At first, I had a hard time making the “30-second description” of our trip sound any different than that of any other mission trip. “It was awesome, breathtaking, powerful, and life-changing,” or some combination of those words, were usually what came out of my mouth. But what could I say that people here at home would relate to if they’ve never had similar experiences?
Our trip had many different tasks lined up, which really helped diversify the people on it. For the first half of the trip, we rode in the back of a pickup two kilometers to the hike point, and then continued up the mountain for another two kilometers, wearing knee-high rubber boots and trekking through mud and across log bridges to a grassy field on the side of a mountain. There we were able to help with the construction of a church building for the congregation at El Balsamo, a member of the ACIBEN association of churches in Nicaragua.
I am very conscious of the idea of using a mission trip as a sponsored vacation, and can assure you this was not one of those trips. We stayed in a house that had two 10’ x 10’ cinder block rooms and a hallway to connect them. The guys slept five-wide with two more sleeping head to foot at the bottom. Needless to say there wasn’t a single morning I didn’t wake up with somebody else’s head on my shoulders or an arm across my chest. We ate the same meal three times a day, for the duration of the trip, which included arroz (rice), pinta (beans), pina (pineapple), and sandia (watermelon). The only thing that would change is the way they fixed the pollo (chicken). We “bathed” in the river, which became quite the adventure after the afternoon rains had washed massive amounts of mud downstream with the current. We had to walk through a muddy field to even get there, usually negating any level of cleanliness we could achieve from the river. Mosquitoes would nearly carry some of the smaller group members away at night, and we quickly exhausted our supply of both insect repellant and itch cream.
The first half of the trip was quite daunting, physically speaking, but it went a long way towards establishing some great team chemistry. We had lots of time to bond, especially when it would get dark early (Nicaragua doesn’t believe in daylight savings time) and the electricity would go out (for three days at a time). There were safety concerns while hiking and walking around, and there were many people who didn’t know each other very well before the trip (especially guy/girl friendships) so we decided that we should try to implement a “buddy system”. Your buddy was your seat partner on the bus and in charge of getting to know you, while assisting you up the mountain and watching your back when wandering about the neighborhood. Every night at our debriefing/devo time, we were to share something about our partner that nobody else knew that we picked up through our conversations or observation, and also to give each other a “put-up” or a comment of encouragement or affirmation. This single activity added a whole new level of depth to the conversations, and really helped us develop from the start a relationship oriented attitude towards our teammates and increased the enjoyability of the long bus trips through the mountains.
The second half of the trip was spent taking two- or three-day trips out of the base house in Sebaco, which was where the headquarters of ACIBEN were located. There were stretches when the group would experience 4 Spanish church services in a 24-hour period. For as grueling as the first part of the trip was physically, the second half was equally as grueling spiritually and emotionally. We discovered how hard it is to stay focused on the moment after the congregation just sang the ninth verse of the only song that the churches know. The clapping gave us blisters and the singing gave us migraines.
There were rewards, though. There wasn’t a single service that we sat through that members of our group weren’t able to bless their congregation in various ways. Several members helped lead worship, with some of it in Spanish, while others shared powerful testimonies as to the work of God in their lives. We were able to leave money or supplies at a lot of the churches to help complete lingering construction projects. The most encouraging part of the whole experience though, was listening to the testimonies of members of the congregation (through our translators) of how God is working in their lives and churches as well. It is so neat to see yourselves as part of something larger than ourselves, our school, and even our home church bodies.
Thanks largely to the discussions and readings from this class, I felt I was more prepared than most to face the challenges of cross-cultural ministry and communication. I thought it was interesting that after completing the surveys, most members of our class entertained some of the traits more prevalent in majority-world cultures. If my notes are correct, the majority of the class exhibited a time orientation, holistic thinking, non-crisis orientation, and relationship orientation, which are all non-western-world values. Those of us in the class expected to encounter much more non-western culture than we actually did, so in some ways we were disappointed. Part of this has to do with America (and the rest of the “western world”) and their proximity to Nicaragua, not to mention the omnipotence displayed in our foreign policies towards Latin America generally. It was a unique exchange, because it seemed that they wanted to learn and imitate so much about our culture, while we were more impressed with theirs and longed for some of the simplicity they took for granted.
Even though we were in-country for nearly three weeks, in some ways, we would always be a short-term team no matter how long we stayed. As long as we were living out of a suitcase and travelling in a large group while carrying our cameras, we would always be outsiders. As much as we tried, until we were fluent and stopped taking our cameras everywhere, we wouldn’t ever really fit in. But in thinking about time-event orientation, I was incredibly disappointed in how well we were able to maintain our American culture while in most other ways being submersed in another. Our goals were a little bit different on a short-term trip than a hypothetical permanent assignment, and we tried to go as many places and get as much done as possible. We were on a pretty tight timetable for many of our excursions and even our everyday life. As an “event person”, and a college student, I find it hard to wake up to an alarm clock, and equally difficult to go to bed early. I also require some kind of down time during the day to recharge my batteries for a few minutes. The average Nicaraguan wakes up at around 4am and gets to sleep around 9pm. These numbers are a little skewed because they do not participate in daylight savings time, but they still get up and go to bed much earlier than we were used to. This made it a little more squeezed because our group and our host had a shorter window to accomplish things together. They were always ready for bed when we were ready to go to town and buy some ice cream to enjoy during our devotional/de-briefing time. They were always ready to leave and begin travelling or working while we were just waking up.
Another interesting dynamic was the conflict between making good friends with the locals and helping build them a church (relation/task orientation). This is another way that our team worked together to balance out each other’s weaknesses. Several on the team had in mind that we were actually going to complete the entire church building while we were there. We could tell it was hard on them on the days that our afternoons were rained out. Several other people on the trip were painfully awkward doing physical labor, and scared the rest of us when they tried to swing a hammer. While we were working on the church building, I thought it was great how everyone seemed to find a role that suited them, and somehow every gap had someone there to fill it (literally). Everyone was able to spend some time doing different jobs, from the girls laying bricks to Jordan and Scott playing soccer with the children. We were able to get much farther on the church than the pastors had expected, but we got to spend a lot of time with the children and the others in the community who would help on the church, help prepare us lunch, or just come and see what we were doing.
In visiting so many churches, we were able to grasp a pretty good picture of the typical Nicaraguan church service and were able to draw some interesting conclusions about their worship style. In many ways, it was quite similar to ours in America. The church services always began with a greeting, followed by singing, concluding with a message and another song. Actually, we heard the same three or four songs at every church service, but when they don’t have hymnals or song books, everything is done from memorization, so I can understand the lack of variety. Also, when we didn’t speak Spanish, it was understandable that all the songs would sound the same.
One thing that stuck out to me immediately was how every group associated with the church had their contribution to the worship. In many of the services, several different groups would lead us in another (or the same) song. There would be a group of young boys, a group of young girls, the teenage youth group, a group of women, a group of men, and an ensemble of all the pastors that were in attendance. Usually in America, the children especially are usually herded off to children’s church, where here they were given the spotlight to sing the song they had been learning this week. The one song the children sang that we did recognize (only by the motions) was the old familiar children’s’ song “I’m in the Lord’s Army.” At first we were a little disturbed by the boys in the choir mowing down the congregation with a machine gun, but I found it quite ironic considering the Latin American history of the revolutionary church through Liberation Theology.
Another thing that I found unique was the prayers during church. In every church I’ve ever been to in the United States, the pastor, or one person in the congregation is asked to pray and the rest of the church remains silent while listening to the prayer. In all the churches we visited, the pastor would always say something like, “Let’s ask the Lord’s blessing,” or something similar. We are used to everyone asking the Lord’s blessing vicariously through the one person praying, but there it meant that everyone should individually pray aloud for the Lord’s blessing. I caught us off guard the first time we were asked to pray. I remember Zack leading a prayer during one of the Spanish worship sets that he played. He told us afterwards that he had found praying in Spanish was easier than in English, because after he got through the “Dear Lord, we thank you...” everyone else’s prayers drowned him out and he didn’t have to worry about mispronouncing something in Spanish.
We also had some unique experiences with cross-cultural relationships in our time there. We found it was slightly weird that the young men of the church were incredibly quick to be ready to profess their love to the girls in our group. Considering the obvious language barriers to interpersonal communication, we had two different men use flowery language to acknowledge their affections for our girls, while another described Stacey as a “Goddess.” Reflecting on this, I’m not exactly sure what prompts this. Of course they see marriage to an American woman as a ticket into another lifestyle that they only see on television, but I’m not sure what else goes into this culturally. I’m not exactly sure how things are done in their culture as far as young dating relationships, but we did notice a huge number of young, single mothers.
Melissa and I had a “critical de-briefing” on the trip home to see if there were things we thought we could have done better or wish we could have done differently. Overall, we felt like the trip had gone about as well as possible, but there were a couple of things that we would do differently. First of all, we felt that it should almost be a requirement to take RP 107, Cross-Cultural Ministries, before going on a trip through the college. We had a couple of cases of insensitive comments that could have been alleviated just by a little more cultural awareness. (My favorite was said while taking the trash out, “Just look around you, this whole country is a trash can.”) It would have been helpful for everyone to have the same context of trying to understand the other culture as well as in dealing with situations within the group.
The one other thing that I wish we had done differently was to spend one of our training sessions learning about the culture and history of Nicaragua. I think it would have been very helpful for everyone to understand the state of politics in the country. The majority of the group had no idea who the Sandinistas even were, much less who President Ortega was. Information like that would have made our “tourist day” in Leon much more interesting for the rest of the group (other than Melissa and I), not to mention give them a better understanding of the reasons that we never met any men in their 50’s.
The trip was “awesome, breathtaking, powerful, and life-changing,” and I will never be able to translate that fully to anyone who hasn’t had similar experiences, but I will never be the same.

Thanks again for everything,
Ben Swihart

We're home!

I just wanted to let you all know that we made it safely back to the United States. We took one last picture of the team in the Houston Airport before going our separate ways. In the next few days we will try to get the rest of the posts up from the end of the week as well as some pictures! Thank you for your prayers and support. We really saw God at work and it was an experience that we will never forget. We love you all!

Our trip...in chronological order!

Day 1- Wednesday the 23rd
Scott's words
July 23rd (travel day)- Today is the day we met to leave for Nicaragua. All those leaving from kansas city met at 10:30 am (which included everyone in our group but Stacey and Nate who flew out of California). We had a few hour lay over in Houston where we met up with Stacey and Nate! From Houston, Texas we flew to Managua, Nicaragua!!! We are here!!!! Once landed we were all tired but we still had a 2 hour trip to "Headquarters" in Sebaco but we stopped for food and drinks at a mall just a few miles away from the airport. This is where much of us had a reality check (me included)..... no toilet paper!.... hello napkins!! We all loaded up in the bus we used for transportation, which rocked i might add as it had multicolored running lights and a set of sweet rims, and headed for Sebaco. We made it to Sebaco and moved our stuff in and promptly fell asleep.

Hey Everyone, Just to let you know, we have arrived safely at Managua airport. We have been busy at Sebaco. Will write more later this weekend when we are at Leon and have internet access. Here is a little breakdown of our schedule just so you know: July 23- Fly to Managua and then drive to Sebaco. July 25- Drive to the construction site: El Balsamo. If you want an idea of where that is on the map...it is beyond the towns of Muy Muy and El Jobo. Aug 2- Travel to Leon...we will relax for a night and go to the beach Aug 4- Travel to visit some churches south of Managua Aug 6- Pick up Dr. Hank and Zack at the airport, head north to visit churches Aug 10- Spend one last night in Sebaco Aug 11- Head to Managua...go to the market (Ashley visits Javier) Aug 12- Fly out


Day 2 – Thursday the 24th
Stuart’s addition
Buenas Dias. I am Stuart Parman, a Junior Communication and Theatre Arts Major with an emphasis in Theatre. I hail from the hustling and bustling burg of Arkansas City, Kansas where I spent the twelve weeks preceding our mission trip stacking boxes on the night shift at a local ice cream factory. That being said, I am extremely pumped to finally be on this trip that we’ve been preparing and praying about for many months now. Our first full day in Nicaragua started off with a full Nicaraguan breakfast…which, as we’ve come to find is no different from any other meal: rice, beans, fresh watermelon & pineapple, bread or toast, and sometimes arroz con leche which is Spanish for rice with warm milk. The only difference is that with other meals we have chicken or beef and with breakfast we have eggs and ham. After eating we loaded up the bus to head out for the town of San Isidro which was about half an hour from Sebaco where we stayed the previous night. This is just one of the congregations in the collection of churches known as A.C.I.B.E.N., the organization with which we’re working. Our mission for the day was to paint the inside of the church building yellow while Don and several of the other team members ran some PVC pipe for electrical conduits. Upon arriving at the church we discovered that a trip to the local hardware store would be necessary in order to buy paintbrushes, rollers, roller pans, and all the odds and ends need for the electrical business. Now me being my curious self with my desire to experience all that I can, I elected to go along on this side trip with Don and several of the pastors in order to get the full experience of shopping in a Nicaraguan Hardware Store. For some strange reason I had in mind that there would be some cool difference between an American and a Nicaraguan store…and there was! Everyone speaks in Spanish and exceptionally fast. Needless to say I was lost, but oh well. We returned to the church to discover that a large number of children from the surrounding area had gathered off of the street and were now in the alley behind the church engaged with the rest of our team in a large game of Frisbee mixed with Soccer. And so we passed the day taking alternating shifts of painting and playing with children. Now, I’d be lying if I said that painting had been some sort of awe-inspiring experience that was somehow groundbreaking and formative for me. What really spoke to my heart today were the children. From the moment we arrived these kids were fixed on us and spent every possible moment trying to get every bit of our attention that they could muster. You could see in their eyes and hear in the laughter that this was not the kind of attention they usually received. It was just amazing and heartbreaking all at once to spend time with these kids but the way they latched onto us made it hard to leave at the end of the day. We thank you for your continued prayers and can’t wait to share all our pictures and stories with you in the days to come. God bless!

Day 3-Friday the 25th
Caley’s addition
Today we traveled all day. We left from Sebaco to go to El Balsamo where we are building a church at a site nearby. The drive took at least nine hours. We stopped a few times for numerous reasons. Sometimes because the pastors and drivers would see someone they knew that they wanted to visit with, once in a town called Matagalpa to eat as well as buy rubber boots for our adventures ahead, sometimes we would stop because the bus would be making funny noises, and once to get us unstuck from a muddy road.
In the town of Sebaco, we picked up our translater. His name is Joe, actually it’s something else, but he told us to call him Joe. He fits in to the group as if he had been with us the whole time. He’s 18 and very outgoing.
On the way to our destination, we kept ourselves very entertained. Joe and the boys made up a song called “Lo Siento Managua” which means “I’m sorry Managua”. This consisted of Spanish jibberish such as ‘yellow sports’, ‘is this a vase?’ , the ‘mothers and fathers have no flavor’….these are the Spanish words that Ben knows.
We also had a huge game of Uno on the bus, told stories, practiced Spanish and slept.
After about nine hours, we arrived at our destination, which consisted of a two ‘bedroom’ and one ‘living room’ house. Made of concrete, with space between the tin ceiling and tops of the walls, perfect for flashlight puppet shows late at night between rooms. There are NO secrets (or really, privacy) in this house! The bedrooms do not have doors and if a boy happens to be talking or even whispering in his room, the girls can hear every word in our room. We had a lot of laughs when we discovered this.
There is one outhouse that all of us use. You cannot sit down so squatting is necessary.
Just outside the house there is another shed kind of thing. It is the kitchen where the cooks prepare us meals every day.
We discovered that the sun sets at about 6:30, so when we got there the sun was about to set.
As soon as we arrived the pastors put our boys to work. They drove to the base of the mountain to haul concrete up in the dark, and the rain started to pour, so they returned.
Meanwhile, us girls were making the new home nice and cozy by unpacking, making beds, and decorating with construction paper and markers for signs that labeled the boys and girls room, said home sweet home, as well as “artwork” for the walls.
After we ate a wonderful meal that consisted of rice and beans, fruit and fried chicken, we did devotions and headed to bed.
As I said, the rooms are not soundproof, so after puppet shows, stories and lots of giggles, everyone finally settled down and slept for the night.

Day 4- Saturday the 26th
Jordan’s addition
Waking up at 7:01, Scott and I went for a 6-7 minute jog. It was good to loosen up things. Next, we ate a good breakfast and left for work. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We were to carry 90 pounds of dead weight on our shoulders for a 2-3 kilometer hike up a mountain. “Here was the journey.” Scott and I took off like rockets going downhill to the river. We were lead through this very narrow path next to the rocks and the river. We then crossed this log bridge about 5-8 inches wide and 30 feet long. Next was a rocky/muddy/rocky/muddy/rocky/muddy path, and all the while sweating/panting/shaking/staggering and we were not even half way. I am not quite sure how to explain what we did, the physical brutality, the stifling heat, and the muddy/rocky path. I have hiked a fourteener, filled a dump truck up with bricks 5 gallon buckets at a time, and roofed when it was 100 plus degrees. In order to fully appreciate what we did, you would need to do all of these things at once. Ninety pounds of dead weight on you shoulders for several miles in dead stifling heat. What kept us going rather than giving up? It wasn’t my muscles, or the competition but the Lord’s strength running through our veins. Our gracious God also sent a cowboy and his horse to carry up these concrete bags. While he carried up many bags from the halfway point, others of us booked through the language barriers and teamed up with the Nicaraguan’s. In doing this, we piled many cement bags, some broken from being dropped, others were weakend bags from our sweat. All of the bags made it up the mountain one way or another. As Ben said when he was praying to God ‘please make this worth it.’ In this, our eyes were opened and we saw some of the most beautiful country in the world. What was more exciting was the joy of the kids when we played with them. They didn’t want anything but our attention and love. As some kept playing with the kids, others split up to start laying bricks. After getting a demonstration from one of the pastors, we lit into the wall like a fly after garbage, or more like a mosquito after a gringo. With many ‘correcto’s’ and ‘perfecto’s’ from our supervisor, we put in a full day’s work. We then cooled down with the frisbee and my soccer-flip-throw-in. We then ended with the hike down the mountain. All wanting to take a shower from our muddy expidenture (a word that has been coined by Ben from our expeditions/adventures), we set out for a river cleansing. The river bath was great but the walk to and from was muddy, rocky, and a little long. We were almost as dirty as we were when we began. Washing up at home, eating dinner, having devotionals and on to the next day. Thank goodness we were too tired to see all the mosquitoes.

Day 5- Sunday the 27th
Stacey’s addition
Today was our first experience in a bilingual church service. In the morning, after breakfast, we all got in the back of the truck and made the twenty-minute drive to the base of the mountain and then the almost 2-mile hike, in our new rubber boots, to the church of El Balsamo. While there we joined in on their church service. Nate and Joe sang a few songs and Melissa, Nate and Ben gave their testimonies, with the help of Joe of course. Our whole group also recited our trip verse, 2 Peter 1:5-9 for the whole congregation. The people of the congregation also spoke of their happiness about us being there to help. It was an amazing church service that showed us that we can worship God no matter what language.
After the church service at El Balsamo we hurried back down the mountain to the house for a quick lunch and then an hour long bus ride to Sevidilla. To get there we had to cross a river due to the fact that bridge was out. After we forded the river we had a bit of a walk to the church. Us girls were in skirts and flip-flops and had to pick our way through the mud pit that was the road. We arrived at the church an hour early and played the ever popular game of Frisbee with the kids and adults. A few of us got out coloring sheets, crayons and markers, which are hot commodity here, and colored with the kids. We also played with bubbles for a little while and then we went in for another amazing church service.
The church we were visiting was one of the first built by ACBIEN and the congregation was very happy to see us. We enjoyed a church service similar to the one in El Balsamo. Nate and Joe sang and Ben, Melissa, and Jordan shared their testimonies. Many people of the church shared their testimonies with us, and a little boy even go up and sang for us.
After an amazing day of praising God we made our way back to the bus and in the process saw a monkey. On the bus ride back Joe and Nate invented a game of “Snap Ball” which turned into a bus time activity. We finally arrived back to house and found out that the electricity was still out and so the night ended.

Day 6 - Monday the 28th
Joe’s addition
well my name is joe well no really i'm allan giovanny castillo orozco and joe is my nickname i am from nicaragua i live in sebaco i am 18 years old and i love to worship jesus with anything i can do like translating to christian people i wasn't going to translate if it would in other way but it's really nice to spend this days with u .
u probably didn't know about what i do and that i am here and i missed many things like my college class and a spanish test and a football game well that's no so important but anyway well today it's monday i don't know what's the date because we are in the mountain and who is gonna care about the date here well i have two days spending with u and it has been a great experience today we did many things like working in the church but i wasn't working i was working with kids playing with them and it's really nice to play with kids. yeah really !!! we went to have a shower to the river a pretty nice river it was a deep place and with clean water and of course fishes (lol) and something really funny was looking to little kids fishing in the same place where we were taking a shower and they were hitting the fish with rocks and then they catch them thats really funny. well many things like we did today it was a great day and at night we made the devotional and i hope to have more fun the next days well this is just a part of things we did these days well this me big joe ( why so serious *with joker accent*)

Day 7 - Tuesday the 29th
Don’s addition
My day began this morning at 5:00 am with a time of Bible reading and meditation. Around 6:00 am the neighbors brought the cows in from the pasture and I went to visit and got to milk a cow. I enjoy visiting. After a breakfast of fried eggs, rice, arroz con leche, beans, pineapple, and watermelon we partnered up and drove up to our worksite. My partners for the day were Stacey and Adam. We made our hike up the mountain and it seems to be a little easier every day. We had a good day at the church all four walls are up to the bond beam and the bond beam for the back wall is poured. We had a hard rain for about half an hour. Some of the group went to the river, but a few of us stayed home and took a bucket shower. Its suppertime and our cooks have fried chicken. Tonight during devotion time we hope to hear the testimony of one of the pastors, we are looking forward to that.

Day 8 - Wednesday the 30th
Melissa’s addition
Let me tell you about the exact moment I am experiencing right now. I am sitting on a ceramic floor and the ting of rain against the tin roof is becoming constant background noise for our conversations. It is dark as we have turned out the lights for the night and separated to our respective bedrooms. The house we are renting has three rooms which are divided by cement walls which don’t reach all the way to the ceiling. Girls are in one room and giggles are steady. The boys, who are normally singing from their bedroom, are trying to get a rise from the girls from their room. Wagers are being made between the girls and the boys about if Ben can get the girls to touch the ‘honey pot’ whatever THAT is. It is like 7th graders at a massive slumber party. Laughter will only end when exhaustion takes over. It is chilly, to the point that several of us are wearing sweatshirts and one of the pastors that we are working with here is wearing a winter coat (chilly for us is freezing for them). There are mosquitos that are flying by this computer screen and I keep swatting them away from my face.
This trip has been beyond anything that I could have ever imagined. Not only have the challenges exceeded my anticipations, but the team unity and presence of the Lord has also blown away my expectiations. The hike everyday is strenuous. The boys have heavy loads every day. We are bathing in the river. We are sleeping in VERY close proximity to one another. The only bathroom at the house is up the hill in an outhouse. The mud comes up to our ankles in many places. We have gone without electricity. But we are experiencing the lifestyly of another culture. We are not being spoiled by any means and we are getting the raw realization of how different life is in other parts of the world. This will be a cultural experience that we will never forget. The whole team has united in the midst of it and that is visible. One of the pastor’s shared tonight that we were a testimony to him of what a team should be like. We never leave someone behind and we have each other’s back. Every person is willing to do anything and everything for another person on the team. God is good and He alone deserves credit for what has been going on during our time here. Gloria a Dios.
We walked back to the worksite again today. It was a somewhat stressful morning as we were trying to get out and get organized. It was a hot day, a sign of the impending rain, and sweat was running rampant by the time we reached the top of the mountain. It is quite a hike to the work site, but well worth the trip a thousand times when you see the view from the top of the mountain and as you feel the faithful breeze. The place we are working is like a haven, a perfect plateau on the side of the mountain. The church and a couple houses rest there with an open field that I know was made just for our Frisbee and soccer games. Every time I look out at the view, I am completely in awe of God. Stuart described it as more beautiful as the Lost island. It looks like a painting to me though. It is unreal. It is perfect. It is something that I wish I could show all of you, but no word or picture could ever do it justice. You have to see it with your own eyes.
We have definitely settled into different jobs on the worksite. We have the cement/brick laying crew, we have the bond beam crew, and we have the children crew. Some people switch tasks, but most have found their nitche and have settled in. We had leftovers from breakfast for our lunch to keep the cooks from hiking the mountain again. Jordan, Joe and I also helped with lunch prep as we practiced our pina and sugarcane cutting skills. After lunch we knew that the storms would be moving in. It was in the air. Rain makes it very challenging to work with cement because it washed everything out, and cement is a valuable material that cannot be wasted. We watched the rain come across the landscape as it turned the mountains a dark gray, almost black color, and cut off our vision to the surrounding areas. We worked to the very last second between the light rain and the downpour. We had a lot of cement left, but we took cover in the church during the rain (well, all of us except Ashley and Armando who enjoyed the rain together sitting outside our little kitchen). An inpromtu worship service was kicked off as we all took turns signing praise songs. Nate and Ben led the English worship, which was followed by a pastor and a church member who led the Spanish worship. It was a peaceful and joyful time to experience God and reflect on His greatness.
The rain never really stopped, but it let up enough for us to get down the mountain. We were grateful for the rubber boots we had purchased with just $7 before we came to the worksite last week. The mud would have been almost unbearable. Bathing in the river was out of the question as the rivers were ‘muy peligroso’ and slightly muddy themselves. Not heading out to the showers allowed for some hangout time at the casa which was a much needed time to recoop. The girls read magazines, mainly to spite the boys, and had the first ‘American’ food on the trip to this point. Katie supplied snacks like Cheez-its, beef jerky and Famous Amos cookies. It was a pleasant surprise to have that time. Two more of the pastors spoke tonight at devos, but you could tell that the group was getting a little tired after this week of hard work (We are one week in!!!!) because heads were nodding and eyelids were heavy.
We have been blessed and God does amazing things! Thanks for your prayers…we love you all!

Day 9 - July 31
Ben’s addition
Rain on the tin roof makes conversation difficult, so I guess it’s time to do something productive other than yelling across the room. Today was the last day of climbing the mountain, and I was lucky enough to do it twice. We got up to the top at our regular time of about 9am, after about a 15 minute ride in the back of a truck, and an hour hike up the “hill”. It was a little muddy this morning, but the sun was shining and the weather was beautiful. The pastors were recommending we wear our boots, so we did, even though we thought it was going to be nice today. Unlike Melissa, some of us bet against the pastors yesterday and got stuck coming down the muddy mountain in our tennis shoes. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.
About noon, we saw the clouds and fog start to build several miles away. Rain was inevitable. That’s something cool about being at the top of a mountain….seeing the weather come in and having lots of warning...and we don’t get a lot of that (mountains OR warning about the weather) in Kansas. We got as much done as we could, but the deluge started soon thereafter. We all made it inside before we were washed down the side, but work was pretty much over for the day. We again had an impromptu praise time, complete with Nate playing the guitar and myself trying to keep up with the mariachi bass. It seems like everyone here can play several instruments (at least the guitar, bass and accordian) so there are some 12 year olds that look at me like I’m a novice…and I guess I am on that huge contraption. About an hour later, after we started running out of candy to keep the kids (and all us boys) content, we started trying to clean things up. We had a lot of supplies that had to come down with us….more than could be hauled in one trip apparently. Myself and three others were lucky enough to volunteer. We made the trip down carrying pots and pans, coolers, cases of coke bottles, etc. in about 30 minutes and about 45 minutes on the way back up. Legs….so….tired….going…..to…collapse…. Hiking the trail while it is raining is kind of scary and dangerous because the footing is sub-par at best. It also gives everything a surreal atmosphere, almost like a movie set like Jurrassic park or something. We half expect 25 foot pterodactyls to pop out of the cloud and dive bomb us or a T-Rex the chase us down the hill. Anyway….
It has been pretty frustrating for the last couple of days to have our work time cut short because of rain. We knew it was going to be a little unsatisfying to not be able to see the completion of the project, but it has added to our disappointment to not be able to do much the last two days, especially with them being our last two days here. Keep us in your prayers as we transition into another part of our trip in visiting lots of churches and having worship services with them. It is more work that can really make a difference in the lives of the congregations we interact with, but has very little visible difference and may be unsatisfying because we can’t see how much we are doing. We just have to have faith that we are continuing the work of those before us and that those after us will continue it, and that God is the constant through it all.
Speaking of prayer requests, there are a lot of us that are starting to get a little beat up from the toll of hiking everyday. Several sprained ankles, twisted knees, cuts and scrapes, not to mention innumerable mosquito and spider bites. None of them by themselves are life-changing, but they all add stress, and bad moods aren’t good when you add that to the culture stress from isolation from modernity. I think traveling tomorrow back to Sebaco (probably another 9 hour trip to drive about 3 hours) will be good for our bodies, and no more hiking won’t hurt either. We have been so blessed by how well our team has come together. We have become good friends with people we didn’t know very well at the beginning of the trip, and have deepened many other friendships. It is truly incredible how God put our team together. The way our strengths balance each other out, we haven’t faced an obstacle we can’t overcome, whether that be putting together church services that include songs in Spanish, charging 90 pound bags of cement up a mountain, or teaching kids that don’t speak a word of English about Bible stories. Thanks for your prayers and praise God for the blessings that we have been able to provide the people here and for the blessings they have given us.

Day 10- August 1, 2008
Krisha’s Addition
Today was a day of traveling back to Sebaco where we plan to get well rested for the next part of our missions trip. The bus ride was amazing because we were able to rest and have a few laughs and great conversations.
As usual, we made several different stops on our way back to Sebaco. We stopped to visit people, visit different pastors churches, and of course to fix our ‘first class’ bus, and to eat. The restaurant was called El Pullaso and it was the best meal that we have had so far on this trip. While there, we ran into another group of Americans who were on a medical missions trip. We found out that a couple of them were from Kansas City, right by where I grew up. They actually went to school ten minutes from where I did, so we all exchanged e-mail addresses.
When we got back on the bus, Caley, Joe, and I had some conversations that helped us to get to know each other a lot better. We know call ourselves the ‘Power Puff Girls’ and we save the city. As for the other Nica-team members, they slept while Ben and Nate where seeing how good they look in Joe’s glasses. Overall, It was the best bus ride that we have had thus far.
We are very excited to be back in Sebaco because tonight we get to do our laundry for the first time in over a week. We were all beginning to smell horrible. We also get to take a nice shower and relax after a hard weeks work. We are very pumped that we get to call home for the first time since we left Houston. As for the rest of night, we plan to visit the city of Sebaco maybe go back to the ice-cream shop and visit Joe’s house.

Day 11 – August 2
Ben’s Ramblings
So we didn’t really realize how much laundry 14 people accumulate over 9 days. After de-brief and devotional time was over tonight….about 6 hours ago….we realized our 5 hours of washing had barely made a dent. One thing led to another, and somehow Stuart, Melissa, Stacey and I (Papa Swi) got roped into staying up late and changing laundry well into the night. The best part is that there is no dryer, so the entire house (including several improvised clotheslines around and through the house) is completely filled already with slowly drying clothes. Actually I lied, the real best part is that the lady at the store sold Don bars of hand soap instead of laundry detergent. So the clothes don’t actually get very clean. They do, however, smell like a fresh Irish rain. Or something. Usually 4am isn’t that bad for college students, but usually we don’t have to get up at 5am the morning before to start cleaning the house to leave. Late night conversations usually end up in some pretty deep discussions (in which I find my sustenance), whether it be about good books we have read or some music that really impacted us, or religious perspectives or stories about relatives that have impacted us greatly. It was great to call our families tonight (unfortunately mine didn’t answer the phone…) but it provided a reality check for some of us. Sometimes we are able to come down from our mountaintop experience (quite literally in this case) slowly and really savor every fresh memory. Others are jerked back into the realization that the world doesn’t stop turning while we are away. Two different people in our group found out that loved ones had died in the last week while we were incommunicado and off the grid. Please pray for them and our group as we try to help them cope and recover from the shock. While you’re at it, please pray for all of our families and friends back home. Sometimes the people that we are close to are the forgotten people in the trip, but I know how hard it is to be away from that one person you count on to talk through tough situations. Some of those situations and decisions have to be lived out without us being involved and just pray that God can be present in those situations. Hope everything is well, and we are looking forward to being able to download a lot more pictures and share with all of you. It’s funny how we just went for a week without a bathroom and several of those days without any electricity, and then we complain about how Nicaraguan dial-up connections are so much slower than our high speed DSL….

Katie’s thoughts for the day
Last night was a long night. We had our bible study and had lots of laundry to do. So we were slow in the morning to get ready to pack. We had to wake up early to eat breakfast and get on the bus to go to our next destination. When we all woke up this morning there were clothes all over the house. We had strings for clotheslines all around the house with no space to spare. We took all the clothes off and put them on the table in the living area. Everyone had to dig for their clothes. It was not fun having fourteen people looking for their clothes. It was like a huge garage sale. I got irritated when I could not find my jeans and waited till everyone took most of their clothes. I found one shirt that had soap on it, because we got the wrong soap. Once everyone got all their clothes, we combined suitcases so we would not have to haul any more than we needed to. We loaded the bus and we left Sebaco and were on our way to Nicqonohmo. We were all very excited about the bus ride (LOL). The ride was of course, bumpy and lots of stopping and going. The one and only thing that I like about the bus, is the quality time you have to get to know each other. I got the opportunity to learn more about the Nicaraguan culture by visiting with Joe. The culture is very interesting and I would like to learn more. The church we went to had a large crowd, which was the biggest by far compared to the other ones we have visited. It was very crowded and everyone was motivated to worship God. It was very hot and all the music sounded the same. Ben and Ashley gave their testimonies. After the service we were all happy to get some fresh air. Afterwards we went to a house to eat supper. You will never guess what we had to eat. We had chicken, rice, beans, bread, fruit and coke. I have never had so much coke in my life. People are always handing us coke when we just want agua! The trip thus far has been very enjoyable. I cannot wait to share several more days with this group. Everyone in the group has something to add to the group. It will be enjoyable to learn more about each person and I cannot wait to enlighten everyone with my stories.


Day 12 – August 3
Ashley’s Angle
Hoy es Domingo. (Today is Sunday.) But you wouldn’t know that by the millions of noises going on outside at five in the morning. While we Americans were gaining every second of sleep possible before Melissa would come and jump on us to wake us up, the Nicaraguans had their coffee, were driving loud trucks, and peeking in the church windows to look at the gringos. Yep, it’s the perfect Sunday. Today is the day we officially find out how many Spanish praise songs you can fit into one tune and how your hand begins to blister after one hour of clapping to worship songs. For a re-creation of this experience for your viewing pleasure, contact Ben, Nate, and Stuart for a performance. But, no, it was great to see how excited our brothers and sisters in Christ enjoyed worshiping God, mainly through music. The Nica-Team also got to visit a mission church. A member of that church got to share her powerful testimony with us. It was the kind of testimony that will give you encouragement through anything. Now for some special moments of the day: Humorous Moment: Katie and I playing a particular Spanish game with some little girls and then later finding out, the song was about beer. Stupid Moment: Me kicking the soccer ball along with a tree root in sandals. Quote Moment: “Are we there yet? Of course not, there’s just an ox-cart in the way.” –Ben Swihart

Day 13- August 4
Zack from Minnesota!
Well it's day 2,329 in Minnesota and it is... OK so I am still in MN but I so excited to get to Nicaragua. I want to be there right now. I have enjoyed reading all of your blogs and they have been very helpful in understanding what you guys are doing. I am posting this blog to encourage you guys. Your are all doing amazing things for the people there and God has a plan for this trip and he will use each of you to accomplish that plan. I am praying for you guys and will see you soon (with many goodies I might add...). Y quiero hablar con Joe sobre muchas cosas para aprender mas sobre su familia y su experiencia en Nicaragua. GOD BLESS! And I will see you all soon.

Adam’s perspective
Well after we got up and got ready, we headed out to see one of Nicaragua’s volcanoes. Doing this could not have come at a better time. Almost every one of us had been feeling sick or nauseous or a combination of like eight other things. So it was truly rejuvenating just to have some time to gather ourselves physically, mentally, and spiritually, and some emotional stuff too. But we got to the national park and went to the museum first and learned all about the creation and history of it. Then, not knowing what was going on, we started driving up. When we got to the top (after the smoothest drive of the trip so far) Scott and I got off first and we where just talking and walked up some stairs that led to the top of a hill. Along the way we where just looking at the rocks on the ground having no idea what was in store for us, and then all of a sudden we looked left and had the bejeebers scared out of us. To our left was a giant hole in the ground with steam pouring out of it, also known as a volcano. This moment just made the whole thing even better. Not only was the view of that volcano sweet, but at the top of the stairs you could not help but to just stare in awe and thank God for what He had done there. The view was just beautiful; everything about it was just perfect. While enjoying every moment of this I was beginning to feel replenished. I was being filled with joy from the Lord as I was peering out upon His magnificence. We then took a couple snapshots in attempt to try and share this sensation with others for when we get back home. After the pictures we loaded up and headed out for some Papa Johns pizza. Yeah, I know you’re probably thinking, ‘What, Papa Johns in Nicaragua?’ I was too. So we decided to stop there and take a little brake from the indigenous foods. After we enjoyed the splendor of American grease we headed out to Masaya where we walked, shopped and bartered with the locals at the marketplace. There we found some sweet stuff to take home with us. One of the cool things about the country is that everything here is so much cheaper than in America. Well stuff is not necessarily cheap for the natives because of the different pay scales and such but coming down here with American currency allows us to get more bang for our buck. With this factored in we all probably spent more than we should of. But o well its good for the economy. Then we headed over to the park where we were able to look out upon another awesome sight a lonesome lake set down in the valley of some mountains with the volcano in the background. After that a super long nauseating bumpy bus ride to our place to stay for the night. A Hostel.

Day 14- August 5
Ben’s running commentary
The awesomeness of today began last night when we arrived in Leon to find that the word “Hotel” and “Hostel” had been mixed up in the translation. When we were told the other day that we would be staying in a hotel, I was a little bit disappointed because I imagined a normal American hotel room, and our 2 weeks of community sleepovers had come to an end. How awesome was it then when we rolled into a hostel? Very awesome. Hostels have always been something that I imagined I would love and imagined that my mother would hate. Luckily for me, she isn’t on this trip (love you Mom). We woke up this morning to pineapple smoothies, toast with mamon jam, and (wait for it, wait for it….) rice and beans! The owner of the hostel, who happened to be a pretty swell dude, took our group on a tour of the “most important parts” of Leon. There was a little bit for everyone on this tour, but I think (as a history major) I got more out of it than most. It started slowly (for me at least) with a trip through the market. Frank (the hostel owner and tour guide) told us all about different food delicacies that Leon was world-(Nicaragua)-famous for. Then came the interesting stuff. We visited parts of the University here, saw a few prominent landmarks, and saw the archives of la Prensa (wikipedia that one), which probably didn’t interest anyone on the trip other than me. Then we toured a giant 16th century catholic church that sits prominently on the town center plaza. It was a pretty cool tour and we got some great photos, but it kind of dragged on. I mean, you can only see so many tombs of famous Spanish poets before the names start to run together. We then saw some of the sights of the revolution (Sandinista) including some plaques that denote locations of significant battles, monuments of “heroes and martyrs,” and some graffiti and murals. Our tour concluded after a slow walk through the private collection of art that is preserved at some guy’s mansion. It was pretty cool, and included several works by Picasso and many other famous Latin American artists. After lunch, we loaded up on the bus and headed to the beach. The mighty Pacific was as beautiful as I remember it. The waves were ridiculous, and we all swallowed our fair share of salt-water. My favorite memory was one particular wave that crashed down on several of us at the same time and ended with all of us getting rolled underwater, with me getting kicked by someone, and finally landing on two other people up on the shore. It was the most fun I have ever had swimming. Tonight was the first night that we haven’t been squeezed for time, so it has been enjoyable having some lounge time this evening. The last two weeks have been absurdly busy and we have pushed the group to the max. We have gone from hiking cement bags up a mountain to having four Spanish language church service in a 24 hour period to sleeping 15 people in a 10’x20’ house. The last few days Melissa and I have noticed the momentum/energy/morale starting to wane, so we were so thankful to be able to spend a day on something that helped us relax and have a good time as we prepare for our last week. There is a lot of work to be done and we can’t wait to pick up Mr. Yarbs and Dr. Hank tomorrow at the airport in Managua, so we can get back to the grind for another 6 days. Thank you so much for your continuing prayers for safety, travel, health, team unity, and our outpouring of blessings to the people we come in contact with.


Day 15- August 6
Zack’s Blog
Well, my trip began around 2:30 in the morning to make it to my flight at 5:30am. While on the plane I met a young woman named Reina, and her 3-month-old daughter Andrea. Reina didn’t speak a word of English, literally. She didn’t even respond to my hello. However, after asking her Como se llama su nina? (‘What is your girl’s name?’) We began to have a conversation in Spanish. God just gave me a little practice on the way to Nicaragua. Praise God. Then I ended up carrying her bags to her next terminal and talking about her experience working in America. So the trip started well. It is beautiful here. Just the bus ride to our headquarters was amazing. I found my self glued to the window. Once we arrived at HQ, I played with many of my new friends and neighbors including a cow I appropriately named Bessie (Ben said they already had a name for her: Satan, mostly because she wakes everyone up at 4am when it's time to milk), a dog I named Friend, and a little 3-year-old boy who I didn’t name, but instead I asked him his name. He said his name was Madmen. Awesome name. If you say it fast it sounds like “My MAN”. He was just one of the neighbor’s sons who wandered into our “yard”. So we played soccer with some wild dogs who would chase the ball around. Then Madmen grabbed my water bottle like we had known each other for years and took a gulp and then handed it back to me. I made a friend today. “My MAN!”

Day 16- August 7
Nate’s Notes
Hello everyone, and greetings from beautiful downtown Sebaco! I write to you today from one of Sebaco’s most comfortable flat-board beds, porque estoy enfermo hoy. That’s right, I’m sick. The team was only supposed to split up into three parts today, but instead we’ve got four. Melissa, Zack, Stuart, Caley, Jordan, and Joe all headed north this morning (though later than expected) to begin their two-and-a-half day mission church excursion. Apparently their hike to the church puts our hike to the top of the mountain community of El Balsamo to shame. Please pray for safe travels for them, as well as for effective ministry to the churches. Dr. Hank is currently blessing a group of pastors from ACIBEN with a teaching seminar on marriage, ministry, and the like. We’ve come to find out that while there is a solid chain of churches down here with relatively thriving congregations, formal training is a luxury that many of the pastors have not received. So who better to teach them than Dr. Hank? I defy you to find a better option. But please pray for that as well. The seminar is today and tomorrow, so ask for God to bless them with wisdom and a deeper understanding of His love for the Church in Nicaragua. The rest of the team (Ben, Adam, Ashley, Katie, Scott, Krisha, Stacey, and Don) is back in San Isidro finishing some painting and electrical work on the church there. Pray that no one gets electrocuted, and that the children from the street don’t steal any of our stuff (had some close calls last time – those kids are good!). As for me, I’m resting here on doctor’s orders (Dr. Hank counts, right?). It sucks to be away from the team, not to mention in a room by myself all day, but it’s been good to slow down and recuperate. Please pray for my health, and the health of the rest of the team, as a few of us have had a really rough week physically. My stomach has been very volatile lately, regardless of what I eat, and my nose and throat have been flaring up the last two days, sparked by a heavy flow of cigarette smoke from a few foreign girls at the hostel. Moral of the story: cigarettes ruin lives. There, I said it. Big news, right? Anyway, you’d be surprised at what you can learn when you’re quarantined. I found out that it’s possible to pee six times in two hours, I realized that the weird solid object in the window sill behind my bed is, in fact, a petrified toad, I discovered that if orange re-hydration powder touches your hands, it sticks to them permanently, and I now know that you can survive on a steady diet of granola bars and fruit snacks. So today hasn’t been a total loss! I took a class with Dr. Hank last semester called Cross Cultural Ministry, in which we learned different aspects of cultures and how to respond to them. One of these aspects was Time vs. Event. Por ejemplo, the United States is a Time culture, in which the average work day goes from 9 to 5, dinner is at 6:30, and if you’re not there by 6:35, you’re late. Nicaragua, however, is an event culture, in which you work til you’re done, you eat when you’re hungry, and the scheduled event may or may not start without you, but it’s no big deal if you’re not there right away. An example of this would be last Sunday, when the church service we were to attend was scheduled for 6 pm. Stacey, Krisha and I were at a nearby house resting up because we were all feeling ill (I said it’s been a rough week), and when 6:20 rolled around and the bus wasn’t there to pick us up, we decided to walk to the church a block and a half away. Church started around 6:30, and the rest of our group didn’t arrive til 6:45. Keep in mind, our team has played an active role in every church service we’ve attended, with music, testimonies, and some other stuff. And yet, the service went on, and no feelings were hurt. Nobody even seemed to care we were late. Would this happen at your average American Sunday service? I contend that it would not. Anyway, back to the point: it feels like our team has still been operating on Time-time, because of our numerous engagements, our desire to see as much of this beautiful country as possible, and our desire to serve God in as many ways as we can. I know that all of these are important, and I’m so thankful for everything we’ve done on this trip. I guess I was just hoping that the Event-time factor would allow us more time to rest, so some of us wouldn’t have to forcibly rest. As much as I didn’t enjoy being stolen from, it sure would have been nice to play futbol out in the streets of San Isidro with those kids again. Or climbing that rickety ladder and painting the top of the walls of the church. I’ve found one of the more frustrating things in life is trying to live counter-culturally when you don’t jive with the way your culture works. Ben and I, in particular, have found that it sucks to be an Event person in America when everything around you is screaming, “Time to go! Be on time! Time is money! It’s business time!” And when we get to an Event-culture, we expect a breath of fresh air, but instead we’re met with a constant stream of do-this-do-that-move-move-move. And it’s draining, but I know it’s worth it. And I find myself often wondering, “Could I do this full-time? Could I be working as a long-term missionary one day?” Usually I come up with a few reasons for yes, and a few reasons for no. So I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure that this get-up-and-go mentality is just one of the downsides to the short-term missions trip. I doubt that the life of a long-term missionary is as packed or hurried, especially in a country like this. I guess what I’m wanting is more time to rest, and more time just to blend into the culture. That may prove difficult for me with any given amount of time here, seeing as the average Nicaraguan male is 5’6” and dark-skinned. But I’d love to have more time to hang out with the people here and get to know them better. We’ve had time for that, and it’s been wonderful, but I know myself to be a hang-out-and-get-to-know-you kind of guy. And honestly, I’ve never written anything with so many hyphens in my life. I hate hyphens. Oh well. I love Nicaragua.


Day 17- August 8
Krisha's thoughts
Everyone is still feeling exhausted and not up to full strength. But a little thing called health will not keep the Nica-team down!! We were at it again today. While the other half of our team was hiking up another huge mountain (much bigger than the last) we were headed to another church near Matagalpa to do the first coat of paint.
The bus ride there was a quiet one. Everyone had two seats to themselves so that we could lay accross the asile and sleep, which we all did. The only sounds were that from the bus making its many stops. When we arrived at the church, we started to mix the paint and got right to work. The paint was really runny so by the end of the day everyone was covered in it.
After painting the first coat and waiting for it to dry, we headed outside to play frisbee with the local children. It is always a lot of fun to bring the frisbee out because all the kids get so excited and even if they are shy, they eventually join in if they it is thrown to them once. While playing with the kids, Jorge started yelling one of the few English words that he knew, lunch.
So we started our mile walk down to a restaurant to eat. While walking, the boys continued to play frisbee along the way. It was quite the sight to see the boys running trying to make sure that the frisbee would not end up somewhere where they could not retrieve it. It actually landed in the sewer once. :)
While we were eating we noticed that a little boy from the church had followed us all the way to the restaurant. Ben was not feeling too good so he did not eat his food so we were all trying to get the little to come inside and eat the food. After like ten minutes of trying, Katie went outside and handed the boy some food and told him 'mass' which means more and the boy followed. He ended up eating all of Ben's food.
Back at the church everyone was feeling exhausted so we decided to take group nap time on the bus while the paint was drying. When we woke up we did the second coat and then we headed to pick up the many pounds of coffee beans that we ordered. The smell of the coffee took over the bus. It was going to be a challenge to try and separate the coffee so that everyone had the right amount.
It was time for a shower when we finally reached head quarters. After showers was followed by dinner and devos and doing a couple loads of laundry. Not nearly as much as the last time. It's sad that this trip is coming to an end. I don't think that anyone is really ready to head back to the US. Well maybe just for some different choices for food. Rice and beans only hold you over for so long!!! But who's complaining, it's part of this great and wonderful experience.


Day 18- August 9

Day 19- August 10

Day 20- August 11
Ashley's Angle
Today is our last day in Nicaragua. Everyone feels bummed that we are leaving. It feels like we just got here. Yes, we are excited return to the U.S. and see family and friends, and eat American food, but we also will miss the people and the country of Nicaragua. My day began bright and early at 6 a.m. Katie and I packed the rest of our stuff and headed to Tipitapa ahead of the rest of the group. The reason: we were about to visit the child I have sponsored for 2 1/2 years through Compassion International. My little boy, Javier, was very shy at first, but when we broke out the toy cars, a big smile replaced the shyness. There is just something about seeing a smile on a child's face. My smile slowly disappeared when I went to their home. It was barely anything, yet better than the last place they had lived at. It made me realize how grateful I am for what I have. I think the best moment of the visit was when Javier's mom made his older brother, him, and younger sister all give me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. This was especially embarrassing for the older brother who was around eleven years old.
After the visit, Katie and I caught up with the rest of the group at Best Western. We are staying overnight here because our plane leaves at 6:50 tomorrow morning. The rest of the day we spend at a market and driving around getting lost.
The restaurant we ate at for dinner was phenomenal. I probably didn't spell that right, but it was some good eating! The best moment of dinner was us girls getting pictures taken of us drinking margaritas.....I mean, fruit punch. No, it really was fruit punch. And so good!
The two highlights of my day were seeing Javier and something else that happened. But you will have to ask me about the second thing, because I'm not posting that on the Internet: I would have to write a whole other post for that. ;)

Day 21- August 12

Well hello there...

Nicaragua is fast approaching and I am getting more and more excited for what God has planned.  My name is Zack, and I will be joining the team for only the last week they are in Nicaragua because of some conflicting commitments I have already made.  Nevertheless, I am very excited for this trip.  God has been preparing me for this trip this summer in ways I could not of foreseen. This summer I have been involved with a Spanish church called Iglesia Vida Nueva.  I have been helping lead worship most of the summer with the pastor of the church, and last week I led worship on my own.  Consequently, I have learned many new Spanish worship songs and have brushed up on my Spanish speaking skills.  I have also been attending a Spanish bible study of the book of Juan (John).  I have grown spiritually and have improved my Spanish speaking skills all summer and God has truly been preparing me for this trip.  I hope to use these skills in Nicaragua as I will be bringing a guitar for worship as well as several song books with both Spanish and English songs.  I will continue to pray for all the members of the "Nica-team" as they have already begun their journey to Central America.  Please keep us in your prayers!  -God Bless   

Save the pelican babies

Cowabunga! Resident California surf dude Nate Prior here! Summer's bogus! Radical!

Anyway, my junior year of school was so busy that I decided that I might as well keep the rhythm going into summer, so as to not get comfortable and lose focus. Okay, that's not the real reason that I filled my summer with activities, but it might be a nice bonus. But it's been about the best summer of my life. I spent 6 weeks doing the greatest job imaginable: camp counseling at Westminster Woods! It was a blast working, playing, learning, and worshiping out there. But the real bonus is that I get to spend another 3 weeks with Melissa! (Preemptive "awww" for the big hug that I'm gonna get later...) I also was the maid of honor in my big sister's wedding, and I got to bring my delightful girlfriend Sam home to meet all the family. Now, after weeks of anticipation, preparation, inspiration, subjugation, and respiration, I'm ready to go to Nicaragua! I can't wait to get sweaty beyond comfort, use my meager Spanish skills, and meet all kinds of incredible people. All that aside, I'm most excited for what God will teach me and the ways in which I'll see Him that I never thought possible. And maybe I'll actually get to go surfing for the first time.

Finally it's here...

Hey, this is Ben. First of all, I am just excited that the day is finally here. Tonight we are all meeting in Kansas City to have some dinner and enjoy some final American amenities before we head off tomorrow morning. My summer has been spent in Texas working on a ranch. Some of you may laugh because I am hardly the typical Texas-steer-ropin'-cowboy type. But the good news is I didn't do anything rancher-esque except feed a couple of horses everyday. One of my responsibilities for the trip is trying to keep Melissa sane....(should I give a pre-emptive "ouch" for when she punches me later??) but I have really enjoyed working with her so far. This isn't my first rodeo (pardon the allusion back to the quasi-rancher in me) but I have really enjoyed learning so much more about the leadership aspects of a mission trip and team dynamics, etc. that you don't always learn about as just a participant. One of my other responsibilities is to be "in charge" of leading the debriefing and devotionals every night. I have been really excited about this, and really hope that everyone else can get as much out of it as I have already gotten in preparing them. Thank you for all of your support and your continued prayers for our safety and efficacy in our mission of not just building a church, but in encouraging and strengthening the local congregations and building relationships with them that will bless both of us. Now, if tomorrow would just get here.....

Hello This is Adam

Howdy folks, nothing too interesting going on here. Just finished up working for a guy that does auto glass installation and repair, which was cool. I got a chance to work a lot of hours since a huge softball size hail storm came through and destroyed like everything on wheels and a separate storm with a tornado took out a good portion of a small town called Chapman and some of Manhattan. And, so since this guy covers 12 counties out of a van, work was about all that I got accomplished this summer. I am looking forward to leaving tomorrow to go Nicaragua!