Day 79 April 17, 2009 (Fri)

I know I haven't posted in a while because not too much has been going on but I just found out something kind of serious and it's been confirmed that the Tennessee friends I made on their trip to Nicaragua were hit by tornadoes on Good Friday. No one that I know was seriously injured but there have been deaths and many homes were destroyed and now they are trying to pick up some of the broken pieces in their lives at the moment. I pray that God gives you the strength and courage to move forward as well as the resources to do so. Dios Bendiga!

Above is a picture of the tornado. It was taken by one of those friends. Pretty scary so please keep them in your prayers as they try to recover.

Day 63 April 2, 2009 (Thurs)

To basically break down what we did this week: We visited a number of different farmers and their families. Really remote places where they don't always have running water or food to eat. We learned about their lives a little and used the afternoons to play with their children. The group would do a craft with the kids then play sports with them. Sometimes it was soccer or baseball or duck, duck, goose. It was a lot of fun. The faces of those kids lit up light Christmas. It was the best.

Towards the end of the week, I wasn't feeling so good. I don't know what it was but I felt queasy all the time. I think it was a combination of food and the really bumpy car rides on unfinished roads with huge pot holes. A lot of ups and downs but I eventually got over it.

All in all, I enjoyed my time this week with the group from Washington. It was a lot of fun seeing different parts of this country with them. Next week begins Holy Week (Semana Santa) and we'll be busy in my house with a lot of ministry trips to different neighborhoods to teach kids about the story of Jesus. It will be busy but I'm excited for what's to come. Stay tuned.

Day 63 April 1, 2009 (Wed)

We were all eating breakfast at a restaurant down the street from our hotel when one of our leaders runs in and says, "There was a fire in one of the hotel rooms, every body needs to hurry to go run and grab their stuff." A quick shuffling of panicked folks and everyone starts to reach for their purses, backpacks and water bottles then...APRIL FOOLS'! How dare she do such a thing. She was actually quite surprised that anyone believed her but yes we did. Then afterwards someone said, well it was kind of stupid for us all to running back toward the fire but that person was just as foolish for taking off toward the door as well.

Day 62 March 31, 2009 (Tues)

The more I travel in the country, the more land I see that has remained untouched by the hand of man. You could not imagine something more beautiful. I've climbed to the very tops of mountains, arriving tired and out-of-breath then once I get my heart rate back to normal, my breath is taken away again by the sight. Mountains as far as the eye can see and they countinue existing even beyond that, like a never-ending story. Changing from dark blue to light based on dimension and depth. Rows and rows of trees stacked on the mountainsides. It's difficult to find the horizon out here. It is hard to believe such natural beauty can even still exist and yet it does. Every now and then, a tin shack is raised to reside a poor family in the valley of the mountains. Somebody said it perfectly, a $10 house with a $1 million view. It's amazing to think of how many contractors or businesses would lose their minds over such prime property. I hope these places remain unseen and untouched by machinery.

Day 61 March 30, 2009 (Mon)

Another day. Another journey.

Today, I left to go on a week-long trip with a group from the state of Washington. Odd thing, many of them didn't know where Chicago was. Anyways, it was a youth group team with a few leaders, a translator, a couple from the organization we worked with and myself. I did not know a single person. The first night, we stayed in this German hotel in Selva Negra. It was really pretty. We took some long tours around the property and saw all the work they do to remain a self-sustaining business. It was quite impressive. Oh yeah, and the picure above is women washing clothes..it's kind of like the town laudromat so to speak.

Day 60 March 29, 2009 (Sun)

Tonight after church, I saw a family of four leave our house and get on a motorcycle to go home. I am amazed. I've seen outrageous numbers of people get on bicycles, motorcycles and in buses. Basically any method of travel. I wondered how and now I've seen it first hand.