(This will mostly be written. Maybe I will try to get some pictures up another time. It's hard. Internet isn't so good so they are hard to load)
Week One.
We spent our first days of outreach getting prepared in Denver and doing ministry at Will, Erika, and Kevin's church called Hillside. We painted murals and practiced drama's and bonded as a group. We did a presentation for the church of one of our drama's on sunday. They are largely involved with supporting the boys home we stayed at in Masaya, so it was amazing to get to show them a glimpse of our team. We each have prayer partners within the church who have committed to praying for us while we are on outreach.
We took off to Miami airport on monday December 19th and arrived sometime at about 5 in the morning and had a 4 hour layover. I pulled out my sleeping bag and slept on the floor of the airport. Finally we were on our flight to Managua! Woohoo! All extremely exhausted and all ready to be at our destination!
We got through customs with really not much of any glitches. Praise God! Yvonne got held up and questioned briefly, but overall great. We took 2 vans and piled all of our luggage into them to travel to Masaya! It was quite packed but good. We arrived at the boys home and spent the night there adjusting and resting. We all needed it!
Our first day (december 21st: let's bring it back) We had an orientation to Hosanna (the church we partnered with for our ministry in Masaya). We then took a tour of a prison (I talked about this a bit). We went to the super-market. Here in Nicaragua they are Pali's and Maxi-Pali's. We then had a walking tour of the whole city of Masaya. It's not very big, but it was still a very long walk.
Day 2. Dec 22nd. We did our first day of kids ministry in the poorest neighborhood in Masaya. It was a bit of a dangerous neighborhood and the kids are very prone to stealing so we didn't bring any camera's or anything, but it was good. Our first shot at kids ministry (with MANY MANY more to come). We do puppet shows, fun and lively drama's, drama's with a lesson to be learned, games, songs, dances, and share a testimony to have an impact on the kids. Sometimes we do balloon animals, face paint, and crafts. It is very good. All with translation!! That is what most of our kids times look like. They are fast-paced and a bit exhausting. My good friend Nate and I are in charge or organizing kids times so we've been extremely busy with that. After that we spent the afternoon swimming in a lake that is actually overtop of an active volcano. It's a big crator! How cool is that! So the water was very toasty, but quite safe. It was fun and refreshing since it is so hot and humid here.
Day 3. Dec 23rd. We did another kids program and the church (Hosanna) and kids from that neightborhood came. It was fun. LOTS of kids. 200-300 at most ministry times. They are cute and speak spanish (often way too quickly to understand any of it). That night we went to the Hosanna youth group's Christmas Banquet. The food here is delicious, by the way! And timing is very relaxed. They are not in a hurry any of the time. Things just happen as they happen. But we sang some Christmas songs for them (it is incredible to be surrounded by so many musicians all of the time). Neat to get to know (as much as we could) some of the youth from the church.
Day 4. Christmas Eve. We had worship in the morning then we went to the church to serve lunch and play games and get to know the glue boys that are still living on the street. Many of whom have been in and out of the home a lot. It was neat to get to bless them. They really are kind. Then at night there was a party AT the boys home for the two boys (Cesar and Mariano) and the people who work there. Christmas Eve is there Christmas here so we were saying "Feliz Navidad" a lot! So great to be able to bless them and share Christmas in this family here. I was missing candle-light Christmas Eve services though!
Day 5. Christmas Day! We had the day off to relax (much needed). It was very nice to skype with a couple of people back home. Holidays make me miss it more. Loved hearing some familiar voices. We had supper at a family's home (the Sanchez'). Their daughter is one of our translators and they were kind enough to serve us supper. After we had eaten, they informed us that we had eaten cow tongue! WHOA!! I ate cow tongue. It tasted a little funny, but I just thought it was a different kind of meat. Also, LOTS of fireworks. Mostly ones that would be illegal in North America!
Week 2.
Day 6. Boxing Day. We had another kids program at a conservative church. Girls had to wear skirts and boys had to wear pants and take out earrings. I was in charge, so a bit of pressure, but it went well. I like running things. Then we went to the market in the afternoon. The first market was good (quite tourist friendly) then the second market was HUGE. It was the Nicaraguan market. However, I GOT LOST! This is a long story but one that taught me a lot. One of the glue boys from the street actually ended up finding me and leading me back to the rest of the group. What a savior. His name is Illian. Oh man! Crazy. That was a bit traumatic for me. At night we had a team meeting and talked all about team unity. It was good. Nice for our team to reassess everything and really work towards speaking life to one another.
Day 7. Dec 27th. Mats and I led worship that day. It was good. Took some time to focus on the meaning of Christ coming down to earth and how it is really why were are here and that it is what empowers us to be doing the ministry we are doing. Then we took time to pray for the things we have already seen in Nicaragua. The people, the ministries, everything. We spent the afternoon downtown and some did worship, some did prayer walks (i did) and some played soccer.
Day 8. Dec 28th. We had some more kids ministry. I love holding kids and playing with them and making them smile. It's the best. It was an outside church and it was HOT and sunny and hard to do puppets on the gross ground. But it was good. In the afternoon we went to the old city of Granada (very VERY tourist friendly) for a bit and visited Lake Nicaragua (about as big as lake michigan, and poop infested).
Day 9. Dec 29th. We did ministry at an old folks home. We had a piniata with them which was great and got to serve them by talking with them, praying for them, and taking care of basic needs like cutting nails and serving lunch. It was neat to go from lots of young to more elderly. They are so eager to share about their lives. It is fascinating to hear. We spent the afternoon up on a mountain called Catalina and getting to look down on the big volcano lake that we swam in. The view was beautiful! God is such an awe-inspiring creator. We had worship and I ran another kids ministry meeting because....
Day 10. Dec 30th. ...was MEGA kids ministry day. We ran 2 programs in one day. Both at very nice, conservative churches. Ninos Ninos Ninos!!. It was good though, but exhausting. At night, the lady who runs the boys home along with many other of the ladies took all the girls to Managua for a girls night out. GNO! It was great. They bought us iced cream and we got a bit of culture shock at going to a mall. Looked just like America. But capitols do tend to be more americanized. It was good, but I was tired that day.
Day 11. New years eve. We spent it at MOUNT DOOM! Just kidding, but we did go to visit Volcano Masaya! And I made more Lord of the Rings references than anyone could count. It was a cool experience. We actually got to LOOK INTO the volcano! At night we went to the church for our first Spanish Church Service. It was neat to spend the countdown praising God. Bringing the new year in shouting praises to His name. Powerful. I missed home though a lot that night.
Day 12. New years day! HELLO 2012! We had another day off and most people went into Managua to go shopping and to go see a movie. I stayed at the boys home. I like the concept of taking a day of rest to truly rest and not filling it with stuff. We had packing to do as well. It was a good choice to relax though. I got to skype Cody. :) Which is always an extremely happy thing. We went to the Sanchez' again on a return invite. It was good. We had a time of prayer with all of our new friends and Masaya family and got to bless them and thank them and have them bless us and thank us. We will miss them dearly. I hope to maybe come back.
Week 3.
Day 13. Jan 2nd. We said goodbye to Masaya early in the morning. It was hard but good. Saying goodbye to the boys at the home wasn't easy, but we got to speak life over them and thank them from the bottom of our hearts. We took 2 buses to Diriumba and where we currently are at the ywam base. It has so much more space than the boys home did. No longer living in such close quarters. We were all very excited to see the space. We spent the morning sleeping a lot because we had to leave so early from Masaya. We then had a tour of the town briefly. It has a different flavor than Masaya did. You could tell it wasn't as big of a place. Then we had a team meeting telling us a bit about what our time here would look like.
Day 14. Jan 3rd. We had a prep morning and we went over some of the drama's we hadn't practiced in weeks and weeks. One of which is very creepy and is called Marionettes and another one which I am the main character called Facade. I love acting. I miss it sometimes. Then we had a kids meeting to prepare for a 2 day VBS that we did. Lots of prep to do for that because we had kids for 2 days so it looked a bit different. That night we went into the town and into a park and did some Evangelism ministry! I got to speak with a man who is an alcoholic and our dramas and testimonies had to do exactly with that. A man who was a criminal also gave his life over to Christ (along with his knife [rhyme]) It was very cool. I got to pray for the alcoholic man and for 2 girls.
Day 15. Jan 4th. VBS CRAZE! It was good. Lots of cute kids from our neighborhood just around the base. It is neat because the kids who came to the vbs are the same ones we get to see when we walk down the street. There is a lot more freedom to explore the town here in Diriumba. I was a bit sick in the afternoon with mega cold-symptoms. So I rested. Other people went into the neighborhood and into homes to talk to people.
Day 16. Jan 5th. VBS day 2. It went much more smoothly than the first day because we worked out some kinks. It was good though. We played protect the president for all of you Kadesh-ers who will appreciate that! The Nica kids love it! It was amazing to get to have some follow up. We did more evangelism in a nearby town called Jinotepe. We did facade and it was good. I got to pray for a lady's back and she told me that her pain was gone. Cool! Praise God.
Day 17, Jan 6th. I woke up really early and got to watch the sunrise and cook breakfast Nicaraguan style. We went out in the morning and picked up garbage. It was neat. Reminded me of Alexis Tindall. She would have loved it. Throwing your garbage is such a habit for people here because they don't really have public garbage systems at all. It was good to bless the neighborhood in that simple way. Then the teenagers from the neighborhood came over and the guys played soccer and the girls played name games (which they loved) and a cool version of rock paper scissors. In the afternoon we went to a hospital in Jinotepe and got to pray for people and play them music and just talk with them. Encourage them. We had worship and reflection time then.
Day 18. Jan 7th. We had a day at the beach!! The pacific ocean! and most people got a sunburn but I did not! However, my feet hurt from walking on boiling sand!! I love swimming in the ocean and jumping in waves. It was sweet. We got back and I cut my hair (or trimmed it, really, because it was getting a little out of control). The rest of the night we had to rest and relax. I didn't feel to relaxed though. It's been hard not having internet at all in Diriumba until this day. But I got to talk to my dad. That was good. God gave me the grace to be here even when I miss home a bit. I can't wait to be back there, but I am still fully here. That may not make sense, but it's good.
Day 19. Jan 8th. We went to 2 churches this day. One early in the morning at which I got to share my testimony and we did some worship (some spanish some english) and ran kids program. And then afternoon off (got to talk to my mom and to Cody). Then another church at night that we walked to here in Diriumba. We did some worship and 2 drama's and Bri's testimony. Churches here are LOUD!! SO LOUD! But good! The sermon was essentially just a dance party. What better way to praise the Lord. Dancin' like David danced!
Day 20. Jan 9th. It is a dream of the ywam base here to see a bible in every home in Nicaragua. We got to be part of that as we went out and distributed bibles to houses in a poor neighborhood in Diriumba. We got to pray for people and tell them about God. What a blessing it was as they all desired to have the Word of the Lord in their homes. Then we had a team meeting in the afternoon and got a chance to reflect on outreach so far and share our thoughts and celebrate what God has done so far! Woohoo!
Day 21. Jan 10th. We spent the day blessing the ywam base. We stained 3 cabins. We sanded and stained picnic tables, we weeded, we cleaned and we mowed their VERY big lawn. It was good.
And that brings us to today. It is our last day in Nicaragua. We are packing, cleaning, and have mid-outreach defbrief meetings with the leaders. Mine is in 20 minutes! Perfect timing!
God is doing great things. I will update again when/if I can. I love you all. Be praying for my health. I'm not feeling too well and we have an 8 hour bus ride to Honduras starting at 2 in the morning leaving from here, then to Managua THEN loooong time down to Honduras. We also have a lot of ministry in the schools there. You can be praying for that.
Lots of love, God bless.
AND THERE ARE PUPPIES HERE!!!!!
