Training in Miami, Florida

On Thursday, May 21st, I flew to Miami, Florida for training/orientation to teach at Holy Family Bilingual school. Wow, I was so nervous on the flight down. I knew that the next few days would explain what the next year of my life would look like. I was praying that everything would go well and that I would be eager to head down to Honduras in August.
I checked into my hotel room and saw several back-packs scattered around but no people. I wandered around a bit and found a redheaded smiley girl reading on the balcony of the hotel. When she saw me peeking through the curtains she quickly got up and introduced herself to me with a huge smile. Her name is Emily Hanna and she is from just outside of Chicago. She graduated from Calvin College in Grand Rapids last year. Small world huh? We hit it off right away with lots of things to talk about. Then we met our other roommate for the weekend, her name is Kyndall Parker. She is from California. The three of us spent an hour just chatting and getting to know each other. At two we met three board members of OLRM. Diana Frade, the director of OLRM, is very fun. She has a great vision for all of her programs and has made a huge organization out of what started as a small home for girls. I spoke often with Beverly Addison the administrative assistant for OLRM on the phone while applying to participate in this adventure. She works in Virginia and is also very fun. She has a lot of experience in the missions field and has been very helpful. And the last, but certainly not least, is Jim Ellis. He is a retired pilot who now works as OLRM own personal air delivery service. It seems to me that he has also become the volunteer advocate for OLRM. He is very kind hearted and concerned that we have an enjoyable, inspiring, and educational experience at OLRM.
I spent most of my weekend, when not in training with the board members with Emily.
We have a lot in common and it was so wonderful to speak with her openly about our faith. I am very eager to get to know her even more over the next year. Although I have spent a semester abroad before, it is very relieving to know that I will have connections there before I even leave the United States. I think having connected with people before leaving is really going to help when the culture shock sets in.
Needless to say, I left Miami feeling very excited about my next year. I know that there will still be some hard things during my adjustment, but to be eager and not afraid is a huge blessing.
Stay tuned for more!
God Bless,
Hannah