An evening outside...

I'm sitting on my front steps watching the fireflies in the shrubs and the clouds spill over the cliffs like fog waterfalls. The stars are coming out as the jungle begins its evening song. I am such a long way from Reno.

I went inside for dinner with the family. Just as dinner was finishing we heard a group calling from outside the house "Haddox's!" Was the call. A group of about 15 came in our gate and up to the house. They came to get us for a game of ultimate frisbee out front of our house on the airstrip with a lighted LED frisbee. It is pitch black out tonight because there is no moon in the sky. I stumbled into the field carrying Zoe on my back (she hurt her leg and can't walk very good) the two of us laid on the grass and looked up into the dark sky speckled with more stars than I have ever seen before. There are so many stars that I can make out the silhouette of the three volcanoes that surround us. We can hear the group of kids calling out to each other like in a soccer game and running right in front of us on the field but I still can't make out a single figure or even movement of any kind, nothing but blackness below the horizon with streaks of color from the lit frisbee in flight. Such an unusual but beautiful sight. I can't help but chuckle a little with happiness.

True Riches...

After being a month in Nicaragua (and spending way too much money), we were anxious to get to Guatemala where we knew our budget would shrink.  Instead of $1500 for the month, our rent here is $300.  However different our house in Nicaragua was to our house in the States, this house in Guatemala is so vastly different than our house in Nicaragua.  For the $1200 difference, we have no washer or dryer.  There is mold growing all over the walls, we have a tiny fridge the size of a hotel fridge (there’s still 8 of us), a camping stove that never really does boil water, water that only runs if you turn on a pump (no pressure tank), beams which are broken, three stories, big metal locks, bars on windows, and widow makers (water that goes through an electrical device that heats the water as it goes through it for showers), we have 7 plates (I broke one after 2 days), 8 forks, 8 knives, 8 bowls, one pan, one wok, one pot and a few serving bowls with two big spoons and three knives.  There are 3 volcanoes that surround us and as we walk the path to the children’s home, women are chopping wood in the forest for their cook fires.  This has really made us reflect on what our true needs are.  Even with so little, we are still rich because we have solid walls and a kitchen and bathroom that are located indoors. We have running water (even though we have to turn on a pump and have to fill a cistern with a hose).  However little material things we presently reside in, we are reminded that our true riches are in Christ. We have hope in Him and are blessed to be children of the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. 

-Heather

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.

Life here vs Life there

I've been thinking about the dailyness (yes I made up a word) of living here vs living in the States.  There are so many little things that make living in a third world different on a daily level. Even though we're in an upscale home, daily living is not the same.  Here are a few of them:

Washing dishes by hand with hard soap and cold water
Lighting the stove with a match
Taking a cold shower (and trying not to shower at night or in the morning because the water's even colder)
Walking to an outdoor market to buy fruit (I bought a papaya over 3 ft long for 1 dollar!)
Not eating cheese (it's very expensive and tastes like farm)
Not drinking milk everyday (again, very expensive and it comes in boxes or bags not refrigerated)
Drinking all drinks lukewarm (it's tough to bring ice home without it melting)
Living outside (houses here have an open courtyard, with an open roof)
Turning on individual air conditioning units in the rooms
putting bug spray on everyday (because houses have open roofs)
shooing the ants away out of your food
inability to make a phone call to family
no TV
no video games
no fast food
my 6 kids in one room
chasing mice (my kids have already caught one and are chasing one now as I write this blog)
no can opener
reading in a hammock
church bells at 6:30, 6:45 and 7:00 am every morning
pool!

walking, walking, walking

This may not be everyone's experience, but it's the difference in our lives.  Some things frustrating, some things awesome!

Ministry and birthdays...

Heather and I have had opportunities to contribute and teach in the ministries here. The kids have also found meaningful ways to contribute and love on the kids of Pantanal.

Heather has been able to lead several kids events and use her giftedness. One section of Granada is quite poor and has had a reputation for being dangerous so people have avoided the area. There is a "kids club" there and Heather had a good time singing and dancing with the kids there.

She worked with some of the local kids in another area with a local church Fortin where they have a feeding program. There she taught the kids some fun
songs and a lesson that Jesus is powerful based on the story  of the 5 loaves and 2 fish. She had 5 loaves of bread and then she brought out lots of bread and fed all the kids there. They all had a great time.

All the kids were happy to help pass out the food. Kaiyin was a little unsure, he knew it was serious and didn't want to do it wrong. Heather had good conversations with the local mothers and the kids were able to connect with the local kids there.

I had to return our rented car before the event was over so Heather and the kids had to walk back the 3 miles from Fortin.

We had planned on helping out at a "backyard Bible Study" for kids in Pantanal. We all crammed into a taxi to drive out to pantanal. 9 people in a tiny toyota. The many speed bumps were exciting as the
car creaked and scraped. We arrived and walked down the dirt roads of Pantanal but didn't find anyone. Kaiyin ran around and didn't quite understand that the streams in the roads was sewer water until he got some on his shoes and exclaimed, "my feet smeel like poop!"

We found out that the event had been canceled. Heather already had her lesson on Jesus is Powerful so we gathered local kids, the girls brought out the face paint, a trip to the local store for bread and it all came together.

At each of these ministries Anzo has helped with setting up and organizing things so nothing gets left behind. Eli played soccer and tag with the other kids and helped keep things orderly for the girls while they painted faces and fingernails. Abi even performed a special ballet dance for the kids in Pantanal.

The Sports ministry and soccer league have been moving forward. The soccer league just started last week and league games are in full swing. There are 31 teams and over 300 attendees. before each game the teams are presented with a short gospel message.

There have been a couple birthdays here. The daughter of Jesse, one of the locals who is involved in the ministries here, had a party where we were all invited. one of the "hits" of the party was watching Kaiyin dance blindfolded while smacking the Pinata.

Eli also had his 14th birthday here. For his birthday we went out to breakfast at the local waffle house for chocolate waffles. I rented a car (the one I had to return at Fortin) and we went 20 min away to a volcanic lake called Laguna del Apoyo. We spent the afternoon on kayaks, tubes and jumping off the pier into the warm water. Eli loves cheesecake but it is unheard of here. Heather managed to make cheesecake in glasses with some slices of mandarin on top for his cake. It was a great day.

We have also had fun with the people on the team here. Much of our fun has come in the water. The heat here isn't too bad but the water is a great place to horse around and cool off. We went to the lake beach on a play date with one of the missionary families. The beach has lots of slides and playground equipment (and biting ants). There was one 3 story spiral slide that is held up by two beams on the side. Kaiyin learned that if he stopped after the first turn he could reach out, grab the pole and then slide down it away from the slide.

One afternoon we taught the missionaries some of the songs we were doing for the kids that they enjoyed so much. Even while we were teaching them in the front room of their house, local kids started accumulating at the door so we opened it up, invited them in and had fun singing and dancing.




We have had lots of fun on our own as well.

Lots of pictures and not much text, but, I have to get going. Heather and the older 4 kids are working making hammocks with the deaf today and I am watching Kaiyin and Kiya. Kaiyin has much more interest in escaping than listening to me so...

Blessings to you and thanks for your continued prayers (we need them!)