I was born in raised in the farm state of Iowa. I probably wouldn't make a good farmer but I did well in school and traveled all the way out to Virginia to go to college. For some 8 years of my life I have been a runner, although this is difficult to keep up in Honduras. I always like learning a different language and culture, but I haven't studied languages other than Spanish. During college I spent a semester in Spain, which was my exposure to living abroad. I enjoy linguistics and biblical theology, which I would like to study hoping to go into ministry or some other capacity serving the church. I am living in Honduras for three years with Mennonite Central Committee, a Christian relief and development organization. It is hard to articulate while I am here. I can't say that my life's calling is to teach kids about computers. Perhaps I am here to serve, but it would be arrogant to think that is the only, or real, reason. My learning here seems to satisfy an inner need to understand what the world is like outside my growing-up experiences, and I won't regret the relationships I am forming here.

Random Information:

MCC address (letters and cards but not packages):

Comité Central Menonita

Apartado 2720

San Pedro Sula, Honduras, C.A.

Address: uh... don't really have one.

Coordinates of MCC Office: (according to Google Earth) 15º30'19" N, 88º01'13 W

Coordinates of my neighborhood: 15º28'30" N, 88º56' W

Birthday: January 17, 1984

Pronunciation of name in English: "quéil-b" /kheil*b/ (where * should be schwa)

Pronunciation of name in Spanish:

/kaléB/ where B can be [b], [p], or a fricative b, but it is usually confused with /kaléD/ where D can be [d], [t], or [ð] (th sound), at least according standard Spanish fonetics. Alternative pronunciation: /kalé/

Best time in a 5 kilometer race: 17:07 minutes

Longest distance run continuously: some 15 miles, I think.

Longest distance biked in one day: 95 miles -ish (the only time I have ever biked over 30 miles)

Longest time spent continuously driving, excepting 2 stops for gas/bathroom: 16 hours (usually 15 for that trip, simply got of course at some point)

Education: Eastern Mennonite University, majoring in Spanish and Mathematics (strategically chosen in order to obtain the highest paying jobs)

Listening to (what's commonly playing):

La niña de mis ojos, Daniel Calvetti

Al Taller del Maestro Vengo, Alex Campos

Some of my reading:

Religious No More, Mark D. Baker

El Alquimista, Paulo Coelho

Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond

The Brothers Karamozov, Fyodor Dostoevsky

Stop Going to Church, and Be the Church, John Alexander

The Globalizers (Los globalizadores), Jeffrey Jackson

Economics for Prophets, Walter Owensby

The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

Favorite books:

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis

The Brothers Karamozov, Fyodor Dostoevsky

Top Ways to tell I'm not Honduran:

• My hair is not greased back with copious amounts of gel
• Skin color and hair color tend to give it away.
• Blue-green eyes are uncommon in Honduras, although the people from Santa Barbara...
• The wear marks on my pants are actually that and I didn't buy them with holes.
• My pants aren't skintight at the butt and flared at the ankles.