May 2016

I started off May in Rogers AR and got to have a wonderful adventure for the first week.  My niece and her husband bought me a ticket to fly to Indiana to visit family.  I hadn’t been there since Feb of 2015.  Since I was in the states for 2 whole weeks, it worked out perfectly to spend part of it in IN.  We decided to keep the visit a secret for Mothers’ Day for my Mom and sisters.  Stacey and 2 of her kids picked me up from the airport on Monday night and we arrived at my sister’s house at 11:30pm.  We just walked in and I said hi.  She was shocked.  It was so funny and fun!

We surprised my Mom on Tuesday morning.  I got to have lunch with my other sister and bro-in-law on Tuesday, too.  I then spent the afternoon at Mom and Gary’s house.  Pam and Rob joined me and it was a very meaningful visit.  I got to see one of my great-nephews play basketball.  It brought back memories of watching my niece play on a traveling team since she was 10 years old.  Fun!

While in the mid-west, Stacey, Sandy and I made a roadtrip to Fairbury IL to visit with a fellow missionary, Jeff and some of the ladies of Tapestry of Love sewing ministry.  It was about 4 hours each way in the car, and a couple of hours visiting and having lunch.  It was fun.  I was so glad to have Stacey and Sandy with me that day.  We loved the tour of the TOL ministry house.  God has blessed that ministry so much!  And it was born out of a visit to Nicaragua.  Now people all over IL are being ministered to by these ladies.  Not to mention, the ladies here in Nica.  I’m so thankful to be networking with Shinging the Light Ministry and Jeff and staff.  God is good!

I had really tight layovers flying back to AR from IN.  both layovers were under an hour (that’s on paper, in reality, it’s just minutes).  I had prayed for travel mercies and God made every single thing that could be a blessing happen on those flights.  It was great!  He even made things smooth where there was no need.  He spoiled me that day for sure!

I hit the ground running when I got back to AR.  I had 4 days to finish accomplishing all on my list.  Most got done.  Mother’s Day was that Sunday and I enjoyed church services in both languages at FBCR Olive Street.  That’s also the day we moved everything between storage units.  It started raining as we finished the second load.  Then we had a great dinner at Smokin’ Joes.  One of my favorite restaurants in Rogers.

When I returned to Nica this time, I was accompanied by Acadia Kimball, a college student from my home church.  She was super busy with finals and RA responsibilities while I was in AR, so we didn’t see each other until we got to the airport on Wednesday morning!  She was a great travel companion.  She is staying with us for one month.  She will interact with our classes, as well as, help with kids in my friend’s ministry.  She will also get the chance to see what real life on the mission field is like.  She will get a little chance to rest, too, after such a crazy semester at college and before she heads back to the states for a crazy month of working on the east coast.  It’s so good to have her here.  She has met some people who are learning English and they get together to practice.  She speaks some Spanish, so she goes out a lot on her own to explore the city.  She also knows some people from here in León and Managua, who studied at her university in AR.  She has had the chance to catch up with some of the them, too.  It’s been so nice to have her with us.  V loves her and Sofi is having a good time with her, too.  We’ll be sorry to see her go on June 9.

Sofi and V went to a baby shower (which lasts for hours, like the birthday parties), and they had a great time with friends.  I was so glad to see her get the chance to get out.  She and V were so beautiful in their party clothes.  Acadia treated me out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, and I introduced her to the Chinese restaurant and another chicken restaurant. 

Sofi and V went to Managua for their monthly visit to see family.  Acadia was doing her own thing.  The time went by so fast.  With the exception of missing my cuddles and kisses from V and having our prayer time together with Sofi, I almost forgot that they were in Managua sometimes!  They came home exhausted, but happy to be home. 

A friend and assoc pastor of his dad’s church, Jeremy, called to see if he could bring by a couple of ladies to meet me and hear about the ministry.  Madge and Lynn, are part of a church that has been sending workers to Nica for about 8 years.  They are starting to delve into the sewing ministry.  Since they only come once a year, they are looking for someone to network with to keep the education going year round.  Jeremy thought we would be a good match.  Veronica came over for the meeting.  We enjoyed meeting them.  And we look forward to how God will bring our hearts and skills and resources together for year-round classes for their ladies and also, workshops when they bring a team of ladies down each year.  God is so good!

Sofi is doing so great at school.  I so wish she could have been getting this caliber of education all along.  She got all 80s and 90s on her tests this month.  She was very proud of all of her hard work.  She was always told when she was a young girl that she was stupid and wouldn’t amount to much.  I’m so glad to see her getting away from that kind of thinking.  She is a wonderful child of God.  I’m proud of her.

I don’t leave the house much and wish I did.  I have so many responsibilities here, and so much to do (much of which I love) that my time out and about is limited.  I used to go for long walks each morning and I need to get back into that habit.  I did get out a couple of times to run errands and I loved it!  Sofi takes care of most of the errands and shopping for the house.  Part of her job is to run the house and she does a good job.

Sofi’s brother Eddy came by to check out our kitchen lights, which quit working while I was in the states.  We thought it might be wiring.  The bulbs were fine.  He checked the switch and found that it was the culprit.  It only cost $1.50 to fix.  Thank You Lord!!!  While Eddy was here, we had him do some honey-dos, and that also allowed me to give him a good day wage.

Sofi has been keeping busy doing pedicures this month to make money.  She has some beautiful jewelry for sale and we are trying to figure a way to sell it on facebook.  She and Acadia (and V) have went to the beach a couple of times.  They take a taxi to the bus stop on the west side of town, and then the big bus to the beach.  V loves the water.  They have had great times.

Our friends, Jill and Robin, from Empower Nicaragua ministry, came by for a visit.  We always look forward to seeing them.  They brought their kids with them this time.  Robin’s daughters might join us for an extended time while working with Empower.  You never know what the future holds and how God will bring people together.

Judith is still in the states, awaiting surgery.  But she plans on being back in June.  Yay!  We miss her so much!

There’s a young lady from my home church who is thinking of coming down on her vacation to experience the ministry.  I look forward to spending time with her.

Also, there are a couple of senior ladies from my home church, who would like to come down to work along side of us.  I can’t wait to have them here with us.  It will be such a blessing for the ladies here and a huge blessing to me.  I’m thankful for all of God’s encouragement through people.

We’ve actually had some rainy evenings in the last weeks.  So thankful for the respite from the heat, even for just a few hours.  We have all kinds of leaks in the ceilings, but that’s part of living here.  Maybe they will get fixed this year. 

Mother’s Day is celebrated here on May 30.  We will have a special celebration in the skills classes that week.  We are planning special food and Veronica has been making some beautiful foam roses for the ladies. 

Sofi and I are having her grandmother over for a Mother’s Day lunch on the Monday before.  We are excited to make a special cake and have some good food.  Sofi asked her what she wanted to eat and she said to fix my favorite food.  How sweet!  I have a card and a special present for Sofi from V.  And Sofi always has a surprise for me.  We don’t celebrate expensive, but heart-felt.  I love it.

We are ending the month of May as we always do, super broke financially, but rich in blessings from the Lord.  He is so loving!  And we are so thankful to have each other and this life.