On the Road Again

My time of Furlough in the US is drawing near its end and now it is time to prepare to return to Nicaragua.  This time of furlough has been a refreshing and renewing time.   I am so thankful for the opportunity that God has granted me to find rest and refreshment in His Word and through fellowship and community these past few months.

During the next few weeks I'll be taking time to come and visit many of you my faithful friends and supporters.  I look forward to meeting with you and seeing what great things are taking place in your lives as well as sharing about the next steps for life and ministry in Nicaragua.   
Here is the rough schedule of when I'll be where.   If I will be in your area please email or call me 719.203.8460 so we can put something on the schedule.

Washington DC Area                February 29-March 6
Raleigh, NC Area                     March 6-12
Clarkesville, Tennessee/ KY    March 12-13
Oklahoma                                 March 14-18
Texas                                        March 19-28
Seattle, WA/ BC Canada          March 29-April 7
Colorado                                   April 8-18

See ya soon!

A New Twist on the Same Journey

Over seven years ago I began a journey into the education world in Nicaragua.  I packed my bags and as many teaching supplies and books as I could manage into a 70 lb suitcase (back then you could take 70lbs internationally).   While teaching first grade at Nicaragua Christian Academy I learned a lot about the state of the public school system in Nicaragua.

 

I saw kids go to school only to be sent home because their teacher didn't come to school that day.   Severely overcrowded classrooms, underpaid, untrained teachers, broken desks, doors and chairs, lack of basic school supplies and curriculum are just a few of the struggles that schools in Nicaragua face.   A recent study showed that only 47% of children who begin the first grade will complete 6th grade and even fewer of those who complete 6th grade graduate from high school.    In order for a teacher to teach in a public school the only requirement is that they have graduated from high school.    All of these discoveries have given me a greater burden for training and mentoring for teachers in Nicaragua.

Through connections with churches and friends I have had the opportunity to do several workshops with teachers both in Managua and in Jinotepe.   These have been great opportunities to discuss and share new ideas about classroom basics with teachers such as classroom rules and procedures, how to write a lesson plan, daily routines, homework check-in and transitions.   All of these opportunities have fueled my desire to do more to help these teachers.

What's next!!  I have been asked to help start a new school  Nicaragua Christian Academy in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.  It is a small rural town in the mountains.  Matagalpa is about 2 1/2 hours from Managua where I have lived for the past 7 years.    This new position will afford me the opportunity to work with teachers at the ground level helping them understand and implement good classroom practices.   All of the details of my new role and position are not yet fully defined but the is what I know so far. :-)   I'll be helping hire and train new teachers, serve as the elementary principal, help with curriculum development and teacher mentoring, English teacher, as well as start our school library.   YIKES!  Does that sound like a lot?   It is and it is going to be a very stretching and growing time both personally and professionally but I am excited to see how God will be glorified through it all.

Here are a few facts about the school

• The school will be in Spanish and will start with grades 1-7 and grow a few grades each year as we are able
• School will officially open in February of 2013
• Construction has begun on the property and we are hopeful that it will be finished by October sometime
• This school will serve students and families from the middle class in the Matagalpa area
• Our mission is to provide students with  academic excellence and a Biblical worldview so that they can enact greater change and transformation in their own home, neighborhood, business and community

Ways you can be praying

• Pray for a Nicaraguan Director from Matagalpa who has a heart and passion for education and his community
• Teachers who love the Lord and are passionate about teaching as well as eager to learn and try new things
• Continued support and backing from community leaders, pastors and universities in the area
• For wisdom for me as I step out and learn how to humbly lead and learn
• For financial provision for me as I take on this new role.  Donate 

Unexpected Blessings

In January I had a wonderful opportunity to visit Nicaragua for a week.  After 7 years of living in a place it becomes more and more of a home than where you came from originally.    As soon as I stepped off the plane and soaked in a long, deep breath of that warm, humid air I knew I was home.

The week at "home" was packed with lots of fun meetings with my friends and co-workers with Christ For the City Nicaragua (CFCI).   God has been so faithful in providing direction for my next steps in ministry in Nicaragua.   I'll tell you more about those next steps in another post. :-)

Anyone who has spent anytime overseas knows that things don't move as fast or go as smoothly as we often expect and hope.   This trip was quite the opposite of most of my experiences in Nicaragua.   Here are a few examples of how God blessed every step of my journey to Nicaragua.

• My luggage was lost but the airline called me and sent it out to me the very next day.   (In all of my time in Nicaragua I have never seen this happen)
• I was able to participate in CFCI devotions and meetings as we prepare for the upcoming year and ministry
• My friend Melissa got married the weekend I was in town and was able to go to the wedding!
• The annual Triathlon that NCA  does also was the same weekend and I was able to help organize final details and even participate.   I placed first in the women's division.
• Another friend Alicia had just had her first baby the week before I arrived and we were able to visit and catch up and I was able to attend her baby shower.
• Opportunities to watch little 6mo David try carrots for the first time.  It was very entertaining.
• Prayer and fellowship with friends at church
• Vision sharing with the person heading up plans for the new school I am going to be working with.  (more to come on this)
• Rattling around in my Nissan truck and remembering how to drive NICA style.  :-)
• Reading some SkippyJon Jones with my last first grade class.
• Catching up with all of the ladies at the school cafeteria and sharing lots of great laughter with them and seeing Doña Blanca  finding joy in little things after her world was changed 1 1/2 years ago with the death of her 15yr old daughter.

The time seemed to multiply and I had great conversations, prayer and fellowship with so many people and I never felt rushed!  I praise God for the blessings he continues to lavish on me. 

Sorry I didn't take many pictures while I was there but I managed to capture a few Nica moments.

I went into the immigration office for a few minutes and came out to find the car next to me so close I really had to squeeze to get back into my car.  I didn't even realize that I had become used to so much SPACE in the US parking lots. :-)

Who says you can't use a truck for almost anything?   We were hanging up the Finish sign for the Triathlon.  Believe it or not this is actually safer than what we did last year.

Eucharisteo, Grace, Thanksgiving and Joy

As I begin this blog I am overwhelmed with tears both of sorrow for a young friend who just lost her dad and tears of joy for another dear friend who after many years of trying just found out she is pregnant.   Both situations are celebrations of life.   One just beginning and one coming to an end.   What does all of this mean?  Life is full of both joy and sorrow we are promised this and see it played out in Scripture time and time again.

Thanksgiving- Eucharisteo- giving thanks in everything with Grace and Joy.   This seems easy to do with the friend that just found out she is expecting, yet terribly difficult with the one whose loss is so profound.  Eucharist is a word I've always heard and associated with communion or the Lord's Supper.  Yet this word as I've been reading and seeing it in Scripture is transforming my life. This is an excerpt from One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp where she defines the idea well.   "Thanksgiving- giving thanks in everything- prepares the way that God might show us His fullest salvation in Christ.  The act of sacrificing thank offerings to God - even for the bread and cup of cost, for cancer and crucifixion- this prepares the way for God to show us His fullest salvation from bitter, angry, resentful lives and from all sin that estranges us from Him.  At the Eucharist, Christ breaks His heart to heal ours- Christ, the complete accomplishment of our salvation.  And the miracle of eucharisteo never ends; thanksgiving is what precedes the miracle of that salvation being fully worked out in our lies.   Thanksgiving- giving thanks in everything- is what prepares the way for salvation's whole restoration.  Our salvation in Christ is real, yet the completeness of that salvation is not fully realized in a life until the life realizes the need to give thanks."

On Christmas Eve I experienced one of God's miracles.   I was driving down icy, snowy roads near my parents house in Colorado going to meet a friend for coffee.   It was early in the morning so as I was driving I was still thinking about the passages of scripture I had read that morning and the quote above about thanksgiving.   I was listing off in my mind some of the things I was thankful for in kind of a prayer to God.   Thank you for the glistening snowflakes in the morning sun, the opportunity to spend Christmas with my family this year, safe travels out to Colorado and so on.   As I was rounding a corner my car slid on the ice I tried to redirect the car but couldn't.  I kept sliding right off the road over an embankment and down a hill until the car stopped right next to a big bush.   While sliding down the hill I prayed for safety.   Once the car slid to a stop the first words out of my mouth were, "Thank you Lord for keeping me safe."  

The car at the bottom of the hill

As I crawled out of the passenger door and evaluated the situation again words of thanks rolled out of my mouth.  "Thank you that the car doesn't look too damaged and that we have good insurance that will cover a tow truck to get me out of here.  Also that my Dad and Marilyn live so close and can come and get me."  After a few quick phone calls and a few friendly neighbors stopping by to make sure everyone was all right we had the car back up on the road.   The tow truck driver said it was remarkable that there was no damage to the wheels or front end  considering how far I slid down the hill.   I told him the only explanation was the grace of God.   He just smiled and said that I was lucky.   

My Dad watching the tow truck pull the car out

 While I praise God for this miracle I am thankful for the opportunity to see this idea of thanksgiving preceeding the miracle of salvation played out in own life.  Psalm 26 hold both ends of eucharisteo in both times of rejoicing and times of sorrow.  The promise we have is in verses  5 and  6 that these tears we shed in sorrow or joy with hearts of eucharisteo, grace, thanksgiving and joy, will return with songs of joy someday.   Though we would like to know when that day will be we must continue on steadfastly offering our lives as sweet thanks offerings to the Lord.

Psalm 126

A song of ascents. ¹ When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,

   we were like those who dreamed.

² Our mouths were filled with laughter,

   our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

   “The LORD has done great things for them.”

³ The LORD has done great things for us,

   and we are filled with joy.

 ⁴ Restore our fortunes, LORD,

   like streams in the Negev.

⁵ Those who sow with tears

   will reap with songs of joy.

⁶ Those who go out weeping,

   carrying seed to sow,

will return with songs of joy,

   carrying sheaves with them.