Flight Info

Well...
The team is on transit.

Everyone got on the plane.

Our debrief last night was really good and the kids had some time to reflect on the stories that their lives have no intersected with.

I think there is a discrepency with the flight info in the book we made:

They are due to arrive in Seattle @ 6:21pm.  The bus driver will pick them up there and bring them to the school.

Thanks for all your love, support and prayers!!

That satisfied moment you get after a hard day’s (or week’s) work, when you’re tired but happy and you’re just stoked for dinner

"Time flies when you’re having fun” is an overused and clichéd way to begin to tell the story of the last day of our trip, but it really is true—it feels like only a few minutes ago that Peter picked us up from the airport in the warm night. The events which have happened since then all seem very wonderful in my short-term memory, but they sure happened fast and many of them will probably blur in my memory someday. In a melancholy sort of way, today was a fitting end to such a trip—it sure did fly. But it sure was fun.

We began the day with breakfast. It’s a good way to start. I told the cooks, Dora and Lourdes, that the omelets were especially “delicioso.” We left for Centro de Fe early and enjoyed a few hours with the grade eleven class there. We played some games in the street. Us Canadian kids didn’t really understand the Spanish game, and they were confused with our games. We eventually settled on soccer, which we can all wrap our heads around (if not our feet), and it was all very fun.

Then we got to work. Some of us painted desks and chairs, while others focused their work on the mural downstairs, which turned out really nice. Others made bead bracelets or played soccer, and that was okay too, because it was our last day with our new friends here and the time spent with them was what counted, not so much what we did.

Lunch was good. Lunch was very good. Calling it “delicioso” would be repetitive, so I won’t—but it was. It was rice and beans and chicken and some vegetables.

We sat with our Centro de Fe students and ate and drank and were merry and then celebrated birthdays in the month of March. We sang using both the generic English “Happy Birthday” song as well as a lively Spanish song called “Las Mañanitas.” It was fun. After that, we exchanged gifts and letters with our new friends and gave short speeches. The prayer at the end was my favorite—Sandra, the principal of Centro de Fe, led with a blessing after Roy prayed to thank God for our partner school here and bless them.

We went to the market, after that, but shopping isn’t very interesting to blog about. We’re back at the center, now. Right now, we’re all exhausted, but it’s that satisfied moment you get after a hard day’s (or week’s) work, when you’re tired but happy and you’re just stoked for dinner. We have our debriefing time later this evening and tomorrow we leave—dark and early, just after 4. And that marks the end of this blog post, because I’m starting to tell you things you already know, and the rest you’ll want to hear from your own kids.

See you soon, Mom and Dad!

-Brayden

Alfarero

                We woke up at 7 for breakfast this morning. By now, we’ve all gotten used to the sounds and smells of Nicaragua, but we were surprised to find pancakes and Fruit Loops on the breakfast table. We ate breakfast quickly and got prepped for a long day of working.

 After eating, we got into the van and headed to Alfrero School for our work day with the Centro de Fe students.  Once we got there, we split into different groups, each one assigned to a different task. There was a lot of work to be done, but we had plenty of people to do it as there was our team, the CdF students and other people from Alfrero.

                Some people were sent to clean up the area around the school by picking up garbage and raking leaves, or by painting the bottoms of trees to protect them from bugs. Other people were given tasks such as digging an irrigation trench, scraping rust off the caged windows or making a little sidewalk between classrooms. Our main task was cleaning and painting metal beams that will support the new roof being put in by the team from Alberta that will come after us. We worked hard for a few hours, but we took a break for lunch and to let the paint dry.

                At lunch we hung out with our Nicaraguan friends. Everyone separated into different groups, but a large group of students from CdF and our team were together in a circle. One of the Nicaraguans took out a bottle and spun it, which made us wonder what we were doing. It turned out to be a game in which one person could ask the other person whatever question they wanted, and it was really cool because it allowed us to learn a lot about each other. We continued doing this for a little while, but eventually the CdF students had to leave. After they left, we ate lunch and got ready to start working again.

                Painting the beams was a long process because we had to wait for it to dry in between coats, but there was still a lot of other things for us to do while we waited. We continued working for a few more hours after lunch, but by 3 we were done painting the beams so we packed up and went back to the Nehemiah Center.

                We worked hard and were very tired, but we had plenty of time to rest after we got back. It is awesome to be able to serve God in such a practical way, and I believe it made today a really good day for all of us, even as the end of our trip nears.

Beach Babes

                We woke up to this warm, hot, bright sunny day. We can’t believe it is already Sunday and we only have two more days to go. The team got nourished for the day with a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, fruit and toast. Each day we look forward to the surprise of what type of juice we will get; today it was watermelon. Then we loaded the bus and were off to Centro de Fe to attend a Spanish church service.

                We were warmly welcomed into the church by multiple people who attend regularly. We felt so loved through the smiles, handshakes and friendly conversations that the Nicaraguans presented us with. We were delighted by the passion of the worship that started off the service. Loud songs of praise filled the room and we were immersed into the lifestyle of the Spanish church but soon felt the heat kick in. Our group got the pleasure of singing two praise songs called ‘Majestic’ and ‘Imagine’ in front of the church. The past three nights we rehearsed the songs and felt ready to share them. Once it was done we were all proud of ourselves; the church seemed to enjoy it. The pastor’s sermon was revolved around Palm Sunday and we appreciated the message that we heard. At times it was hard to follow along because of the language barrier but the translators help get the message across. We left the church hot and sweaty, and very much ready for our beach day.

                We took a quick stop at the Nehemiah Centre to freshen up and were back on the road to Pochomil Beach. Everyone fights for the best seat in the van, the front two seats. Today Hye Youn and Katrina were the lucky girls. They got to see the craziness of the Nicaraguan roads up close and personal. Honking, traffic and pedestrians are a common theme in this country. After an hour and a half we were finally at the beach. We got out and were overwhelmed by the paradise that was in front of us. We eagerly got changed and ran straight to the water through the scolding hot sand. We were shocked by the large waves, salty water and crowded beach but were so happy to finally be cooled down for once. After a couple of hours of sun we got to eat our “lupper” by the ocean side. Our tummies were filled with fish, steaks, chicken and refreshing drinks. We ended our beach day with some final photos to document the trip.

                On the way back, another two lucky girls, Courtney and Sydney got the front two seats. We stopped at the grocery store to pick up some snacks for the night and to browse around a local Nicaraguan corner store. We all left with full bags of goodies (especially the guys) and headed home to the Nehemiah Centre.

                To end off the night we watched a documentary called “Reparando” about the present day situation of Guatemala and its poverty and extreme conditions. Our translator, Lennin, later told us about how the movie relates to Nicaragua. All our eyes were open to how blessed we are.

                Despite the extreme heat, we had a very pleasant, relaxing day and enjoyed it thoroughly.

(Written by: Hye Youn and Sydney)

Super Chica!

                Managua, Nicaragua is nothing that I have expected it to be. So far today we have gone to see the way their culture has made their pottery, have gone zip lining, went for lunch at Villas Mombacho, went for a boat tour and then went to the market in Granada, all without the Centro de Fe kids. We have built such a strong relationship already that we were all sad to hear we were not spending our time with them today. In the end, we built a stronger relationship within our own team.

                When we arrived at the potter’s house, there were tables upon tables of pottery. We had a demonstration of how they made the pottery; the potter had to physically push the wheel with his foot for it to spin, he made it look easy. I had a chance to try to make a bowl and it was nothing like I had thought, the clay was rough and hard. After we finished the demonstration we looked around to buy some pottery if we were interested.

                We drove half an hour to get to the zip lining place. When we got there we paid then got ready to suit up for the experience. We were all set and got instructions before the flight; while we were getting instructions there were monkeys in the trees. We walked up the first platform and we had to jump to get locked into the wire. First run was a test run, then came the more exciting ones. They called one ‘Super Chica’, another ‘The Monkey’…etc. For myself it was the first time, and what is better than zip lining in Nicaragua. What an amazing experience that was.

                At Villas Mombacho, we had the privilege to sit on a patio, which was right on the water front of the Lago Nicaragua. This was the first time most of us were actually felt cold, because of the wind by the water. We are all burnt from climbing the volcano yesterday, which made us not want to be in the sun. We took a boat tour on Lake Nicaragua, and we put our feet in the water which cooled us down. We came up to a few islands and they all had beautiful homes on them, one of them had monkeys on it that followed our boat all around the island. Coming up to shore Alison went for a swim so I joined, and somehow ended up soaked. ;)

                We went to the market and saw the Nicaraguan culture in town. It was quite busy, there were carriages pulled by horses, and booths with all sorts of items in them. It was a cool experience to shop and ask how much this cost (Cuanto Cuesta?) etc. We all got some Nicaraguan money (cords) which I am sure will be a souvenir for most of us.

                To end our day we had a devotion by Alison Williams and she told us a great story about trusting God to have control of our lives; to let him control everything, even the small things. It was very inspiring to me especially because I have been having a tough time with that as I am sure almost every teen has or is having. It is comforting to know God is in control and that if you let Him, it will turn out for the best in the long run. Psalms 139 was the chapter she chose, which I encourage whoever is reading this to look up that chapter. It will change your view on life.

By Camille Larsen

Cerro Negro

                This morning we woke up at 630 because we had a long day ahead of us. Today we were going to drive to Lester’s house (the driver) to meet up with the grade 11 students from Sentra De Fe. Then we were going to travel to a volcano in Nicaragua called the Cerro Negro Volcano and we were going to climb to the top of the volcano. After we had finished climbing the volcano we went to a pool to cool off after the long hike in the sun.

                On the way to the volcano we had to take a few different types of transportation to get to the base of the volcano. First we took the van to Lester’s when we had gotten to his place we hoped onto a city bus with the Sentra De Fe students which we were on for just over one hour. In that time we conversed with the students about are families and things that we like to do after school and what we like about Nicaragua. When we were getting near the end of our journey on the bus we thought that we were at the base of the volcano but we still had over an hour to go driving through the back forty. So we got off the bus and hoped into the back of a truck that consisted of bench seats and bars running across the top with an open concept all around you, so that you could embrace the breeze as we drove over an hour in the back of this truck. This ride was not really a ride it was more like 4x4 through the back bushes in Nicaragua. Not all of us had the luxury of sitting on the wood benches but standing and holding on to the bars that held the tarp to the roof. When we had finally gotten to the base of the volcano we were tired form the long ride to the base that not all of us did the trek up the volcano.

                The trek up Cerro Negro was not that long but it was very hot because the whole mountain was covered in black lava rocks from previous explosions. So that made are water supply go down pretty quick by the time we got to the top of the Volcano we were pretty tired but ready to slide down the side of the Volcano some of us used boards with metal sheeting on the bottom, but the majority of us ran down the side of the mountain. This part of today was the best part for most of us. After we all made it back to the truck we washed are dirt filled arms and sat down and ate lunch then we had to make that long trip back down to the bus where we had left it.

                After we had boarded the bus again we were off to a hotel to go swimming in the pool to cool off clean are selves off and to refresh are selves after the long hike. When we got to the pool we were ready to just jump in and embrace the warm water that was awaiting us. After an hour of refreshing are selves we had to get back into the bus and drive to Lester’s place to get into the van and then drive to the Nehemiah center. When we had arrived back home we were ready to devour the food before us. Because we had not eaten since we had descended the Volcano.  

Best Chicken Ever!!!

Our morning started off by the smell of freshly made omelettes by the wonderful cooking staff here at the Nehemiah Centre. We then headed to Centro de Fe to have a tour of the school and experience what the classes are like. The first class that we saw was the computer lab. The teacher told us that they only had enough computers for half of the class so they had to switch half way. She also told us that they do not have WIFI, but the kids do enjoy playing solitaire and pinball. Then we went over to see the library which was a very small room with only a few shelves of books with some spare room which was used for storing the musical instruments.

We also got another chance to visit our little amigos on their recess break. They were extremely excited to see us all again. They smothered us with kisses and hugs as we began to run around and play with them. Despite the dripping sweat and red faces we all had a blast in the 37 degree heat.

We got a wonderful treat when we came back into the sanctuary (the school is also the church) and the grade 11 Nicaraguan students acted out a traditional poem for us. We got into groups afterwards and discussed the culture that was in the poem. It was great bonding time with the students and it was fun trying out new Spanish words when we had to present in the opposite language. Each of the students made us a poetry book in Spanish and gave one to each person on our team. It will be nice to look back on that and remember what they taught us about their culture.

By this time we were all cooled off and eaten some yummy lunch! Man those plantains are good! We had some spare time before the talent show so many people practiced their talents for the upcoming talent show while others played hacky sack or went for a walk. We got the opportunity to embrace the heat and walked the streets of Nicaragua. It was cool to see a few of the student’s homes and meet some of their family. A few hours passed and by this time we were getting really good at hacky sack… almost talent show worthy!

It was about 2:00pm and we started off the talent show with a large bang… of drums! Literally… We alternated between schools and went up in groups or individually to present a talent or testimony. At one point in the talent show a group of gr. 10 girls presented us with a traditional Nicaraguan dance. After, they invited us Canadian girls up the front and taught us how to dance, it was hard to follow but fun to learn. We realized that Nicaragua has many traditions and talents.

Lennin (our translator) invited us and the Centro De Fe students over for supper and fire at his house. The chicken was phenominal! (And I quote Chelsea... "I don't even like rotisseri chicken... but that was so good!")  We all had so much fun! We played an ice breaker game to mix up who we were sitting by. It was a good to get to know students that we didn’t talk to as much at the school. We really noticed later that it impacted our interactions between one another. We found ourselves hanging out as if we were in our hallways at our own school. Everybody connected and was stepping out of our comfort zones to communicate with each other. We kept one-uping one another with new dance moves and such. It was hard to say goodbye and we won’t be able to imagine what it will be like at the end of the trip.  

(written by Courtney and Chelsea)