Our team arrived home today. After a 2 1/2 hour plane delay, our connecting flight finally left Miami and we arrived in San Francisco at 12:50 am. We were all grateful to see Tim Loomis patiently waiting for us at the airport. We were exhausted. We had gotten up at 5:30 am California time and most of us did not get to bed until almost 24 hours later.

It is good to be home. It is even nice to be able to blog this message on a computer that is arranged for typing English rather than Spanish. On the way home, the driving almost seemed boring compared to the thrill of riding with our Nicaraguan taxi drivers.

It was a good week. The entire team left this pueblo with a real feeling of being loved by the amazing residents there. We were humbled by their generous hearts as those who had so little insisted on presenting us with gifts. Unlike so many other types of "mission" experiences, this one made an impact on our team in a different way. We had lived with our families and in turn became closer in a week than we could have another way. We shared meals with them and we spent real quality time with them. Unless you experience it, it is really hard to explain the deep connection that we made there.

On Friday night, we had begun saying some of our good byes. Claudia, a very amazing woman whose family had housed Grace and Rina called Angela over to give her some gifts. Angela had met Claudia last year. This year Claudia had made bracelets for all three of Angela's girls along with a necklace for her son. It was amazing to realize that as we had gone through our busy year our friends in San Juan de Oriente had thought of us and remembered so many things about us. Once again the feeling of being loved enveloped us all.

The week was simply beautiful. In the next week or so we will be announcing a time when we can share a meal with all of you and give you a report on our trip. While we came back from this week down there serving the community intensively, our chance to be a part of these people's lives is not over. We are already excited about planning our next visit which we hope will include more of you. We also have several ways that our own Emmaus community can continue to support these people throughout the year. We again are thankful for all the support and prayers!

Granada

Our group with some of our English students

We are tired, but now in the town of Granada for the weekend. It is a good chance to catch up on some rest and get used to things like warm showers again before we head home. We had a very busy last few days wrapping up our time in San Juan de Oriente. We played outdoor games with the kids Friday. As we were preparing to teach our last session of English lessons at the high school that afternoon, we were informed that since Thursday was a holiday and they had just decided to take Friday off as well. So we decided to go ahead and go over to the school anyway to just make sure. School was indeed cancelled, but the classroom was full of students who still came anyway because they did not want to miss this last English class with our group.

Friday evening the group was honored with a Folklorico dance production performed just for us. The dancing and costumes were beautiful. Saturday morning rolled around and we sadly had to say our good byes to the people we have grown to love so much. It was a bittersweet time for our entire group.

Saturday afternoon we took a canopy tour over the rainforest. This tour entailed ziplining far above the trees for over an hour, sometimes even upside down while doing it. Our entire team participated, some a little more enthusiastically than others. The view was incredible.

It is amazing how great a warm shower can make you feel!

Tarissa will be flying home this afternoon concluding her month long stay here. Please pray for her travels today. The rest of the group will be leaving Monday afternoon and not getting home until late Monday night. Please also remember us in your prayers. Grace is healing quickly these days as well. We are grateful for the protection God has given us in those areas. We look forward to sharing so much more upon our return.

It is Thursday....

The winning Pictionary team

Yes...late night ice cream...again

Just one of the many beautiful children

After getting to bed really late last night, we awoke at 4 a.m. this morning to the sounds of drums...as they got closer we realized it was a marching band going up and down our streets. This was soon followed by lots of fire crackers. After 10-15 minutes, everything quieted down and we went back to sleep for a few more hours. We are still not sure why the timing, but it was definitely a loud awakening.

Grace is feeling much better now with only minor aches so the medications are definitely working. We are glad to have her back in so many ways. The word ¨leper¨still comes to mind upon seeing her, but at least she is doing much better. Thanks for all your prayers.

Today is a holiday so we played games with some of the younger children this morning. It was really fun to play Pictionary on a white board with these kids. They were very excited and absolutely loved that game. It was so great to share in their excitement.

Tonight the team is getting a chance to enjoy some of this holiday. We will be going to the Mirador, which has an amazing view of the lagoon. We will then go down and swim in the lagoon and finally head out to Masaya to enjoy the festivities called ¨La Noche de Verbena¨. Our team is really looking forward to this evening as a time to hang out and enjoy the local culture.

Despite our challenges, this week continues to bless our team in so many ways. We can hardly believe it is Thursday already. We still miss you all and look forward to sharing more with you all upon our return. We can feel your prayers and support all the way down here.

Challenges

Yesterday was an extremely long day for our team. We were kept busy all day long. After spending the morning at the literacy center, we quickly ate our lunches at our families´homes and went over to the high school and taught classes all the way until 5:30 pm. Our classes were very hectic and kept us in constant motion. One class we taught had 73 students in a class room space that would have only been used for 25-30 students in the U.S. By the time we had changed, gone to church, and ate a late dinner, our team was exhausted.

Sleep is always an interesting part of our stay down here. There is a holiday on Thursday and last night the fireworks/fire crackers/ear splitting explosions began. Our fireworks back home have nothing on the stuff down here. The funny part is that our team laughed when ear plugs were suggested on the packing list. The laughing is over. The other nocturnal treat is that of the barking lizards. We used to live in a naive state of bliss and thought that these sounds came from birds in our houses, but we have now been educated. These loud lizards get especially noisy at nightime. There is nothing like waking up in the middle of the night, in the pitch black and hearing that sound.

Today our team had to work extra hard. We had to take Grace to the doctor today. This experience is really the next step in immersing ourselves in the culture. We would have preferred to skip this step, but it became evident that was not an option. We visited the health clinic in our village this morning. The doctor and staff were very kind and after an injection they then ordered some lab results. This is where we hit a snag. The first lab we went to was closed due to lack of power, which is a daily event down here. With the help of a good friend down here, Jairo, a local who speaks English beautifully, we took a trip to Masaya. Masaya is 30 minutes away and after trying several labs, we found one that was open and could get our results back this evening. So finally after consulting another medical student and another local doctor, we had a diagnosis. It is Impetigo. She has an infection in her body that seems to hit in waves along with over 40 big blister like sores all over. We will be praying over Grace this evening. Please pray for Grace too!

Jackie, Rina and Tarissa did an amazing job teaching thethe kids English this afternoon. It is hard enough to teach these large classes with five people, but they did it with only three. Our team has continued to show a real sense of community and love for one another throughout all the challenges they have faced so far on this trip.

There is a chicken in the kitchen...

Coca-Cola in a glass bottle, a must when in Nica

Ice Cream late Monday night

Rina working with the kids at La Vida

Live chickens in the kitchen, oxen walking down the main street, and so many more sights have greeted our team members in these first couple days. Our team is constantly reminded we are no longer in Lincoln. As far as first impressions go, our team has been really impressed with the simplicity of this country. Most of the families here reside in real poverty and yet the richness of their community and families is amazing. Our team immediately felt welcomed and as a part of this close community.

San Juan de Oriente has added two helpful additions since our trip last year. The internet cafe has definitely been a plus and a close second goes to the Ice Cream Parlor. Both of these have already made our stay just a little sweeter.

Today we helped the kids make a book as a craft project for some younger children in the La Vida Literacy Center and will continue the English lessons this afternoon. We will also be attending a local church this evening.

Please continue to pray for us. A couple of our team members are dealing with some minor health issues.

We are here!

After flying out of San Francisco and a 5 1/2 hour layover in Miami (yes we actually did sleep on the floor of the airport) we arrived in Managua, Nicaragua. We were greeted by familiar faces and really excited to be here. Those of us who had not been to this country before got a taste of a whole new style of road etiquette as we were driven to the village of San Juan de Oriente. We spent our Sunday afternoon getting to know the town, hanging out, and sleeping. Today launched our first full day. We spent the morning learning about the process the artists use to create their pottery here. We attempted to throw our own pieces on the wheel and the artists gractiously encouraged our efforts. We also began teaching English to the high schoolers and it has already been a great experience to work with these young people.

We will continue teaching, as well as playing games with the kids down here throughout the week. Our team is also doing some work at the La Vida literacy center several days this week. Angela will also be working on doing some publicity photographs to help La Vida while down here as well. It is a full week and we will be kept pretty busy.

Well, we are off to teach another class, so we will post more later. Thanks for your prayers!