Saturday in Leon & Poneloya

Saturday was a send off day for the girls at 8 am..then Tommy and I went to get 2 bikes for Nidia/Herman and another for Wismon/Jose..the family that Melissa supports monthly. The Gables had asked for a Saturday alone because Sunday morning Linda will be gone for 8 days to Costa Rica with Marcela for a womens leadership conference.

I brought back 2 full trunks and a carry-on luggage of clothes, school supplies, and toys the girls brought to donate. The Gables house is full of dental/medical trucks so I told them i can hold on to some here and organize them for giving out in contests etc.

When I got back to my place, and Yader, son of my house owner asked me to go play baseball with him. He has asked me 4-5 times but it has always been on Saturdays that we had dance class or another day that I had to do something with a group here. I told him we could play but I first needed a little help carrying the trunks back to room in the very back of the house. I offered him a hat or shirt or whatever he wanted for helping me but he told me that I didn't owe him any gifts. He said that my friendship is the best gift I could ever give him and he wouldn't ask for anything else. It was a very touching comment, and I wish I had many more like him in the villages, they fight over just a rubberband or seashell.

Yader and I rode our bikes about 5 mins to the Leon baseball stadium and met his cousin, 40 year old Erwin, to play some catch. Within 20-30 minutes a 30 year old man and a 22 year old guy, Eddie, asked to play. We were able to rotate through pitching, catchin, fielding, and batting for about 2 hours.

After baseball I took Yader, and his 14 year old sister, Maria, and her best friend to lunch at Whitehouse Pizza. After lunch I did some more organizing of trunks and the 13-14 year old girls helped me fold clothes and sort by toys, school supplies, and hats/clothing. They each kept a stuffed animal for helping and around 3 pm Scarleth, Leo, and I caught a bus to the beach.

On the bus, and at the beach, I did some more work on the attendance sheets...I have over 100 head shots matched to the 350 kids names now with their first, middle, & 2 last names plus ages. I'm no where near finished but it is coming along. We saw the sunset and grabbed some fries and soup at Sayupa before busing home. I went and told Linda bye and grabbed her laptop to keep up with her emails while she is gone. They were going with Freddy to pick up their son Tim from the airport, who was scheduled to land sometime past midnight.

It's GOOD Friday

With so many families visiting and making beach trips we did not know how many people would be at youth on Good Friday after having 100 and 110 the previous 2 weeks. We had around 70 plus the Barnums and Melissa's crew of 3.

We were planning to build a 30 foot by 12 foot stage about 18 inches high with Preston here, but every store is closed for the entire Holy Week and we could not get the lumber we needed for framing, the plywood is piled at the church.

We had some very fun and competitive volleyball games during sunlight, and then at 7 started our youth club. Scarleth hosted a screaming contest for males and females...every contestant got a hand-me-down hat or piece of clothing from the clothes the girls brought to donate, and our winners got to choose from about 8 pieces of new with tag clothing they brought down.

We followed that with the pictures and videos that they all love to see. Soccer, break dancing, dental clinic and other things from the week past. In memory of my 1 year ago cutting and producing of Blow Mullet Blow I showed them my year old hair-do and some other pictures of it throughout its 6 month life. They were dying laughing. View video here.

We are trying some new things to help get the focus better during our praise time and lesson time. We moved all the chairs out to get people standing up and clappin hands for worship and then Tommy spoke on forgiveness while I ran powerpoint of Bible verses and pictures of Jesus on the cross. The forgiveness message was a great one for Good Friday and the focus is improving, but we still are praying and planning better ways to keep their attention.

The girls will be gone in the morning at 8 am, and Preston and Sandra will begin working on building a kitchen and bathroom into the house they got in Leon.

So Great to Catch-Up

Thursday the Gables went to Granada with Melissa's girl friends and had asked me to come along to zipline the trees and visit monkey island, but I wanted to get caught up on some administrative things I have missed with all the groups back-to-back.

I got all of NewSong's 2008 donations entered and reported into a new computer program Linda has not used called PowerChurch. I spent about an hour and a half on the phone with Susan Hall of Atlanta City Church walking me through using the program and getting some reports run to see what money has come in and where it is supposed to be used among our many projects and needs.

The Gables have an international phone that costs a set price every month no matter how much it is used so that helped. I also got to talk with mom, dad, 2/3 siblings and both sets of grandparents. I have kept up with most family through email and IM but being able to talk to them all on the phone for the first time in 5 weeks was great! I hope to have some time again soon to call more extended family and friends.

I didn't watch any basketball games, but I saw the scores online, hate that Georgia lost after being up at halftime and then saw that Duke got lucky from being upset by a 15 seed. Hoping that UNC plays well tomorrow in their first round game.

I also stayed in Leon because Preston and Sandra Barnum of Winston-Salem, NC were coming in around 2 pm...but they had some delays and flight changes and didnt make it to Leon until quarter of midnight. I helped get them settled into their place and then off to bed.

Wednesday Fun in the Sun

We all played in the water and sand for about 3 hours and rented 2 boogie boards between the 6 of us that wanted to wave ride. There were really strong waves and a lot of surfers in the same area as us. I collected shells for Friday night youth necklaces and got some help from 2 brothers and a sister probably between ages 7-11. I didn't even have to ask them they saw me collecting shells and they just kept grabbing more and putting them in my bag, it was really appreciated.

Kelly was by far the best boogie boarder and caught a few waves from a good ways out and got all the way to the sand. All of us gringos (white people) got a lot of sun, but no one was burnt too bad. It was the most crowded I have ever seen the beach, and Yahaira and Lucia were having as much fun as any of us.

We had hamburgers for lunch and checked out close to 2. We went back to Leon and then the Gables and other girls planned to head to Granada for a night and full Thursday doing more tourist stuff, but they were too tired. Scarleth, Leo and I took Kelly and Donna out to a place with live music downstairs and dancing upstairs for a small taste of Leon nightlife.

Tuesday at the Beach

Tuesday we went to the beach. Our Leon team of 5 (all but Oscar) plus Melissa and her 2 friends, and Lucia, head sewing lady, and Yahaira, big help in all areas. We didn't get there until about 5 pm so we had about an hour on the beach and then enjoyed a great seafood dinner. We walked the beach and Yahaira helped me a lot with some Spanish vocabulary. I got time to talk with Donna, Kelly, and Melissa about their lives in the states and their past trips here.

The beach was pretty crowded because no one works here for Holy Week and school is out. We met some guys from Managua that are in a band and were playing guitar at Playa Roca and all of us singing along. They all spoke English and a couple knew some French and Italian. They were between ages 22-26.

We all stayed in 2 rooms, so it was crowded but none of minded to save the mission money. Everyone slept fine as far as I know and we will be here tomorrow until about 2 pm to enjoy some sunshine and water.

MAKING THEIR SMILES BRIGHTER

The first clinic in the new building was Monday, March 18, 2008 from 9 am - 5 pm. We had a doctor from Chinadega and a dentist from Telica there that saw almost 100 patients. The people of Candelaria could see either doctor or dentist for 5 cortabas (26 cents). Linda is a dental hygienist and Scarleth's sister, Cecilia, 18 is in school to become a dentist and her friend/classmate Wymene, 21 as well. All the kids in Nicaragua are out of school this whole week, Holy Week, from preschool to college. This allowed Cecilia and Wymene to be a lot of help and it also allowed a lot of people available for the clinic. The building is not done, the floors are still dirt, but the walls are smooth. The power this time was all extension cords, but I think the building will be really ready within 4-6 weeks; they are working hard every day toward its completion.

I helped entertain kids in the church waiting room while the dental clinic waiting room holds about 10-12 people. I had the Incredibles on Linda's laptop playing in Spanish while I worked on attendance sheets and took headshots. We are up to 119 girls 20 years and under and 122 boys under 21. I have the names in excel in alphabetical order and have filled in Sundays 2/9/16 so far on both the boys and girls sheets, but I only have taken about 80 total headshots. I am enjoying getting to know more and more kids names even though the project is taking a lot of hours, so it's good. I also showed the first 2 of 5 animated Bible stories for children that my mom sent on DVD. They voted for "Daniel in the Lion’s Den" and "The Last Supper, Crucifixion, and Resurrection." They are 45-50 minutes long in Spanish audio. The kids loved them and my mom and Jennifer Sellers of Waynesville are working hard to get me more of this series plus a full curriculum of books and workbooks for Sunday school.

Last night we got back and Oscar and I took Cecilia and Wymene to Hollywood Pizza for their help at the clinic. They were there without pay, but wanted them to know we appreciated their help. We also saw 10,000 BC which was much better than Colverfield.

Hope all is well in the states, and please pull for UGA and UNC for me during March Madness, and UNCA in the NIT.

WEEKEND REVIEW

Needless to say I am behind a few days because we are really busy...Sunday we went out around noon with everyone but Oscar because he is in school Saturdays..Melissa, Linda's daughter 26 and her 2 friends Donna 30 and Kelly 27 are having a blast. This is Melissa’s fourth trip and Kelly's 3rd, but a first for Donna. On Saturday they visited with people in both Candelaria and La Isla. Kelly helped Linda lead some dance classes and we had a big turnout of guys and girls 10-20 years in age. both gorups are trying to learn some hiphop dance moves, but Kelly was also helping the guys with some freestyle breakdance type stuff. Saturday night we all ate at Lobitio which is probably my favorite place I have been so far. They have seafood, steaks, and ribs, about anything you want for $6-$7.

Sunday we went out around noon and stayed all the way until 8:30 Tommy begins evening service at 6. From 12-6 Melissa and the girls organized and had a field day. They had volleyball, kickball, water balloon fights, 3 legged races, and other things with Scarleth's help. I did some help with that from 12-4 but then I helped get all the PowerPoint of songs and scripture ready and setup audio visual with Alfredo and Daniel and Tommy. Tommy spoke about sin and how Jesus paid the price for all our sins and that when we pray they are forgiven. The main focus is still 1 John (we are in chapter 2) with supporting scriptures from Hebrew and Colossians. Linda and Pastor Walter's wife Claudia spent all most the whole day organizing and sterilizing instruments for Monday's dental clinic. We ate dinner at the Mediterranean place and went to bed before 11 knowing that Monday was going to be a long day. I did see that UNC and UGA won the ACC and SEC bball tourney's online scores only, and I am very excited about that, but i doubt i'll see many games on TV. I have cable at my house, but never time to watch it.