First Day of Class

Just finished my first full day here at the school and things went rather well. It was exhausting with the 5th and 6th graders, but things are getting better. I am perfectly clear in my thoughts on why I never wanted/want to teach elementary or middle school.

But on the other hand, my 11th grade (Senior) class surprized the heck out of me today when I went in there. It was my first class to teach (ever in my life...) and I was a good bit nervous before I went in, but at the same time I was glad to be dealing with older students first. Things went well until I mentioned that I was planning on having them read the whole New Testement during the year. I was prepared to explain to them how short it was and how it will be an easy read, especially since I'm letting them read it in Spanish. But that wasn't their complaint! They complained that they always study the New Testament. I quickly asked them what they would like to learn and they started in listing things. I was pumped! The want to learn about Revelation, the History of the Israelites, ect. Just the fact that they want to learn anything has me more than pumped! I'm excited. I mentioned to them that I would consider having them read through the entire Bible, but that I wasn't ready to drop the New Testament for the Old just yet... and they were cool with that! That deffinitely knocked my socks of!

...So whether the other 11th grade class is as excited about it as they are or not, we're going to have fun and we're going to read the whole thing. I know it's a big bite to chew, but it's really not all that bad. I'm going to keep from giving them any other homework during this time (though I never told them that) and in reality, they are only going to be reading around 38 chapters a week. Of course that sounds like a ton, but it's really not all that much. Divide it by 7 and you have less than 6 a night. Which is extremely light reading when compared to reading some other novel over a month or War and Peace over the course of a year... Not bad at all. Without a doubt, I'm excited. I really am.

In all reality, I'm more excited about Bible than I am about Music. I would love to teach them so much in music, but it's just dissapointing thinking about how much they know right now. And the fact that they're not separated at all into levels of knowlege is even worse. I have pianists right allongside people who can't seem to keep a steady beat or match pitch up a scale. Right now, general knowledge of the Bible seems to be a much more tangible goal than starting a choir.

Henoch (his name is from the Bible-->Enoch), the guy who teaches elementary music here, is all excited about the choir for the Bilengual school competition, and I am too, but he's all ready to bite off a huge 8 part peice (Great is thy Faithfulness) and try to learn it, and the more I get to know the students and the fact that they really can't read music yet... the more I begin to wonder... am I here for Bible or Music? I don't know.

Apparently the Choir can be auditioned, but I still don't know if we'll find many students at all that can read music. I'm also at a loss as to how to make music fun with simply making music isn't quite yet possible! Ugh. I wish they already knew more. I wish I better knew how to break things down. I feel confident that I can teach (i.e. break things down) for students who know more... but I'm still unsure how I'll manage breaking things down so far that even I can't understand the relation of the minute part to the whole. I guess we'll have to see. So much to do...

I hope all is well with my blogging fan base (however minute that may be ;-).

Adios!

Re: guess what I found?

Cmd. Gebhart,

It's good to hear from you too!

I just finished attending a Royal Ranger night, and I am pumped.  I'm really still not sure how much I'll be able to be involved until I better learn the language (which might take a year...), but I'm very excited to be back into Rangers.

They're still under the old system down here, and I'm not talking half old, I'm talking, back with the Pioneers, Straight Arrows and all that stuff.  Pretty cool, if you ask me.  They should be getting into the new (current) program very soon because apparently it has just finished being translated (I'm assuming Jeff Cooper is to thank for that?).  Anyway, I would love to learn whatever you might be able to send me with that CD you were talking about.

Apparently there is a Camporama coming up this October for Honduras around the same time that the Fall "roundup" is happening in AL.  I really hope that I get to go.  I'll be on vacation then and can go with them if they have room or will let me.  I miss it so much!  I can just smell the campfire now...  ah.  (maybe even some $10,000 wood too ;-)

In case you want it, my small post address (for letters and small boxes) is as follows:

   Jason Vawter
   CEAD Christian School
   TGU 000158
   P.O. Box 025387
   Miamia, FL  33102-5387

(There's no need for international postage or anything like that)

It's good hearing from you, and thanks for adding me to the email list!

Yours in Christ,

Jason Scott Vawter

guess what I found?

Hey Cmd. Gebhart and Wild Bill!

Guess what I found Cmd. Gebhart?  Your business card; it was still in my pocket, just waiting for me to email you.  Ha.  I'm so slow sometimes.  :-)

Well, guess what I'm going to be doing tomorrow night?  I'm going to be getting involved with the Royal Ranger outpost here at CEAD Church!  I'm really excited about it because I actually thought I wouldn't be able to be involved until I got a lot more Spanish under my belt so to speak.  I just wanted to write and tell you that because I'm really excited about getting back into Royal Rangers after my four year period of Ranger starvation.  ;-)

Apparently they are still getting ready for the new program down here.  I wish I knew more about it so that I could possible better help them, but I'm sure they are good on their own.  I just want to be as helpful as possible.

Hey Cmd. Jorgensen, could you add me to the email list for the TV Section again?  I'd appreciate it.  And Cmd. Gebhart, I would love to be on the FCF one if there is one.  I just found the TV Sectional website for the first time and think it's really amazing.  Now I really want to go to Farm Day!  (Isn't is a little early this year?)

Yours in Christ and double brotherhood,

Jason Scott Vawter

Plenty of new material!

For my avid fans... many new posts below.  I'm sure there is something you like that awaits you!  ;-D

Yours in Christ,
Jason Scott Vawter

What wonderful food!

God is so good to me!  This trip to Honduras or Job or missions opportunity or whatever you may please to call it, has been just what I have needed.  God has shown me so much grace through this opportunity and He is daily reassuring me of His calling upon my life.

This morning (and many times as of late), I have been focused on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit and what the Bible says about them as apposed to what we humans have said (consciously or otherwise) about them.  So often we are quick in thinking that the Holy Spirit "manifests" itself in certain predictable ways.  Where does this come from?  Where does the "Doctrine of Falling out in the Spirit" come from?  I can assure you that it is nowhere in the Bible!  It is not listed among the gifts of the Spirit or any such place in Acts or any of the epistles.  We make things up.

Please don't get me wrong; I completely affirm that many of these "manifestations" that we have mentally categorized and even canonized in our pentecostal upbringing are from God (or at the very least started that way).  But often times we have so separated the gift of Baptism in the Holy Spirit from it's job and purpose and fulfillment in our lives that we have such a purposeless and meaningless Christianity.  Pastor Cymbala (of the Brooklyn Tabernacle) writes much about this in his book Fresh Power.

First of all, where does this gift come from?  (And by gift, I'm speaking of any manifestation of the Power of the Holy Spirit, whether spoken of specifically in the Bible or otherwise)  Without a doubt it comes from God if it is good and not false!

Secondly, for what purpose is it given?  FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE KINGDOM!!  These gifts are not in anyway for ourselves and our own selfish gain!  How selfish and piously self-righteous of us to say that the very Power of the Kingdom of God is for our own purpose or to make ourselves feel good, and yet have no change in the very character and nature of our church body?   How utterly foolish!

How can we possibly divorce this Power from it's specific, unalterable purpose in the Kingdom of God?  If we are Baptized in the Spirit, where is the fruit of that encounter, that indwelling?  We can rest assured that God's Power is not something that is purposeless.  I submit to you this test when someone claims to have been Baptized in the Spirit or filled with God's Power:  Where is the fruit of that Power?  What is that Power for?  And how can someone have (or exhibit) power without it being for some purpose?

~
This is what I have been begging from God.  I so greatly and desperately want this power!  And God forbid that I should want it for the same reason that many in the American Pentecostal church have wanted it.  God forbid that I want it for the same reason that Simon (the former sorcerer), who was a Christian, wanted this power!  I want it for the very purpose that it was first given out; to expand the Kingdom of God.

I don't have to wonder if there is some gift that God has for me that might help me as I do my best to fight for His Kingdom... I know so!  I know that there is a Power which is real and genuinely supernatural which God does want to give to me.  So many times we want to lesson this Power and say that it is nothing more than the Power of the conviction of sin which all sinners must have before they are brought to Christ.  And for sure, that is a part of this Power; and for sure, that is supremely supernatural.  But what else is there?  Doesn't the very definition of the word "Supernatural" denote something so much deeper and stronger and higher and wider and even more tangible than that?  Love is a very wonderful and Holy thing... but when I look in Webster's dictionary or do my best to study some foreign, Greek term... doesn't the word mean more than that?  Doesn't it have some better significance than a simple encounter?  I have to admit that even the most "simple" encounter with God is most definitely supernatural, but I also am forced to believe that the supernatural doesn't stop there.

And I so desperately want it.  I so desperately long for the fullness of the gifts of the Spirit and all of them!  Not for my own sake, but for the very sake of God Himself!  Isn't it His kingdom that I desire to preach?  Isn't it His Kingdom that I am [hopefully] working so hard for?  If I have something for myself, what good is it?  What possible purpose can it serve?  Only a simple, finite, minute purpose which diminishes to nothing in the grand scheme of eternity.

No!  I refuse to believe that I am worth anything apart from God Himself.  And likewise, there can be nothing in my possession which is of any use or any purpose large or small when it is serving some purpose of my own.  Things are only worthwhile when they are in service to my Lord and Savior.  What other purpose is there?  What else is there to live for?  Nothing!

But at the same time; what wonder and majesty and mystery and bliss there is in the service of Him who calls us!  Oh how beautiful and grand a purpose for which we are made!  How wonderful He is, and how blessed we are to be allowed in His service!

A blessedly clam day (before the storm?)

Yesterday was such a great day!

It was one of those days where it seemed like I got so much done with not too much effort.  I love those type of days!

It started out nice and late; I slept in and for the first time since we've been here, my roommates woke up before me.  They were surprized.  ;-)

After lazing around for a little while, we moved two refrigerators for Mr. Harrison and for the Turners.  All that before lunch.  After a fine, lazy, make-your-own Saturday lunch, we went to the market and down downtown (El Centro).  It was just me and the two guys, so I sort of got to show them around the different things that Carolyn had shown me.  It was a beautiful day and the downtown area is just so beautiful to me anyway (in a dirty, grungy, hidden beauty sort of way).  I loved it.  We also went to the market, like I said, and bought 5 dollars worth of fruits and vegetables which actually should last us for a good while (at least a week or so).  It's really surpizing how cheap things there are.  They also have a little meat market with just about anything you want, but if you want to buy something there, you probably want to get there a little sooner, like Friday when they open up.  That way, the smell of day old carcasas sitting out and dripping blood won't make you want to throw up.  (nice little word picture, don't you think? ;-)  It really is a great experience, though.

We were done with all that and back before 2:30 in the afternoon (or a la tarde for those of you who care).  We sat around at the school appartment for a good while before going back to our house and making supper.  After that we decided we wanted to go out on the town for dessert.  We came back to school to invite Carolyn and Anna to come with us, but we couldn't find Anna.  We went to Baskin-Robins (for the first time in my life) and had some downright great ice-cream.  The only downside was that the price was very similar to the state-side price (expensive) when at the other fast-food chains you can usually get a soft-serve cone for around 25 cents.  And boy does it tast good!  (even if they do make it a little hollow on the inside ;-)

We talked there and had a great time.

Speaking of which, the other night three girls from International School came over to the house and we all had a good time.  Wait, I already wrote about that didn't I?  Yeah, I guess so.

Oh well.  Oh, I forgot, we went to church last night instead of today, so that's why I've got the entire day today off!  I think I'm going to write a little next about some of the things I learned this morning in my devotional time.  God has been so good to me.  My only real other goal for today is to get my lesson plans and syllabi finallized for tomorrow.  (a little late to have them copied and handed out, I know, but oh well...)

To Whom it May Concern

Just so my loyal fans know... the reason I post a letter that I write to someone specific (i.e. my mom or Dr. Thompson) is because I feel that it might have information which others in my gigantic fan base might like to know.  And also because I'd rather not write it all again.  So feel free to comment when you see a letter not written to you... because in reality it is.  ;-)

New Keyboard?

Mom,

Thanks so much... I'm sorry, I didn't get to that sooner.  I tried to fix it myself but it just didn't work out.  I don't know why.

So, I hope the countertops are going to look good.  Have you enjoyed eating out so far?

Me and the guys went to El Centro today and bought some food at the outdoor food market.  We got quite a good bit of stuff (fruits and vegetables) and paid less than 5.  Of course, we had to pay almost that much for transportation there and back, but it's still a pretty good deal for what we got.

Last night Daniel got in touch with a friend from his college that is working at a different school down here and us three guys went out with Erin (his friend), her two roomates, and Anna.  After we had supper, we came back to the appartment and sat around and talked for a while.  The three girls were here last year and had some cool stories.  It was really a lot of fun.  Erin reminded me a lot of Amber Flora-Holmquist from Camp last summer.

I really hope I start learning much more Spanish!  I feel so deprived of knowledge.

So how's my computer doing?  Is it still alive, or has it finally fallen to peices?

The church is actually going to buy a keyboard for the school, which is very nice, but I don't know when it will be bought or what kind it will be.  The way they were talking though, I might be able to spend that $3,400 on something else... who knows?  God is good, and I trust that He's taking care of things.

I hope it all works out.  First day of school is Monday, but it's more like a short open house.  The first real full day is Thursday.  I can't wait to finally be with the students.

I Love you a lot Mom; tell the rest of the family I Love them as well,

Jason Scott Vawter

Scholastic Observations

Dr. T,

That letter was possibly the most patriotic I've ever had. Long live America! ;-)

I've just created a new blog that can be found at http://jasonscottvawter.blogspot.com. Oh how original and creative I can be. :-)

Our lesson plans for this coming week (all two of them) are due tomorrow, so I'm going to try and finish them tonight... we'll see about that. As soon as they are complete I will post them.

As for extra instruments, a thousand things have been floating through my head. There are so many things that I would like to do and so many possibilities. Apparently the bilingual schools have a choral competition every Christmas, which is making me more and more excited as I think about it. Also, though they're aren't many instruments down here, I have been highly thinking about a sort of impromptu rhythm band of sorts. It would be a lot like Stomp and there is so much opportunity for the kids to learn rhythm this way.

The one thing I really need is a piano or nice keyboard for the school.

I was mistaken about one thing before I came, they have had a music teacher here in the past, but they haven't been very active... he taught a work-from-the-book type of class... many people have complained of the ensuing boredom. Also, there is a music teacher here currently for elementary portion of the school. He's Honduran and although he has haltering English, I'm already enjoying working with him.

The church is most likely going to by a simple keyboard for the music classroom here which will be great this semester. Actually... I have, to use at my own discretion, around $3,400 for this very purpose which has been given to the School through donations I did my best to solicit. I am eager to use it, but I want to buy what will serve the school best, and since there aren't very many music stores here (see my blog on this issue :-), I have been told it might be better to fly one back here when I return after the Christmas break. My bags will be light then and I should have room. I'm wishing for a Clavinova type, but who knows what will happen.

Speaking of which, if you know someone who is looking to "upgrade" their electric piano and wouldn't mind selling a nice used one to a fledgling music school in Honduras... we're definitely looking for one! ;-)

Ok... I guess I need to start working on my lesson plans. So much to do!

Yours in Christ,

Jason Scott Vawter

:-p

So much to do, and so little time!

 

Actually, I'm not extremely busy, but busy enough, you know?  Today I almost finished making my wall posters.  I made them in faith that I will be given a room to hang them up in... we'll see.  Actually they're building three classrooms out back and one of them should belong to me, but they have to finish before I can move in :-)

 

I'm getting more and more excited.  I still don't know how much I'll be living on (money) or exactly what grade levels I'll be teaching or my schedule.  I do however know that I'll be teaching Bible, which is fairly exciting.

 

Actually, it's all exciting for me.

 

PS- Was that enough details, Mom?  ;-)

How Quick the Pace!

So, is Barry Childers going to try and join a choir or something? Maybe a club? SINFONIA!!!!! (sorry, that just sort of slipped... :-)

This weekend was a blast. I asked Carolyn Vieth, the Missionary Assistant that's been here for two years already (she's slightly older than you, Mom) to take me to El Centro (the town square) and show me around some more. We had a lot of fun walking around and seeing the different things that there was to see. We actually got stuck in a staircase; it was hilarious! We went in this hotel to see if we could go to the top and look out. Well, first we tried the elevator, but apparently it only worked one floor at a time; how odd. But once we got to the 6th floor (out of 10), it wouldn't take us any higher. We think it was broke or something. Anyway, we got out and looked around at some beautiful carved doors, but there wasn't any windows in the hallway. So instead, we tried one of the staircases. Well, apparently we picked the wrong one! This one only had doornobs going in to the staircase. You couldn't leave it without walking all the way to the bottom! Ha, we laughed about that for a good while.

Carolyn (by the way, you've ruined me mom; it's so hard for me to respect my elders by calling them what they asked to be called instead of inserting an "insulting" Ms. or Mrs. in front of their name. Oh well.)... so Carolyn is such a wonderful lady, and so wize. She reminds me a little of Cmd. Gebhart though; she sure likes to talk, and though both her and Cmd. Gebhart have a thousand extremely exciting and interesting stories their audiences haven't heard, they often don't mind telling the same ones over again if you don't remind them you've "already heard that one." ;-) I love it.

Well, last night, when we got home, she told me a lot about how she got on the mission field and how God has and is using her. She's really becoming quite an inspiration to me.

God may not have me here for a long time, but I know that there are many things that He wants to teach me here. I also know that I am to do my best to learn Spanish (and why not, with all the beautiful young female teachers out there ready to help me? ;-).

Competition
Competition really gets the best of me sometimes; even if it's only imagined competition. I get easily intimidated and quickly want to give up. And at the moment, God has surrounded me with both real life examples and plenty of "friends of a friend" who are quicker and better at picking up and learning the Spanish language and at picking up and understanding musical things as well. And the odd part about it is that these are people who are much more gifted at music than me, but yet God has them doing something else with their life; and these are people apparently much more gifted with Spanish than me, but who may not be using it once they leave at the end of this year. But God has reminded me that it doesn't really matter how much he gifts another person or whether they are going to use those gifts or not; He hasn't left that for me to wonder or exclaim about. He has only shown me what He want's me to do and some of the ways he wants me to use the gifts He has given me.

So much to learn! And how quick He has set the pace! But with His help, I know I can keep up!

Nix on the Road Trip

Nix on.... sort of looks like "Nixon" when it's on paper, doesn't it?

Well, I'm starting to read C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. I didn't know this before I started reading it, but it actually wasn't begun as a book, but rather as a series of candid radio talks straight from Lewis himself. I sure would like to hear those! Wow... anyway, he was asked by BBC to try and explain Chrisitanity in a very simple form. As he says, he wasn't chosen because he was one of the best minds of his time but rather because he was completely unexperienced in deep theology (more or less).

Well, in all honesty, in some odd way, his writing style reminds me a lot of Hugh Grant's lines and humor in Two Week's Notice. It's so funny because of how blatent he makes things and how he talks all the way completely around an issue making the other view point seem so "silly" as Hugh Grant might say. It's really good, and I'm only through with "Book I" which as far as I can surmize is about the first three radio shows. Honestly, it's really good. It's a little long, but I can't wait till he starts talking about Christianity; so far he's just been explaining the meaning of the universe. Pretty ambitious, don't you think?! And yet, he doesn it so well... ahh... :-)

Oh well, if you get a chance, read it. And if you have extra money lying around, buy his space trilogy and give it to me for Christmas... I really think it would be as interesting as all get out (nice little Southern slang there).

By the way, all you advocates of the "Real" South: try Honduras for a while. Talk about a wonderful climate! It's been in the 70's almost the entire time I've been here. A few times it might have reached a blistering 80 degrees, but hey, it's all part of the deal.

Oh and pray for me; it's so tough here, suffering for Jesus with the geccos and iguanas and palm trees and cacti and blue skies and... well, you get the point; it's just tough.

;-D

Road Trip!

Look! A picture of me in Honduras! Don't you just love the wonderful scenery and beautiful greenery?

Things are going very well down here; both classes and lesson plans are starting to fall into place. And with plenty of time to spare! Apparently classes don't fully start until the 29th. Cool. My roomates are planning to use their extra time this weekend to go to the coast. I hope I'm able to go with them!

We'll see. :-D

PS- Plenty of new info below for hungry readers!

Yea for my computer!!!!

Hey Mom!

First of all:  I found this wonderful girl today!  She's so beautiful and wonderful.  She acts with such purity of heart and vividness of soul.  I can't wait to send you a picture of her.  I really want you to have a chance to meet her.  She's so wonderful!  I wish I could better explain her to you.  I don't want to step out on a limb emotionally yet, but I'm seriously asking God about her.

But as to what you said earlier, YES!  I would love my keyboard, and I think it would be almost necessary!  I hope the extra money that has come in would be helpful in shipping it.

I've been asking to use the nice KORG keyboard in the church, but every time I do so, I have to ask the Music Minister, Aldo, to stop whatever he's doing and open the sancuary, turn on the lights upstairs, get a pair of headphones, etc. etc...  It would be horrible to do that every day (sad for both him and me).

I'm so glad to hear that my computer is alive and well!!  The Lord is Good.  I'm hoping that maybe when it comes back working, my palm will work better as well (it's been very slow lately... so much so that I've decided to stop using it for a while).  It's also apparently unwise to carry around something that expensive down here.

I'm wondering if maybe FUMC would think about sending the money they recieved through Central... if they would agree to that, it would make things much easier for me here.  I'm going to email Mr. Harrison and see exactly what the other options are.  I'm so glad that they were so helpful in collecting money for the School here!

If you are able to mail my keyboard and computer in some way other than extremely slow, I think I would like to have that good set of headphones with them, or maybe even both of them (the ones that were on "my" desk in that room which is probably since been swallowed up by some other purpose...).

Thanks so much!  Things here are going very well; apparently it's going to be about two weeks before school starts here!  Things will start getting under way not this Monday, but the next, and the first real day of school will be the following Thursday.  That's plenty of time.  I'm getting a much better idea of what to plan for musically in class as well as in my bible classes.  I'm going to have more middle school classes than high school, but down here there is only "elemenary" and "high" or rather "secondary" schools.  So in their minds, anything above 6th grade is a secondary level.

With all this extra time, Brian and Daniel (my housemates) are thinking about taking a trip to the coast this weekend.  I'm going to have to check the bank account, but I deffinately want to go!  It's so beautiful down here, but I don't know what will be within my small budget.  I actually still don't know what I'm getting paid... :-I

hmm...

I should find that out as soon as possible.  Teaching here is deffinately not about the money (though I'm still getting paid better than many of the other teachers), but it will be important for me to make sure I can manage on whatever I'm given!

PS- As for the girl I was talking about earlier... yeah right.

;-)  she may exist, but I haven't yet met her.

Finally, a real update

Hey Mom,

YEA! for having a working enter key again!

It's so amazing to me that money is still comming in for this!  Wow.  God is so good.  I'm still not sure about what we're going to do as far as a keyboard is concerned.  I would like to totally wait and get something (the right thing) this Christmas, but I'm wondering if I will be able to wait that long.  Apparently there is a sort of choir competition around Christmas time between the local bilengual schools.  This is really exciting and I can't wait to get involved, but I don't know what the rules are or if I will be able to do it without even a small keyboard.  I think I might be able to borrow one from the church or even possibly have music class in the santcuary.  I don't know; I guess we'll find out as this goes along.

So I'm starting to wonder about my laptop... is it alive, or did it finally give up the ghost?

I'll try to get with you later about those people who I still haven't been able to write thank-you's for.

The church is very large, although it has a smaller sancuary.  There are probably more than a thousand people that attend here at CEAD Church during one of the four weekend services they have.  The services are completely in Spanish, but once the usual translater returns from her vaction in the US, there will be regular translation in the 9 o'clock service via little earbuds like our church sometimes gives to the "hearing impaired".  I think it will be pretty cool.  The church does mostly Spanish Hillsong music (from Australia) and the services are so wonderful.  God has really been speaking to me here lately both through personal devotions and also at various special times or "events" that come my way.  I know without a doubt that this is where I'm supposed to be.  Although I think I'm glad for your sake that the international news has been dominated by the middle east as of late... ;-)

We have done some sight seeing as of late, but not too much.  Just stuff in and around Tegucigalpa.  There is a little art village real close here and I'm going to be very sad come December if I don't have some money saved up; there are so many wonderful things that I would like to buy and take back to all my friends and family!

It actually lookes like I'll be teaching more middle school than high school now that I'm here.  As you already know, there isn't a 12th grade because Hondurans graduate after the 11th.  However, apparently the Honduran Department of Ed. doesn't believe it's extremely important for their 10th and 11th graders to have music classes, so I'm only going to be teaching from 5th-9th grades in music.  The rest of my time will be taken up in teaching Bible classes (probably to the upper grades [including 10th and 11th]).  I'm really looking forward to that!

I haven't met many of the student's I'll be teaching at all, but I think I'll possibly have learned a little bit better Spanish by the time I come back.

By the way, I think I've decided that if I had to choose between having a keyboard/piano and having a computer in my life... even with the versatility and necessity of computers these days, I would still choose a piano.  I desperately miss having one around to go sit at and tinkle with!  I'm piano deprived.

PS- Although they probably should, no Honduran really has car insurance.  They look at it as pointless.  And I must say that the mint condition 1997 Speed-the-Light Chevy Trailblazer that the school is letting us drive is quite nice... even with the overprotective and too-eager car alarm!

;-)

Much Love,

Jason Scott Vawter

No enter button

Well, I'd like to start off by saying that having no enter button poses a good-sized problem when typing a multi paragraphical blog.  Having paragraphs breaks long treatices up into more managable pieces, while not having these paragraphs makes even the shortest paper seem quite dawnting.  I also wish I could spell.  Too bad.  >>>>Next subject: Getting in touch with those I love.  Now, if only everyone that I wanted to speak to had a handy-dandy little computer mic and either a program called "Skype" or some instant messanger type program like MSN IM or AIM... the world would be a much better place.  ;-)

Eight easy steps to buying a piano in Tegucigalpa...

When reading, please remember that Tegucigalpa is a large city with more than 1,000,000 people.

 

Number One:   Find a bus driver and ask for help in locating all available stores that might possibly have anything related to music; specifically pianos.

 

Number Two:   At the first tienda (store) notice the lone small keyboard on display and quickly ask to be driven to the next place.

 

Number Three:   Al la segundo tienda, be grateful for the wide array of guitars and sound systems as you walk to the edge of the store to find the keyboards.

 

Number Four:  You see two of worth.  Solomente uno en todo el tienda tiene "weighted keys"; es un Roland, and it's a keyboard so you have to buy a stand and a seat and a pedal and an amp to accomany it.  On el oltra mano (the other hand), there is a rather nice clavanova type Yamaha teclado (keyboard).  However, it doesn't have weighted keys.  Lo siento; you lose.

 

Number Five:   While speaking with the store worker you find out that a while back they sold an upright piano.  All the Hondurans with you seem very surprized; it's very rare for a piano to be sold, much less seen.

 

Number Six:   Find out that the third store is very much like the first.

 

Number Seven:  Find out that the main keyboard for la iglesia de CEAD (the church here) was bought in the US and then flown back into Honduras.

 

Number Eight:  Be satisfied in this, and then decide to wait and do the same thing once you go back to the states in Deciembre.

 

Smile; your eight simple steps in shopping for a piano in Honduras have been completed!

 

;-)

 

Re: Miss You!

Hey Mom!

 

I miss you too.  I hope you don't mind, but I figure whenever I send out an informational type email, rather than explain it all again to someone else, I'm just going to use it on my blog.  Keeps me from writing the same thing too many times... and then I don't have to worry who I've told and who I haven't!

 

The "apartment" that I'm staying at is actually much more like a very nice townhouse than an apartment.  It's in a gated community with 24 hours-a-day guard.  It's very nice.  Most places around here have guards, so I guess it's not as cool as it really seemed to me the first time, but hey,  I can pretend...  Anyway, the guys I'm staying with are great.  They're from Wheaton in Illinois I think and they are both very tall.  Actually, I don't know if I've ever felt this short!

 

The apartment is only a few blocks from school and it's in a very nice neighborhood.  I've heard that we're only a few blocks from the president.

 

CEAD is actually giving us a car to use!  And it's not a sad one at all; it's quite nice.  It's a Chevy Trailblazer and it's only a few years old.  Honestly, it's nicer than any of the cars we've got in our driveway.  It's a Speed-the-Light vehicle of course.  We've already taken a trip in it.  We went to Valle De Angeles yesterday afternoon and it was so beautiful!  Everything is so beautiful here.  PS- don't worry, although I so desperately want to drive, I haven't let anyone else know and have been eager to let one of the other guys drive anytime they wish.  Actually, I haven't driven once yet.

 

The food is wonderful!  I would take plenty of time to explain the way it "dances on the pallate" and frolics with the taste buds, but then again I guess you'll see soon enough when you come down and visit me!  ;-)

 

The flight here was great, although I must say that I was quickly "baptised by fire" so to speak in Spanish and that first couple of days between my complete lack of comprehension and the most intense headache I've ever had ( ever), I was almost ready to give up.  Maybe a little culture shock or something... how about language shock?  I didn't realize how little I knew about anything .  I was quite amazed at how quickly I could be shoved into a world where I was almost completely helpless.  Wow...

 

As for the baggage, I was able to "smuggle" in my extra heavy carry-on.  Actually, once I connected with TACA, they told me it was too heavy and that they would have to check it at the gate, but they didn't charge me.  (hahaha!  I win!)

 

What did I forget and wish I had?  SPANISH!!!!  I so desperately want to learn.  And I'm seriously trying to find a tutor who will spend time with me every week for a few hours and help me and give me lessons.  Carolyn, the lady who has been here two years before this as a science teacher (and a "Missionary Assistant"), has one last year.  Actually, she attended the intense, 7 week version of the A/G language school at Costa Rica, but said it didn't help as much as she would have like because within the month following the language school she was in American and forgot most of what she had learned.  She speaks really well as far as I can tell...

 

Well, I Love you very much and I hope things are going well with you and Dad and Stacey.  Sounds like Stacey is having a blast at FAF.  Tell her I said congratulations!

 

And if you get a chance, please come by and check out my blog.  I've made close to 10 posts without anyone commenting at all.  *sniff* *sniff*  It's lonely in cyberspace without someone to comment...

 

;-)

 

Love,

 

Jason Scott Vawter

An Update and a big Thank You!

Dr. Burns,

 

I was wondering if you might forward this to the rest of the Chancel Choir; I just thought they might like a quick update!

 

I want to thank everyone who helped out the other night so much for all that they did.  God is good and much money was raised!  I'm hoping to go shopping even today to look around at the options for buying a piano or a keyboard here.  I'm personally hoping for an actual piano, but the cost of constant tuning (even if only once or twice a year), may be a little prohibitive.  There is no need for air-conditioning or heating down here because the climate is so mild (it's WONDERFUL).  The day I arived I was astonished to walk outside the airport and have a cool fall-like breeze blow past!  But the point of that is that all the draftiness of not having a more controled climate indoors may keep having an actual piano from being a real possibility.  But even so, with all the donations, I'm sure it will be possible to either by that or a large, well-made keyboard.  I'm very excited!

 

God is so good!

 

During the past three-four days, I've been able to travel around the city for a little bit and acutally sort of get my bearings so to speak and figure out where things are in relationship to other things.  There are so many beautiful places down here!  The city is large, old, and fairly dirty, but there is just so much beauty that it would be almost impossible to miss!

 

There is a small village very close to Tegucigalpa that has many handmade arts and crafts and wood carvings and such that they apparently sell everywhere in Central America, but it's much cheaper there, I'm already planning to spend gobs of money there.  Of course I have to work long enough to earn it first!

 

Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update and an HUGE thank you for all the help that you and the rest of the church gave.  Thanks ever so much!

 

If you get a chance and would like to, come by and see my blog; there will be much more regular updates there.  But don't worry, I'll try to send an email every once in a while.

 

The blog can be found at http://afishymusicmachine.blogspot.com.

 

Thanks again!

-Jason Scott Vawter
 

Alright...

Ok... apparently cyberspace is suddenly devoid of all populations of people anywhere.

 

At least when it comes to this blog.

 

I keep hoping someone might come by and enjoy reading a little bit about my Honduran adventures, but so far (at least since I've been here) barely anyone has come by to comment.

 

:-(

 

How sad.

 

;-)

Anna's here

Well, it took long enough!  We stood at the airport waiting on her for about an hour and 15 minutes, but she finally came out.

 

I don't know what we're going to do about the piano, but I'm going to try and get with the music minister at the church here named Aldo.  We'll see.  Don't know when things are going to happen.

 

See you later!  (much later!)

Well hey, looky there!

It did work after all!

 

Hmm.

Testing!

Testing... testing... Testing, one, two, three.

Ok, so does this even work? I guess we'll see tomorrow morning. If it does, it would make things much easier. Maybe.

Anyway, I think I've figured out what I'm going to do for the first few classes. I think I might be allowed to have class in the sanctuary of the church that's attached to the school here. The only problem is that though the church is attached, it's apparently very separate. I would have to get things okayed on many diffent levels in order for this to work. We'll see.

Anyway, people down here don't use hymnals at all. It's a pain for them because most don't know how to read music (at all) and also the hymnals are very expensive. If a church does have hymnals, it's usually just a collection of the lyrics. Hymnals with the four part music would actually be used by the music minister and pianist and such. Bummer. That's going to make things a bit harder.

Catch phrase of the week: "We'll see."

Do you play the Piano?

Well now, that really depends on who's asking. At Central A/G, I was one of the pianists from time to time before I went to college (and even at times when I would return). The same is true this past year at FUMC, I would play piano sometimes while Luke played beautifully on the guitar. So, I guess if you were someone from one of the churches I attended, I would say, "Yes, I play the piano a little bit." Hey, why not? I've been taking lessons since I was in the 4th grade.

HOWEVER, if you were someone from Lee, I would have to imphatically say no. I'm not really a pianist, and I figured that out as soon as I heard a few of the real pianist, the piano majors that had been playing since they were 5 years old before they were ever in school. So for my entire time at Lee, I rarely (if ever) told anyone that I played the piano. If they asked, I wouldn't feel bad saying that I didn't play or if I was forced to admit it, I would quickly add that I didn't play well and couldn't really read piano music to save my life.


And so it goes with the ever increasingly important question asked here: "Hables Espanol?"

No, no hablo espanol.

Oi mi Cabesa!!!!

Sorry I didn't type more last night, but my head hurt so much! I ended up having the worst headache I've ever had in my life. I was hurting so bad I wanted to cry. Wow was it painful.

But God was good, I went to bed early and got plenty of sleep, and of course, you can't feel a head ache if you're asleep! I woke up early this morning and ate breakfast and then slept some more. I feel really rested now!

My first course of action is to try to get in touch with a guy named Aldo and see what the options are going to be with the piano/keyboard. I'm still not sure yet. So many questions and so little prior knowledge!

Man am I hungry, and it's only 9:36!

I'll have to find something to eat.

Am I finally here?

I guess so!

It sure took a long time! Gosh, before I got here it was like some cyber, ethereal (yeah I know I misspelled that), messed up time vortex that made time keep getting slower. Seriously. The closer I got to Honduras, the slower time went. I thought yesterday (travel day)would never end! But I'm here now and finally!!

Mr. and Mrs. Harrison took me as well as another teacher, who is returning from last year, to Valle de Angeles (Valley of Angels). The teacher (Carol) discribed it as sort of a "Woodstock without the drugs". There were so many beautiful things to buy with the minute amount of money that I had with me.

Speaking of money, we're going to have to see about that. I've got plenty, but apparently, it's easier to use a check here than it is to use Visa. Talk about backwards! Oh well...

Well, stay tuned. I guess. I don't have a lot to write about yet, but I'm sure things will come flowing soon enough.

FUMC Concert

The concert went so much better than I could have expected! The church was so generous in a thousand ways. There was delicious food gallore and wonderful smiles to match. Many people came and so much money was given. I am ever so grateful!

Now... I just wish I were there already!!! And tomorrow evening I will be! Yea!!

Gosh, this waiting part is getting tougher and tougher! (Either that or I'm getting more impatient as time goes by! ;-)

I hope everyone is having a great time!

PS- Thanks to Pam and Richard Ellison, you can now listen to the concert if you weren't able to come (of course you should do so at your own "ear"ful risk... :-) Just click on one of the links below (at least that's what I'm told...)

*Fixed (hopefully), cut and copy the first half of the link below, and then add whichever last half you might like to listen to* Maybe that will work.


http://dav.earthlink.net/lawyerelliston/MegaMail/
d2711d46fd9fee270fdd25c7c2effb7f
3ca81f33199ab7767c11529b40fd8a7c
107b0b368a1a5c2474ef6da75a9792d3
6b1ab6aacb9220ebf88cd54e6815f57f
32bec2ef7d29c0f91170a5000700b131
ee42e770e63db0e51a230fda501b8598
be00b449950fa513c51de20a0101d215
c47175eb79677c16f96434e8a8013539
17fbbd97b92415abc74dd3fd2b18de9a
3b44a85a5ee32fdb42d6efc3046adb20
d4affd65921aace6a61df07a0a3705d5
3bb18c7497d5438314c1cdd0b9253b9a
481db7125af4b40b40c22283c8fbdeca
33376f6ea66a10e7d38d4a57ad28e9ca
5458aa3c38e18bb69f02c772457f0d1a
b9fcbc56925060a6dc1b65aab20968ec
eceaefc8f867dd88cf6cad435fab6262