Uncapturable Moments

I want to try to describe a scene from yesterday that is hard to capture without being in it and understanding all the details of each person, culture, and environment.

The little ones are all waking up from naptime, one at a time, and entering the office where Zulema is combing all the little girl’s hair, and checking for lice. I am cutting fingernails. Our 6 year old, Genesis, is doing her kindergarten homework. The sky outside is getting darker, and it makes the room darker. I honestly don’t know how she can check for lice in this light. To describe the room, 8 feet by 10 feet, including a desk, book shelf, cabinet of supplies, a smaller storage cabinet, a rolling wood piece where we stack the extra mats and where we store them after naptime, and then two chairs. Oh, plus we have one of the boys sleep in the office, so he’s not a distraction. So there is not much floor space and about 7 of the kids are awake from naps. We let them come in and sit on our laps and when they wake up a little more, pick books to look at.

It was surreal with all the kids close to us, the room getting darker with the rain coming and everyone in different stages of “awakeness.” I have one little girl on my lap, still waking up, and a three- year old girl sitting next to me, “reading” books. In Honduras, we don’t use the lights as much because all the windows are always open and light and air move freely. We have the windows that have about 10 horizontal slats that are always open. On the other side are bars. Most windows here have bars, and when they don’t you notice it.

So the rain begins, then the flash floods through the dirt streets as they wash away; and the three- year old (as she’s looking at her book) just says, “My mom’s going to get wet.” At that moment, I became conscious to the scene around me. I couldn’t just take a picture of it, but I didn’t want to forget it either. What three year old looks out the window, sees rain, and automatically thinks of her mother getting wet? It’s a life of being in the streets and knowing her mom is outside all the time. It made me think of a preschool in the States, with windows close (granted there is air conditioning) and an afternoon rainstorm is just that, rain.

It’s every day moments like these that are hard to capture in pictures, and even with words. But its what I remember and think about most when I try to describe what I do and where I am.

Welcome Home

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support. I have been home in Honduras for a week now. I had a wonderful time in the States visiting with new and old supporters, friends, and family. It seemed like a long hectic month. My travels last week went well, even with a few glitches, but I made all my flights and arrived home safe.

Please continue to pray for support to come in. Fundraising did not goas well as I had hoped, but I did make many new connections along the way! God has provided for me all along the way, so I’m not worried. Another huge prayer need is that I need to look for a new apartment. I love the apartment, its location and the landlords. The only problem is the parking situation. While I was gone, Aben’s car had the battery stolen, last spring my spare tirewas stolen, and as my welcome home present on Tuesday night, both my back taillights were stolen (plastic andlight bulbs.. everything). I do not want to move apartments, but given the circumstances of my car being stolen piece by piece, I need to look for a more secure area. Please pray for this because I have not budgeted for this and don’t think I will find this same living situation for the same price.

Along with bad news, I also have wonderful news. As of right now, I am not a resident, I have a visa that expires every 90 days, I can file for 2 months extension, then I must leave the country. The fee for residency has been $1300 for 3 years, so I have not applied for it. I have planned my travels around holidays and fundraising, so it has worked out fine. When I got back I heard about a new law for missionaries. If I bring a written paper from our organization that I am serving as a missionary, I can get my residency, 5 years for$25! This will cutback on expenses a lot. Once I have regular support coming in and won’t have to travel to fundraise, I will be able to stay in the country without having to leave by a certain date.

The month of September is a fun month in Honduras, because we celebrate Child’s Day (like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day) on the 10^th and Independence Day on the 15^th. Friday we celebrated Child’s day with a piñata, candies, balloons, and cake. The kids loved it and were exhausted by the end of the day. Here are a few pictures.

It was fun returning to the kids, I got lots of hugs and when one sits on my lap, they all do. Eventually I had to stand up so they would stop fighting for spaceon my lap or legs. Please pray for Zulema, one of the ladies I work with (the same one who had the motorcycle accident), her father died last week. I have not seen her yet, but she is very close to her family.

It’s hard to sum up a whole month in one blog, but I think I covered most of it. Thank you to everyone who supported me with prayers and finances, and hosting me in your homes and at restaurants. I have posted a few videos on youtube that I showed to different people. I will try to put them up on my blog soon.

In the States

Since the last I wrote, not much has happened. We had a team here, checking out the ministry to bring teams down. They spent part of the time at Casa de Luz, then the other half doing evangelism and pastors training. The kids love having visitors! We had the opportunity to take the kids to Pizza Hut and they loved it!

We also had a team come do a one -day ministry with the community. We invited the parents and we had the opportunity to spend a morning with one mother in particular. Vanessa has 7 children; 4 live with her; her husband is in jail; and she sells things on the streets. She is a very sweet lady and has had a rough couple of years. We found out some of her story this last week. I had heard the story of her abortion last year, but she told us the whole story. After having Racsel, the little girl in the picture here, she had surgery not to have more children. She endedup getting pregnant again, the baby growing in here intestines and eventually tangling itself in her intestines. She had complications and no one to take care of her. She had to take care of 4 kids, at that time 3 under the age of 4, and was working on the streets selling things while her husband sold most of there things for drugs. She said she had a huge belly when she lost the baby, but does not know how far along she was. This is about the time her 3 kids entered our program, very malnourished and dirty.

Hearing her story and the difference the “house of light” (casa de luz) made in her family, made me realize the opportunity we have to offer hope through Christ in our ministry. The kids have been attending Sunday school, and it made me happy to see the older boy singing all the words to some of the Sunday school songs. We may not always know the circumstances or situations that surround us, but just being open and willing to help in the names of Christ can change someone’s life. Here is a picture of Vanessa with her kids, Javier, Racsel, and Gabriel.

Now I want to share a proud moment I had today. I went in to say goodbye to the kids, since I will be in the States for a month and they told me a story about one of the kids we have been potty training. He is 80% successful when I’m around, and a little less when I’m not there. They said he was in the bathroom one day taking off his diaper and they asked him, “where did you learn to use the bathroom?” and he responded, “Jenny taught me.” It was a proud moment for me to see some fruits of the labor we do.

I will be in the States until September 5. Please pray for my travels and health. Before leaving Honduras I picked up a stomach bug and have been having problems with that. Please pray that this will go away with medicine and not stay with me all month. If you are interested in getting together while I’m in the States email me!

Busy July

(this is my current favorite picture of Heydi, constantly asking to be held)

Little out of routine has happened since the last time I blogged. It’s rainy season, so it’s always an experience getting into the neighborhood where I do ministry. Yesterday my truck got stuck in a 2 holes. Its funny because I had visitors with me, I picked them up because they have a small car that would not have made it as far as mine, then mine gets stuck. When I finally gave up, the pastor came walking down the street and helped. We got in the back, to put weight on the back tires, and with lots of splattering dirt and several tries later, he got it out. Please pray that I can sell this truck and have the funds to buy an SUV with 4WD and the ability to fit passengers.

I am preparing for a team that will be here next week and staying for 8 days, as well as, packing for a month of furlough and fundraising. Although I'm not busy yet, I'm preparing for the next month as much as I can.

An update on Javier is that his mother has pulled him out of the program for a time. Now he goes to sell things on the street with her. His siblings, Gabriel and Racsel, still come every day, so hopefully after a time Javier will be coming back to join us. He has such a sweet side, along side his violent, angry side that makes it hard to deal with the situation of him remaining with the other kids as well as hard to deal with him not being with us. We are praying for a change and to have him back eventually.

As I prepare to go back to the states in 2 weeks, please pray for my travels and fundraising. Being with these children is my comfortable element, sharing their stories and lives places me out of my element. However, I understand how crucial it is for their stories to be told, so that people can support them and lift them up in prayer.

I will be in the States August 1 to September 5. Northern California August 1-8, Charlotte August 14-18, Jacksonville August 20-27, and Georgia August 30- September 4. If you would like to host me, grab coffee, share a meal, have me share in a small group or church, please contact me by email (jenny_bronsink@hotmail.com) or facebook to set up a date. My goal is to raise support for the following year to continue in this ministry. I need to raise $10,000 ($1,000 monthly) to remain in Honduras for another year teaching and raising these children.

Headache Free!!

Alicia praising God with her new instrument Silyi with her shirt

Racsel making her shirt
waiting to wash hands for lunch

As you might have noticed, or felt neglected that I have not updated the blog, is that I had headaches/ migraines for over a month. I am thankful to say, I have been headache free for 6 days and now its time to catch up on life in the outside world. Headaches are debilitating, so its hard to do anything, especially think, when you head is pounding. I visited a few doctors, tried lots of meds, and lastly took a pre-planned vacation to the beach. The latter seems to have been the most successful.

First I want to update you on news of the ministry, then news about me. The kids are growing and sweet. I love being able to hold them and watch them giggle. This week the founder is in town and so it will be a week of festivities. Today we tie- dyed shirts with the kids, and did a few other crafts. It is fun to have a break from the normal, with visitors and gifts. The kids are enjoying her time here. We are planning on going on a field trip on Friday and wearing our new shirts.

Next week we will say goodbye to Debie who has been a huge help the past few months. She is great with the children, always smiling and a great teacher. Hopefully we will have her help us out again. The positive news of this situation is that all the teachers are healthy and we can get back in to the routines we had started to establish.

I have really noticed this week, the progress some of our kids have made. Remembering back to when I started in September, one little boy would not smile and talk, now he is constantly smiling and talks a lot and participates in the activities. He used to not even join a circle and now he plays the games. They all have stories of progress, and it brings me joy to take notice of these accomplishments!

The past two weeks I had the opportunity to leave the city, for ministry and vacation. The first week I translated for a vision clinic in a city 2 hours away. I met a lot of new friends, Honduran and American and I it was a fun experience to be able to allow two people, that don’t speak the same language, to communicate. I learned about eyes and some medical terms I didn’t even know in English. I was actually ministered to by the group I worked with when the last day my headache got really bad.

After the week of ministry I went towards the beach. I visited a friend who I met in the airport when I was traveling home in February. She works in a mission hospital way out in the country. It was a very beautiful, remote little “pueblo” (town) 2 hours down a dirt road. I described my weekend as very Honduran. She lives with a family so we spent lots of time talking and walking with them. It was very fun!

After the weekend, I went to a hotel down a dirt road with pastures on each side. It was very secluded and right on the beach. It felt like a secret garden full of flowers, trees and birds, right on the beach. It was a very relaxing environment and I did not miss the noise of the city at all. I was ready to go home at the end, since I traveled alone, but it was very peaceful, quiet and relaxing. And most importantly, my headaches went away! Gracias a Dios.

I am putting more pictures on Facebook of our activities today because I can fit more pictures there.

Mirrors

I feel like a lot has happened in the last few weeks, since I wrote last. I’ve had a few rough weeks with the kids because we have been down a worker or two at the daycare. The good news is, we have a new lady working with us until Zulema recovers fully from her motorcycle accident. Deby worked with Casa de Luz many years ago, but had to leave because she had a baby. The baby is now 3 years old, and Deby was willing to come back and fill in, since we are in need of the help. She is a very happy and smiley lady, and also experienced in teaching kids this age. She teaches Sunday school at the church.

This week she did an activity with the kids, where the kids looked into a mirror at themselves, and she said something nice about them. The lesson was to explain that we were made in the image of God, just how he wanted us to look. The shocking response was when Racsel did not want to look at herself in the mirror. I wondered why. She is not usually a timid, shy girl, but looking the mirror she shied away. Most of the kids smiled and enjoyed the opportunity.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a missionary women’s retreat. It was meant to be a time of relaxing with other women who share similar lives, ministering to the people of Honduras. Although we are all spread out throughout the country, it’s nice to have a weekend to connect and relate to other women just like me. We had many times of worship and prayer groups. The name fit the experience well, Women of Purpose, Sisterhood Revive. I went to the same retreat in October and loved it then. A group from the States sponsors this time away from the stresses of life and pours into us, as missionary women. I loved it! Here are a few pictures of some art I made for my apartment in our free time.

After returning from the retreat Saturday night, I jumped right into ministry mode again, baking cakes for Mother’s Day at the church. After church, we celebrated the mothers with cake and soda. They also gave away two baskets of food to two mothers. (Dilon, the son of one of Aben's teachers)

Lastly, the newest addition to my apartment is a table and chairs. Thank you to Word on the Street Ministries for providing me with these essentials for my apartment. Now I can have people over and offer them a chair, instead of the floor J

It’s been really hot down here, and the reason it feels so hot, is because we do not have air condition. It may not be as hot as it gets in the States (I live in a cooler part of Honduras), but with no air condition, and lots of sun, it’s HOT! However, we have had a wonderful afternoon rainstorm, although the kids do not sleep well with the thunder, it gets a lot cooler, for that I am grateful.

Swimming With Prisoners

Last week was Semana Santa, Holy Week. This week in Central America is not only famous for its displays of palm branches on cars and colored sawdust carpets lining the downtown streets on Good Friday (they used colored sawdust to make pictures of the crucifiction, flowers, and Bible verses), it is also the week when the city becomes a ghost town, everything shuts down, and people leave the city for vacation and to visit family.

(the sawdust carpets lining the streets in Copan)

Palm Sunday weekend, I got to take a few of my kids to the pool. The LOVED it! Afterwards we went to Burger King, got ice cream cones (2 ended up on the floor) and played in the playground. Their faces were priceless and it took them a while to get in the pool. But when they did, they didn’t want to get out. On Monday and Tuesday we had the opportunity to bring the youth Aben works with the pool as well. We got pizza and mangos to enjoy at the pool. They also loved it, and it was a lot less work for me J

At the end of theweek, we also left the city, to go to Youth for Christ (Juventud Para Cristo) camp in the western part of the country. It was a fun time, because I had never been to the west. I got to/ had to go to visit the Guatemala border to renew my visa that expires this week. There was a group from the camp visiting the Copan Ruins (a day trip 1 ½ hours away). We got a ride,then took a tuktuk (3 wheeled taxi) 15 km to the border. It was kind of funny how short the distance, but how long it took us with the mountain hills. I could have walked up the hills faster than this taxi went. It was an experience! With a short “72 hour” stop at the border and two favors later, we returned to the Copan Ruins within 2 hours. Since we were with the group, I did not get to see the famous ruins, but I did visit the entrance. I felt like I was in the car most of the weekend, because we went to camp on Thursday (6 hours), to the border on Friday, and home on Saturday. One of the cool events of the camp was Friday night. We all sat in the middle of a pitch black soccer field, with our eyes closed, while one girl read something. She explained that we are all called to be a light, we should not hide our light, and that we all shine differently with different strengths and abilities. When we opened our eyes they had splattered us with glow in the dark paint. We all glowed differently in the dark of the night. It was a very cool activity!

Returning back to the daycare, it was nice to see my kids after a week. But the most jaw dropping story we got was when 3 of my kids told me they got to visit their dad at the penitentiary, and got the swim with the prisoners and gang members. Try to digest this, I’m still working on it… a three year old girl, 4 and 5 year old boys swimming with gang members, murderers, and the father in jail for raping one of their sisters.

It’s hard for me to comprehend and know how to help, how to change the dangerous situation. We laugh at the absurdity, but when the irony fades, its still the same situation. My friend wrote a quote on her blog this week that has defined my emotions the past few weeks, “The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.” –Flannery O’ Connor.

Pray that we can work to educate these families how to treat and raise their children without offending them, resulting in closed doors.

In other news, I have my plane ticket to return to the States to raise funds for another year serving these families. I will be in the States August 1 to September 5. Please let me know if you would like me to share with you, your family, your small group or your church. Please pray about supporting me in prayer or finances. God has provided me with big and little things along this journey, please pray if God is asking you to be involved. I will be sending out a newsletter in May with more specifics.

Thank you to everyone that has supported me with prayers and finances. I am grateful for what God has provided!

(Oliver peaking through the barred door for a picture)