The rains have started--bringing relief and grief. I've been having to water all the crops daily since I arrived in March. Couldn't wait for the rains to get here and now they are (here). No more hours spent watering. Tragedy struck as well. Finally got the PVC arch frame greenhouse up and ready for business and it collapses with our second storm. Woke up to find twisted, mangled PVC poles on the ground and the plastic roof pulled down. Somewhere the water got trapped and brought it all down. Looked like a twister disaster scene on CNN. So back to the drawing board again. This time no more PVC, no more plastic. Sturdy eucalyptus posts and fiberglass panels, the old fashioned way. 

Almost daily the electricity goes out--for a few minutes up to a few hours. When it goes out at night it means I can't sleep--no fan. And I cannot be indoors here without a fan. I spend almost all of all my days outside. Now that the days are cooler with the clouds and rain I can be inside, as long as I have a fan blowing in my face. You should see me trying to cut out baskets, baby Moses, reeds in front of a fan. I have to hold onto everything in order for all of it to not blow away For me it's not easy coming up with ideas on how to teach preschoolers. Never thought I would be teaching kids this young. Not sure I am teaching them, I'm learning that at this point you just have to entertain them to keep their attention.

God is great--He is letting me do just what I asked before I came here. I wanted to work with the kids here at CICRIN, as well as with those in the community. I am now doing both. I am going to the elementary school right here at CICRIN twice a week to teach Christian Education/Bible Lessons with kids grades Pre-K thru 6. It's amazing how the lessons I'm teaching the kids seem to really be ministering to me in what I'm dealing with in my interactions with some of the kid(s). I know some of you know who that means.
I have also started working with the older boys at CICRIN in spiritual development. The kids have declared me their own youth pastor. We had a great first meeting. We talked about what makes a man a man, since many think that they're already one. I told them that ALL topics will be open for discussion in our meetings. It should be interesting. Please keep me and the kids in your prayers.

FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE, BUT THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE. I think I need these tattooed inside my eyelids, but I would add PATIENCE as a close fourth. If you don't have the first three, you can't have the fourth. You have to have patience to wait for what you believe in to take its course. Hope and patience mean almost the same thing. And you can't have patience for someone you don't love, unless your being paid to do so.

Well, I'm real excited to becoming home for a visit this week. I arrive on Wednesday. I know I want to live here but I really need this break. Cool nights, American food, Mexican food, every kind of food there is. I will probably regain all the weight I've lost here.

Another itchy skin day. Usually by late morning, every day, my arms start to break out in itchy spots from all the sweating I do. Today is particularly itchy. Why do I have to have such sensitive skin if I am going to be working outdoors in a hot, tropical climate. My usual remedy is to jump in the lake to cool off.  Where are my prednisone pills when I need them? Nothing like self-medicating yourself when there are no limits to what you can get at the pharmacy.  Don´t freak out. I take them very rarely. Just to get through days when I´ve had enough of the heat rash that really never goes away. Today I just stopped working earlier than usual and hung out in the kitchen. I taught Danilo and Felix how to make a carrot cake for their friend Maria´s birthday. It turned out good. I explained we had to trim the edges because our hot oven without a thermostat burns the edges of everything we bake. A good excuse to have cake scraps for my coffee at night.  I told them it was my service fee. We are also experiencing a bumper crop of tomatoes so I helped Dalila make about a gallon and a half of ketchup. They love the stuff. It´s what they use in place of tomato sauce. I wanted her to make part of it without sugar, but I got too tired, itchy and hot to care.  Oh, yesterday I made some nice, hot salsa with roasted tomatoes and jalapeños. It came out good and hot. Looks like I will be eating most of it by myself. Most think it´s way too hot. I ate it last night with roasted pelibuey (half goat, half sheep). This morning I ate it with stuffed squash flowers. While I´m in town I´ll have to remember to buy some tortilla chips to eat with the guacamole I´m going to make.


I am excited to see how God is making a place for me to talk to kids young and old about God and get them to make Him a part of their lives. I just began teaching Christian education at the elementary school located on the orphanage property. I spend half an our with three classes twice a week. Pray for me. I need serious help in how to teach preschoolers about God. I´ve also started meeting with the young men at CICRIN to study the Bible, pray, and to talk about issues of concern to them as young men. I´m excited that I am getting to do exactly what was in my heart to do. So my plate is full, but I have a lot of time to prepare for lessons and discussions. I´m expecting God to do great things in all our lives here in Ometepe Island. I´ll keep you posted.

 Felix and Danilo, the dynamic duo, always together

 Milena, Connie and Me getting ready to go to the Ojo de Agua

 My nemesis, the bus aka el chocoron. It broke down on me yesterday. It hates me.

 Brother and sister, Milena and Jose Antonio

 Serious work, having fun at Charco Verde

 Hellen enjoying the sand at Charco Verde

 Tio Jose with new charge Jose Hilario, joined us just two days ago.

 Danilo looking cool after giving all the small kids a ride around the beach.

a typical scene on the island, small store or `pulperia`with Volcan Concepcion in the background.

Back in Ometepe Island

It´s been almost two years since I last posted to my blog. Much has happened in between. I left Nicaragua November 15, 2010. I went back home and brooded for a year about what my life was about; asking God to let me come back to Nicaragua. I know from my own experience that at least for me, family and friends aren´t enough. They are what matter most to me, but a man has to be fulfilled in what he does with his life in order to not to slip into despair. So I am back in Nicaragua, and happy to be so, even when I freeze and think, what the heck have I done? How could I leave my family and home to live in a hot, dusty place where I got parasites within a couple of weeks of my arrival? But then I talk to young men who are looking for someone to teach them about God and call me their papa; I have girls and boys who run to me to hug me when they see me; I have ´my´ kids at CICRIN who call me Tio and now call me their Youth Pastor and I know that this is where I should be.  I just hope that friends and family will come and visit me so I can pretend that I am not as far away as I really am. 

 Can you see the Guardabarranco--national bird of Nicaragua, 

in the backyard of my friends Mike and Joan Vilasi

 Student from Cornerstone Christian Academy, Cleveland, Ohio

teaching origami to students at CICRIN Elementary School

 Aristedis, Jimmy, Juan Carlos and me

 Just like church at home, Hermana Aleida cooking chicken soup 

for fundraiser

 A howler monkey eating papaya leaves at Charco Verde Beach,

leaves kill bacteria, parasites

 Anderson with machete, Juan Ariel and Manuel, with Sara in background

boys from church in San Jorge, cutting posts to make a ramada in their

barrio de Santa Carlota, for Sara to preach under

 Don´t blame me, I didn´t get them started, but I definitely support

their coffee habit, coffee for all in my room. Christian looks happy!

 Pastor Henry Rodriguez ministering to youth at recent retreat.

back to work, my first project is a PVC frame greenhouse. 

Tubes busted with wind as soon as I added plastic roof.  Going to insert

metal rods to fix the problem. Next picture will be of completed greenhouse.

Taking advantage of a free fast Internet connection to load

some new pictures (hope they're all new) since my last blog,

which has been was a while back.

Just want to get pictures downloaded with a fast connection, writing to follow.

The Half Way Mark

A local orchid blooming at a Santo Domingo Beach hotel.

So I have been in Nicaragua for the last six months of my life.  Well most of that time I have spent in Nicaragua but I have made one trip back home, a trip to Costa Rica during the New Year and I am writing now once again from Costa Rica.  Nicaragua is so hot that I had to take a break from the heat.  So I am writing from an Internet cafe in Heredia--which is a few thousand feet above sea level so it is nice and cool.  I think the heat has been the single most difficult challenge for me during my time in Nicaragua.  Looking back I can say I am happy with the results of my work.  I do not mean to attempt to take the credit for what we have been able to accomplish.  When I say ´my work´ I don´t mean single-handedly growing all the produce we have been and continue to harvest.  My work is to organize, plan and coordinate everyone, including myself, to cause the orphanage´s land to produce to it´s maximum capacity in a sustainable manner.

From L to R: Jefferson, Sucre, Me, Jimmy, Darel seated

So now what´s on tap for the next six months? That´s what I´m going to try to figure out during my break up here in the cool highlands of Costa Rica.  I need everyone´s prayers for God´s, not my, desire to be fulfilled.  I do know that I need to focus even more on teaching the kids to become more skilled in being able to take care of the farm-garden independently.  My going away for a break does just that.  I can teach them how to plant seeds and grow the plants to harvest, but I can´t teach them to want to do this on their own.  For this to happen the best I can do is teach them the importance of being able to grow food for themselves so that they will be able to eat better and hopefully grasp that the less money spent on food can go to other items that they don´t see very much of, like milk or more shoes.  A group of three from YWAM Youth With A Mission missions organization just spent a month with us.  They helped us tremendously in the garden.  One evening I felt a strong impression from the Lord to start praying in the morning before we start our work for the day.  The next morning the two women from YWAM asked if we could pray before starting work.  I told them that we are on the same wavelength.  That was what I was about to tell them we were going to do.  The YWAMers also helped me to paint some verses on pieces of wood to place around the garden.  The verses refer to character, ethics, work ethic, God´s words on His creation referring to gardens and plants, and God´s love for all of us, including the kids of CICRIN.  So when I get back I will start focusing on just spending time talking with the kids about what we´re doing, not so much how anymore.  I think they have that down.  The remainder of this year will be spent challenging them to take ownership of the garden and to understand that it is theirs to take care of.  So I guess it means I need to teach them management and cooperative working skills.  SO PLEASE KEEP ME AND THEM IN PRAYER.  WE CAN´T DO IT WITHOUT THE FATHER´S HAND UPON US ALL.  Enough for now.  Please enjoy the pictures I´ve just put up.  Explanations of pictures to come later.

 
 

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS DUE

I serve a Great God, a Good Father, a Great Provider.  Of course my biggest concern coming into missions was $$$.  Will I have enough?  I knew God will provide, but will He for me?  That was the truest test in my mind whether it was His will for me to go/come.  So here I am for five months and He has provided everyday.  All my physical/material needs are more than adequately met.  God has provided me with ministry partners whose generosity enables me to be in a beautiful place where I am getting to know some amazing kids (and adults too), and I periodically get to meet and work with beautiful members of the family of God who are always a big blessing to me spiritually, socially, and ministerially as they offer their labor in the garden.  My work would be much more taxing on me if I didn't get teams to help carry out pending projects that require significant amounts of manual labor.
So I want to thank all the teams who have come from Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., Texas, Kentucky, New York, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio,and California.
I thank YWAM for Laura from England, Nelta from Haiti/North Carolina, and Adam from Alabama.

I also want to thank my generous sponsors who God has literally brought out of the woodwork and have become major sponsors, one of whom I have yet to meet. I also want to mention some new sponsors that have responded in a big way to help send the kids to a retreat at the end of this month.
Thank you John Wells of Massachusetts
Brian Stuart of Corona
Jerry and Juanita Allen
Gloria Lopez
Tommy and Erin Arzate
Rehel and Valentine Hinojosa
Laura and Alex Guillen
Mary Lou Ruiz
Roy and Sylvia Castro
Armando and Frances Arzate
Reynaldo and Silvia Garcia
Ivette Garcia
Marcelo and Nilsa Juarez
Danny and Marty Carillo
Michael and Leticia Ruiz
Gustavo Gonzalez and Consuelo Anaya
Jose and Mary Martinez and Family
Eric and Adriana Adams
Jeff and Pilar Olave
Alex and Veronica Cornejo Castro
Kitty Fortner
Mac and Eileen Galvan
Templo Calvario
this list will have to be added to, it's late and I need to get some sleep so that I get a good start to a new day.

What a difference a day makes.

What kind of day will you have?  It is up to you, at least if you are an independent adult, what kind of day, what kind of life you will have.  I just reread my last post and was at first a bit embarrassed.  I sounded so negative.  What can I say?  I was having a real tough weekend.  Can't believe how many grammatical errors I made.  You know I had to be off (Mari, I know you were worried. Please pray that it doesn't happen again.)  Anyway, no more rash, just a little but it is mostly gone.  Turns out the banana-flavored Ketotefine, or whatever it's called, must have helped.  I went on-line to see what it is and found out it is used for child asthmatics, but apparently it works great on skin allergies too. I just want to publicly thank God and pharmaceutical companies for good medicines and itch-free skin.
So back to your day.  How is it? How will it go?  Tonight was Family Night at CICRIN.  Hellen, the director is in Costa Rica taking care of personal business so I led the Bible study.  We read from James 4:13-17.  The point of the passage is to not to carelessly plan your life out when you don't even know if you will live to see next week.  We are supposed to seek God's will to be done in our lives as we think about the future.  So I asked the kids, "What would you do if you knew tomorrow was your last day to live?"  Again, for the most part we decide what kind of life we're going to live, what kind of day we're going to have.  Most of the kids said, 'Arrepentirse--repent'.  I was disappointingly surprised.  Why repent when you're already saved, or supposedly saved?  Others answered generally about making amends, visiting family, taking care of business, behaving so God would let them into Heaven (Heaven should be capitalized!)  Again, I was worried about their thinking.  Some made some real thoughtful statements about just enjoying the day because their lives should already be in order and they should not spend their last day scrambling to make it into Heaven.  Doña Dalila said we should live our lives being prepared for our last day of life.  She said we should take advantage of our time to use it wisely to enjoy every aspect of life.  But of course, she emphasized putting God first to do things right.  To the one who said she wanted to live right and be right by others but always couldn't because her good intentions weren't reciprocated I suggested that her behavior and conduct should not be controlled how others behave.  To the one who said he would behave I recommended he spend his last day finding out the truth about how to get into Heaven.  To the one who wanted to make sure she repented because if she had any unrepentant sin remaining at the deadline she would go to hell I explained God was not a callous judge clenching his palms just waiting for the chance to reject unaware Christians that had unknowingly failed His perfect performance evaluation.
In closing I told all of them that if they had all these issues that are apparently pending in their lives, why wait until they think they're going to die to settle them?  Why not do these things tonight, tomorrow?  I explained that they are not truly living a free life if there are people they need to talk to, people they need to apologize to, people they need to forgive.  I explained that until they do they are not living a full life.  To begin the lesson I told them that we are a group of young people, although I definitely an outlier I am still young.  They have their whole lives ahead of them.  Yet, according to the Word all our lives are but brief vapors, like a blade of grass, a flower who is here today and tomorrow leaves no mark of it's previous existence.  So the point is God wants us to make the most of our lives in Him!  And we can't have a great life in relation with Him if we live our lives bound in guilt, bound by pride, unable to humble ourselves and make right with those whom we have offended or hurt, or to confront someone for that matter who has done us wrong, but with the sincerest intention of forgiving and releasing so that both they and the other(s) can be free to walk with God (and live with themselves).  That's true love.  That kind of love is possible with God.  He is Love and He fills us with that love if we ask.  He promises us that whatever we ask, according to His will, He will freely give it.  I know that this is His will.  We cannot walk with Him with any degree of depth if we are filled with hate, anger, bitterness, hardness of heart, sin, selfishness, this list can go on for too long.  Why not just throw all that junk away and instead just make room for love, all the rest of the goodies will be added with just this first ingredient--indeed they are all part of this one ingredient.  So I need to take my own advice and really be careful about what kind of day I am going to have tomorrow.  I will not be negative, impatient, judgmental, cynical, too careful.  I will be more loving, more understanding, more empathetic, more concerned, more patient, more HUMBLE.  Life is amazing, I hope we all live it to the fullest extent that God intended.
EVERY DAY.