Dearest friends, family, and all other readers: my deepest apologies for the lack of writing over the past months. They have seemed to fly by for me, and before I knew it, it has become June and I haven't written a post since February! There is so much to write about, and yet, so much remains delightfully the same.
There have been a few new births in the Chiquilistagua and Cedro Galan neighborhoods (the primary ones that I work in throughout the week), one from the family of our gardener, security guard, and friend; another from a family I would consider one of my second families here in Nicaragua (I claim two families as my own in the deepest love and devotion); and finally one to a girl from our soccer team who has honored me with the role of being the madrina of the child - that is, the godmother/sponsor. It feels as if the additions of these new children are additions of my own family. I love them all dearly, though they are all hardly a week old!
The girls' soccer team has really taken off - with anywhere from 15-25 girls showing up on Fridays to play soccer in a non-pressured setting and make friendships with girls from different neighborhoods and friend groups. Watching the girls go from fighting to forming deep friendships has been extraordinary, and I thank God for the patience and endurance He has granted both myself and my teammate Christina throughout the months. The friendships we have formed with these girls has changed my life in profound ways, and has challenged me more than ever to scratch through the surface of friendships to the great and frightening depths that make relationships stronger. It has been hard, but worth it in all accounts.
My literacy group is so much fun - with two new members (our first boy, Alex!) we have really had to challenge ourselves as a unit, the older girls helping and learning along with the two newer members. Sometimes things work out smooth as silk, other times we have a bumpy, bumpy ride. Overall, they have learned a lot. We are currently doing a unit on machismo (chauvinism), asking questions of the media and reading a book about a girl growing up in Morocco under a restricting lifestyle. The conversations have been thought provoking, especially with the addition of Alex. Their insights never cease to amaze me.
Kids' English classes have finally calmed down a bit - we now have a steady 6-8 members (before it was anywhere from 2-25 kids... and completely out of control). The students are very smart and eager to learn. Quiet Rebeca has turned out to be the star of the class, and has thus grown in confidence. We are currently working on pronunciation, which the advanced students have told us is the most difficult part. And I believe it, after really looking at the English rules and lack thereof in regards to pronunciation.
I have recently joined a gym here in Nicaragua, and I love it. Every morning Maddie and I get up at 5:30 to go to spinning class. Our instructor Roger is awesome, and forgiving when we just can't quite get the positions correctly. It is great to go to class and talk to a different set of people, people who enjoy working out and are rather jolly for a 6am spinning class sweating our brains out on the second floor of the gym - this part open air for the breeze to pass through. After the first day, two gentlemen asked Maddie and I to join a competition of spinning this coming Saturday 27 June. How does one have a competition on stationary bikes? I have no idea, but it should prove to be interesting and quite exciting.
I have had quite a bit of time to read lately. The book I am currently reading is called Velvet Elvis: Reshaping the Christian Faith by Rob Bell. It is utterly fascinating, and has my 100% of my attention while I read it, as well as in the minutes following each segment. I often don't want to put it down, but force myself to just to think about it, think of the implications it causes, and pray about it. Absolutely fascinating. The one passage struck me immediately, as I thought about a real place that I know of and work in at least three times every week: La Chureca.
The passage:
The word "hell" is found fourteen times in the Bible, twelve of those occurrences being found in the teachings of Jesus. The word hell in English is the word gehenna in Greek. Gehenna is a reference to the Valley of Hinnom, a ravine on the south side of the city of Jerusalem. This valley was the site over the years of many violent and horrible deaths, and it came to be viewed as cursed. By Jesus' day, it had become the town dump. Garbage, trash, wild animals fighting over scraps of food, a fire burning - a place of waste and destruction. Some referred to it as the place with the gnashing of teeth where the fire never dies. So when Jesus uses gehenna, it is loaded with meaning and visual power - everybody knew what he was talking about. Velvet Elvis: page 57
A place of constant fire? Fires spontaneously combust due to a mix of chemicals and heat, as well as the fires lit by those who work in the dump in order to facilitate finding of the more valuable items. A place of violent and horrible deaths? I have heard tales that leave me near tears at the way human life can be so tossed around. Garbage, trash, and wild animals? Just look to the picture above, which doesn't include the dogs, pigs, cows, and other animals that scavenge on the municipal dump.On a more positive note, other books I have been reading include the Twilight series (it was irrisistable), Belong to Me, The Sun Also Rises, The Prodigal God, a book called La Cancion de Amina, The Kite Runner, and The Land of a Thousand Splendid Suns. These are just a few amoung many.
As my Spanish gets much better, my English seems to decline. My apologies for phrases that might just seem a little off - they might be a Spanglish version of English. However, this increase in Spanish has allowed a new level of communication and friendship between the communities I work in and myself. We can talk about complex issues, funny stories, and sometimes even jokes (though Nicaraguan humour still goes over my head rather often).
Many other fun and exciting things are happening in Nicaragua, but as the gym calls me in less than 8 hours, I must be off to bed. Thank you again to all of you, for supporting me in various ways. It means the world and more to me!
