#14 Truck problems, Climbing Cerro Negro, Piglets, and much more....

This post was an email update that was sent out during my time spent in Nicaragua from 2009 to 2011. I started posting them here when some of my friends who had not received them, wanted to see and hear about the work there. You can access the entire list here.

    Greetings to all of my fellow Christians far and wide! I pray that each and every one of you are having a wonderful day serving our Lord in your own personal way. God continues to show Himself in so many ways and areas. We truly serve an Almighty God, who able to far more above what we ask or think. Well, the last 2 weeks have flown by so fast. When each day is full and busy with so many things, the days seem to go so fast.

     

    Since I wrote last, there was 2 groups of people here. Larry & Karen Weaver and Lloyd & Faye Zimmerman, both from the Pleasant Valley congregation, arrived with the Pleasant Valley (PV) Seniors on the 6th to spend a week and Keith & Christine Nolt from the Open Door congregation arrived on the 7th with a group of Horning girls. Keith's were here in Nicaragua for a week and the girls spend 2 weeks here and left on the 21st with Dwight & Heidi Fox. The seniors spent most of their time in Leon; however they came out on Thursday - the 8th, help with some work projects. The men spent the morning repairing the pasture fence and put a floor in the tool shed. The girls spent their time in our house - painting. Thank you so much ladies!! It looks so nice. It was great to see Lloyd & Faye Zimmerman. I have known them for years, but don't often get to see them.

          

   The group of girls spent their first week here with us in El Terrero; most of the time painting, but we DID have a great time. They also planted a garden for us and it is looking beautiful. We got a nice amount of rain on Sunday and everything shot up; even the weeds. On Saturday we went to Estelí to take the girls out and see some places and do some shopping. For me, it was a great day to visit familiar places and talk to people that I haven't seen since I came back from language school. We parked the truck along the main street there in Estelí and I told everyone I would meet them for lunch in an hour and I started on my way. It was fun to be able to walk down the streets and through the park, taking in all the familiar sights and smells of the place that became my home for 6 weeks after I arrived in Nicaragua. The first place I went to was Dora Elena's house - the lady who hosted while we were in language school. She was so happy to see me. She looked and me and said she thought I would never come to visit her. I explained to her why I had not got there sooner and told her about the prospective visitors in the future and the possibility of bringing them to see Estelí and visit her. She wanted to know about all the things that have happened in the months since school and I wished I had all day to sit there and talk to her. As I was leaving, she told me that I should get a bus to Estelí and spent the weekend with her and relax :) For lunch we went to the Chinese restaurant that I came to enjoy very much, even though we only ate there 2 times during school. After lunch we went to the waterfall outside of Estelí. It looked quite different from the last time we were there, but I enjoyed it. We then returned to the city for the girls to do more shopping. I then spent that time in Mocha Nana Café, a little coffee shop that Karen and I frequented when we lived there. I enjoyed my old-time favorite Frozen Mocha. On the way back, we stopped in Malpaisillo for supper.

    On Monday we met the Leon group in Rota and went to Cerro Negro to give them the experience of climbing a volcano. I went along as I was almost 2 years since I had climbed Cerro Negro. I took it nice and slow going up as it was pretty hot, but till I got to the top, I was so tired and decided to sit there and relax while everyone was snapping pictures. When it came time to head back down, I got up but I felt so weak and I wasn't sure why. Needless to say in a couple seconds I lost my breakfast. Right away I sat down again and thankfully Karen Weaver had crackers in her bag which she gave to me as well as some water. I sat there and relaxed for a while before I felt good enough to go down the volcano. When we left the volcano, we kinda got confused as which way to take and we got the wrong way. Once we got to familiar roads, we headed for Malpaisillo but then the truck started heating up. We got within a mile of the place and the truck just gave out so we got all our things and started walking home. Thanks to several girls, who willingly carried my backpack for me as I was still feeling weak and tired. I got home and went straight to bed and slept for 2 hours. It took about 3 days till I was feeling myself again.  

 On Friday the 16th, Charlotte gave birth to 9 piglets. They are all growing nicely and look nice and fat. One little one has already escaped the pen, but was quickly rescued and put back into his pen.

 We received a nice heavy rain on Sunday afternoon. La Palmerita actually had hail. Our front yard was covered in water. On Monday morning there was still a couple puddles which Nicholas enjoyed very much. He fell several times and looked like he was enjoying himself so much.

The young lady below is from the family known as the Cheles in La Palmerita. I believe there is 8 or 9 children in the family. Every now and then, one of them will show up at church, but they are not faithful attendees. The youngest girl in this family, Vanessa, has been so sick lately but she is getting better little by little. 

Blessings to each of you as you serve our Lord!

Love and prayers, Andrea

#13 Rain Showers, Beautiful Sunsets, Naughty Children

This post was an email update that was sent out during my time spent in Nicaragua from 2009 to 2011. I started posting them here when some of my friends who had not received them, wanted to see and hear about the work there. You can access the entire list here.

Wow!! Time does surely fly and it has come to me that it is time to inform you all once again of my life here in Nicaragua. We have had a few rain showers in the last few days that felt wonderful. We have also had naughty children in class, but they seem to remember some things amidst their naughtiness. Blessings to each as you serve our Lord, where He has place you!

#12 Smoke, dust...the list goes on

This post was an email update that was sent out during my time spent in Nicaragua from 2009 to 2011. I started posting them here when some of my friends who had not received them, wanted to see and hear about the work there. You can access the entire list here.

#11 Time...How it flies

This post was an email update that was sent out during my time spent in Nicaragua from 2009 to 2011. I started posting them here when some of my friends who had not received them, wanted to see and hear about the work there. You can access the entire list here.

Greetings to all of my fellow labourers, where ever the Lord has placed you today. The Lord I serve here in Nicaragua is the same Lord that you serve. He has placed us all in different places. Each and every day there is something that will remind me of a different attribute of God. The picture to the right was taken one day when we were driving to León. As I marveled at the power and force needed to make whirlwinds such as this one, I thought of the power of our Lord. We serve an all-powerful Lord.

Time has continued to move along here in El Terrero and La Palmerita. Each day is filled with so many different things – some are new things and some are just the same regular. It has been 2 weeks since we said good-bye to Vera Hoover(Randy’s mother) and Colleen Stauffer(Virginia’s sister) It was a blessing to have them here and spend time with them. It was especially wonderful to get to know Virginia’s sister as she lived in our house while she was here.

On February 19th, we spent the day in Masaya and Caterina. We started the day by going to the Masaya Volcano and spending some time there. From there we went to the Masaya Marketplace. I always enjoy just walking through the market and seeing all the things. The part I like the best of this marketplace is the stand that makes fresh fruit juices. I get one each time I go and they are so refreshing. When we left the marketplace, we headed for Caterina, making several plant shopping stops on the way to buy some more plants for around the houses here. Then came the place I love the most – Caterina. It is such a gorgeous place and so pleasant. All around there, there are groups of men with instruments and they all want to play songs for you. We actually played one group to sing 3 songs for us and I enjoyed it very much. It was a rather calm group of older gentlemen and it was very relaxing. We spent time walking around – through the gift shops and just enjoying ourselves before enjoying a very good supper. I had the plat pictured below. It was a piece of beef with a Jalapeno sauce, with rice, salad, fried plantains. It was so good and filling. I enjoyed myself very much that day, but was very tired till the day was over. On the way home, I crashed on one the benches in the back of the truck and slept most of the way home. It was nice and cool and felt good. On the 22nd, we had a pizza supper with Hector and his family. On the 25th, we took the women back to the airport and spent time in Managua.

Dinner at Catarina

Musicians at Catarina

We continue to have services in Rota on every 3rd Saturday. We hold services in the home of one of the families. There is both a Jehovah’s Witness church as well as a Catholic church there in Rota. We have now begun to hold illiteracy classes there. As of now, there is 3 faithful students. Just pray that God would continue to open doors and make us aware of different ways we can minister to the people of the community. If I remember correctly, there are approximately 30 different homes in that community. When we walk through passing out Antorchas(a small Spanish magazine) or extending an invitation to the service, I see so many children and my heart goes out to them. At times, there are children that do come to the Saturday evening service and sometimes there is not.

As most of you know, I come from a family that loves to butcher and every year we get together for a 2-day butchering event. Well, I didn’t know how much I would miss it until I was here and they were there butchering. Well, Hector – our neighbor man, was planning on butchering a pig and came up to see if we would like to buy anything from him when they butcher, so we decided to buy some meat and just for the anyhow, I decided to ask him if I could buy bones, and he is like “what do want the bones for” Now how do you explain what scrapple is? But we were able to explain it to him and we bought bones under the condition that we would let him taste it. I spent Wednesday, the 3rd, cooking the bones and Friday, the 5th, we made the scrapple. It was quite an experience for me as I have never made scrapple over a wood fire. At home we always used propane, but we wanted to keep the heat out of the kitchen, so we did it outside over a wood fire. I had so much fun making it and for some reason it is always more fun to taste it after you worked so hard to make it.

This week has been a busy, but different week. Randy’s, Richard’s, and Jason flew to Belize Monday morning for several days of Central America Ministers’ Conference. Dwight & Heidi moved into Randy’s house Sunday night and Wednesday night we all went into León. We girls will be staying in León until sometime Friday. Friday evening we then need to run to La Paz Centro to meet them coming back from the airport and pick up Randy’s and Jason.

I would like to introduce you to Rosibel. She is my young neighbor girl. She is 16 years old and I enjoy spending time with her. She is at our house numerous times through the week. She is part of the Evangelical church nearby. Please pray that I might make a positive influence in her life as we interact.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. Thank you for your concern and interest about the work that I am involved in. I feel the love and care of those I love. God bless you and shine bright for the Lord in the next weeks.

Love, Andrea

#10: Dust, Insects....but God is faithful!

This post was an email update that was sent out during my time spent in Nicaragua from 2009 to 2011. I started posting them here when some of my friends who had not received them, wanted to see and hear about the work there. You can access the entire list here.

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#9 Changes, happenings, blessings....

This post was an email update that was sent out during my time spent in Nicaragua from 2009 to 2011. I started posting them here when some of my friends who had not received them, wanted to see and hear about the work there. You can access the entire list here.

#8...An Upward Call

This post was an email update that was sent out during my time spent in Nicaragua from 2009 to 2011. I started posting them here when some of my friends who had not received them, wanted to see and hear about the work there. You can access the entire list here.

Blessings to all my fellow pilgrims in the journey of life before us. This past week I was challenged by “a life of walking in step with Christ” I have been studying the book “El Llamado Supremo” (The Upward Call) by John Coblentz. Some of the areas that I read about today were - “NOTHING in this world is worth the loss of our souls” and “In avoiding to take up our cross, we are giving up our right to eternal life” Both of these points are definitely points that need serious consideration. Are you... am I... going to hang on to this little thing, even though it will result in losing our souls? Are we afraid to take up the cross because it is uncomfortable...hard…brings opposition? Or are we going to step up to the plate, ready to follow Christ at any cost...through any opposition?

Since the last update, we have had a number of visitors. Each one was a blessing in each of their special ways. Before Laura's sister left, Gloria Martin &; Alyssa Zimmerman arrived on the 1st. However they spent most of their time in Leon, but they spent Thursday, the 7th, with us. That day we went to Lake Asososca in the afternoon. The above picture is at the lookout, looking down to the lake and out across the surrounding area. It was quite a hike to and from the lake but I enjoyed my time. That day as well, Merle & Pauline Gingrich and LeRoy, Anna, & Shirlene Martin arrived for a short visit. It was great to see friends from my home area. Even though their stay was short, it was great to be able to see them in León in Thursday night and here in La Palmerita Sunday night. They left Monday the 11th and the Keystone Singles arrived from Waslala. On Wednesday the 13th, they spent the day in La Palmerita cleaning the church and working at Jason's house. The girls painted the outside of the kitchen and the guys built his stove and did some cementing. 

Moving the pila into the kitchen

The guys then went and got the pila for his kitchen and moved it in. Mykel, Maria Luisa's son, came along out to help the guys. 

Maykel troweling a step off the walkway

On Sunday afternoon, we here in El Terrero were invited into León to spend the afternoon and evening with the León staff & Keystone Singles at the beach. Randy & Laura and I went in to spend time there with them. I enjoyed my time a lot, talking with some of the girls that I got to know better. It was great to be able to meet them all and also see some familar faces. 

The setting sun

As the coming evening approached, I began to take pictures of the ocean and the evening sky. Thanks to some people in the group who showed me what some of the settings mean and how to take certain pictures, I got some wonderful pictures on the night sky.

The Keystone Singles

The singles left Monday and we now have Daryl & Andrea Martin and their family in our presence. We went to Managua yesterday afternoon and stopped at Price-Smart for some groceries before getting supper and then heading to the airport to pick up Daryl & Andrea. Coming home from Managua, I rode on the back of the truck amongst the luggage. That was one of the best rides because it was dark all around and the sky was full of bright stars. !The beauty of God's marvelous works! Also Sheila Burkholder flew in Monday and this week Dwight & Heidi Fox (Krista's brother & family) will be coming to live in León and help with the maintenance of vehicles and houses.

As far as my life and things I have been doing – Tuesday the 12th I spent the morning in Malpaisillo with Maria Luisa. She is needing to take it easy as she was in the hospital because she had went into labor. I went in that morning on the bus, figuring I could help her with her work. However we spent most of the morning in the clinic, as they needed to do some tests. I did enjoy my time with her that morning. On Wednesday afternoon the 13th, I said good-bye to my dear housemate and friend for the next 2-1/2 weeks. She went home to visit and also for Dawn Stauffer's wedding. She will be coming back February 1st and I know it will great to have her back . I have been teaching Wednesday night & Sunday morning classes and they have been going pretty good. Sometimes I wonder if the children are getting anything out of the lesson because I have to stop and tell them to listen, but when I quiz them as I am reading and at the end of the lesson, they can give the correct answers. I just pray that I might be the example that God wants me to be to them and the many others that I come in contact with.

I would now like to introduce to you this young man that is our neighbor boy. His name is Yader and he lives with his aunts and cousins in a large house. His father lives in Managua. I am not totally sure of his age, but he is a young man that needs our prayers. He is not always in the best of company.

Yader eating a limón with chile

I just want to thank you all for sending cards and letters. I have enjoyed each one of them and so far everything that people said they sent to the Managua address has come through. God bless you all as you continue praying & support!

Blessings to you through out your week,

Andrea