Vacation to the States

As we drove to the airport to catch the plane that would fly us to the States, I found myself a little apprehensive to head back home. Most of me was excited to visit family and friends, but a small part of me was anxious that I would get back home to where life was familiar and comfortable, and I would want to stay there for longer than just three weeks. Before we left Managua, someone asked me, "How are you feeling about heading to the states for vacation?" I told them about my excitement but also that I was feeling a little anxious that I might get there and not want to come back to Nicaragua. The person told me, "You just need to pray that God has you where He wants you and that you can feel at peace about it."

We got off the plane and were greeted by two friends, ready to take us from D.C. to Harrisonburg. Instantly, we noticed that we were no longer in Nicaragua. Driving was orderly, there were clear signs on the roads, large cones for construction and even larger machinery.

We arrived in Harrisonburg in the middle of the night and opened the door to Mitch's aunt's house. We were greeted with a cold blast of air and a loving note on the kitchen table that welcomed us to anything and everything in the house. We soaked ourselves in steaming hot showers before bed, and then snuggled under a nice, warm comforter, rocked to sleep by the hum of the air conditioner. It felt like a spa experience.

Our three weeks were excellent, there's no doubt about that. We were able to do so many things - celebrate in the wedding of a cousin, see all of our family and friends, enjoy corn fields and clean lakes, eat familiar meals, camp and grill brats by the fire, drive 70 mph on a highway, worship God in English, take only one shower a day and still feel clean at the end of it, talk to someone quickly in passing and understand every word the person said without having to focus on the movement of the person's lips as they spoke. Everything was great and we found ourselves soaking up every experience that we had grown to love in the states, knowing that soon we would leave it all again.

Thinking back to what that person told me before we headed to the states, I realized that I didn't even have to pray to God that He would help me feel at peace about living in Managua right now. He made it perfectly clear that this is where we are supposed to be. Now, as I write this post with a glass of cold water at my side, a fan blowing on me, Emre sleeping on the porch outside, Mitch taking his second shower of the day, and knowing the kids at Fortress of Hope are playing just down the road, I know that this is my home. This is the place where God has called us for now.

We missed so many things about living in Nicaragua that when family and friends asked us what we were missing most about Nicaragua, we didn't really know what to say. A whole list of things came to mind for both of us, all equally important in forming this experience that we love. This is where we are. This is where we want to be. And this is where we'll stay for as long as we feel called, and I feel at peace about that.

-Lauren



Here are just a few of our favorite pictures from our great trip. Check out the whole album on my Facebook page:

Back for a visit

Sorry for the silence! We've been settled into a routine and haven't thought to share recently. But we thought we'd better let you know that we are back in the States for a while! We have a three week semester break right now, and we'll be here for that whole time. We're going to try and visit as many people and places as we can! Here are a few places we'll be if you want to hear more of what we're doing.

June 28th - Eastside Church, Harrisonburg: We'll share a little bit and bring the message on Sunday morning. Church starts at 10.

July 1st - Park View Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg: We are having a dinner to share information about Fortress of Hope. We'll share what we've been doing and how the organization serves the children of Nicaragua. The dinner will start at 6:00.

July 12th - Pigeon River Mennonite Church: Well share a little bit and bring the message on Sunday morning. Church starts at 9:30.

Hopefully we have the chance to see you while we are home, whether at one of the events above or just around town!

The rains they are a comin'...

Wow. When it rains, it rains and when it storms, it storms.

When we arrived here last October, we got just a glimpse of Nicaraguan storms towards the end of the rainy season, but now that we're in June and the rainy season is just starting, we're beginning to experience rain almost every day and the storms that go along with it.

The rain comes down for hours without stopping or slowing. It. Just. Pours. It is beautiful and also reminds us of how powerful it is, as our electricity wavers and sometimes says goodbye for a little while. The other night we went to sleep with the sound of pouring rain and a beautiful crackling thunderstorm. It took a while to actually fall asleep, but lying in bed listening to the storm right over top of us was an incredible experience. We've never experienced storms like the ones that are here in Nicaragua - where you actually hear the lightning as it strikes with incredible thunder. Have you ever taken a baking sheet and shaken it to model lightning and thunder? It's like that. Absolutely deafening.

Each day after the storms, we see roads washed out or hear stories at school of co-workers houses that flooded in the night. There's a missionary couple with a daughter in my classroom and the father told me he went to bed at 11pm and got out of bed to check on things when he stepped in water on his bedroom floor. He turned on the lights and saw that the water was pouring in. He and his wife were scooping up buckets of water until 1am. Other people have even less shelter from the rain, and we can't imagine what it's would be like to spend a night outside. Listening to these stories just reminds us of our sturdy and dependable house, and we are grateful.

If you're ever in the mood for a real, loud storm, come down to Managua for a visit anytime from June to October. We'll be here!
-Lauren, and Mitch

Just. Love.

It's about 9:00pm on Wednesday night and we just got home from Fortress of Hope about an hour ago. And tonight, I left with my heart full.

Most days after school, we get home around 3:15, change out of our uniforms into something a little less sweaty, relax at home for a little bit, put Emre on the leash and then head over to FOH. And, well, if I'm being honest, some days a part of me doesn't quite feel like going to FOH. Part of me feels like staying home because I just finished working and now I would like to relax. And for a moment, today was one of those days.

For the past 3 days, we've been at school until 4:30pm because of after-school meetings consisting of reading through 113, yes 113, pages worth of documents written in Spanish. It's been draining! Then today after that, we came home to change clothes, we grabbed the dog, and quickly headed over to FOH for dinner, help with kids' English homework or whatever else until 7pm when it was time to lead devotions.

However, today, when devotions ended, we ended up just hanging around for another 30 minutes. You see, every day when we get there, we're both greeted by 2 or 3 lingering hugs from kids who really just need a lot of love. They just. need. love. We aren't greeted with hugs because we're super-special, but because with 20 children there are always a few who need more one-on-one attention.

Sometimes, we get to FOH and the kids ask us why we didn't come earlier. We get ready to leave and they ask us,"ya te vas?"... which means, "you're leaving already?" It takes us 20 minutes to say good-bye each night to these kids because they hang from the windows of our car to keep us from moving. They always have something more to say to us before we go. They hug us and don't want to stop. The kids are this way with most of the adults they come in contact with at FOH. Just this past weekend, a small cross-cultural group from EMU came to visit and it didn't take long until the kids were seeking them out for love and attention as well.

These kids need direction and they need guidance, all of which the staff of FOH gives so well. For our part, we're happy to finally feel capable of giving these kids extra direction and guidance they need so much. Most of all, I'm glad we can give them unconditional love, every day. Even on the days when we might just feel like staying home to relax.

Below are just a few pictures of the kids we love.
Makes it a great Thursday,
Lauren

Oh my, how fast the time goes!

Lauren here.

A couple of weeks ago we passed the one year mark when we traveled down here to Nicaragua for the first time together and began this whole journey. When we came here last year on our spring break, we didn't even imagine the idea of moving down here just a half year later. It's amazing what we've seen God doing and how He's been working in our lives. Now, I'm sitting in a hammock writing this on the front porch of my home in Nicaragua, our dog Emre is walking around the house with his little football ready to play inside the house, Mitch is working on his lesson plans, we've got the fan blowing at full speed in this almost 100 degree weather, and I'm wondering how time goes so quickly.

In the past 6 months, almost 7 now, we've experienced so much that it's hard to put it all down on paper, but to name a few - we've explored surrounding cities, climbed volcanoes, eaten lots of Nicaraguan dishes, spent time with different family members who came to visit us, learned how to ride the Managua buses, swam in the Pacific, flown home to PA in January, and experienced both the rainy/humid and dry/hot season. But along with the fun things also comes the things that are difficult and challenging as well - the language, cultural differences, worship differences, the lack of nearby family and friends, and how to make relationships with the people around us here; these just skim the surface of the things we're learning daily.

Upon moving here, it didn't take us long to feel comfortable in Nicaragua. I'd say once we got off the plane, things basically just took off and we settled into a routine. Our jobs continue to go well at NCA Nejapa. We are both learning a lot. Every day. In no way are our jobs easy, but I think we're both up for the challenges that we face. At times, the tasks we see in front of us can feel daunting, but I know we were placed there for a reason and I find peace in that. As for life at Fortress of Hope, CINAFE, things continue to get better as time goes on. We see CINAFE as a place where we feel rejuvenated each day. This past weekend we didn't go to CINAFE on Friday or Saturday, and by the time Sunday morning came around, we were already missing the kids. We're investing a lot of time there, and we both feel so happy to spend each second, minute, and hour at a place where we feel at home. With no kids of our own, we feel like we've got 20 kids that we get to love and call "hijo/hija" (son/daughter) each day.

I will leave you with 2 things:
1. Some pictures of us this past weekend at the beach. After being here for half a year, we finally made it to the Pacific.
2. Song lyrics from a group that I've just recently gotten into, I Am They. Their song, "Make a Way" is one that is no doubt a comfort to me here. --
"Wherever you lead me, I know you won't leave me. Where you call me, you will make a way. Wherever we're going, I will be holding to the promise you have made. You will make a way."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uc8XTZSqso (they don't have a music video, so just listen and ignore the strange lion picture)

The Pacific!! This weekend was our first trip to the beach! Just an hour drive to Pochomil.

Here we are :)

Our hotel was right on the water!

Hammock time at the hotel!

Relaxing by the hotel pool!

Mitch reading on his kindle.



Beautiful beach!

Sunset time.

We walked right out from our hotel onto the beach to see the sunset over the water; it was beautiful.

The next morning, we rode horses along the beach and then spent some time in the sun before heading back to Managua!

Simple March Update

Hello family and friends,

Lauren here. In our last post, we said that we would post some pictures of our school to show you all where we're spending a lot of our time. As promised, below are some pictures. So if you're not going to read the post that follows, you at least have some photos to check out! :) Take a look.

Anyways, Mitch and I really do want to keep you all, the people we care for most, updated. I also thought that writing this post would be a good way to relax, therefore, I'm writing to you all today. I don't have much to say, but thought I could fill you in on recent happenings here in Managua.

This week marks the middle of March, which means we've been working at our school for two months now, since the middle of January. I know I've said it before, but I really can't believe how fast the time is going. Somehow, even without close friends and family nearby, without The Walking Roots Band practices and gigs, Eastside events and worship practices, school work in the evenings, we're still managing to fill our time right up. If not to the brim, pretty close.

Though we have lots of time to relax in our home in the evenings, our mornings and afternoons are busy each day and we're enjoying the different places we get to be. School has been great for the both of us - challenging and new, yet comfortably familiar. We are learning so much every day and I'm beginning to see how far we've already come in our Spanish abilities. Just this past Friday, we were in a meeting after school with a few teachers who are visiting from the states and are at NCA Nejapa to offer some advice to the teachers here. I was asked to translate in a small group setting for a lady who only spoke English. I wasn't sure how it would go but I gave it a shot and I was able to translate everything, save for a few words! It was a good test of my Spanish abilities and when the meeting was over, I couldn't believe what I'd just accomplished!

Our time at Fortress of hope, CINAFE, is also so great. We're busy in school until 3pm, but then head over to FOH until 5pm or so. Soon, we're going to take on leading devotions for the children 2 nights a week, which we're both nervous and excited about. This time will also be another good test of our Spanish language abilities, for that, I am nervous. However, we're going to be able to develop relationships with the kids at FOH in a different and deeper capacity, for that, we are excited.

We love each of the kids in our work at NCA Nejapa and at FOH and are loving every minute spent there. We would love for you to see pictures of the kids that we're working with at FOH, so visit the FOH's website: www.fortressofhope.org and head to "meet us", then "children", and you'll find our recently posted pictures of each beautiful child.

That's all for now. Enjoy the few pictures of our school below!
Much love,
Lauren, and Mitch


Here I am, excited to receive my first work uniform!

Us together after the first day of school.

This is a teacher work room, where Mitch spends a lot of his time with the English department teachers.

NCA Nejapa is completely open-air. The outdoor hallway on the left, leads to my classroom, and the open-air hallway on the right lead to the teacher workroom as well as other classrooms.

This is the Preschool/Kindergarten team celebrating my birthday together with a traditional Nicaraguan snack.

My colorful kindergarten classroom.

The outside right is the playground area where we spend our recess time. The area in the far back is the open-air gym.

Update on teaching

Hello and happy almost Friday,

We've been teaching for three weeks now. Our days go very quickly and time seems to be flying here. We are still so thankful to be living here and continue to soak up each day. We were actually just talking the other day about living here, right where we feel called to be. Mitch brought up the fact that we need to remember to continue to seek God's will, even now when we feel we are where we need to be. He mentioned that moving to Managua was only the first step, not the final step. Now that we are here, we need to continue asking God what He has in store for us. That was a good reminder for both of us as we are starting this new phase of teaching.

We're both settling in to our new teaching roles. Lauren is enjoying being an assistant, with all that that brings - free evenings, extra time to cook, time to read, more time to write blogs, and do all the other things that she often put to the side during her teaching days in Virginia. Although Lauren doesn't have work to bring home, she sees the work ahead of her this year in working with the teacher of her kindergarten classroom. Right now, she's helping a lot with classroom behavior management and will begin this next week with implementing small group times in the classroom. Every teacher at NCA has, or is working toward, a degree in teacher education; however, the methodology taught here is much different from what we were taught in our courses. The techniques we learned at EMU are not often seen in the majority of the classrooms, and we are adapting every day.

Speaking of classrooms, Mitch is in a lot of them each day. While he's figuring out his role and responsibilities at the school, he also has to oversee the other 4 teachers in the English department. Since he is the coordinator, he spends half of his time teaching and half of his time advising. He teaches 3 classes each morning: 5-6th grade advanced, 7-8th grade advanced, and 9-11th grade advanced. In his afternoons, he observes the other teachers and offers feedback. Though his work comes home with him after a long day at school, he doesn't seem to be overwhelmed at all. We both feel so encouraged by our school community, and it's a great place to be.

The past 2 weeks, we've also made more of a point to get over to CINAFE, Fortress of Hope, after school almost every day of the work week. We walk Emre over and sometimes stay for 15 minutes, sometimes an hour. We get to help the kids with homework and just hang out with them. Without the obligation of teaching English each afternoon there, we are really relishing the time we have to continue building relationships outside of a "classroom" setting.

This past weekend we enjoyed such a great, short trip to Granada with some new friends that we are making here in Managua. It's definitely different not having a close friend group nearby, but we're comforted by our little family of 2, and a dog, as well as our family at CINAFE and our school community at NCA Nejapa.

Thanks for thinking of and praying for us continually, we'll write again soon! And next time, we'll try to attach some good pictures of our school :)