What does it mean to be a man?

The end of June we were in Honduras for an MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) retreat. All the other MCC teams from Central America and Mexico united to learn more about gender and more specifically masculinity. Latin American men are well known for their machismo (male shovenism), so gender inequality is something we are all aware of and for us women experience it first hand. The training did not touch on what I thought it would exactly, but it was more interactive and made me think what it means to be a man or a woman...what are my preconceptions are, how the culture affects one's beliefs of what a man or woman is and each person needs to become aware of what it means to them to be a man or a woman in order to work with others.


Since it was a retreat there was time for relaxation and enjoying the outdoors. We stayed at a Lodge (PANACAM) about an hour southwest of San Pedro Sula. It was located in the mountains and there was a nearby reservoir we swam in and sailed on...yes sailed. One of the MCC workers in Honduras made two small sail boats to try out on the lake...it was a fun, but it takes more patience when there is no wind. We also enjoyed hiking on the trails.


Seth and I stayed an extra night at the lodge after the retreat was over, so we saved the long hike for our extra day. It took us 3 hours and we more or less climbed to the top of the mountain for the amazing views, as well as saw a beautiful waterfall and enjoyed a dip in the ice cold watering hole...it took my breath away initially, but I was able to get used to it.

Groups, Birthday, Retreat and Work

We have been keeping busy the last month and a half. We had two university groups from the states, a 3 day spiritual retreat with our MCC team on Ometepe island, an MCC girl craft day, I celebrated my 32nd birthday, and we are transitioning our roles in AsoFenix.

We had our last groups we will ever have since we are leaving in October. We are glad to be done with the groups, they always took a lot of work and time to prepare for and we always felt worn out after the groups left. A lot of the work we did for AsoFenix seems to be taken over by new interns or local employees. It is good to see that our work will continue on without us, which is what you always hope for as you're transitioning out. However, it has been hard for it to happen earlier then we expected...we still have 3 months left. Although, we know God has something in mind for us the last 3 months, but we are still trying to figure out what that is (please be praying for us). At this point we are just being open to God's leading.

The retreat with the MCC team was a nice chance to get out of Managua and spent time learning about spiritual gifts. We also had some time to enjoy the beauty of Ometepe Island. We went to a beautiful spring that is said to have healing minerals (they always say you feel younger coming out then going in the water...I don't know about this, but it was fun).

After the retreat I planned a girls craft day. Normally it is only to make jewelry and do manicures and pedicures, but this year we have a lot more crafty people on the team that wanted to teach the others. Some people made bags/purses (Angela taught), a few paid to have a masseuse come to the office, most people learned to make earrings from pop cans (Melissa taught this), most made jewelry using my supplies and all pampered their hands and feet with pedis and manis. It was a nice time of fellowship, learning new crafts and improving on the old ones.

My birthday was a nice relaxing day. Seth and I took the day off from work and swam at the Best Westerns pool, ate lunch out, went shopping and Seth made for dinner one of my favorite dishes he makes (Italian vegetable bake). I still don't feel 32, but the dates don't lie. Granted my life is not exactly where I thought it would be at 32, but I am okay with that because I know I am following God's plan for my life and not my own.
*my camera broke so I don't have any pics from my birthday, so you won't know if I look any older.*

Canyon and Beach

In May we were able to do enjoy a few things Nicaragua has to offer for tourists. Seth and I went to Somoto Canyon, which is located up north near the Honduran border. It has been locally known for decades, but recently discovered as a touristy place to go. We took a tour of the canyon, which entailed hiking in about 30 minutes and then walking on rocks on the river until you get to a point where the canyon narrows and the river deepens...that is where you have to swim. We would swam a little ways and then it would be shallow enough to walk for a little bit and then we swam again and so on. There was also a great place to cliff jump as you can see by Seth diving in...I jumped too, but nobody took any pictures. By the end of the tour we were both so tired of swimming we were happy to walk the 20 minutes out of the canyon to catch the bus. It was a beautiful place and we would say it is a uniquely Nicaraguan experience...we have not seen anything like this any of our other travels in Central America and it was also a lot of fun.

We also spent a weekend with our friends the Forry's, fellow MCCers who live up north in Matagalpa, at San Juan del Sur. You may recall this town from other entries we have done. We have been to San Juan del Sur to go to the beach various times over our 2 years and 7 months. We spent time at three different beaches (San Juan, Coco and Remanso), as well as enjoyed eating good food and catching up. This beach time was a little different than our other visits because we went with Steve, Colleen and their kids...going to the beach with kids is always different, but fun. It was fun to watch Zach and Nathaniel playing in the waves and rolling around in the sand with them. I don't know if I have ever had so much sand in my swimsuit. Of course, kids don't lay around at the beach so you can't read or stay in the sun as long, so our trips to the beaches were shorter, but it was a good time. Also, the Forry's had their jeep, so it made it a lot easier to leave when the kids needed to, as opposed to the water taxi that drops you off in the morning and picks you up in the afternoon...not too kid friendly. Steve and Colleen will be ending their 3 year term with MCC in the end of July, so it was nice to have the chance to hang out with them in a beautiful setting.

Grandma and Friend

As many of you know my grandmother passed away April 22. She was 87 and still living in the house my grandfather built in 1960. I was fortunate enough to have family willing to fly me home for the funeral. It gave me time to be with family and have a time of closure. I am extremely grateful for the technology that exists today because I was able to talk with her frequently. I always loved to call her because of the excitement I would hear in her voice once I said it was Sarah. I knew it meant a lot to her that I would call all the way from Nicaragua. She always thought it was costing me an arm and leg, so she would never talk long, even though I would tell here I am calling from the computer and it is cheap. She was just happy enough hearing my voice and chatting a bit and so was I. I was close with my grandma. She was a women of God, who wholeheartedly searched after Him. I remember her saying when I was staying at her house, ¨This is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it¨. No matter what the day brought she would rejoice in it.
It is funny the things you start to remember after a loved one dies. I have memories of playing dolls with her as a kid, spending the night in the camper when they visited us in Colorado, playing chicken scratch with her, the way I felt so comforted being in her house and with her, but most of all how much she loved me and all of her family and her devotion to God. There are times I still think she really can't be gone, but then I know she is gone from this earthly world. I do have hope though...I know I will be reunited with her again in heaven and what a glorious day it will be to be in the presence of my Lord and savior and to reunite with family I have deeply missed.

Water...what a precious gift it is, be wise in it's use

Water is vital to all life, but there is not always enough for everyone in the world. Part of our work is helping our partner, AsoFenix, to install solar powered water systems. Since we have been in Nicaragua we have installed one system and there are two awaiting funding. Our systems use solar panels to provide energy to pump water from the well to large storage tanks. From the tanks water is gravity fed to the houses, so women and children no longer have to carry water.

Lately I have been thinking about how as North Americans we take for granted being able to turn on a faucet and have water when we want it. We have never had to walk several miles just to have drinking water or concerned ourselves whether our water is safe. We just assume the water we drink is safe and most likely it is. This month's National Geographic magazine focuses on Water. I thought water issues were bad here in Nicaragua, but it is not nearly as bad as other poorer places in the world (Africa and India). North Americans on average use 100 gallons of water a day, where as the world's poor get by with 5 gallons of water a day (National Geographic, The Burden of Thirst). That is incredible, no?? How about that the majority of the water in poorer countries is not potable, but the people have no other choice because we need water to survive. Around 3.3 million people, mainly children under 5 years old, die yearly due to dirty water, lack of sanitation and proper hygiene (National Geographic, The Burden of Thirst). It seems like providing clean water, proper sanitation and hygiene should be easy, but it does not happen and it is mainly due to lack of money. Check out the National Geographic website http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/04/table-of-contents
The articles I enjoyed the most were The Burden of Thirst and The last Drop.

Water is vital for all life, and with less than 1% of fresh water accessible to all of us (National Geographic, Editor's Note on Fresh Water) we all need to be cautious in how much we use.