Feliz Navidad

Well...we had a great time over the last two weeks checking out the communities we will be working in and also meeting a lot of great people. During our time, with spent several days with a group of college students from California. We traveled around to several of the project the Aso-Fenix (the organization we will be working with) in many different areas. We were impressed by the differences in the areas of Nicaragua, all with in 40 miles of each other. There were areas with large cliffs and spires, rolling hills, dry areas (where we will be working at) and lush green areas. We also had a time to see some of the projects that the MCC worker we a following has done. It was really awesome to see the affect he has had on the people and the relationships he has built.
Though it was a great two weeks, it was really busy and we are looking forward to relaxing this coming week. Hopefully, in the clear waters of the Pacific Ocean. We miss you all and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Bromadero here we come

We has a wonderful time during our MCC retreat in the mountains of Nicaragua. We stayed at a Nicaraguan Young Life Camp, it was very pretty (we have put some pictures on our photo page). We had a business meeting the first day, and than the remaining two were a spiritual retreat. It was a great time to see what God has been doing in our lives and also what he has planned for our future. It was also a good time to get to know the rest of the MCC team and see what God has been doing in their lives. Though it may be hard to believe it was actually quite cool at the camp. During the nights, I imagine it got down in the upper 40s (pretty cold for here). It was very pleasant to be cool and escape the heat of Managua. The camp we stayed at was also a farm and it was very green and beautiful.
On Tuesday we will be leaving for 2 weeks to go to the area we will be working at. We will spend the time with Lydell, the MCC volunteer we will be replacing. We are very excited to see the projects he has been working on and the people he has gotten to know. During this time we will be looking for possible projects for us to work on as well as making contacts with the people in the towns.

December, already?

Well it is hard to believe we have already been here a month. We finished our first month of language training and will be taking the month of December off from language training. We will be going to Matagalpa (a city in the central northern region of Nicaragua) for the first week for a meeting and spiritual retreat with all the Nicaraguan MCC volunteers. After that week we will be going to visit projects in the area we will be working (Boaco region) for two weeks. The volunteer that we are taking over for will be showing us around. We are excited to be able to visit the projects and hope to be able to explore possibilities for our future work. We will have a week off for Christmas, but we are not sure what we will be doing. Then we will return to Managua in January for another month of language training.

Saturday Drive

On Saturday we had the opportunity to take a trip to Bromadero, one of the towns we will be working in. The community (with the help of MCC and ASO-FENIX, the organization we will be working with) completed a solar powered water pump to provide water for the community for the first time. Before this point, the women had to walk 45 min. one way during the dry season to get water. We will be coming in after this to help them learn to make the best of the new water they have with health techniques (hand washing, cleaning food), community gardens, and reforestation (many of the trees around the communities have been cut down for firewood, leaving the hills largely barren). Bromadero is only 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Teustepe, but because of the roads it took us 45 min (think of real bad forest service roads in the states). Believe it or there is a bus (old US yellow school bus) that goes up and down the road each day, I couldn't imagine the road during the rainy season. We were very excited to meet some of the people we will be working with, and the Bromadero is about 10 to 15 degrees cooler than Managua. It looks like we will get a house in Teustepe, but will have the option to spend some of the week nights in the MCC house in Bromadero. Which will save us the trip, which will be especially nice when I have to start work at 5am, oh the life of a farmer.

A Day in the Life

Life here in Nicaragua is passing by and things are going well, 3 weeks already. Every week day we go to the MCC office in the mornings to spend 2 hours with a tutor, which is a person the attends on of the Mennonite Churches in the area and receives a scholarship to attend University in partial exchange for their service. Then we go back to our host family for lunch. After a delicious meal (some times hot soup) we take the bus to our spanish school and have private lessons for 2 hours. We are both progressing very well in spanish and enjoy it most days. After that we head back to the office for some orientation and study time. Around 5 or so we head home and have a great dinner and spend time getting to know our host family better. Than being the studious people we are we usually study until we go to bed. So that is about what an average day looks like here in Nicaragua the land of lakes and volcanoes. And yes, Thanksgiving was just another Thursday down here ;(