Prince of Peace

Welcome Prince of Peace!!!

Bienvenidos Principe de Paz!!!

So Amigos was actually originally formed out of the youth program at Prince of Peace, and here we are 10 years later still with them!
Amigos viene originalmente de este iglesia Principe de Paz.

This is the group. Aqui esta el grupo

Here is the tour.


and Barbara and her favorite little girl
Aqui esta Baraba y una de las ninas. Barbara trabaja con nosotros.


In the distance you can see the houses being built.
En la distancia se puede ver la construcion de las casas.


And here we are working...FUN!!!
Ahora estamos trabajando...que divertido!!!

We even made the children work...
Tambien trabajaron los ninos...

...or at least looking at the work that needs to be done, close enough :)
... tal vez no trabajando pero o menos viendo el trabajo que nosotros vamos a hacer.


And we all got very dirty...
Y ensuciamos mucho...

look how cute Natalie looks dirty

mira que linda que esta Natalie asi tan sucia...

And now me...(only a little diry)

Ahora yo... (solo un poco sucia)



And when we arrived on site on Tuesday, there was a special suprise waiting for us...
A Giant Snake!
Y cuando llegamos a la comunidad el martes, esperandonos habia una surpresa especial...
Una Culebra Grande!


But even after a long day of work, Katie sill manages to look beautiful...Katie how do you do it?
A pesar de un dia duro de trabajo, Katie todavia se miro tan linda...que bella que sos.


And like always, Villa is beautiful...
Y como siempre, Villa es un lugar muy bonito...



Now after a full day of work, what is the perfect way to end that day? That's right, massages!
Despues de un dia de trabajo, como terminamos? Con masajes!

and with our favorite game...the BUCKET GAME.
y con nuestro juego favorito, el juego del bidon.




But don't worry, we did lots of other fun things too this week. Like my favorite game, because it helps me get to know everyone well and fast... Fireman, Bunk bed, Wheelbarrow.
Pero no se precupan, no solo trabajamos, tambien hicimos muchas cosas divertidas...como ese juego...Bombero, Litera, y Carretilla.

FIREMAN!
BOMBERO!



BUNK BED!
LITERA!



and WHEELBARROW!
y CARRETILLA

And then last but not least our unforgetable routines of synchronized swimming. Now lets see...
Y por ultimo, nuestros rutinas de natación sincronizada. Vamos a ver...

Try # 1 - okay Alex is a little late
Intento #1 - Alex es un poco retrasado
r

Try # 2 - I am not really sure what went wrong in this, but I know something is wrong.
Intento #2 - No se exactamente que es la problema, pero se que hay una problema.


Try # 3 - Bob joined in back..but he looks like a bear.
Intento #3 - Bob se entro por detras, y parece oso.
i


Try # 4 - We put Alex in front, and we are not that off...but I am not sure if I would call that a dive, haha.
Intento #4 - Pusimos a Alex en frente, y casi llegamos a nuestra meta...


And it was a great week.
Y fue una semana muy buena.


yay!


God is Good!
Dios es Bueno!

My PERSONAL prayer request,

¨For we do not look at the things which are unseen, but at the things which are seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.¨
2 Corinthians 4:18

Please pray for me for perseverance, and not losing an eternal perspective on all that I do, personally and in community.



My WORK prayer,

¨So affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.¨

I want this to be my heart for the groups that come down. Please pray that God enabled me to open up and risk so that I can share my life and my heart with all the people who come down. It is a huge blessings to do what we do!

Spring Ortho and Katie´s Best Friends

So this was last week and a very special week. Two of Katie´s best friends, Molly and Erin, came down with both of their boyfriends, Jeff and Jason. We also had our Spring Medical Orthopedic group and Dr. Nutt come down as well.

This was my first time meeting Katie´s friends, but they were people who love to worship God, and have a heart for the things of the Spirit.


Dr. Nutt and I met about two years ago when we had to spend a week together living in the house with the just the two of us. We would go and eat pupusas, ice cream, and then walk back to the house having long discussions about faith and religion. Since then I have met more of his family and he brings me back a new book to read every time he comes down. But I don´t have a picture of him, because I did not end up working with the medical team. I ended up working with two other ladies, Kristi and Catherine. Here we are...

Here are Katie´s friends at the Young Life Bible Study

This is such an incredible experience. We went out to Villa for the afternoon, to spend some time painting the new houses. Well the Nicaraguans, because of the heat are constantly watering down the houses so before we could paint, we were asked to help them, and boy was it disastrously fun. I should have expected it, but before I knew it we were all soaked. But the best part is that there is this one kid David, that I have known for a long time, and he always seems so serious. And he was having the time of his life. He just thought it was so fun to get wet and see other people wet. In my two years, he always had come off to me as so serious, so it was amazing to see him so active and having so much fun!

This is Kristi, doing her job.

This is Erin and I at the end of the day. David waited until I was carrying two heavy buckets of water and then he came up from behind and had his final attack. I am soaked.

This is us riding back to the bodega after watering down the houses.

These are our dirty feet after a long day (mine are the socks).

Katie´s Birthday
Now for the best part...

God is so amazing. Katie is my best friend here in Nicaragua. We met about a year and a half ago and have been close ever since. Well its been hard because for the first time since she has moved down here, we are no longer living together. We had been sharing a room up until about a month ago when I moved out into a house in one of the local neighborhoods. So lately we were having some trouble with our friendship because we were adjusting and just not meeting each others friendship needs, well so its funny how it worked out. The days after we did have a little argument, I ended up not hanging out with her and her friends, which she might have taken as me being distant, but actually.... I was setting up for her suprise party that we all had planned for her, ha ha ha...(we are tricky)

So she arrives at the house that evening thinking she is picking me up so that we can all go to dinner together, little did she know that in the back of the house was a bunch of decorations and special people waiting for her.

So she walks back and sees all the decorations and then one by one kids start to come out from my room suprising her. It was amazing, there was a bunch of our American friends, the students she works with in the scholarship program, the Young Life kids, and some of our Nicaraguan Amigos employees. :)

Here are her scholarship kids getting her ready. They made sure her hair looked beautiful and that she had plenty of makeup. It was funny and really cute.

This is Katie, Melissa and I. (Melissa lives with me)

Thats Katie´s giant cookie birthday cake that Kristin made for her.

These are the decorations and my back porch area.

This is Ivett and Mauricio, two really good friends from Villa. They just had their first baby boy. And Ivett said that she was going to give him to Katie for her birthday because she knows thats what would make Katie the happiest. (Katie LOVES babies)

These are the boys from our church. They are in our Sunday school class, and they all play on the worship team (Luis, Francisco, Jeff, Iris, Katie, and Will)

This is Katie blowing out her candles.

This is Katie and I!!!

¨Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor.

For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.¨

Proverbs 4:9¨

¨I won´t let you fall, I love you. If you were to fall, I would go with you. I would never leave you¨

- Katie to me (on the edge of the ridge of the Somoto Canyon )

St. Joe

So we love the St. Joe´s group. We love every group, but we really love the St. Joe´s. So I arrived back on Monday from the United States. I spent about 4 days in Ohio and about 3 days at home.

Here we are working on the houses in Villa.

We were praying for the group in the beginning of the week, my prayer request was that God would help us really get to know the students on the trip, because I have a hard time when there are so many of them. Well, Kelly then told us the best thing to do is to just get to know 2 or 3 and get to know them well. So...
My favorite day was working with one kid and getting to know him. His name was John, and he spent all day with me digging this ditch that eventually was even up over our heads. The ditch will eventually be for the piping that goes to the new houses. He was a nice kids, going to the Naval Academy next year and playing on their soccer team. He seemed really smart, and he had a great heart.

Here is John normal.


Here is John working, I am in the background in the yellow shirt.

He is a great kid, with a lot of potential, and a heart hungry for God.


Here are the kids...and they are really dirty...


Here I am, getting ready to get some water...

Thats me working with one of the boys. I am carrying his buckets...

Thats the long ditch we had to dig that day, but the kids really pulled through.

And this is the very last devotional at the beach. We saw the sunset, encouraged one another, thanked God, and ended a great week

And this is one of the best chaperones we have ever had. All of the leaders on this trip were amazing not only for the kids but for our staff as well, and this made all the difference to the students and us.

We love you St. Joe´s!!!