Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week we took the youth group from Matagalpa to San Marcos to get to know the youth there and have some fun while they are out of school for “Holy Week.” We started super early Monday morning (think 5:30) with the drive to San Marcos. We got there at about 8:30 and began the day with a few seminars that Jose Guido and Gabriel Rivera (of BICA) helped lead.

Then we enjoyed lunch together and played a little soccer. San Marcos won hands down, because they play baseball in Matagalpa, not soccer. Gabriel Tellez said that when one kid asked for the bat that he thought he was joking, until another asked where the bases were, and then he started to wonder.

Monday night we stayed at the farm and the valiant slept under the stars while the timid stayed in a nice little room with real beds. That evening we roasted hot dogs and made smores and enjoyed singing together.

Tuesday we were up early again to take a hike. We had a good group go, including quite a few adults. Lots didn’t make it to the end and took buses the rest of the way home, but my little group made it, and we didn’t even cave into temptation when Giovanni rode by and offered us a ride for the 100 yards. After lunch (it was only a morning hike) we went to a river and spent some time splashing and cooling off. At 4:00 the Matagalpa ladies led Ladies Class at the church, even though some of us were still dripping from our river trip (it was hard to fit everything into a three day trip!).

Wednesday morning we headed back to Matagalpa, but we stopped along the way to visit a beautiful spot that overlooks the river. Not quite so pretty during the dry season.

David and I are super excited that we now have internet!! I set up Skype, and you should too. We can talk online for free. We also have unlimited calls to the US, so we can call you for free. And finally we got a US number and you can call it for free (unless it’s long distance for you and then you have to pay that - but just use your cell phone). The number is: 817-945-6821.

Also, if you want to receive emails from us, make sure you have us in your “safe senders” list. It seems a lot of SPAM gets sent from Nicaragua, so your email thinks our emails are risky! But we promise not to send any SPAM!!