Taste and see that the Lord is Good! ~by Stephanie

Hello all!
How I've been longing to come back and attempt to relay the beauty I've experienced here. First, I must mention that I'm not accustomed to going to bed early; my bedroom lights hardly ever get to rest before 2am but here...uh, no one laugh...our bedtime is usually around 8pm unless we're at church than we go to bed as late as 9:30pm-none of us can move after the long days. I'm truly loving all the walking and constant activity that is rather necessary. (my sisters do bug me that twice in one day I chose to stay in the hammock while they walked to the store-I'll never live that down appartently!)
Oh! Sunday, July 6th, was the most amazing, beautiful time. The pastor had asked for us to sing some of the songs, that they knew in Spanish, in English. The result was just perfect; we sang "Come Thou Fount", verse by verse we took turns, English then Spanish. I had heard them singing twice before during the last week and was moved in knowing that my Heavenly Father knows these people as His Beloved children in the same way He knows me. He blesses them, carries them when they are broken, and understands the praise they lift to Him. That night they asked us to use our Bible stories we brought for the children's church the next week; we accepted because it'd be great practice for what we'd like to do on the beach or during the week. Jose, one of the elders, offered to interpret since we aren't fluent enough to tell a good story yet. Sunday morning I walked to church ahead of my family to organize the songs we'd sing with the children; when I entered the church my ears were instantly filled with the voices of those darling, bright-eyed children, many of whom ran to greet me with warm hugs and even warmer smiles! As a perfectionist I see many things that we could've done differently that morning to make the games flow better or the songs more in sync but when I step back I see and understand that in spite of my efforts to do He had already done; I see that God moves hearts, He's the one who opens ears, He has those children in His hands. I'm just a vessel and at this moment God has me here, with my family- and how beautiful that we can work together towards the goal of our Father's Kingdom. I'm thirlled to be in the midst of planning and organizing when we'll be showing the Jesus film; the pastor has watched it but we've not had time to sit down and plan an actual date. My family and I want to schedule in regularly showing the film at the beach in several of the languages available. Pray that we can start this as soon as possible.
During this past week we've been treated twice by our new friend Diana, Jose's wife, from the little kitchen she has on main street; her food is delicious. She let each of us make our own tortilla and then Amanda even made a pastel...or at least I think that's what it was, either way it was good! Papaya milkshakes topped the perfect Saturday only to be trumped by knowing she offered to come after morning serviceson Sunday to teach us in our own kitchen how to make the foods she had served us. So, needless to say our Sunday lunch was the GREATEST! (I would say what we ate but I've forgotten what the 'official' names were...sorry.) During lunch Jose said he'd take us around some of the island before church that night, he asked where we'd like to start. I, knowing many have requested some pictures with a view, requested someplace high; because Pumkin Hill was to far of a walk to start as late as we would we went to the next best thing...the watertower. Yes. We, the Mills family, have journeyed to the top of the Utilan watertower. Jose said to 'follow the leader' so I started to follow him but he stepped behind me saying that I would be the leader...I laughed because naturally I didn't know the way to their watertower but he wasn't joking. (He did end up helping me know where to turn by hand motions everytime I looked back at him.) As my group's official 'leader', I got to the top first for the most glorious sight; I could tell I was on an island now! The ocean surrounded my little plot, Utila...yes, a small island. Pumkin Hill was seen clearly and Jose says that next time we'll go there; I Can't Wait!!! The mountians of Le Cebia call to me; I see them in the distance every time we're at the beach. I'm hoping to go and hike them during our stay. (Our teacher might go with us and be our guide.) Anyway, we did get pictures and will be posting as soon as the computer starts letting us upload again. Our internet signal has dropped; though it could be that the weather has been acting up-we've been warned that a hurricane could be brewing...that would just ice my cake!
Spanish school is picking up a lot, the time we spend doing homework really increased when we entered our second week. My doubts and worries disolve when we're able to go off on bunny trails during class about any random subject in Spanish! I can communicate main ideas and if I desire to say anything in 'past tense', of which we haven't learned yet, I just say pasodo...my teacher just laughs at me. I'm able to understand a handful of lyrics to the songs we sing at church and many words throughout Pastor Julio's messages, mostly due to the fact that Spanish and English are so similiar, but it's been an "eye-opener" to learn a new language and believe after this I'd want to learn another. (the more the merrier! lol, Bonnie and I like German.)
What an adventure this is! I love hearing the swooshing of the street sweepers broom to mark 4am, trying to sleep at least til 6am, waking up simply because the sun is in my eyes, rolling over to see each of my family beside me (we've pushed all three queens together to make one big bed), then stumbling out of bed merely to make my way to the hammock where I'm faithfully brightened by the cool breeze. There isn't any rush since school is just a minutes walk away; I stay in my hammock and just soak it in...it's like pushing 'reset'.
Dear me, 11pm has come...I waited for the computer longer than my eyes really wanted me to. Though I can't go without telling everyone that we're taking piano lessons at the church. Three times this week, I don't know if we'll do it again but it's fun...even when we don't know what our teacher is saying. :):):) Eduardo, Erika's husband, was there to help out...he doesn't know any English but it's so much fun to try and communnicate with what we have.
I'm bad at saying good-bye. so this post is officially over.
Good night my dear family!
Stephanie
-the natural islander