Sister-in-law x 1 Aunt x 2

Some of you have asked me if I'm in the States. I was for a week. I had many great reasons to go to Texas for a quick visit.

On May 16th my little 23 year old brother got married. Don and Jesselyn were planning on getting married next year but decided to move the date up in order to have the wedding at the Rennisance Faire that they go to every Spring. Things worked out just as they had dreamed.

A special toast to the Bride and Groom from the King and Queen of the Faire

All of their family was able to come, they were able to design the ceremony and cake the way they wanted and it all was beautiful. It rained the morning of the wedding but stopped just as the wedding was getting underway. It was wonderful to see both of them so happy.

Jesselyn has a 3 year old son named Gabriel and we had a blast playing together. I went over to the newlyweds house for dinner while I was home and Gabriel and I hit it off right away. He is super excited about Ironman right now and really wanted an Ironman costume. He was told that he needed to wait until his birthday in October to get one. Well being the creative, fun, Aunt that I am we made our own Ironman suit out of boxes from the new pots and pans Don and Jesselyn got as wedding gifts. :-)

The next big reason it was a wonderful quick visit to the States was to meet my new nephew Corbin. He was born in November and I haven't been back yet to meet him. My sister could only make it down from Colorado for the day of the wedding so you can imagine who was holding the baby the whole time.... ME! That's right Tia Carylla was soaking in every minute with my sweet little Corbin. I have to admit I think that he is by far the cutest nephew in the world. I guess I may be a little bias.

Carey, Mom, Scottish Corbin, and Marnie(Corbin's Mom)

Oops! I'm baaaaaaack!

Yikes! I'm not sure what has happened to the last month and a half but lots has sure been keeping me hopping. I know I'm a little behind on keeping you up to date. Hmm let's see I worked with a medical team in Rivas for a week, did another teacher training, said good-bye to Julie our intern, received a team of two that did some training for our staff, moved out of my old house, went to the States for my brother's wedding, met my new nephews, visited my home church in Killeen, and whew lived to tell about it. :0) Now if that wasn't the longest runon sentence there ever was.

Ok so a lot has happened. Today I want to share about the teacher training that Julie and I did the last week she was here. We feel so privelaged to have had the opportunity to work with the terrific teachers at Colegio Hosanna Sur. Esperanza the director continues to be an encouragment and is helping us know how to better meet the needs of the teachers and students at her school.

We continued on our topic of classroom managment. The teachers were given opportunites to pen the rules and consequences that they want to use in t
hier classrooms. Mixed with fun games and lots of role-play teachers left with a plan to put into action in thier classrooms.
The following week when I went to visit the school many of the teachers had taken the first step and had their rules displayed on their walls.

I am continously grateful for the friendships that have developed with these teachers and the ways that God is blessing both their lives and mine through this experience. Praise the LORD.

Perspective

Perspectives. We all have them and they are all different.

Last weekend I went with some friends to some islands on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. As many of you may have heard me say before the Atlantic coast is like a different country. There are a lot more darker skinned Nicaraguans and Spanish is not the primary language. The east coasters speak a Creole English. The English they use is sometimes hard to understand but very fun to listen to. While many of them speak English I also learned through making friends with Jenny at the corner store that they had Spanish classes too while they were in school. Although not everyone speaks both. I often found myself confused as to what language I should speak. I would start a sentence in Spanish because that is what I am accustomed to and then end in English because I wasn't sure they were understanding me.

This was a neat experience. Aimee, Kate and I went on a walk up to a look out one morning and we passed by a school. I was amazed by the things I saw on the walls in the classrooms. It appeared that learning was really taking place. After seeing so many Nicaraguan classrooms that are sterile environments filled with caos and lots of confusion it was encouraging to see. While learning is a definite positive thing not all learning is correct. Here is the sign that was on the door to one of the classrooms. What do you think it says?

Can you read it? Welcome to Second Grade! I am pretty sure that this teacher has taught her class that this is the correct spelling. There were several other things on the wall in the classroom that indicated that this was the case. Now, while one could get hung up on the fact that these students are learning how to write and read English incorrectly I have to say that I am happy that they are actually learning to read and write at all. There are many others who will not have the same opportunities as these kids. While it may not be the best at least it is something.

Seeing this sign further motivates me to help Nicaraguan teachers learn more and be more effective in their classrooms. They have such limited time to impact the lives of their students not only academically but spiritually and emotionally too.

Here are some other pictures from the beautiful Atlantic coast as well.

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.