This time the container really is here.

This past Thursday, after 3 weeks of waiting for the container to get through customs and other "legal" stuff (I put legal is quotation marks because I wouldn't really call it legal - some might call it bribery), we finally unloaded the container at MQV. There were over 900 boxes of food, more than 100 computers, and many boxes of clothes and toys. We had a lot of people come and help us unload. I am very grateful for their help, because it took us all a little over 2 hours. And I have to admit that my arms were a little sore the next day. However, I think it is kind of cool that a Jones was on both ends of the shipping process. Dad was there in Birmingham to load, and I was here in El Crucero to unload. But I bet it took Dad a lot longer, because I don't think he had as much help as we did. Thanks for all the hard work Dad.
I am writing this on my last day here in Nicaragua. It has been a good 5 weeks, but it is always difficult to leave this place. I never feel that I have completely finished all that I can do here, and I will miss all my Nica friends. Though, one cool and interesting fact is that I will be flying to Ft. Lauderdale with Moises (my first Nica friend) and Sarah (his new American wife). We didn't plan it but came to discover that we had scheduled the same flight out of Managua. So, I won't completely leave Nicaragua until we part ways in the States. It's funny, but Moises is very nervous about his trip to the States. He doesn't speak much English and will be completely out of his comfort zone, especially in Kansas where he will see his first snow. But I think he will do just fine. He is very easy-going and fun to be around.

Hasta pronto! See you all soon!

A few things

A few things have happened in the last week that I want to write about. The first was Graduation. The students, parents, and teachers worked for almost a week getting the gym ready for the big day. The night before I stayed up working with a group of them until about midnight, and then I found out the next day that some stayed past 2 o’clock. The funny thing is that the majority of the stuff I was helping with was not even used in the ceremony. Oh well. Nonetheless, I was very impressed with all the decorations. Everything was beautiful, and the students came all dressed up. It was a very important day for them. We had two graduations: one in the morning for primary and one in the afternoon for secondary.
It seemed to me that there were more people for the primary graduation (6th grade) than the secondary (11th grade). I was told that graduating from 6th grade was a very big deal, and that most drop out afterward and never make it to 11th.


Saturday and Sunday, I took a trip to San Juan del Sur with 3 of my Nica friends. Now that school was over and the graduation had passed, we were free to travel a bit. We stayed the first day and night in the city of San Juan del Sur. We played in the waves, and I tried to teach them how to body-surf. They never really caught on, but I think it would have helped if they could swim. That night I taught them how to play “Cornhole” at a restaurant on the beach. I think we played for 3 hours. The place we stayed was only $7 per person. I wish it was that cheap in the States. The next day we met up with Harald and he took us to a more secluded beach about 10 miles south of San Juan. This beach was gorgeous. I almost felt like I was one of the first explorers to find this place, and my ship was anchored in the cove. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to surf, but there is always next time. I would have felt bad if I was surfing and my friends were sitting on the beach by themselves.

The Next Simon

The other day (you know, I should begin all my blogs this way because I never write one the night of), I was a judge for a singing competition. There were 12 competitors and 3 judges. It was a school event so all the students were there cheering for their favorite singer. It was a lot of fun. One group of 5 students formed a band and played Hillsong's "From the Inside Out." They need a lot of practice, but I am glad they still tried. One of the girls played a recorder. The rest sang solo. Each contestant was given a score in three categories: tone, rythm, and overall presentation. I had a pretty difficult time judging. I didn't think many of them had a very good tone, so I based most of my scores on performance. The top three winners are below. I thought the second place girl (the one in the middle) actually sang the best but didn't have the best performance, and she forgot a lot of her words. It was a close competition, but I am at least glad they didn't ask the judges to give a performance.

The Container is here!! (Kind of)

This should have been posted last Wednesday, but I finally have the pictures and a connection on my computer.

Leo and I went to Managua to monitor the unloading of the container that had arrived from the States. It was full of food, computers, toys, and other supplies for New Hope and MQV. (Thanks Dad for all the hard work packing.) I was told that it would only be a few hours and I would be back by 12:30 in time for my singing class with the students. I should have known better - I am in Nicaragua - but it was 6 hours later before we returned.

We arrived at a big warehouse were the container was waiting to be unloaded. It was not at the loading dock, so we had to go back to the trucking company and pay $50 for them to move it about 100 feet. Then we sat and watched as 10+ workers unloaded everything and placed it in the warehouse. One man counted all the boxes as it was unloaded. I don't understand this process, because in about a week they will have to load it back into the container to be delivered to El Crucero, oh well. And of course, it took a while to get started unloading and then they had to break for lunch for an hour. (Although, I was honestly glad that they made them leave to eat lunch.) Once everything was unloaded and in the warehouse, we were told - on the phone as we were driving home - that the final count of items didn't match the list we had. So we turned around the recount it ourselves, because if they find just one item of they will ask us for a "gift" to overlook the problem. We found our list to be accurate, but I found out the we still paid them a "gift" of $25 to keep the process moving, because we would like our container sooner than later. And things here are normally later.

We hope to be unloading the container here at MQV by the end of this week. Cross your fingers.

God really does care about the small things...

Yesterday, Cesar (a good friend of mine who has a strong passion for ministry), Orlando (a new friend who was deported from the States but has given his life to the Lord), and I rode around to certain areas in Nicaragua. We were hoping to meet up with a couple of pastors and discuss dreams of a camp ministry. Unfortunately, we missed both pastors due to falty time scheduling, a common problem in Nicaragua. But all-in-all it turned out to be a very interesting day. When Cesar picked me up from MQV in his ’72 VW Bug, he mentioned getting new shocks but since then the steering has had more play than usual. There was also no AC and the windows wouldn't roll down; only the little ones by the side mirrors that pull in. It got hot quick!

Well, in short, we began having all sorts of problems. Eventually the car wouldn’t start and we had to pop the clutch 3 times to get it cranked. Then, the horn shorted out and would honk at random. I never really thought this happened, but it reminded me of Brian Reagan’s comedic act. The only things we could do was make a joke out of the situation and wave at people when we passed by honking. Luckily, people here honk often while driving. Cesar jokingly told me that he hadn’t had any problems like this until I got in the car. Finally, the front-left tire became loose, not the lug nuts but the whole rim seemed loose on the axle. At times the car would pull hard to the left. This was a pretty big problem and getting worse. I thought at any moment we were going to lose the front tire. We were about 15 miles from the city with no chance for a tow truck. I was a bit worried. We were driving very slowly – less than 10 mph – for fear off loosing a tire at high speed. Then Cesar asked me to pray, because he felt that the Enemy was trying to stop us from doing work for the Lord. I just thought that we were driving a very old car. However, I prayed and as soon as the first words came out of my mouth the car pulled hard left.

"Great. See. This isn't going to do any good," I thought.

But we prayed for a long time because we weren't going to be anywhere for a while. After that first jerk to the left, there wasn't another one the whole way home. Cesar was amazed, and I was too for that matter. God answered the desperate prayers of two faithful Nicas and one doubtful gringo.

Cesar told me today that he drove the Bug to church and still hasn't had a problem. To me that is unbelieveable because the car was starting to pull hard left every 30 seconds or so before we prayed. One thing to be learned from this is that prayer works, even when our faith is tiny (like a mustard seed, maybe).

Dale pues (Okay then)

Entonces…to update you all I have returned to Nicaragua for a 5 week trip. I am already one week in, and it is about time I wrote a blog. But in my defense, my computer has been dead. I got a guy here to help me fix it, and now all the programs are in Spanish! At first I didn´t know what to do, but then I realized it would force me to learn español mas rapido. Also, my keyboard is in some sort of español setting as well, so all the dashes, hyphens and stuff are not where they are supposed to be. Every time I want to type a special mark I have to hit every button to find it. Por exemplo, it took me forever to find @; it´s was not above the 2.

I have returned for a variety of reasons: to visit my friends and the children in the orphan home, see the students in the school and adults in the technical school, continue working in after-school activities with the students, seek out and learn more about other ministries in Nicaragua, and to take some time to visit the beautiful sites that I missed last time.

This first week was a wonderful start to my short time here. The morning after I arrived I visited the school (which is just across the road from my room) and was bombarded with hugs from all the little niños in the school. When they first saw me they had the most surprised look on their faces. It was very heartwarming because it made me feel loved and missed. I have spent the majority of my time the first few days reuniting with my Nica friends.

It feels like I have already accomplished a lot in just 7 days, but I will only briefly discuss one item which took place in a remote village about and hour from El Crucero. Leo, myself, and two boys from the orphan home took equipment to show a movie at a small church in that village. I started the night by leading worship with the only three songs I know in Spanish. Then we showed the movie (it was a New Testament story about building your “house” on the Rock). I then followed up with a short message, which Leo translated, and prayer. Even though it was very hot and humid, it was such an amazing experience that I don’t think I could ever get tired of doing.

More updates are to follow, because I don’t want this first one to be so long that you look at it and decide to read it later. But if you are like me you never get around to it.

HOME

I can't believe it, but I am back in the States. Three months really flew by. I can't believe I used to go on mission trips for only a week at a time. Did I ever get anything accomplished then? I am sorry to have posted more blogs, but we really had some trouble with the internet the last few weeks, and I was extremely busy. Maybe I will write some post-MQV.

It is a little bitter-sweet, because I really enjoyed my time in Nicaragua. It was tough leaving all the kids and friends that I have down there. And they were all extremely generous making me feel special by throwing me parties and giving me gifts. Those stories might be the upcoming blogs.

I hope to see you all soon. I only have a week before I leave for camp, so give me a call.