February + March

I really can't believe how quickly time is passing here! Crazy to think the last time I was writing was almost two months ago, but let me catch you up on some of the highlights of the last few months.

Once vacation camp was finished the next few weeks felt a lot more quiet, doing administration in the office etc. However in the middle of February my Mum came to visit me here in Copan which was a really amazing week and so wonderful to see her :) We spent the time here in Copan visiting some of the main sites such as the Mayan Ruins and the Bird Park.

And for a few days we crossed to border into Guatemala to visit the city of Antigua, which in style is pretty similar to Copan but is much bigger and also flat! We enjoyed looking around the artisan markets and on one of the days we did a half day trek up a volcano which was really fantastic. Near the top in the gaps between rocks there is a lot of very hot air so we were able to toast marshmallows which was pretty cool. (Check out my facebook for more pics of Guatemala!)

A wonderful time spent with Mum and really great to show her around the place which has really become home for me over the last 6/7 months.

After Mum left we were pretty much straight back into After School programme which is what I was working in whenever I first arrived. Its really great to see how far I've grown in many aspects since the end of October when we finished up last year. My spanish is vastly better and more importantly relationships with both kids and youth have really developed so praise God for that! Since we've been back in camp I've had the opportunity to visit camp Agape (our other after school programme) which has been a wonderful experience too to learn from Kourtney (the director) and meet the great children there.

Finally, a few weekends ago, the UrbanTrekkers programme did a service project in Nueva Esperanza (where Camp Hope takes place) planting trees as part of a reforestation project. About 12 youth attended the project and we had a great morning all working together and we planted about 160 trees which in about 10 years time will be fully grown. The tree is called 'Flor de Isote' and we learned about all its properties in a presentation given by the owners of the project. Great team work and a lot of fun had!

There are some highlights for you :) I am still really enjoying all I'm getting to do here in Copan and with UPH, I feel like every day is a learning experience in some way or another. Strange to think that there's only a little over a month left to go!

What can you pray for?
- Londin and Tania who are the Camp Hope director and assistant director. Pray that daily they would have the energy, wisdom, patience and many other skills needed to run camp.
- Thanks for continued opportunities to share with the kids and youth about Christ, last week I shared my testimony at youth night
-As I am now in my final month here that I would enjoy it all to the full and God would prepare me for the return home because I am aware adjusting back into life in the UK will be hard at times

January Vacation Camps

Hello!

It seems like forever since I was last writing a post (and it really has been), I feel like the time is running away with me here but am looking forward to telling you what the last month or so has been like here in Copan :)

After an amazing Christmas break, spending time in Texas and Argentina, I was back in Copan just before New Year because we had to start getting ready for January Vacation Camps which meant 4 days of training with the youth leaders, visits to the camp site and preparing classes.

Camp kicked off on the 8th of January and ran every week day until the end of the month. With a few days of it finishing I can say with much confidence that it was a great success and so clear to see how God was working across all the camps. We had 4 camps spread through Copan: Hope (where I was working), Agape, Alabanza and Gracia. With so many camps it meant that we were reaching about 200 kids which is amazing!

In Camp Hope we had a really great team under the leadership of new Camp director Londin. Thanks so much for those who prayed for him because, wow! What an incredible example of humble leadership and a real inspiration to observe working. I think one of my favourite things about Londin is that he has this amazing ability to make every activity sound and be the most fun ever - this was clearly exemplified when he told the kids we were going to go out into the community to collect rubbish as a clean up project. It was like they had got free tickets to Disney Land, amazing!

Crazy campers!

For my part, I was teaching English classes at camp and also helping out in all the other activities. It was definitely a new challenge for me but something that I really enjoyed and learnt a lot from. We were learning a whole variety of basic things such as numbers, colours, animals, body parts etc. The biggest struggle for me sometimes was getting the kids to talk in English because they can be so shy about it - I had to be creative in the ways I taught them but also create a comfortable atmosphere in which they felt they could at least give it a go. 

Apart from my Spanish coming on leaps and bounds I think the biggest thing I learnt over this month was to always keep in mind what the real aim of the camps, and indeed UPH, are. One day of camp some of my classes just didn't go well and I felt pretty disappointed about it. However later that day I was witness to a conversation Blair (our boss) was having with our friend Pastor Fabio. He was explaining the camps to him and telling him that whilst the classes, games etc were fun the whole point of the camp was to give the kids a safe space to be where they can be themselves. A place where they feel valued and ultimately feel the love of Christ through the actions of those leading. After hearing that, trying to make the kids speak amazing English didn't feel very important any more. It was about having a loving attitude and trying to be a light for Christ in the lives of these kids, from then on it became more and more of a joy to be at camp each day and serve! :) 

With camp now finished the next few weeks will be fairly quiet, just in the office getting ready for After School Programme again which starts in March. However I am excited that my Mum is coming to Copan for a visit in less than two weeks time! :D

What to pray for?

- Praise God for such a wonderful month of Vacation Camp - for all the kids, youth, staff that were involved. It was a real team effort but an amazing success!

- Safe travel for my Mum (Sue) as she leaves London on the 13th Feb and arrives in Copan on the 14th

- That I would continue to enjoy and learn from church, my small group and bible study with Roscelyn

Kind of hard to believe that I'm over half way through my time here but excited to see what's still left in store!