To the Coast and Back

It's Sunday night and I have just returned from Chinendage where I spent the day with April and the team she is co-leading. It has also now been two days since I have returned from my 4 x 4 adventure to Puerto Cabezes and back.

For those who don't already know, on December 30 there will be a Sea to Sea bick ride in Nicaragua raising funds to support those severly still affected by Hurricane Felix of last year. Not to repeat too much of it I encourage you all to check out that blog at bikenica.wordpress.com . It is gearing up to be a fun adventure. One of the rewarding parts of being an organizer for this event is that I was able to go along with Dave Stienstra in a trip mapping out our stops and places of interest. This turned into an adventure of a lifetime. We had a Toyota Hilux 4 x 4 quad cab pickup that we booted over some of the worst roads I have seen, through rivers, around major sink holes in the highways, and through many little villages.

This was good in so many different ways. It allowed me a chance to get to know Dave, whom I will be working with rather closely while I am here at the Nehemiah Centre, but it also gave me the opportunity to speak a fair amount of Spanish, see God's beautiful creation and how he diversifies even the littliest of countries. This trip was for me a time to renew my mind and spirit in preparation for the times ahead working here in Managua.



Oh ya and by the way we also pulled a guy out of the mud with our truck, saw a bus topple over on the highway, and pulled our way across a river on a cable barge becuase the motor was broken. And for those who are interested it is a 12.5 hour trip (one way) with an average speed of 45 km/h due to the poor road conditions.

Cerro Negro

One Saturday we went ashboarding down a volcano, Cerro Negro, with some of the Dordt students that are here in Leon. We were just getting geared up for the rough winter ahead...

If you have ever been tobogganing down a snowy hill (that is "sled-riding" for my sister-in-law, Charity) then you have an idea of what it might be like to go ashboarding down a volcano...with a few exceptions.

Well, first of all this volcano is HUGE - at 400 mteres you can hit speeds of up to 70 km/hr down this thing; secondly when you fall, it's not a soft landing. When you go sled-riding you wear a snowsuit because it's cold. When you go ashboarding you wear an orange prison-like jumpsuit to protect your body from the volcanic rock if you fall off the board. A bit different.

The view from the top is absolutely gorgeous and although it was quite the trip I am not sure I want to climb up that thing again, at least not lugging a big ash board with me.

Welcome to Managua

~~ some friends we made in Leon ~~

After two months of living in Leon studying Spanish and exploring the culture we now find ourselves in Managua. I remember thinking that spending two months on our own in an unfamiliar city would take forever, not thinking it would ever end. However, the time has moved fast; we have said goodbye to our adopted family in Leon and are back in the capital city.

I would be lying to say that we feel we have mastered enough of the Spanish language to leave the school in Leon, but our time has come to start working and learning together. We will just need more self discipline as we teach ourselves with the literature given to us by the school and seek out opportunities to use and grow our speaking and listening abilities. Kinda scary to think that we won't have our teachers anymore though. They were the ones that gave us time to talk slowly, listened to our broken Spanish with a big smile and told us we were doing really good. Now we see blank stares, hear incredibly fast Spanish out on the streets and in the stores. Still really hoping for a few Nica's to come along and help tutor us here, I think that would be an awesome way to learn - Coffee and Conversation. Now it isn't that we can't say anything in fact today we went with a guy, who is working at Nicaragua Christian Academy, and did some translating for him at a local hard ware store and while we were out for lunch! That is right WE did the translating!

For the next three weeks we will be staying at Pastor Ricardo's house (the 2007 Faith CRC Nica. Team should remember this place). It is a beautiful home, family, property and we could not have asked for more. In addition to this awesome home we have been able to enjoy some great conversation with Darryl, a former Missionary with CRWRC who is here teaching a development course. He seems to be the guru on Community development and a founding father of the Nehemiah Centre - a great resource and a wealth of knowledge to which we are taking full advantage of.

Work will be kicking into full swing for both April and I come Monday morning. Early Monday morning I along with Dave S. (CRWM missionary) will be doing a dry run of the sea to sea bike race in a pick up truck in order to map out possible problems, accommodation spots, and other points of interest. It should be an adventurous time! April will be in the office for the first week of work, prepping for her trip with a service and learning team up to Chinendaga.

The weather here remains the same, hot and beginning to be quite dusty. I can't wait for the cool 30 degree weather that December is supposed to bring!!! It's a little odd to think that it is the middle of November. It has been quite different seeing Christmas trees and decorations being sold in 36 degree weather. Some people have been saying that Christmas is beautiful here in Nicaragua, and that I don't doubt, not at all. What I do doubt is that it will be able to replace my memories of the time of year. Last week for some reason I was listening to a Third Day Christmas song, within a few moments I was picturing myself at home wearing a sweater with a hot chocolate in hand staring at the snow fall in the street light...this year I guess it will be my Speedo I am wearing with an ice cold Fanta in hand, watching blue skies.

A Typical Trip to School

We must apologize for the delay in this long awaited video blog. Our intention for this video was so that everyone could experience along with us a typical walk to school in Leon. The thing is we are leaving Leon tomorrow to begin our work with the Nehemiah Center. However, we figured that you can still experience with us a little bit of what the past couple months has been like. It is a tad long but most enjoyable...

Nuestra Casa

Si, this is our house. We have been living here for the past 6.5 weeks and are happy to call it home. In less than two weeks we will have to say goodbye to our wonderfully loving family here. We have built such a great relationship with them, especially our "mom". We have many touching stories to remember and definitely many funny experiences.

We will miss saying goodbye to Don Domingo in the morning and saying hi to him when we return for lunch. And for some reason he always up and says good night to us when we go to bed. Ernesto always has a joke or two for us and Alan is very eager to share sports stats with Kevin. And then there is Camila, beautiful little girl who is energetic and happy and very willing to tell everyone exactly what she thinks. Mom always sits down with us at dinner to chat with us for at least half an hour about our day, what's going to happen, about her family, about Nicaragua or just the world in general. She is a very passionate woman and always ready to laugh, but also willing to share with us the truth of life in Nicaragua.

In the next little bit we hope to get a photo of the whole family up soon so you can see exactly who has been touching our lives here everyday.