I am with you alway...Mat. 28:20

How awesome it is to know that God is with us every moment of everyday. We can call upon Him at anytime and anywhere, and He will supply our need, whatever it is. Yesterday was one of those times. It was PE day, and the 7th and 8th graders had decided that they would go to the playas-beaches. I said beaches are in Tela and Roatan not Macuelizo. Noe, the custodian, and one of the teachers said it was by the river. Well, the river was 1 1/2 hours down the mountain, depending on your speed. Oh my, on the way down, I thought, " Dear Lord, what am I doing here?" There was no road. It was a path no wider than your foot in most places. Wow! Watch your footing. Alex, our bus driver was invited to go along, and bless his heart, he kept his eye on his "teacher". So I had his hand when needed. He comes to my English class when he is able, and we do English going home from school. Of course, he is not use to a lot of walking since he lives in Tegucigalpa. So he was in the hurts, too. Thank God I walk here in Valle. Anyway, we had to step aside to let a couple of pack horses go by. Honduras is such a land of diversity. This mountain was just as tall if not taller than the one in Amapala that I only climbed half way up last year. But on this mountain, you went up, down and around and praised God when you hit a level place. People that live on this mountain don't have cars and trucks, since there are no roads. So they travel by horse or foot. Oh, my, it makes me tired just to think about walking there again. Well, we finally made it there. Well, the river had hardly any water in it since we are in the dry season, but there was the swimming hole. And it was a swimming hole, just like the one my kids use to use when they were kids, only this one was a little bigger. The kids had a great time. So they had maybe 30 or 40 minutes to play and then back up the mountain. Well, the footing going up was easier than coming down, but the uphill climb was tough. Alex went ahead with some of the kids because he had to get back to take the first busload of kids home. Well, there were 4 kids that were behind me and they were having a hard time. Hearts were pounding. I told them we sit down, rest, catch our breaths, and go again for a space. We probably started doing this half way up. I said, Jesus ayudame-help me. Sure enough, He put one hand on my chest and the other on my back and said breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out...My mind needed to be on something else other than the top of the mountain which seemed to be moving farther away all the time. Then the song, one more river to cross, one more mountain to climb, one more valley that I gotta go through leaving my troubles behind...I'm going through with Jesus hallelujah...came to mind. So my spirit was singing. I haven't thought of that song in years! A couple of times I told Alejandra, the other teacher, just send a helicopter!! Wouldn't that have been the cat's meow? Dumb gringa!!!! Well, we finally made it. Praise God. But Alex, me, and Alejandra said never again. A couple of times when I thought I can't do this, I thought if my life was at stake I'd do it. So on I went. But I was glad to see the road. There was time to walk to cool down before we reached the school and to get the heart rate back to normal. What an experience.

A land of diversity. In the big cities, you find all the technology that you find in the states. In the country, depending on the area, there aren't even roads let alone technology. But most have cell phones, but maybe not the fancy ones. I'm so glad I had such a diverse childhood. At Grandma's, there was no inside bathroom. She did have running water in the sink and a water heater. However, I have lived in houses where there was no running water. There was a pump outside and maybe a hand pump in the kitchen. I have had to wash clothes by hand , but I'm thankful I don't have to do that now. Most women in Valle wash their clothes by hand. It's quite amazing what you get use to and what you can do without if you have to. There was one wider place on the mountain that had a couple of barrels sitting there. Sticking out of the mountain was a small black hose with water going into the barrels. It was not a fast stream at all. On the way back there were some ladies there. One was bathing her baby of several months, and I don't remember seeing what the others were doing. I was too busy just trying to move onward. But I do remember the looks on their faces when they saw this gringa. What a surprise. Well, the legs are beginning to talk to me!! I was wondering when the soreness would appear. I think its on its way!!

So today there will be a team living here on the property for a week. They will be working at the school. I'm so glad and hopeful that it will all be finished this week. What a blessing for the kids to have a place to play soccer, etc.

So today I'm thankful to the Lord for my health and His continued care, even when I may not be using common sense. But something has taken place in my spirit that wasn't there before the climb. Thank you Jesus.