I woke up early this morning, Dwight and I have many things on our minds with our team coming today and just getting started at the Villa and still so much settling in to do. My priorities this morning; update you all a little on what's going on, visit the girls at the Villa before they go for the day to see their families, shower and pack for the night in the hotel. We will be at the airport by 11:30 to find our team.
Dwight's priority is to find all the things necessary to wash our car! He is going with our friend Larry this morning to the ferreteria and one other place to find all things wonderful to him. He cannot stand to have a dirty car. He has noticed that everyone in Nicaragua keeps their cars very clean and when you drive on gravel roads with POTHOLES the car does not stay clean! Maybe I will find him everyday washing the car, i'll keep you posted.
We had our first date night last night. We went to a wonderful little Italian restaurant called "Casa Mia", the food was wonderful, the atmosphere was romantic and our waitress was so kind. I told Dwight that if I lived in Nicaragua I would want a house just like that restaurant, many round wooden beams, big stone tile floor, totally open to the outside ~ it was beautiful! I could picture us having many people there with us.
During our date, Josh and William finished a worship time with the girls and Maggie helped to prepare dinner in our home. The all eventually ended up at the house with Larry, apparently dancing and singing.
Larry is a person that you will hear about regularly in our blog, he is like a brother and an uncle for the kids. He has taught us so much and helped us in so many ways. I know that our time together encourages him to keep his eyes on God and he is growing.
Before coming to Nicaragua, God put so many things on my heart. Things that at times I wondered if I was being presumptuous or was God revealing things to me. To see these things come to pass now is amazing evidence that God is at work and was preparing me and inviting me to be involved with what He is doing. One of those things was a conversation that happened in the kitchen at the Villa 2 days ago. I was talking with Xiomara, the sister of Gloria, she noticed that when Dwight was here in May he left many things; towels, sheets, shampoo and also many books called "Experiencia con Dios", "Experiencing God". She asked me if she could have one. Apparently they had started the first day in this book with the girls and it was a little too much but she really wanted to continue. I asked Xiomara (and the other women in the kitchen) if they would like to study together and they were so excited. We all recognize that we will have to wait awhile to start the study because once our team arrives today, we are with teams constantly until July 31.
God is working in the kids! OF COURSE!!! There is a man named Bill staying at the Villa, he is here with one other woman. They have been to Nicaragua many times. Bill has an amazing gift of ministry to youth. Next week he will have a sports camp at Nicaragua Christian Academy, with kids from the school doing an outreach to kids from La Chureca. Josh will try to get involved when he can because it is a great way for him to meet kids that he will go to school with. This week, Bill has had kids from the community (about 25 or 30) and taken them to a beautiful sports complex nearby to do games and to share the gospel. He invited Josh and William to be a part of these times. Josh has been amazing!!!! He has been up each morning early to go and do his part. Bill has trusted him as a leader and he has lead so well! He has loved working with these kids. He is absolutely exhausted by the end of the day but returns to the Villa ready to spend time with the girls and play some more.
William has gone each time with the group and participated in all of the activities. He plays hard, he eats a lot and he does not cry in Nicaragua! He is so satisfied here, he is very at home and loved by so many people.
Maggie had a wonderful break through, I think that is a good word for it. She is more timid, she is trying to figure out her place, she is missing her friends, she hesitates to speak not knowing what will come out of her mouth. She doesn't like to be laughed at when she doesn't get it right. I have explained this to the girls and I think they are understanding. The break through came the other day around 2:00 in the afternoon. There were 3 people taking a water tank to Leon for a team to install and confident that the answer would be no, I asked Maggie if she wanted to go ~ SHE SAID YES! I almost fell over, I was so excited!!!! She drove 1 1/2 hours to drop off a tank and say hi to a group of people that we love so much, that embraced our family last year and loved us so much. She was gone a long time, came home exhausted and (I think) very proud of herself.
We are doing well. God is working.
Dwight's comment the other day, "this is the hardest thing and the easiest all at the same time". I have thought a lot about this, it is a very true statement. We have learned so much, we have so much to learn and we will continue to walk where God leads.
Thank you to all of you that are praying for us! Thank you to all of you that have encouraged us with your words! Thank you to all of you who worked so hard to get this team ready with so many things for our family !
We love you all and wish we could show everyone of you the things we are seeing.
'Glad to hear that you are getting settled - 'sounds like a great experience for the whole family
ReplyDelete