slums

I just came across this website: www.slumdoc.com. It's a Dordt College project. Looks highly interesting. It quotes the United Nations statistic that 1 in 6 of the world's population live in slums. That's a shockingly high number. That's 1 billion. By 2030, it is estimated that that number will be close to 3 billion. The fotos from the homepage all come from Managua, from a day that I spent with the prof leading the documentary project. I took him down to the city dump, near the homes of my two little friends Breyling and Mauro. In fact, one of the photos shows another boy sponsored by the same program that they are. I also just finished a video project for this minitry, called Hand in Hand Ministries. I encourage you to check out the website I mentioned. Read the blog entries. Watch some of the films. Allow God to work in your heart and change the way you look at poverty--if your heart needs to be changed, as mine often does.

The site makes me wonder what I can do, what I should be doing, living so close to poverty. Here in Managua, we're faced with begging every day. Even if we can avoid public transportation and the poorer areas of town, it's not uncommmon to come face to face with adults, children, disabled, mothers who look at us with outstretched hands. Not a half a mile from my house I often see a young boy or an older woman on my way home from work. I've wondered what I can do. Probably not much. I've made a small effort to get to know them. I did learn the boy's name, Jimmy, and whenever I see him, I ask him how things are, how school is doing. But is that really enough? Does he recognize me yet? Where are his parents? Is he begging because his parents haven't given him anything to eat? Have they sent him? How can one respond to such a situation?

Breyling and his sister came within inches of losing their scholarship with Hand in Hand this week. The ministry pays for a large part of the school tuition, but does not pay it all in order to encourage the parents to take ownership of the opportunity. In Breyling's case, his parental figures are very unsupportive. They tell him he is poor and cannot afford to do certain projects rather than come up with ways of doing them that are within their means. This time, his parents did not pay their portion of the tuition on time, so the two were set to be suspended for a day. His grandmother was quite upset threatened that if they were suspended, she'd pull them out of the program. And they would pay if the pair were not suspended. I'm not exactly sure how it worked out, but they are still in the program, thanks to God. Please pray for Breyling's situation. Pray for his mother and grandmother, that they would start taking Breyling and his sister's lives seriously and support them in their education. This is one opportunity they have to break the cycle of poverty in their family. If they lose their scholarship and connection with this ministry, their future is much more uncertain. His behavior at school have also been a growing problem.

So much hurt in the world. So much pain. On a small scale as much as a global scale. Something is not right. Something is terribly wrong. Do you ever get the sense that this is not how things are supposed to be? I do. I hope you do, too. I also hope that you can live with the certainty that things will be better one day, when the Creator reclaims his creation, judging evil and restoring good. That tension is healthy. Live and love, and long deeply for the day of eternity.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Breyling and Mauro from during the time when my parents came for a visit. Breyling is on the left, and Mauro on the right in the first photo.





prayer items:

-Breyling and his family: a change in his the attitude of his parents could change his life incredibly!
-Media studio: pray that the next couple of weeks and months we will be able to make some solid plans for the future of the media studio.
-Rain: the rains have begun again, and everything is turning green again! Praise the Lord for his faithfulness.

the candle burns on

It's been almost a month now that I've been burning the candle at both ends. The first two weeks of this month were some of the most productive I've had in a long time--several deadlines converging at once, lots of pressure to get things done, lots of hours at the Nehemiah Center, and a lot of energy and focus. However, the candle is getting shorter, and I'm getting tired. I think I need to force myself to rest.

Among other things in the last month, I finished the Spanish version of a promotional video I was working on in the Media Studio for Hand in Hand Ministries. I might be able to shrink it down to email size if anyone is interested in seeing it--I still don't know about posting it on YouTube since we don't have licensing to publish the music in it, though I might try it anyway. I'm in process right now of adapting it for English viewers.

This past Saturday I took my two little Nicaraguan friends to a super cross event, of which there are very few in Nicaragua. It was a lot of fun. There were quad and motorcycle races, and even several heats of kids on small dirt bikes, impressively fast and fearless. Of course there was also the stunt riders that did wheelies and stoppies, and all kinds of other tricks 30 feet in the air off the giant ramp. They make it look so easy...I can't wait to try it when I get my bike fixed! ...right. The guys had a great time taking pictures with my phone (I had lent out my camera, unfortunately!), watching the stunts, checking the raffled ticket numbers with ours--we didn't end up winning the free motorcycle, sadly. One of the boys is in risk of losing his sponsorship. Unfortunately the parents of these boys aren't very supportive at all of their kids' education. While one of them seems to have a lot of internal drive and motivation, the other gets discouraged easily and has been bahaving poorly in class and not doing his homework. I hope that my interest in them will be an encouragement to them in many ways.

We're at about 90% legal with our software in the Nehemiah Center now! This past week one person who has been quite resistant to this movement actually asked me to push her completely into the change rather than little by little weaning her off Microsoft, and I consider this a huge acheivement. Even more shocking, she told me that she's actually been liking Ubuntu and OpenOffice! I've spent a lot of time working with her to make the transition as smooth and painless as possible, and convincing her that it's a good idea. I figured that if I could get her onboard, others would naturally follow. A lot has been acheived in this area in the past year--and I'm speaking mostly of mindsets--which are hard to change. Everyone at the Nehemiah Center now understands the difference between legal and illegal software, as well as the benefits of using legal software. They're also learning about the world and benefits of Free or Open Source Software (appropriately called "Software Libre" or liberated software, in Spanish). Moreover, the perception of the open source alternatives has been improving and I've already had several people at the Nehemiah Center ask me about installing the same stuff on their home computers. We're creating ripples, I do believe, and can already see the way our efforts to have integrity in this area are impacting others.

So the candle is still burning. And I suspect it will be for a while. It's nice to be able to take a couple hours this morning and rest a little before going in! Have a great week, make sure you also get your rest!

Prayer items:

-Please continue to pray me in terms of balancing my workload, and for balancing that with my personal life outside of work.
-One of the most stressful things at work is when the computer equipment all crashes at once--a lot of people count on things working right in order to do their jobs effectively. We've had a lot of challenges in this area lately--pray that our equipment cooperates, and that I have wisdom in knowing how to respond when it doesn't!
-Praise God for the advancements we've been able to make with software, and pray that we continue to have an impact in Nicaragua in this area.

centros de producción

Unfortunately it seems that lots of time between posts has become commonplace! I'm deciding right now that I'm going to be posting more in the coming weeks and months even if the posts are short. I can't keep leaving my supporters hanging!

I do have some excuses, though. I've hardly been at home the last three weeks. First, I hosted some special visitors in Nicaragua; my parents arrived in mid-May for a planned visit. Three days later someone showed up behind me at the hotel, slapped his hands over my face and said in a familiar voice, "Guess who?" Problem was, I couldn't think of anyone who would show up at our hotel and do that to me. To my amazement, it was my brother Mike! What in the world? It was a great beginning to a week with our family all together in Nicaragua. We sat by the pool, enjoyed cold drinks, climbed volcanoes, visited coffee farms, rode horses, ate some excellent food, saw some monkeys, and generally had a fantastic time. When my parents left, Mike stayed around for a couple of days and we had some more fun. We rode motorcycles out to the beach on a smooth and windy road. Had a drink and enjoyed the beauty. We also made it over to a school called ESVO (just started a website) where a couple friends of mine teach blacksmithing and woodworking in an impoverished area just outside Managua. We each made a small leaf hook, which we were quite proud of. Of course mine turned out better. :) Here are a few pictures:

Together again. An afternoon at Selva Negra.


Sitting on a fallen tree looking up at monkeys.


Horse back riding at Selva Negra--super beautiful views.


The chapel. Many buildings have plants all over the roof.


Standing in front of Cerro Negro (the Black Hill).


Climbing Cerro Negro (the Black Hill) with my fam and roommate Lennin.


Then the parents left and Mike and I went for a ride out to the coast.


Mike working on his inferior leaf hook.


Mike's finished hook.


After a week and a half of out-of-office time with my family, it was time to get to work again and catch up on some projects that had been on the back burner. However, first day back I was surprised by a request to join a group of people heading to the Rio Coco, which is the river on the northern border of Nicaragua. I would meet up with some people from Acción Médica Cristiana (AMC, a local NGO) and fly with them to Waspam where we'd get in a boat and head up river for four days. The communities on the river are only accessible by boat. My task on the trip would be two-fold. First, I would be interviewing several people involved in a project that we're supporting (through AMC). Second, I'd be scouting out accomodations and doing some forward thinking for an adventure tour on the river planned for sometime in early 2010 (wow! hard to believe we're already approaching a new decade!). Two days after the river trip, the annual Central American CRC missionary retreat started, which lasted about four and a half days. So that is part of the reason it's taking so long to get another blog out!

Let me take a minute to explain the project on the river. Almost three years ago, we initiated a project with AMC that would see a "Centro Productivo" start to experiment with new crops, new types of animals, and new methods for raising them. The idea would be to create a model farm that uses less land, is more productive, and does it with much greater long term sustainability...both in financial terms and in sustainability of water and land. At the same time, the idea was to train locals in the new methods (transfer the new technologies) and supply them with seeds and animals to begin to diversify and better care for their own parcels. The first year, 20 "partners" would be trained. The second year, 20 more would be added, and the first 20 would help train them. Year three would see another 20 partners, bringing the total to 60. There would certainly be an overflow affect, as well, naturally, as others would begin to teach informally and learn by watching those involved. Below is a photo of Roberto and his family.


Roberto implemented a traditional system of planting only beans, rice, and corn. This system generally leaves the soil less and less fertile after each harvest, meaning a smaller harvest each time. It also begins with clearning the planting area by cutting every tree and then burning whatever remains, which also leaves the land without nutrients. To make things worse, if Roberto were to plant his crops close to his house, his animals would certainly eat them, since they are often left to run free and scavange for food. Roberto would therefore end up walking 2-4 hours away to plant his crops where his animals woudn't eat them, sometimes chasing his animals just as far in order to retrieve them. Being away from home for so much of the day also leaves his family and property at risk of theft or damage. During the past two years, Roberto has now learned the methods and the importance of keeping your animals fenced in, diversifying crops to replenish the nutrients in the soil and provide more rounded and consistant year round diets. He is able to stay close to home and care for and protect his family, his animals, and use the time he would have spent walking on productive work.

There are many many other stories like that of Roberto, and the number grows every year. Through the project we started with AMC, we have been able to help them duplicate it and sell it to two other funding org's to start 4 more "Centros Productivos" along the river, each growing by 20 partners per year. I visited each of them and it is outstanding what they are accomplishing and what kind of vision the communities are gaining for what can be done. There is so much more interesting stuff I could share about the farms, the people, and culture on the river, but I'm afraid I'm already reaching attention limits. :) Perhaps more for the next blog.

Below are a few more photos. Below them you will find some prayer requests if you would like to support me through prayer. Please contact me if you'd like to come for a visit to learn more about what God is doing through me and in Nicaragua through the ministries of the Nehemiah Center. If you'd like to support me financially, there is a link on the right-side panel, or you can email me for more information. Thanks for following along!

There we are, just got on the boat. And me just as innocent as any gringo entering the river.


Here we (they) are pulling the boat through some of the narrower sections of the river.


Starting early the next morning.


Me in front of the first Centro we visited. See the CRWRC logo?


Using some new methods for planting and caring for crops.


An image of one of the training centers during one of our half-vigils (lights are powered by generator, which we brought).


During one of the half-vigils, an object from the message on the ground in front.


The means of transportation on the river, a boat carved from a tree, with a few sticks or paddles.


Can you imagine living there?


Out for a joy ride?


Prayer Items:

-pray for creativity, vision, and drive as I go about working with videos and the media studio (more info about this in the next blog).
-pray for energy and discernment to tackle wisely all the tasks on my plate for the coming weeks.
-pray that I continually have a heart of service and love for the country and people that I am serving.

no more loose screws

So things continue to get better with my shoulder. My range is about at 85-90% I think, and strength about the same. Two weeks ago Friday the removed the screw that was installed during operation screw-dave on December 31. Disappointingly, the screw is smaller than I expected, measuring in at just over a measly one inch. They gave it to me after the surgery in a little bag, along with a little washer. I immediately felt my range improve. The same time they removed the screw, they also removed a little bump that we found after the surgery. It seems to have been the bent-over end of some of the string they used to fix the ligaments in place. The two incisions they made were about 1/4 inch, and each recieved 2 stitches. Since then the stitches have come out and I am impressed at how good things look. With PT, I've started more strength building movements with weights and theraband.

Here's a picture of the screw before it came out. See the washer?

From Shoulder Surgery 2

Not too bad from this angle. Click on the "Shoulder Surgery 2" link for more photos.

From Shoulder Surgery 2

The Nehemiah Center continues to be a busy place. Always new challenges in the computer realm, and things are advancing in the Media Studio as well. I'll be making a presentation very soon to those who work in Nehemiah Center called "Introducing Open Source Software, OpenOffice, and Ubuntu." This presentation is very important as it's the first in a series and the foundation for a lot of changes I've been pushing for and working on throughout the last year. It's finally time to start making it more public. I'm working on more specific presentations and training sessions for OpenOffice and Ubuntu.

In case you're not sure what I'm talking about, "open source software" describes the type of process used to make programs which allows other people to study, modify, and improve the same software, while using it for any purpose and sharing it with anyone else for free. It's a very community-oriented approach to computing and programming. Users are developing it and making it available for anyone else who can use it. To me, it seems like a self-less model on which to base software development. Examples of famous open-source projects include the Firefox web browser, Wikipedia (the web program that it runs on is open source software, and the data within can be edited, modified, or added to by anyone in the world), OpenOffice (a full-range office suite modeled after Microsoft Office). At the Nehemiah Center, by moving to OpenOffice and Ubuntu, we've been able to replace 80% of our pirated software this past year with open-source software, increasing our resistance to viruses, allowing us to have more integrity as a Christian organization, and puttin us in a better position to encourage others in Nicaragua to do the same. A far-off goal would be for us (Nicaraguans exposed to these concepts through the Nehemiah Center) to begin to participate in the development of open-source software...but as I said, that's a far off goal. During this next year, we plan to finish what we started and erradicate pirated software completely from the Center.

Yesterday I took Breyling and Mauro (my "little brothers") for the second time to the monthly men's prayer breakfast in Managua. It's organized by a missionary here with the intention of giving men a time to come together to pray, hold each other accountable, and refocus their lives on God's will. Pretty low-key, we have breakfast, hear a brief message from someone in the group, share reactions to the message anything else important in our lives, and then we pray together. I'm the only one that has brought children to the event (and have wondered why!) and have found it to be an excellent opportunity to expose these two boys to Christian men who are dedicated to serving the Lord. It also sets the tone for and creates a great time for me to pray with the guys. After the prayer breakfast we hang out for a while and do whatever. Spending time with them is quite meaningful, from the little things to the big. One great memory I have of growing up is sitting on my dad's lap steering the car (once we were safely in a residential area, of course) and so yesterday I gave these guys that same experience, which they loved. Last month as we sat at a Tip-Top restaurant (for lunch), they began singing the words to the song being played. To put it softly, it was a song about having a relations with a girl. Although these guys are young, they're exposed to graphic lyrics and television all the time, and that aside from what they're exposed to in the streets. It began an excellent discussion about sex and when and why it is appropriate. Yesterday Breyling reminded me that we had that discussion last time, which really made me happy. He also told me he talked to one of the men from the prayer breakfast when he saw him at his school. The Lord has really opened up an opportunity for me to be a part of their lives and is clearly working in them.

As, I promised, here's a video that I helped put together. CCDH is a partner of the Nememiah Center and CRWRC as well as Partners Worldwide. They are doing excellent things here in Nicaragua. Click once to watch the video in this windos. Twice will open the video in YouTube. Once there, if you want to watch a higher res version, follow the link under the lower right corner of the video.



Prayer Items

-Please pray for healing to continue without complications and that strength and range will return quickly.
-Pray that the current video project will come together and that we'll be able to finish up with it soon.
-Pray for the political situation in Nicaragua and for its leaders, that they would lead justly and fairly.

new heights

Hey! I hope you're all doing well. It's about time I post again and include some more pictures, eh? Well, as I mentioned last time, I've moved into a new house. Still living with Lennin, a friend from Nicaragua. Click on the album below to get a tour with captions. The house, while perhaps equivalent square footage, offers a larger common room, but also brings some new spacial challenges forward. Overall, I'm hopeful that we'll enjoy this place more.



Thoughts of Sea to Sea have still not died. We've updated our website with some new things. We posted the final amount for fund raising. Our original goal (including the 4:1 matching and trip costs) was $110k. We are excited to announce that we've raised a total of almost $280k!

I encourage you to go the the website here (http://bikenica.wordpress.com) to see the following:

• a few more details of the funds raised (on the blog section)
  
• "fun facts and quick stats"--interesting and crazy statistics on anything from flat tires to fatal collisions with animals to most nutrition bars consumed in one day. this post also has some of the most interesting stories about the travails of the trip! (blog section)
• relections--many of the riders have posted some reflections on what they remember about the trip and how it impacted them. I am one of those that posted.

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of my own pictures of the event. I've posted a few below, but you may have seen them on other sites already. If not, perfect! :) I encourage you too to go to Rachel's blog (a good friend and fellow support team member) for some more C2C pictures and another perspective on the accident. :) She's got some good pictures, including one of me at the hospital in Siuna. Of course, you can always go to my own photo gallery here.

The entire group of cyclists as they began in Puerto Cabezas, Carribean Ocean. Sadly, I wasn't there!

My very sympathetic support crew!

My next post I'm going to include a video that I helped film and edit. Releases have now been signed by those appearing in the film, so we can release it publicly. Stay tuned!

Prayer Items:

-I've been having discussions about my focus for this year. Pray that we have wisdom in what I should concentrate my energies this year.
-Still very busy--please pray for extra energy to accomplish what needs to be done.
-Healing continues in the shoulder. Strength is coming back faster than mobility, but I think that's okay. I still have a screw in there, and that limits mobility. Pray for the PTs and the doc, that they'll know exactly what needs to be done to get me back to normal fastest!