nica: where amazing happens

So today was an interesting day. The day started off with Mo's favorite breakfast, the oatmeal brownie thing. After breakfast the team made 200 sandwiches to give out to the kids at the special needs school. After they made the sandwiches they hoped onto the bus to go. Josh, Stuart, Mark, Payo, and I were off to the work site to try and get some more work done. While we were at the site for the morning, the rest of the team had an eventful day of vbs at the school, hospital visit, and a trip to a coffee plantation.

Mo came to the work site after lunch and brought us all some of the teams lunch, which was a TON better than 0ur turkey sandwiches. Mo jumped right into work cutting the blocks in half with the power saw. We got some of the local boys to carry the huge boulders for us which was a big help. Of course no Nica day would be complete without rain, and it conveniently started after we had knocked down the roof from the old house. So while everyone else was putting up a tarp to keep the ground dry, I got designated to hold all the electronics and stay dry. So i played rock paper scissors with a couple of the kids, counting my boy Eli. Finally we all piled into the truck, with me and Josh in the back and headed home.

We got back and everyone had already eaten the delicious dinner of lemon chicken. Spencer forced them to stop waiting for us and finally eat. Dinner was great like always. After dinner we prepared for tomorrow and now we are all just hanging out.

Much love,
Chris

So today started like any other day with a team, around 7 with a delicious breakfast, soon after that some of the people from the team started to make sandwiches for the children that they did vbs for. After that we left to go to San Jose to continue working on the house. Me, Morgan, and Chris all rode in the truck, Morgan and Chris rode Nica style in the back, while i rode in the cab with Raf, Don Omar, and Pallito.
Once we got there it was straight to work. Me, Raf, and 2 of the men from the team (Stuart and Mark) got to work placing the blocks for the walls, which was exhausting. The rest of the high school team was busy doing VBS with the kids of the community, apparently they did it for over 100 kids which is awesome. We laid the first row of blocks on 2 sides of the house before it was time to break for lunch, which wasnt bad since it was most of ours first time laying those 110 pounds rocks.
When it was time to break for lunch it was my favorite, pollo de galletas (Cookie Chicken). It was delicious, I had like 8 pieces (so good). After we ate it was right back to work. when we got back to the work site the rest of the team was done with vbs, so they all pitched in and helped, either making, volcanos for concrete, making rebar, or moving those rocks around. The afternoon was a little more productive than the morning we got another 2 rows put on top of the first one that we did. So its coming along.
When it was time to leave we all got back in the bus and headed back to the team house. When we got there they had dinner ready for us which was a delicious spaghetti, which is one of Spence's favorites, one of his many. But after that we all played some card games and just hung out. Its completely different when a team is here, but its cool to see how they all interact with each other.
Well it is getting late and I am pretty tired, and I have another day of work tomorrow. So im off to bed.

Love you all
BIG

Easiest way to use a wheelbarrow: Have someone push your butt.

Yep. You guessed it! I've had a permanent smile smeared on my face for the past 26 hours since Mom has been with us. There's something about having Mama around that just makes everything joyful. :)
Surprisingly, after not going to bed until almost 1 AM Nica time, 3 AM Atlanta time, the majority of the Snellville team was up and running by 6 AM this morning. I was getting asked questions from my bed since I didn't expect the first person to be up until 7. Mo and I were both laughing at breakfast about being questioned while still cleaning off the drool from your pillow. I told Big it'd be a long week if everyone kept waking up before six every morning. Ha, but they were just so excited and ready to go! They left the team house a little after 8, and Mo, Mom, and I left for school at about 9 AM. We got to leave a little later since they were having, you guessed it, another celebration at school this morning. Today is "Day of the Teacher" so they had a special act at the school today and a holiday tomorrow for the teachers. Mom's word of the day has been overwhelmed, but I think she really enjoyed being able to relate to the teachers we help everyday. Come to find out, one of the teachers we help has been teaching for the exact same number of years as Mom. We all got a kick out of that. Mo sang beautifully this morning and really pulled at everyone's heartstrings. The chorus of that song is so sweet and Mo did an amazing job. I made sure to get it filmed on her new camera (thanks Babs!).
The three of us rode back with lunch to San Jose to find a hungry Snellville team. A few of the men in the group had been helping with construction in the morning, while most of the team had been going house to house praying for people and just getting to know them. I hear Chris was a great tour guide, and Big was doing what Big does best: carrying heavy objects. After lunch, we went back to work hauling the big cement blocks to the house. This is no easy task in general, but add water weight to a 100 pound block, slippery mud, long distances, and some steep inclines, and you have yourself an obstacle course. Mo and Mom quickly created a team of pushing the cement blocks in the wheelbarrow, while I attempted at catching up with Raf and Big's impressive accolade of who could carry the most blocks. We worked all day in the mud hauling cement, blocks, and sand, while also taking the time to get to know the family and the people in the community. Such an incredible day!
Tonight we came back to have another warm meal and warm showers to clean off all of the mud. Mom got to meet all of the neighborhood boys, as they know the schedule of when teams are coming in almost better than I do. We played some UNO, as usual, and enjoyed laughing in each other's company. Love having Snellville here because it always seems to me that the presence of the Father is so real and evident. We all had some time with the Father tonight after devotions just enjoying some authentic worship. So needless to say, the fireflies in the garden tonight were countless.
Well, the house is quiet and I'm tired and ready to hit the hay. Love you all so much,
sb

Big's Day Out- Finding the missing cord.

So I'm writing this blog the morning after the day I'm about to tell because we got in super late last night with the SNELLVILLE TEAM! Everyone's here at the team house safely. Currently they're doing their team devotion and I'm getting ready to head to the school. Yesterday was a fun day. We all got up and had breakfast together around the table. We set off for church with all eight of us. One of the neighborhood boys came with us. We were all really excited to have him come! I sang with the praise team the song "Hosanna" except obviously translated into spanish. I love singing with them. They also asked if I could go with them to a youth conference in another city in late July to sing with their band. I'm pumped! After church we rushed home and had a great lunch that Lesbia had made. We hung around with all the kids and played Uno, ran around (Spenc),and chilled with the fam until time to go to Managua to pick up the team. We had to stop at PriceMart for Big to get an AppleSnack cake thingy...4 to make sure there was enough to go around. Ay! We ate at Pizza Hut waiting for the team and they finally arrived around 8:30. We got back to the team house a little before midnight and everyone was a mixture of exhausted and wired with excitement. Everyone settled down after awhile and now everyone's up and going again. I better go, we have to get to school. Today I'm singing for fiesta so I best go and practice a bit first.

Love y'all, prayers always,

M.

Hey Alex what's the score?

Today we woke up and ate breakfast.. just like we do everyday. Once Payo got to the team house we loaded up the truck for another adventure in San Jose. Once we got there it was back to work. I started back making the little connector re-bar pieces.. Manuel must have been impressed by my skills the day before because he requested that I do them again. We all started making the rebar when the rain started to come. This time we came prepared with a tarp to hang up to keep the rain out of the construction area. We continued to work the morning doing the same one re-bar section. We have all become experts at the art of re-barring. We then had lunch.

After lunch we tried to find out the score of the US game but the power was out in San Jose. After Manuel told us the score was US 1- Cuba 0 we decided to call someone. So we called our favorite translator, Alex, to get the score update. So we continued to work while trying to get score updates. We would literally call Alex like every 3 or 4 minutes and every time he would never be ready to give the score.. You think he would have learned. It was hard to get much done today due to the rain but we made the best of it and got 2 re-bars done. All of the re-bar for the house is pretty much done and the trench is coming along good. Hopefully tomorrow they can lay down the cement flooring.

Once we got back to the team house we all changed and showered and Spencer and me went out to play with the kids. They were playing a new game neither of us had seen before. They were playing them with spinning tops, the tops are apparently a big hit down here. We then at dinner which was steak, rice, and potatoes... It was great just like every other meal here. After dinner we all went and played uno with the boys from the neighborhood.

Now we are just hanging out. A couple of the grandkids are hear making a ruckus. It is great to hear the joy though. We are about to play spades on our last night without a team. High school team if any of you are reading this be safe flying tomorrow and we will see you tomorrow night.

Love to all,
Chris

Nica Style

So today I woke up and felt fine which was a nice surprise as compared to the last 2. So we all got up and ate a delicious breakfast of french toast. Yum Yum. After that was done we waited for Raf to show up so that we could head to San Jose to continue working on the house. Well Raf showed up but he told us that he had to head into Managua for a meeting instead of going to San Jose. So he and Don Omar went down to the park to see if they could find anybody that would be able to take up to san jose. And along came Julio he was a nice guy and we were grateful that he was willing to drive us out there. Me, Spence, Mo, and Chris all got in the back of the truck and rode "NICA style". It was awesome.
When we got to San Jose Manuel and his helpers were already at work on the foundation. But when we got there we immediately jumped into the action, Chris got busy bending metal into squares for the rebar, and me, Spence, Mo, and Don Omar got to work on tying the rebar. My fingers are so sore from tying all those little wires. Well we did that until it was time to go to lunch, which was ham sandwiches at the church. When we got back we picked up right where we had left off. Tying wire around rebar. Thats pretty much what we did all day.
In between the rebars, while we waited for manuel we all got to take a break and relax for like 5 minutes. While I was waiting one time, 2 of the little kids that live in the same area as the house we are building came out and started to play. They couldnt have been more than 3, and they would say something to one another in spanish which i couldnt understand, then they would just laugh and smile. It was impossible not to laugh and smile along with them. It made my day. But then it was back to work. Overall we did 5 of the square things of rebar through out the day. The owners of the house and Manuel and his helpers got to work digging the trench for the foundation and they started laying the foundation. So it was a productive day
As we were finishing up the last of the rebars for the day, the rains came. It poured, there were times where I couldnt hear someone talking right in front of me it was so loud. But the whole time we stood under the tin roof, the only thing that was going through my head was the trip back to Matagalpa in the back of Julio's truck. Luckily it let up a little when it came time for us to head back. But we all jumped in the back of the truck, it was Spence, Mo, and Don Omar on the front, Chris was behind Mo using her as a shield it was pretty funny, and I was standing in the back Needless to say we were all soaked by the time that we got back to the team house. But it was still fun. Its yet another one of the great experience that I have had here. Its awesome.
When we got back, Dona Fide had dinner ready for us. Which was omelets which were delicious. Afterwards we played some spades which was fun, then Raf came back from Managua and we helped him unload the supplies for the next 3 weeks. But now everything is starting to wind down. Probably going to be going to bed pretty soon, got another busy day tomorrow.

Love you all
BIG

Didn't you say you like chocolate?

Mmhmm. Nothing like being a little worn out from a long day of work! Of course, it would be getting hotter here as our days of construction begin. But I'm okay with that since rain in the next few days may throw a kink into building the foundation of the house at San Jose.
I started off this morning without a run, which was nice being able to sleep in a little bit. After breakfast, we realized that Big was still a little under the weather, so he decided to stay behind and start some medicine to try to beat the sickness. We got to San Jose relatively early and immediately started helping with the destruction of the house. Yes you guessed it, we had a ball! Ha, we had to be careful that with every board we took out, all of the nails were out. We didn't want a repeat of Raf's finger almost falling off. When we started to move their wood pile, the roaches started coming out of the woodwork, literally. Raf and Chris scream like little girls when it comes to cockroaches for anyone wondering. After we had most of the walls taken apart, I looked down and saw a little head sticking out of a hole. I pointed it out to Raf, and with the crowbar in his hand, he started going at the hole. He had little faith at first, but before you knew it, we had little mice running around. Come to find out, we'd come on a nest! We had about ten mice running around when it was all said and done. Don't worry, I got to dissect one. Crazy to think that the dirt floor underneath where their beds were, there was another family, but of rodents. Good thing with their new house, they'll have cement floors!
I naturally had to take a break after too much work, and I walked with some of the boys to the river. When we got there, they said they were going for a swim and for me to strip down to my calzoncillos/underwear. I respectfully declined saying that I wasn't wearing any underwear. Ha, they sure did get a kick out of that! We came back for a lunch of sandwiches at the truck, and then Mo and I went with a couple of the San Jose boys to finish the census. Elizandro promised us that there were only 8 houses left, so we started off. Right when we finished, Mo and I both got pulled to different directions of places where we had missed houses. By this time, the whole community had heard of the census and the new project we started, so everyone wants to make sure they're counted. Mo got pulled off to do about 4 more houses and I went and checked the blood sugar of the lady who came to the clinic a couple of weeks ago. Her blood sugar spiked again today, so I'm hoping we can find something to help her out.
While Mo and I were "censusing" Raf and Chris and Don Omar were working on the rebar. Mo and I came and helped for the last hour or so, and then we headed back to Matagalpa. The boys were waiting on the front porch when I got there, so we started playing hand ball and then UNO when we had a quick rain shower. After an early dinner, Chris and I played "El mono en el medio" with the boys outside. One of Doña Fide's friend's, Tania, came by tonight to get some clean water from the house. She comes by every few days to get clean water, since she lives right up the street and her only access to water is from a dirty creek. So tonight, I helped her get the water back to her house. Little did I know it was quite a hike uphill to her house. But her family was so welcoming and they made sure to show me the BEST view I've ever seen of the city of Matagalpa. It was beautiful! Love the culture here of being so open to get to know people, and genuinely wanting to spend time with them. Tania said she wanted to meet my family, so Mom, get ready!
Well I love you all and I'm headed to bed. Chris and Big are already snoring, ha. Love yall,
sb

A little bit of San Jose and La Amistad!

Passing out the boots!

Mo and Elizandro. Yeah, he's sporting a new set of kicks.

One of our students, Rafael, dancing with our teacher, Yadira, at the Father's Day Celebration.

Mo with the little girl whose house we're building.

SUMC! Get ready because you'll be seeing a lot of this when you get here. Where we are standing, there will be a new house in just over a week.

Psychoanal

My regrets again for missing my day of blogging. With Chris and Big down here and me not writing on here every other day, I forget!
Today was a colorful day though, as every day here is. Spenc and I went to the school with Soda and brownies for Dia del Padre this morning. Yes, another program/fiesta. It went well apart from there only being a few dads that came. A lot of the dads had to work and couldn't come, but the parties at the school are always fun. There's always students who dance and others who memorize poems. One of the girls came running up to me and was trying to give me a hot hot glue gun the teachers had been using to decorate but I got a pretty little burn on my arm because I couldn't turn fast enough to get it from her. She gave it to me after I jumped up from being burned and looked at me and said, umm it's hot. ha, you don't say. Ha, I couldn't even get mad, I just laughed.
After school we came home for a nice lunch! Big's a little under the weather, but hopefully by tomorrow he'll be back to 100%. But for today, he stayed home to rest and the rest of us went to San Jose to finish the census. Our "guides"/some boys from the community told us we only had 10 houses left to do but after we'd done 14 and they said we still had like 5 more, we called it a day. Spenc and I are going to finish it up tomorrow morning. But we're getting really excited because we have our first family that we're building the house for and today we went and mapped out how we're going to build and where and all that! Tomorrow we're going to be working on starting the Re-bar. :)
We got home from San Jose and of course the boys from the hood were out so Spenc went out to play with them and everyone kinda chilled before dinner. After dinner I left to go practice with the band at church to sing on Sunday. I love hanging out with them. They're awesome. Spenc and Chris came to fetch me around 9:30 and now I'm about to fall asleep.

We can't wait for the first Snellville team to come! We're getting ready for you all and praying for you. God bless!

M.

It's all in the hips

This morning Josh and I went with Morgan and Spencer to the school that they help out at because Raf had a meeting in Managua the night before that ran late and he had to spend the night in Managua. It was an interesting experience to say the least. I was pretty excited to see how the schools here are set up since I want to be a teacher, even if the school wasn't a normal school. The first class we went to the kids were really nice. Spencer told us that there weren't as many kids there because the buses weren't running due to the rain from the night before. The kids were very well behaved and I even recognized a few from when we visited the year before. We just sat around and helped kids make puzzles and complete sentences that the teacher had made for them to complete. During the class a few of the other special needs students came in to sell bread that they had made. Mo bought a piece and shared it with us. It was very good. One of the boys was all dressed up with an apron and a chefs hat on. After that I went with Morgan to the other class, second grade, that they help out with while Josh and Spence stayed with third grade. The classes were night and day. The second grade class the kids were louder and more rowdy. I spent more time stopping kids from hitting each other than helping them color or finish other work. We spent probably 20 minutes if that in there before it was recess. At recess Josh and I were introduced to the principal of the school. He was really nice. We watched the end of the Chile/ Switzerland game in his office. After recess all four of us went into the second grade class. I think having all 4 of us there riled them even more up. We played bingo and musical chairs with them and then it was time for us to leave. I respect Spencer and Mo so much for what they have to go through helping out those kids and still loving it every day.

After lunch Raf came over and we organized all the boots to take to San Jose into bags. We then went to exchanged a few boots for different sizes and then off we went. On the way we had to stop and pick up some bags of cement for Manuel and Big learned the true art of making the rope to hold things down tight. We told him it was in the hips but he wouldn't listen... Once we got to San Jose we found out that bringing the boots was worthless because the kids didn't have school today or the next day. So Wednesday we will hand them out. We did some scouting out for the upcoming construction sites and then went over to the lady with the high blood pressures house to check up on her. When we were leaving Mo drove the truck out of the community. She did good driving the stick and stalled out only once. Big then drove a little bit more before he handed it back over to Raf. We went to Batidos like always and got some drinks.

Once we got back to the house we all started to relax and Mo and Spencer gave big and me our first Spanish lesson of the trip. They are really going out of their way along with Don Omar and Dona Fide to help us learn Spanish, which I'm so glad they are. For me I'm understanding a lot of what people are saying but when it comes time to talk I freeze up. Hopefully with the help of all the "teachers" I will be able to speak a little more fluently before I leave.

Well that is all I have for now. I hope everyone is doing great. Anyone on the high school team reading this we are looking forward to y'all coming.
Love,
Chris

Sunday... A day of rest

As yall probably read from Spence's post yesterday was a busy day, so we were all very excited that today was going to be a relaxing day. It started off at around 8 which is a welcome change from the usual 645, who would have thought that an hour would make a difference. But we all got up and ate breakfast then got ready to go to church. I ended staying back at the house cause I wasnt feeling good, while the others went to raf's church. They all said that it was really cool, but when they got back i was feeling as good as new, I just needed to sleep it off.
But when they got back to the house Raf and his family came over and we had a big lunch that Dona Fide, and Lesbia cooked, it was delicious. After we had eaten, me, chris, raf, and spence went in to catch some of the world cup game. It was brazil vs Ivory Coast. But after that we all just chilled around here for the afternoon. Mo sang at the night service at first baptist so she had to be there at 3 while me, chris, and spence all went with Dona Fide, and Don Omar at 5. It was cool to get to see Morgan sing at the service.
After church we came back to the house and had a dinner of grilled cheese it was good. Then I went and called my dad to wish him a happy fathers day. So overall it has been a relaxing day, one which all the interns needed. Well thats pretty much all I have for now.

Love you all
Big

p.s. happy fathers day to all the dads reading this

You can ask questions, but I may not answer...

Nonstop. Definition of today. Ha. Morning started early for me as I've now started running at a late 6 AM every morning. Love it because it really gets my energy going for the day. Goal is that all five of us are going to start running on Monday! Should be exciting and some good stories to come. After bfast and starting some laundry this morning, we packed up the truck with boots and headed to San Jose. First we stopped by a pharmacy and Chris and I went in to get more lancets for a blood sugar meter. A lady in San Jose that came by and saw Dr. Weaver and I last week, has really high blood sugar and she needs surgery, so we're trying to help her get her sugar level down. So we attempted to get her to use the blood sugar tester/meter everyday, but we'll see if she really does. Today I checked her sugar and it was over 300, so she has to bring it down a lot to have surgery.
After visiting her house, we continued with the census. Elizandro and Selvin helped navigate us through the houses, and we ended up visiting over 14 houses in just a few hours! We probably have one more day of hard work left there to finish up all of the houses. I got to visit Alvaro's house today! He lives on a small property with 5 other houses because his whole extended family lives in one place. He made sure that I knew which house was his out of the five before we left. Their property is right beside a beautiful waterfall which was really neat. And for those spanish nerds out there, Mo and I learned a new word for waterfall today! Salto. We kept using the word catarata, and they thought we meant cataracts. Ha, but now we know an easier way to say it.
We left San Jose at about 1 PM to head up to Deborah's, the owner of the coffee plantation. She wanted to have the interns over and Raf's family for lunch today. We had chicken, cheeseburgers, and hotdogs. A real American meal! Ha, they said they wanted to treat us with a taste of home. I ate so much that I'm still full. No dindin for me tonight.
Raf had Noel, the guy in charge of the farm animals, bring us a horse to ride after lunch. First Raf braved a ride and then Lesbia. Mo had her turn as well, and then after she got off, the horse started bucking a little bit because it was being messed with by a dog. Although Raf insisted that I not ride, I hopped on anyways because I was stubborn. They say horses can sense fear, so I made sure to just act myself, ha. Noel walked beside me all the way to the corral, and right when I got off, we noticed that the horse was walking funny. We found out that he was missing a horseshoe on his front left hoof. With the help of Erbin, his son, we put the horseshoe back on. Quite an interesting process to view. The whole time he was giving me a lesson, and I was talking to him and Erbin about the world cup. He kept making fun of me because he was saying it was because I weighed too much was the reason the horseshoe fell off. After we got the horseshoe fitted, we rode back to the house and enjoyed some tres leches cake. The best dessert. Noel and I continued to talk outside and Big joined in on the convo as well. I love talking to Noel. Ha, he's quite a character. Big and Chris were able to see the whole farm, including the waterfall which they said was beautiful. Mo spent her time with Fide and playing with the kids. I know at one point, all the ladies and the kids took a walk down the dirt rode so the kids could run around.
We headed back to the city around 5 PM, Chris, Big, and I riding Nica style in the back of the truck. Once back at the house, we saw the Apante boys race to the house to meet us. Typical. After gathering some of our clothes that were spread out all around outside, Big and I played a few games of Uno with Oscar and Francisco.
Needless to say, we're all exhausted, but pleased about a jam packed day full of excitement.
Love you all,
sb
My prayer for the interns! "I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them." Matthew 18:19-20

Table Talk

Whew! It feels like I haven't written on here in like a year. I guess it's been about that long eh? :)
Today Spenc and I went to the school in the morning after a wonderful pancake breakfast. We worked in the third grade class first. It was funny because during class you would see teachers and the dirctor running in and out of the "front office" where the world cup was on a little TV in there. Of course Spenc was a part of that mad dash. The director kept coming by our room to yell out the score. Ha, it was fun. Coming up soon is Dia de la maestra "Day of the teacher" so they asked if I could sing with another one of the teachers, Carlos, who goes to our church, for the program that day. Today we practiced some while we were there. The song is really pretty. Not terribly long ago, one of the young teachers at the school died suddenly and unexpectedly and so they dedicated the day to her. This song that we're singing is like a family/friends singing to their loved one that passed away and then the loved one singing back not to cry for her because she's in a wonderful place full of light and peace. I'm singing the part of the loved one singing from heaven. I feel extremely honored that they would ask me to do that. I have some practicing to do!
After school, we came back here for my FAVORITE meal yet. They just keep getting better. Everything was freshhh. Mom, I tried to follow what she was doing to prepare it but it was intense. I just peeled the potatoes and taste tested with her but MAN was it good! I've got to learn how to make it. We went with Raf and Big and Chris to by rain boots for the kids in San Jose today. It's amazing to be able to bless them with boots because of the servant's heart of a wonderful woman that I got to meet last year and sent money this year for this great blessing. We came back home and sorted through all 190 of them and put names, classes, and sizes on them. Chris went to doctor's and had a really cool wax extraction? ha, I don't know what you'd call it but his hearing is better than ever!
Tonight we played with the boys from the street. We played a new card game that they taught us. It was great, it got Big dancing around like a chicken and running down the street making siren noises. Priceless. :) After dinner we sat and played some spades, which is always a good time.
And now, it's time I go to bed...I'm exhausted, but it feels good to get everything out on the blog since I haven't in a while. We still love y'all and we for sure are going to keep this thing up.
Prayers and love we send your way wherever that might be, God is good. All the time.

M.

How many of your friends can say they have been on an active volcano?

Sorry it has been so long since the last post. Tuesday afternoon, after Spencer and Mo went to the school and Big and I ran some errands with Raf, we headed to Chinadega to see Omar and his crew. We got there in really good time. Tuesday night we had pizza and by that I mean a bunch of cheese with a few other things added to it. The pizza was super cheesy. We then played this game called Cinq o which is a dice game that Omar and Raf knew. It was a fun game and we played a few rounds of it. Big won a round and so did Omar. After that we watched some of the NBA game and then headed to bed.
Wednesday I woke up tired but excited for our adventure to come. After everyone getting dressed and ready we were on the road. We stopped at a gas station on the way to Cerro Negro to get some waters and gatorades. After driving on some dirt roads we were finally at the park. We payed the money and signed the guest book and then we were off on the hike. The hike up wasn't bad and the view was gorgeous, pictures to be added to facebook later. Once we got to the summit we walked around a little bit and looked into one of the craters from above. Then the fun part came of going down the side of the volcano. One side is this really fine sand that you can run or jump down and so we all started down. Spencer and Raf led the way running down the whole side of Cerro Negro. Mo and I kind of leapt/skied down the side and Big just did his own thing down.
Once we got back to Omar's we found out the power was out so everyone has to remain sweaty for a little while longer. I went with Omar and Ruth to Leon to help pick up some furniture. I went to the bank with Omar and got searched by the security guard which is typical of all the banks. After the bank we went and picked up the furniture and then back to Chinadega. Once we got back the power was on so I finally got to get a shower which was nice and refreshing.
The 4 interns played some spades until dinner time and Spencer and Mo's friend Sebie(spelling?) came over and ate with us. We had lemon chicken which was so good!
Today we woke up and headed back to the team house. We got back in time for lunch which was this garlic steak meal which was amazing just like every other meal Dona Fide makes. She is a great cook and I enjoy the food here so much. Spencer and Morgan had their planning meeting with the teachers at the school, I took a nap and Big ran some errands with Raf and Don Omar. Once Raf and Big got back to the house we made some goody bags to take to a preschool tomorrow morning.
Well I think that is all I have for now. I hope all that are reading this are doing good.
God Bless,
Chris

The Pitter Patter of rain on a tin roof

Today was a great day in Nicaragua, as all of them are. First we all woke up and dove into the Word and did our own morning devotion. Then Dona FIde had French Toast ready for us to have for breakfast and it was delicious. Then Mo and Spence left to go to the school for the morning at Me and Chris waited for raf so that we could go to Nuestra Tierra. Well Raf said that he would be there at 730, which on Nica time is actually 9, but when he showed up we headed up to Nuestra Tierra to go look at the chlorinator that they installed there a few months back. He showed us how it worked, its actually a pretty cool device.
Well after we did that I walked around the building looking at it cause it is the same building that the college team worked on last year and it was cool to see how it has progressed since we helped last summer. We then headed back to the team house to get ready for lunch. Mo and Spence got back just in time to eat, which was good cause we had Spencer's favorite(although he has a lot of favorites here) which was Spagetti, it was really good. After we ate Morgan and Spencer were supposed to go back to the school and do some planning with the teacher but that got rescheduled for later in the week, so they came with us to San Jose in the afternoon.
Raf was supposed to come by and pick us up at 1 but on Nica time that was more like 3, I'm definitely learning patience while here. But it was cool the four interns just talked and reminisced about high school and such while we waited. When Raf showed up we headed to San Jose, to take some measurement to see how much pipe we are going to need when we go to install the chlorinator there next week. It was interesting cause we only had a 10 foot tape measure, and the distance ended up being like 250 feet so Chris and Spence had a good time climbing down the hill and around the church in 10 foot increments. After we did that we headed back, but stopped before we got to the main road to look at a "cave" that was in the rocks. We all got out and climbed up to it and tried to see where it went. We tried to get Spencer to climb in it but once a bat scared everybody as it flew out it was hard to get spencer near the hole. It ended up being just a hole not a cave, so nothing exciting but nonetheless it was a great time had by the five of us.
After we got back in the truck we went to Los Batidos and had a milkshake-smoothie, it was delicious I had Strawberry-Banana, so good. We sat and talked there for like 30 minutes then headed back to the team house where Dona Fide was preparing a delicious dinner for us. While it was being prepared it started to rain and as I walked to my room to get something I just sat down in a rocker and listened to the pitter-patter of the rain on the roof, there is not a more soothing sound than that it is more soothing and calming than any music. It was awesome. Tomorrow we have a long day, we are heading to Chinandega to go see Omar. Im looking forward to getting to see the house and everything. Its gonna be great. Well I'm off to take a shower and then gonna get some sleep.

Love you all
Big

¡Todo la comida es mi favorita!

After going to sleep last night, I honestly didn't know what to expect in the morning. Because things could have easily taken a turn for the worst last night with so much sickness under one roof. But it was great to hear from Omarsito this morning that Ruth and both of the girls felt better. We all congregated in the front room this morning to chat, enjoy some nica coffee, and dig into the word a little bit. After a breakfast of cereal and a mad search of cipro for the sick ones, the four of us, plus Omar's two interns headed to church! I absolutely love worship at that church. So unhindered and beautiful.
Omar was there to pick us up and tote us back to the team house, where we found Raf and his kids running around. Finally. Some of the grandkids back under one roof. We enjoyed a dinner of nica style bbq, which is always a hit. Lesbia has been making fun of me lately because she says all of the food cooked is my favorite. Haha. And now with Big here, he almost gives me a run for the money, but I still sometimes clean his plate too. After dinner, the boys ran to the back room to watch Germany whoop up on Austrailia. Such an enjoyable game since there were so many points. World Cup in Nica. Can't beat it!
After the game, we found the grandkids playing outside, with the neighborhood boys quickly assembling. Chris and Big joined in on a game of baseball with the neighborhood boys, and we had a good game going for a while, till everyone got distracted by an UNO game. Walter and Oscar took me up the street a little bit to this lookout where you can see the whole city. Ha, they were pointing out all these different places like where their brothers live and what not. When we got back to the house, we joined in on an UNO game which of course turned into like 10 games. Then a game of fútbol shortly commenced after that. But when the boy with the fútbol went home, we chilled on the front porch, avoiding the rain shower. There were like 6 of us on the front porch playing the game that whatever car went by was one person's car, and then we went down the line. Dad, sort of like the game we always play on roadtrips! I love that they feel comfortable enough around me just to chill and hang out. Estamos chilleando if you will! When some of the boys left, a couple wanted to know if I had anything to draw with. So I brought out some paper and some markers and we all just layed in the floor. For some reason, all of us drew big hearts on our papers, and it was interesting to see what the boys added to them. My heart with stripes was not nearly as creative as the one with compartments and pictures inside of pictures.
Mo and Chris went to church tonight, and when they came back, they had one in tow as well! Pastor's son, Jose Javier, came over to play guitar with Mo. So we all enjoyed leftovers for dinner and the community of having everyone together at the table. After dinner, the boys including myself retreated back to our rooms, but I went to the garden for a while to enjoy some fireflies and time with Jesus. So refreshing to just spend time with the Father, just being in his presence.
Tomorrow is a busy day for all! Mo and I are going to school in the morning, and then going back in the afternoon for planning. Big and Chris are going with Raf to Neustra Tierra and then possibly to San Jose in the afternoon. I considered going for a run in the morning before going to school since I haven't exercised in a month, but now that just seems like a funny joke I'm telling myself. 6 AM is just too early!
Yall continue praying for the boys here in Apante and the boys in San Jose. They have been on my heart this whole year and especially now since I'm here. I pray that the Father will continue to shine his light through us with the kids here in our neighborhood and the boys in San Jose as well since we'll be working a lot there this summer. I was comforted this morning by this passage in Amos, " 'The time will come,' says the Lord, 'when the grain and the grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested. Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine.' " Amos 9:13. This is my heart's cry for the people of Matagalpa.
Love you all,
sb

Cucarachita de Amor

Today has been full of eventful happenings. This morning after breakfast I finally got the chance to call home after having had the medical team here all week and not being able to. It was awesome to get to talk with mom, dad, and Josh. Things seem to be going well back home. That's definitely a great thing to hear :).
Spenc, Big, Chris, and I took a trip down the hill into town to try and find me some church shoes and some khakis for Big. I found me some shoes after a while and Big found some pants...however, after refusing our suggestion of trying them on first and after the purchase was complete and after the Rapi Bus had successfully dropped us at our doorstep...Big discovered that the pants were not quite what he had expected. Needless to say, Big will not be sporting them around town anytime soon. Well, we'll see.
We got back in time for Omar and Ruth, their girls, and two interns working with them this summer to get here. Ruth is pregnant! whoooo :) Number 3. Yessss. The two girl interns are staying with me in the room until Monday so it'll be good to have some girls around for a little while before its just me and the boys. I love them too, though, don't get me wrong! We had a delicious lunch and afterwards the boys pratically ran into Don and Dona's room to watch the world cup game. While they were all captivated by the game, me and the two interns Chelsea and Emily went shopping downtown just looking through the stores. And the rain CAME! It poured. We went and had some fancy coffee with Omar. I'll have to take the boys soon so don't be surprised if it's our new hangout. We would never abandon the batidos though. They were our first love.
This afternoon we all just hung out. Spenc and I played Uno with the kids out on the porch. Cindy, one of the neighbor GIRLS came to paly with me tonight. I was pumped. She said her dad doesn't let her come over when it's just the boys but that since I was there, she could come :). We played the same hand of cards the whole time and I'm not quite sure that she gets what's going on yet as far as the rules go, I'm just glad she came. She said she'd meet me tomorrow to play again. Yay!
Today we all had some dinner and I'm about to hit the bed...I'm exhausted. I hope everything where you are at is going well. Keep the prayers coming, God's stirring it up!

Besos,
M.

Medical teams fun day

Today was the fun day with the medical team. Things started off like they do every day; wake up, do devotional, change out of the pjs, and eat breakfast. After that the team from Cornelia had to bring down their suitcases and that is when it truly hit me that I would be here for 5 more weeks. Watching all of them bring down their suitcases while Big's, Spencer's, and mine stayed in the room. Something I noticed earlier in the week but I wanted to share was how this team is so laid back at times. We have never been rushed to go anywhere in the mornings. Like today we were suppose to leave at 8 am and the bus was packed by 8 but we all just sat around in the dining room talking until about 8:30 but it wasn't a big deal.
We started the trip back to Managua and stopped at a gas station right outside the city to pick up some drinks and give everyone a chance to stretch some. We then headed straight to the zip line. It was so much fun. About 14 of us did it plus 2 people that were hitchhiking from Mexico City to Colombia joined our group. It was fun doing the zip line and watching everyone else go on it. Big almost took out one of the guides because he didn't break hard enough on the second zip line but everything was fine.
After the zip line we headed to the mall to grab a quick bite to eat. We decided to get it to go and eat on the bus that way we could spend more time at the Masaya market. Well it would have been fast if everyone had not chosen the McDonald's to eat at. Spencer did a great job of translating the orders for everyone. The world cup has hit Nica also. All the TVs in the mall were turned to the games being played and they even set up a projector in the food court for people to watch the games. Once everyone had gotten there food we walked back to the bus and it was pouring down rain so Chico drove around to pick us up.
Once at Masaya everyone did the usual shopping and Morgan, Spencer, and I just walked around and looked at everything. Apparently when I was walking around with some of the Cornelia people Raf and the other interns had a "meeting" without me and they decided I have dish duty for the next 2 weeks... We'll see about that. After the market we took the team to the hotel and said the goodbyes. It was strange being on the other side of the goodbyes. Instead of saying goodbye to the people staying in Nica, I was saying goodbye to the ones leaving. I will miss the team because I made some good friendships that I can't wait to expand more once back home. After dropping the team off and saying good bye we headed back home where almost everyone was quick to fall asleep, I think. I know I was passed out for almost the whole trip home, which for my family reading this is no big surprise of me sleeping in the car. Once we made it back Raf left to go home and sleep and us interns played uno with Don Omar and Dona Fide.
Tomorrow will be another fun day because Omar is coming to town! He is bringing the family and his own interns with him so it will be another packed house. Can't wait to see him because I have missed him a lot also and it will be good to catch up with him and see how his ministry is doing.
Well to everyone back home I'm out for the night and Mo has the next pleasure of blogging. Mace giving you a shout out like I promised I would.
With love,
Chris

The first of many days in San Jose

So today was the last day that the team from Cornelia was going into the villages and we went to San Jose, which is about 30 minutes outside of Matagalpa. It was good to be back, I have worked there doing construction for the past two summers so it was cool to get to see how it has changed.
When we got there we set up the clinic in the church and we had the pharmacy on the stage. That is where Morgan and me were working with Pug(one of the ladies from Cornelia) and Brian and Ryan. It was fun. I'm getting really good at pushing those pills. Spencer was the translator for Dr. Weaver, which is something that he seems to really like which is awesome, and Chris was with the VBS kids for most of the day. Overall I think we saw like 150 people which is awesome. It was a great way to end the week.
As we were getting ready to load up to head back to the team house the rains came, and it started pouring hard. Our bus driver, Chico, had already gotten on top of the bus and started putting tables on top when it came down and he got under the tarp that we use to keep everything dry and tried to stay dry. It was a funny sight to see him curled up under the tarp on top of a bus. But it never stopped so we had to load the bus up in the rain and I got soaked. It felt more like the Nicaragua trips of the past were I have always been out doing construction in the rain, soaking wet.
After we got back from San Jose, we went out to eat at "The Prairies" cause it was the medical teams last night here. There were like 50 people there cause some people from first baptist came and joined us. But the food was amazing, I had the Churassco which is a steak, but I ended up eating that plus some fish cause some people couldn't finish theirs, but it was good. There was even some huevos de toro to be had, which were pretty good.
When we got back to the team house, me, spencer, pug, and hannah all played some spades which entertained us for like 2 hours til everybody was ready for bed. Well I'm off to bed got a long and busy day tomorrow.

Love yall
Big

Teach one day, celebrate the rest!

So started off the day early, getting up before 7 to snag some of the best coffee this side of Apante. I love having the opportunity to get up in the morning, really reflecting on the Father and what he has in store for me the rest of the day. The Father has been reminding me SO MUCH lately about how he wants to use me in my weakness to display his glory. Because honestly, I don't feel comfortable translating from Spanish to English for a doctor, but the Father has continually reminded me the past three days that He has me exactly where he wants me: in a vulnerable position so that His strength can fill me.
Mo and I left this morning at about 7:40 to walk to school. We found out late last night that we were celebrating again today for "Day of the child" so we had to make sure to be at the school by 8. Once we got there, we found Yadira and Johana, the teachers that we help, making sandwiches for all of the kids. Mo and I immediately hopped in, and soon enough we had an assembly line of bread, mayo, bologna, cheese, lettuce, tomatoe, special nica spread, and then second piece of bread. Ha, we've made many a sandwich in Nica, but never any this elaborate. The usual is bread, bologna, and special nica spread. Once the sandwiches were made, we all piled on the bus with the deaf class as well, and headed to Monkey Park. We were literally packed like sardines on that bus. Once at Monkey Park it was a free for all of playgrounds, monkeys, rabbits, geese, deer, owls, and more! Mo and I just split up and went around with the kids everywhere. Such a great time. After a few hours at Monkey Park, Mo and I walked back to the center of town to catch a bus back up to the team house. We made it up there in enough time to change and head with Chico with lunch to Yaule.
The Cornelia group (plus Big and Chris) were spending the day in Yaule, right outside the city of Matagalpa. After a delicious lunch, it was back to work. Big had spent the morning doing triage (taking blood pressure, temperatures, weights, etc.) while Chris helped with VBS in the hot sun. After lunch, Big went back to smuggling pills, and Chris went back to entertain the children. Mo assumed her usual rockstar position in the pharmacy translating the prescriptions for the patients, and I went back to help Dr. Weaver with some translating. I loved the whole afternoon, especially recognizing Saul from last year. He came through to see Dr. Weaver, and right when I saw his name and his face, he grinned at me, asking if I remembered him. I had spent a day with Saul and his brother last year, Alex, when the highschool group from SUMC came through. Funny story. At one time last year, I was carrying Saul and Alex on my back, like a bag of potatoes on each shoulder, and Alex, the five year old, expelled some gas right in my year. So naturally, I made sure to remind him of his sour intestines when I saw him.
When we arrived back to the team house this afternoon, the neighborhood boys soon assembled and we played baseball for a couple of hours. They love having more "gringos" here to have a bigger game. We even went back outside after dinner to play a little UNO and more baseball for a couple hours. So as Raf so eloquently stated when I came inside from playing, "You stink." So clearly, hours later, still no shower, but it's calling my name, as is the cover in my bed. Be praying for us tomorrow! It's our last day with the medical team and we're spending it in San Jose. I know the Father wants to use us in a mighty way tomorrow. I feel it.
Love you all,
sb

p.s. Happy Birthday again Taylor! Love you brother.

Finally more pictures!

Our teachers we help are in black on the far left and Tim, our friend from Germany. Picture of all the Profes!

Check out Pablo loving on the monkeys at "El Parque de los Monos."

I have never seen such a brave seven year old. Junior had just had surgery performed right under his arm. Dr. Weaver performed the surgery and I just talked Junior through it the whole time.

Chuga. He's our best friend!

Like I said. Morgan's face is stuck like this. But honestly, this picture explains our relationship.

What you've all been waiting for...

Working with Dr. Weaver and Ms. Weaver at the clinic!

Mom I saved this in a cup for you!

Morgan's face is now stuck like this.

My favorite family that came through the clinic on Monday. What's up Marcos and Diego!

Some of our kids in our class during the parade. You know, just celebrating Mother Earth.

Dulces cure everything.

Today was a LONG but awesome day. We got up early for my favorite breakfast here at the team house. It was that Baked Oatmeal/bread with fresh bananas and homemade fruit juice. YUM! We headed off to Quebrada Honda and set up camp at a site where the First Baptist here in Matagalpa is trying to plant a new church. I worked in the pharmacy again today while Spenc sat by Dr. Weaver just taking all of it in/chatting with the patients. Big is amazing at moving drugs. And by that I of course mean than he really keeps everyone in the pharmacy going. He's doing so great. Chris had his little friend Pepe that he spent a lot of time with today. Didnt't speak much, but he was cute as a button. Pepe that is. We had a lot of help from different church members to pray and talk with the people from the community. It was a great time. After lunch, we had a surprise surgery. A little boy that was 7 had a big cyst under his arm so Dr. Rhett decided to help him out. Everyone was trying to get me over there because they know I get queasy (spelling anyone?) around blood. I of course stayed far away while Spenc literally held the boy's hand and shielded his face from seeing anything. I waited outside the little area and saw that his grandmother who had brought him to the clinic was sitting there crying. I know that I hate blood and I couldn't help in that way, but the heart that the Lord's put in me was all for comforting that lady. I went and sat with her and prayed and tried to assure her that everything was going to be okay. Spenc obviously has a heart to physically help the sick. It's awesome that we both have hearts for restoration and we both got to experience being used by the Lord in such a powerful way in that moment.
We finished up in Quebrada Honda and tried to leave. It had been raining pretty hard and finally let up but the mud there literally was a close relative of tar. Talk about sticky. We all tied plastic bags around our shoes and pray we'd make it to the bus. Most of us did.
Tonight the team had a baby shower for some friends here in Nica. It was so fun. Cake and rice pudding and all kind of fun.
Everyone's settling in for the night so I better go but tomorrow we hit monkey park for none other than a celebration with the school. Go figure. :) I love school here.

Buenas noches,
M.

First work day with the medical team

Today was the first day of work with the medical team. We were at Las Canyas. It was about 75 minutes from the team house. The medical team set up a clinic and a make shift pharmacy. Spencer, Morgan, and Big worked a lot in the pharmacy. I helped with vbs today. It was fun. We did a couple of crafts with the kids and sang some songs with them. After that we pulled out the soccer ball and Clark, one of the guys on the medical team, and I played soccer. It was fun except it got extremely hot. In the afternoon after lunch there were more people being seen by the doctors. Like always more kids came after lunch for the afternoon vbs. The team did a few puppet stories and some songs with the kids. We played a few small games with them throughout the rest of the afternoon. Well I don't have much else to say and I have no clue who will blog next. I hope everyone is doing well and I'll be back on here next time.

Chris

Man is it great to be back...

So me and Chris made it down safely last night. There was a medical team that was on the same flight so we weren't alone in our search for Raf and the bus, which took about 20 minutes cause he was running late. On the way to the team house, when we were out in the middle of nowhere But we eventually made it back to the team house and feels like home already.
Today we woke up and went to the baptist church in town with the team and the service was great. It was awesome to experience an entire worship service in a different language. After we left the church we came back for lunch which was an awesome chicken stew. Man have I missed the food down here.
But after we had lunch the team hung out around the church, while they did that Mo and Spencer took me and Chris on a tour of the city. We walked from the team house and they showed us Raf's house then we meet up with Chuga (one of Mo and Spencer's friends) at one of there places to hang out which is Los Batidos where we had milk shakes (I had a Strawberry Banana one and it was delicious). After that we walked around the city for a little bit and got to see the school that Mo and Spencer have been working at, it was cool. After that we went to the church again for the night service and the pastor that is along with the team spoke and it was awesome.
After that we had dinner which was chicken wings and rice and it was delicious as always. Then we helped the medical team count out the pills for there pharmacy that they will be running in the village tomorrow. I felt like a pharmacist for a little bit then it just got monotonous. Now I am just sitting in the commons area hanging out with some of the Cornelia team, enjoying a fresh banana from the garden, its delicious by the way.
I'm so excited to be in the village tomorrow and get to interact with the people of the village. Well you will get to hear from Chris for the first time tomorrow, so get excited about that.

Love you all
Big

Would you rather...

Long day. Everyone is starting to roost in for the night. It's so great having a full house of people again. Chris and BIG arrived safely and they'll be blogging the next couple days so look forward to that. Ha.
But this morning, Mo and I did some painting to prepare for the team. We also just helped out randomly here at the house to get some more last minute things done. Mmhmm last homemade lunch from Fide for a week. Steak, mashed potatoes, rice...ahh making my mouth water. But we left with Raf at like 5 for Managua, chatting the whole time and enjoying the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen. Reminded me of something from Jurassic Park.
We picked up the whole team and headed back to Matagalpa with Chris and BIG in the truck with Raf, Mo, and me. Such a great time catching up with everyone. Well I'm off to shower before I go to bed.
Love you all,
sb

Pizza goes welll with Iguana soup...wait, we have neither.

So sorry we haven't posted in the last couple of days. It's been crazy around here :) So, let's see if I can't recap the past little while and catch y'all up to speed on how everything's going around here.
On Wednesday we went to school as usual and Profe Yadira wasn't there so we stayed in the second grade classroom for the whole time. We found out that there was going to be a parade today (Friday) but that they had like NO materials do make the float. We also found out that our teacher has absolutely no paper to make handouts for her class and that she's been trying to get the kids to bring a notebook to work in. One of our students, Jefferson ran out of paper so Profe Johanna went around trying to find some out of the back of her notebooks. After we left Spenc and I decided to go to the school supply store and get some paper for our class and some materials for the float. It's such a blessing to get to be apart of serving others as if we were serving the Lord himself. I find so much joy in that. After lunch we went with Raf to Las Canas to give one of the community leaders the medical tickets for this coming week. Each medical team gives us a number as to how many people they can see in a day and then we take the community. Then the week before the group comes they can distribute them to the people they know need medical attention. So we got to do that and the rest of the night was spent just hanging out with the kids on the street...if I remember correctly. It seems like that's the most likely thing that happened anyways since we do that every night basically.
Thursday was great! We got up and went to a parade that Raf and Lesbia's kids Ashley and Pallito were in to celebrate their "Earth Day" or Madre Tierra. Ashely was dressed like a flower with a mask that had different colored petals on it while Pallito was a tree and had leaves springing up off his "trunk" which was like foam board wrapped around him. They both looked precious! We spent the rest of the day in San Jose again doing more of the census. The ministry really wants to establish friendship with the communinty and individual households and not just go in, "fix" the community and leave. I really like that. Jesus was very relational and cared about people's hearts and lives. We came home and rested up a little bit aka SIESTA :). Then we went over the Raf and Lesbia's for dinner and a movie. Whew! Getting to eat Lesbia's cooking and watch a good movie...Benjamin Button...a good time was definitely had.
I might as well tell you about today too. Spenc is currently outside playing with the boys; I'll let him keep that up and give him one less thing to worry about tonight. We got up earllllly this morning to head to the school for the parade!
We all got on the bus from the school and went to a field near monkey park where we met up with seemingly every other school-aged student in the city. There had to have been over 1,000 kids. All the different schools had floats lined up. This parade was to celebrate Madre Tierra too. Most of our special needs students stayed in the bus as we started walking but some were on the float which Spenc and I "supervised" with some of the other teacher and other students walked with us. We probably walked for like an hour and a half or two hours around the city dancing, singing, it was so fun! Everything here is a celebration. Spenc and I were talking and it seems to us that every week there is something to celebrate. That's more than fine by us :). After the parade ended we went with Raf and Lesbia to Managua to get the food and cleaning supplies for the group that's coming TOMORROW NIGHT! It was a long day but we're home now and all the rooms are ready to go for the team! I can't wait. It's been absolutely wonderful to have these first few weeks to get settled in, but I'm pumped to see Cornelia again and Big and Chris get here tomorrow too so y'all will for sure be hearing from them on here soon!

Can carino,

M.

Homemade Flytraps

Best. Day. Ever. We started off with a devotion and prayer with Doña Fide. Always a highlight and our times together in the morning always propel me to walk in the light of the Father throughout the day. We left for San Jose at about 9 AM to go and conduct a census of the community. The goal is to go to every house in the San Jose community before the first Snellville team gets here so that we can see the needs for each family individually. We are hoping to start building houses for families in the community, but we have to see where the need is the greatest to know where to start. So we got there and parked in front of the school right when recess was going on. Ahh it was great because I was able to see so many of the boys that we worked with last year. Albarro and Osman ran up to the truck right when we got there. It was great to see them and see how much older they look in just one year. After saying hey to all of the kids before they went back to class, we started on our journey to each house. Honestly, this is my favorite part. Being real with the families in San Jose, getting to know them, their needs, their families. It was great for them to see that not only does the ministry care, but Jesus cares for each of them. In two hours, we were able to visit about 10 different families and talk with them. We made sure to spend enough time at each house so they could see that we really cared about them. Celvin and Alejandro navigated us to the houses to make sure we wouldn't miss any. Raf said we have about 70 to go, but I am more than pumped to meet all of the families. Yes, it is definitely sobering to see that some of the families have six people living in a 12 foot by 12 foot area, with the only privacy being a blanket separating the sleeping area from the living area. But the sobering part was not that they were sad, but happy with what they have. We are going back on Thursday to work on the census some more. We're considering taking lunch out there so that we won't have to come back and we'll have more time to stay in the community.
After lunch, we went with Raf to Quebradahonda, one of the places the medical team is going next week. We're hoping that the roof will be going up sometime this week so that the medical team will have some sort of shade. On the way back through the city, Mo and I were dropped off at La Matagalpa to pick up the ingredients to make a dessert for dinner. We were going to make dinner, but Fide convinced us that there were enough leftovers for dinner with Chuga and Roberto, so we were just going to focus on the dessert. After going to two different grocery stores, we finally had our supplies and headed back up to Apante. As Mo said today, "It never gets old: sticking out like a sore thumb." Ha. Two blonde haired kids/chelitos walking through town. Our specialty ended up being brownies with ice cream and rice krispies. The brownies were a flop because the pan was too big, but the rice krispie treats were great! We made them with fruity pebbles instead of regular rice krispies. Of course we spent some time with the boys in the neighborhood for a little while, playing fútbol and UNO. We had a game of 11 people at one time, with Fide and Chuga joined in.
After dinner, Raf and Lesbia and the kids came over for a while, and we played the guitar with Roberto and Chuga. It's ridiculous how good they are at playing the guitar. It was so great to have everyone here laughing and carrying on.
Entonces/Well. I'm off to shower because I can smell myself. Not a good sign. Up in the morning early for school. It got cancelled on Monday at the last minute so it'll be our first time going this week. Oh and Feliz dia de los niños/Happy day of the child. Yep. They celebrated that here today. Pallito and Ashley made us tell them that tonight. They're a mess.
Love you all,
sb

taken by surprise

Whew! So yesterday was a late night and I had no energy to get my computer out and write on this precious blog until right now :)
Yesterday morning was a whirlwind of activities that included cleaning more windows and helping out around the house. We also went to see an apartment that could possibly to rented for Debra and Roy or even interns or the ministry sometime in the coming years. It was great!
We had a wonderful lunch with steamed potatoes, carrots, and chiote with meat. Delicious. One of Don Omar's friends came and ate with us as well.
The kids of course were out again yesterday and the Uno game got way out of control with everyone slinging the cards every which direction on the porch. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. Done Fide just found 3 of the cards on the porch from last night that we didn't see had be thrown so far. whoops!
Last night Spenc and I went over to Raf and Lesbias for dinner and a movie. I love those nights. We had a GREAT meal with the fam. Their kids are precious. Michael stayed up throughout the entire movie with us without a problem keeping his energy up. We watched Taken. I hadn't ever seen it before but it kept me on my toes. We got back late last night and were up early this morning with a new mission...but I'll have to let Spenc tell you that story later today/night when he blogs. Pictures to come most likely!

Love y'all and always praying for you back home,

M.