Everyday with a purpose

Since we have been here we have been feeling more and more blessed with how our trip has been turning out. We did not know what to expect for our first location here in Nicaragua as we didn't have as much planned as we do in the other locations. We both just knew that God had put Nicaragua on the list and so we were coming here. 

Hermosa beach - The place where Survivor Nicaragua was filmed

Since being here we have got to have a lot of time for rest and relaxation. Going from being so busy at home with work and fundraising, it seemed weird to slow down to where we can decide what to do as each day comes. Being now that it's been 2 weeks, we have been able to get into the lifestyle a bit more here. Although we don't have much plans, our days always seem to fill up. We took Spanish lessons last week, helped out with the mobile library program, went to the beach/surfed, and went to Masaya with our Spanish class. 

Making lunch with our spanish teachers 

we had beans and rice, avocado, and fried tortillas with cheese 

Laguna Apoyo

Great Spanish Teacher Yira :)

Our Spanish Class 

We are on our way!

Market in Masaya

Festival in Masaya

Heading to Maderas beach for Jocelyn's surf lesson

I think Jocelyn had a premonition about her cut! This picture was taken on the way to the beach where she actually cut her eye on the board! 

Maderas beach

Jocelyn surfing - her teacher is the small head in the back.

She is happy with her cut cause it has a good story.

As we are beginning to really live life here and meet people it has really began to make us think... Even if we are not outright volunteering or "helping" people, that for sure doesn't mean we are not supposed to be continually working for God's kingdom. Whether we are here, at home, or in an orphanage in Haiti, we need to be looking to God for his wisdom, mercy, compassion, and love in each situation we are in. There are hurting people everywhere. Sometimes it's just a friendly hello someone needs, or a person to listen to what they need to say. While we have been here we have met a lot of people, thanks to Jocelyn (I'm learning to be more friendly and outgoing), and have been able to go to the beach with them, out to dinner, and just to hang out. Although we haven't outright shared the gospel with them, we have been able to talk about what we are doing and a bit about what we believe. Our hope and prayer is that through interactions with people that we can both just live our lives just as we would at home, being confident in who we are in God and remembering continually to let His light shine through us and to give us the power to do anything he asks of us in each moment. 

Thank you all so much for your prayers! 

Specific prayer request - Prayer that we gain more wisdom and confidence each day so that we can step out and do what God asks of us.

a week---finally feels real!

at the top of jesus christo montana--we hiked this with our teachers

We have been here just over a week; already it feels like much longer. But they say the first week is the longest and then the rest of the trip will fly by—hopefully not too fast. 

view from our apartment

first grocery shop....just a few dollars for all of this...
homemade beans are at easy as they look.
but were getting better

just us

We are at a small café called “el gato negro” –the black cat. It is quite popular as seats are always occupied. The coffee is grown locally and brewed daily, very environmentally aware. Three fans are turned on high, barely making a difference in heat whether on or off, but still contributing to airflow.

The sun is hiding behind clouds, yet it feels as if the rood of the café has been lifted with the sun beating down. Sweat constantly forming on all parts of the body, trickling down.

Days blend together, no difference between Monday and Thursday. Everyone seems to be doing the same thing as the day before, even us.

Our clothes haven’t changed making it even more difficult to differentiate the days from the others. 

Rain is constantly falling from the sky, just as much as it would back at home but in condensed version.

We have been so privileged to be taking Spanish lessons. Luckily we are learning one on one –better for both of us. Rachael has been doing very good, probably going to be fluent pretty soon.

San Juan Del Sur is popular for surfing, so we had to try it—both for the first time. My teacher’s brother owns a surf shop so she set us up with him. I don’t know why I haven’t tried it sooner! We were both able to get and ride the wave.  

fresh pina

our dinner--before we discovered that we could make our own beans and rice

we couldn't help ourselves--no bake deliciousness

When we first got here we were wondering what we were going to do, or how we would be able to do anything here. After we had talked to the library it seemed more of a burden to volunteer there then anything.

 Asking God daily what his plans for us here are, taking each day as it comes. He continues to put us in situations where we are able to just be us –giving us opportunities to talk about our trip and all that comes with it. 

It feels that those are the moments God wants us to be in, enjoying our daily lives and continually glorifying him for all the many blessings He has given us. 

Although we didn’t have much expectations and we aren’t necessarily working in an orphanage every day, God has been teaching us daily of His unconditional love and how he wants to bless and take care of us.

Please continue to pray and think of us. 

We're Off!

We just wanted to say again Thank you so much to everyone that has helped with making this trip possible! Coming to the fundraisers, helping with the fundraisers, and donating to the trip. We are so excited to see what God has planned for us on this adventure. 

Already things are not happening the way that we would have pictured it to happen, but that's usually how it goes when God's in control. He usually blows your expectations out of the water! He knows what is best for you and although sometimes you don't feel it in the moment at times, you can always look back and see that his hand has been in it through it all. 

We started off in Vancouver airport with all things going smooth and good. We got on the plane fine after a goodbye with family that kind of felt surreal. 

It's hard to wrap your mind around leaving your family and friends and everything you know behind for 8 months to walk into the unknown, but it's also exciting! 

Once we arrived at our first stop, LA, we thought we lost the guitar... we put it at the door of the plane and expected that was where we would pick it up when we got off, but then asking around we found out it got checked and we had to go the baggage claim. When we went there and still didn't see it, we realized it was in another section where instruments are unloaded. Relieved to have our hands on it we went to find our next flight. We had to get on a bus that takes you to other gates and where we eventually found ours. 

As we were sitting waiting to hear when to board the plane, we thought we should sit closer cause we thought it was getting close to when we should be on. We went to the gate entrance and the lady told us everyone was boarded and we had to get on right away... So we got on and everything was fine. 

Then everyone on the plane was informed that there was some maintenance problem but it only should take 15 mins.... Well it actually turned out to push us back an hour, meaning we missed our connecting flight to Nicaragua. 

We couldn't pass by the chocolate factory.. and it had been about 7 hours since our last meal

As much as it sucks to have missed a flight, we feel blessed to be in the place that we are in. It could have caused frustration as it messes with our plan, but really we not on a strict schedule and are really free to whatever might happen. It has been a great start to our trip as not only did we get a free hotel, meal, somewhere nice to sleep and a hot shower.  But it is a great learning experience.

God is in control and already knows what's going to happen, we just have to trust him and go along for the ride. Let's see what happens next....

Meal at the hotel - TEXAS Style!