A few recent developments that I wanted to share with you all. One has to do with next year and one has to do with this afternoon.
First, about next year. I finally met with a few people from the Nehemiah center to discuss more formally what sort of role I could play in the upcoming year. Coming away from the meeting with a better idea, I thought, prayed and talked to a few people about the decision and a few days a go I accepted the job, which is pretty exciting. It will be a combination of Santa Lucia and Nehemiah Center. I'll spend the first month in SL, working on my Spanish and cultural understanding as well as building relationships there. When I'm at the NC I'll be working in the "Media Center" where they're going to have a recording studio and put together videos and audio. The center will be built this November, and unfortunately my involvement at it's beginning will be limited as Nejapa is obviously my #1 commitment through the end of the year. The center will house a semester course from Trinity College in Chicago and also be used as a tool to gather and express the stories of hope coming out of Nicaragua. The way I understand it, I'll be coordinating the use of the Center, maybe helping people know how to use the equipment and also maintaining the equipment. Everything is a little bit unclear but will come together as things develop and move forward. I'll be quite involved in whatever happens there. I'll probably be involved in some other technical aspects of the NC. What's more, there are always seminars happening there for community leaders, business leaders, church leaders, etc.. so I'll be able to sit in on those. And the other CRC people plan to include me in what they're doing so I can get a broader experience and hopefully during all of this figure out some things about where my gifts and interests lay. I'm excited to start! One logistical change for me is that I will need to be raising my entire income. The Nehemiah Center doesn't raise any money as an organization, and I will (proposedly) be joining the ranks as a "volunteer" through CRC World Missions.
Second, about this afternoon. Well, it actually started a while back. I've been thinking for a while about getting a motorcycle...which finally saw fruitition this afternoon! I would never have come to this point myself if I didn't have friends doing the same, but I think it will be convenient, economical, and fun. I figure I will be able to save more than 50% on fuel expenses, which I count on lowering my cost of living. Also, 2 of my friends are purchasing bikes and we plan to do a little riding together. I know--I know. It's pretty dangerous out there, so I'll be driving carefully. There's been some jokes about a missionary biker's club. In general, they're becoming much more common down here, and I expect the biking community among Americans to also grow.
I've been feeling less stress with teaching lately, and am enjoying more and more the relationships with students. It's a challenge to work with them and teach them--it involves so much more than English. I've learned a great deal and am quite glad I took this job and stuck with it two years. I know the Lord has really taken this opportunity to mold me and shape me. I pray that as I serve him in the future at the Nehemiah Center, he will continue to do the same. We certainly serve a faithful God.
Gotta run. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! The Lord has been answering them! Let me know how you're doing sometime.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
As far as the...
upcoming year goes, I have pretty much made the decision not to return to teaching. I have spoken with both the principal at my school and the director. Both were understanding and supportive of me in the decision. It was definitely not an easy decision to come to. I will have to turn in the co-worker status with many good friends at the school, I will also be leaving many students that I have grown to love. The Lord is doing a great work in and through NCA Nejapa, and I am excited for the next teacher to be jumping into my shoes.
I wanted to share with you another potential opportunity, which is to work at/with the Nehemiah Center. I know several people who work there now. It's a very cool organization that is actually a smattering of many organizations working together to train and empower Nicaraguans as community leaders, pastors, business people, etc. Teaching a biblical worldview is foundational in their work. It's an organization that is growing rapidly and making a great impact. I'd likely be filling some kind of projects-based job, helping various organizations complete projects as they need help. It would give me a lot of exposure to various areas of development and types of work. I'm going to hopefully be talking with the director in a few weeks to basically hear about how they need help. I've already spoken informally with a few people who work there now. One brought up the idea of working both with the Nehemiah Center and in Santa Lucia (see the last article). I'm not sure what that would look like, but that's what the upcoming meeting will develop.
A couple of things that excite me about the possibility of working there. First, it allows me to stay in close proximity to the friends I've made at Nejapa (and at NCA), and possibly stay involved with some of the students whose lives I've grown a part of (through tutoring or big-brother type thing). Second, because I wouldn't leave Managua, I could continue living where I live and being a part of things that I've been a part of outside of school.
There have been a few other people with other suggestions, as well. For sure there are a lot of opportunities and needs here in Managua. But I'm going to need to feel the Lord pulling me one way or another in order to make any decisions about next year.
In other news, my hard drive failed this last weekend! And me without a backup external hard drive. Nuts! Fortunately I had saved a lot of my school files to a flash drive and much of my music to a friend's computer. But I still lost a great deal of information including photos and videos from the last couple years. I hope I can get someone to recover that information. Good thing is that I have an extended warranty to replace the bad hard drive at no cost.
If you know anyone who would make a great ESL teacher here at Nejapa, I would love for you to put me in touch with them. I want to see a good person take my place because it really is a great opportunity to be invovled with what God is doing here in Nicaragua.
Have a good one! Caio.
Prayer Items
I wanted to share with you another potential opportunity, which is to work at/with the Nehemiah Center. I know several people who work there now. It's a very cool organization that is actually a smattering of many organizations working together to train and empower Nicaraguans as community leaders, pastors, business people, etc. Teaching a biblical worldview is foundational in their work. It's an organization that is growing rapidly and making a great impact. I'd likely be filling some kind of projects-based job, helping various organizations complete projects as they need help. It would give me a lot of exposure to various areas of development and types of work. I'm going to hopefully be talking with the director in a few weeks to basically hear about how they need help. I've already spoken informally with a few people who work there now. One brought up the idea of working both with the Nehemiah Center and in Santa Lucia (see the last article). I'm not sure what that would look like, but that's what the upcoming meeting will develop.
A couple of things that excite me about the possibility of working there. First, it allows me to stay in close proximity to the friends I've made at Nejapa (and at NCA), and possibly stay involved with some of the students whose lives I've grown a part of (through tutoring or big-brother type thing). Second, because I wouldn't leave Managua, I could continue living where I live and being a part of things that I've been a part of outside of school.
There have been a few other people with other suggestions, as well. For sure there are a lot of opportunities and needs here in Managua. But I'm going to need to feel the Lord pulling me one way or another in order to make any decisions about next year.
In other news, my hard drive failed this last weekend! And me without a backup external hard drive. Nuts! Fortunately I had saved a lot of my school files to a flash drive and much of my music to a friend's computer. But I still lost a great deal of information including photos and videos from the last couple years. I hope I can get someone to recover that information. Good thing is that I have an extended warranty to replace the bad hard drive at no cost.
If you know anyone who would make a great ESL teacher here at Nejapa, I would love for you to put me in touch with them. I want to see a good person take my place because it really is a great opportunity to be invovled with what God is doing here in Nicaragua.
Have a good one! Caio.
Prayer Items
- continued prayer for faith as I approach a major decision
- data recovery. :)
- an excited and capable and ready new teacher
Monday, July 16, 2007
next up
Having my parents here renewed my awareness that even though I'm living in a pretty advanced city, I am definitely living in a different country and culture. I guess it's true that you get used to the ox/horse pulled carts in the road, 20 people crammed in the back of a tiny pickup truck, or guards with guns outside every place of business and at many residential complexes. Of course every once in a while I am reminded of that in other ways, too. Two nights ago my roommate Lennin and I shared a Macaroni and Cheese dinner. It was his first Mac 'n' Cheese ever! I was going to include a picture of us sharing this moment, but I couldn't find my camera (don't worry, I did find it the next day under some clothes). It wasn't more than a few months earlier that we shared a similar moment as he ate his first peanut butter and jelly sandwich. :) You might not guess it, but it's quite a joy to be sharing these things with someone who has never tasted them.
I wanted to ask for your prayers on a specific and very important thing. During the next month (or less) I will be deciding whether or not to return for a third year to teach English at NCA Nejapa. I have struggled with many aspects of teaching, and I realize that at least some of those are things that every new teacher struggles with, especially given a cross-cultural environment. However I have also been feeling that some struggles cannot necessarily been accredited to the difficult context in which I find myself, but rather are the result of my trying to be a teacher when in fact I'm better equipped for serving in another field. I have learned a ton by working in this capacity and wish I fit in a little better, but I keep getting the sense that my gift set lies elsewhere. I have spoken to the directors of the school and their responses were very gracious. They noted an appreciation for my two solid years (given that I finish this year) and recognized that the struggles that I have gone through could be good reason to leave. They also offered to support me should I feel the Lord leading me to continue teaching.
If I do decide to leave this position, I will be looking for different work. This is kind of a scary thought, since I'm not sure where I'd like to work or what I'd like to do. I am enjoying living in Nicaragua, and would like to continue. As I have said in previous emails, I am very satisfied with the friendships I have here, and really enjoy life in general outside of school. One opportunity that has come along here in Nicaragua would involve moving out of Managua and into a small town two hours northeast of here called Santa Lucia. My role in Santa Lucia would be somewhat unclear and undefined, generally having to do with community development. I would be shadowing a Nicaraguan man who pretty much trains local leaders in agriculture and leadership skills. I would be shadowing him for a while hopefully learning a lot and then looking for ways I could help and be involved in the development. This picture (from the previous post's slideshow) shows two women and a coffee-roaster. One part of my job would include working with this co-op and helping them to develop their business so that they could sell more coffee and generate more income. At first, this opporunity sounded great to me, but the excitement has been dwindling, and I'm not sure that I would enjoy it as much as I originally thought.
One interesting thing has been on my mind during the past week or so. A friend reminded me that often what we need for life decisions is not for God to give us a clear direction (i.e. handwriting on the wall or a personal email from God himself) but rather faith that in what we choose to do God will be present and working. That is to say, faith in his promise to bless his people as they go about his work in the world. Reminds me of a conversation I had with a certain Chad during my time in the Philippines. He was struggling through a decision of where to pursue higher education. For him, God was opening up different doors, allowing him to choose--God would be faithful in whatever Chad entered, in whatever calling he pursued. Maybe he does give us choices. Maybe it shouldn't be clear one way or the other. But one thing is clear, God always has been and will always be faithful.
It seems there is less than one week now until our midyear vacations are done. Next Monday we will resume the normal class schedule. I have enjoyed the vacation life and wish it could continue.
One more thing, almost forgot. Here's a photo of me with my new glasses. I'm not sure if I mentioned in my last post that a long-armed, skinny little monkey, lightning quick, took the previous pair right off my face from two feet away and through a chain linked fence. Had them back inside the cage and in a figure-eight before I could even blink. Beware of monkeys.
So it boils down to these prayer requests.
I wanted to ask for your prayers on a specific and very important thing. During the next month (or less) I will be deciding whether or not to return for a third year to teach English at NCA Nejapa. I have struggled with many aspects of teaching, and I realize that at least some of those are things that every new teacher struggles with, especially given a cross-cultural environment. However I have also been feeling that some struggles cannot necessarily been accredited to the difficult context in which I find myself, but rather are the result of my trying to be a teacher when in fact I'm better equipped for serving in another field. I have learned a ton by working in this capacity and wish I fit in a little better, but I keep getting the sense that my gift set lies elsewhere. I have spoken to the directors of the school and their responses were very gracious. They noted an appreciation for my two solid years (given that I finish this year) and recognized that the struggles that I have gone through could be good reason to leave. They also offered to support me should I feel the Lord leading me to continue teaching.
If I do decide to leave this position, I will be looking for different work. This is kind of a scary thought, since I'm not sure where I'd like to work or what I'd like to do. I am enjoying living in Nicaragua, and would like to continue. As I have said in previous emails, I am very satisfied with the friendships I have here, and really enjoy life in general outside of school. One opportunity that has come along here in Nicaragua would involve moving out of Managua and into a small town two hours northeast of here called Santa Lucia. My role in Santa Lucia would be somewhat unclear and undefined, generally having to do with community development. I would be shadowing a Nicaraguan man who pretty much trains local leaders in agriculture and leadership skills. I would be shadowing him for a while hopefully learning a lot and then looking for ways I could help and be involved in the development. This picture (from the previous post's slideshow) shows two women and a coffee-roaster. One part of my job would include working with this co-op and helping them to develop their business so that they could sell more coffee and generate more income. At first, this opporunity sounded great to me, but the excitement has been dwindling, and I'm not sure that I would enjoy it as much as I originally thought.
One interesting thing has been on my mind during the past week or so. A friend reminded me that often what we need for life decisions is not for God to give us a clear direction (i.e. handwriting on the wall or a personal email from God himself) but rather faith that in what we choose to do God will be present and working. That is to say, faith in his promise to bless his people as they go about his work in the world. Reminds me of a conversation I had with a certain Chad during my time in the Philippines. He was struggling through a decision of where to pursue higher education. For him, God was opening up different doors, allowing him to choose--God would be faithful in whatever Chad entered, in whatever calling he pursued. Maybe he does give us choices. Maybe it shouldn't be clear one way or the other. But one thing is clear, God always has been and will always be faithful.
It seems there is less than one week now until our midyear vacations are done. Next Monday we will resume the normal class schedule. I have enjoyed the vacation life and wish it could continue.
One more thing, almost forgot. Here's a photo of me with my new glasses. I'm not sure if I mentioned in my last post that a long-armed, skinny little monkey, lightning quick, took the previous pair right off my face from two feet away and through a chain linked fence. Had them back inside the cage and in a figure-eight before I could even blink. Beware of monkeys.
So it boils down to these prayer requests.
-prayer for guidance in my search for a decision about teaching.
-prayer for doors to open to desirable alternatives to teaching, and also for a faith to take life as it comes (and of course the strength and courage to go out and pursue it, too!)
-prayer for creativity, patience, and all that good stuff for the fast-approaching second semester.
Friday, July 13, 2007
visitation
A lot has happened since the last post. I finished my 3rd semester teaching, my parents came down for two weeks, and I turned another year older...26 now! The first semester finished as well as could have been expected. Very few failures, and only the students who deserved them got them. :) This is good because the first marking period found many very low grades. It seems like forever ago since I was teaching. My parents left 4 days ago, and while they were here time flew. It was great to have them here and we had a wonderful time. Let me tell you a little about their visit.
One of the first things we did was go for a tour of Managua with Steve. It is something I've been wanting to do for a long time now, actually. I have heard many people talk about how interesting and helpful his tour was--but always I have been busy and unable to join him. As we drove around the city to amazing sights and views, he filled us in on the fascinating history of Nicaragua as a republic and it's relationship with the US. Very much a time of learning for me. I loved it and I also found some amazing views of the city. Managua is the greenest capital city in Central America. With my parents we were also able to visit Ometepe Island, an island formed by two volcanoes, one of which is still active. With some luck were able to get the Dama de Hierro (my car) stuck on the inactive volcano. We had driven up two kilometers (4x4 necessary) and then hiked another one to get to a waterfall. We narrowly avoided getting stuck on the way up--sliding to the side and into bushes, but when we were turning around at the top it took two of us to get the thing stuck. My dad was spotting and I was driving. Neither of us took note of the giant rocks sticking up from the ground and we ended up with one tire in the middle of three rocks. The suspension was caught up on the forward most rock, and we weren't going anywhere. After an hour or more we were able to design and construct a ramp from the immediatley available materials and we had the car free.
We also enjoyed a sailboat tour in San Juan del Sur. The amazing tour included unbelievable sights of the coastline and more delicious food than we could handle. By the time lunch rolled around (we stopped at a beautiful cove beach), I barely had room for the apetizer. If you ever have the chance to try ceviche, don't pass it down, even if you don't like the thought of raw seafood, you'll enjoy the taste.
The rest of the time was spent relaxing a little more as we just made day trips from Managua. I took my parents to see the various crafts and skilled areas in and around the capital city: pottery, hammocks, pewter, furniture. Each of these things are made in different areas and we would have spent hours upon hours in each area if we had given my mom more time. We also stopped by the blacksmith school (link listed on this page) where my parents were able to see some hooks being made for them.
Overall we had a wonderful time together and we learned a lot about Nicaragua and how things are made and how people live. My parents aren't the first to come here and say, "We have never had a trip like this."
Here are some photos of the trip. Click here to see the full-sized version that includes captions. Watch for another post soon. There is more I need to say!
One of the first things we did was go for a tour of Managua with Steve. It is something I've been wanting to do for a long time now, actually. I have heard many people talk about how interesting and helpful his tour was--but always I have been busy and unable to join him. As we drove around the city to amazing sights and views, he filled us in on the fascinating history of Nicaragua as a republic and it's relationship with the US. Very much a time of learning for me. I loved it and I also found some amazing views of the city. Managua is the greenest capital city in Central America. With my parents we were also able to visit Ometepe Island, an island formed by two volcanoes, one of which is still active. With some luck were able to get the Dama de Hierro (my car) stuck on the inactive volcano. We had driven up two kilometers (4x4 necessary) and then hiked another one to get to a waterfall. We narrowly avoided getting stuck on the way up--sliding to the side and into bushes, but when we were turning around at the top it took two of us to get the thing stuck. My dad was spotting and I was driving. Neither of us took note of the giant rocks sticking up from the ground and we ended up with one tire in the middle of three rocks. The suspension was caught up on the forward most rock, and we weren't going anywhere. After an hour or more we were able to design and construct a ramp from the immediatley available materials and we had the car free.
We also enjoyed a sailboat tour in San Juan del Sur. The amazing tour included unbelievable sights of the coastline and more delicious food than we could handle. By the time lunch rolled around (we stopped at a beautiful cove beach), I barely had room for the apetizer. If you ever have the chance to try ceviche, don't pass it down, even if you don't like the thought of raw seafood, you'll enjoy the taste.
The rest of the time was spent relaxing a little more as we just made day trips from Managua. I took my parents to see the various crafts and skilled areas in and around the capital city: pottery, hammocks, pewter, furniture. Each of these things are made in different areas and we would have spent hours upon hours in each area if we had given my mom more time. We also stopped by the blacksmith school (link listed on this page) where my parents were able to see some hooks being made for them.
Overall we had a wonderful time together and we learned a lot about Nicaragua and how things are made and how people live. My parents aren't the first to come here and say, "We have never had a trip like this."
Here are some photos of the trip. Click here to see the full-sized version that includes captions. Watch for another post soon. There is more I need to say!
Friday, June 01, 2007
knowing and being known
Been a long time. I guess that means you're hungry again for another blog. Great! I have more than a couple things that have been wanting to make it to my blog for quite some time.
First, well, it has been a while now since it really occupied more of my thoughts, but it struck me just how important it is to know others and be known. It is such a basic part of being human. The problem is it's much easier to live life without ever having a really good connection with someone. True, we don't want to open to just anyone, and I recognize how those self-protection mechanisms are constantly on alert. Yet, I believe that those deep friendships are so vital to a full enjoyment of life. Anyway, just as a sidenote, I encourage you to keep developing those friendships--try to know and be known by at least one friend. Ask hard questions. Be vulnerable. And find joy in serving others. I believe it's a part of God's original plan.
I'm sure you're also wondering about my car situation. Well, I have partially fixed the problem of the truck being 2.5 inches lower on the right. That is a good thing. Set me back $235 to have the leaf springs reshaped (apparently one was slightly flatter than the other, aggravating the problem) and had the u-bolts and bushings replaced. My car now rides probably 2 inches taller than stock...in the front. This is great except that now I have to replace the shocks (they're bad anyway) with ones two inches longer. This means probably double the price. Looking at more than $200 for this, too! Between these fixes and the list I've been adding to, I'm trying to decide what really must be fixed and how much is definately necessary before my parents make the trip in 3 weeks. Also kind of funny: because of the first downpour we had yesterday I realized there is some pretty big leak happening somewhere in the dash and falling onto the floor by the clutch. Good thing Toyota put nickle-sized hole in the floor of the car. near that same area. :)
In terms of teaching, I don't know exactly how to feel. First, let me say I enjoy working with children. I enjoy the relationships with them...when we are not in class. When we are in class I feel like I'm fighting with them all the time trying to get their attention to help them learn English and how to respect me and the other students. And I feel like it's a losing battle. I believe that someone skilled in teaching ESL could make this a very good and very successful program. I did want to mention something that was meaninful for me two weeks ago. I had raised a concern that high school students were coming late to my classes, were being unprepared, and generally a bit disrespectful. The director called a meeting with the other high school teachers and then and there they made the commitment to make sure students were on time and ready for class. They also agreed that one of them would sit in my class to monitor the respect levels and be ready to step in if I needed any help. These two things were for me hugely encouraging as high school has been by far my biggest challenge. Since this started, things have been going slightly better. Most of the time I am able to start the class without having to chase people to their seat then having them leave the room to get a pencil or their textbook or a notebook. It's a relief to start without that negativity.
Mother's day was this past week. We had a very entertaining celebration presentation at the school. Many of the classes organized and performed a dance. We had a dance instructor come to the school and work with the different classes everyday for a week. She did a fantastic job and I was very impressed by the quality of the dancing. Even the kindergartners had an amazing dance. I took some video, so if I can swing it I'll show it to you in a later email.
I'm really enjoying the new living situation. If you'll recall, I moved out of the house with the Honduran family and into a house across the street with a friend. We bought a bread machine at a local second hand store and have been baking our own bread. Quite fun, and quite unheard of here. Still trying to perfect the recipes, but I'd say we're doing a good job.
One more interesting note. A drug bust was made in the apartments that I lived in when I first arrived. Check out this friend's blog for some photos and a brief synopsis.
Prayer Items
First, well, it has been a while now since it really occupied more of my thoughts, but it struck me just how important it is to know others and be known. It is such a basic part of being human. The problem is it's much easier to live life without ever having a really good connection with someone. True, we don't want to open to just anyone, and I recognize how those self-protection mechanisms are constantly on alert. Yet, I believe that those deep friendships are so vital to a full enjoyment of life. Anyway, just as a sidenote, I encourage you to keep developing those friendships--try to know and be known by at least one friend. Ask hard questions. Be vulnerable. And find joy in serving others. I believe it's a part of God's original plan.
I'm sure you're also wondering about my car situation. Well, I have partially fixed the problem of the truck being 2.5 inches lower on the right. That is a good thing. Set me back $235 to have the leaf springs reshaped (apparently one was slightly flatter than the other, aggravating the problem) and had the u-bolts and bushings replaced. My car now rides probably 2 inches taller than stock...in the front. This is great except that now I have to replace the shocks (they're bad anyway) with ones two inches longer. This means probably double the price. Looking at more than $200 for this, too! Between these fixes and the list I've been adding to, I'm trying to decide what really must be fixed and how much is definately necessary before my parents make the trip in 3 weeks. Also kind of funny: because of the first downpour we had yesterday I realized there is some pretty big leak happening somewhere in the dash and falling onto the floor by the clutch. Good thing Toyota put nickle-sized hole in the floor of the car. near that same area. :)
In terms of teaching, I don't know exactly how to feel. First, let me say I enjoy working with children. I enjoy the relationships with them...when we are not in class. When we are in class I feel like I'm fighting with them all the time trying to get their attention to help them learn English and how to respect me and the other students. And I feel like it's a losing battle. I believe that someone skilled in teaching ESL could make this a very good and very successful program. I did want to mention something that was meaninful for me two weeks ago. I had raised a concern that high school students were coming late to my classes, were being unprepared, and generally a bit disrespectful. The director called a meeting with the other high school teachers and then and there they made the commitment to make sure students were on time and ready for class. They also agreed that one of them would sit in my class to monitor the respect levels and be ready to step in if I needed any help. These two things were for me hugely encouraging as high school has been by far my biggest challenge. Since this started, things have been going slightly better. Most of the time I am able to start the class without having to chase people to their seat then having them leave the room to get a pencil or their textbook or a notebook. It's a relief to start without that negativity.
Mother's day was this past week. We had a very entertaining celebration presentation at the school. Many of the classes organized and performed a dance. We had a dance instructor come to the school and work with the different classes everyday for a week. She did a fantastic job and I was very impressed by the quality of the dancing. Even the kindergartners had an amazing dance. I took some video, so if I can swing it I'll show it to you in a later email.
I'm really enjoying the new living situation. If you'll recall, I moved out of the house with the Honduran family and into a house across the street with a friend. We bought a bread machine at a local second hand store and have been baking our own bread. Quite fun, and quite unheard of here. Still trying to perfect the recipes, but I'd say we're doing a good job.
One more interesting note. A drug bust was made in the apartments that I lived in when I first arrived. Check out this friend's blog for some photos and a brief synopsis.
Prayer Items
-Prayers of thanks for the support I've felt in high school.
-Please pray that I will have understanding in dealing with 2nd graders who have no attention span and 4th graders who will not stop talking.
-Pray that I will be able to experience those know/be known friendships.
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