Update from Honduras

This is a recent email that I sent out! Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!

Hello to all my friends and family!

I pray that this letter finds you well! First of all, please send this to anyone I may have missed. :) What a year it has been so far with so many exciting things to come! As I write this letter, I am sitting in my office between classes. The weather is beautiful outside and the students are at lunch recess. I must say that in hearing about all of the snow in MI, I really miss it, but I cannot complain about sunshine. I've been back for a month already since being home for two wonderful weeks at Christmas. It was great to see so many people, and to those of you who I didn't get the chance to meet with, I look forward to this summer!

For a brief overview of the year:
The first half finished out well. I coached a 7th and 8th grade girls' basketball team, played volleyball on a club team in the city, and spent some weekends teaching English across town in a very impoverished area. My mom was able to come down for a week and see me. We had an amazing time together. She observed my classes, we toured around town a bit, and did a lot of wedding planning. For Thanksgiving I was able to travel with 3 other teachers to Utila, an island off the north coast. It was so beautiful and I went scuba diving for the first time. December went quick with several programs and Christmas parties and then I was home for the holidays. It was such a blessing to be back in MI for two weeks. The time was filled with Christmas parties, family time, games, baking, wedding planning (including finding my dress!), a trip to Chicago to see Adam play basketball and meet up with the Mobergs, and time to relax and rejuvenate before coming back to teach.

So far in 2011, I've been coaching an 11th and 12th grade volleyball team. The girls are so much fun! I've also continued to coach 1st-4th grade soccer on Saturdays. Luke Holtrop (the high school boys PE teacher) and I have been running a clinic since November. Next week is our last week. I am also now teaching out on the soccer field for PE! It's nice to be outside, but during the day it can get very hot and the field is dusty. I've had some extremely dusty and dirty Pre-K kids by the time they were done with PE class! Jared and I have begun marriage counseling over 3-way skype. Please pray for us as we continue to learn through a long distance relationship. Every day I am thankful for technology and the ability to talk to and see people over the internet.

Up and coming... in two weeks we will be having a futbol day where the Pinares soccer teams will play teachers, parents, and alumni outside while the elementary kids get to play inside. Please pray that this can be a great time for community building and fellowship among students, teachers, and parents! The weekend after, I will be going on a teachers' retreat!

Overall, this year has been a blessing. That's not to say that I don't have difficult days being away from those I love, or that the students are perfect, but God is stretching me and challenging me in incredible ways. Life goes in seasons, and this year is a season of growth. God has taught me several lessons...
1. TRUST: This lesson started when I took the job, and continues. The Lord is in control of my life. As much as I try over and over again to run things "Rachel's way," God reminds me that nothing happens outside of his will. (Psalm 37:3-7)
2. JOY: coming back from MI after Christmas was a very difficult time. The Lord taught me (again and again) that my joy comes only from him... not from being with Jared or my family, not from wedding planning, not from Christmas parties and good food, not from teaching a successful lesson... my joy comes from Christ. Circumstances and seasons in life continue to change, but the Lord never fails. (Matthew 5:6, 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1)
3. PEACE/COMFORT: I love planning, love structure, love organizing the week... and sometimes that's impossible. I'm living in a culture where things happen last minute, plans change, events start late, the power goes out unexpectedly, and where planning is based on relationships rather than time. I do not have a cell phone here and it is a blessing to take a step back from our information and stimulation overload culture that says we need things instantly. Everything happens in God's time. When I recognize that he is in control and stress is replaced with flexibility, I will have God's peace and comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)
4. HUMILITY: I believe that humility is one of the most important, yet difficult, character traits that we are called to embrace as followers of Christ. If I humbly come before the Lord and lay down my own plans, I will be able to fully TRUST him. If I humbly seek him to fill me and satisfy my soul rather than pridefully look to my own accomplishments, I will have true JOY. If I let go of the stress and humbly let the Lord work through every situation, I will have PEACE. (Philippians 2:1-11, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31)


Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement while I am in Honduras! As always, feel free to email me, and you can stay updated on my blog: racheldeyoung.blogspot.com.

I would like to leave you with these words from 2 Timothy 4:1-5 (ESV):

"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

As followers of Christ, God has called us all to the same mission: to preach the gospel to the world. Each one of our lives is different, but we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, called to make disciples of all nations, and all peoples everywhere. Christ has saved my life by grace through faith in my Lord Jesus Christ. That is a reason to celebrate! Please pray for me, that I may be bold in sharing this truth with those around me, and I will pray for you to do the same. Share the joy you have in Christ no matter where you are or what season of life you are in.

God bless you all!