Keeping You Updated

We are excited to share that we have finally found a house to rent. After six months of being in Nicaragua and living in five different homes, we will finally be able to unpack our suitcases. We are looking forward to seeing what we find in the bags we packed so long ago!

Our house is located in Tierra Prometida (the Promised Land) which is on the southwest side of Managua. It is a little far from UPOLI (where we will be teaching), but after looking for so long and really liking this home, we decided to go for it. We hope that we don’t regret this later during our long bus rides! We are happy to be close to the MCC office (for friends and a washing machine), the Baptist Seminary (where Kevin will teach courses on Saturday’s) and Christian Medical Action (where we will both work one day a week).

In looking for a home, we had a few things in mind:

• 2 bedrooms - for visitors!
• finished ceilings – helps with the heat
• workable kitchen - check, although we need to put in some shelves to avoid storing everything on the floor
• outside area - perfect! we have a mango tree and avocado tree that provide great shade, there is room for hammocks and we also have a broken down basketball hoop which we are excited to share with the neighbor kids

We are planning to paint a little in this next week and move in during the first week of June (that is if some basic things like toilets get fixed). We feel blessed with all of the hand-me-downs that we are getting from previous workers. The only bigger items that we have had to buy is a kitchen table and chairs, which we got used for a super great deal. As many of you know, I love making my home a home. So I will do my best at this on the little budget that we have.

In addition (sorry this post is getting long), we have recently finished up our formal language training. Although we don’t feel ready, it was time to be pushed out of the nest. We just finished up one more homestay in Estelí and have been volunteering with local NGO’s (assisting them and practicing Spanish) and will continue over the next couple of months until our Spanish is “university ready.”

If you are interested in reading more about the short-term work that we will be doing, check out the organization’s websites below (click on organization name):

• Whole Child International - works in existing children’s institutions (orphanages) to improve the quality of care and help prevent the bleak outcomes that await most children raised in the world’s orphanages
• La Casa de Esperanza – provides housing, education and income generation projects to victims of sex trafficking and prostitution
• Podcasts for Peace - facilitates creative and intellectual expression through digital media to empower youth leaders and promote social justice through collaborative community engagement
• NATRAS – a community led organization that is seeking to provide education and job training for youth in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Managua
• Los Quinchos - works with youth living on the streets of Managua in hopes of helping them secure a better future for themselves through safe housing in a drug free environment where life skills are taught and an education and mentoring is provided

That is all for now.  Thanks for reading and taking an interest in our lives!