Dedication Day...

I should be finishing up packing but thought I would get this written really quickly. We have to get up at 3:30 in the morning as Susanna is picking us up at 4:30 to get us to the airport for our flight back to the States. I’m not looking forward to the alarm going off that early…I just am not a 3:30-in-the-morning kind of gal! But knowing the payoff at the end of the day is going to be seeing Mandy, Jack and the kids waiting for us at the Tulsa airport makes it all worthwhile! It’s a short trip (2 weeks) but we plan on enjoying every moment we get to spend with our families and friends.

Wanted to give you a brief update on the addition at Danelia’s…it’s not quite finished but it does have walls, floor and a roof so we’re now on the downhill side. We were hoping it would be done by now but the torrential rains that we’ve had the last month has really hampered the building process. The bathroom and septic still need to be finished and the doors and windows need to be installed. There are some other things that we would need to get done but it shouldn’t be long before the kids are actually able to use it for their classroom.

Dedication Day...about an hour before the service began

We had a dedication service on Saturday and invited the neighborhood. It was a hot day and folks were slow to come out but we ended up with over 50 people in attendance. We had hoped for more than that but several of the Zona Francas were working that day and that meant that a lot of the parents were working which also meant that kids were on their own…a good reminder of why we’re doing what we’re doing there.

Jennifer reciting a poem about Nicaragua

Danelia planned the program and the kids sang, danced and others shared their talents. A local pastor came and had a short service and the vice mayor of the city came and gave a speech of support for what we’re doing there. She is the one who waived all the government permits for us so that we didn’t have to get bogged down in the process of trying to get the building erected. I was so leery of that at the time just knowing how this government functions, but she has held true to her word and has allowed all the work to continue. She was Danelia’s first grade teacher so I’m sure that helped sway her to decide to help us with this. Both the pastor and the vice mayor expressed their appreciation for us “investing” in that little barrio and the people who live there…it’s not a high-profile place, that’s for sure.

The pastor thanking God for His blessings

There were others who spoke, and other entertainment. One of the ladies told me that she played the flauta (flute). When she told me that, I was really surprised as I just couldn’t picture someone in that neighborhood having access to a flute or access to music lessons. She told me that she used to be a Catholic and that their church at the time had a woman who taught her how to play. I asked her if it was difficult to learn and she told me it was. She said she wished she had more time to practice but because she normally works 6 days a week (she had taken that day off for the celebration), she just doesn’t have much time to play.

As she spoke, I just kept picturing my friend, Jo Ellen who always mesmerizes me with her flute playing. Well, a little bit later, Danelia invited this lady to come up front and as she walked, I was excitedly anticipating the music I imagined I would hear. She turned around and it took me a second to realize that what she held in her hand was not a beautiful silver flute but rather, a cream colored plastic flutophone…like the kind that so many children play in elementary school. I realized that was the “flauta” that she was about to play.

I am ashamed to say that my expectations for beautiful music weren’t very high at that point. But God is still faithful to put me in my place when I so desperately need it and that moment was no different. As she began to play, she played each note very deliberately and separately but shortly after beginning to play, the most magical sound began to come from that little piece of plastic and by the time she was finished, I was ready to throw roses and shout encore! True, she wasn’t at all close to being on the same level as Jo Ellen and her silver flute but God obviously did something to that music between the time the note was blown and the time it reached my ears because what my ears heard was some very beautiful music. And now…I’m ready to try to add a music “class” to the curriculum at the school. I can just see 25 little flautists flutophoning away and calming the savage beast in all of us!

After the ceremony, Danelia served everyone a late lunch of vigarón…boiled yucca, shredded cabbage, tomates, chiles, vinegar and salt and chicharrón…fried pork rinds…real ones. This is a traditional Nicaraguan dish and is typically eaten with the fingers. Not only am I not a 3:30-in-the-morning kind of gal, neither am I a pork rind aficianado. I have eaten this dish at Danelia’s before but just couldn’t do the pork rinds again…so I ate the rest of the food and thankfully, Susanna likes pork rinds, so she helped diminish the quantity of them that lay conspicuously off to one side of my plate.

All in all, it was a great day…a long one but a fun one. We would have liked to have the building completed for the celebration, but even though it wasn’t, there was plenty of hope and excitement for what God has planned for that neighborhood and we are so thankful to be part of what God is doing there.

I want to thank you for helping to make this dream become a reality whether you are supporting us with your funds or your prayers…both are necessary. Thank you for your giving to this project because you are building more than a concrete block structure…we believe you are laying the foundation for increasing God’s Kingdom in that barrio.

Well, I could sit and share so much with you but I need to finish packing and 3:30 is going to come early here. I hope my bedroom light will wake up the neighbor’s anemic rooster… it would be nice if I beat him to the punch for a change.

See many of you very soon!