June 2015

The ladies of the Creative Cooperative started having meetings.  Officers have been elected and work has begun on making items to sell in our first event at the end of August.  We are all very excited to see how this will go as a larger group.

Even though rainy season started in May, we have only had a couple days of rain so far.  Very unusual.  We need the rain so much.

We celebrated a few Saturdays by buying delicious nacatamales from Zenelia’s family.  They are sooooo scrumptious!  But so fattening!  This will have to be a special occasion thing from now on.

Sofi and I worked some on receipts for the ministry.  This is one of the least favorite jobs, but one of the most necessary ones.  We are hoping to get our system figured out so that we can keep up with this weekly.  We’ll see…

We had some meetings with potential new students.  It’s always exciting to meet new people and talk to current friends.  We have a husband and wife team who want to learn everything and start a little store of their own.  And how wonderful that they are good friends and we will get to spend time together every week!

Sofi saved up some of the money from her sales and we got the process completed for she and Victoria to receive their passports.  I wanted them to have possession of them for the future.  The process is much less complicated here in Nica and cheaper, too!  Now they can travel with me to Costa Rica for a visa run, and hopefully, travel to the states with me one day.  At any rate, they will have them in hand for their future.

While walking through the central market, I was carrying Victoria’s diaper bag on my shoulder.  Someone thought he would score stealing from a Gringo and unzipped the bag while I was walking and took the wallet out.  Unfortunately for him, it was Sofi’s wallet and didn’t have any money in it.  But it was sad for us that she had to go through the hassle of getting her cedula (like a ss card) renewed and she lost her receipts for school.  I was so mad at that guy.  I couldn’t go after him because Sofi and the baby were around the corner and I needed to find them.  Oh well.  I doubt he ever robs me again. 

Our Co-op of craftspeople has had many opportunities pop up at random times to make a little money.  We are awaiting the details to make the commissioned 40 school uniforms and 40 backpacks later this year.  Enia has had the chance to do some personal sewing for a friend of mine.  We can take on just about any job and someone from our group will be capable of accomplishing the task.  It’s fun for me to be able to assign paying jobs to the ladies!

Veronica and I spent some of the ministry money to buy supplies in bulk for the co-op.  We got lots of ribbon by the roll, zipper by the yard, yarn by the dozen, thread by the box, etc.  This way the ladies of the co-op can buy what they need from our stash and only have to pay the discounted price that we negotiated from the store.  It is cheaper for the ladies.  Once the money is paid back to the ministry, the co-op will purchase the future items with the percentage of sales that they are saving from each sale.  At some point in the future, the co-op will not be dependent on the ministry at all.  Yay!  A stand-alone Nica enterprise!

I love my early morning walks.  It’s hard sometimes to get everything done in the mornings before the classes start at 9am.  There are days when my stress-releiving walks cause more stress by trying to get back and get showered and dressed in time.  But I love being out when it’s not quite so hot and getting some exercise.  I also love getting to run into people on the street.  There is never enough time to visit with friends.

Sofi has been working hard on studying for her exams.  It’s really been difficult.  These review classes are intense, since they cover 2 years of high school at once.  And since she has not had the classes to begin with, the review doesn’t always help.  But she is determined to finish school (not at all expected here, especially since she has a baby) and keeps on moving forward.

Our friend Jasmina spent the week with us while working as a translator for a ministry here in León.  It’s always nice to see her.

We purchased a few more voltage regulators (surge protectors and backup for for when the voltage drops) for the house.  I got one especially for the computer and our cell phones and kindles.  Electronics don’t last long here and you can actually tell when the voltage is dipping by listening/watching the fans.  But I am very thankful for technology and want to protect it!

With the lack of rain for the most of 7 months, it’s been very dusty.  Sometimes, when they are plowing up the fields outside of town, the dust blows into town and we get it in our houses (since they are open).  At times the sky is brown/black with the dust and you can barely see down the street.  It’s horrible in the houses.  And people end up with sinus infections like crazy.  I’m very thankful that my doctor sends with me a Zpak to have on hand.  I usually only have to use it once a year, but it’s great to have it when I need it, like this month!

Sofi and Victoria have been able to visit her grandmother (mother’s mother) once or twice a month.  I’m thankful that they can reconnect.  Her family is very appreciative that I take care of Sofi and V.  They come by here to visit sometimes, too.

Since the floors are so dirty all of the time, we don’t put the babies down much, so they don’t learn to crawl like in the states.  We got a cheap, inflatable kiddie pool and blew it up and filled it with covers to make it soft on the bottom.  We put it on the big table in the dining/classroom and V gets to roll around and have fun while we are working at the table.  She has learned to roll over, sit up by herself and start crawling in that pool.  When she’s too big to hang out like that, it will be used as a regular pool for her to splash around in (outside).  And boy, does she love water!!!

Our friend Jalisa was back in Nica for a brief visit.  She came by to see Sofi and Victoria.  Sofi was at school, but V was happy to play.

We moved some stuff around in the different rooms to make things more efficient.  We need to make more classroom space.  Some times we have a small class and other times we are filling the 3 front rooms.  It’s fun to see women sitting in a circle of 8 rocking chairs crocheting and chatting.  I just love it!  We are thankful for our ladies and the fellowship we have together.

We are working on scheduling for more Bible Studies.  Finding a time that people can come consistently is very difficult here.  The studies need to be applicable to the attendance issues.  But there are so many nuggets of wonderful truth in God’s Word that each and every minute is valuable for sharing.

Life is hard here, compared to the US and a lot of the world.  It can wear you down fast.  But God is good and He is faithful and He is my strength and my Guide.  I love Him and want only to serve Him as best I can.  He is so worthy.  And I am blessed.