch of pictures that I need to hang up, and wall decorations that my friends and family left with me. When it all comes together, I will be so excited.

I miss home, I won't lie to you. I keep seeing all the back to school pictures and I miss the chilly fall mornings. I am missing the expectation of October coming and seeing the leaves change colors.

But here I am loving that I am where God wants me to be. That is what I keep telling myself. I cannot explain to you how I feel being here and I wish that I could. Yes it is hard to be so far from home and loved ones and yes I have had some difficulty adjusting, but for whatever reason at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. I just belong here, and that is all I can say.

I was listening to the song Breath of Heaven, which is a Christmas song about Mary. The second verse says "Do you wonder, as you watch my face, if a wiser one, should of had my place" and I really thought about that for a few minutes. I have asked Jesus so many times since I have been down here if He is sure that He meant to send me. And the very next line of that song says, "But I offer, all I am, for the mercy, of your plan, help me be strong, help me be, help me." It was a cool moment for me. Here I am feeling inadequate, and God was gently reminding me, through a Christmas song no less, that this is His plan. And I have surrendered my life and my plans to Him over and over again and asked Him to use me and now He is.

So in conclusion, I will end with how you can be praying for me:
1. My healing- My knees and legs have just been having a terrible time here. It is because of the weather and just the general activity that I am doing. I had so much time to rest them in the US, and here I don't have that same amount of time.

2. My homesick-ness- it is very real.

3. My ability to teach- I want to be the best teacher that I can be and I would ask that you pray that I have wisdom and understanding to grasp being a teacher. I am fortunate in that God has gifted me with an ability to love and care for children. Please pray for myself and the preschool team that we have a great year and that we are able to share Jesus' love with all of our students.

4. My comfort- there are many things here that I am not used to. I knew that this move would obviously be a step out of my comfort zone. I just need prayer that I start to feel more comfortable here.

5. My relationship with Christ- I think that my prayer life has been more active this month than possibly in my entire life. I am so glad  that God has been holding my hand. He has provided wonderful people to help me. He sends me little reminders each day that He is in control and He's got this. I am so thankful for that.

Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement! I wish you all could be here with me!

Rats Bats!

                I hope that you are all ready for an extremely embarrassing story because I have one to share. Please sit back in your seats, pop some popcorn and get comfortable. I am a story teller by nature, and this is going to be a great one.          

                This week, my roommate, Samira, had to go to Tegucigalpa to attend some training for school. Due to the fact that neither she nor I wanted me to stay home alone, I packed my things and went to a friend’s house. I stayed there Monday night, Tuesday and Wednesday.  I had a great time there. I played over a hundred games of Spider Solitaire and watched Pirates of the Caribbean. So it was perfect. Wednesday night, it began to rain. Not a little bit of rain either, it was POURING rain. It was dark and stormy when Samira came to pick me up.

                Before we opened the gate to our house she said, “I have to tell you something, when I stopped by the house there was someone in it.”

 My heart rate increased and a million questions raced through my mind.

Then she continued, “It wasn’t someone as much as it was a something.” She paused for effect. Just like I am doing right now……..

                “I saw a rat!” she said.

                I felt a little bit better after she said that. But my heart was still pounding. I am not a fan of rats. I can handle mice, I can handle bugs, but rats are a different story. I cannot handle rats. When we got home, I slowly opened the door and we looked around for a little bit before deciding that the rat was hiding. I went to bed that night and didn’t think much of it. Though I promise you that heard squeaking.

                The next day we didn’t see the rat. The housekeeper looked around the house for it, we moved boxes and there was no sign of it, so I was okay. If I can’t see it or hear it, what harm can it do, am I right? But as the night came, I began to hear the squeaks again. I could hear them in my room, they were so close, but I still couldn’t see it. So I was okay.

                THEN I HEARD IT! Not just the squeaks! I heard it run into a plastic bag, and then I heard it run into my scale on the floor. I had been so sleepy, I was almost asleep, but knowing that there was a rat in my room woke me right up. My heart was pounding, and I got really hot. Every little sound made me sit up in bed. And that is when I knew that I wasn’t going to sleep. Don’t ask me why I couldn’t sleep knowing there was a rat in my room, I knew in my head that it couldn’t get me. But that didn’t change the fact that I was freaking out.

                I have seen The Great Mouse Detective twice in my life. That movie is terrifying. And there is a rat in that movie called O’ Ratigan. He is a despicable character who turns into a deranged rat at the end and begins to chase the main character on a clock tower. That crazed rat image is forever burned into my mind because it was terrifying. I have also seen Lady and the Tramp. Do you know that happens in Lady and the Tramp?! A red eyed rat breaks into the baby’s room and climbs the baby’s crib and it about to chomp on the baby when Lady runs in and rescues it. And you know what else? I have read about Bubonic Plague. I know that was the rats fault.

                So as I am laying there I realize that I am basically living out a Disney movie, only not the ones where the princess gets kissed by the prince, but the ones where a deranged rat gives children nightmares. I start to think, “Why did God send me here, to a place with rats? He should have sent Bear Grylls. Or a cat” and I am laughing in my head because it’s only a rat. Then I decided to put my head phones in and turn on some music so that I just can’t hear it scurrying around my room. I laid in a position so that I couldn’t see the floor beneath me and I turned on my instrumental music. It was about 1:30 am at this point.

                I was starting to fall asleep, when the song changed to the instrumental version of “Don’t Stop Believing” came on. It woke me up. And I changed the song. Then I went through that process about four times. The last time I remember checking the clock, it was 2:45 am. And I decided that if he hadn’t attacked me by then, he probably wasn’t going to. And though I didn’t move, I think I finally fell asleep.

                I woke up the next day at 5:30. I texted Samira and asked her to open my door because I was still too scared to move. She came in and the housekeeper looked around my room with a broom but there was no sign of the rat. All we found was a gecko, and I am not afraid of geckos. They are harmless and they eat mosquitos. The gecko ran up the wall. I got ready and went to school.

                School was awesome! I love the preschool teachers that I will be working with. I think we all connected really well. And while we were at school, the housekeeper was going to look around in my room to see if she could find the rat and where he was hiding.

                She didn’t. I came home and it got dark again and I started to hear it squeaking. Samira and Welsie, the housekeeper came into my room with the broom to find it. I told them it was in the closet and I could hear it squeaking. Samira and I left, just in case it came out. Welsie is brave and she is not afraid of them. While she continued to look, Samira and I sat down in the living room. I heard the squeaking again.

                “That’s it Samira, that is the squeaking I hear all the time!” I told her.

She listened and then she started to laugh.

                “That’s not a rat Char,” she said, “That is the sound that geckos make!”

                “Wait geckos make sounds?” I said again, surprised!

                I had no idea that geckos made sounds! Let alone squeaking sounds! And seriously after all of the documentaries I have watched and all of the nature shows I have seen and the fact that my dad can make like every single animal sound, and I still didn’t know that geckos made a sound. So we got a good laugh about it. It proved how much of a crazy gringa I actually am, so embarrassing!  And I got to share the story of how the rat in my bedroom was actually a gecko!

                That is where the story should have ended, a happy ending…

                But as I was typing this, guess what decided to grace me with its presence… that’s right my friends, the rat.  I just saw the beast run out from behind my closet, sniff and then run back in. I didn’t even have time to scream. Instead I started to whistle, just so he would know that I mean business. This is my land!  I got up out of bed and ran into Samira’s room and yelled,

                “HA! I am not crazy! I am so happy! …..Also, there is a rat in my room.”

                This time it was more than the squeaks, I had actual proof (Which I think there is a lesson about faith that I can work in here. Faith is being certain of what we do not see. I was certain there was a rat. And Now I have seen it). And of course when Welsie checked, she couldn’t find it. But he is in there, I hear the actual rat squeaks (which sound NOTHING like a gecko) and I hear him digging around. So here is where the story ends for now, as we are going to the store to buy a rat trap and some cheese. I will not be sad to see Templeton go (That is what I named him as my name is Charlotte and it only seemed fitting). Had he been more willing to clean my room, or make me a dress or something, I could have probably kept him. But this is not a fairytale, this is indeed a nightmare…  

                Epilogue: We caught the rat in my room and we caught a bonus rat in the kitchen. They were actually really tiny and also adorable. And because the last house had rats, we moved to a new one yesterday (no I am just kidding we were planning to move before). So now I am a home that is rat free, and also there is a Chinese food restaurant outside me window…

Update 1

I have not been able to fill everyone in since I have moved to Honduras. This was due to a lack of time when I did have internet and now due to a lack of internet. This post will be longer than what I am planning on posting in the future. But I hope that those of you who are interested will be able to read through the whole thing to better understand what is going on here!  

First, I am so thankful for those of you who have given financially to my move. I am overwhelmed by the amount of people who are praying for me. I know that my support system is growing and I have been realizing that this week.

My mom and I moved my stuff to Honduras on July 21, and here we are August 8. I have already been here 17 days! Last week I was able to spend time with the Family to Family team from Rivervalley. That was a wonderful week. We had a lot of high schoolers on that team. It was a special time for me to see kids that I had been ministering to all year stepping up and making their faith their own. God was so good that week. I really felt overwhelmed, I am not sure how much help I was. It was a process. I had to take everything in. My whole life was changing and for an internal processer like myself, it takes a lot of time to think about everything that happens. That being said, I had an incredible time serving the people of Honduras. I loved praying over people.

I thought that leaving the team was going to be a lot more difficult than what it actually was. There were many tears, but not nearly as many as I was expecting. And once I left them at the airport, I didn’t cry. And besides getting teary eyed here and there, I haven’t cried since being here. I KNOW that God answered my prayers for an easy transition. I have felt His presence every single day. It is a constant reassurance that this is where He wants me to be. That is absolutely incredible.

This week, I moved from the hotel into my friend Samira’s apartment. For those of you who do not know about Samira, allow me to fill you in. Samira is a director at Eternity Christian School where I will be teaching. She has graciously offered to let myself, and another American teacher, live with her and her son this year. Her son’s name is Essa. He is the cutest. Hopefully he will be in my K5 class this year. I am so glad that she and I have bonded as quickly as we have. She has been incredible at taking care of me and helping me get acclimated to life here in Honduras. I am very thankful for her patience and her humor. Samira and I moved on Wednesday into our new house. They were still in the process of getting it ready for us. The day that we moved, I got really sick (I am still not feeling 100%). That was a difficult day. And as I sat on my suitcase in my empty room with tears welling up in my eyes, I really did question what I was doing. The thought to buy a plane ticket home crossed my mind several times that day. It is hard to be sick in a foreign country especially when you are moving and your toilet doesn’t work. I was in constant communication with my mom and my dad that day. Thankfully they were able to help calm me down, as they kept trying to change the subject and remind me of the good reasons that I was there.

Yesterday, Thursday, Samira got a call that there was a home closer to the school that had the number of bedrooms that we need. She and I went to check it out last night. There was a peace in my heart and the new house felt more like a home to me. As soon as it is painted, cleaned and ready, we will be moving from our current home into our new home! God is so great at providing everything that we need.

So here I am in my new (soon to be old) house. I have realized that living without AC is easier than living without wifi. HA! How American am I?! I have also realized that cravings like Starbucks and Taco Bell is really real. I’m already thinking about how much I am going to miss the coolness of fall in Indiana. I will miss the colors changing and I will miss the excitement of football season starting (even though I don’t watch football). I will miss sweat shirts and bonfires. I keep thinking that any day now I can just go home, like I used to do when I moved out for college. This time it’s very real though and I am on my own (Alone in the Universe, Claire). That’s really difficult to work through.

I want to thank everyone who has reached out to me this week, just to see how I am doing and check in on me. It has been such a blessing. Once I get wifi, I will be able to talk to many more of you. I ask that you continue to check in on me and reach out to me. It is really something that I am going to need to get through this year away from home and it brightens my day and reminds me that I am loved and supported by so many.

Today (Friday), I spent a good amount of time with my Savior. I have been filling my mind with beautiful worship songs this week. I sing the same few over and over again, making them into a prayer. I love the peace that I experience when I am resting in the presence of God. It is a feeling that has been absent from my life for several months. I think with getting everything ready to move here, I put my relationship with Jesus on the back burner. Luckily, God’s grace is sufficient for me and He didn’t give up on me. I know that my spiritual life is in for an entire makeover this year as He prepares me to be the woman He has created and crafted me to be. My life verse the last few years has been 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ‘But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’ When I came to Honduras last year, right after a surgery, I was really weak and God kept reminding me of this verse. If I had it all together, I wouldn’t need Him. If I wasn’t in pain, I wouldn’t be in constant conversation with Him. If I knew what I was doing, I wouldn’t need to relay on Him for guidance. So you can see where He intervenes and makes Himself known in my life. I pray that my life is a continuous testimony to the goodness and the faithfulness of God.