June 1 - 9, 2012

June 1 - 9, 2012

I’m posting this on June 17 and it’s been over half a month since I’ve posted and that’s not like me at all. But the more I got behind, the more daunting the task of catching up. I tend to run on and on normally, so this will be an improvement in condensing my daily treks here in Nica.

I arrived back in León on Thursday night (May 31). I spent Friday unpacking, and giving away all the goodies that I brought back from the states. A few of us went on a recon trip to find the areas where we would be doing VBS with the interns the coming week. I met with Estefanie and worked on the Bible study notes that she translated for me into Spanish. The interns arrived later in the evening. It was a good day.

Saturday (6/1) was orientation for the interns: Haley, Rachel, Calen, Austin and Zachary. Charlie Brown is staying the summer here, also. I did some computer work and then took the interns downtown for some orienting and shopping. We all went to Suyapa for dinner.

Sunday (6/3) we went to La Quimera church. I worked on communication stuff and rested and then we all went to Todopoderoso church in the evening. We got home to no electricity for a large part of the evening. Welcome to Nicaragua, interns!!!

Monday (6/4) The interns went with Mayela and me to Monte Horeb Feeding Center and played and face painted while Mayela and I took new pics and gathered more info on the kids. We had to stop at a couple of librerias (bookstore/stationary store) before we settled on the appropriate paint. In the afternoon, Mayela and I worked on Feeding Center computer stuff and the interns went with Lesly to the market to buy the weekly produce for 4 Feeding Centers. In the late afternoon, Mary and I took the interns to Tip Top for dinner and then to La Union (grocery store) before heading back to the team house.

Tuesday (6/5) was another day for working at the Feeding Centers. This time we went to La Quimera and the interns did the same thing. After lunch, we went to the copy place to make color sheets for VBS, hardware stores (teeny places) to try to find a light bulb for Mary’s desk lamp (didn’t find one) and then to Eskimo for ice cream. When we got back to the team house, I went swimming with the interns and we had a nice evening. The interns worked on putting the pics in the photo album for the San Jacinto Feeding Center.

Wednesday (6/6) we stayed here at the team house all morning. Mayela and I had tons of computer work to do after visiting the feeding centers on Monday and Tuesday. The interns pulled stuff together for VBS next week. In the afternoon, Sherry & Mike took everyone to Poneloya beach and Suyapa for dinner. I stayed back at the team house and enjoyed the quiet and got a lot of work done. It was a blessing for me as well as everyone else.

Thursday (6/7) The interns helped Mary give out reading glasses at Monte Horeb. Sherry, Mayela and I met with some of the women of the Monte Horeb community trying to get volunteers to help cook the meals for the kids. After lunch, the interns did VBS in a new (to us) neighborhood that is located near a cement wall with a pepsi sign painted on it. Since I can’t remember the name of the neighborhood, I just call it the Pepsi neighborhood. I worked on the computer and did laundry.

There was a Pastor’s conference held at our team house (aka Hotel Berlin) and over 60 people were staying overnight from Thursday afternoon until Saturday afternoon. They were everywhere and we stayed pretty much in our rooms. This doesn’t bother me at all because I have tons of computer work and lessons to work on and reading on my Kindle and sewing, etc.

Friday (6/8) The interns went to La Quimera to pass out reading glasses to the folks there. The interns did a second day of VBS at the Pepsi neighborhood and I did a lot of computer catching up.

Saturday (6/9) We left early to do a VBS at a remote neighborhood that I first visited 2 years ago. We had to drive a little while and then park the van at the end of the rutted road and walk about a mile through a field to the little school. There was some mix up on vehicles (due to lack of communication – which happens a lot with us) and then we missed our turn off (which happens a lot with us) and then we put a Pastor and his 3 kids in with our already overflowing van (which happens a lot with us). It was a good VBS and we all had fun. And some of the kids prayed to receive Christ!!! Later that day, Charlie and Jeremy left to pick up some of the team going to Estelí for the crusade. I drove the interns and Mary downtown to the movies. I don’t go because of my hearing problem, but I enjoyed my time alone with some Spanish lessons and then ordered pizza to bring home with us. Everyone liked the movie and we had yummy pizza for dinner and the interns swam some more. We were so happy for the Pastor’s conference to be over so we could roam around our compound. It was the last time that we are renting out the place and that is wonderful!

Now it was time to gear up for a busy week of ministry while part of the staff was in Estelí for the crusade!!