Coming Home with a Smile!

Just a quick post to let you know that we have made it home.  We started with a leisurely wake up, breakfast and some down-time at the hotel, then checked out at 11:00 am.  A short walk across the street and we were at the airport and began the usual process of checking our luggage in and collecting our boarding passes.  A quick lunch, some final tourist type purchases and we were through customs and on the plane for Miami.  Our flight was smooth and on time. 

Miami, on the other hand, was not so smooth, as we hopped from one line to another trying to complete immigration and feeling like circus animals jumping through hoops. With only 2 hours and 45 minutes to get from the first plane to the next, we had to move as quickly as we could, but even still it was a full hour and 45 minutes before we were standing at our departure gate.  Everyone scrambled to grab some supper in the 30 minutes before they began boarding and then we were on the plane to Detroit.  [I did try to connect in Miami and post a blog, but I was unable to make a connection.]

Our flight to Detroit went very smoothly [if you don't count a little bit of turbulence] arriving 20 minutes early.  Somehow during the long awaited chaos of greeting family, we were able to collect our bags and as I write this now, I am hoping that everyone is home and crawling into their beds.  God blessed our socks off on this trip, but we are glad to be home.

Thank you for reading our blogs, patiently waiting for some logical explanations and praying for us. To each of you students, "well done, good and faithful servants".  God has used you to plant seeds in Nicaragua.  Sleep well.

Blessings in Christ,
David A. Fuller (on behalf of Kae Anne Di Pietro, Andrew and Marianne Nunn)
P.S. Caleb, we will be praying for you tomorrow. DAF
P.P.S.  We will try to post some final pictures to the blog between now and Monday.  DAF

The Bois are Back in the Big M!

Day 9 - Nicaragua 2016

Hello again! The bois are back; DJ Khaleb, The White Mamba, and the Aforementioned Individual. We are writing to you from Best Western Managua, right across the street from the airport where we will fly out tomorrow.

In the wee hours of this morning (mas o menos), The White Mamba and Musical Knees (Mr. Fuller), were rudely interrupted by DJ Khaleb while they were reading and doing journals; who, with a vast amount of mumbling, was sitting on the side of his bunk bed over top of Jared, vacantly staring at the wall. When Mamba yelled "What are you doing?!" to Khaleb The Sleepwalker, he stared right into The Mambas soul. Musical Knees took initiative (because Mamba was scared half to death) and quietly told him to go back to bed; and without any more mumbling, Khaleb went back to sleep (for now)...

After waking up, the crew had breakfast and departed for Volcano Mombacho, near the capital of Managua (2 hours away). The mountain is covered by a forest reserve where the main attraction was a course of eleven ziplines. Here, we learned to fly like Superman and swing like monkeys, all while being very, very uncomfortable because of the diaper-like-harnesses.

After zip lining and a quick Papa John's pizza lunch, we drove to the local market and bought various gifts and presents for friends and family back home in a matter of two hours. The Aforementioned Individual bought himself a set of grape peelers and various other mechanisms. From the market, we drove straight to the Best Western as mentioned before. {Now we are sitting around a campfire singing Spanish Kumbaya, and eating roasted plantains}, or This might be what Khaleb was dreaming about this morning.

So, to pick up where we left off about DJ Khaleb and his nightime adventures, about an hour after the previous episode of Khaleb The Sleepwalker, he surprised us yet again. With more mumbling and rummaging around in his sleep, Khaleb stopped for a split second and shot his arms upward with great velocity and grunted. After about five seconds in this position Khaleb fell back into his sleep. Yet again, ten minutes later, Khaleb let out another ferocious grunt and shot his legs up.

So, to wrap the day up, it was filled with lots of sight seeing of gorgeous Nicaragua and screaming at goats while sleepwalking and bargaining with locals.

[P.S. The girls were a little misleading about being sick of pancakes, chicken and rice. We all had a taste of these meals and never got a chance to have them again on this trip. On that note, as a welcome home meal, we all would love to have some pancakes, chicken and rice smothered in syrup.]


This has been a "walk to remember",
signing off - The Bois:
 
DJ Sleepwalker Khaleb, The White Mamba, Jared The Aforementioned Individual and Musical Knees, Sayonara <3

A Lil' bit of everything and Alottle bit of bites

Day 8 - Nicaragua 2016

[With no internet access Tuesday evening and an early departure from Sebaco, we were unable to post for Tuesday, out last day of ministry.  However we are now at a hotel across from the airport and will make our final posts from here before tomorrow's departure at midday.]

Hey Muchachos and Muchochas, sorry for the late posting... but we're okay so that's good! Today was the last day of ministry work before returning to dear old Canada :(. After breakfast (I'm sure you can guess what we had) we went back to the church plant to do a program with the kids (songs, a message, activities etc). There were a few more kids than yesterday (about 20), all very excited to come back again. Some even skipped school just to attend both sessions. We did a lot of singing with the kids (and without the kids ... better be prepared for us to burst out in Spanish songs at any given moment).

On the way back to the base we stopped at a museum of archeological finds from the Sebaco area. We learned about the Indian's that had lived in the area, the always changing currency of Nicaragua and weapons people killed each other with (just spears and stuff... that was cool). We even got to hear a scary legend told by Louis, the local pastor (and no it was not used as an illustration in a sermon).

After a quick lunch and bathroom break at the home base (some fish/steak creation (no one knew what we were eating) and you guessed it...rice) we headed back for round two of programming at the church plant. This time there were more kids than chairs. These kids were very enthusiastic during worship and eager to shout out answers while Mrs.Nunn was teaching (none of us students knew what was going on but it was funny to watch). Then afterwards we face painted almost every child there in about half an hour with either a corazon, mariposa, gato or flor (that's right we learned some Spanish without google translate).

We then returned to base for dinner, a quick clean up and hopped in the van to head back to the church plant. Even though we were all very tired, of course, there was still energy to sing the only music that we have to possibly get stuck in our heads (you guessed it.... the Spanish kind, but now with a bigger selection than before, YAY!). Mr. Nunn then used us students in his sermon to perform 7 illustrations for the congregation to guess (we had no choice). By the way Spanish people don't know the song "I'm a Little Teapot" so Hailey's illustration didn't go so well, which then consisted of Kylee attempting to teach the song and all it's actions to Abel (A Nicaraguan seminary student who came with us to Sebaco).

At the end of the night we said goodbye to the people from the church and headed back to the base. It was a full day and the whole team was pretty exhausted soooo... we thought, why not leave the parents hanging for one night and just sleep instead?

Adios Amigos y Dios te Bendiga (you can look that one up too) - Kylee and Noemi

P.S. Mom I only have 27 bug bites.. oh wait now it's 28.
P.P.S Speaking of which, Mrs. Brouwer Tori wants you to have lots of Calamine lotion ready for her many bites.
P.P.P.S When we get home we will be experiencing Nicaraguan food withdrawals so please be sure to make us a nice meal of pancakes, chicken, fruit and rice. Just kidding ... DO NOT DO THAT... at all ... please don't ... it's not funny.
P.P.P.P.S It's 29 now
P.P.P.P.P.S sorry for all the P.S.ing 

March Break In Nicaragua

Day 7 of a Nicaraguan March Break 2016 

(Monday, March 14)

The day started off bright and early again but this time with way more bug bites. The mosquito population is way higher in Sebaco than it was in Managua, so it’s taking some getting used to. Our day was filled with many different kid programs. We started off with about 10 kids for our morning program and we finished with about 50 kids in our afternoon program.

The first program was filled with songs, bible lessons, colouring pages and our own activities that we brought for the kids. Some kids were getting their face painted, some kids were making butterflies, some kids were playing spot it, etc. We finished off the morning with a lot of balloon animals which consisted of us doing our very best to make crazy things that the kids requested; Tori made an awesome balloon butterfly. After the morning, we headed back for some rice and chicken.

Bruce then took us on an adventure to see some Indian petroglyphs. He brought a tour guide that he called Indiana Jones of Nicaragua. There were many rocks we had to climb to get to all the different areas and some people went extra far and climbed higher up a cliff (shout out to Hailey’s short legs for stretching far enough). Mr Fuller was super relieved once we actually got back to safe ground but had to deal with a few cactus needles. This was a pretty neat thing to see because we don’t get to see this every day. All of us sweaty team members (especially Noah who hasn’t showered in 2 days – pray that he does tonight for our sake) hopped back into the van and headed back to the church for the afternoon kid program.

 

The afternoon program consisted of the same things as the morning program but was a little more complex since these kids were a little older. We returned back to the camp for some rice and pork/sausage and then headed back to the church for an evening service for the adults. Mr Nunn spoke in Spanish while Mr Fuller and Mrs Nunn each translated to 5 students so we could understand. We concluded our day with a group debriefing session (in honour of you Mr Winik).

 



"Peace out homies"
Hailey R. and Victoria B.

Church, Chuleta, and Chicken

Day Six - Nicaragua 2016

 

Today was our last day at the Centro ABEM camp! It was sad to bid farewell to Richard and Cari, but we were still very excited to meet our next missionary hosts. 

[We have moved from the city of Managua to a town in the interior called Sebaco where there is a church plant being developed.  We will be here until Wednesday morning.  As internet access is limited, we will be posting the following morning for the day before. This is Sunday's post]

 

We headed off to an English church service held in Nicaragua Christian Academy, and we met with Bruce and Laura Edgar after the service there. Then we headed off to a grill restaurant, La Finca, for lunch. It was a beautiful restaurant and we had a great time bonding together and learning more about our new hosts. 

[They served us two choices, either steak (chuleta) or chicken.  Both were delicious.]

 

After lunch we all crammed into the van for a two-hour ride in the crazy heat to our new location, Sebaco. The camp was less than we were expecting, but we are slowly learning how to make it feel like home as we stay for the next three nights.

 

After we settled in, we went to a Spanish church service down the road, and the Nunn’s were able to translate for us. We went to dinner afterwards at a nearby restaurant and enjoyed the meal as we laughed together and joked around. Then we headed back to camp to meet and debrief about the day.

[The rooster was a visitor at the evening service and decided to settle in the tree for the night just as we were leaving.]

 

It has been another long, tiring and exciting day, but we are continuing to enjoy the moments spent together and the amazing people we meet along the way!

-Rachel M. and Rachel L. 

[God has been very good to our team. Though we have had a couple upset stomachs, and a cold or two, he has given us good health and strength.  Thank you for your prayers.]

P.S. Hailey wants to let her parents know that Mr. Fuller will ride home with them after we arrive at the Detroit airport as originally planned.

Basketball, Bingo and Bartering from the 'Bois'!!

Day Five - Nicaragua 2016!

Yo fams and famettes, its yo bois, D.J. Khaleb, The White Mamba, and Jared. Today we woke up at the last second as always and barely made it to breakfast on time. The bois were back to town and the beans and rice were there to greet them. (Along with eggs and ham, not the green kind). We got to meet another Woughter, Lindsey, their daughter, and she joined us on our journey back to La Concha for the second day.

Unfortunately, R Mac wasn't feeling well today so she sadly could not join us along with Momma D who stayed back to take care of her. On the bright side, they both were able to catch some Z's, and she was feeling better by the time we returned.

On the way to La Concha, The White Mamba almost completed his BINGO page of common Nicaraguan sights. He spotted a man carrying a bundle of sticks on his shoulders, a sign saying 'Hay Nacatamales', which are different foods wrapped and cooked in banana leaves. Now all he needs is to see a 'Hay Queso' sign. Everyone was more prepared for this ride, besides Victoria.

Back on track, we started playing basketball with the kids at the church in La Concha almost right away, and struggled through layup lines and language barriers. Fortunately, Lindsey was able to communicate with the kids in Spanish while Hailey repeatedly yelled "Ballon" and various French phrases at the poor, innocent, confused children. Layup lines included one person (who shall not be named) bending the rim with a ferocious slam dunk, but this same person was able to fix it. Then we moved on into the next portion of our time at La Concha.


We gathered inside the sanctuary, and began our time with "Gracias Senior" (if you haven't heard this one, you will, when we get back), stories in Spanish, and activity pages. The aforementioned individual also managed to snap a chair with his enormous strength of his forefinger and thumb before the service was done. The kids started doing worksheets as The White Mamba made a work of art out of cookies with DJ Khaleb (although it took many tries). After we ate a delicious meal of rice and chicken, and the aforementioned individual managed to flip his chair (and his food), and laid in it for a few minutes, saying "This is not my day".

What followed was some soccer and no-rules basketball (the ball carrier was tackled, double dribbles were ignored, and a pump fake now includes jumping and twirling), as well as the clean-up of food. We then made our way back to the van and headed to the Mercado.

Once at the Mercado, the Woughters gave us our boundaries and let us loose on the shops. We also took a quick trip through the meat aisle, and our noses will never be the same. We then learned about bartering on the fly, getting a lot of good deals, but also some not so good deals. We stayed here for about an hour and a half, which was plenty in that stuffy heat. After being followed to our van by some creative grass sellers (weaving grasshoppers and hearts), we headed back to the camp.




We got to the camp and jumped straight into the pool (The White Mamba doesn't change), while eating many, many freeze pops. A little later, we had a huge feast of Pizza Hut pizza (yay), provided by the Woughters. We investigated a few wildfires, and then concluded our night with our typical devotions and Tony Campolo video. We also said goodbye to the Woughters, who we will see for the last time tomorrow morning at breakfast.

 

Signing off, these are your bois, DJ Khaleb, The White Mamba, and The Aforementioned Individual.

Construction and Volcano Lakes

Day Four - Nicaragua 2016

This morning the team woke up bright and early (really bright...really early) possibly more tired than when we went to bed the previous night. Some minor injuries and sunburns (I've been wearing sunscreen mom, I PROMISE ;) ) and headed over to breakfast. To our surprise it wasn't rice like yesterday ... but pancakes and bacon. YAY!


After breakfast we were given the hard task of packing everything we could possibly need to prepare us for either construction work, entertaining kids, cooking food, going swimming, trekking up a volcano or going to the market. Let's just say 15 minutes was not enough time to even decide what to wear (it was just too early)... but that's fine because we're running on Nicaraguan time... besides no matter what we do we are bound to get dirty, right?

Then we suffered through an approximately 1.5 hour car ride (traffic here is worse than Sunday drivers) on our way to La Concha church plant (Hailey had the most difficulty with this ride :p). Sure enough when we got there we got right to work, mixing concrete to go into the foundation of the soon to be auditorium. Others were cutting wire to make re-bar frames for cement posts, swept the basketball court (which was a lot harder than it sounds) and prepared lunch for the team and the other workers on site. Lunch was basically thrown together on the spot with much improvisation and taste testing, cooked over an open fire in a massive pot/bowl (frying pan/wok) that could feed an army (more rice this time too).

After lunch we headed back to the van for another 1.5 hour car ride (which we were not anticipating) headed toward the Laguna de Apoyo (a volcanic lake!). We were supposed to go see a live volcano, but ... it turns out it's too active (don't worry we'll be fine... i think... maybe...hopefully... pray for us? JUST KIDDING...[Mr. and Mrs. Woughter said that all the volcanoes are carefully monitored]). The lake was beautiful and actually located inside a volcano crater (don't worry, this one wasn't active). We got the chance to lounge in tubes, kayak, and swim , but it seemed the most fun of all was actually pushing each other off the dock in the middle of the lake, but mostly just Noah (sorry, not sorry). After what felt like a full day at the beach (it was really only 2 hours, we were just really tired), we headed back to the van for another 1.5 hour car ride before dinner.

As much as it has been a blast we are falling asleep typing thdkgldgfh. It was great to have a day of work and

 
fun put together and the whole team is excited for what tomorrow brings!!
Peace :)
Noemi and Kylee