I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  We didn’t really do anything (that’s not a Nicaraguan holiday), but our neighbors brought us a meal with all the fixin’s.  We had turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, veggies, pecan pie and brownies.  It was gooood, and a nice surprise.

We decided to do Christmas this year, so we bought a tree and some decorations.  David was so excited he put the tree up after I went to sleep the night we bought it.  I told him that was fine but traditionally that’s something we do together!  =)  His family never put up a tree or exchanged gifts, so David’s really excited.  Poor neglected kid!  =)

I added photos to the gallery.  There are pictures of all of the kids who are moving out of their school or kindergarden.  They make a big deal out of these events, and honor the best students in each class. 

 

There’s also pictures of our area wide service.  We packed up all the members and went to Masatepe to worship together this past Sunday.  I think there were over 400 adults there and 12 or so congregations. 

 

The theme was the offering and Cesar Hernandez from Jinotepe taught about our desire to give and Frank Castaña from Managua taught on how to properly and responsibly oversee the offering of the church.  The congregations were encouraged to give and save so that dependance on Amercian congregations could be avoided.  That got David and I talking about how Nicaraguan churches should really do house churches like in the first century.  Small congregations that meet in homes to avoid the expense of a building and maintenance in a country where there just aren’t the extra funds for these things.  This would also give a more personal, close nit touch to each congregation, and it would be easy for all members to be involved and help with teaching, kids class and evangelism, things that become difficult in a large congregation without supporting a full time preacher (another expense there aren’t funds to cover).

The youth of the area are having a sports tournament in December and David is working with the kids on a soccer team.  It’s a mix of youth from the congregation and youth from the area, and they decided to mix with the congregation in Jinotepe to have a larger team.  David has them practicing several times a week and even has some practice games set up.  He asked the guys at the beginning if they wanted just to play for fun, or play to win, and they decided they wanted to play seriously.  We’re hoping to be able to get them t-shirts too.  Should be fun. 

We’re at the end of the school year here, so lots of our kids have been having promotions (they have graduation like ceremonies when they leave Preschool, Elem. school, etc).  Lots of our kids are among the best in their classes.

We have started to get ready for the end of the year.  I can’t believe it’s already November (and half-way over too!).  We always have a year end service where our kids get to share what they’ve learned.  This gets a lot of our non-attending parents to visit so they can see their kiddos.  This year we decided to have a gospel campaign in December (second week), and so we’ll have our kids activity the final day of that.  This campaign will be focused on encouraging and uplifting our members, and we have several preachers and elders from other congregations that will be coming to teach.  Our kids will be singing songs, saying memory verses, and other fun stuff.  I was excited that lots of the kids volunteered!  Most of the time you have to threaten them to get them up in front of the people!!  Maybe we’re maturing!  Please pray for these upcoming events!

For those that know me, you know I’m almost always singing.  Yesterday I was getting ready and didn’t notice that the cleaning lady, Ivania, had come.  So, I’m singing, of course, and bolt out of my room with an “Owww” followed by Aerosmiths song from Armageddon (If you know me, you also know I never know song names).  Ivania looks up at me with this horrified look.  I’m sure she though I had hurt myself.  Why else would anyone be screaming “Owww” at the top of thier lungs first thing in the morning?  When she realized I was just singing I could see her trying so hard not to laugh at me, and I’m sure she could see me trying hard not to laugh at her horrified look.  Hmmm, don’t know what that says about my singing skills.

I was thinking that the Bible classes that I dislike the most are the ones where the teacher doesn’t have the problem he is teaching on.  You know, like a rich man telling poor people how to be content to live within their means.  Or a 20 yr old single telling how to propery discipline children to mothers of 4.  I think that one of the best things about God’s Word is that you get something new everytime you read it, and it always applies to whatever is happening in life.  If I’m struggling with anger, when I read I will find the verses apply.  If I’m struggling with discouragment from problems, verses apply.  Many times they are the exact same verses that apply to both.  So, I think that most teachers (who are able to create their own lessons) teach what they are struggling with, because that is what they see when they’re doing their studies.  At least I know I do.  One book said that when a preacher yells you know he is teaching on something he has a hard time with.  Many times our classes are an exasperated, “Why can’t I get this?”  I think it’s a shame that many teachers are afraid to teach their struggles because they think it discounts them as a teacher.  ”If I teach on this, and they know it’s hard for me, no one will listen.”  Our shortcomings will never hinder the power of the Word, and if we’re waiting to be perfect to teach, we’ll have a long wait.  I hope that openness in a teacher helps the students to have compassion, relate, and work to help.  After all, aren’t we all students (disciples), even the teachers?