Siguatepeque...Cheque Leque!

We went on a church trip to the municipality, Siguatepeque, about 30 minutes outside of Comayagua City. We, the missionaries, were asked to sing special music. Unfortunately, the week was so busy and we didn’t have time to prepare anything. We were a bit worried about what we should sing, especially since we were going to a Spanish speaking church and we don’t know many Spanish songs. In additon, it was just the three of us (Nelly stayed home, sick with the flu). At the end, we decided on the hymn “Going Afar” and a Spanish song “Cambiame.” I think the angels sang with us because it sounded so beautiful. The service was so rich and we were pleasantly surprised at how well Walter delivered the sermon.

It was an all-day trip. We were given a delicious lunch, went to a nature park and then put on the AY program. They even treated us to some desert in the evening. All in all a great day! We love Siguatepeque and can’t wait to go back.

The group from Comayagua

The guys
Paul, Edward, David, Kyle and Walter

Go away - its our turn.

Darcia and Effie

Creepy - reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds"

Had to get another pic

At the nature park

Fun!

Kathy and Emily

Taking a seat
Effie, Darcia and Kadian

Silly faces :)

More silly faces :)

Todos amigos

Las Champas

The words mean tents and this is an annual celebration at the school which features traditional and dances. Each of the secondary classes were in charge of setting up tents representing different areas of Honduras. We were really excited because we were asked to work with the ninth grade to represent Bay Islands. Our task would be to provide hair braiding. Unfortunately, the rains came down and washed out our plans. But the show had to go on and despite the weather ,we were treated to good food and beautiful dancing.

Practicing some twist rows on Emily and cornrows on David

Giving Claudia a brand new look

Emily and Kadian munch on delicious treats

Amigas enjoying la noche

Dancers in action

Honduran Independence

Today was the big independence day celebrations all across Honduras. In Comayagua all the schools marched and there was music everywhere. The main street was shut down to accommodate all the participants and people lined the streets to watch. It was quite a sight. This is the first time either of us have been in a parade. Watching it on t.v. is a lot different than being in it. No one ever thinks of the amount of walking you have to do or the fact that you don't really get to see everything...or much of anything for that matter once you're the one on display. We walked for like 3 hours and ended up a little sunburned but it was a lot of fun and the sights and sounds just spectacular. There were many bands and cheerleaders and cultural displays. At the end of the parade route each group was announced and got their 15 seconds of fame on national television. Our little group was announced as the teachers of Maranatha Adventist Bilingual School and we boasted teachers from the United States, Jamaica, England and the Cayman Islands much to the surprise and delight of the delegates. We felt good.

Military People

More Military People

Emily and Alejandra Del Cid (a 9th Grade Student)

Students from Maranatha

One of our cute primary students

Que cute!

Meez Twinz

Cheerleaders from another school.

Maranatha 11th Graders which includes 2 exchange students from Italy

Beautiful Cultural Costumes

Emily B and Ashley

We're marching!

Honduran Pride

Oh the joy of marching!

Our School

Fellow teachers David and Emily B.

Meez Twinz and Emily

El Jefe (The Boss)

Que lindas!

We all agreed we should have been in dresses!

Emily, Dawnelle, Ashley, Emily B. and Darcia
(Kadian joined the band and she's good!)

Kadian

Interesting Costumes

Que hermosa! I think this is the best costume we saw - so much detail!

Beautiful and so creative.

Another pretty one

Beautiful cultural costumer. These are the best dancers in Honduras.

Some more of the best dancers.

Parade Float

Home at last!

Saturday Night

We were invited to a little get-together on Saturday night but declined because we were all feeling tired and a bit dirty from Sabbath afternoon. I also wasn't feeling well - because of the rain I started sniffling and my throat was feeling a bit sore. The only thing I wanted to do was go home and rest. Dawnelle was feeling better when we arrived. Her headache was gone and she decided to pull out her twists. So we all helped unravel her hair...at one point we looked like the Discovery Channel...think of those scenes when the animals are grooming one another. Anyway, her hair came out so big and nice we had to take some pics.

Dawnelle y su grande afro puff

Muy hermosa