My mother told me my last couple of blog posts have been weird. Sorry about that Mom. Here's hoping this one is a little less weird and more appropriately newsy and normal.
We graduated our third class last Thursday. Here we are!
We started out with 14 and got 9 graduates which has been fairly consistent with our past workshop statistics. They were really a great (and rowdy) group and my Spanish-speaking abilities were definitely challenged in new and exciting ways as I was forced to discuss things like the spirthoodom of entrepreneurship and justifying the break-even point of budgeting. Fun.
One particular experience I cherish and which may have left me a bit teary-eyed was during the final presentations of the business plans when Hna. M (who makes the most fabulous donuts) presented her repostreria prospects with fabulous confidence and finesse. During the first class of our workshop we ask all our participants to write down three accomplishments they are proud of and then identify abilities that allowed them to, or that they learned by accomplishing said accomplishment. We then use these abilities/achievements to write Power Statements that they can use for their Management Summaries i.e. I am creative. When working as an office assistant I re-designed the scholarship ad-campaign creating 25% increase in scholarship meeting attendance. This has proven to be a difficult activity in that a lot of our participants don't feel that they have sufficient accomplishments to create a meaningful Power Statement although they do. I used Hna. M as an example during our first class a couple of weeks ago, trying to show how her accomplishment (sending/financing her daughter's way through college) was a very significant achievement which showed Hna. M's perseverance, determination, and resourcefulness all which will help her immensely as she establishes her own business. So, during her final presentation Hna. M referenced my example saying something along the lines of how she now knows she has abilities necessary to succeed. And she will. And I love that I get to teach such incredible people.
On Saturday, J. & I gave blood at the blood drive sponsored by our very own Iglesia SUD. On Friday we were eating lunch at a Chinese restaurante with Hnos V & M and the almost-return-missionaries taking the Career Workshop and Hno. V came on the news promoting the Tegucigalpa-wide blood drive. I was deeply impressed with Hno. V's cameo appearance and have now started referring to him as el famoso which he has chuckled at a couple of times but I should probably drop before his patience wears thin. Anyway, Hno (and Hna!) V. took us to two different chapels where we filmed the intricate workings of blood drives a la SUD, chatted up some very enthusiastic senior-missionary couples who'd gotten to Tegucigalpa the day before, and where my blood was first refused in the Kennedy chapel and accepted in the other. I was pretty excited to give blood for the FIRST TIME EVER and I didn't even faint or nothing. It was awesome and I felt warm and full of service. Plus I got a free lunch box that says Honduran Red Cross on it. Ah ha!
I get really excited when people want my blood.
Hno. V himself.
I got to eat crackers so I wouldn't desmayar.
On Sunday J. and I performed our acapella musical number to rave reviews, or rather to a non-horrified, yet non-plussed congregation. Eh.
Today, we started teaching our fourth taller consisting of 24 lovely participants. This was an exciting and rather large-number of participants for us and we are pleased because we worked our butts off last week doing all sorts of promotion (calling all the bishops and stake-presidents in the greater Tegucigalpa area, making flyers, pestering people to hand out our flyers, etc) and it's always fun to get results. They are a good group and I'm excited to see their progress these next two weeks. Also, teaching is fun. And super challenging, and is forever keeping me on my toes.
I hope this was normal enough for you Mom.
Lots o'love
--K.
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