Today was our fun day! We woke up at a not-so-fun hour and ate breakfast and we were on the road by 8. We stopped in Massaya which is where we visited the volcano museum and climbed to the top of the volcano. I think the volcano was actually named Massaya, but don't quote me on that one.
I got some pretty awesome pictures and even got to plank some! For those of you who don't know what planking is, all will be explained in time. I tried to upload pictures and they take forever-and-a-half to load. One day when I have a lot of down time I'll get to uploading them.
Anyway, about the volcano. It's really a tremendous sight! A huge crater spitting out sulfur? Count me in! The ancient natives of Nicaragua actually erected a cross at the peak of the 'cano because they believed it was the gateway to Hell. If you choose to climb the hundreds of stairs to get to the crest then you are standing right by the cross, and all around you there are beautiful mountains, volcanic rock/ash, and of course the volcano! There is a warning to not stay at the peak for longer than 20 minutes for fear of respiratory problems from the intense sulfur content in the air. The bus had to be parked with the front facing the exit of the park in case of an emergency. Not too comforting knowing that the 30 seconds it would take to back the vehicle up and drive out would be the line between surviving and dying...
After the volcano excursion we headed to Granada. Granada is the oldest town in Central America, like the St. Augustine for Florida. It's filled with wonderful things to do! One of our favorite things to do is go out on Lake Managua/Lake Nicaragua. It's a HUGE lake with(get this) fresh water sharks. One of two freshwater lakes in the world with sharks. Not just any shark either...no no no! Great White Sharks. Apparently they moved in the lake over time and evolved to be able to breathe in fresh water. While we didn't see any, it's still always on the back of your mind!
Elsewhere on the lake there are a ton of islands (135 individual islands), courtesy of the volcano located by the lake that blew its top enough to make the islands. Anyone is allowed to purchase their own island and build a home on said island. They aren't cheap though. A small one ( the size of our field by the church) will run you $60,000. It's totally worth it to say you own an island mansion in Nicaragua, right? Speaking of mansions, this is a foreshadow for something later in the blog. Keep reading to fiiiind out!
Oh! This brings me to my blog title tonight... My best friend Gary and I have a saying, "Thats a niiiice boulder!" It's really...random, but it works for us. There are a TON of boulders around the lake that the volcano spit out a bajilllion years ago and it made me think of Gary. So there Gary, you made it into the blog. I miss ya brah brah!
We came in from our boat ride, sat down to eat our meal which was ordered before our excursion. The food is prepared fresh for each meal so it takes quite a while. I had the Filet Churasco. Steak Filet. It was, as everything else, AMAZING! it came complete with a small salad, rice, and fried plantains. Well worth the $0 dollars I paid for it. The missions fund from Frostproof First Baptist Church covered us. Thanks guys!
After another lengthy bus ride it was off to Massaya(again). There is a market there much like an indoor flea market. So many stalls with their items displayed for you to pick out and barter with them. When they see a large group of Gringos(white folk) come in they raise the prices drastically. This is the fun part as I love to haggle. I bought plenty of bracelets at a discount price and I'll be bringing some home for you guys.
In closing tonight we had a surprise birthday party for a member of our group, Debbie. She was so overwhelmed when she walked into the common room expecting our usual nightly meeting/devotional but instead was greeted by us singing her happy birthday with a cake, cards, a balloon flower, and all! She was moved to tears and told us that she has never had many friends, but considers us all very close friends and she would remember this birthday forever. It was quite emotional as she read the cards and gave us all a thank you hug.
Finally, here's a teaser. We looked at cabins today. Like, to build down here for our housing when we want to take missions trips. Angela and Steve, the missions leaders, have been looking at an 11 acre lot and really want to purchase it to put these cabins on the land. I, you, or anyone could basically own a log cabin down here for as low as $6,000. You can't buy a decent car for that nowadays. I was told that an "Americanized" mansion would cost about $20,000. That's a 2 story house, porch, bathrooms, everything. I'm praying about this and definitely considering my options of owning a home down here. As you all know I call Nicaragua my home away from home, why not make that a literal thing? Of course, I'll need more tile work if that's going to happen(hint hint!! :P)
That's it for tonight y'all. Tomorrow we're doing a demonstration at a high school for 1,600 total students over 2 sessions and then a revival that night. Please please PLEASE pray that some of the high school students will come for our invitational at the end of the demonstration or at least show up to the revival. We've had many many powerful things happen in our revivals and we want this to be another notch in our belt.
Thank you for reading/praying!
Todd
I got some pretty awesome pictures and even got to plank some! For those of you who don't know what planking is, all will be explained in time. I tried to upload pictures and they take forever-and-a-half to load. One day when I have a lot of down time I'll get to uploading them.
Anyway, about the volcano. It's really a tremendous sight! A huge crater spitting out sulfur? Count me in! The ancient natives of Nicaragua actually erected a cross at the peak of the 'cano because they believed it was the gateway to Hell. If you choose to climb the hundreds of stairs to get to the crest then you are standing right by the cross, and all around you there are beautiful mountains, volcanic rock/ash, and of course the volcano! There is a warning to not stay at the peak for longer than 20 minutes for fear of respiratory problems from the intense sulfur content in the air. The bus had to be parked with the front facing the exit of the park in case of an emergency. Not too comforting knowing that the 30 seconds it would take to back the vehicle up and drive out would be the line between surviving and dying...
After the volcano excursion we headed to Granada. Granada is the oldest town in Central America, like the St. Augustine for Florida. It's filled with wonderful things to do! One of our favorite things to do is go out on Lake Managua/Lake Nicaragua. It's a HUGE lake with(get this) fresh water sharks. One of two freshwater lakes in the world with sharks. Not just any shark either...no no no! Great White Sharks. Apparently they moved in the lake over time and evolved to be able to breathe in fresh water. While we didn't see any, it's still always on the back of your mind!
Elsewhere on the lake there are a ton of islands (135 individual islands), courtesy of the volcano located by the lake that blew its top enough to make the islands. Anyone is allowed to purchase their own island and build a home on said island. They aren't cheap though. A small one ( the size of our field by the church) will run you $60,000. It's totally worth it to say you own an island mansion in Nicaragua, right? Speaking of mansions, this is a foreshadow for something later in the blog. Keep reading to fiiiind out!
Oh! This brings me to my blog title tonight... My best friend Gary and I have a saying, "Thats a niiiice boulder!" It's really...random, but it works for us. There are a TON of boulders around the lake that the volcano spit out a bajilllion years ago and it made me think of Gary. So there Gary, you made it into the blog. I miss ya brah brah!
We came in from our boat ride, sat down to eat our meal which was ordered before our excursion. The food is prepared fresh for each meal so it takes quite a while. I had the Filet Churasco. Steak Filet. It was, as everything else, AMAZING! it came complete with a small salad, rice, and fried plantains. Well worth the $0 dollars I paid for it. The missions fund from Frostproof First Baptist Church covered us. Thanks guys!
After another lengthy bus ride it was off to Massaya(again). There is a market there much like an indoor flea market. So many stalls with their items displayed for you to pick out and barter with them. When they see a large group of Gringos(white folk) come in they raise the prices drastically. This is the fun part as I love to haggle. I bought plenty of bracelets at a discount price and I'll be bringing some home for you guys.
In closing tonight we had a surprise birthday party for a member of our group, Debbie. She was so overwhelmed when she walked into the common room expecting our usual nightly meeting/devotional but instead was greeted by us singing her happy birthday with a cake, cards, a balloon flower, and all! She was moved to tears and told us that she has never had many friends, but considers us all very close friends and she would remember this birthday forever. It was quite emotional as she read the cards and gave us all a thank you hug.
Finally, here's a teaser. We looked at cabins today. Like, to build down here for our housing when we want to take missions trips. Angela and Steve, the missions leaders, have been looking at an 11 acre lot and really want to purchase it to put these cabins on the land. I, you, or anyone could basically own a log cabin down here for as low as $6,000. You can't buy a decent car for that nowadays. I was told that an "Americanized" mansion would cost about $20,000. That's a 2 story house, porch, bathrooms, everything. I'm praying about this and definitely considering my options of owning a home down here. As you all know I call Nicaragua my home away from home, why not make that a literal thing? Of course, I'll need more tile work if that's going to happen(hint hint!! :P)
That's it for tonight y'all. Tomorrow we're doing a demonstration at a high school for 1,600 total students over 2 sessions and then a revival that night. Please please PLEASE pray that some of the high school students will come for our invitational at the end of the demonstration or at least show up to the revival. We've had many many powerful things happen in our revivals and we want this to be another notch in our belt.
Thank you for reading/praying!
Todd
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