¡Feliz Cumpleaños! y ¡Feliz Navidad! ...Tis the Season

Que Ondas Mi Raza?

That means “What’s up my people?” I learned how to talk a little more trendy this past weekend. I attended a youth conference in one of the larger cities, Siguatepeque. Although the Peace Corps mission is not to involve itself with religious goals, I made the commitment to attend the “evangelical” conference during the first few weeks of my time in Santa Elena when I was looking for “confianza” and was told to be weary of turning down invitations because they would likely not be offered again if I was to decline the first. So Isaias, who has since then become a very close friend, invited me and I agreed to accompany him. He’s also a pineapple farmer who is working towards starting a jelly factory to add a little value to his crop (that’s where my brochure Peace Corps work comes in). But in all reality, Peace Corps is a lot about relationships. There’s no time clock to punch here in Honduras. I’m constantly working in a way, having friends over to my house for lunch, visiting friends for coffee, going to someone’s church service when invited, playing soccer with the guys, playing cards with my homestay sisters, etc. When the work is that enjoyable, who needs a timeclock, right? So I turned 23 in Siguatepeque Honduras at an evangelical youth rally of sorts. The denomination of those attending the conference, Evangelicals of Central America, is basically the equivalent of what we’d call Baptist in the states. The youth rally gave me the willies in that it was so much like the hundreds of youth rallies I atteneded when I was in high school, but everything was in Spanish. They even sang many of the same songs we use to sing, just in Spanish!

I also met two other gringos, a missionary couple, at the rally who are heading up the youth ministry at one of the churches in Siguat. Turns out the husband, Peter, is currently working on his masters in apologetics. I was thrilled, someone I can talk to about apologetics! He know’s all about all the authors and books I’ve been reading on creationism and evolution. One of the books I’ve yet to read, but have on my book shelf was written by two of Peter’s professors. So needless to say I’m thrilled to have yet another opportunity, aside from my Peace Corps friends, to satisfy my need for intellectually stimulating conversation.

My birthday celebration was pretty nice. The group from Canaverales, where I’ve helped Isaias with “La Fiesta de Los Cosechas,” which is like a party to celebrate the harvest, took me out to a nice pizza place in Siguat. The pizza was excellent and the company was even more excellent. I’ve grown close to the group in Canaverales, mi raza.

I also received Mexican quesidillas on Monday for my birthday. There’s a really nice Mexican missionary lady who lives in Santa Elena with her son, and she had authentic steak and chicken quesidillas prepared in my honor when I returned home after the weekend. Mexican food has got kick to it, oh wow it was delicious! Her name is Martita and her son Rai is a few years older than me. They leave to head back to Mexico today. They tripped out when I told them I was going to be here until September of 2008. Hopefully they’ll come back and visit sometime. I’ve got all their info in Mexico in case I feel like taking a Mexican adventure in the future.

Before this exciting weekend was a weekend full of graduations. The kindergarten and sixth grade graduations. I was again asked to be the godfather of two of the kids in the kindergarten clausura. And this time I knew how it was done. After the sixth grade graduation there were parties for the students at their respective houses. I received invitations for two and had a blast attending and eating lots of great food. The picture is of Melissa (May-lee-sah), Don Andres’ grandauter and her mountain of graduation gifts. Boy does she look happy, aye? The funny thing is, one of the bags had a pair of granny underwear, and when she opened it infront of all the guests she turned red with embarresment and immediately shut the bag. Everyone laughed and one of the older sisters stole the bag and yanked out the undies for all to see, Melissa was mortified but could still laugh about it. She’d certainly jab me a good one if she knew I was publishing this story to the world wide web.

As far as projects go, things are starting to noticeable slow down for the holiday season. The building of the bakery for the women’s group has slowed to a hault, and the pineapple farmers are tied down with other obligations around town.

I’ll be passing my first Honduran Navidad with a lady named Silvia. Not sure If I’ve wrote about her on this blog before, but she’s become a close friend. She’s the teacher/director of the pre-school and she’s got two younger daughters, Kati (9), and Angie (13). She has invited Rain and I over to cook a turkey and pass the Navidad. Should be fun, definitely looking forward to some turkey since I missed out on Thanksgiving. Then I’m hitting the road for a bit of traveling back to where I spent a month of training out east in Catacamas for the New Year. There’s a group of volunteers meeting up there to celebrate, and I’ll also get to visit my great home stay family I had there.

Okay, that’s it for now! Hope all is well in the States this Holiday Season! ¡Tengan un Feliz Navidad y Nuevo Año! I love and miss all of you very much!

Brazos,
David

P.S. Answers to Comments...

- Laura and Tiffany; I hope you guys rocked it out at the Christmas concert, okay maybe not "rocked" but played well, I´m sure it was fabulous! Yes, I have a CD player Laura. I have yet to receive your cello music, but my cello´s mouth is watering!

- Kate, I´m working on a letter to the Montucky Nuns. But I figure I got some time since you guys are on break right now. But when you get back to Bozeman, watch your mailbox. And Take it to the Burm!

- Thanks for your comments guys! They´re so much fun to read! Ciao!