Quick Thoughts

I haven’t written anything in a while so I just wanted to say a couple quick things.

Thank you for looking at my site!

I’ve updated my web albums to include name tags so now you can see your very own album of pictures that include you (if I have any). If I spelled your name wrong, or missed you in a picture, I’m sorry… let me know about the spelling and I’ll get that fixed pronto.

It’s hot

I still love it here

I’ve taken the bus a couple times now and it’s cheap and easy.

Riding a bike is still cheaper, but much warmer. I think it’s faster too.

We’ve started youth services and they’re fun.

I’ll be in the states in less than two weeks and I’m excited and nervous all at the same time.

I miss people, and people who aren’t people (you know who you are).

Ok, good night… stay tuned, there’s more to come.

Birthday Weekend in Matagalpa

Saturday was my birthday.  I turned 27, and I’m not sure I like the age, but what can you do right?  The day started out like any other Saturday, with a kid’s service.  It was, as always, a ton of fun and started out with all the ladies and kids from house of hope wishing me felizidades.  I had made plans to go out of town with my roommates, Mary and Alicia, for a night to celebrate my birthday after the service.  I have wanted to see the city of Matagalpa for a while now, it’s about 2 hours north of Managua, and seems to be many people’s favorite city in Nicaragua.  Dan had been planning to ride his bike up there anyway, so he also came with us.

It was a ton of fun, we went with no real plan, just a reservation at a cheap hotel.  As it turned out it was a great weekend to go, there was a big festival going on so we got to see a fun little parade.  Matagalpa is located in the mountains in the north so the weather was amazingly cool and perfect for walking all around town.

One of the candidates for Queen of the Dance

We went to dinner at a local restaurant that is owned by the brother of a guy (Javier) who owns a coffee shop here in Managua and is a friend of Alicia and Mary’s.  After we finished eating dinner, but before we paid we saw Javier walk past the front door.  Mary went out and said hi so he came in and sat with us for a little while, then he took us to the back of the restaurant to show us his brother, Mario’s house and introduce us to his brother.  We were warmly welcomed and offered coffee (of course).  We sat and talked for a while and we told them that we had wanted to stop at their coffee mill that was just south of the city on our way up, but it was closed.  They told us to come by the next day on our way out of town and that they would be there after noon.  We said our good-by’s paid our bill and then hung out in the city for the rest of the evening.

Me, Mary, and Alicia

The next morning we slept in a little bit then had coffee and breakfast at a café then went to visit Alicia’s friend Elda for a little bit and take a short hike from near where she lives to the top of a hill/mountain, that overlooks the city.  It was an amazing view, and very windy!  After that we went to a small resort that is just north of Matagalpa and took a short hike around the property and then headed back to Managua, by way of the coffee mill.

When we got to the coffee mill there were a lot of cars and a banner that said “Feliz Cumpleaños” aka Happy Birthday.  We saw Mario’s wife and said hi and she invited us in for their mother’s 80th birthday party!  Javier and Mario forgot to mention that if we stopped by the mill that we would be crashing the party.  But they welcomed us as family and even gave us lunch, cake, and (of course) coffee.  It was an un-expected great time.

The mom with four of her sons: Alfredo, Mario, William, and Javier

To view more pictures from my birthday weekend in Matagalpa, click here

2009 Birthday Weekend in Matagalpa

To view pictures from my birthday weekend in Matagalpa, click here

Heroes Videos

This month in Niños de Vida (our kids program) we have been talking about some Bible Heroes, and we have made the following silly videos. They’re in Spanish, but here’s the basic premise of each one:

In this video I am getting ready for the service and check to make sure that I have enough candy to hand out afterward (we do this every week), but all I find is empty wrappers and I don’t know what to do. Enter our two super heroes (kinda), Megaphone Man who just talks loudly in a megaphone and thinks he has a super power, and Bad Breath Man who blows his breath on evildoers to defeat them, this doesn’t always work either. They come and try to find out who took the candy, enjoy…

Click to watch Heroes Video #1

In this second video, I have another problem… the dog (one of our characters) is in the sanctuary trying to sing and play guitar and I can’t get any work done, the two superheroes come and try to stop him…

Click to watch Heroes Video #2

In video number three I’m again preparing for the service and didn’t realize that the memory verse cards that we hand out at the end of each service had been stolen. The two superheroes come to my rescue…

Click to watch Heroes Video #3

In this week’s video I’m getting a little too used to the help from the superheroes and, maybe I abuse my power of asking for help a little too much….

Click to watch Heroes Video #4

Next week there will be another video and I’ll be sure to post it and share it with you all! I hope you’ve enjoyed them.

More traveling (home from work) adventures

Yesterday Mary had to drive to work so she dropped me off at the church. That meant walking home, I was looking forward to the change of transportation and the walk. About two blocks from the church I decided that I didn’t need to keep my eyes fixed on the sidewalk (that was a mistake) not long after I made that decision there was something, (a tree root, a piece of concrete, a dead dog) I don’t know what, but something that decided that it was going to get in the way of my foot. I started to fall but thought I had regained composure, but nope, I was wrong, I completed the fall. It was one of the wierdest falls I’ve ever taken, about halfway down I thought I was fine and then a split-second later, realized that I wasn’t. I had a bottle of water in one hand and that went flying and rolling to the feet of the kinda cute guy that was up the sidewalk a ways, and my other hand went down to catch me. Amazingly I don’t have any scrapes at all from the fall, and only a slightly bruised knee, and ego. The cute guy gave me my bottle of water and I went on my way laughing at myself most of the way home.

2009 August Nicaragua Pictures

August was a fun and busy month. The team left at the end of July and Ashleigh, one of the kids from DC’s youth group, stayed with us (Jeremy, Jessica, and I) for an additional two weeks. It was a lot of fun having her here!

To view my random pictures from August, click here

My New Ride

Yesterday I had my first day of work traveling from my new home. I am now riding this lovely piece of equipment to and from work every day:

My Ride

It’s gone well so far except that the bike hadn’t been used in a while so the tires were a little flat yesterday morning, but that wasn’t going to be a big deal because there is a tire pump attached to the frame. However, I didn’t know how to use it and ended up letting more air out. Thankfully our security guard, Eduardo, was riding by on his bike and offered to help. He couldn’t figure out that pump either and after about 15 minutes of us trying he just went and got his pump from home (3 blocks away) and pumped up my tires for me. Then I rode to work, it only took about 10 minutes.

This morning Mary decided that riding a bike to work sounded like fun and since she has a second bike (the one I’m riding is also hers), and our routes are almost the same, we thought it would be fun. Enter bike with flat tires number two. She also couldn’t get the pump to work so we went down to Eduardo’s house and he filled her tires as well. Then we set off for work. The rest of the riding was uneventful, except for the time I almost ran into the back of a bus.