Matagalpa

At Selva Negra-a gorgeous coffee farmer built by Germans and therefore with a German twist of architecture. The family built a chapel on the premises so their daughter could be married there.
An amazing sunset overlooking the mountains in Matagalpa.

At the vida joven camp-they have a maze and this is what you find in the center. (our friends Frank and Bekah)

Other parts of the Vida Joven farm-this picture doesn't do it justice for its beauty. It's truly amazing!

One of the precious kids at La Chureca in Managua. His home, school, doctor, etc is all located inside the dump. But for some reason, the Managua dump felt more hopeful and peaceful than our dump in Granada.

Last Weekend in Nica

Hola!! Last weekend, our last weekend in Nica, we tested our luck/faith and rented a car. We went with Frank a Bekah, a couple who is down here for at least the next year, discipling recovering drug addicts and keeping it Real in Granada. We left Friday and went to Managua to visit the dump up there, which is daunting and has at least 800 people that actually live inside the dump's gates. We encourage you all to visit websites about the programs serving the communities inside the dump (just google "La Chureca, managua"). We then headed north to the mountains to visit the Young Life camp in Nicaragua and some coffee farms.
Our time in the highlands was incredible. One of the highlights was the simple pleasure of actually being cold for a few hours. It was a part of the country that neither of us had experienced at all. Quite different from Granada- mountainous, windy, cool, and some buildings actually made of wood. The locals from the north even look different, taller and with lighter eyes due to German lineage (also reflected in the architecture).
Saturday's visit to the Young Life camp was really sweet. Frank and Bekah live with the Young Life staffers (Yener and his pregnant wife, Oneida) here in Granada and we have developed great friendships with them as well, so we had heard lots about the camp and were excited about the ministry of young life (vida joven) here in Nica. The camp is gorgeous and is set up much like YL camps in the states, with slight Nica twists thrown in. The camp also has its own vegetable gardens (it has a goal to be completely self sustained) and a huge coffee farm right there on the premises. the coffee is now being sold and they are launching a program to sell the amazing organic coffee in the states and at US Young Life camps. The purchase of 1 pound of coffee is actually enough to pay for a kid's week at YL camp here. I urge you all to check it out, and look at the info about Vida Joven and Young Life International. http://www.vidajovencoffee.com/ (our friends Frank and Troy actually made this site, as well as the site for Vida Joven Granada.

Pictures of the weekend and of events from our last week in Granada coming soon!

Thanks for your prayers and support!

Joe and Julie

Rosita

Sweet Rosita was run over by a truck 20 years ago as you can see on her right leg. In order to repair her leg, they took a bone from her left leg along with many skin grafts all over her body and tried to repair her right leg. Although it has been 20 years, her leg is still infected and unfunctional. With this hospital admission, she fell and broke her hip. She is also anemic so they waited adn waited for there to be blood at the hospital so they could give it to her during and after surgery. She finally had surgery and was bedridden for weeks waiting for her bone in her hip to continue to grow stronger. We grew extremely fond of her and her sisters. She has the cutest smile (ask Joe to do an impression of her when we are home-it's perfect!) and she sang "At the cross at the cross, when I first saw the light, and the burdens of my heart rolled away..." in Spanish of course, to us every week. She cried many times because she was so tired of being stuck in bed and had 2-3 huge bed sores from just laying in bed. We worked with the Lions Club here and got her a new wheelchair and for days all she could do was look at it because she could not get out of bed or for that matter move. We loved her and always looked forward to seeing her on hospital days because we just knew she would be there forever. Then, one day, she wasn't there! We had been praying for God, Jehovah Rapha, to heal her because Joe and I both thought her situation was too bad for medicine to help and escpecially medicine at this hospital. And what did the Lord do? He healed her! By the power of God, she got out of bed, into her wheelchair, onto a bus, and off to her house! We learned such a lesson that day about God's power in healing and doing miracles.

Us with Rosa and one of her friends that visited her everyday!

Sooo... because Rosa left the hospital before she thought she would, we didn't get a chance to say goodbye. We always talked with her about after she got home we'd come over to her house one day and have dinner. From getting her the wheelchair we had to get a copy of her ID card, so we sort of remembered her address, which are not too exact in Nica. All we knew was that she lived in a tiny little town called San Blas and her house was small and in front a school. We asked our Nicaraguan friends where San Blas was, and most of them didnt even know. Turns out it is very tiny and about 6 miles off the highway between Granada and Masaya. We sat out one Sunday afternoon with a mission to find Rosita, and find her we did! We got a taxi driver to drop us off at this dirt road in the middle of nowhere that he told us led to San Blas. We had to wait around for a Tuk Tuk (mototaxi) to take us the rest of the way. We asked the tuk tuk driver if he happened to know Rosa Aleman and he said, "oh yea, Dona Rosita!, She lives in front of the school!" Turned out their inexact addresses worked out just fine. the drive back the dirt road was beautiful, pure farm land and dust. We pulled up in front of Rosa's house and there she was, sitting on her front porch in her wheelchair, beaming from ear to ear and cackling with laughter! It was such a blessing to be able to see her in her home. She was o happy there with her family who was visiting and to have the two Gringos there on her porch. We took lots of pictures and stayed around a few hours talking with her and her family. We sang some hymns with her and we even recorded her singing "En la Cruz, en la Cruz." We showed her the video and she thought it was the coolest thing ever, it was freakin' adorable.

Sweet Rosita at her home, in her element. Smiling with Julita, her favorite Gringa.

Amigos cont

Juan-This guy is awesome and he NEVER wears a shirt! He has the best attitude ever and is always joking around with us. He's been here since we first started coming to the hospital and today was quite sad when we had to say goodbye. He had a compound fracture in his calf a few months ago and now has osteomyelitis-a very serious bone infection that needs to be treated correctly with IV antibiotics for months. This hospital simply does not have the antibiotics that he needs. To compensate, they change from week to week his antibiotics according to what they have available. The doctor today was trying to encourage him to have the leg amputated but he completely trusts in the Lord for complete healing. Today was the first time we saw a serious side of Juan. He actually started crying and we talked about God's perfect plan for him and how Juan wanted to go back to work and provide for his daughter but physically can't and how he doesn't want his leg amputated for this reason. God is doing some serious healing on him physically and more importantly spiritually.

Winston-he was shot in his upper leg and the bullet shattered his femur about 7 months ago. An ironic situation because Winston had graduated from Peniel, the rehab center our church works with and sponsors addicts to attend. Upon graduation, he experimented with drugs and got involved in the wrong crowd again and thus got shot. He was been in the hospital and had screws placed to repair his femur which got extremely infected while at home and now he is back at the hospital. He is serious about his spiritual life now and wants to change and live for God. He is always reading his Bible when we come to visit and Joe has had many deep conversations with him regarding different thoughts of theology.

An adorable little couple where the wife had a pretty nasty infection in her toe that was actually amputated. He serenaded the hospital room one day (which was precious) and always had a huge smile!

Margarita-she had a leg infection when we first met her and she was in the room with all guys. They moved her into another room and we were told she went home a few days later...which she did and THEN came back to the hospital because the infection was not healed. We ran into her in the hallway and exchanged addresses and numbers.

This fella is Pedro Enrique. He was one of the first guys we met and he was only there for a few weeks after we got here. He is a pretty adorable old man who knew probably 15 English words and also loooved to use them any chance he got. He always wanted to know about the US and was obsessed with us meeting his daughter and son-in-law. We gave him a copy of this picture and he was pretty giddy, he had a huge crush on Julie. He gave the picture to his girlfriend. He thought he was pretty handsome in it.

Amigos del hospital!

This is Manuel. He lived in Miami for a few years, where the rest of his family still lives. He gets to talk with them sometimes and they come to visit every now and then, but he had a drunk driving accident and was deported. He is super friendly and loves to show off the few English words he speaks. He is the singer of the hospital and croons in the guys' room and out in the halls. He was really pumped to get to sing some English songs with us, he loves some Lionel Ritchie, Chicago, and Journey. He is diabetic and has a pretty bad infection in his foot. He has been at the hospital for about a month now, and will probably/hopefully leave soon.

Fast Times at the Japanese Hospital

A large chunk of our time here in Granada is spent at the Japanese hospital. This is the large public hospital on the outskirts of town. It gets its name, not because it serves only specific asian tourists, but because it was built about 10 years ago with Japanese support.

We spend two mornings a week visiting with patients and helping nurses. We have taken vital signs, organized a mess of old x-rays, and set up a much needed system for incoming patients' paperwork. However we spend most of our time getting to know long term patients and their families. We talk with them (julie has had the spanish words 'infection', 'cleaning', 'antibiotic', and "getting better little by little" pounded into her head, pray with them, and even sing with them (we don't know too awful many well known spanish language songs, so "la bamba" was busted out quickly).

We spend our time in the surgery inpatient and infection ward. Patients are stuck in these rooms with 8 beds anywhere from 2 days to 3 months and counting. It's a pretty tough place to be for the patients and has absolutely shocked us from our standard view of hospitals in the USA. Everything is free for the patients, which is nice, however some days they do not have medicine, some days they do. The doctors (as in the entire hospital's legion of doctors) take vacation days very often. They will schedule a surgery for a date two weeks away, only to change it at the last minute for no reason, then change it again because there is not enough blood for the surgery. Many of the patients are there with a fairly simple infection, just waiting with no exact end date, just trying to keep up hope. The open-air rooms also hover at 80-90 degrees throughout the day and night. Despite the dismal description, there are many amazing people there and the relationships we have formed and the opportunities we've had have taught us invaluable lessons about our God,the Healer, spreading joy, and true patience.

Im afraid this blog would be entirely too long if I tried to go into details about all the folks we've met, and the experiences. Instead, we will post pictures and introduce you to a few of the pacientes.

Love yall!
Jose y Julia

Natalie

Here is our sweet Natalie. Her mom just cut her hair and we hardly recognized her yesterday but she's still adorable and comes for a glass of water. We bought her a pair of flip flops and they fit perfect! She was wearing them proudly today! Thanks for all of your prayers!

The belltower

Another cathedral in town
At the top of the cathedral overlooking the city

A wealthy neighborhood

Again at the top of the cathedral overlooking the convent

Pics from around Granada

Church in Granada
Means of transportation for many people here

Other mean of transportation for the whole family

More pictures from the dump

3 Brothers and sisters from a family of 8. These kids don't go to school and never have shoes on. These kids are extremely shy and will hardly look at us but have started coming around the last couple of weeks. The girl jumped on my back this week wanting to play and have let the other girls hold them and smile at them.
He's one of my favs! He doesn't really know how to wash his hands and just puts his hands together with the soap and water but doesn't rub them together. It makes me smile every week and we teach him how to rub his hands together to make them clean. He just looks up at us with his precious big brown eyes.

Our team singing and praying with the workers before serving the meal.

Ezekiel (Nica guy) who comes with us a lot on Tuesdays, Ruth, Annie, Jesylan (the AIM girls), Joe, Osiris (our musician), and 2 visitors from Virginia this week Joe and Ben King.

We had to pull them away this week to come and eat. They kept saying we need just 5 more minutes to work.

Tortilla, Tortilla, Tortilla!!!

We hear these words literally about 10 times a day from ladies in the street walking around the city selling tortillas door-to-door. The sound is extremely nasally and high pitched and we often mimic them. Since moving into our new house (the 4th house!), there has been a new little voice outside our door selling tortillas. Her name is Natalie and she's around 7 years old. She comes by everyday to ask if we need more tortillas and usually every other day she will ask for a glass of water. She's ADORABLE! Yesterday she had her little sister with her and I asked them where their shoes were. Natalie looked at me like I was crazy and told me she didn't have any shoes. Joe and I were discussing her future and the fact that all she will ever know or do most likely is sell tortillas. No school, no education, no dreaming of being a nurse, or a lawyer, etc...simply sell tortillas! This also brought up the point of Joe and I not being passionate about our careers and the want to go back to school and change professions-which is very doable for most Americans. If we are not happy, we change it and we educate ourselves and we enable ourselves in the situation. We have so many resources at our fingertips for our disposal and we have the attitude that if we don't like doing a particular something, we can use our resources and change our future. We are blessed (and spoiled)! But what about Natalie? She is probably perfectly content selling tortillas without shoes day in and day out. She has no resources literally! But she ALWAYS has a smile on her face. Maybe as Americans, we have too many choices and "ways out" that will are always going to think "the grass is greener on the other side" and we need more education, money, power, etc. What makes Natalie seem so content to me? Her lack of materials and naive spirit? I am still pondering this question and the issue that we probably have TOO many options in our lives to make us discontent. Anyways, as I search the problem deeper please join me in praying for Natalie and her family and the thousands of kids here without shoes, food, and our definition of a "future" outside of selling tortillas. I am exactly sure what I would ask for you to pray specifically for because she's not sad nor angry or ashamed, just living in extreme poverty. Possibly, the best thing is to ask God to just pour out His love on Natalie and her family and to give them the understanding that things on Earth are not a measure of our standing in His sight. And please pray for us to realize her simplicity is such a beautiful thing.

Matthew 19:20-24
"I have kept all these," the young man told Him. "What do I still lack?" "If you want to be perfect," Jesus said to him, "go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me." When the young man heard that command, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples, "I assure you: It will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven! Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."

I will post a picture of Natalie soon so you can have a sweet memory of this little girl! Thanks so much for your prayers!
Julie and Joe

Other Bday pics with our friends

Frying some tortillas for guests!!

The birthday party crowd - Everyone that lives at the base, an awesome family from CA thats here for a while, and the Nica Young Life staffers

Thats a 27 BAKED INTO the cake!

He blew BOTH candles out in one try!!!

Moto Pics

Cruising thru town

Get it Bday boy!

Katarina Mirador-the overlook to the crater filled lake

Our friend, liquor store owner, and moto renter

Feliz Cumpleanos Jose!!!

Last Tuesday was Joe's Bday and we had made a pact last year to always take off from work on each other's Bday and do something fun and adventurous. This year has just a little different setup. Every Tuesday, we do a feeding program for the people working at the dump and decided we still wanted to attend for a couple different reasons rather than take the day off to celebrate Joe's Bday. First of all, you can't say you spent your Bday at the dump every year and secondly we really have a heart for these people and didn't want to miss a week of this ministry. So we spent the morning with the people at the dump singing with them, reading them Scripture, washing their hands, praying with them, and feeding them the typical gallo pinto (a rice and beans mixture), eggs, cheese, and refrescos to drink. We have started to know more and more of the people working there and their sweet little kids and this week there was just something special about the trip. We had a smaller group from El Puente (The Bridge-which is the church the Kaye's started and where everything is based) venture with us this week and it has just a peaceful feeling while at the dump. It was a great morning. When we got home we wanted to do something fun so we decided to rent a moped and go explore some nearby villages. We were pretty bummed at first because we went to a store which our guide book recommended and since it was Tuesday??? (we learned that a lot of businesses here just close on Tuesdays for some reason) it was closed. But not to worry! Everyone here knows of someone else who has what you are looking for. These guys told us about a guy who rents mopeds out of his liquor store and after a couple of blocks of walking, there he was. It's usually $20 for the day but we negotiated with him for $10 since it was already mid-afternoon. A couple helmets swaps and a rundown of the "moto" worked and we were off for the mountains. The weather was perfect for a little cruise on a moped and the villages were adorable. We first stopped at the Katarina Mirador which overlooks a gorgeous lake in the middle of a volcanic crater. There used to be a huge volcano and then an eruption made it collapse on itself so now theres this huge lake in the crater. We swam in the lake the week before and it was crazy creepy because you could not see the bottom. Supposedly it is about 600 ft deep! Who knows what is swimming below! Then we cruised thru other little villages all on the outskirts of the lagoona and back to Granada. We tried to take it dirt biking but decided for $10 this wasn't the best option. It was wonderful getting out of the city and getting some fresh air while celebrating Joe! Here are some pics from the day...love you guys!

Home is Where the Heat is

Sooooo with three weeks left here in Granada we've finally found ourselves in a permanent (ish?) home..for the next three weeks!

When we first moved here we stayed with the head missionary family. They are the ones who lived in Cville who we were corresponding with since last Spring about being in Granada. In our correspondence they were always welcoming and very excited about us being here and being involved. One thing we never discussed is where we'd live once we got here. It never seemed like it would be an issue.

When we arrived they welcomed us into their awesome colonial home and the plan was that we'd move into the housing at the mission base after a few days of getting our bearings in the city. We soon found out that the staff housing is actually 2 dorm rooms separated by girls and boys. Having been married for about two months at the time, we weren't too pumped about summer campin' it for 2 months, so we decided to explore other options.

We were first referred to a kid named Ezekiel. Ezekiel is this hilarious, energetic kid who is involved with lots of things that on at the mission base, His family lives near the base and has an extra room in their house that they rent out to missionaries or students. We went to Ezekiel's house late one night and immediately found out that his family is awesome, and his house is hopping with excitement and people. The room we would live in was nice enough, had a shower inside, and the family bano was close by. We had access to the fridge that was located in the store the family ran out of the first floor (basement) of the house, and we could use the kitchen whenever we wanted. We immediately loved the family and were pumped to live in a Nica home.

The next evening when we pulled up to move in, there were even more people there than the night before (probably 30 people on the small porch and plenty more in the house). Ezekiel and his dad came out and informed us that one of Ezekiel's uncle had died and there would be lots of people over for the next few days, since the body and funeral would be right there on the porch. We were pretty shocked they still wanted us to move in right then with the mourning and crowd of people and said that we understood if it would be better if we waited for a few days. We certainly wanted to be respectful and not get in the way. They said certainly not and had us come in right away. We passed by the open casket, paid our respects, and moved through the crowd to our room. Everyone we spoke to on the way in, as we offered our condolences, was very excited to have us and acted as if everything was fine and happy (a big reminder that death is viewed much less solemnly outside of the US). It wasn't an especially warm nica evening but the house felt like an oven and I (Joe) was doused in sweat with 2 minutes of walking through the door. I soon realized that might pose a problem for sleeping. The amazing dad, Efraim,went and found us a fan (actually took it off the porch where the funeral/wake was going on)and insisted we take it in our room. The custom down here when there is a death, other than having the body in the house for a day or two is for family and friends to stay up with the dead all night the first night of the wake. We felt terrible exiting our room, for fear of being disrespectful to the deceased and his family and I was sweating every minute of the night due to the rainforest-like temperature :). I believe we both slept about an hour that night.

Within two days, the funeral craziness had calmed down and they had carried the body to the cemetery. Things were much calmer and relaxed in the house, we got to spend time talking with the family and the many other folks who live/stay in the house. They are all wonderful people. What didn't calm down was the heat inside the house though. The house has about 6 1/2 foot ceilings and is a nice thick tin roof, with concrete walls. It literally was like an oven! It was hilarious how much we'd sweat if we were in the house for more than a minute between about 8 AM and 7 PM. After a few days of not sleeping we started to wonder whether or not we could take it. The family was awesome but, the sweaty gringos were slowly going crazy. We decided that we'd have to bite the bullet and tell the family that we were going to move somewhere else.

It just so happened that one of the missionaries met an american "former nun" who just moved into a nice house near the mission base and wanted to find some young christians to live with her, rent free! We were quite excited about the opportunity and immediately went to meet the owner, Meryl, and check out the house. It was gloooorious! The air actually moved around, and we'd have about 3 times the space and 30 times the privacy! Meryl seemed very nice, and quiet as well. We moved in within 24 hours we knew something a little off might be going on. Be sure to ask us for more details in person, but it turned out Meryl felt extremely unsafe in the house and was scared of basically everyone she saw. We had to hire 2 guards to sleep there just so she would sleep. We had plenty of arguments with her about trusting people and living without fear, but we got nowhere. We got many, many stories from our time there but after about a week we knew we'd have to find a new place if we wanted to actually interact with people. Also, Meryl was moving to a place she thought would be quieter and safer.

We started knocking on every door in the area remotely close to the base and asking folks if they had an extra room, or if they knew anyone who did. We actually found quite a few options! But not too many in our price range, or that seemed sleepable.

Finally, on a random knock we found Ginger, who is also American and is staying here for a few months as a volunteer. She has an extra room in a amazing, comfortable, small house and figured she wouldn't mind some roommates. We moved in the next day to our 4th house in 4 weeks! We are happy now though, we can sleep without waking up in a pool of sweat and leave the door open for more than 12 seconds without being fussed at out of fear of an intruder.
We've even hired Ezekiel's aunt to cook for us twice a week and we got hang out on their porch to visit when the temperature is alright!

Birthday cakes and broken ovens...

Today Joe and I were making guacamole dip and "trying" to bake a box cake for Joe's BIRTHDAY because we are having our friends over tonight to celebrate! We were chopping and mixing away when I went to pre-heat the oven and realized I had no clue how to ignite the gas oven. Joe came and looked and we could not find where to place the ignited match in the oven to start heating. There were 2 cute little old ladies talking right outside our door so we decided to ask them if they knew how to light the gas for the oven. They came in our house and first asked if we had any dogs because they were afraid of them...mind you there are about 20 stray dogs literally on EVERY street in this city but for some reason was scared of dogs in people's houses! They looked at the oven and said they didn't know what to do as well. I was beginning to think we were going to have a birthday party without the cake this year. But...the sweet, giving, thoughtful little ladies went next door and asked them if they knew how to turn the oven on but no luck, they were not certain either but did enlighten us to call the people who sold us the oven and ask them. Then, a few minutes later, the sweet, older of the 2 women, came back to our door with a gentlemen. He proceeded to come in, take a piece of the oven off, started the fire, and told us if there was anything else we needed his house was just a couple houses down. How incredibly nice of everyone but especially the older lady who looked everywhere to find us the solution to a working oven. Joe and I were thrilled we could have cake again for our friends and couldn't stop talking about how thoughtful that lady was and how this would probably never happen in a city in the States when again we heard someone at the door. It was the older lady again. She asked if we had any food for her because she was hungry! We have really had a hard time with this since being in Central America. A majority of folks here look at gringos only as a means to get money. Little kids are trained by their moms to come beg for money because they need food or the best one we have gotten is they need a prescription filled and actually show us a filthy old prescription they likely have been using for months (even when someone gives them money for the drug the day before). Our hearts break for these kids for not only the fact that they probably are hungry but they are taught to beg for money and that's their future (its also shocking an heartbreaking at how little importance is placed on schooling in many kids' lives).
We were especially convicted about how we need to respond to the beggars while reading James 2:15-16 "If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,' but you don't give them what the body needs, what good is it?" We bought crackers and granola bars for this reason to give the beggars on the street when they ask for money because who knows where the money is actually going and all the guide books so DO NOT give the kids money. It has been wonderful to see the eyes of kids and elderly women receive food but it blows me away at the lack of shame and gratitude for these things...it's simply their way of life and that's all they know. We have grown accustomed to this behavior but tonight when our sweet new friend came asking for food it really caught me off guard. Nothing is completely free I guess and we, as Americans, have so much more everything than this country and we sincerely want to share what we have...but I had to laugh tonight thinking how "neighborly help" isn't so free down here!

Happy Bday to Joe tomorrow and thank Jesus for the incredible blessing of his birth!!!

Love-Julie