Not So Thrifty Thrift Store

I forgot to mention that last Wednesday I went to Managua with Cesar to purchase some play clothes. (Like basketball shorts and shirts). He was going to the Ave Maria campus in Managua for a presentation and was going to drop me off at the mall. We were a little late so we went straight to the campus. I'm glad we did, because the professor that wanted Cesar to present asked me to as well, because it is an English class and the students were practicing giving presentations. So, all I knew to share about in such short notice was K-Wet. I showed two videos from YouTube, which they enjoyed, and shared all about working at camp. Of course I enjoy talking about K-Wet, but the really cool part was that I told them about the nightly tiki talks we give to the campers. How we tell the guys what it really means to be a man; not one of the world but of God. And something similar to the girls about finding their beauty and self-worth in Christ and not things of this world or guys. It was neat to see the expressions of the faces of the students in the class. I could tell they were very interested. It made me really excited about starting some sort of bible study or event in the evenings at Ave Maria in San Marcos.

The short story about the thrift store is that afterwards Cesar took me to a Nicaraguan "Thrift Store." Since it was in Nicaragua and everything else is cheaper here, I expected the clothes to cost next to nothing. I was greatly disappointed. The cheapest shirts were $4 and shorts $7. Maybe I'm a little too thrifty myself though.

A while back I went to visit the land that Cesar had told me was donated for the purpose of some sort of Christian ministry or camp. We walked all over the property for about 2 hours. The land is very beautiful and has a lot of potential, but also needs a lot of work and even more prayer. One interesting part of the land is that there are some old Native-American drawings. I have no idea what indigenous group it could be. But if you look at the photos, it reminds me of an Indiana Jones movie. Maybe there is some ancient treasure hidden deep inside the mountain. If only I could decipher the drawings...

Career Student

Well, I have been taking Spanish classes as a student now for over a week every MWF. It was a little difficult for me to fork over the money for the 4 hour credit class, but I believe it will pay off. I now have full access to the university and can start private tutoring. I have a tutoring session tonight at 8pm. I need to refresh myself on Statistics, though. Here at the university I have already made a ton of friends. Though, of course, I stand out a little bit and everyone wants to know who the new gringo on campus is.

I also sent my resume to the university and sat down with the Dean of Students. As we talked, I shared about my interests and my work in the ministry and at K-Wet, but I said that finding a water sports ministry here in Nicaragua might be hard to do. The dean quickly responded saying that interestingly enough just a week ago the board of directors at Ave Maria had mentioned wanting to start a "group" or "club" that was focused on such excursions like water sports, surfing, kayaking, hiking and mountain climbing. He found that to be quite a coincidence that I arrived in his office just a week after that meeting. So, opportunities are opening up. I just need to keep praying a see which direction God really wants me to go.

I am also helping with the football team both as a coach and quarterback. It is a lot of fun but very difficult to keep the students disciplined. Not everyone shows up at practice everyday. In the States they would be cut from the team immediately, but here we wouldn't have a team if that were the case. We'll really find out how good we are during our first game. We were supposed to have one this past Saturday, but it was cancelled. Rain is constantly falling here. I guess a lot of it is from the tropical storms.

I miss you all.

I decided to at least put some photos on this blog. These are from La Boquita, the closest beach to where I am staying. I went one Sunday afternoon to check it out. There wasn't much to do because the water was so dirty from the tremendous amount of rain we have been having. I didn't have any desire to swim in mud.

Feliz Dia de Independencia

It is amazing how quickly time flies here. I have already been in Nicaragua for a week. Most of this week I have been trying to get access to the university, Ave Maria, whether as a student or a tutor. From talking with Cesar who works here, most likely I will become a student first and then work on becoming a paid tutor. As I was walking around the university, I noticed they were starting football practices (American football that is). So, I thought I would check it out and maybe see if I could help out in any way. I went to the field at the scheduled practice time and no one was there. I spoke with a few students nearby and they said the team was working out in the gym. Therefore, I checked the gym, and there weren't too many guys in there. Not much of a team, I thought. But I asked around and spoke with a guy about the football team. He said that a lot of the guys had graduated and they were starting fresh, but they didn't have a coach. I told them that I might be interested in helping and they seemed pretty excited about it. They even asked if I wanted to play. I guess I still have some eligibility left, right? I'm sure the collegiate league here in Nicaragua is just a little less competitive than the SEC. Maybe, like the WAC. Well, we'll see what happens with that.

This week the country has been celebrating their independence. (I believe some of the celebration is of their independence from the U.S.) So, there have been a lot of parades and activities. On Tuesday, the children of MQV marched with about 10 other schools down the middle of the main road in El Crucero. This road is actually part of the Central American Highway, and it was shut down for about 2 hours because of the parade. I found that humorous. I would hate to have been the first car stopped. You know that guys was killing himself for drinking that extra cup of coffee.

Then on Wednesday they had more activities just at MQV with some skits, dances, and songs. It was very entertaining. I enjoy seeing the kids get all excited to dress up and be a part of something formal. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Mi Habitacion

Well... I am in San Marcos, Nicaragua. So the blogs are going to start rolling again.

I was a little anxious when I first arrived, because I had no idea where I was going to stay or what my situation was going to be like. My friend Cesar picked me up from the airport. Unfortunately my plane was an hour late because as we were about to take off, the pilot said that we were having trouble with one of the engine's computers. That's not something you want to hear before taking an international flight, but at least they caught it before we were in the air. Once in Nicaragua, I got to visit with my friends at MQV, and so much has changed at the orphan home. They have so many more little children who love to be held. They simply walk up to you and hold their cute little arms up. It is impossible to resist. So every day since I have arrived, I take two buses from San Marcos to El Crucero (about 75 cents and 40 minutes) to spend time with the children. It has been wonderful getting back involved where I have spent so much time in the past.

News from San Marcos: Every night when I return from El Crucero I try to get out and meet some of the students from the university here named Ave Maria. One night as I was sitting at a pizza stand just outside the gates of the university, I met 3 students. We started talking and eventually I found out that they are having trouble with their math classes. So I said, ¨I love math and am looking to start tutoring.¨ Immediately one of the girls said, ¨When can you start.¨ So, all three of them want to be tutored, and we are going to start next Thursday. It was such an answered prayer because just that morning I had asked God to provide opportunity soon, and He did just that.

One of the pictures I provided is of mi habitacion (my room). It is only $100 a month and right across the street from the university. A perfect location! The woman who runs the place is very sweet and already invited me to church with her. We went this past Wednesday.

More to come soon. I miss you all.

Here I Go Again

It's time again to update this blog since I am about to start traveling again. It seems that I can only write on here when I am out of the country.

I am about to leave this Tuesday (Sept. 7th) for my 4th visit to the great land called Nicaragua. This trip will be a little different from the others before since I will not be staying with New Hope, the organization that runs the orphanage and school and opened my eyes to the beautiful people of the country. This time I plan to work mainly with another Nicaraguan friend of mine as we explore the possibility of starting some sort of camp ministry.

This friend, Cesar, whom you read about in a previous blog about driving around in his little VW Bug, says that no such ministry exists in his country. The first time we met he spoke of wanting to start a camp even before he knew my heart and passion for the same ministry. It seems that from the beginning God was leading us to work together. At the beginning of this summer, before I left for K-Wet, he emailed me saying that he had found 36 acres of land and wanted me to come check it out. So, this trip is just that. I am going to check out what might happen and pray and see what God might be doing. I am a little anxious since I don't really know what to expect, but I do know that while I am searching I plan to live in a little town called San Marcos. There is a university on the outskirts, and I want to start working with the college students immediately: leading bible studies and starting worship nights. I am also really excited about working on my Spanish, and hopefully I will become a lot more conversational in the 10 weeks I will be there.