guess which one's the monkey...

there really are monkeys behind stacey...

i
oh... last time on here. i think. in nicaragua, anyway. this is jill and i am feeling pretty bittersweet right now. i will miss these people. i want to see my family. i will miss not cooking dinner. i don't want rice and beans for breakfast. i am not looking forward to customs going through my dirty clothes. i can't wait to wash them. this mirage of feelings is pretty consistent with how i have felt all week.
how was my trip?
really amazing. really hard. really rewarding. very hopeless. exhausting. rejuvenating. tears. laughter. i want you all to know that this group is ready to talk. to share with our families. to "take you with us." but we know that you have had a week, too. it was not the same, but it was still a week. we can't wait to hear about what Jesus has done in each of you while we have been gone. be patient with us as we make sense of all that we have seen and heard. please look at our pictures. laugh, even if you don't think it's funny and get ready for tears. we have been ruined for the ordinary. the lives that we had are no longer enough. we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (psalm 34:8) and we want more. not more from you, but more of God. we don't want people to just listen, we want you to hear. we are now ambassadors for a country, a culture and a people. one that we love and now holds a piece of us.
our bus leaves at 4:30 in the morning and we will touch base in houston. so excited to see each of you.
to my 3 boys: thank you, thank you, thank you. my prayer is that i will be a better wife and mother because you sacrificed this time for me. and... it's time to REALLY learn spanish!

love!

Hosanna, Happy Birthday and Happy Meals

Hi all! (This is Kim.)
Today is Sunday - and also Mother's day for all of us. Kind of bittersweet. We are glad to be here, but also miss our families and children. We love you all and look forward to seeing you soon!
This morning started off AWESOME. We went to Hosanna-Nicaragua. It is the church that Hellen (CFCI director) and Caroline (with CFCI & our translator) attend. It reminded me so much of Seacoast. Especially when Hellen and Caroline discovered they attend the same church as we were deciding which church to go to. (what??? I go there, too!) The main auditorium is huge, and their worship experience is similar to ours (words on the screens with a moving background), plus their sound board is about the size of West's sound booth. Even had traffic control in the parking lot. Too funny.

Then we had lunch at McDonalds... (I'll have a numero cuatro and a mango mcflurry, por favor.) Griff, your mom has a surprise for you!!

Then it was off to finish painting the room at Nueva Imagen that the women have their bible study in. The results are in the pic above. I think it turned out great. I pray the women have excellent bible studies like we do, HC ladies! When we were done, a few of us bought some Dulce de leche popsicles from a street vendor. Those were delish.

Then - off to a market...ok, well it was a Walmart, but they had a great selection of Nicaraguan delacacies. Who wants coffee?!?!

And last, but certainly NOT least, we celebrated Katy's birthday. When we got (ok, I almost wrote "home") back to the Baptist House, the eating area was decorated with balloons and streamers - and a big Happy Birthday sign. After dinner we celebrated with the CFCI staff. Thanks to Celini for the "tres leches" cake. It was muy bien.

Ok, now that I've used my 10 Spanish words, I'll sign off for the evening...blessings to all -

And to my precious family - I love you guys SO much. Thanks for the great mothers day pic you sent!

and the gumby goes to....

today's gumby goes to the one of us who has taken the hit for making the nicarguan pastor's wife make her bed, but more importantly has served us and the women here in amazing ways. the gumby goes to....


lee anne!

(i would like to insert some love for my co-leader. she is such a servant. she recognizes everyone's needs and makes sure that we are all taken care of. she was the only one who noticed when we started dinner without kim! :-) i am so grateful for her.)

giggles, goof ups, and grace

hola! it's tiffany reporting live from Nicaragua.

so much laughing... so many silly goof ups... and so much grace has happened just in the past 24 hours let alone this past week.
today was our last day with the pastor's wives in san marcos. upon returning back to the baptist house tonight during processing, the interpreters informed us that two of us (jill and i) had been pronouncing one of the pastors wives named paola incorrectly for the past two days. the way we were saying it meant... woman who farts a lot. oh the horror!
we also thought we were riding back to the baptist house while the bus took the pastor's wives back to their houses. so, we said all of our good-byes and gave out lots of hugs and kisses... and then to our surprise boarded the bus with them to ride for and hour back to where we are staying to say good-bye again. we have laughed so hard over all of our silliness and the nicaraguan's have been so gracious!
today we did a question and answer where the pastor's wives asked us about GOD's callings on our lives, our relationships with our families, and our greatest fears and and desires as mothers for our children in american culture. they told us they would pray for us and our families and gave us so many words of encouragement that we were all sure we were the ones being ministered to and not them. we did some fun activities together (where we laughed a lot), we did a skit/talk on colossians 3:12 (pictured above), and we ended with the cross where we could nail our burdens to leave them for CHRIST to carry (also pictured above). the women shared how they had been encouraged and how they had learned that it is okay to leave their children for a short time over night to do ministry or even to renew themselves... many had never done this before. i can't believe this trip is almost over... these women will forever be etched in our hearts. i am overwhelmed when i think about this week and the blessings that i have experienced.
tomorrow we will go to church and finish painting the room at nueva imagine... and maybe have a little rest time (i hope). thank you all for praying for us!

tim, selah and josiah, i love you so much and cannot wait to hold you in my arms... i miss your snuggles the most.
love you!
-tiffany

and the gumby goes to....

for her willingness to lead all of our team building activities and to teach extensive water safety courses to our new nicaraguan swim team (btw, butterfly is the favorite), the gumby goes to....

tiffany!!

. . .

This is Stacey :) It's been another GREAT day! However, it is 10:50 and I was awake by 5:20 so I have no cute title for you and this may be a shorter post than you're used to. . .but maybe not. . .

We are in San Marcos, about an hour from Managua. The weather is great and the drive here was picturesque (I think I may be annoying to some when I want stop to get a picture of everything. . . not sure, Jill?). Coming here, as we talked about our topics for discussion, I wasn't sure we had as much to offer these women who are well versed in the bible; now it is obvious we were placed here with purpose. We can tell they truly appreciate our willingness to take time away from our families to inquire and talk about their lives as they usually spend their days serving others and neglecting themselves.

It took a little bit for the women to relax and open up but shortly after Tiffany's warm up activities, it was obvious these ladies were here for some serious R & R. Their silliness and laughter was music to our ears. A few even seem as if they are our Nicaraguan Hannah's circle equivalents.

We continue to do our best communicating in Spanish, but I realized earlier in the day I said, Escuche me for excuse me instead of permisso; so instead I was telling them, "Listen to me" as I passed by. At dinner, I was impressed by Katy's ability to comprehend a woman's request for the rest of her meal. Also, this evening when Lee Anne opted for gesture over Spanglish, the woman understood her to say, "Make my bed!" and she did. . .

Testimonies were shared by Katy and Tiffany today. Both were powerful and led to great discussions about fear, boundaries and relationships.

I look forward to tomorrow. . .

Jeff and Griff, I can't wait to give you lots of hugs when I get home. Thanks for letting me have this time. It has been an amazing experience. I love you so much! oxoxo

breeze and flowy skirts don't mix

we are now at skylark with the pastor's wives. the weather is completely different. the wind is BLOWING and so are our pentecostal skirts! the women have just gotten here, so i will get off and hang out now. thanks for the prayers!

love!