David and I, along with Efraim, Martha and their three kiddos headed up to Somoto, a little city near the Honduras boarder.

Map of Nicaragua

We went to visit Antonio, Patricia from San Marcos’ brother and the congregation that he leads. We’ve helped the congregation purchase chairs and donated funds for one of their gospel meetings, so it was nice to meet the members there, who were very loving. Efrain taught a seminar on the family that was great - though I thought it was very rude of him to step on all of my toes and point out all of the areas I need to improve in! =) It really was a super class, and I’ll summarize it for you in another post.

After lunch we had some free time, and we wanted to visit the Somoto Canyon. We thought it would be easy, since it’s supposedly a tourist stop and there were signs on the highway, but it wasn’t. At one entrance, the truck couldn’t go past the road because it was so muddy (if only we’d had the Land Cruiser!) so you had to walk a kilometer in the mud to get to it. At another entrance, you could drive up to a national park, pay to get in, pay for a guide (so you didn’t die lost in the wilderness), pay to cross the river, pay to cross it again, and finally make it to the canyon. Oh, and then you got to do it all over again on the way back. Sounded like a “let’s take all of the tourists’ money” scheme, so we decided against, which was disappointing. We did get to go to a lookout point and see the city of Somoto, so that was nice.

Somoto was a beautiful city. It had nice wide roads and was very clean. It had a beautiful park in the center that was actually a park with lots of plants and benches and shade just to sit and enjoy.

After our free time David taught class at the special service they held to honor their mothers. He taught on Psalms 31:10-31 about the value of the virtuous woman and did a great job.

After services the men treated the ladies to a meal they cooked just for them. None of us got sick, so I guess it was ok!

I had lots of fun teaching kid’s class this Sunday. We only had about 15 kids (up from 6 though, so that’s good), but I was really excited that the kids were there on time! That means they’re excited.

Kid's Class

Saturday night we had services at Julio’s house, and two of the neighbor girls who visited at VBS were there and we are best-friends! They kept asking about what we were going to do in class the next day, were the other ladies going to be there, etc. The pressure was on for a great class!

Creation Days Bulletin Board

Since the college group made a bulletin board with the days of creation as decoration, I decided to start there, so we talked about the first day when God made light. We made sun memory verses out of paper plates (with glitter and everything!). Then we played a game with cutouts of different objects and they had to decide if they were used for light or dark (like sunglasses, candles, etc). Then we played another game where one kid had to cover his eyes while one of the other kids moved seats. Then we all shouted “Let there be light” (but in Spanish, of course) and the kid had to guess who moved…except that I couldn’t get the other kids to realize it was just one who was supposed to move, so it ended up being two or three kids who traded places, and the game was a little more challenging, but we all had fun.

I was thinking about how here in Nicaragua we have so many kids who come to church without their parents or at least leave their house before their parents do and get to services on time! Schools here are super boring - generally speaking. They copy off the board into notebooks, so it’s easy to get kids excited about class because we do fun crafts and hands-on activities. I’m going to make sure we take advantage of this opportunity here in Matagalpa!

The team from San Marcos that came up to help us in Matagalpa was in charge of the class part of VBS.  Cruz led singing and everyone was used for the skits.  They decided none of the Nicaraguans were tall enough to make an impressive Goliath, so Jim got that job, and he played it well!  The next day when the ladies were reviewing and mentioned Goliath all of the kids turned around to point Jim out.

Goliath Skit

The kids made David and Goliath puppets and painted t-shirts.  I tried very hard to remain calm, even when trying to direct 45 kids to the next center!

Puppets and T-shirts

All of the ladies worked together to make the congregational meal on Saturday.

Cooking for Congreational Meal

I thought this was a great picture of all of the ladies from San Marcos who came up to Matagalpa to help us and the ladies from the states!

VBS ladies

I can’t believe it’s over.  He’s the group as we head off for the airport.

2009 Edmond Mission Group

I have to admit I feel sorry for them having to go back to regular work.  I get to have this much fun everyday!!  On the way to the airport one of the guys asked what we do during a regular week.  I could tell him what David does - visitation, class/sermon planning, Bibles studies, etc., but couldn’t think of what I did - I’ve spent so much time planning these two trips over the past few months I haven’t had time for much else!  I’m ready to get back to “normal” - teaching kids class, ladies class and visiting members!

I put some more pictures up in the May album from the college mission trip, and in June for the adult trip.

Severiana's House - Before

Severiana's House - After

The mission team didn’t quite get done with Severiana’s house, so David and group from church went over today to finish up - they just had to nail on the walls - it will look the same as Isaura’s when it’s done, just bigger!

Isaura's House - Before

Isaura's House - After

Isaura was so excited about her house!  Saturday during our congregational meal she couldn’t wait to tell me all about it!

Look at the gallery to see the projects in progress.

We had a great trip with the group from Edmond this past week.  The guys split up into two teams to do some home improvements (really building new homes) for two of the members.  We had five guys from San Marcos that the group worked with last year come up and help us with the projects which included new posts, new roofs, cement floors and new walls.

Isaoura's home before picture

We also held VBS for the kids in Matagalpa.  This was the first activity of its kind here, and we were excited to have 29 kids the first day, 35 on day two and 45 on day three.  We had 5 ladies from San Marcos come to help us with the activities and teach the Matagalpa ladies how things are run and organized.  We were so blessed to have them, though they worked so hard we had a bit of down time the first few days!

Kyle jump roping with kids before VBS

VBS Matagalpa

Carolina also held a teachers seminar for the Matagalpa ladies and taught them how to prepare a class, fun craft ideas and new songs.

When we finished up in Matagalpa we headed to San Marcos to participate in Sunday service and hold VBS for one day there.  We had about 200 kids and it went great!  I was pleasently surprised at how smoothly everything went and how well behaved all of the kids were.

I was just thinking about what a great week this will be!! First we have lots of friends from Edmond who are coming to see us (and do some work too, but I like to think the real reason they come is to see us), and then we have 10 friends from San Marcos who are coming to help out with the VBS and work projects. Plus we have the friends we work with here that will be helping out. It’s like a big reunion! And we get to teach and practice a little of God’s Word too! Can’t get better than that!

We sent the college group off yesterday. We had a really great time with them and hope they make it back to Nicaragua some time! On Monday we had our day off, so we visited Volcano Masaya, an active volcano, actually several volcanos. It was very smoky, and I tried to get everyone to practice the emergency drill (crawling under the cars - as if that would help), but no one was game. We also went zip lining, which I wasn’t sure I was going to do, but I did and I had fun (though it took be about three lines to decide it really was fun!). We also took some time to shop in Masaya’s tourist market and got some great deals on hammocks.

Now I just have to get ready for the next group - Tuesday is coming up fast!!