Waka Waka

Briana has been teaching the awesomest dance classes ever in Nica. I "help" by dancing along and videotaping. :)

Here is a video of them working on the dance to Waka Waka. The kids LOVED it. The music's a little hard to hear the first 15 seconds due to the thunder storm (which is also why everyone is soaking wet).

Play Along with Teatro Catalina

We're going to try something new... a blog post that is also a game! Are you excited? There will be prizes from Nica for the winners when I return, so you should be.

Once a week we teach a theater class in Villa Catalina, which is one of the villages Amigos for Christ has built (read more here). This class was started by Katie, and right now they are putting on a production of Snow White that is quite hilarious. It is so amazing that in this random little village in Nicaragua, there is such a great opportunity to be creative, bond as a group, and learn a fun skill. Katie really does a great job with them.

Anyway, a week or two ago, they played a theater game that was sort of like group charades. They were put into three groups and each group was given a well-known story. They were then given the task of coming up with three still frame poses that would communicate what their story was.

I got pictures of each of their poses and will post them below. Your job is to guess (via comments) what their stories were.

The rules are:
1) If you were there, you're disqualified 'cause you know the answers
2) You may only guess at one of the three stories, and you only get one try. This will give a chance for more people to play.
3) I will let you know the answers when all three have guessed correctly. The first three people to guess a story right will receive prizes from Nicaragua (though this may take a lil' while if you don't live near me).

Here they are...

Group 1:

Group 2:

Group 3:

Little Dreams Come True

My first week here in Nica, God showed me a way that he already has answered things I prayed when I was here before. During one of the days I was here in March, I went on a quick delivery run with the Amigos staff. We left the Villa, which is where visiting groups always go to work and play, and went to another village I had never seen before. There was a school there, and we delivered a bunch of donated backpacks to their students. The school was about the same size as the one in the Villa, but the kids were not nearly as vibrant as the others. They didn't run up to us to try to play like they do in the Villa. I remember praying that God would send Amigos there too, because these people were in a lot of need, but they did not have the American groups come to work and play among them much.

The first full day I came back this summer, we were told that the groups were mostly digging pipeline in a different place. Amigos had just finished drilling a well for another community, but needed to dig 6 miles of line to get the water to them. So, we went out in an old school bus full of 60 American high schoolers, parked on the side of some random highway, and started digging. At lunch, the staff walked us about a half mile down to where this community lived so we could meet them. We walked through the village and then came to the school, which looked a tad familiar. After staring at it for a few seconds, I realized that it was the same school I had helped deliver backpacks to, months before.

These kids who before had been tired and slightly suspicious now ran up to us to play. All this summer, the American groups go out twice a week to dig this line and get to go interact and play with the kids in the afternoon. They play field hockey, football, and jump-off-the-back-of-the-slide-and-have-a-gringo-catch-you. It is so cool to see that a little wish I had that a village could get love like the Villa has been realized so abundantly.

Reunited

There is a little boy here in Nicaragua named Junior, and he is my absolute favorite (not that I have favorites). When I was here in March, I played with him just about everyday and completely fell in love with him. I could never tell if the feeling was mutual though because these kids have Americans come and play with them almost every week. He always called me "Gringa," which is just what they call white women. So, when I left, I was sad to leave him, but didn't think he would even give my departure a second thought.

My first week back here in July, I didn't see him. I figured he had moved or something because he hadn't come out to play with the Americans like he had before. So, my third day in his village, I prayed that I would be able to find him and set off toward his house to see if he was there. As I was walking down the road, I saw an unfamiliar looking boy sprinting strait for me. When he got closer, I saw that he was wearing the shirt that Junior used to wear. I was so confused and disheartened, figuring Junior was surely gone. Then, just as this boy was about to crash into me, I got a good look at his face and realized that it was Junior, he had just had a buzz cut. I yelled, "Junior!" right as he took a flying leap into my arms. I spun him around and told him how happy I was to see him again and that I had been looking for him for days.

We then went to the swings to play. As we were sitting down, some others girls I didn't know came up and asked if they could play too. Before I could respond, Junior said, "No! She's my gringa!" They replied that they could play with me too, but he shot back more angrily this time, "No! She's only mine!" I was floored. I never would have thought that he would remember me let alone have become so attached. The staff down here later told me that he actually doesn't get close with a lot of Americans. So now I'm definitely glad I found him and get to play and hang out with him for three more weeks. Maybe eventually he'll learn my name :)

Radiant

Kenyans are really good at celebrating. When we came, singing and dancing children greeted us. Everywhere we went, people performed, prepared food, and were just so excited to see us. The women especially exuded joy when they sang and danced, and I would just watch in awe and wonder. They’re lives are so hard (see the blog about that), but they are so radiant dancing around in the dirt.

When we turned on the well, they sang songs that said things like “Jesus never changes” and “God can give us water.” In church we sang things like “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord. Jesus, I love you, you are my savior” and “You are Lord, you are Father.” It was always very simple ideas repeated over and over, but to hear it from them and to sing it with them was incredibly powerful.

I just looked through my videos and pictures to try to find something of this, but I don’t have anything. I think I was just too amazed to even think about trying to record it. Oh well, I guess you’ll have to go sometime to see it :).

True Story: Maasai Women

After a few days of being around the Maasai village in Kenya, the true stories of life there started to come out. The first thing I noticed was that when a woman told you how many children she had, she typically used two numbers: how many children total, and how many are still alive. They were numbers like 8 and 5, 14 and 9, 7 and 6.

When I hung out with the young girls (basically teenage girls who are not yet married, which is the Maasai standard for adulthood) it was hard at first to figure out why they grimaced and avoided the subject when I asked if they were going to get married.

In the middle of the week, in a crazy amazing outpouring of the Holy Spirit among the women's cooperative, the women on our team found out why. The women's stories started coming out, and most had the same pattern. Their fathers forced them to get married so they could acquire more cows. In order to get married, they had to get circumcised, which is not a good thing for women. Both forced marriage and female circumcision are against the law in Kenya now, but they still do it secretly.

Most women have also been raped many times, are rarely safe, and are not exactly treated well by their husbands. There are actual witch doctors in Kenya, and the spiritual darkness in the country is more blatant in the West, so the women often also deal with significant spiritual oppression whether they are Christian or not. On top of that, it is their role to do just about everything, including raising the children, getting water, working crops, and feeding everyone. It's hard for them to keep their children alive, let alone send them to school or think about the future.

Some women try to escape from this life, either by running away from home, or, if they're lucky, through higher education. We met a few of them. The girls I worked with had not yet reached this point, but were not looking forward to it. It was actually hard to talk to them at first because basic American conversation is so success, future, and prosperity oriented. After going through names, ages, number of brothers and sisters, and how many years of school they completed, there wasn't a lot more to talk about. "A future" is not really something they think about, and hope, outside the eternal hope of heaven, is not even considered. They try to eat, survive, and avoid pain along the way. Knowing all this made their joy and love all the more spectacular. More about that soon...

You Did For Me

One of my favorite memories of Kenya was simply playing with a little girl. The first few days, I had trouble playing with the kids and loving them, because I was afraid to attach myself to children I may never see again. I hate loving people and then leaving them. One night I realized this and asked God to help me with it.

The next day was Seminar day so they had canceled school and there was not a child to be found. I was a little disappointed, especially since I didn't have anything to do until the youth arrived in the afternoon. Finally I saw one little girl wandering down the hillside. I ran and got one of our children's crafts, went up to her, and just handed it to her (remember I can't verbally communicate with her at all). She looked skeptical, so I sat down, took it out of the bag, and showed her how to do it. Still unsure about me, she sat down and began to do it, but looked up every few seconds to ponder who in the world I was.

After she finished, she held up her work to show it to me, and I indicated that I thought it was great. She immediately lit up with a huge smile and giggled with the cutest laugh I've ever heard. After that we started playing. We began with peek-a-boo esque games that eventually progressed to a stampede of children, who had gathered to watch us, trying to catch and tackle me.

Now, I've played with children a lot before, but this time still stands out in my mind everyday. What was so amazing about this particular instance was what it was like to sit with this girl. It has proven incredibly difficult to put into words, which is why I have avoided posting a blog about it until now. The best I can come up with is that sitting and coloring with this girl was like being with Jesus - like physically. My sudden love for her and connection to her was so intense I barely believed I wasn't dreaming. I couldn't figure out what was going on, so I asked God. Right then, I remembered the parable in Matthew 25 where Jesus says that whatever we do for the least of his brothers and sisters, we do for him. I hung out with her almost all day, and all I can say is that it was one of the best days of my life.

 ³⁴"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
 ³⁷"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
 ⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Encouragement

As some of you know, mission trips can be exhausting. It's easy to miss the familiar sounds of home and friends when you realize they're located halfway around the world, approximately 8000 miles below your feet. And it's super easy to doubt why you're there, what you're doing, if it's right, or if it's making any difference at all. It can be easy to succumb to discouragement, especially when communication with the other side of the world is completely cut off. But, lucky for me, a little into the trip when discouragement really set in, I had help.

First, one of my bestest friends, Casey (hi Casey!), made me a little picture book with pictures of all my Santa Clara friends (including one of Cyrus, ha ha) and encouraging notes from them. It was great to see all them, remember their love for and belief in me, and read all their encouragement. It literally turned my week around to have that. So thanks so much everyone!

Then later in the week, I was reading along in Jeremiah, trying to diligently pay attention, but I kept wondering whether the talk I had given the day before at Seminar Day was the right thing to say (see blog about Seminar Day). Though it was neat that Eric and I had independently chosen messages that went together, I was still feeling discouraged. As I was pondering all this, I read:"Hear the word of the LORD, O nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands..."

I read this and thought to myself, "Oh, here! This will tell me what I should be proclaiming and affirming in distant places, to all the nations. Whatever it is, maybe that's what I should be saying." So I read on and it said: "Hear the word of the LORD, O nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands: 'He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.'" -Jer 31:10

I was so surprised to find that what I had talked about, that God is our good shepherd, was what this said. It was a small thing that I found very encouraging. It's cool how, though God asks us to live by faith and believe in his leading, he takes care of us, helps us, and knows what we can handle and when we could use just a little nudge of encouragement.

The Good Shepherd

While I was in Nicaragua in the spring, I had one of those vivid dreams I get from malaria pills. In it, I was on a Core retreat and had 3 hours to plan a talk. So, in this dream, I planned a full talk with main points, illustrations, the works. It was about Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

At the time, I also was planning for this trip to Kenya. The leaders had told us we would have a Seminar day where we did a bunch of teaching, and I was asked to prepare one of two talks to give the youth. As I thought about it, all I could think to do was this talk about the Good Shepherd from my dream. I figured it was as good a thing as anything to teach, so I decided to go with it.

Later, I found out that Erik, who was giving the other youth talk, had also chosen to talk about the Good Shepherd, but from a different text (he did Psalm 23, I did John 10). God's pretty cool like that. So, months later, I gave that talk on a Kenyan hillside to girls I would end up building fairly close relationships with. I told them about how Jesus was my shepherd, leading my life, and had led me to them.

I told them about how he lays down his life for the sheep, heals and provides for them, and gathers them all together like he had done there with Kenyans and Americans. As I spoke, some of them really connected, looking surprised, excited, or concerned at different parts of illustrations or stories about my life. As I spoke, I realized the truth of what I was saying as well, more profoundly than I ever had before. Jesus really is a great leader of the world and of my life. That week, I also was able to hear from the girls some of their stories, struggles, and how Jesus was leading them. I'll post some of that soon.

Water from Rock

The Kilgoris Project has been working on a well at one of the schools for a while now. While we were preparing for our trip to Kenya, the team prayed that the project would get a drilling permit without cooperating with corruption and bribery. After a few weeks of praying and waiting, it was finally granted. They drilled and drilled and we prayed and prayed that they would hit water. Yet, after digging down more than 200 meters, they still had not struck water.

But, they then realized that even though they had not hit water at the bottom, this now 200 meter deep rock tank started to just fill with water every night. We essentially now had a giant cistern with enough water everyday for the school.

So, on Sunday, our last day, we all went and christened the well as the Kenyans sang songs about how God doesn't change and he can give us water. It was quite the modern day example of the Old Testament stories of God providing water for his people out of rock.

Here's the awesome video Jon made about it:

New Well at Ntimigom from Jon McCormack on Vimeo.

Parables

Most of our days in Kilgoris were spent going to the different schools, greeting them, and doing various programing. I was involved in youth/teen ministry. So, each day, we gathered all the kids and told a parable, did a craft, played Kenyan games with them, and just hung out.

One thing that really stood out to me was how relevant the parables were to their culture. It's one thing to take about a shepherd going to get a lost sheep in Silicon valley. It's another to tell it to kids who actually are shepherds, all gathered on a green hillside with sheep wandering in the background. It makes so much more sense.

We told and acted out the stories of the lost sheep, coin, and son - which they thought was pretty funny. But, as designed, the stories also communicated the heart God has for lost people and for each person, and we were able to bond over that as well.

Here's a video taken of us telling and acting out the parable of the lost sheep.

We Treat, Jesus Heals

This is the sign for the hospital in Kilgoris. We found their motto to be true on our trip, in our work, as well.

The first day, one little girl hung out next to me for several hours. Her head was covering in boil-like eruptions. I didn't know what was wrong with her, so I just prayed and prayed that Jesus would heal her. As I did, I got the sense that he really cared for her, but her head still looked the same.

Later that day I saw one of the women from our team who is a nurse looking at this girl with one of the Kenyan women. She told us that they had figured out that the little girl had a very advanced case of ringworm, so they had treated her for it. 

We went back to the same place on our last day. The girl ran up to me in her Sunday dress and her head looked completely different. There was not an open wound on it, just a few places where you could see it had healed over. It was so exciting to see our presence and small ability to pray and treat bring about a big change for one girl God cares about so much and who I had also come to love and cherish.

Welcome to Kenya

Kenyans are probably the most welcoming people I have ever met. Everywhere we went, people were not only happy to see us but pulled out all the stops to make us feel welcome. They prepared all the food they could, gave us the best chairs or shady patches of grass, and said again and again, "You are most welcome, please feel completely at home."

On our very first day we drove up to Ntimigom school and were greeted at the road by 200 singing children. The teachers told us that since the kids couldn't really grasp time measurements well, they asked when we were coming every day before that.



After lots of singing and walking up the hill holding hands with every child that could get next to us, we sat down and listened to school teachers, board members, chiefs, ex-chiefs, and other politicians welcome us and thanks us for coming. They were so happy we had come all that way to meet and spend time with them.

They also brought out their young dance team that had just placed at a regional competition. Here's the video of them dancing for us.

At just about every school or place we went to, groups of Maasai dancers and singers performed for us to show us their culture and make us feel welcome. A school even showed up in our backyard one day to sing for us.

All of their warm welcomes, warm food, and performances made it clear they were happy to see us and it did in fact make me feel completely at home in their beautiful land.

The Summons

This morning, about to head off to the airport, I was praying and one of my favorite Catholic songs popped into my head. I haven't heard it or thought of it in a long time, but it was just what I needed to help with that standing-at-the-top-of-the-waterfall nervousness. The song is called The Summons. Lyrics and a video of what it sounds like are below. I found the first verse especially poignant. In it God asks, "Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?"

Also, this will probably be my last post until I return, as I don't think we have internet. So keep praying for us, that we will be able to follow the summons and love, teach, play, and learn well. I'll post all about the trip when we get back.





The Summons

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?

Will you love the "you" you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?

Lord your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In Your company I'll go where Your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll move and live and grow in you and you in me.

Jump Then Fall

God often teaches me things by having me actually do something. Last summer at Camp PBC, we went to some waterfalls. A few people went up and jumped off. After a while it looked like so much fun that I wanted to do it even though I am terribly afraid of heights. So I climbed up the cliff face with great difficulty. When I looked down, it was a lot farther than it had looked  from the bottom, but I couldn't see a way to climb back down the side of the cliff. I knew that I had no choice but to jump off. It was so high that I could barely breathe or move, and I just stood there paralyzed until one of my friends started singing the O No, You Never Let Go song. I finally realized that even though this was really scary to me, God could handle it. So, I just counted to three and jumped. The epic moment was caught on tape... http://www.facebook.com/mschatzel#!/video/video.php?v=137782007245

So now, whenever I decide to do something (like go to Africa), and then I get close and it looks a lot farther than it did before, I remember the moment I jumped off that waterfall. It looked really high, and it was. But it was also so amazing and fun that when I finally plunged into the water at the bottom, all I could think about was that I wanted to do it again.

And that's how I feel now, a few hours from leaving for Kenya. I'm at the top of the waterfall. I'm at the part of the rollercoaster when you're strapped in and can't get out. It clinks higher and higher, giving you time to think about everything that could go wrong and to try to imagine what those drops and corkscrews are going to feel like. So I'm just trying to remember that though it's high, that's what makes it fun. And that when I get back, I'll probably want to do it again.


You may also know that I love finding messages about faith and God in Taylor Swift songs, and "Jump Then Fall" has been in my mind while preparing this week. Some of the lyrics are:

Whoa oh I'm feeling you baby
Don't be afraid to jump then fall, 
Jump then fall into me 
Whoa, I'm never gonna leave you,
Say that you wanna be with me too
Cause I'm gonna stay through it all so jump then fall
The bottom's gonna drop out from under our feet
I'll catch you, I'll catch you


Pray for:
Peace for me and the team over our travels the next two days. Flying can scare me, and a day and a half of traveling is hard on everyone.
Also please pray we get into the country alright and get everything through customs.

49.5 Pounds

Yes, we fit all our supplies into a bag for each of us to bring, all under 50 lbs each. Below is the packing excursion reduced to 15 seconds...


Packing Miracle from Jon McCormack on Vimeo.


Please pray we are able to get them through customs and to the people.

Time to Pack

The church community has been very generous to donate all kinds of things for us to take to Kenya. We are taking school supplies, teaching supplies, soccer balls and jerseys, first aid kits, etc.

Below is a picture of it all sitting in a living room. It reminds me of a part in the book of Malachi that says "See if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." (3:10). Hopefully we will have enough room in our suitcases :)

Rivers in the Desert

I also thought I'd share a bit about how God has encouraged me already regarding the Kenya trip, so you know how he's leading me and can pray along with us :)

One day I was praying about the Kenya trip, asking for encouragement about God's work there and our role in it, and thought of / heard the phrase "rivers in the desert." Then I saw a picture of water being poured into the middle of a wide land that was just dry dirt. It flowed out in three branches like rivers, one went to the west, one winding toward the southwest, and one flowing south. The streams then split into smaller, more diverse streams that covered even more of the land. As the water traveled, flowers popped up from this dry dirt and soon the land became a field of flowers. Then I was reminded of the line in the song "Joyful, Joyful" that says that "hearts unfold like flowers before thee."

This reminded me of God's provision for the Israelites wandering in the desert after the Exodus (though they didn't always get the water-out-of-rocks idea right). I also remembered that I had recently read something in Isaiah about water in the desert, so I decided to look that up.

Isaiah 41:17-20 (NIV) reads:
¹⁷ "The poor and needy search for water,
       but there is none;
       their tongues are parched with thirst.
       But I the LORD will answer them;
       I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
 ¹⁸ I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
       and springs within the valleys.
       I will turn the desert into pools of water,
       and the parched ground into springs.
 ¹⁹ I will put in the desert
       the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
       I will set pines in the wasteland,
       the fir and the cypress together,
 ²⁰ so that people may see and know,
       may consider and understand,
       that the hand of the LORD has done this,
       that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

It was neat to see how what we are doing and what the project is about so closely related to this. I think our trip is related to helping springs flow in their desert, water in dryness, refreshment, comfort, and life where it is lacking.

I found verse 20 to be especially helpful. It may seem like schools, wells, soccer balls, etc only provide in the material (as opposed to the spiritual). But, in addition to providing for the physical needs of people, which I believe is an important command from God we see in his word, the project also helps reveal who he is.

So, my prayer is the that the Maasai people would see and know, consider and understand that the hand of God has created this and done this for them and for us. We try to remember when we meet as a group to prepare that God is building this house. It is he who can make water flow out of the desert and satisfy us in a scorched land. The project and our part in it has great potential to reveal in very real and concrete ways the mercy, compassion, and love of God.

Kenya Intro

Hi friends! I am going to Kenya with a team from my church this June. We're leaving on the 10th and will be gone for about two weeks. The team is going to do all kinds of things there. We will deliver supplies, interact a lot, and do a fair amount of teaching based on our unique talents (some are teaching the pastors, others about marriage, others about running a business/organization, others for microfinancing, others will teach the teachers at the school). I will mostly be working with the children and youth doing youth group type stuff. The project we're going to is called the Kilgoris Project and is run by a couple in my church. They do all sorts of things in the Maasai land in Kenya.

Here is the project's facebook page link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/pages/The-Kilgoris-Project/282275982941?ref=ts

Splashing Around the Love

Every night this week, we have taken some time as a group to gather in the backyard and sing worship to God. It's been a great way to relax, refresh, remember who God is and give our love to him. The first night while we were singing, I saw a picture of a map of Central America, and the six of us sitting in a circle in Nicaragua with our faces turned up to God expectantly. Then, from God's perspective, I saw him take an enormous bucket of water and dump it on us while laughing hysterically. It was pretty funny and made me think of how it poured rain here last week. The next night, I saw the same picture right as the song lyric said something about God pouring his love out on us. The night after that I saw the same thing except this time, we had buckets too. As the water drenched us, we caught some of it in buckets and splashed it on the Nicaraguan kids.

I really liked this analogy of our time in Nicaragua. We were together waiting for God's water, and he poured out more than we could ask with abundant joy. It was his water that we also were able to collect and transfer to the kids in playful love.

The next day after our morning activities, I was feeling pretty exhausted, so I stayed in the house while the others went out to the Villa for the afternoon. When they came back, they told me that their job had been to throw water on some of the newly worked on houses, and that they had ended up getting in a water fight with some of the kids who were out there. They told me that they had had buckets and threw the water in them on the kids (and vice versa) to everyone's delight. It was really neat to see how the picture of us throwing water on the kids had come out in reality the next day. Jason in particular had a great time "loving" another guy by chasing him all over the village with a water bottle ;)

I Will Not Leave You As Orphans

This morning we all went to the handicap orphanage in Chinandega that Amigos helps support. We got to sit and laugh with the kids and play music for them. I went last week with the high school group as well. It was pretty shocking the first time because almost all of them have clubbed feet and shriveled legs and arms.

I found myself wondering what God thought of their situation and what he wanted for them. The more time we spent with them, I was able to see their spirits. It was quite a sight. I realized that though all they seemed to be able to do was lay on mats, smile, and grunt, their lives were glorifying God. As I was sitting there with one of the girls, I picture came to my mind of what it would be like for her to finally be able to dance for her king when all things are made new. Also quite a sight.

When we got back to the house from the orphanage last week, I was reading John 14 and my eyes jumped down the page and fell on a verse that said, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."  It was really neat to remember that we are all orphans until we are adopted as God's children, and that we're not actually much different than the kids at the orphanage - just more mobile. God cares for them well and can redeem their lives as surely as he can redeem ours.

New Arrivals

Just so you all know, Erin, Jason, and Jeff arrived here on Sunday safe and sound. They walked through the door and we threw them into the mix. They hadn't even been here for an hour before they were at Vida Joven (Spanish for YoungLife) doing bible study with them. Jason walked in and started to sweep out the church with a giant palm branch, which was pretty funny, especially to the Nicaraguans. Somehow, they were able to engage and discuss with the teens here in Spanish on only a few hours of sleep. I was really excited to finally see them again. At Vida Joven, we talked about the parable of the sower. The kids' take on it was really interesting because they actually live in a rural area and see seeds planted, eaten, etc. more than we do. Studying the bible with people from another culture in a different language also gave the story and discussion new depth.


At the end, we gave everyone who came to the Vida Joven bible study some of the bibles that Core donated. None of them had their own, so they were really grateful. Here is the group picture.

Monday and Tuesday we spent in the Villa and they got to meet the children. They jumped right into playing, reading, drawing, and running with them. Some incredibly cute pictures of the last few days follow...

"Love My Children"

My favorite part of time in the Villa is playing with the children. It's amazing how universal the language of play is. All I have to do is look at a kid a certain way to communicate, "I'm gonna get you!" Then they shake their head to say, "Oh no you won't!" And we're off playing chase around the schoolyard.

The kids really love it when we come and play with them. I don't think there's much of a culture of parents playing with their kids. At least I haven't seen any of them doing it yet. They play together a lot, but the parents have to spend most of their time providing for them by working or cooking and cleaning, etc.  So they love having us there to talk to them a little and play with them a lot. It's really neat how the kids just light up when we pay attention to them.

Most the ways we figured out to play with them didn't involve much verbal communication. I played with a five year old boy named Junior for hours. He reminded me a lot of some of the boys I babysit back in the States. It was so weird how he loved the same things they do even though they live worlds apart. He especially enjoyed playing chase and what we named "caballo," Spanish for horse, which was a piggy back or shoulder ride. Here his is to the right...

The little girls especially also enjoyed just being hugged, held, or walking around holding our hands. They're super cute. They also really liked swinging, except they always wanted to swing on our laps. I was a little worried the swing sets would break with us on them, but they never did :) The high school guys also taught the boys to play American football, which was pretty funny.




Below are some videos I took of the high schoolers playing with the kids. Most are only a few seconds. The last one of the dance off is a bit long (like 3 min) but it's really hilarious, so if you have the time...

Nicaraguans learn to "Jump On It"


The Jump-Off-The-Back-Of-The-Bus Game


The hand slap game


The beginnings of football


And the dance off

Zechariah 10:1

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Originally uploaded by MollyInNica

I read Zechariah at the Spirit's leading a few weeks ago and got a ton of things out of it. One of the things I remembered was:

"Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime;
       it is the LORD who makes the storm clouds.
       He gives showers of rain to men,
       and plants of the field to everyone."-Zech 10:1

It has been rediculously hot here. The first few days I thought I might faint just from the heat. I was telling Jesus about how this was taking a lot out of me and my ability to love when we were in the village. As sort of a passing thought, I said something like, "I know it's the dry season, but if it would cool it down some, would you send us rain here?" A few hours later, it was pouring rain, thundering, and flashing lightning. I was stunned. Katie was too, and her surprise is caught on video here :)

After this video, the power went out (as Katie says it often does for a couple hours when it rains hard). I played in the rain a little bit, but then realized this power outage was gonna make things with a house full of 40+ people a little hard. So I prayed, "God, could we have the power back on?" Literally, right as I prayed that, the power came back on. I could barely believe it and sprinted back in the house to tell Katie what had just happened.

On reflection, it taught me / reminded me of several things. First, God likes us, knows what's hard for us, and wants to help us. Also, he knows what we need before we ask, and we don't have to "pray really hard" if we want something miraculous. It's not the strength of our prayers that sends rain, but the strength of our God. When I am weak, he is strong.

It also made me think metaphorically about how the earth here is "scorched," and that what scorched earth needs is rain. Situations here and the culturally/politically embedded injustice seems so impossible. I don't have any water for this land. But God can send a rainstorm, even if it's the dry season. This little gift from God made me realize just how mighty to save this city, country, and world he is.

Villa Housing Projects

The high school group that is down here is helping to build the houses that are currently under construction in the Villa. When Katie and I weren't doing classes or visiting people, we went out there and helped them build. We have been laying the rock foundations for several of them, which involves shoveling rocks from huge piles into buckets and carrying them into the houses and dumping them. Super fun. But seriously, after seeing so much, it's great to be able to use our arms and backs to do something tangible to help people.

Here's one of the rows of houses under construction with the volcano in the background.

One of our piles of rocks.

The houses are about this big.

Taking a break. It is sooooo hot and dusty.

Like, really dusty. This is my leg after working. You can see the line above and below my sock :)

Teatro Catalina

On Tuesday, Katie teaches theater classes in the morning and afternoon. She got some of the high school students to come too and we played theater games with the Nicaraguan teens that didn't involve talking. It was really funny to see all of us clapping, dancing, and staring at each other.

Here they are playing the staring game in the library. They have to look each other in the eye, and whoever laughs first loses. The audience gets to say whatever to try to get them to laugh. It was really funny.