The little house we’ve been using at the school in Los Cedros now has new occupants, at least for awhile. A family from North Shore Baptist Church in Bothell, WA moved in this past week and they plan on living there until the end of September. North Shore has “adopted” Los Cedros and they are the funding church behind the school. Scott, Becky and their two children, Alyssa, age 14 and Mitch, age 10, as liaisons for the church, are about to immerse themselves in what it’s like to live in Los Cedros. Scott has been here a number of times before and I believe Becky and possibly the kids have been here before, as well. They have a good idea of what the culture is like and I am sure they are going to make a positive impact while they’re here.
When Jim and I arrived at school Thursday morning, Pastora told me that I would only have my first class and then there would be no more classes for the day. Likewise, Jim would have only his first class and then the children would be dismissed for recess. She said that after recess, there was going to be a meeting with the new family to welcome them. She apologized for not letting us know earlier but we reassured her that it wasn’t a problem. We decided we would go ahead and leave after our respective classes were finished since we had understood the meeting was with the staff, but we could tell Pastora preferred for us to stay. We didn’t want to be disrespectful or rude, so we agreed to stay.
I started to go to the 3rd grade class as the schedule dictated when the teacher met me and told me that she had both 2nd and 3rd grade together and that they were in the 2nd grade classroom. She asked me if I could go ahead and teach both classes at the same time. I thought for a minute and told her I could. I would just take the coloring pages I had printed off for the first grade (which were the same as what I had planned for 2nd grade) and depending on how many students were in class, I might have enough for the 3rd grade kids. I would just improvise the lesson so that it would work for both grades. Oddly enough, there were quite a few students absent that morning from 3rd grade… The children were great and we managed to get our lessons in without too much chaos even though their routines were out of whack.
When I asked Carla, the 3rd grade teacher, where Jazmina, the 2nd grade teacher was, she simply said she had to take care of some of the older children as the other teachers weren’t available. She then began talking a mile a minute and I didn’t catch any more of what she said. That was unusual as Carla usually makes sure I understand what she’s saying. I then asked her about the meeting and she was pretty vague about it. She then switched the subject to the afternoon’s meeting with someone from the Ministry of Education.
When it was time for recess, Jim and I went out to watch the younger kids play bas
eball. They normally have a 40 minute recess but that morning, recess ran much longer. I thought it odd but the whole morning had been a bit odd. What wasn’t odd was the amount of fun the kids were having with their baseball game. It was a hoot! Cela, Carla and Jazmina, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade teachers all were involved in the game and even Pastora and Manuel, her husband, came over to watch. We were all laughing and having a great time and it was such a relaxed time.
eball. They normally have a 40 minute recess but that morning, recess ran much longer. I thought it odd but the whole morning had been a bit odd. What wasn’t odd was the amount of fun the kids were having with their baseball game. It was a hoot! Cela, Carla and Jazmina, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade teachers all were involved in the game and even Pastora and Manuel, her husband, came over to watch. We were all laughing and having a great time and it was such a relaxed time. Here are sev
eral pictures of the game which are pretty self-explanatory. There r
eally is no language barrier when kids are playing. Fun may be pronounced differently but it translates just the same. Note the cheerleaders and their “pom-poms”. Talk about going green! The other picture which I just love is of 1st grader, Nayely, putting on and taking off the catcher’s garb. No one 
was using it as it was miles to big for that age group of kids. Nayely found it lying on the ground and initially, was totally oblivious to anyone watchin
g her. She just seemed fascinated with the whole get-up. When she realized I was taking her picture, she had to pose for me. She’s such a cutie!
Not everyone wanted to play ball, though. Several of the third-graders
were hunkered down on the shady side of the office. I walked over there to see what was going on and discovered them deeply engrossed in a very competitive game of Chutes and Ladders…too fun!
eral pictures of the game which are pretty self-explanatory. There r
eally is no language barrier when kids are playing. Fun may be pronounced differently but it translates just the same. Note the cheerleaders and their “pom-poms”. Talk about going green! The other picture which I just love is of 1st grader, Nayely, putting on and taking off the catcher’s garb. No one 
was using it as it was miles to big for that age group of kids. Nayely found it lying on the ground and initially, was totally oblivious to anyone watchin
g her. She just seemed fascinated with the whole get-up. When she realized I was taking her picture, she had to pose for me. She’s such a cutie!Not everyone wanted to play ball, though. Several of the third-graders
were hunkered down on the shady side of the office. I walked over there to see what was going on and discovered them deeply engrossed in a very competitive game of Chutes and Ladders…too fun!As recess was winding down, Scott came out of their house and we crossed paths. We had met him a few months ago and so we spent time catching up. We shared about our visit to the States and he about his short-term move to here. He had some logistical questions and we were able to answer many of those. While talking, Pastora asked me to tell Scott to bring his family to the rancho but she didn’t want me to tell him that they were going to be part of a welcome program. I did as asked and then as Scott walked back to the house to get Becky, Jim and I walked on over to the rancho.
Many of the kids were already seated there at tables and Jim helped Luis Manuel, the maintenance man, set out additional chairs. Scott and his family made their way over to the rancho along with Kathy. I almost forgot to tell you about Kathy! She’s a young woman from Texas who happens to be staying a couple of weeks with Pastora and holding music classes at the school while there. Kathy will soon be moving in to Managua to live and work at Casa Havilah for a couple of months. Casa Havilah is a home for women and their children who have been brought out of their lives of prostitution in the dump. It is a ministry of the Buzbees, other missionary friends of ours, who some of you know.
Pastora asked me to have Scott and his family and Kathy come to sit at the front 
of the rancho and she wanted us to join them. It seems the school had planned a combination welcome and thank-you celebration for all of us, and once again, we were treated as guests of honor. Finally, the reason for such an odd morning was starting to fall in to place. We understood the welcoming party for the family from North Shores as they are foundational for the operation of the school and we understood the thank you for Kathy’s efforts with the kids, but we were totally surprised to have been included in all that. We are there for the duration… But nevertheless, we thoroughly enjoyed the program.
of the rancho and she wanted us to join them. It seems the school had planned a combination welcome and thank-you celebration for all of us, and once again, we were treated as guests of honor. Finally, the reason for such an odd morning was starting to fall in to place. We understood the welcoming party for the family from North Shores as they are foundational for the operation of the school and we understood the thank you for Kathy’s efforts with the kids, but we were totally surprised to have been included in all that. We are there for the duration… But nevertheless, we thoroughly enjoyed the program.Each class was represented in some way, whether it was through recitations, song, dance or 
poem. Even the preschool children did their part…although they had a little trouble spelling out the word “Misionero” (Missionary)…it was like watching a human chess game as the kids were moved from one place to another, trying to get the letters all in the right order. But when they were all sorted out, they were amazing, each one remembering their lines. All the kids did just great. I could feel my heart just swell with pride as I watched them perform their very best. Many of the children are very talented and love to be center-stage so this was a great venue for them.
poem. Even the preschool children did their part…although they had a little trouble spelling out the word “Misionero” (Missionary)…it was like watching a human chess game as the kids were moved from one place to another, trying to get the letters all in the right order. But when they were all sorted out, they were amazing, each one remembering their lines. All the kids did just great. I could feel my heart just swell with pride as I watched them perform their very best. Many of the children are very talented and love to be center-stage so this was a great venue for them.After the last dance had been danced and the last song sung, lunch was served. Of c
ourse, all of 
us had a table of honor at the front where we were served beans, rice and spaghetti with some kind of meat chunks. I didn’t even try mine, passing the meat “product” over to Jim…that man really loves me! When we finished with lunch, we thanked Pastora and got ready to leave. It took some time as we had lots of hugs we had to give and get between the rancho and the car but when we finally were pulling away, I looked at Jim. I don’t know that he was aware of it but he was smiling and I realized I was doing the same. It had been just a fun morning.
ourse, all of 
us had a table of honor at the front where we were served beans, rice and spaghetti with some kind of meat chunks. I didn’t even try mine, passing the meat “product” over to Jim…that man really loves me! When we finished with lunch, we thanked Pastora and got ready to leave. It took some time as we had lots of hugs we had to give and get between the rancho and the car but when we finally were pulling away, I looked at Jim. I don’t know that he was aware of it but he was smiling and I realized I was doing the same. It had been just a fun morning. 
On the way back to Managua, with the windows down and the hot wind blowing through the car, I was reflecting on how beautiful this country and its people are and how privileged we are to live here. Jim and I often talk about how wondrous God is and how in earlier years, never in our wildest dreams did either of us ever think we would end up living in Nicaragua. Talk about a hiccup in life’s plans. This is not what we had thought we would be doing at this point in our lives.
There have been many people who have mentioned that they think we’ve had to give up a lot to be here…and in some respects, we have had to make some difficult choices. But in other ways, it came to the point for us that there was no choice. This is where God called us and we couldn’t let our fears, our plans or our personal preferences take priority over what we knew He was telling us to do. Our sacrifices have not been nearly as great to make as some have been asked to do. And obviously, we’re not living in the deepest, darkest jungle, hunting our own food and making our own clothes out of animal skins,…but neither will we be seeing our grandchildren in church tonight.
Sacrificing Wal-Mart, hot water and air conditioning are not that big of a deal compared to missing our loved ones. The longer we’re here, the more we’re learning that when God asks us to put something on the altar, He has His reasons and He doesn’t always feel the need to share those with us. It appears that this walking by faith is truly a day to day decision…sometimes, a moment to moment decision and usually, without any idea of where that walk is going to take us.
Truthfully, I don’t know that we’re really capable of making a fair assessment of the equality of the payoff to the sacrifice. Just speaking for myself, I think I’m much too short-sighted and selfish to fully appreciate the value of either. But I do know that God has been so generous to give us great moments of pleasure at the most unexpected times…just like we had at school Thursday morning…and I do believe that if we were still back home, living the lives we had thought we were going to live, we might not appreciate them as much as we do now. I wonder if we would have even recognized them…
Truthfully, I don’t know that we’re really capable of making a fair assessment of the equality of the payoff to the sacrifice. Just speaking for myself, I think I’m much too short-sighted and selfish to fully appreciate the value of either. But I do know that God has been so generous to give us great moments of pleasure at the most unexpected times…just like we had at school Thursday morning…and I do believe that if we were still back home, living the lives we had thought we were going to live, we might not appreciate them as much as we do now. I wonder if we would have even recognized them…
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