What to do?

*Some of you might receive the following post in an email -  maybe multiple times (sorry) - but we wanted as many people to see this as possible, and don't have access to everybody's email. Please read this and consider it. If you have any questions or would like to respond, feel free to email or Facebook message Erinn or me. Thanks.

Most of you know that we have been living in Nicaragua since July as independent missionaries. We want to sincerely thank you for praying for us during this time. So far, God has answered and made it an amazing experience. It is great to be a part of His work here.  When I say that we have come as “independent missionaries,” I mean that we did not go through a specific organization or raise support. 

So, the time is coming where we have to make a decision about our time here in Nicaragua. We feel that over a commitment of another year or two, we can really help accomplish some amazing things. In just six months, in addition to Erinn’s teaching at the Christian school, we have worked regularly with children’s feeding programs and worship, a Bible study and feeding program in the dump, Bible-based summer camp-type getaways for kids from various Nicaraguan dumps, youth group leadership and activities, and sports ministry activities like running and fitness groups. We will also be hosting mission teams this spring and summer.

What we are asking from you is to help us in this decision and our planning for the future. The number one thing necessary for us to stay in Nicaragua is financial support for ministry. Aside from raising some funds to provide a van for Campo Alegria, we did not raise any financial support for our living expenses or ministry this past year. We have been making ends meet with freelance educational writing, which has really put an extra burden on Erinn, since she is both teaching a couple of classes at Nicaragua Christian Academy and doing the majority of the freelance work. She just happens to be the more employable of the two of us in the freelance market with her math background, creating a large imbalance in the family workload.

In order to create more focus in how and where we serve, we have begun to talk with a couple of different organizations to partner with if we stay in Nicaragua. One organization, for example, is a large organization focused on sports ministry, while another is a mission organization that does outreach through a variety of programs. The less we have to freelance, the more we would be able to commit fully to this sort of ministry. This is where we need your help.

We are not asking for an all-out commitment right now. What we are asking from you is to pray about and give us an honest answer to two questions: 1) Would you be willing to provide financial support for ministry in Nicaragua on a monthly basis? 2) If you have a number in mind, could you include it in your response. We are mainly looking for an idea as to our possibilities for the future. The answers to these questions would help us tremendously in knowing what resources we will have going forward and if we will be able to continue with ministry here in Nicaragua. Please keep us in your prayers as this unfolds and a decision becomes clear. Thanks so much!

Catching up - December & January

 December:

Men’s Retreat: December got kicked off with a great weekend at Campo Alegria with guys from the ICF community.

Worship time at the Men's Retreat

It was a great time to build relationships, grow in our faith, and blow up watermelons launched from a trebuchet. 

Rivas Camp: Julia and I helped with a camp at Campo Alegria for the kids from the Rivas dump. As usual, we played, swam, and hung out with the kids from dawn to lights-out. We also taught English and crafts. It’s always so much fun seeing these kids enjoy their time there.

The kids arriving from Rivas

Desayunen

Fun in Lake Nicaragua

Surfing: We finally tried out surfing. I’m glad we did because it’s amazing, and has become a fun way for me and the boys to spend some time together.

Erinn’s Parents Visit: We had a full house at Christmas time, with Mom, Dad, and Josh all staying with us for the week from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Eve. It was an awesome time. We did a lot of things that we hadn’t tried yet here in Nicaragua. The highlight was going zip-lining as a family at Laguna de Tiscapa. Everyone did it despite any fears or anxieties. I’m especially proud of Sammy who was pretty terrified before he was sent zipping down the line.

Meeting Distant Tefels: Okay, so Erinn has studied her family history, probably a lot more than most people. Well, there is a bit of Nicaraguan family history that is explained here: http://www.izzosinnica.blogspot.com/2012/06/for-month-of-june.html

In fact, we even got to meet a couple of Erinn’s extremely distant cousins in Granada back in 2011. Anyway, on the way into Campo Alegria, there is a large sugar cane plantation that we must pass through to get to the lakefront camp property. (This is related to the Tefels, I promise). We’ve been through this huge farm many times. Well, Peter Willard, who started the camp, was invited to a dinner hosted by the plantation owners a while back, and he noticed that the owner’s last name was  Fernandez Tefel. Knowing about Erinn’s family history, Peter said to him that he had to meet Erinn, and that they must be related. So he passed along his number.

Forward to the final week of 2012: With the family visiting, it seemed like a perfect time to get together with this possible relative. So we met Gabriel and his mother, Gloria, for lunch and compared family history. It turns out that, Erinn and Gloria are fourth cousins. The family who owns the plantation in Nicaragua that we had been through a number of times over several years just happens to be family! But wait, it gets better. The family, like many, moved during the Sandinista Revolution, when Gabriel was very young. It turns out that they settled in Towson, Maryland –only about 30 minutes from our home in Maryland – and moved back to Nicaragua about the same time that we moved to Maryland. Weird.

Christmas and New Year’s: Did I mention that Nicaraguans enjoy their firework?

January:

House of Hope Camp: Along with the Willards, we started the month by bringing a group of little girls from House of Hope to Campo Alegria for a few days. House of Hope takes in girls and women who have been trapped in lives of prostitution, and tries to help them reclaim their lives. To see these little girls playing and enjoying the camp after all that they have been through in their short lives was incredibly moving, but Erinn said it best when she posted, “It doesn't matter if you had a perfect childhood, or you've been through horrors. The giggle of a 9 year old playing in the waves is the same.”

Visiting Sucuyá: After many drives through the plantation, we finally got to pay an actual visit to the farm owned by Erinn’s relatives. It was a really good day, riding horses and getting to know Gabriel a little better. We got to get a good tour of the farm that mostly produces sugar cane, but also grows plantains, mangos, and some teak, among other crops. After lunch, we returned to Managua, but we hope to have Gabriel here for dinner soon.

An awesome day with family.

Julia starts school: After a semester of being a full-time online student, Julia started at NCA part-time (remaining online for the other part). Now all three kids are at NCA - Julia and Nate part-time, and Sammy full-time.

Costa Rica: When renewing a Nicaraguan Visa after 90 days, one merely has to go to the immigration office and pay some fees. After the second 90 days, the visitor is required to leave the country for a minimum of 72 hours. While many people told us we could probably get away with just going overnight, we didn’t want to take any chances. So booked a relatively cheap hotel and bought some bus tickets to Costa Rica. It was sort of cool to go to Costa Rica again, with the last time being on our honeymoon in 1998. At that time, it was the first country, other than Canada, that I had ever visited. Back then, we didn’t even need passports. We just brought our driver’s licenses and copies of our birth certificates. After 3 days, we were glad to return to Nicaragua. While Costa Rica was a bit more “American” in a lot of ways (including prices), we’ve found that we actually like some of the disorder that we experience here on a daily basis.

Spiritual Emphasis Day: At NCA, they provide all the 7^th-12^th grade students with a sort of youth retreat/convention with live worship, a keynote speakers, and breakout sessions with guest speakers. Erinn and I were asked to do one of the breakout sessions, and we were really happy to be a part of this day. As Casey Bonham sang, and I watched students respond to his music, I was overwhelmed with appreciation for both NCA and Mountain Christian School. I really do feel so privileged to have had my children attend these schools - not because they are private schools, but because they are Christian schools. Both schools aim to give an outstanding education while creating outstanding characters by putting academic and spiritual growth side by side.

Erinn and I got a chance to talk to students about what the Bible says about parents and how kids should respond when parents fail.

Pictures of NCA's Spiritual Emphasis Week
Pictures of NCA's Spiritual Emphasis Day 

Catching Up - November

Since I’ve been so bad at keeping everyone up to date on what’s been going on since the last blog, I’ll give you a brief update on what we’re currently doing. Then, I’ve decided to post an update on each one of the past few months – one month every few days this week. So before I get writing about what’s to come in the future, let me update you on what’s happening now, as well as the past few months.

Right now, 

Erinn is hammering away with work, teaching two classes at NCA and coming home to hours of freelance work each day. It’s a blessing that the freelance work is coming in because money has been tight, but it’s really tough on us because the work burden is almost completely falling on Erinn’s shoulders. While I have only had some sporadic freelance assignments, work for Erinn has been streaming in pretty consistently since Christmas. While we’re grateful for the work, we definitely wish some of that load could be shifted over to me. Hopefully things will turn, and this imbalance will only be short-term.

Other than that, we feel that we are at a crossroads here that we will be sharing with you in the coming week or two. Just remember to keep us in your prayers.

For now, here’s the past-due update on:

November:

It was pretty mild to begin with, but it was as if the rainy season switch was suddenly turned off in November. It dried up and the breezes pick up. Beautiful.

Some of the kids in Acahualinca.

 We continued to visit the feeding center and help out with the kids’ program in Acahualinca, near the dump. We also made a visit to Granada where we sometimes visit the dump for a Bible Study and feeding program. That trip was far from routine after some problems we encountered, which I’ll describe below. These are some of the memorable moments from November:

30 Hour Famine: During the first weekend of November, Julia, Nate, and I were among the NCA students and adult leaders that took part in fasting for 30 hours to pray and raise money for World Vision’s aid to Afghanistan. It was a difficult and fulfilling retreat where we saw a lot of spiritual growth.

Josh Arrives: The same day that the 30 Hour Famine began, Erinn’s youngest sibling, Josh, arrived in Managua for the beginning of a 3 month visit, that is now in its fourth month…and counting. Josh came down to really experience Nicaragua, immersing himself in the culture and language. Though he visits us occasionally, we dropped him off in San Juan del Sur about a week after his arrival, where he has spent the majority of his time here at language school. San Juan del Sur is a beautiful Pacific beach town about a mile from where Survivor Nicaragua was filmed. It’s been amazing having him here, sharing part of our life here together.

Car Accident: On the morning trip to Granada to help out at the dump, we were driving through the narrow, somewhat chaotic streets of the city when we began to cross an intersection and got hit from the side by a pickup truck. In Nicaragua, after an accident, the vehicles are required to stop where ever they come to rest, despite what that may do to traffic, so that the police can get a better understanding of what happened. So, I stopped just through the intersection, and everyone was okay, but the van sliding door was pretty messed up. The guy driving the truck was okay too, and quite friendly given the circumstances. You see, unknown to me, I ran a stop sign. Not any ordinary stop sign, but a sort of phantom stop sign. One was supposed to be there, but it wasn’t. There was just a small hole in the sidewalk where the stop sign should be. Take a look:

See that dark gray patch of concrete? That's where the stop sign should be.

I called my friend Mario who leads the Bible Study program at the dump and he rushed over to give me some translation help. The officer who came to the scene was really nice too, contrary to what I’ve heard, and even complimented me on my Spanish (That rarely happens, trust me!) All in all, no ticket was given at that time because of the sign situation. I was just supposed to appear at the police station to officially exchange insurance info with the other driver. Well, when I showed up at my appointment there the following week, they wrote me a ticket for running a stop sign anyway. How could I be that upset though? It was a $25 fine and nobody was hurt or angry, and the damage was relatively minor (The van could still be driven). It eventually was fixed up for a fraction of what it would have been in the US (Thanks to some generous friends!)

Erinn’s Birthday: Erinn celebrated her 29^th birthday this past November ;). We celebrated with a movie. As a bonus, when we got home, we saw our first tarantula in the house. And thankfully, the only one…so far.

Changed our look: Normally this wouldn’t be noteworthy, but considering how long it had been - Nate and I each got haircuts. Some would say they were way overdue (like a year for me).

The NCA Talent Show: So many talented students. Nate performed two acts – he played his cajon drum in a band that a few kids in the neighborhood put together, and he did his well-known cover of Brian Regan’s stand-up comedy. 

The Colonia Becklin Band

Nate doing his comedy act

Spanish Class: I finished up my first 5 week session of Spanish (2 classes a week/3.5 hours each class)

So, that’s November in a nutshell. I’ll tell you about December in a day or two.

Sorry For the Delay

Okay, so I haven’t blogged in a while and have a lot to catch everyone up on, but first I need to explain my delay. It’s pretty silly really…after the last couple of blogs (written about 3 months ago), I checked to see the numbers Blogger recorded for our page views, and it was pretty discouraging. For a long time, it was telling me that the last blog wasn’t viewed at all, and the prior blog was only viewed like three times. So every time I sat down to write, this voice in my head would tell me, “Why bother putting all that time into writing? Nobody’s going to read it anyway.” And then, just like that, I’d get up from the computer and forget about writing. 

Around the end of December, I started to plan for a year end/year start blog entry, and again checked the numbers. Still nothing. Despite this, I moved ahead with my plans to do a blog that presented each family member’s most vivid memories of 2012and biggest prayers for 2013. Between the lack of page views in the back of my mind, and the lack of willing participation from a lot of the family, I gave up again.

I started to think about blogging again this week. After all, some pretty exciting stuff is going on that we want to share, and will definitely need some help with. So, I talked to some friends about nobody reading my blog, and they insisted it must be a technological error from Blogger. When I got home, I explained to Erinn why I hadn’t written, and she immediately logged in to see if the numbers were true. When she logged in, the numbers for our past two blogs were actually among the highest we’ve ever had! 

So the moral of the story is that it shouldn’t matter what the numbers say here anyway. I shouldn’t be following what the negative thoughts in my head are telling me; I should be writing these blogs for even one person who might enjoy reading it. Thank you so much for reading our blog and staying connected with us even though we are far away. Y Lo siento por mi falta (And I’m sorry for my mistake), and I will do my best to keep the updates current. 

As for what’s happening here…that is going to take a little longer to write up, so stay tuned.