Wednesday at Santa Matilde

On Wednesday we had our morning staff meeting at the Gables and then headed out to Candelaria for baseball practice, Tommy's leadership meeting, and Linda's drama meetings. Linda met with some young women from Chinadega who are committed there to doing a couple hour drama practice 5 nights a week. They are hoping to teach Linda some things for drama and in turn hope she can help them coordinte some dance.

After I got done doing the admin things for baseball and turned baseball over to Leo for the day, and sat in on some of Linda's meeting I biked over to Santa Matilde because I feel like I don't get see anyone from there enough. I only see about 20 people a week and even then its just the ones that come for about 4 hours worth of youth Friday.

I spent most of my time visiting with Carmen, the Sunday School leader for Pastor Walter's church there and mom of 2 sweet little girls. Both her younger sisters live with her and her husband, Luis. All 3 sisters enjoy time serving in youth group. I visted with them a little over an hour and then went with her oldest daughter to the houses of some of my other youth girls from there. I got interviews done of Darling and Osmayda for this Friday in our "getting to know other" section of Friday videos.

Luis biked halfway back to Candelaria with me to show me the through the woods shortcut path. I had time to visit a few of my youth friends there, most of which have class til 5:30 each day before heading back to Leon.

2 Wonderful Days Off!

The place we went was Montilemar Beach Resort and it was perfect. Monday we just hung around the pool and enjoyed a few of the many, many activites they provide. Tim and I played some ping pong, chess, volleyball, and visted some parrots. We had a great dinner and then saw a show with a little dancing and some trivia of name that movie, name that song, and name the artist.

Tuesday morning we had breakfast down by the ocean and then Tim and I went back to sleep for about 3 hours. We spent the rest of the day at the pool, playing volleyball, and visiting with other people. We met a few people there on honeymoons and some other Americans and Nicaraguans on vacation as well as the staff.

It was the perfect chance to get relaxed and refreshed for a great week to come. The website for where we went is here. The site is not very well done, nothing like the real thing, but it will give you an idea.

Monday and Tuesday Off

The Gables and are I headed to a resort about 90 mins from Leon for the next 2 days..I am out the door right now and will hopefully update last weeks posts with more details and pics when I return.

The resort has hammocks, pools, and great food..and MUCH MORE accoring to the Gables. I at first said i wasn't going to join them. I want to update a lot of webpage stuff and keep working on my attendance sheets and library. I wanted the Gables to have some family time, but they have talked me into the importance of needing and taking a couple of true days off!

I am really looking forward to relaxing and honestly not thinking about work a bit for 2 days. I hope you all have a great couple of days, and i hear there is snow in Boone..cant say i miss that a bit, but I do love and miss all of you!!!

Best Sunday Yet!

Last Sunday's meeting worked out wonderfully. The villagers responded well to the respect us and get here on time for church talk. We had a decently full church at 6 o'clock and started the service by with a great worship time led by Daniel on lead vocals and keyboard, with Tommy on drums, and Darling singing too.

After worship, Tommy invited anyone who needed prayer to come foward. A couple people came foward and within minutes the entire church was at the front being prayed for and praying for each other. There were many people in tears and a lot of hearts touched.

From here the children were dismissed to the pastor's house for a lesson with Yahaira. She showed a Spanish DVD of Bible Stories and then did some activities that the children really enjoyed.

In the main service, Tommy REALLY preached 1 John chapter 2. The sermon was very moving for our Leon team and the villagers alike. Jennifer, Oscar's wife went with us and said she really enjoyed the service. Pastor Jose reminded everyone to come back on time next week and we are really hoping to build after what was easily the best Sunday night service we have had yet!

Half-day Saturday

Linda and I worked on catching up all the donations from March and the first 10 days of April. We now have the online dontaion setup on the NewSong Website. We put a lot into PowerChurch and are beginning to learn how the reports look from the online payments.

After this Tim and I went with Juan Diego to meet up with his cousins at the beach. We spent a little over an hour skim boarding and enjoyed sunset. Then we went to his aunt and uncles beach house and hung at the pool.

We came back to his aunt/uncles Leon house and hungout for the rest of the night and got a great free dinner.

Friday Night Youth Improving

We have now held our 8th Friday Night youth event...the kids are still coming in numbers over 100 and we think they are finally starting to listen. The distractions are much less and more kids are feeling comfortable inside the walls of the church instead of just listening from outside standing on on a bike.

More kids are being involved in our ice-breaker games and fun times, now that they have warmed up to us and each other. I am learning many more names/faces and the attendance sheets for Friday nights are growing every week.

This week during the fun time Scarleth led some games they had done out in Tonala back in December. Partners trying to push the other off balance without moving feet and try and poke the other without getting poked with hands together. They also played a game with balloons tied to everyones ankles and you must try and stomp everyone else's balloon without yours being popped. Kervin and 2 of his friends did a 1 song rap concert, that they have added verses to since the rap contest 5 weeks ago.

The worship is getting really meaningful to more of the kids. They are singing along and some have flags or dances to go with the praise band. Daniel is doing a great job and Linda is a huge help in having the kids interact.

Tommy spoke on how to be a real man, and what kind of man/husband thwe girls need. The kids are really enjoying Fridays and we hope they continue to improve, as we look for more fun time ideas and more meaningful videos etc for our first hour.

Candelaria WedThursday

Tommy had his leadership meetings with 12 pastors, Oscar, and Tim

Leo ran baseball practice, and I got some things ready for Friday night youth.

Scarleth and Linda got to talk with some small business people: garden, sewing ladies, and goat owners.

Scarleth is feeling fine..they haven't told her yet what they think it was but she says she is better and appreciates all the prayers!

Tuesday off in Managua

We also had Tuesday off to catchup from our first day without a group here since March 1. We have loved having this many groups but a couple days from now til our next group will be a great time to catch up on other things. I have been doing more with my attendance sheets, baseball roster, and friday night planning. I have also been trying to get all the funds and contacts taken care of.

Juan Diego finished college in Managua this past December, but had not moved all his stuff home to Leon. He had to turn his key in to the landlord today and get out whatever he didn't want to be thrown away. So Tim and I rode with him in Tommy's truck to go pack up his apartment and bring everything back to his parents house.

Monday off in Leon

Monday was a day off to just catchup on rest and administrative things in Leon, after sending Jennifer to the airport via taxi at 8:30 in the morning the rest of the day was very calm and refreshing.

I also got to go and visit with Viky and her granddaughters again. We hungout and talked for a couple hours mid afternoon. Eveling got me to help her with her English..mostly counting 1-10. Alhejandra and I drew some pictures and rode around on my bike.

Sunday Call to Order

We had our own small worship time and prayer at Pastor Tommys house this morning...it was a great little 6 person service. Tim played guitar and led us in abotu 3 praise/worship songs...Pastor Tommy shared some scripture...Scarleth, Leo, Jennifer, Linda, and myself sang along and listened. We all prayed for the day and the issues of the week past.

In the village we had a business meeting rather than a church service. Tommy has picked up the service for Sunday nights, but before he did this he had made it clear we need people there at 6 pm sharp. People always come in 45 minutes to an hour late, so by the time we finish a 90 minute or so service, break down, and drive 50 minutes home it is quite late.

Tonight we only had a handful of people there are 6, and Tommy felt it was time to address the issue of being on time. Daniel leads a great worhip time for our first 30 minutes. He is assited by a female voice, and Tommy on drums. Scarleth and I run the powerpoint of lyrics. Most people show up after this is over and listen to the service as a chore instead of really letting the message speak to them.

Tommy shared with them the importance of being there for prayer, worship, and the word...along with the respect and encouragment it shows our team when they come to our services on time. We are hoping by next week, this issue will no longer be a problem.

Much Needed Day of Rest

With the long days during Pinnacles time here, and then the issues with Scarleth it has been an extremely long week. We are all very very tired. And are taking some time off today to try and catchup on sleep and things around Leon. Leo is looking after Scarleth as she is bedridden...Tommy, Linda, and Jennifer are visiting with each other...Oscar has school.

Juan Diego, Tim, and I went to the beach to meet up with some of his college friends in town for the weekend from Managua. We all did some skim boarding and just hungout until dark. It was a great day to relax and meet some more people close to my age.

We came back to Leon, and I got to watch the 2nd half of the Carolina, make that the Kansas game. What a disappointment!

Afterwards, we went to Juan Diego's cousins and played poker for about 4 hours.

Friday's are for Youth Group

Scarleth had an ultrasound this morning and was sent home after, they arent exactly sure what the deal is yet but she is making some progress, please continue to pray for her.

Before heading out today we were pretty nervous for how our youth group meeting would go tonight because we hadn't put nearly the time and planning into it that we wanted to. With Pinnacle here we had long days in villages, and then with Scarleth's sickness we have been torn between helping her and trying to plan our fun time, videos, music, and message. Scarleth is our MC and main fun for Friday nights the whole first hour, and she couldn't go. We prayed for the night and decided Daniel could help me MC and we would just do our best and let God take the night in his hands.

We had possibly our best youth meeting yet! Daniel did a great job improvin at MC and Tommy helped us with some great game/fun time ideas. We had 5 girls go behind the dental clinic and 1 at a time had to come through and name different sport balls under towels...but we put Tim's head in place of the basketball and it was hilarious. Darling, one of the pastor's daughters, also planned a blindfolded baby food feeding contest that had some guys pretty messy.

The worship time went great and then the attention for the lesson was hands down the best it has ever been. Tommy let them know that if they wanted to leave after the fun time, they were more than welcome because we are no longer going to deal with side conversations and distractions. Over 100 teenagers-25 year olds listened closely and the night felt like a great success. We are hoping to build off this week.

Please continue to pray for Scarleth, things went well tonight for us, but we hated that she had to miss being out thier with our team. We haven't heard anything new since the ultrasound, but she is home resting in bed.