Again with the long time, no post. My bad. I'm more "involved" this year living with Josue so I don't have as much internet time as I did in previous years.
I enjoyed skyping with my church family tonight. It's always good to hear from home:) I have been doing so much recently I don't know where to begin!
I spent Thursday and Friday at the Barcelo Resort at Montelimar Beach. Wow! I've never been to a resort and I have to say, I might return. Totally worth the $65 I paid for 2 days, 1 night, and unlimited food/drinks. I know we're here for missions work, but it was really nice to relax. Plus the Pacific > Atlantic. I boogie boarded my heart out! I can def explain more later :)
As for VBS's ... We had one today, 2 tomorrow, 2 Tuesday, and 1 Thursday. We have a BUSY week ahead of us. It's good to be busy though, it helps the time pass. Before I kow it I'll be landing in Miami and on my way home.
Short- winded tonight, sorry! All the chaos in town from the local holiday is making it hard to focus. I'll be able to express thoughts much more clearly in the United States back on my home turf.
Thanks for reading/praying
Todd
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
My apologies!
I´ve been very lazy with blogging, mainly due to not having internet! I´ve been doing great lately and living with Josue is going MUCH better than I ever could have anticipated. We finished the floor yesterday before lunch and it looks amazing. All the church people are very grateful.
Right now I´m at a resort in Nicaragua. thus I´m typing on a Spanish keyboard. Weird! It´s called Montelimar Beach Resort. Look it up! I know I want to come back for a vacation some year. I mean, we´re steps from the AMAZING pacific ocean. BEAUTIFUL. Absolutely amazing. At the resort there is horseback riding on the beach, ATV´s pools(like...3?) unlimited food and drinks, and a bunch more I can´t think of. All of this is so new to me...and if it´s new to me I know Josue and his three sisters are thinking this is a dream. We spent the afternoon in the pool, looking at animals in the zoo on the premises, I played ping pong with Steve, then Josue, his sisters, and a few others went down to the beach where there are these huge boulders. We were digging up these palm sized crabs and chasing them down when they´d run away. Those things are fast!
Needless to say, this is amazing. Nicaragua at it´s finest. I´d love to tell you guys other things I´ve been doing but other than laying tile... I took a nap yesterday. I know we have 6 more VBS´s before we leave. Thats 6 in a week. AHHH! We´re going to be busy busy busy!
That´s about it for tonight, everyone. Stay in touch! I check facebook as often as possible so send me a message if you need anything:D
Thanks for reading/praying
Todd
Right now I´m at a resort in Nicaragua. thus I´m typing on a Spanish keyboard. Weird! It´s called Montelimar Beach Resort. Look it up! I know I want to come back for a vacation some year. I mean, we´re steps from the AMAZING pacific ocean. BEAUTIFUL. Absolutely amazing. At the resort there is horseback riding on the beach, ATV´s pools(like...3?) unlimited food and drinks, and a bunch more I can´t think of. All of this is so new to me...and if it´s new to me I know Josue and his three sisters are thinking this is a dream. We spent the afternoon in the pool, looking at animals in the zoo on the premises, I played ping pong with Steve, then Josue, his sisters, and a few others went down to the beach where there are these huge boulders. We were digging up these palm sized crabs and chasing them down when they´d run away. Those things are fast!
Needless to say, this is amazing. Nicaragua at it´s finest. I´d love to tell you guys other things I´ve been doing but other than laying tile... I took a nap yesterday. I know we have 6 more VBS´s before we leave. Thats 6 in a week. AHHH! We´re going to be busy busy busy!
That´s about it for tonight, everyone. Stay in touch! I check facebook as often as possible so send me a message if you need anything:D
Thanks for reading/praying
Todd
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Longest, greatest blog yet.
Here I am, sitting on the front patio/stoop of Josue's house writing my blog. Life doesn't get much better! I didn't have the chance to write my blog yesterday and thus some memories have since left me, so I'll combine today's and yesterdays blog to make a SUPER POST!
Ok, let's start with yesterday. First off, happy 4th of July!!! I woke up at 7, as everyone said they did, but found everyone was still asleep. I kind of wandered around the house a minute and returned to my room. I heard people up outside so I went to see what was going on and sure enough they were all up. They asked if I was hungry and, of course, I was...so we went across the street to a house that sells food items but they hadn't opened yet. Same story with a lot of houses! I was very confused how they couldn't be open before breakfast so people could buy food. Later on I was pondering this and realized I watched the sun come up. Steve said something last week about the sun rising at 5. I had made a CRITICAL error. My phone is set to Eastern time still! So what I thought was 7 was really 5 here. Man I felt bad for the family! I made sure to adjust my alarm accordingly:)
After breakfast(which I ate alone because it was so early nobody else was hungry) I was off to the church to lay tile. FINALLY! We dove right into sweeping, measuring, prepping the floor, snapping lines, and mixing mud. I layed the first tile smack dab in the center and then we were off! I layed one side, the men helping were laying the other side. Angela, Blanca, her daughter, and a boy who tagged along were busy handing me tiles while Steve was scooping mud out of a wheel barrow onto the floor for me. One thing we discovered quite fast that the cement here is NOT the quality that it is in the US. Also, with the intense heat, dry concrete, and ceiling fans, the cement dried quite fast. Too fast! We began to soak the floor with water and sweep it around to help with the bonding a little more, sooo, my shoes were completely soaked!
We broke off for lunch break and there is a new store right across from the church and the lady who owns it offered to cook me lunch. Her and Karina, Josue's sister, worked on cooking my meal while I waited up in the front. It was SO funny watching people come into the store, say, "Buena!", and look over and see me. The look on their face was priceless. Like they've never seen a white boy! Haha. Lunch was especially delicious today. I had rice, fried plantain chips, and chicken and a Coke to wash it all down. God bless those hands that prepared that meal!
When lunch break was over I headed back to the church and kept on chuggin along. By now I had worked a pretty good blister on the palm of my right hand from my trowel. Oh yeah, I also broke a trowel handle off that morning...guess I go a little rough for Nicaraguan trowels:P Blisters aside, it was time to boogey. We layed and layed and layed til......WE RAN OUT! OH NO! I couldn't believe we ran out of tile. We weren't even close to being done at all! I was sitting here flipping my lid on the inside but keeping calm on the indide, Steve and I measured the room again to check their measurements. It was then that our translator told us the tile place didn't have all of the tile in stock and were delivering the rest that night. Whew! Relief never felt so good. With nothing else left to do we all packed it up and headed home.
Josue and I went to the hostel to hang out with everyone else, watched a movie in Spanish with English subtitles, and went to Pali(Walmart haha). It was about 8 when I realized maybe Josue was ready to go so we headed off to his house where Karina cooked us a meal and we watched a little TV. I went to bed at 9 since I woke up at 5 and believe me when I say, I fell asleep instantly.
July 5th, 2011
______________
Have you ever woken up soaked? Not from being hot or wetting the bed...no. I'm talking humidity. Gross right?! I just laughed and told myself, "Welcome to Nicaragua!!!" I walked out and everyone except Josue was awake too. I actually woke up at 7 this time:) I had an omelette for breakfast skillfully prepared by Karina and her sisters. They asked if I was sick which puzzled me. They told me since it was so humid last night and I had the fan running I coughed all night. I did have a cough and running nose so I figured they weren't lying. I told them I'd drop by the pharmacy later and get something to knock it out before it even started. Shortly thereafter we were off again to the church to finish up the tile job.
Remember how I said I had a blister on the palm of my hand? How about 4 next to each other? And remember my soaking wet shoes? I rubbed a blister on 2 of the toes on my right foot. The right side of my body is just taking a beating this trip! Either way I had work to do so I put the pain in the back of my mind and was off to the church. I wrapped a rag around my hand to shield my blisters from the wood of the trowel but it was so annoying I decided the pain was well worth not using the rag. As for my toes, they weren't really a bother. A few times I'd tweat just the right way to agitate them pretty good, but nothing horrible. I was just worried about finishing the floor today! Nothing was going to stand in my way but God himself.
We were laying tile at a rate never before seen by man. I owe this all to the helpers who tag along and help out each day. You guys are worth your weight in gold! We put down all the whole tiles while one man worked on the peninsula that came out of the stage. Cutting the tile around curves is much harder than it looks! We finally got to where we needed to make cuts along the walls and to my surprise they said, 'Well just make the tiles all the same cut and when the wall gets un-square the grout line can get bigger.' I just said 'OK:D' and did as I was told. Much more surprising they would cut a tile put it down then use another piece from that tile, cut another piece, cut another piece... All of the side tiles are jagged and crooked! I'm not a fan of this at all but I wasn't about to argue something at a charity install. OH! The design in the tile is very beautiful, right? Forget it! They said the design won't apply to the sides. So I suggested we broke the tile up and make a mosaic out of the sides, that would give a very uniform look and hide the unsquareness of the room. They said that would mess up the design. As if their method wouldn't.
All that aside we finished today. BOOM! It was only 3 o'clock so I figured they'd be ready to grout and call it done. With so many people it would only take an hour to grout the place. Everyone was ready to call it quits though. Sigh. We put up all the tools and called it quits.
One thing I forgot to mention is that the last tile I layed, a corner cut piece, I wrote on the back of it and asked the pastor to write his name on one side while my name was on the other. I told him later that on the tile I wrote, "From dust we came, And to dust we shall return" and explained that's my favorite verse in the Bible. I can't call the verse right not but it's part of a passage in Genesis that says thorns and thistels will work against you. Sure enough, we had things work against us but we overcame odds like cultural differences, language barriers, horrible cement, and blisters to put that floor in. It was then that pastor Juan told me that people in the church have gotten on their knees and called to God for 4 years to give them a tile floor. FOUR YEARS. To think, I, Todd Daniels, from a little town in Florida, was part of the answer to their prayers. I'm getting choked up in Josue's living room this is getting awkward...
I can't believe God used my talent and passion all the way in Nicaragua to benefit a church carrying out his word. What a story! This has got to be the most meaningful thing to happen to me in my life past being born. Thank you God and everyone who made this trip possible. I couldn't have done it without your love and support.
That's basically it for today. It's Steve's 40th birthday so we're about to head to the hostel to celebrate. I'm eating a cup of ramen and wiping tears from my eyes, thinking about how great our God is. If I died tonight, I would die the happiest man in the world. Right now I feel like I could lay a floor on all 2.5 million square miles of heaven. :D
Thanks for reading/praying!
Todd
Ok, let's start with yesterday. First off, happy 4th of July!!! I woke up at 7, as everyone said they did, but found everyone was still asleep. I kind of wandered around the house a minute and returned to my room. I heard people up outside so I went to see what was going on and sure enough they were all up. They asked if I was hungry and, of course, I was...so we went across the street to a house that sells food items but they hadn't opened yet. Same story with a lot of houses! I was very confused how they couldn't be open before breakfast so people could buy food. Later on I was pondering this and realized I watched the sun come up. Steve said something last week about the sun rising at 5. I had made a CRITICAL error. My phone is set to Eastern time still! So what I thought was 7 was really 5 here. Man I felt bad for the family! I made sure to adjust my alarm accordingly:)
After breakfast(which I ate alone because it was so early nobody else was hungry) I was off to the church to lay tile. FINALLY! We dove right into sweeping, measuring, prepping the floor, snapping lines, and mixing mud. I layed the first tile smack dab in the center and then we were off! I layed one side, the men helping were laying the other side. Angela, Blanca, her daughter, and a boy who tagged along were busy handing me tiles while Steve was scooping mud out of a wheel barrow onto the floor for me. One thing we discovered quite fast that the cement here is NOT the quality that it is in the US. Also, with the intense heat, dry concrete, and ceiling fans, the cement dried quite fast. Too fast! We began to soak the floor with water and sweep it around to help with the bonding a little more, sooo, my shoes were completely soaked!
We broke off for lunch break and there is a new store right across from the church and the lady who owns it offered to cook me lunch. Her and Karina, Josue's sister, worked on cooking my meal while I waited up in the front. It was SO funny watching people come into the store, say, "Buena!", and look over and see me. The look on their face was priceless. Like they've never seen a white boy! Haha. Lunch was especially delicious today. I had rice, fried plantain chips, and chicken and a Coke to wash it all down. God bless those hands that prepared that meal!
When lunch break was over I headed back to the church and kept on chuggin along. By now I had worked a pretty good blister on the palm of my right hand from my trowel. Oh yeah, I also broke a trowel handle off that morning...guess I go a little rough for Nicaraguan trowels:P Blisters aside, it was time to boogey. We layed and layed and layed til......WE RAN OUT! OH NO! I couldn't believe we ran out of tile. We weren't even close to being done at all! I was sitting here flipping my lid on the inside but keeping calm on the indide, Steve and I measured the room again to check their measurements. It was then that our translator told us the tile place didn't have all of the tile in stock and were delivering the rest that night. Whew! Relief never felt so good. With nothing else left to do we all packed it up and headed home.
Josue and I went to the hostel to hang out with everyone else, watched a movie in Spanish with English subtitles, and went to Pali(Walmart haha). It was about 8 when I realized maybe Josue was ready to go so we headed off to his house where Karina cooked us a meal and we watched a little TV. I went to bed at 9 since I woke up at 5 and believe me when I say, I fell asleep instantly.
July 5th, 2011
______________
Have you ever woken up soaked? Not from being hot or wetting the bed...no. I'm talking humidity. Gross right?! I just laughed and told myself, "Welcome to Nicaragua!!!" I walked out and everyone except Josue was awake too. I actually woke up at 7 this time:) I had an omelette for breakfast skillfully prepared by Karina and her sisters. They asked if I was sick which puzzled me. They told me since it was so humid last night and I had the fan running I coughed all night. I did have a cough and running nose so I figured they weren't lying. I told them I'd drop by the pharmacy later and get something to knock it out before it even started. Shortly thereafter we were off again to the church to finish up the tile job.
Remember how I said I had a blister on the palm of my hand? How about 4 next to each other? And remember my soaking wet shoes? I rubbed a blister on 2 of the toes on my right foot. The right side of my body is just taking a beating this trip! Either way I had work to do so I put the pain in the back of my mind and was off to the church. I wrapped a rag around my hand to shield my blisters from the wood of the trowel but it was so annoying I decided the pain was well worth not using the rag. As for my toes, they weren't really a bother. A few times I'd tweat just the right way to agitate them pretty good, but nothing horrible. I was just worried about finishing the floor today! Nothing was going to stand in my way but God himself.
We were laying tile at a rate never before seen by man. I owe this all to the helpers who tag along and help out each day. You guys are worth your weight in gold! We put down all the whole tiles while one man worked on the peninsula that came out of the stage. Cutting the tile around curves is much harder than it looks! We finally got to where we needed to make cuts along the walls and to my surprise they said, 'Well just make the tiles all the same cut and when the wall gets un-square the grout line can get bigger.' I just said 'OK:D' and did as I was told. Much more surprising they would cut a tile put it down then use another piece from that tile, cut another piece, cut another piece... All of the side tiles are jagged and crooked! I'm not a fan of this at all but I wasn't about to argue something at a charity install. OH! The design in the tile is very beautiful, right? Forget it! They said the design won't apply to the sides. So I suggested we broke the tile up and make a mosaic out of the sides, that would give a very uniform look and hide the unsquareness of the room. They said that would mess up the design. As if their method wouldn't.
All that aside we finished today. BOOM! It was only 3 o'clock so I figured they'd be ready to grout and call it done. With so many people it would only take an hour to grout the place. Everyone was ready to call it quits though. Sigh. We put up all the tools and called it quits.
One thing I forgot to mention is that the last tile I layed, a corner cut piece, I wrote on the back of it and asked the pastor to write his name on one side while my name was on the other. I told him later that on the tile I wrote, "From dust we came, And to dust we shall return" and explained that's my favorite verse in the Bible. I can't call the verse right not but it's part of a passage in Genesis that says thorns and thistels will work against you. Sure enough, we had things work against us but we overcame odds like cultural differences, language barriers, horrible cement, and blisters to put that floor in. It was then that pastor Juan told me that people in the church have gotten on their knees and called to God for 4 years to give them a tile floor. FOUR YEARS. To think, I, Todd Daniels, from a little town in Florida, was part of the answer to their prayers. I'm getting choked up in Josue's living room this is getting awkward...
I can't believe God used my talent and passion all the way in Nicaragua to benefit a church carrying out his word. What a story! This has got to be the most meaningful thing to happen to me in my life past being born. Thank you God and everyone who made this trip possible. I couldn't have done it without your love and support.
That's basically it for today. It's Steve's 40th birthday so we're about to head to the hostel to celebrate. I'm eating a cup of ramen and wiping tears from my eyes, thinking about how great our God is. If I died tonight, I would die the happiest man in the world. Right now I feel like I could lay a floor on all 2.5 million square miles of heaven. :D
Thanks for reading/praying!
Todd
Monday, July 4, 2011
On the road again!
Today, as always, was another great day in Nicaragua. I woke up to eggs, beans, rice, and a toasted roll. Went to church to have a VBS. And spent the afternoon just relaxing.
I got to talk to my mom and dad today. I hadn't spoken with them in a few days so I was really excited to hear their voices. What excited me even more was that I had a Skype conversation with my dad during the Alva church service! He got my picture up on the big screen, my voice through the PA speakers, and he was talking into a mic to me. This was completely new for both of us and I can honestly say I'm very excited to try it out again! If you're reading this and have any questions you'd like to ask on the next Skype during church let the pastor know:D
Side note: As soon as I finished typing that paragraph I saw what appeared to be a small bat fly into my room through the crack between the wall and the ceiling. I almost FLIPPED. Luckily I kept my composure and waited for it to settle down and saw it was just a rather large moth. It had to have a 6" wing span. I caught the booger in a walmart bag and showed Josue who then let it go..back in my room. We caught it again and it's safe outside again.
That brings me to my next conversation topic. After church tonight we rode our bixis back to the hostel where Josue and I gathered my belongings from my room and stacked them in a corner in the living room area. The hostel offered me one last meal before I left and I gladly accepted it. The hotel owner sat down to eat with me and told me I was his good friend. That made my day! For me, knowing that I'm more than just a business client, that makes me feel special. I'm so glad I have had the opportunity to meet those great folks at Hostal Jersulen.
Back to my moving arrangements. I finished up supper then Josue and I loaded my things into a bixi and I sat on top of it. I said bye to everyone, got hugs and kisses(on the cheek!), and we were off! I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8 and I yelled to the cabby, "Yo, holmes, smell ya later!" Wait... I'm not Will Smith. Nevermind. When I got to Josue's house I yelled out "HOLA FAMILIA!" I was welcomed in and shown to my room. I have a bed, fan, light(which is great!) and a dresser. No internet, so I'll type blogs at night and post them during the daytime.
We sat down and watched some DVD's of christian groups performing live. I can tell these are prized possesions as they have the DVD player hidden away so nobody can find it. They are very hospitable here. They ask if I need anything all the time and try to make me as comfortable as possible. Talk about southern comfort! They all ate their meal in the living room/dining room, but I wasn't hungry as I had just eaten.
Josue told me he needed to take his Aunt to the pharmacy because her son was sick and asked if I'd like to go. I told him I'd be more than happy to go so we all got on a bike and were off. Nagarote at night is something else! It's so alive! I figured after my light went off everyone else's did too. Not the case. There were plenty of people out and about doing as they pleased. Josue asked if I rode my bike around town at night or if it was safe to. I told him "More or less" which is a new phrase they've learned. I told him America isn't much like Nicaragua and he would just need to come visit to find out what it's like.
I already like the living arrangements here and I hope I don't overstay my welcome. I'm going to buy groceries one day soon if not tomorrow so I'm not just bumming food off of the already large family. All in all, I think that I'll learn a lot from living with Josue and his family and they'll learn a lot from me.
Alright, tomorrows plans. I'm waking up at 7(or maybe earlier) eating breakfast and then I'm off to lay tile! I've been watching some people lay tile at the hotel and it's much MUCH different than how I'm used to in America. Let's all hope I adjust easily OR I find the right trowel for the job. Bruce Sabin, who came with us the very first trip we took, came down on Saturday to stay for 2 weeks and teach seminars to train the pastors so he'll be teaching them while I'm doing the tile work.
Now, I'm going for a personal best here and trying to lay 772 sq. ft. of tile in 3 days...in a foreign country. Will it happen? Lord, I hope so. Pray, pray, pray for me and the men helping me, well need it.
That's all for tonight. I'm off to bed! Have a great one!
Thanks for reading/praying,
Todd
I got to talk to my mom and dad today. I hadn't spoken with them in a few days so I was really excited to hear their voices. What excited me even more was that I had a Skype conversation with my dad during the Alva church service! He got my picture up on the big screen, my voice through the PA speakers, and he was talking into a mic to me. This was completely new for both of us and I can honestly say I'm very excited to try it out again! If you're reading this and have any questions you'd like to ask on the next Skype during church let the pastor know:D
Side note: As soon as I finished typing that paragraph I saw what appeared to be a small bat fly into my room through the crack between the wall and the ceiling. I almost FLIPPED. Luckily I kept my composure and waited for it to settle down and saw it was just a rather large moth. It had to have a 6" wing span. I caught the booger in a walmart bag and showed Josue who then let it go..back in my room. We caught it again and it's safe outside again.
That brings me to my next conversation topic. After church tonight we rode our bixis back to the hostel where Josue and I gathered my belongings from my room and stacked them in a corner in the living room area. The hostel offered me one last meal before I left and I gladly accepted it. The hotel owner sat down to eat with me and told me I was his good friend. That made my day! For me, knowing that I'm more than just a business client, that makes me feel special. I'm so glad I have had the opportunity to meet those great folks at Hostal Jersulen.
Back to my moving arrangements. I finished up supper then Josue and I loaded my things into a bixi and I sat on top of it. I said bye to everyone, got hugs and kisses(on the cheek!), and we were off! I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8 and I yelled to the cabby, "Yo, holmes, smell ya later!" Wait... I'm not Will Smith. Nevermind. When I got to Josue's house I yelled out "HOLA FAMILIA!" I was welcomed in and shown to my room. I have a bed, fan, light(which is great!) and a dresser. No internet, so I'll type blogs at night and post them during the daytime.
We sat down and watched some DVD's of christian groups performing live. I can tell these are prized possesions as they have the DVD player hidden away so nobody can find it. They are very hospitable here. They ask if I need anything all the time and try to make me as comfortable as possible. Talk about southern comfort! They all ate their meal in the living room/dining room, but I wasn't hungry as I had just eaten.
Josue told me he needed to take his Aunt to the pharmacy because her son was sick and asked if I'd like to go. I told him I'd be more than happy to go so we all got on a bike and were off. Nagarote at night is something else! It's so alive! I figured after my light went off everyone else's did too. Not the case. There were plenty of people out and about doing as they pleased. Josue asked if I rode my bike around town at night or if it was safe to. I told him "More or less" which is a new phrase they've learned. I told him America isn't much like Nicaragua and he would just need to come visit to find out what it's like.
I already like the living arrangements here and I hope I don't overstay my welcome. I'm going to buy groceries one day soon if not tomorrow so I'm not just bumming food off of the already large family. All in all, I think that I'll learn a lot from living with Josue and his family and they'll learn a lot from me.
Alright, tomorrows plans. I'm waking up at 7(or maybe earlier) eating breakfast and then I'm off to lay tile! I've been watching some people lay tile at the hotel and it's much MUCH different than how I'm used to in America. Let's all hope I adjust easily OR I find the right trowel for the job. Bruce Sabin, who came with us the very first trip we took, came down on Saturday to stay for 2 weeks and teach seminars to train the pastors so he'll be teaching them while I'm doing the tile work.
Now, I'm going for a personal best here and trying to lay 772 sq. ft. of tile in 3 days...in a foreign country. Will it happen? Lord, I hope so. Pray, pray, pray for me and the men helping me, well need it.
That's all for tonight. I'm off to bed! Have a great one!
Thanks for reading/praying,
Todd
Friday, July 1, 2011
Rainy Daze
Whew. It's been AH-RAININ'! Today there was only a short rain and the streets still looked like rapids. I'm talking half a foot of water going right down the middle of the street. Insane.
In other news, sorry I didn't blog yesterday. I was exhausted and fell asleep before cracking open the laptop and writing my blog. No VBS yesterday, rather, we had a demonstration at the highschool in town where we ministered to 2 groups of 1,000 students each. We did our drama "Turnaround" as we call it. Of course we have videos but they aren't in my possession as I was performing and couldn't take a video. From what I saw we had anywhere from 15-20 maybe a few extra come to the front after our demonstration and accept Christ. That, for me, makes the whole trip worthwhile.
After the two demonstrations we had supper. Rice, beans, and a pulled pork taquito with a cabbage/butter/sourcream topping. It was much different from the other dishes we've had so far and it was well accepted by my belly.
Our first revival was also last night and 27 churches were represented(from what I heard) WOW! God is moving! I played with the praise band and had a blast as usual. We watched the drama from another church, performed our own, and Heath brought a great message. That's my yesterday in a nutshell.
Today we went to the "Rainbow Community". Not TOO sure what the big deal with this community is, but it's far out there. Way far out there. We took 2 trucks, and Krista and I sat shotgun in the cab. The driver was giving this truck the ride of it's life! The roads are dirt out there, and when it rains it washes out. We're talking craters dug out by the rain. Whew it was fun! Half way through the ride we found out our driver knew English pretty well and talked to him some. He told us he had studied English at a university in Managua and wanted to persue a career in teaching English at the University. Unfortunately, the course is too expensive for him to finish and he's putting his family first. I'd like to help him and see how much it would cost to help him finish his schooling to where he could teach English at a highschool level, then he could persue the college level later in his career. When we got out of the truck at the hostel he told me he looked forward to seeing me next year. :D
After that I went to town on some roast like meal. Of course rice and beans were in the mix with a plantain to top it off. I even went to get seconds. That was the best meal I've had in Nicaragua to date. It was so good it could make your toungue slap your brains out.
Shortly after lunch Rafael came to my door and said someone was here to talk to me about the floor. He said he was willing to help me and also knew where to get a cutter for me to use. I brought a grinder perfect for intricate cuts, but takes too long for every cut. The tile cutter I need just scores a straight line and pops the tile in half lickety-split. No hassle and I don't even have to get off of the floor to do it. The cutter I use at home will cost about $170. Very worth it in the business I'm in. This one, being pretty high quality, and brand new, only cost me $40. I bought that thing in a heartbeat and gave the guy who found it a 10% finders fee(not much to us, but that's 8 people he doesn't have to drive around on his bixi today.
Revival tonight was a lot smaller because it was raining, but a good one at that. I was volunteered to represent our group at the end of the service by saying a few words. I let everyone know that we all think of them(the Nicaraguan people) as our second families and that we will continue to minister to Nicaragua for years to come, bringing new people with us and fomimng a tighter bond with them and God. I was told by everyone that I did a good job representing our group as a whole so, thank God for giving me the words that came out! I didn't know WHAT I was going to say! Haha
After the service Brian, Josue, His brother Daniel, and I played 2 worship songs for fun. We chose "Take it all" and "You are Good". Josue loves these songs and could sing every word. People even got into the songs with us and began to worship. The greatest things in life happen when you don't mean for them too. God has proved that over and over again this trip.
As for tomorrow, we're taking some of the group to Managua to fly back to Florida. Two others will be flying in to Managua to come stay with us for 2 weeks. We're going to have 7 hours in Managua to do as we please. I believe we're going to buy some usical equipment for the church I've been talking about and also visit the mall. Hoo-rah!
Sorry for the jumbled-hectic blog. I've had such a sugar rush from the fruit juice I've been drinking it's clogging my thought processes! I promise there will be a better blog tomorrow.
Thanks for reading/praying!
Todd
P.S. My spell check must be broken. I know I make mistakes here and there but I'm too tired to read over it again and correct them. Sorry for the horrible spelling at times. As I like to say, "Welcome to Nicaragua!"
In other news, sorry I didn't blog yesterday. I was exhausted and fell asleep before cracking open the laptop and writing my blog. No VBS yesterday, rather, we had a demonstration at the highschool in town where we ministered to 2 groups of 1,000 students each. We did our drama "Turnaround" as we call it. Of course we have videos but they aren't in my possession as I was performing and couldn't take a video. From what I saw we had anywhere from 15-20 maybe a few extra come to the front after our demonstration and accept Christ. That, for me, makes the whole trip worthwhile.
After the two demonstrations we had supper. Rice, beans, and a pulled pork taquito with a cabbage/butter/sourcream topping. It was much different from the other dishes we've had so far and it was well accepted by my belly.
Our first revival was also last night and 27 churches were represented(from what I heard) WOW! God is moving! I played with the praise band and had a blast as usual. We watched the drama from another church, performed our own, and Heath brought a great message. That's my yesterday in a nutshell.
Today we went to the "Rainbow Community". Not TOO sure what the big deal with this community is, but it's far out there. Way far out there. We took 2 trucks, and Krista and I sat shotgun in the cab. The driver was giving this truck the ride of it's life! The roads are dirt out there, and when it rains it washes out. We're talking craters dug out by the rain. Whew it was fun! Half way through the ride we found out our driver knew English pretty well and talked to him some. He told us he had studied English at a university in Managua and wanted to persue a career in teaching English at the University. Unfortunately, the course is too expensive for him to finish and he's putting his family first. I'd like to help him and see how much it would cost to help him finish his schooling to where he could teach English at a highschool level, then he could persue the college level later in his career. When we got out of the truck at the hostel he told me he looked forward to seeing me next year. :D
After that I went to town on some roast like meal. Of course rice and beans were in the mix with a plantain to top it off. I even went to get seconds. That was the best meal I've had in Nicaragua to date. It was so good it could make your toungue slap your brains out.
Shortly after lunch Rafael came to my door and said someone was here to talk to me about the floor. He said he was willing to help me and also knew where to get a cutter for me to use. I brought a grinder perfect for intricate cuts, but takes too long for every cut. The tile cutter I need just scores a straight line and pops the tile in half lickety-split. No hassle and I don't even have to get off of the floor to do it. The cutter I use at home will cost about $170. Very worth it in the business I'm in. This one, being pretty high quality, and brand new, only cost me $40. I bought that thing in a heartbeat and gave the guy who found it a 10% finders fee(not much to us, but that's 8 people he doesn't have to drive around on his bixi today.
Revival tonight was a lot smaller because it was raining, but a good one at that. I was volunteered to represent our group at the end of the service by saying a few words. I let everyone know that we all think of them(the Nicaraguan people) as our second families and that we will continue to minister to Nicaragua for years to come, bringing new people with us and fomimng a tighter bond with them and God. I was told by everyone that I did a good job representing our group as a whole so, thank God for giving me the words that came out! I didn't know WHAT I was going to say! Haha
After the service Brian, Josue, His brother Daniel, and I played 2 worship songs for fun. We chose "Take it all" and "You are Good". Josue loves these songs and could sing every word. People even got into the songs with us and began to worship. The greatest things in life happen when you don't mean for them too. God has proved that over and over again this trip.
As for tomorrow, we're taking some of the group to Managua to fly back to Florida. Two others will be flying in to Managua to come stay with us for 2 weeks. We're going to have 7 hours in Managua to do as we please. I believe we're going to buy some usical equipment for the church I've been talking about and also visit the mall. Hoo-rah!
Sorry for the jumbled-hectic blog. I've had such a sugar rush from the fruit juice I've been drinking it's clogging my thought processes! I promise there will be a better blog tomorrow.
Thanks for reading/praying!
Todd
P.S. My spell check must be broken. I know I make mistakes here and there but I'm too tired to read over it again and correct them. Sorry for the horrible spelling at times. As I like to say, "Welcome to Nicaragua!"
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