Day Off

Those words are fantastic to hear. My first four months in Honduras, I averaged 2 days off every five weeks…it made for a couple breakdowns and several days with a less than enthusiastic Miss Katie.

But now we are 5 staff strong at the Villa and since there are no women, we have a 2:1 kid to staff ratio. It’s great and means that each of us has a day off each week!!

My day off begins Monday as soon as I finish my English classes (about 10 am) and I don’t technically have to be back until Tuesday at about 4 pm. We’re only two weeks in, but so far so good.

My last day off was a big adventure all rolled up into less than 24 hours. It included me driving a KIA pickup truck (my little Golf would fit in the back with plenty of room to spare) for the first time. Also, it included me driving in Tegucigalpa, something that I had only done once before…at 8 am on a Sunday morning when there was basically no traffic. Oh, and I was taking home two Americans who had come to visit for the weekend.

Thank God they’re good prayers!
But seriously, we made it into town just fine and we didn’t even get lost. I think the whole Jericho staff was a bit surprised to see us show up on time with smiles on our faces.

I was so blessed to be able to stay with a good friend of mine and her beautiful family. Jaime is a Canadian who moved down to Honduras 10 years ago to teach English at one of the Universities. She got married, had two kids, and then met Betsy and became the teacher of Jericho Christian High School. I was Jaime’s shadow my first summer here and she has been amazing to me ever since. I haven’t been able to see much of her since she lives in Tegus and I live out at the Villa, but now that I have regular breaks, I get to spend them at “Hotel Mendez” with her and the family.

What else did I do?
I ran errands (to pick up groceries and school supplies for the Villa), RELAXED!!, and spent the Tuesday morning with Jaime. Although Jaime was in charge of the high school, she felt a calling to work at the opposite end of the spectrum. She is now in charge of the Jerico Early Learning Center, or as we like to call it…JELC.
So I spent three hours jumping around, singing, playing and having snack with 4 precious 3-year-olds who are learning English and learning about God. It was a fantastic morning to say the least.

Although I don’t know if I’ll go into Tegus every week for my break, I am so thankful for the time off where I can run personal errands and get away from things for a bit. I think it helps the moral of the staff team as well…as much as we love the kids, it’s nice to have a little time away. And the time away definitely helps us re-energize for another week with the kids!



This is Jaime...I love her a lot. She takes good care of me since I'm so far away from my family and friends.


This is Dany...Jaime's baby. He must have gotten into "Canada mode" because it was definitely not cold enough out for that outfit. But he is super precious and I love spending time with him and his brother Jonah.