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.