Merry Christmas from up here in PA! (We've got an update for you, too!)

Hello Everyone!

We are currently in PA for Christmas this year and being that we have some free time, we thought we'd take advantage of this opportunity to update everyone. [If you received our email last month, you can skip to the pictures at the bottom. It's basically the same.]  

Now for our update. Thank you, everyone, for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers recently. Last you knew, Martha and Yosidara came to live here with us at the beginning of September. The initial plan was to provide them with a safe home so they could finish out their school years at NCA where we teach. However, we took them in knowing that they could possibly be staying with us for a longer period of time than just until the end of the school year.

These past three months with the girls have been so great for us. In the beginning, Mitch and I have had to transition and figure out some things in our personal relationship with each other, but we are enjoying our parenting roles and feel this new change in our lives is just what God is calling us to.

As the girls came to live with us towards the end of our school year, we knew a big transition was coming up in their lives once December came around - either moving back to their homes where they didn't want to go OR going to live at a girls' home where they didn't want to go. We spent a lot of time in prayer thinking about whether or not we felt God calling us to offer up our lives and home to the girls here in Nicaragua for a longer time period than just-through-the-end-of-the-school-year. We were thinking about something more along the lines of, living-with-us-as-long-as-we're-in-Nicaragua.

Through prayer and conversations with close family and friends, Mitch and I knew, without a doubt, that we wanted to give the girls the option of staying with us for the upcoming school year, and really, as long as we're living here in Nicaragua. We sat down with the girls one weekend in October and offered them the option of staying with us more permanently, being clear of our expectations and also letting them know of our timeline here in Nicaragua. We told them to take their time in deciding what they wanted to do and made it clear that it was their decision to make, though Mitch and I really wanted them to choose to stay :)

Now, we're here in PA for vacation and the girls are just visiting with family and friends while we're out of the country, and they're only visiting because they have decided that they want to stay with us permanently, while we're here in Nicaragua. Yosidara, 16, knew right away that she wanted to stay with us and she made the decision on her own, just letting her mother know what she was going to do. However, with Martha, being only 13, we wanted to talk personally to her mother to let her know what Martha was thinking. We got to talk with her mother last month and she was fine with the decision Martha had made.

So now here we are, a year into living in Nicaragua and we've got two foster daughters :) There are lots of things we need to be thinking about as we are now preparing to start our next school year in January - financial budget, discipline, and home life structure just touch the surface as we adjust to a very different home life.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as you have been this past year. Here are some pictures that we've taken together these last few months! We really hope you enjoy this first picture of us four in our Christmas hats the day before we came to PA!

So much love,

Mitch, Lauren, Yosidara, and Martha (oh, and Emre!)

Changes...

Hello to everyone, and sorry for the long absence of communication. We've been going through quite a few changes, and while keeping you all informed should have been higher on our list of priorities, we are finally getting to it. Thanks for thinking of us even when we aren't in touch!

Where to begin? Biggest news first, I suppose. The number of people in our house doubled two weeks ago! We currently have two Nicaraguan girls living with us until the end of the school year, which has been an unexpected, but God-driven, development.

These two girls, ages 13 and 17, attend our school, NCA Nejapa, and had been living with a lady from Maryland for the last year or two. She had to move back to the States at the end of September for some severe health problems, and the girls needed a place to go. Without a place to stay, they would have moved home and dropped out of our school as their homes are far away.

We heard about the situation as other options were being considered, such as Fortress of Hope or other organizations like that. The girls stayed on our hearts and minds, and eventually, after much prayer and deliberation, we offered them a place with us until the end of the school year. They moved in two weekends ago, and here we are!

It's been quite an adjustment, although there haven't been major problems. We've had to figure out many different things. How to act as parents...to teenage girls...who only speak Spanish...from a completely different culture. How to spend our time between their needs and our needs. How to cook food that teenage Nicaraguan girls will eat. How to communicate our expectations and reasons and understand their needs in Spanish. How to make decisions that balance the two cultures.

Overall it's been great, though tiring and with a few bumps. It feels like God is still leading us down this road and teaching us along the way. As a couple, our biggest prayer request is that we take good care of our marriage as we embark on a new journey. It's already changed our relationship in some significant ways, and we have to figure out which of those changes are good, bad, or unsustainable. So far we've communicated well, although sometimes it feels like we go for days without having a meaningful conversation. All in all, it's only been two weeks, so we feel good about things so far. God is faithful and leading us, so we're going to follow as far as he takes us.

Other than that large event, things have been moving right along. On October 7th, we celebrated being in Nicaragua for a full year, as you can see in the picture below.We're in a bit of a difficult patch with our jobs and Fortress of Hope. Each has its own issues right now, and we're praying that things will smooth out soon. Hopefully we'll be disciplined enough to write something more in-depth this week, but here are some things to pray for, if you are so inclined. If you want to pray for Fortress of Hope, pray that lingering issues among the children can be resolved soon, and that our relationship with the social services branch of the government continues to be strong. If you want to pray for NCA Nejapa, pray that we can give our best efforts in everything we do and that we continue to search for ways to contribute to the work being done there, rather than becoming complacent.

We want to say a huge thank you to everyone reading this. We know that many of you pray for us regularly, many have supported us financially, and many have walked with us through recent decisions. We are eternally grateful because this journey would not be possible without your support. God is good, and His goodness is shown to us through each and every one of you. Your little notes, emails, texts, and photos remind us that our work here is not something we are doing alone. We have all of you behind every step of the way and for that we thank you.

Make it a great day,

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!