Yesterday & today

Hi all -

Here are some pics from yesterday and today. Top pic is from the pastor's wives retreat. They (we) took the spiritual gifts assessment and personality test. They were amazed that this type of thing even existed. It was pretty cool.

We also presented them with The Fathers Love letter. fathersloveletter.com I think. Yes, we presented it in spanish. Lots of tears there. Felicita sang us a song before we left. It was pretty emotional.

Side note: remember the other day's post? The pool pic? Yea, that was right before we taught them Marco Polo. That was hysterical. We learned a new word: tramposa. It means 'cheater'...

Ok, so when the bus was leaving the retreat center, the ladies were yelling out the windows: "Marco!"....and of course we were yelling "Polo".

They definitely left happy and relaxed.

These two pics were from todays picnic with the ladies from Nueva Imagen. There was more ministry and fun. We handed out some cards that Chris made and some cards that Emily's friends made. The women LOVED the cards and were so thankful that so many people think about and pray for them.

Many blessings to all back home. Thank you for your prayers of support - they are felt!

Great day at Skylark

Hola!

Ok, I've got 5 minutes until lights out and my laptop battery is almost out so...

here we are working:

and here we are playing!!

Blessings!!

Ministry Day 2

Hola amigos y familia!! (it's me, Maria Elana, and my Spanish is improving!)

We are so very grateful for all your prayers & support; we can feel the covering of the Holy Spirit and you are making a difference here in Nicaragua :). Today was a phenomenal ministry day!!! Our core time this morning (core women pictured above-these are the ladies that run the ministry at New Image) was really REALLY refreshing (for all of us). We did an activity that would normally seem really simple, but here in Nica, it was a really BIG deal. We each drew a name out of a hat and then said something nice about the person whose name we drew. ALL our names were included and some of us had just met 20 minutes prior to this activity. I wish I could recall some of the specifics about what was said, but let me just say that the Holy Spirit was ALL OVER THAT ROOM. The Nica women are NOT PRONE to sharing 'encouraging' thoughts with each other, whether Christian or not. This morning though, you would never have known it; tears, laughter, and the sheer element of surprise were on many faces. And if that wasn't enough, Nancy then shared much of her heart about the women's role as a wife and/or mother and then the women opened up even more; it was beautiful. Kim shared a bit as well, seeing as how she is a mother of 3 'little ones'; we were all encouraged and uplifted :).

Our afternoon time with the large group was also wonderful. We saw many women again today, and that isn't common; usually the number of ladies coming in the afternoon drops after the first day. Our activities were FABULOUS! We'll add more pics later (there were multiple cameras but not all were ours) but what you need to know is that there's a "shoe ID" game that is simply genious! Basically, everyone stands in a circle and removes one of their shoes; the shoes all go in a pile and on a 'ready / set / go! ' qeue, everyone grabs a shoe (not their own) and has to find the matching 'person' and then get to know a couple of things about that person. When you factor in the language part, it gets pretty funny. The best part was watching the women laughing and playing like little girls, absolutely carefree for a few moments. For the sharing part, I (Maria Elana) got to talk about conflict resolution (I've had quite a lot of practice with that these last couple of years!!!) and it was really cool. Nancy shared again as well and we played a couple of other games; it was really a fabulous day. Did I mention that inbetween these two group times, we got to go "shopping" specifically for jewelry and/or pillows that were hand made by the core ladies and laid out special for our viewing? We have many goodies to show you when we get home!!

There are a couple more pictures below and since we leave for the Pastors' Wives Retreat in the morning, we're not sure if we'll be able to post again tomorrow night (while at the retreat location). If not, we'll post again on Friday night so don't worry if you don't see anything until then :). As I type, Nancy, Kim, Carolina & I are sitting at the dining table, hole punching some laminated bible verses we made (THANKS PAM!!!) and chatting like school girls. Emily went to bed early, it was really hot today and she played with some of the little children for quite awhile. And by the way, a beautiful lady named Yolidia has been cooking (and cleaning) for us since we got here . . . . WOW! For any of you who've been privileged enough to travel here and stay at the Baptist House, you've had her cooking before. It's not something you easily forget, but it's definitely something you miss when you get home!!! Truly, we are 'suffering for the mission'! Since we are the FIRST GROUP to officially stay at the new CFCI offices (aka "Hospitality House"), let's just say the red carpet has been rolled out and the bar is now set really high! But we're not spoiled . . . . I mean, some of us (not me!!!) are really having trouble sleeping . . . due to the . . . . cold air . . . supplied . . . by . . . the . . . air . . . . conditioner!! Yep, I said it, you read it right, this place is air conditioned! We're talking straight up condensation on the glass door based on the immense heat outside. Ahhhhh, this is the life!

Okay, back to work . . . we thank you for your prayers, again, it truly makes all the difference and you are very much a part of our team and God's work here! Much love to all, we'll tell you more again soon!!

PS - forget the fact that I reference 'pictures below' because really, they're up top . . . I can't figure out how to load them into the blog so that they are below the text . . . okay, don't judge me!! :)

Ministry Day 1

Good evening to all! It's 9:12pm Nica time and we've completed our first day of ministry . . . and it was AWESOME!! We started off with an amazing breakfast and then headed out to New Image. We spent the first half of the day with the core women who help run this ministry and then the second half of the day with about 35 additional women (some from the streets, some Christian, some not). We shared our testimonies with all the ladies (this afternoon) and a few of them shared with us as well . . . WOW! I can not put into words what God has done for these women and what He's pulled them out of and/or away from (in their lives, families, communities, etc.); they are truly a walking witness for His greatness & mercy . . . we were encouraged to hear from these ladies!

Tomorrow we will have the same schedule (morning time with the core women & afternoon time with several others in addition) so please keep our time lifted in prayer; that their hearts would be open to receive whatever God has in store for them, and that OUR hearts would be open for the same :).

Below are some pictures from today . . . we hope you enjoy this tiny preview into our activities. We did play a game with the whole group (and a hula hoop or two) and it was really fun.

In Nica

We have arrived!

When we first got here, we ate at Tip Top (which was yummy), then Carolina, Joe & Ada took us on a tour of downtown Managua. Here we are in front of the old Catholic church, heavily damaged in the earthquake of 1972, and unfortunately no longer structurally sound enough to be safe to use.

And...we have super exciting news! We are the first team to stay in the NEW CFCI offices/hospitality house. Here we are with Carolina and Ada.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers, they are felt!!!!

Blessings,

Kim

Seacoast Women's Nicaragua Team 2010

And we're off . . . . to Managua, Nicaragua, on Monday 10/25 . . . here's our team pic! Aren't we GORGEOUS??? :)