Thoughts on the First Days in Nica -by Sammy (with help from Dad)

Well, it took a while to get here, but we made it. While we got our luggage at the airport, we could see Mr. Peter through the window. Mr. Peter is Mr. Wyeth’s dad. He started a cool camp called Campo Alegria. On our travel day, we wore matching t-shirts with the Campo Alegria logo. They look like this:

I woke up on our first day – Wednesday – sleeping on a cot in the Willards’ new living room, and I thought to myself, “its adventure time!” Well, it wasn’t much like that at all really. We just played Wii most of the day.

But, we did get to see our awesome amazing castle-house!!!! It looks like this:

I’m getting a tower bedroom. I want to use the tower part of my room for my Legos. Julia is going to get the huge master bedroom, and Nate will be in the other tower bedroom. That one has a bathroom in the tower.

Some of our neighbors helped bring some furniture over today. They brought some couches from another house in our neighborhood, but the truck left before I could get in. So, I had to run after them back to our castle-house.

They have a lot of the food and stuff here that we have at home, but just a little bit different. Like milk – we usually drink nonfat milk at home, but here they mostly have whole. And it comes in a weird carton. Another thing that’s different is the apple juice. Apple juice in the US is delicious – it’s sweet and clear and I like it like that. In Nica, the apple juice is thicker, almost like cider. We have a lot of trees around us, like at home, but most of these are coconut palms, and some even have bananas and mangos. The fruit here is very fresh and good.

Being here for the whole year doesn’t really seem real yet. It feels a lot like the other times we’ve visited Nicaragua. Pretty soon, I start at my new school, Nicaragua Christian Academy. Maybe then it will start to feel real.

Our Last Days at Home

The last and first days:

Overwhelmed, humbled, & loved. During our first years in Maryland, we would often leave for weekends, longer breaks, and holidays to head “home,” back to Upstate NY. For years, we took these trips “home”. But, year after year, these trips “home” transformed into “visiting family” instead of trips “home”.  It was a slow process, but Maryland was becoming our new home. The past eleven plus years in Maryland (10 in Bel Air) have been great.  There is a deep connection with one’s childhood home, but Bel Air has been a home that we chose, handpicked, and not one that we were unwillingly cast into. It has truly become our home, while Upstate NY has been relegated to being a place where we enjoy visiting -occasionally where are some fond memories we like to relive and family that we like to see. But it has ceased to be “home” to us.

Bel Air being our true home was never more apparent to me than as we prepared to, once again, leave home. While we paid a visit to see family in NY before we left, this time we were leaving Maryland, and the circumstances seem quite different than they were when we left NY over a decade ago. It was quite clear to us that when we left NY, we were leaving home for good. That chapter had already been written and read. Leaving Maryland for Nicaragua, we have every intention of returning home someday, whether it be in a year, two years, or ten years. All of this is simply because it is now our home.

Bel Air is relatively nondescript suburban town. Despite that, there is plenty we love about the area: the climate, the vicinity to big cities and what they provide, and the easy access to the ocean beaches, for example. Of course, those are things that drew us to the Baltimore area, things that we considered when we hand-picked our new home, but that’s not why it is our home.

 It’s the people. Our friends are what have made Bel Air home. As with any place, there are little idiosyncrasies that can consume an area’s population. There isn’t really a perfect place. But finding a place where one seems to fit is the key to enjoying  and settling into one’s home. Because of the friends we’ve made in Harford County, and especially the connections we’ve had with the people of Mountain Christian Church, we truly feel at home in Maryland.  

Never were these relationships more apparent than this past weekend, as we celebrated relationships that would be separated indefinitely by thousands of miles.  We set up a Facebook event called “Say Goodbye to the Izzos,” saying that we’d be at the new Sweet Frog fro-yo place in Bel Air on Monday July 24^th from 7-8-30PM. We figured anybody that we had not been able to see could swing by there, maybe a few people in and out while we hung around. Well, we were greeted by about 15 people when we got there at 7PM, and the numbers just grew. I have no idea how many people showed up to see us Monday night, but it more than I was able to spend time with and say goodbye to personally. It was so great to see so many of our friends in one place and it really did make all of us feel loved.

The outpouring of support and prayers for our move has been awesome. Even as there is sadness in our leaving, there is joy in our mission. We’ve had campers spend a week praying and raising support funds for us during Mountain CC’s week at Indian Lake Christian Camp. We’ve had friends store furniture for us so we wouldn’t have to sell it or pay for storage. We’ve had favors from friends that own businesses, and cars lent to us so that we’d have transportation after selling both of our own vehicles. Others came to our house and helped us get rid of stuff and clean – some who worked late into our very last night in the US. Nate and Julia even had friends that threw them their own going away parties, and Sammy got a special day about him in kids’ church.  Leaving the comfort and security of US culture has never really been a hurdle to us in making this move, but leaving friends from home definitely has made the move a little more bittersweet. And I humbly appreciate every one of the people that helped us to get here.

So now we are here and settling in. It was an exhausting few days, but today has been a pretty slow and relaxing – a necessity, really. We slept on cots last night, in the living room of the Willards’ new house, which is about ¼ mile from our house. We have made contact with other American missionaries in this community already, who have been extremely generous in their offers to help out while we get settled. While our house should be ready to move into tonight, we will probably stay at Wyeth and Wendy’s place another night, since we don’t have beds yet. These houses are huge, much bigger than our townhouse in Bel Air. That means that we have more house to furnish, though, which may or may not completely happen during our time here. Either way, the kids are excited to have their own rooms and to live in a castle, which is exactly what our new house looks like. And while that house is pretty cool, it is very apparent to us all that a cool house is not what makes a place feel like home. It will be the friends we meet and relationships we forge here that could make it feel more like home.

For the month of June...a Father's Day Story 

By Erinn:

Since Father’s Day having just passed, I thought it would be appropriate to tell you all about my father’s father’s father’s father’s father. Many people ask why we chose to move to Nicaragua, and yes, the opportunity arose for us to serve in Nica, where there is definite need. But, there is more to the story…

Abraham Tefel was my great, great, great grandfather. He was Jewish, lived in Germany, and was married to Mary. Abraham and Mary had several children, including Teodoro, Marcus, and Nathan. Well, all three boys moved from Germany to Nicaragua in 1800s.  Of the young Tefel men, Teodoro came to establish the most influence in Nicaragua. His name can be found in in a number of records as a successful property owner and businessman. Teodoro eventually married, and chose a bride who was also Jewish and from Germany, while the other brothers traveled to New York to find wives. (I believe they went to NY to also find good Jewish wives). Marcus and Nathan married Carolina and Amelia, respectively. 

 

The three couples all lived in Nicaragua. Marcus and Carolina, or Lena as she was called, had many children. One son was the Nicaraguan-born Ernesto. Ernesto, apparently, was quite the lady's man - his love life is legendary in our family. It is rumored that when he fell in love with a young Puerto Rican beauty, his German, Jewish family did not approve, and threatened to disinherit him if he married her. He was so forlorn with this conflict that he attempted suicide. Through the shock and sadness of all this, the family agreed to allow the marriage...but then they disinherited him anyway.

 

So, he moved to Puerto Rico with the love of his life, and had a few children, including Alberto. Then they moved to New York where they had a few more. They all lived there together, along with servants and a few “lodgers” as the records called them. 

 

Ernesto's son, Alberto, grew up and fell in love with a Venezuelan named Alicia Guevara. They had five children including my father Anthony.

Abraham… Marcus… Ernest… Albert… Tony… Happy Father’s Day (Belated)!!

 

Why?! Why would you want to move there?

WHY?! is the question we are getting a lot. I have a feeling those who haven’t asked are wondering the same thing.

We can answer the why question in 3 parts:

Cultural Experience…

We live in a global community. Not only has the world shrunk through advances in communication and travel technology, but our own nation is almost as diverse as the world itself. America is a blend of so many nationalities and cultures. To really connect with your classmates, professors, co-workers, and neighbors, you need a well-rounded global understanding. What better way to understand life outside the United States than to go live somewhere else. And no, a trip to an all-inclusive in the Caribbean won’t cut it. We want to know people, see their circumstances, and understand their culture.

Learn the Language…

After each trip we have taken, the one thing we always wish is that we knew the language better. It is really difficult to learn a language authentically by sitting in a classroom or listening to CD’s, especially as an adult. All five of us have done that, and learned a little Spanish, but not enough. There is no comparison to being immersed in the language. After a year, maybe we’ll give an award to the family member who understands the most and speaks the best.

Serve globally…

This is by far the biggest draw for us. There are needs everywhere, both here in the US and abroad. We have tried to raise our children with servants’ hearts - to always be mindful of others and help whenever possible. By taking us out of the comfort of our home and community here in the busy US rat race, we will be able to focus more of our daily lives on serving others. We want to grow as a family and stretch our faith. There are going to be challenges. We expect this to be one of the most difficult, trying things we ever do. It feels like possibly the most risky and frightening and crazy thing we will ever do. But this decision has also brought us much peace, fulfillment, and encouragement. That is what we are getting from serving in the way we hear God calling us – a life full of adventure and purpose. God wants us to serve one another. Some people are led to do so across the country, some are called next door, while others feel drawn to another part of the world. After having served in Nicaragua on short-term trips several times, we have simply felt drawn back there to serve long-term.

We feel so fortunate to have the collective desire and ability to do something that is going to be such an adventure, and in many ways, so selfless. Some would say it is human nature to want to serve others. People instinctually band together and serve whenever tragedy strikes. It is something that we marvel at, and see as true human nature exposing itself. We believe that this desire has been given to us from God. It is a characteristic that should be exercised daily. He calls us to go and make disciples of all nations, to go into the world and preach the gospel. John Piper says, “to belong to Jesus is to embrace the nations with Him.” Our mission is to go and show the love of Jesus through our actions. We may not be preachers or have degrees from a seminary, but we can live a life that is reflective of His goodness. We can love people as Jesus did.

Stay tuned for answers to the HOW questions… 

WE'RE GOING!!!

Love God, Love People, Serve the World. That’s what it’s all about. It’s Christianity, in its simplest form.

Everyone has their own place in this world, and sometimes it takes a while to find out where that is. For us - the Izzo family - we have been preparing for this next adventure for years.

Jeff and I have travelled on short term mission trips for almost 10 years. We have been to places like Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Belize, and New Orleans for Katrina relief. We find joy in serving others, especially those who have less. Whether it is painting shutters for a church or playing baseball with kids, we have found that the essence of our faith is at its purest when connecting with and serving others.

A few years ago, we decided it was time to bring the kids with us on a trip abroad. At the time, Sammy was 6, Nate was 9, and Julia was 11. Around that same time, we reconnected with some friends, Wyeth and Wendy Willard, who wanted the same thing for their family. With Wyeth’s family already having a ministry in place in Nicaragua, it seemed like our reconnection was more than just coincidence.

Shortly after that, we started planning a family mission trip to Campo Alegria in Nicaragua. It was amazing to see our kids hang out with kids from a different culture and language. A wise man told us that the language of kids is “fun.” That was certainly apparent when watching the boys, who don’t speak each other’s languages, collect rocks and build friendships. Who needs words?
We took a second trip a little over a year later, during Christmas break. We all put aside our American Christmas of shopping, decorations, and feasts to spend time with some families in Nicaragua who rarely get even a day off of work.

After the second trip people began asking: Where are you going next? Have you thought about going abroad for an extended period of time? The truth is, spending an extended period abroad has been a desire of ours since our first mission trip. It’s something that has always seemed like too much of a stretch from our established lives in the Maryland. But the more often we have served abroad, the more we’ve wanted to go for a longer period of time. After seeing how Julia, Nate, and Sam responded on their first couple of trips to Nicaragua, it seemed that the time was here to make a big decision.

And so it began. Often when we reach one goal, we look ahead to doing more, to extend ourselves. We learn and grow when we are pushed outside of our comfort zone. Sometimes, our comfort zone is further away, that’s why we have to keep extending ourselves. Over the past year and a half, we have had a lot of ups and downs. At times we were extremely confident in everything falling into place to make this move a reality, and other times it seemed like the bottom had dropped out, and it would have to wait for another time. But God seems to always have a way of testing and strengthening our faith in the way He lays plans for us.

So, for about a year now, we have been praying and planning with the Willards, and in July, we will be going to Nicaragua for the 2012 - 2013 school year. We love God and people, and we want to serve the world. Nicaragua is where we are called to be, and we are all so excited about this amazing adventure!!

Stayed tuned for more…