The life of a single, female missionary

On Saturday I lent my truck to a friend to pick up some wood for a project at his house. When he brought it back to me he said, "Carey, your truck was having trouble with the battery. We almost had to jump it but then we finally got it started." Ok so this is not the first time something like this has happened so I told him no big deal. I'll take a look at it and tighten the connections to the battery.

I am thankful that my Dad and experience have taught me not to be afraid of what is under the hood of my car. :-) Upon inspection I discovered that the new connectors to the battery that I bought a few months back are now too loose and need to be tightened. One of them I could tighten but the other one was tightened as far as it would go and I could just pull it right off the post of the battery. Hmmmm what was I to do???

I biked to the Birthday party that I had planned to attend that afternoon and then proceeded to ask the guys if they could help me or what I should do. All of the guys were busy after the party so they couldn't help me but Halle an energetic, father-figure kind of guy gave me a list of things to do and said to call him if it still wouldn't work. Thankfully I followed his directions, cleaned off all the corrosion and was able to get the car started no problem.

While I'm thankful for the opportunities to learn how to handle different situations. I look forward to the day when I have a loving husband who can help me in situations like this.

Rules and Routines

What a whirlwind week this has been. So many things are happening all at the same time and it leaves me not knowing where to begin. I'll start with the most recent and work my way back. :-)

On Friday Julie and I after a month of preparation, hours of prayer and gallons of sweat held our our first teacher training session with the teachers at Hosanna Sur. We had a great time talking with the teachers about positive rules and routines. We played quite a few games and learned some behavior management techniques that I hope will serve the teachers well. Once the workshop was over we stayed at the school for another hour just talking with some of the teachers. It was an amazing time of fellowship.

In the past week we have seen that our time investment in the teachers at Hosanna Sur has been worth every minute. This week several teachers shared personal things with us and also were more open in sharing what God is doing in their lives. When we started this whole thing my prayer has always been that we would build friendships and relationships first. God has answered that prayer in so many ways.

I praise God for the time that He gave Julie and I to be with the teachers on Friday. Opportunities to encourage the teachers and for the language barrier to not be an issue in sharing the info we wanted to share were answers to prayer. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for the work here.

Please continue to pray for the work in the schools as we continue to help and encourage the teachers at Hosanna Sur.

Other People's Friends

Oops! It has been a few weeks since I have posted. Life has been busy.

Other people's friends. I've been in Nicaragua long enough now to have seen lots and lots of other people's friends, families and churches come down to visit those I serve along side here in Nicaragua. It is really neat to meet the people that my friends talk about and then to meet their parents and see where they get some of their traits.

Last week my friend Dave's parents came to visit. I met them a few years ago and it was great to see them and catch up at church on Sunday. I guess one of the many advantages of being around here for a while is you get to see people come back to visit again.

Not only do I get to see many repeat visitors but I also get to meet many new people. Grace Church sends down many teams every year. A few weeks ago three pastors came down to do some training and we had a little afternoon fun day with them. Two of the guys have been here many times and have become like family to the CFCI team here. We played softball, soccer and basketball. Those of you who know me won't believe this but my team wanted me to be the pitcher for the softball game. Yeah! I know it is crazy isn't it!







The blessings of visitors is that they bring with them a fresh perspective, goodies from home or just great fellowship. May this be an encouragement to all of you to visit your friends and missionaries on the field wherever they may be. Your visit can serve as a huge blessing and encouragement.

Timing is Everything

The past month has been been full of incredible meetings with great teachers at Colegio Hosanna Sur. Julie and I have had tremendous opportunities to encourage and equip teachers all while building relationships with the administration and the students. What a blessing it has been.

Today we had the opportunity to model a lesson for the Bible teacher. He teaches Pre-K all the way to 9th grade. Tyron admitted to us that he is terrified of teaching the younger kids and has avoided teaching those classes for the last month and a half. (This could only happen in Nicaragua... can you imagine if a teacher just didn't show up to your class for a month and a half??) As he shared his thoughts and fears we were able to give him some ideas and tools to help overcome them and enjoy teaching his elementary classes about the great God we serve. Tyron was so thankful for God's answer to his prayers for help in this area. Please join me in praying for Tyron this week as he starts sharing God's work with elementary students at the school. Pray for confidence, creativity and consistence.

After our first week in the school the director and great friend of mine Esperanza called us into the office. She said she had something special for us. She gave both Julie and I uniform shirts with our names embroidered on them. What a special gift. What a wonderful way to help us feel welcomed and a part of the staff at the school.

On the 27th of March Julie and I will be giving a two-hour workshop on classroom management in SPANISH. Please pray for us as we search for the right words and ways to present the ideas we feel will help the teachers be more effective.

Steps of Faith

While much of our new President Obama's focus has been a stimulus plan for the economy the rest of us are looking at our personal budgets and finances and trying to see how to make ends meet.

The CFCI office took some time out this last week to really take a closer look at our budget for 2009. Before we looked at the numbers Alcides shared a short devotional with the team. Philippians 4 was the text. The joy chapter. "Rejoice in the Lord, again I say rejoice in the Lord". As we look to the future and categorize and balance the numbers we could be overwhelmed and feel honestly depressed and overwhelmed. That is why we can not only look at the numbers but if we look back and see all the times that God alone has provided for us, and the ministry here we can rejoice. He has always provided and we can take steps of faith towards the future provision of the Lord.

The natural temeptation when we look at less income than budget is to start cutting. Many times by cutting we end up straying from the vision and the purpose because the numbers don't balance out. We beliving that the things we've planned for this year are from the Lord are willing to step out in faith believing that He will provide for the things that He wants us to do.

I left our meeting excited to see how the Lord has already provided for this years scholarship program and I look forward to seeing how else He provides in 2009.

I praise the Lord for His continued provision for my financial support here in Nicaragua. I am thankful that in God's economy there is no recession.

Warm Sunshine and Long Runs

One of the blessings of living in Nicaragua is that the weather is warm all year long. While many of you are still donning winter coats and hats I am happily wearing shorts and sunscreen. All of this warm weather makes it really easy for me to get outside for long runs with my running partners Myra and Amy, go for a nice bike ride with Aimee and play some good ole' ultimate frisbee. I have found this time out soaking up the vitamin D to be such a blessing in so many ways.

Lord thank you for your bright sunshine each day. Thank you for the growth and warmth that it brings. Help me not to take it for granted and each time I enjoy it to take note of the sweet blessing it is.

New Beginnings

The feeling you had as a kid at the beginning of a new school year was a unique one. Perhaps you laid awake the night before letting your imagination wander through all the new possibilities that lie in the year ahead. New clothes, new notebooks, pencils, new teachers and maybe even new friendships.

The Nicaraguan schools start the new school year this coming week. The ministry of education (MINED) has said that classes will start anytime between the 3rd and the 9th. Currently the teachers are in workshops and whenever they finish then classes will start. There is not a set date for the public schools to start. They will wait for word from MINED. The concept of not having a set day for classes to start is a foreign concept to many of us but is a fact of life for both teachers and students here.

With the beginning of a new school year there is a exciting new relationship that is forming with Colegio Hosana Sur. As I have shared before my dream has been to develop a teacher training/mentoring program with schools and teachers here. After many years, lots of prayer and patience God is moving us to start the program. We met with the pastor and director of Colegio Hosana Sur last week and they are really excited about the opportunity to deepen our relationship and to partner with each other. We don't know what things will look like as we progress but of this I am confident that God is at work in and through the the school and we want to join God where He is working. Please pray for this new beginning that as we move forward and share ideas, opinions, experience and resources that our first priority would be being sensitive to the Spirit's leading and focus on our relationship and not the tasks that lie before us.