San Juan del Sur

While we were in El Salvador, my cousin Jamie and his girlfriend Ariane came to Nicaragua for a vacation. They went to an ecolodge on one of the Isletas de Granada, tiny islands in Lake Nicaragua. When we came back, we all met up in San Juan del Sur, a beach town that I've been wanting to visit since we got here. Visits from family and friends always give us a nice chance to take advantage of some of the cool stuff we just don't get to otherwise.


Tim, Jamie and Ariane took surfing lessons

while Quinn and I collected shells, watched crabs, played in the waves, and tried not to get *too* much sun.

(That last effort wasn't really successful, despite hiding from the sun in the middle of the day.) We all got the chance to relax in hammocks and eat some good food as well.



For Quinn (and me!) one of the highlights was the pool at the place we stayed. It had a nice large shallow section that was just the right height for Quinn to stand with her neck and head out of the water. She bounced and danced around, delighting in all the things she could do in the water because, as she said, "I'm big now!" I just enjoyed the neutral buoyancy of the water. :)

Ariane had to go back on the Friday, but Jamie stayed with us through Monday, getting a little glimpse of our daily life in Managua, entertaining Quinn during a big planning meeting for the ministerial formation project, and even helping Tim teach English right before heading off to the airport! He also cooked really great meals for us and read Quinn a lot of books (future visitors, be inspired! ;) ).

El Salvador

Our friend Nick Green just finished his term as a Global Ministries missionary in El Salvador and is heading back to the States to start his studies at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. He wrote a lovely post about the "hermandad" that is developing between La Iglesia Misión Cristiana, the church we work with here in Nicaragua, and the Lutheran Church of El Salvador, the church he worked with there.

It was really fun for us to have a role in this developing relationship.  Last month, we went for a very quick visit -- driving to San Salvador on a Saturday, spending two full days getting to know some of the churches and their projects, as well as a bit of Salvadoran history, and then driving back to Managua on that Tuesday.

The highlights were:
Tim, Quinn, and I, along with Sonia and Claudina representing La Misión Cristiana, worshipped with the Ríos de Agua Viva (Rivers of Living Water) Lutheran Church in San Salvador. I was invited to preach (my second sermon in Spanish!)

...and Nick and I both assisted Pastor Vilma in communion.

The service was very different than La Misión worship services (no electric guitars) -- it had a liturgy that felt very similar to U.S. Lutheran churches I've been to. But the one thing that was just like many of the congregations here is that it was over half children and youth.

In the afternoon, we visited an agricultural project outside of the city.  The church and project there are both called Fe y Esperanza (Faith and Hope), and they're in the first year of a new initiative called La Mayordomía de la Creación (Stewardship of Creation).
A group of campesinos and church folks is working with an agronomist to learn techniques for growing food organically without chemicals.

We spent a lot of time learning about and looking at organic fertilizer,
which does involve a lot of cow poop!
They have some special mixtures for making organic fertilizer, and they sent us home with a couple bottles. I am very grateful the bottles did not open in the back of the car on the way home!!

It was exciting to see a motivated, informed group of people working together to educate themselves and grow lots of great food.

We were inspired for our own work with the Nicaraguan church's agricultural projects, and to give more thought to integrating our food security projects with the one Tim is developing on care for the environment.

We also visited the chapel where Oscar Romero was assassinated.

It was a powerful experience for me -- I have wanted to visit El Salvador ever since I took a class on liberation theology in college.

My professor had been a journalist in El Salvador during the civil war, and I found Oscar Romero and the liberation theology movement very inspiring.

The church also runs a house called Casa Esperanza, where they support people in a variety of ways. Every day, they provide lunch for people who live on the street -- a scene that was remarkably similar to soup kitchens and lunch programs we've visited or volunteered at in the States. We met the small group of single mothers who cook for the lunch program and are housed there. We visited the tiny medical clinic and very nice classrooms where they hold their after-school programs. Quinn and I really liked the wooden toys and the books in the room for the smallest kids. The church also trains young people in the traditional painting style and we got to see some Salvadoran artesania being made.

We, Global Ministries missionaries and representatives of La Misión, were received with warm hospitality by the Lutheran church.  We look forward to more opportunities for developing this friendship between two churches that have been long-standing Global Ministries partners meeting critical needs in their respective countries.

Quinn was a trooper on the loooong car ride.  She memorized two of her picture books on the way (after having them read to her what seemed like a dozen times). She also enjoyed our time in El Salvador, especially seeing her buddy Nick again, staying at the "hotel" (the Casa Concordia guesthouse) and making friends with Alma, who manages the guesthouse.

Soy Migrante

I wanted to share this video by the Nicaraguan singer Moisés Gadea.  It's a song about migrant workers and the video has some nice shots of day-to-day Nicaraguan life.  (Via Josh Berman.)  Enjoy!

Down on the Finca

For a few years now, la Misión Cristiana has been developing a farm it owns in the northern region of Nicaragua, near a community called Kusulí.  The grand plan is to transform the farm into a small dairy operation that will provide jobs, food and some cash inflow, both for the church and local families.  But it has been a slow process.

This March a small work group from the Southern Idaho region of the Disciples of Christ visited to help la Misión advance a little further toward that goal.  I've already blogged about an earlier preparatory trip with Santiago (a.k.a. Jim Piper) and Nick Green to visit the farm -- this time they came back with reinforcements: David, Michael and Marisol (visiting with Nick from the Lutheran Church of El Salvador) -- along with Sonia, Ruth, Anita, Edgar, Hector and Doña Pilar representing la Misión.

We headed out to the farm for a solid week of work and ended up having a fun time.  Our task was to tear down the old, existing milking barn and build a bigger and better one in its place.  With the help of two expert carpenters (both local church members) we managed to raise the roof on the milking barn, although the concrete floor, the cistern and the water line from the local spring were completed after we headed home.  In its current state, all the farm needs now are the cows!

As I mentioned before, the northern region of Nicaragua is extraordinarily beautiful and very hard to get to.  However, between the time of our previous trip and this one, electricity had very nearly come to the farm (thanks to a local hydroelectric project).  The road was now lined with street lights and although it hadn't been turned on yet, there was a cable connecting the farm house to the grid.  It was kind of cool to see the actual march of progress.  Anyway, here are some photos.



The hill behind the farm affords a spectacular view of the northlands.


We got to ride around on top of trucks!  Here's Ruth, Marisol, Nick and some local kids helping transport sand and rocks.


"Emerald green like none I have seen, apart from dreams ... that escape me..."

The forest mists in the morning, while we dry our clothes in the sun.


Our fearless leaders!

The local chainsaw maestro was hired to create a feeding trough directly from a tree trunk.

Michael and others shifting a ton of river rocks (which will later make up the foundation of the dairy floor)


Santiago returning from a visit to the other part of the church's property.


Mixing cement.


The two carpenters did amazing work and all without most of the tools we would have on hand in the states.  Here he is carving a joint in the wood ... with a machete! Totally hardcore.


Revdo. Orlando in front of the (mostly) finished dairy roof.

Evangelical Musical Sampler, Vol. 2

By semi-pseudo-popular demand, I'm going to continue blogging about the music that la Misión uses in worship.  We've enjoyed learning a bunch of new songs -- hope you enjoy them too!

First up is a song that Laura Jean used in a recent sermon as a way of explaining la Misión's theology -- El Espíritu de Dios Está en Este Lugar (The Spirit of God is Here in this Place).  As a pentecostal church, la Misión Cristiana places a lot of emphasis on the Holy Spirit (el Espíritu Santo) and this song is often used as a gentle introduction to the worship service.  This version is by Jessica Landaverde, and for any musicians out there, you can find the guitar chords and lyrics here.




Our second tune is El Poderoso de Israel (The Powerful of Israel), by Juan Carlos Alvarado.  The clip below isn't very long, but don't be fooled, this one can go on for a while once people build up a head of steam.  It's a good hand-clapper.  Lyrics and chords found here.




Our next song is Eres todopoderoso (You Are All-Powerful) by the omni-popular Danilo Montero.  In contrast to the other song of his I mentioned, this one actually rocks pretty hard.  It's pretty catchy and is plastered all over the Christian radio stations down here.  There's a teenager a few doors down from us who spends many an afternoon singing the chorus at the top of his lungs.  Lyrics and chords.




Our last song (for now) is Está Cayendo su Gloria Sobre Mi (His Glory is Falling Over Me) by José Luis Reyes, which has some seriously Coldplay-like guitars.  This one is also very popular in la Misión worship services, probably because it's just a simple, classic power-ballad that you can really sink your teeth into.  Lyrics and chords.

Vacation in/around DC (Las vacaciones)

It's now been over 3 weeks since we got back from our 2-week vacation to the Washington, DC area. It was a great chance to see friends and family, take hot showers, eat lots of Thai food and enjoy other things that are in short supply here in Nicaragua. We forgot to bring the battery charger for our camera, so we couldn't take photos after about the halfway point. But here are some highlights of the trip:

Regresamos hace 3 semanas de nuestra visita a Washington, DC. Era un gran oportunidad de ver much@s amig@s y miembr@s de la familia. También disfrutamos duchas calientes, la comida Thai, y otras cosas que nos extrañan aquí en Nicaragua. Se nos olvidé el equipo para cargar la batería de la camara, entonces, no pudimos tomar fótos después de la primera semana. Pero aquí están unas memorias significativas de la visita:


Seeing one of the pandas at the National Zoo. Vemos uno de los pandas en el Zoológico Nacional.


Quinn posing with the panda statue after seeing the real deal. Quinn está posando con la estatua del panda, después de ver el panda verdadero.


Becca, Laura Jean, and Amy after brunch & panda-viewing. Becca, Laura Jean, y Amy, después de comer y ver el panda.


Quinn with cousin Caleb at my dad's birthday lunch (the big 6-5!). Quinn con su primo Caleb a la celebración del cumpleaños de mi papá. ¡Cumplió 65!



Quinn and cousin Grace eating amazing birthday cupcakes.


We spotted this baby deer in my Aunt Leslie's yard. Vemos este ciervito cerca de la casa de mi Tía Leslie.


Playing at Grace's house. Jugando en la casa de Grace.


And a new toy! A sweet half-birthday present from her Auntie Jessica was waiting for her. ¡Un nuevo juguete! Recibió un regalo para el hecho de cumplir 3 años y medio de su Tía Jessica.


And of course, fun times with Shubha! Y, por supuesto, Quinn disfrutó la oportunidad de jugar con Shubha.

... And then the battery died. No more photos, but lots of good memories. :) It was a little hard to leave -- we have so many friends in DC, and are still working on making friends here. At the same time, it was nice to come home, and Managua is starting to seem almost as familiar as DC.

...y la batería se descargó. No pudimos tomar más fótos, pero sí, tenemos muchas buenas memorías. Fue un poco difícil regresar, porque tenemos tant@s amigo@s en Washington, DC, y todavía no tenemos much@s amig@s aquí. Sin embargo, nos sentimos content@s de regresar a nuestro hogar, y Manague nos parece casi tan conocida como la ciudad de Washington.

Food Security

I wanted to blog a little bit about the projects we've been working on with the church.

La Misión Cristiana has just completed the first year of a project designed to provide greater food security for communities in the Western region of Nicaragua. The food security project was such a success that they are aiming to expand it to the Eastern region in the coming year. “Food security” is a fancy technical term for making sure everyone has enough to eat. In rural Nicaragua two out of every three people subsist on less than $2 a day, which means that hunger is still a very real problem.

The project has three components. First, La Misión has set up seed banks in seven of the small farming communities where their churches are located. The seed banks provide corn, red bean and sorghum seeds to farmers with the agreement that they will repay 125% of the seeds they receive after the harvest. This structure ensures that the project can continue and benefit more families the following year.  The bank focuses in particular on farmers who own small plots of land or who rent land to farm (sharecroppers) -- the poorest of the poor, in other words.  Many of these farmers could not have afforded to farm otherwise and may have left to find work outside the community.
Church leaders in the Western Region meet to review the re-collection of seeds after the first year's harvest.
The other components of the project involve the gift, to each family in the local churches, of five fruit tree seedlings (3 mango and 2 orange trees) and enough vegetable seeds (tomatoes, onions, peppers, cucumbers and watermelon) to plant a substantial backyard garden. This past weekend, we accompanied a group of pastors and church leaders in a training on how to properly plant and tend a vegetable garden and heard first-hand how the project is already taking root. Here are a few pictures.

In order to load the delivery truck, the fruit tree seedlings had to be brought out by ox-cart.


Delivering the seedlings to church families.


Here's Quinn playing in the type of mango tree the seedlings will one day become. We can confirm that the mangoes are delicious!


Sonia delivering the vegetable garden seeds to the church families.


Josue, Darling and Edgar sort the veggie seeds into individual bags for delivery (with a little help from Quinn).


Don Hector, an agricultural engineer who works with la Misión, gives a training on the proper care and management of vegetable gardens.