Day 8 (Thursday): We awoke early this morning to board the bus to travel to Port San Jorge, where we boarded a ferry with our bus and crossed Lake Nicaragua. We arrived at Ome Tepe, an island in the middle of Lake Nicargua. We swam at Ojo de Agua, a natural volcanic spring, which was refreshing and beautiful! After relaxing and eating a picnic lunch, we headed to our hotel. We had a nice dinn...er, students are in language class for the last time this trip, and we will hear from a few of the boys their spiritual testimony in devotions tonight. Tomorrow we head up Madera volcano to an amazing waterfall where several students have chosen to be baptized. We will all spend the afternoon swimming there before heading back down to our hotel for dinner and devotions. Mrs. Harris
What an amazing week at the Academy… Mr. Cox spoke at chapel, he showed a short video clip of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. Then Mr. Cox washed Mr. Johnson's feet and challenge the students to serve. In 1994 the United Sates Congress designated Martin Luther King Day as national day of service. We have Monday off in recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King, I would continue the challenge that Mr. Cox had for a our students… find a place to follow Jesus' example and serve this Monday. We will continue to honor Scott Bostick in the same manner on Friday, January 25th by serving around the community.
Thanks for all of you prayers for our high school students that spent J-term traveling along the west coast and to Nicaragua. They will have many great stories to tell, the best will include 12 decisions for Christ and baptisms in a pool at the bottom of a water fall on the side of a volcano… If you get a chance to ask one of our high schoolers about their trip be prepared to be blessed.
Day 7 (Wednesday): Well, today our students said goodbye to their Nica buddies, but only after a great day together. We had language classes while each student also got to visit their buddies’ home and meet their family. It was touching to be welcomed so warmly into their homes. We also had a fiesta at the school with a pink piñata for the girls…very cute…and Luigi from Mario Brothers for the ...boys! They were stuffed full of candy and it’s a good thing the boys had a separate piñata…it became a game of tackle as the boys dove for candy! We also had the various language classes present songs, with the Nica buddies singing English songs of praise and TPCA students singing songs of Nicaragua in Spanish. Dr. Rascoe should be posting some of those videos later here. We also were treated to several surprises: a Mariachi band which the students danced to as well as some traditional Nicaraguan dances by a few of our Nica teachers. A wonderful day of laughter, smiles, and culture. All too soon it was time to say goodbye to our buddies. There were some s tears, wishes of “God bless you” (Dios te bendiga) and “Si Dios quiere” (If God so desires) in response to their questions of “Will you come back?”, and lots of “Te amo” (I love you!). Tomorrow we head to Ome Tepe…and we are excited to swim tomorrow at Ojo de Agua, a natural spring! Please pray for our continued health, as we are all tired and emotionally a little worn out. Muchas gracias! Mrs. Harris
What a day we had today in Nicaragua! We had an early breakfast of rice and beans, pineapple, bananas, scrambled eggs and coffee cake...delicious! After breakfast we went to a new recreational facility for our Spanish classes. We took our Nica buddies with us and then spent the entire day there at the park in Spanish classes and playing games. The students played basketball, soccer, hacky sack and... threw a football around. Several of our students played on a team that challenged another Nicaraguan team in a game of soccer...and our boys won!! What a great experience that was! They were all grinning from ear to ear! Colin Mixon and Vonn Resnover played well and helped lead the team to victory! We are about to have a delicious dinner and then plan to present skits and raps to Aaro'n in honor of his birthday. After our "talent show" we will take the bus to a restaurant called, "Eskimo" for a birthday celebration to enjoy ice cream sundaes. It was an incredible day! The students are bonding with their Nica buddies and loving learning all about their lives, culture and language! Mrs. Harris
1/12/2013 Some journal quotes from our boys in Nicaragua that Dr. Rascoe wanted to share:
"If I could have that much JOY and LOVE for one day I would be set for life. What spoke to my heart about this woman is how selfless she was."
"People here are happy with how they live, even though they are poor. I wish that everyone in the USA could come here and see how much more they have and how bless...ed they really are. My life will change when I get back to the USA."
"How blind Americans (North) really are. A 12 year old is taking care of her sister, brother and the house."
"Even though you see things on TV, it is so different because we got a chance to see how they really live."
"I will always remember this."
"This brought me totally out of my comfort zone."
"You could see and feel her love for us especially when she gave us hugs."
"My grandmother and I had a disagreeement before I left - I found out that Grandmother's love is universal. Now I kinda understand what she is trying to tell me."
Day 4: Today was AWESOME! We headed off to Rey Solomon, our sister school/church in Managua where our Nica buddies live and attend school. We took bags of food and other household items to families of the church and later helped at the school with painting beautiful gold lines on the basketball court. Nothing like our wooden floor with the professional painting, but it actually is brighter and ...a bit of sunshine in the middle of the school! Mr. Cook shared in devotions tonight how today was like us putting our feet in the water…there’s always that first step. And for some of us we took just a small step while others took bigger steps. But we are proud of the way all of our kids are ‘stepping up and stepping out!” While I could share with you the details of the day, I’d rather share with you some comments the students shared about each other: where they saw their friends stepping up today. Comments such as… “He doesn’t talk a lot, he’s kind of quiet but today I saw something in his face today that I hadn’t seen before…he was so sincere.” “He was thoughtful and sincere. I heard it in his voice.” “He was involving (the Nica buddies) and trying to communicate with them. It was impressive.”. “I felt like our group as a whole really stepped up and we accomplished a lot today by coming out of our comfort zones. “ “She can be quiet; but she was really good at introducing us at each house and she stepped up several times.” “We made a pact last night to step out of our comfort zone…and I saw him do that today when visiting houses.” “One of our students closed our devotion time in prayer, thanking God for the opportunity to come to Nicaragua and experience what most only see in videos but we have now seen and experienced in real life.” Mrs. Harris
Claire Reece Shelton Thank you Julie for this! What a blessing!! We continue to pray that God is moving in each one of their hearts to draw them closer to Him!! Thank you!!! January 12 at 11:12pm via mobile · Like · 2
Day 3: Meet and greet your new best friend! The students met their Nica buddies today and new friendships were formed, hearts bonded, and lives are being changed! As a staff person returning for a 2nd year, it was a joy to see Nica students who also returned this year to participate...and to see the joy on Nica and TPCA faces as they reunited! At Halle's park, we played lots of fun ice breaker ...games, like Pilar (pillar), Casas (houses), and Terremoto (earthquake)!! It was hysterical and challenging as both Nica and TPCA students had to remember what each word meant--in Spanish or in English-- which one they were at that time, and run around to find a new friend to form a house with or wait as a pillar for friends to form a house over you! Students broke for several hours of language learning and we are hearing great things from their Nicaraguan teachers about their motivation, their attitudes, and their learning. We ate pizza with our new friends and had free time to play soccer, basketball, volleyball, hackey sack, and more. It was an awesome day and we will wrap it up with devotions, journaling and some free time here at La Quinta. Till tomorrow...Mrs. Harris
