Round Two

Well, I suppose it's not really round two, but I am back in Nicaragua for 2 weeks to work alongside Steve and Alma with the Church Partnership program and with community trainings. I so enjoy this work!

Kevin dropped me off at the airport yesterday morning and I arrived in Managua by 8pm. I waited for about an hour and a half for my ride to show up not knowing that she was already there looking for me, but we just kept on missing each other in that small airport!! I was about to go grab a taxi when Alma walked by! Oh how happy I was to see her beautiful face!

After a restful sleep at Alma's place we headed into the Nehemiah Center for a full day of work...and of course talking and catching up and meeting new people since Kevin and I left. Right away Steve invited me into a meeting that would be discussing plans for the upcoming vision trips. Henry (healthy churches) and Hultner (youth at risk) and Steve shared with each other their different program initiatives and how they could come together for the specific purpose of the church parnterships. It was definitely a Spanish refresher for me, but very cool to hear of their programs and all the incredible work they do with communities.

Now Alma and I are working on a community training and are planning on facilitating it with a group a Nicaraguan woman at an organization called "Tesoros de Dios". This will be beneficial for both sides, as the women at Tesoros de Dios interact with a lot of North Americans and we need contstructive feedback on the training as well as a solid practice run. That training will be coming up on Friday morning.

We are now heading back to Alma's place for dinner and I am looking forward to a skype date with Kevin tonight!!

Settling In

It has almost been two months since our return from Nicaragua. We have been settling into our daily routines and reconnecting with our friends and family. Kevin is back at his job and really enjoying it. He loves the consistency and the people he works with, so that helps a tonne! We were both worried about a possible bumpy transition from one cultural extreme into another, but Kevin has handled it without any issues!Doesn't Kevin look so happy?! His boss took this picture even though he thought that I wanted it to sell Kevin on e-bay! Ja ja ja! Kevin is even wearing his Centro Nehemias shirt!

While Kevin is anchored down with a permanent, full-time job, I am working from home, yet still working in Nicaragua at the Nehemiah Center. I am officially working for Christian Reformed World Missions at the Nehemiah Center and do that about 10 – 16 hours per week. My title is Program & Training Developer. In a nutshell, I am working to further develop the Church Partnership Program to help bring it to a point where it is healthy and doesn’t need to be coddled but Steve and Alma can just run with it. Meanwhile, the second piece of my job description is to develop various trainings with Alma, Steve and Mark to use with Nicaraguan communities. The goal is for me to travel to Nicaragua three times in the coming year to put into practice the various pieces I have developed - to evaluate and then revise them. Hopefully, by my last time there most of it has been `perfected` and Alma can fully enjoy running with the program and trainings and not have to worry about all the development and implementation!

Along with working with the Nehemiah Center I need to continue to raise funds and encouragement to support me in my work. That means from this past July until July 2010 I will need to raise all the funds to cover my flights and expenses while I`m in Nicaragua and for my time while in Canada. When I am in Canada I will be working from home...so feel free to pop me an email, give me a call or stop by to give me that extra boost of encouragement and energy.

We are ever so thankful to God for all the people who have made a point to chat with us, call us or email us in the past couple months of transition. The transition is still not over, though, so we ask you for your prayers as we settle and find new moves to groove to.

People mentioned in this blog, in case you forget who they are:

Alma – Alma Hernandez works at the Nehemiah Center with CRWRC, CRWM, PWW. She is an incredibly gifted woman who is amazing at the work that she does, and a very good friend of mine.

Steve – Steve Holtrop is the missionary guy with CRWM and also the sub-director of the Nehemiah Center. A great guy, who is a blast to work with and is very good at what he does in connecting with the various community leaders.

Mark – Mark VanderWees is the missionary guy with CRWRC and is the guy that keeps everyone super busy! He is uber-connected with the communities and walks alongside them as they grow.

If you would like to support my work financially you can follow this link and donate online. Whether you are American or Canadian there is a online form for you to use. If you would like me to send you the information so you can mail it in please email me.

Coffee Table Photobook

I have created a photobook of our time in Nicaragua. Kevin and I have a copy of it if you would like to to peruse through our adventures and here some cool stories. Or you can go ahead and order your own copy of the book online. Don't worry, there isn't any personal content in the book so it really can be on anyones coffee table for enjoyment. It's 120 pages long and the link below brings you to the website I am selling it from and allows you to have a sneek peek at the fun fotos in it! Enjoy!

Nicaragua

Life Captured

By April Voorberg

Book Preview

Canadian Land

Canada is that way!

After almost missing our connecting flight in Houston we landed on Canadian land on Monday afternoon and received a warm welcome from Annetta and Paul at the aiport and later from Kevin's family.

Our time in Nicaragua came quickly to an end. We spent most of the weekend packing and closing up stuff with our rental and vehicle and other stuff. Saturday night we were able to hit up a little concert of the Nicaraguan band "Duo Guardabarranco" for some amazing music and relaxing with good friends.

After moving our furniture on Sunday Mark and Nancy VanderWees invited us to sleep the night at their place so we could get a bit of rest before the early start Monday morning. It was so nice to be able to spend our last night with them, as short as it was. Monday morning came around way too quick and we headed to the Nehemiah Center with all our stuff to meet our friends.

Mark kept saying what good friends we have to meet us at 5 AM to bring us to the airport, and it`s true. We are so blessed for the friendships we have in Alma, Andrea and Dave! They brought us to the airport and even waited with us until we had to move out of sight through security...then we were on our own for the quick travel home.

The "A-Team"...Alma, April, Andrea.

Oh, we miss our friends dearly and miss everyone at the Nehemiah Center. But with a bit of time, we know we will settle in just fine here in Burlington and find where God wants to place us.


We are thankful to everyone for your prayers and encouragement!

Air Conditioning

I feel like I need to apologize to all our friends who voted that we wouldn't even turn the air conditioning on in our house...I know you believed in my stubborness. But, I hit a breaking point. The heat was unbearable. I couldn't handle it anymore and neither could Kevin.

You see, it went like this: We came home, Wednesday, from a long HOT day at the Nehemiah Center and our home, which is usually a refreshing retreat, did not give any relief. Kevin with remote in hand said, "I really think that we should put the a/c on!"...to which I only mumbled "maybe." That was it. That was all it took. And the a/c was on and the heat was being beat out of our house. It's amazing how 28 degrees celcius feels!

To take advantage of the new, refreshing, cool air we rearranged our dining/living area and moved our table and chairs so that they were situated right under the a/c unit. It was like a new life!

So, I deeply apologize to those of you who believed in us and that we wouldn't cave. But I figure, now that it was on once, it will probably be even more hot this weekend while we're packing...