Vacation Well Needed

Last week we had some friends from Las Brenas (the northeast of Nicaragua) come for a few days. They are pastors in a very small community that has no water or electricity. And there is no need for a car there since the closest gas station is over an hour away. Anyway, they have been pastoring now for over 15 years and have never once had a vacation. Roger has worked with this pastor the last few times he has gone to the northeast.
Luis and his wife Glendy came last week and we had planned to take them around to get to know the southwest part of Nicaragua that they have never been to. They first arrived late, after a 15 hour bus ride. We had a chance to visit parts of Managua, Granada, Catarina, Laguna Apoyo, and of course our local Jinotepe. We had such a great time getting to spend time with our extended body of Christ and to just see them RELAX!!!

On A Personal Note...

Well yesterday, around 11am, we heard a bit of cracking and Roger went to take a look and sure enough the tree in front of our house finally gave way. We had been hearing it crack with the wind but had no idea that more than just a few limbs would fall. It was laying on all of the cables and two of the posts had begun to bend. Of course, here in Nicaragua, it takes a bit longer to get things done unless you do them yourselves. But, after pushing the owner of the property, we finally got someone to come and cut down the limbs before any cables broke.It was so amazing to see these guys scaling the tree barefoot with ropes and machetes; taking whacks at the limbs, that are sooo close to the cables. They were sitting on, the already falling branches, to cut the ends while tied by a rope with a pulley system, just in case that unstable branch gave way. They ended up cutting about half of the branches and limbs off to keep from anything happening like this again. It is wild how over half a huge tree could be cut down using only a machete. Nothing is ever boring here!!

Zoo Trip

I can't believe it has taken me this long to write about the zoo trip that we took in July. Last year we only were able to take 1 school. It was a trial run. Because last year went so well we were able to take all 5 schools. The kids were all so excited about the soon arriving day of their field trip. We found out that for all the students, except those that had a chance to go last year, this was their first trip ever to the zoo and for many it was their first trip, period.

We met the 3 buses at 6:30 am to go get the kids in the communities. We had 3 of our friends from Managua that wanted to come out and help (thank God!!) that met us at the buses. We had 2 different pick up points for the 5 schools; 3 of the schools are extremely difficult to get to without a 4x4. We began on our trip around 8:30 am from the communities. We had so much fun on the way to the zoo, the only problem was that I think I somehow got the unlucky bus. There were at least 3 or 4 that "got sick" on the bus....this time I came prepared!! It was so beautiful, on the way to the zoo we passed by the active volcano Masaya. It was such a beautiful and clear morning....we couldn't of had a more precious view for all the kids to see.

Finally we arrived at the zoo, unloaded and got into groups that were led by a guide. Once again we had many with their notebooks to take notes for class. It was great to see how excited everyone was..from 3 to 17 years of age. We spent a bit of time there and then loaded up for a park where we would eat our sack lunches.

It was so nice to have a place to play and to just have fun. When it was about time to load up and head home Roger talked with the kids to share with them about the love of the Lord and to motivate them to believe who God says that they are.

We all loaded back up in the buses and headed home. The mood was much different heading back. It seemed so much quieter :) I happened to be on the bus where the preschool and kindergarten kids were and I think most had fallen asleep by the time we arrived. Included my own 2 kids, Josiah and Rachel. We finally arrived back around 3:30 pm tired and happy. We waited around to make sure that all the kids had made it home ok and then headed back home ourselves.

All in all we had such a great time. We had over 220 students, teachers and helpers. What a day, what a trip...and we will probably be crazy enough to do it again..:)