May ’16 Highlights (Photo Blog)

    I started the month on a mini-vacation with Cadence to visit some friends in Copan, Honduras (pictured above at the Copan Ruins) with a bonus day in El Tunco, El Salvador. Ever since I started talking about moving to Nicaragua, I had dreamed of also traveling around Central America. It’s been exciting to see in the last 1 1/2 years how that’s actually been able to happen. Now I’m just lacking a trip to Panama to have visited all of the Central American countries. We had such a fun time seeing the ministry at Urban Promise and spending days with really lovely community visiting hot springs, Mayan ruins, coffee shops galore, and hanging out at people’s homes. It was such a refreshing few days away. 

 

    This month we also welcomed our summer sponsorship interns: Kylee, Jen, and Emily (pictured above). We are so excited to have these girls with us for May and June. They have such sweet spirits and hearts to serve our community. Kylee and Jen are both primarily providing tutoring to our students in preK-2nd grade. They both have specific kids assigned to them in Candelaria, Nuevo Amanecer, and Santa Matilde. They will be working with these precious kiddos over the next two months to help them improve in school. Emily is a social work major and while she is also helping with tutoring, her main project is mapping out the strengths and needs of Candelaria. She will be working with Praying Rosa and group of youth to assess the communities needs and their own areas of strength. We will then be connecting people in the community to serve one another. We long to see the church moving in their strengths and meeting needs within their own community. These girls have been such a joy to work with and we are really excited about this next month as well. 

 

   All this month, Cadence and I have been hosting Sunday school teacher training for new teachers in Candelaria and Nuevo Amanecer (Team builders pictured above- photo by Cadence Snyder). We are excited to see some of our youth stepping out of their comfort zones and into new leadership roles. This month they have been getting rid of their embarrassment, studying theology, learning teaching skills, and learning new songs to sing with the kids. I can’t wait to see how well they do next month with their classes. 

 

    This month we were able to provide dental cleanings, health teaching, and fluoride treatments for all of our sponsored kiddos in Santa Matilde. I love to see the kids learning how to properly brush their teeth and helping prevent future dental health problems (Lydia pictured above learning to brush her teeth). 

 

    This month 10 of the youth in Nuevo Amanecer were baptized (Eva’s baptism pictured above). I loved being there to celebrate alongside Eva, Belkis, Suley, Yira, Guadelupe, Fatima, Jamie, Magdiel, Joel and Jonathan as they made this commitment to the Lord. Such a beautiful night of celebration! I cannot wait to see all that the Lord has planned for these incredible youth. 

 

   I have been really thankful for family times this month. We have had a lot of time together to just enjoy being relationship with one another like beach days, game nights, and day off family brunch (pictured above).  

 

    Construction on the Abide Home is nearly complete (pictured above). It’s amazing to be able to arrive at the house and it feel like coming to a home. I love to see how this dream has taken shape and become something real and tangible. It’s been such a beautiful process. I’ve been incredibly blessed to work with such a faithful and honest contractor. Manuel has been an absolute dream to work with! I’m thankful for this house and cannot wait to see the family that will be built here. Please continue to pray with me as I figure out timing and transitions to move from New Song into Abide.