Our Nica Kids and the Joy of their Smiles

Three action packed days since we arrived, so keeping this brief tonight. We've spent the past two days at the SOL Learning Resource Center in Ciudad Dario and our worksite in the rural community of El Chaguite Santa Maria. As part of our time in both communities, we've had two great welcome ceremonies. This afternoon began with playing with the kids at the LRC--water color paints for the chicos, stickon tattoos, board games, sidewalk chalk drawing, friendship bracelets and bubbles for the older kids. Great end of the afternoon as well with a dance lesson and watching our own Nate Coleman jamming with the local LRC band. For the conversation tonight about Highs and Lows, a ton of Highs and not any Lows. Looking forward to more days like this one and continuing our connection with the warm and welcoming Nica people.

What we’re working on & the El Chaguite community

Tuesday we started our work on the pre-school addition in El Chaguite Santa Maria, about a 20 minute drive into the foothills outside Cuidad Dario. This is an add-on to the existing primary school and will support approximately 12 kids between the ages of 3-5...and yes that's the outhouse from El Porvenir (more on them in a future post) that the kids all use as their school bathroom. El Chaguite is a relatively small community of approximately 300 people and comprised primarily of three clans.

As they've done for the past 25 years, Seeds of Learning's policy has been to work with the local community, so we worked side by side today with 10 people from El Chaguite. We mixed concrete, put together reinforcing steel for the concrete and took down concrete forms from the crown. Along the way we played soccer with some of the local kids and did craft projects with the Chicos. Just before lunch we got to visit a local family and farm and had an incredible experience...with more about that in the next post.

This evening during our devotional time together we talked about the theme of Rejuvenation and how this trip after only a few short days has re-energized our spririts. It's been long days and everyone's worked hard, but really excited about what we've had a chance to do here. All in all, another great Nica day.

Bienvenidos a Nicaragua...It's Great to be Back

Although it's been two years, it seems like yesterday we were at our old worksite in Villa Japon. It was great re-connecting with two of the three amigos--Julian Guevara & Casey Callais--who were the consummate hosts on our last trip. 

Although everyone was worn out Sunday morning from the late-night trip down the day before, we had a great time briefly touring old Managua. After that we went out to our old worksite in Villa Japon, to see the school building we worked on and to see/meet our old friends and Villa Japon village elders Memo and Raquel. Since we were there two years ago the village has increased their school population by almost 3x. Thank you to all from RHUMC who donated computers to the teachers and students of Villa Japon where they'll be put to productive use.

What a way to start to the trip!

When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them

Romans 12:13 speaks for itself and does a great job of describing the calling that all of us are feeling on this trip. This morning we’re off to LAX for our 1pm flight to Managua, Nicaragua. Thank you Pastor Jonathan for the beautiful sendoff and your prayers.

Computer and Phone donations

A huge thank you to all from RHUMC who helped our brothers and sisters in Nicaragua with their computer, tablet and smartphone donations. We’ve met our goal with the haul you see below and Seeds of Learning has exceeded their goal of 25 laptops for teachers in Nicaragua!

Seeds of Learning Scholarship Program

Although public school tuition is free to elementary and high school students in Nicaragua, the ancillary costs (uniforms, school supplies, food and transportation) can add up quickly. Many school-aged youth are unable to attend school simply because they cannot afford these things. UNICEF estimates that 500,000 Nicaraguan children ages 3-17 are not even in the local educational system, and that half of all children and adolescents live in poverty. The reality is that for far too many kids in Nicaragua, receiving an adequate education is a rare or unattainable privilege.

RHUMC is proud to support this program by raising $3,000. Thank you all for your incredible generosity. If you’d like to contribute to this worthy cause, you can find more information on SOL’s Indiegogo page. There’s also a great video below.

2017 RHUMC Nicaragua Mission Project

Kathy and I are excited to announce our upcoming mission trip to Ciudad Dario starting this Saturday June 24th.  Hard to believe it’s been two years since our last Nica trip to Villa Japon. You can see the details from our 2015 trip in some of our earlier posts below. Like our visit two years ago, I'll be blogging on a regular basis while we're down there and sharing details from our trip.

This year we’ve got a great group of 10 people, ranging from a grandfather in his 70s to his teenage grandson. Like before we’ll be hosted by Seeds of Learning (SOL), the Sonoma-based non-profit with a large presence in Nicaragua that’s dedicated to creating and improving the educational opportunities in rural Latin America. SOL works with North and Central Americans to build and equip schools in Nicaragua and El Salvador, educate kids and adults, and promote cultural understanding. Check out the SOL video below celebrating their 25 great years of service. It also shows their Learning Resource Center in Ciudad Dario, where we’ll be spending some of our time while there…Stay tuned for more details coming soon.

SOL 25th Anniversary Video-- eng subtitles from Punto Único Films on Vimeo.