Exploring Nicaragua

The ferry, packed in tight

Beach at Ometepe

No he didn't really eat the dead giant cockroach

This past week we took a break from regular missionary life and saw some sights around Nicaragua.  First, we went to the island of Ometepe, which is an amazing island of two volcanoes in the middle of Lake Nicaragua.  We rented a little 4 passenger car (yes we stuffed all 8 of us in it) and took it on a ferry across the lake to the island.  We found an amazing little hotel right on the beach.  We left all our electronics at home and there was no internet anyway, so we were left to creative devices and fun in the sun for our enjoyment.  We did as much exploring as you can in a 4 passenger non 4 wheel drive vehicle on an island of mostly dirt roads.  We had a flat tire which ended up taking over an hour to fix.  The plus side of the flat tire is they had a pet monkey and all the kids were able to hold and play with the monkey for the hour long wait.  This has been a lifelong (all 12 years lifelong) dream of Zoe so she was thrilled.  We hiked around the island and played in the waves that seemed like ocean wave and Kaiyin hunted fish with a spear.  It was an amazing experience. 

More beach, other island 

Kaiyin didn't really eat the gross fish :)

Petting the monkey, he ended up crawling all over her

Sand Castles

hike to a restaurant, I'm not kidding!

After the island we headed to the Pacific coast where we spent three days hiking and boogie boarding as well as attending the local church.  Eric ended up playing the Djembe at the service for Worship time.  No sting ray stings this trip!  During our trip we saw more than 40 jelly fish, 20 puffer fish (one completely blown up and dried out and of course we brought it with us), two scorpions, more spiders than we can count, lots of monkey in trees, a giant cockroach and a stinkbug!  The kids used their creative juices to create habitats for snails, fashion wooden rafts from sticks and vines, create sand castles with beautiful flowers and invent new games.  We have been praying together every night and reading which is something we had missed with our busy life in the States.

Kaiyin helping with the Djembe

scorpion

Jellyfish!

Boogie Boarding, so much fun

Tonight is our last night in Granada Nicaragua and we head out to Guatemala tomorrow.  Nicaragua is an amazing country full of amazing people.  There is no doubt the need is great here.  Please pray as we reflect on our past month in Nicaragua and the missionaries here who are continuing amazing work in Nicaragua.  We are excited to be headed back to Guatemala as we haven't been back since we left the mission field 7 years ago.  Also pray for Eric's job situation as he is still needing to have work here to help fund our trip.  Pray for the kids that we will be working with at Manos de Compassion ministries.  Thanks for the prayers for Kaiyin, he's had a really great few days.