Nicaragua 2014 - day 2

At the end of the day, they looked really good.  I'd never have imagined we would have gotten so far in one day.  The gardens are coming together!

Our first full day here has been incredible!  We have such a great mix of people on the teakm this year.  It's much smaller team than last year and that makes it much more flexible and agile to get things done.

morning...

My day started where I will start ever day this week; up on the upper room balcony.  Headphones in with some great music (to block out the roosters, birds, horses, Shofar, people, dogs, car horns, etc...  You wouldn't inagine it could get so noisy in the jungle, but mornings are pretty busy.  2 Cor 4:5-13 was the passage for today.. read it.  No seriously, go read it and then come back.

You back?

The two words that stuck out to me were "not" and "life".  All the things we are not.  not crushed, driven to despair, forsaken or destroyed.  But we are persecuted in every way - SO THAT - - - L  I  F  E.

LIFE

LIFE

The life of Christ would be manifest in our bodies!

What life?  Well, how about the joy, hope, peace, patience, long-suffering; all the fruits of the spirit?  Persecuted in every way so that we may have life.  hmmmm... that's a lot to think about.

breakfast

Huevos rancheros, hot sauce - need I say more?  Yes, it was a two cup of coffee morning, but it was a good one.  :-)

On the bus

We all loaded onto the bus.  Franklin!  Our driver and friend from last year is still here to help us.  Franklin is a gentle, giving and serving man that works for teh Buzbee family (the family that owns the property where we are staying).  Then Chachi, Brinson, Coburn, Mike, Sue and others.  It's so good to give hugs to all these people!  I know them.  I have prayed with them and for them.  I have heard some of their struggles.  I have heard their hearts.  And here they are, still, faithfully serving a town, people, community, city and country, in very practical ways, to bring glory to God.  And we haven't even hardly started our day.  :-)

A couple of us went to the store for some food logistics and the rest of us went over to the school in the town of los Braisiles.  That first trip over its always cool.  For the new people, they get a taste of the city "outside of the bigger part of Managua".  They see a lot more of the poverty and what must be the daily struggle.  For those that have been here it is a building excitement as familiar things whoosh past and the idea that we are going to back with the people that we met, loved and helped before are goign to be there again.  Either way, day one is big.  A million questions flood our minds.  What are we going to do?  How are we going to do it?  Who will we see?  Will all teh same people be there?  How 'exactly' do I do something that will make a lasting impression here and not just fade away after I am gone this week?

On site

All the colorful hands.  The work that another team did to paint the outside of the school.  The bright colors on the wall almost scream out that this is something different in a country and small villiage that is so down trodden and hard.  But - right when we pull up I see familiar faces!  Ladies and kids frmo the town that I met last year.  Teachers in the school.  Lisette!  New faces too.  New interns from the states that are here to help.  All smiles, all warm.  Kids are learning, some are up in someones arms, some are playing on teh playground, some are watching us as we get off the bus.  Boy, do I love this place!

I take minute to wander around and get my bearings again.  A lot has changed.  Areas that were dirt before are now paved and covered with classrooms.  Areas that were just overgrown are now large pavillions with tables and places to sit.  More playground stuff for the kids to play on.  The ministry is growing.  God is blessing this.  He is still here and this works continues.  It's so good.

Planning and starting

As we all get here and start settling in we begin the planning of what we want to do this week.  One of the big plans is to set up small "jardines familiares" or family gardens.  They would be equivalent to back yard raised gardens for planting fruits and vegetables.  Probably 10' x 4' or a bit larger.  The thinking is to help provide a small, but sustainable food source.  These aren't going to feed a famlity, but, if they work and are kept up, and the families like them, then maybe they decide to plant parger gardens that really COULD provide larger amounts of food to help.  The second reason is to help them learn another skill that they could possibly use in the future to help provide for their families

The second, and most fun thing, that we plan on doing is having a time with the kids as a group to do some skits, Bible verses and music.  Last year we did all this in the park.  It was a blast and we had a great time, but to say that it was 'controlled chaos' would be an understatement.  This year it looks like we are going to do this with the kids in the school (at least at first).  So, we plan a bit and we will see what happens.  It's all about flexibility down here.

3 gardens

The plan is now to set up three gardens.  One on the school grounds, one for a local Christian family and one for Lisette (who runs the school).  Each place has been chosen for a reason.  The school garden because others can come after us and help care for it.  Lisette because it may give her another source of income and/or food.  And the local family because Coburn (who runs iagine ministries here) says they are a faithful, three-generation family that he likes to help because of their own heart and faithfulness.  OK - LETS DO IT!

Digging, buckets of water, digging, turning the soil, buying huge block for borders, setting them in place, planting seeds, sweating, laughing, talking with everyone and getting caught up, eating lunch, and more digging.

That pretty much sums up the first half of the day.  THE FIRST HALF!  We got the school garden DONE on the first day!?!  Lisette's garden is started and the familie's garden is also about half way.  That's a LOT more progress than I would have ever expected on day one.  It was great to see some fruits of our labors so quickly.  I think the gardens are going to do well.

Time with the kids

This is always the fun part.  There were probably 30-40 kids today.  They all had their cute school uniforms on and were sitting in the pavillion waiting to see what we were going to do.  Many of us had already played with them a bit, but I'm not sure they really understood why we were there or what was going on with our team.  They probably see hundreds of people each year come through.  I would assume many of the teams do things with the kids and some do not.  WE DO!!!  The skit was great, they watched as Samuel heard God's voice and Eli had to teach Samuel how to listen to God.  They read a verse with us and learned the one verse we will be doing throughout the week.  We sang songs and clapped and laughed and had kids on our laps and played some more.  It was wonderful.  Could there be anything more lasting to leave behind than hugs, love and caring for each other?  I don't think so.

Tito and Victor

I have to admit that I strayed off frmo the group a few times today.  My heart is always with the kids, so I found myself sitting on the ground playing or at a table playing with kids frmo time to time throughout the day.  I remember a lot of the kids from the school by face, but I knew many of the kids from the town bercause we had gone to the park to work the previous year.  I really wanted to see some of those faces as well.

All I could see was two legs dangling over the top of the wall aroudn the school.  The roof obstructed his face, so I didn't knwo what kid was up there until I asked someone if I should go help him down.  They said yes, so I walked over.  TITO!  McCheyne, Tito was my first non-school kid to meet up with! :-)  His impish little grin and fun personality were still the same.  I immediately grabbed the guitar and he strummed it with me for at least five minutes before letting his brother, Victor, have a go.  Finally, I have a dirty, ragged, unbathed little boy on my lap - and I am ecstatic!  :-)  He and I go back and forth teasing and playing for the next hour.  We build things with Jenga blocks and knock each other's towers over.  Laughing and giggling.  Dear Lord, please pave a way for Tito.  Let his life mean something good and grab his heart.  Let the music that I hear in him find a way out.  Protect him from the multitude of bad and harmful things here.

This is a long journal today.  As John Cavalaro says "we really sucked the marrow out of the day today, huh?"  I'll sum up the rest.

So, what did you do for the rest of the day?  Oh, I don't know, walked around an active volcano belching sulfer smoke, walked in a lava tube hundreds of feet under ground, had bats flying all around us, you know, the usual.  ;-)  That was a blast for an unexpected "field trip".  Later we ate dinner at a great restaurant and spent time as a team.  We took a few minutes later back at base camp to debrief about the day and then we CRASHED.  I doubt anyone took more than about 2 inutes to fall asleep.

I'm finishing this journal the next morning because I was too tired to do it last night.  If yesterday was a two cup of coffee day, today might be a three.  :-/  Lord, some extra energy today would be helpful.  So, we will go back, dig some more, plant some more, play some more and just "be here" some more.  I would say that the big thing on our hearts today is to go back to the park, see the soccer platform that we started and is not complete, see our other kids and families and reconnect with the town again.

Prayers:

- that we would be able to go back to the park and see everyone

- for energy as we get tired

- for patience if things start to move slowly (as they often do)

- for eyes and hearts to see the lasting things we can do here this week

- that our group would find wonderful time for their own devotions this week and that we would hear from God in personal ways

Thanks everyone!

Nos vemos pronto!

Matt