Host Families

Susan has asked me to write about staying with a local family on the mission trip. My contribution won't be as funny as Chuck's, but I will try to make it informative and realistic.
When I first decided to go on the trip, Chuck was not going with me. He decided at the very last moment to go and boy am I glad he did. You see I know no Spanish. I don't know what I was thinking. I was going to stay with a family that spoke no English and I spoke no Spanish but John had said no problem, because an English speaker lived across the street. At least that is what I heard. I guess I thought every time I wanted to say something, I was going to run to them and have them translate. That would have been cute in the morning in my p.j's asking for help with the most basic of requests. Plus there was no English speaker across the street. The closest were John and Bill, three houses away. Anyway, Chuck decided to come and he had two years of high school Spanish and 1 week of listening to tapes at home just before we left.

Chuck and I were assigned to stay with Lucy. She is a parishioner at the church in San Juan DE Oriente. She has 4 sons. Ernesto is still living at home and is studying to be a potter. While we were there he also passed his driving test to drive a taxi. Now taxis are not the same there as here. In San Juan they are basically a scooter, with a back bench and a roof over it.

Lucy's house was quite middle class by Nicaraguan standards. She had concrete floors, a gas stove and refrigerator and stucco walls. She washed her dishes outside in a sink that did not have running water to it. You see in Nicaragua, water does not consistently come to the houses. You never know when you are going to get it. It could come in the middle of the night. So she had barrels of water stored behind her house. She used this to wash dishes, wash clothes ( no automatic washer and dryer here) and to flush the toilet.

Electricity is not regular either but while we were there it was always available. However, John and Bill told us it was very expensive. Lucy was very nice to leave the lights on for us at night when we came back from John and Bill's but we felt guilty. However, I am proud to say that Lucy did use compact flourescent lightbulbs. It made my green self feel glad.

We were to eat breakfast and most dinners with our host family. The first couple of mornings she made us huge breakfasts of eggs, rolls, meat and coffee. I did not want to seem ungrateful, so I stuffed myself trying to finish. About half way through the week, she realized she may be over cooking and started serving us family style, allowing us to take what we wanted.

To take a shower she had to heat the water for us, put that into big pails and put them inside the shower stall. The bathroom was a separate building about two feet from the house. It had a regular shower stall, all tiled, with a shower head and shower curtain. Just on most days nothing came out of the shower head. So we took a bowl and poured it over our heads to take the shower. It really made me appreciate how precious our natural resources are. I used the water sparingly. To brush my teeth, I would take tooth brush and toothpaste as well as bottled water into the bathroom and pour a bit on my toothpaste. None of this letting the water run continuously while brushing.

Our conversations were very interesting. Ernesto was trying to learn English and I relied on Chuck to tell them in Spanish what I wanted to say. You could say it was one of the few times I have ever been speechless. Fortunately, they had two big Spanish English dictionaries in the house. We made good use of them. Ernesto could read English better than he could speak, so many times we wrote things down. It took about twenty minutes to say the most basic of sentences but we all managed.

Inside the house was not a lot of furniture. The living room consisted of four rocking chairs, a coffee table, a long mirror and a bookshelf. They did have a CD player and a TV in another room. One night we came back to the house to find about 20 people in the living room for a bible study class. We always say our place is not big enough to entertain. It could be because of all the stuff we have in it, like a sofa, two chairs and a huge coffee table. Seeing how Lucy lived made me realize I don't really need all my stuff to have a good life.

Chuck and I were very glad we got to stay with a local family. It gave us a good sense of how they lived. They were very generous and friendly people. At the end they gave me a beautiful wooden necklace, bracelet and earrings. We also got a locally made wall hanging of a little house.
I hope we do this trip again next year and that by then I will be able to speak for myself in Spanish.

A view of the church from the community building

Painting Community Building

While in San Juan de Oriente we helped to clean and paint their community building. Imagine heat and oil based paint and I bet you can smell the experience. Chuck, Father D, Stephanie and Tim spent their days on this project with help from others in the town. After the painting was completed, we hung white boards and set up new tables and chairs that we had purchased.

I asked Chuck to contribute to our blog. He viewed my request with a jaundiced eye... for some reason ever since I asked him to take over the Treasurer duties from me ("it only requires two hours per week") he is not very trusting of my requests. I did receive a call of frustration tonight when he couldn't figure out how to sign on. I offered to submit it for him if he'd email his entry. I therefore happily submit the following from Chuck.

Susan

__________________

I have been asked to blog about my painting experience in Nicaragua. I know nothing about blogs, but I do know something about painting. I know it is probably the only real manual labor I could actually do and not cause harm to myself or others. As I approached the job at hand I reminded myself of the Hippocratic Oath, which is first due no harm…

I don’t think I did any REAL harm… okay, okay, I did paint the front posts the wrong color and I did break that one paint brush after a couple of strokes, and well alright I was responsible for the black paint that was spilled on the beautiful tile sidewalk and the side of the building…and yes, there was that one chair I stepped on and broke…I don’t think that Nicaragua has broken off diplomatic relations with the United States…yet.

Oh, yes painting…after all those things, above, I brushed myself off and continued to paint. I must admit that bristled lack of respect that I got but with my meager abilities what was I expecting.

Nonetheless, I was in Nicaragua to change the world one gallon of paint at a time. My contribution was pint sized compared to others who rolled along easily at the task at hand. Some parts of the painting job were up high but I will return to that some time ladder. In the first day we had the first coat on the entire building and in Nicaragua I couldn’t imagine needing a second coat. It was a bright sunny color that we painted the building with contrasting dark trim. The job was the mirror opposite of the church across the park.

Everyone pitched in on the tasks at hand grand or not so grand. I excelled at admiring what others had accomplished and was envious that I didn’t get the chance to paint the back of the door in the room with no light a dark brown. My mistakes would have hardly been noticed. I did paint the trim in this room and next year when you join us for the second mission trip, check out my work -- it is AWESOME. If you don’t go, you won’t know if I am… In case, you can write a much better blog than this…next year.

Chuck

In the Nicaraguan News

There was a story about our mission trip in one of the two national newspapers el Nuevo Diario today. Here is the link and the English translation with a few liberties taken by me is below.

John

http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/departamentales/7002


San Juan de Oriente ya tiene iglesia anglicana
Noel Gallegos / (Colaboración)
END - 18:36 - 28/01/2008
SAN JUAN DE ORIENTE

A success. That is how a recent Christian encounter that occurred between the Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic community of San Juan de Oriente was characterized.The visitors, coming from the United States, specifically from Washington D.C., arrived at this community with the goal of sharing spiritual experiences and to collaborate for the creation of a children’s dining room. “Nicaragua is a country full of many qualities, for us to be here has been a very beautiful experience. It is great having this culture exchange”, exclaimed the Anglican priest, Fr. Lane Davenport.“I believe that we have accomplished our goals, and the reason for the success of this encounter has been because the community of San Juan de Oriente turned out in great numbers to work with us. We have planted seeds together with the community, and we hope that they grow and they multiply.” emphasized the priest.

They restore the Parish Hall

During this time, the North American delegation dedicated itself to restoring the parish hall. They painted and fixed up the building as a home for the Children’s dining room.For the parish priest of San Juan Bautista, Gerald Rodriguez Perez, the project called “Celebrating the Faith”, as conceived by both communities, was of great benefit. “This process has helped the formation of children and adults, since we made a type of general catechesis”, said the parish priest.“I am grateful that El Nuevo Diario is reporting on this event. Also I take advantage of this opportunity to express my affection for the brothers who have come from afar to support our Nicaraguan brothers, and hope that we learn to live and to share from our realities of poverty,” explained Rodriguez Perez. It is possible that this is the first time that there has been a joint encounter between an Anglican Catholic parish of the Episcopal Church and her Roman Catholic counterpart here in Nicaragua.

Teaching the "Celebrating the Faith" Curriculum

Surprise, surprise - words about teaching and curriculum from me! I had the pleasure of working with students in first and second grade during their vacation bible school classes. My knowledge of teaching, curriculum, lesson design and the development of children were fairly useless as I faced a class of about 75 eager Nicaraguan faces. I was humbled by the positive temperament, joyful attitudes and self-discipline of all the children. Luckily, there were six adult representatives from the community with me, one of whom possessed a clear connection to the kids. I learned that she worked in the library, and had been providing educational experiences to the kids for the past five years. She became the primary teacher.


The lessons were all connected somehow to the "Celebration of the Faith." On day one, we talked about the fact that God calls us. On day two, we discussed being good listeners and good friends. On the third day, we talked about God changing us. The readings and activities reflected these concepts. The students - who are committted to Father Rodriguez - were responsive and engaged in each of the lessons. He set the tone for work each day by announcing the theme along with his expectations for the children. We all sang together then went to our respective rooms for the lessons and crafts.


I was overwhelmed by the way the children responded to me - clearly aware that my Spanish is poor at best, yet patiently responding to clapping games and "Simon Says" as opening activities. I was quite pleased to earn the title "Profe" (short for profesora - or teacher) after just the first day. I was also very encourgaed by the fact that children chose to read to me while I sat next to them - demonstrating thier skills.


On the first day, I tried to maintain some semblance of decorum - keeping quietly to the side after my opening clapping game, but by day two, I was on the floor in the glue, sticking buttons on the faces of the elephants we made. (The point of our elephant activity was to have a depiction of the fact that we don't need ears as big as an elephant to hear when God calls us!)

By day three, I was covered in glue and yarn and ribbon, and extremely proud of the masks that the students made to show that our faces can change and we can always be good Christians.


Following lunch, we culminated our VBS activities with a fiesta. A clown, music, dancing, musical chairs and relay races were enjoyed by all. The highlight for many of the children was watching several of the adults attempt to break the pinatas! And everyone recieved a cup full of sweets to take home.


It is important to mention that throughout the entire party, children brought a wide range of gifts to all of us. They were so thoughtful and generous in their need to thank us for our small contribution to their summer. While I could not immediately see the results as those who did the hard labor of cleaning and painting could, I was deeply encouraged that friendships were forged, relationships built and good lessons learned by all who participated in the VBS in San Juan de Oriente.

Looking forward to sharing more in person,

Jennifer

Food for the Children

Currently the church provides two hot meals on the weekend to ensure that the children receive at least one meal a day. During the weekdays several of the schools provide a meal to the children. This meal could be the only meal they receive that day.

Part of our service was to provide two additional meals. School is currently out so they are not receiving the lunches provided by the school. We provided the food, prepared by the parish, and served by us. Each meal consisted of meat, rice, fruit and fruit juice. Normally meat is not served.

On Tuesday and Thursday, over 200 children received a hot lunch. The way the program works is each child arrives with their own plate, cup and silverwear. They file by one by one. It's very moving to see older children (we mean 8 yr olds) helping their younger siblings (4 yr olds). Words can not explain how gratifying it is to see the smile on their face and to hear a gracis!

Thoughts late Thursday evening

We've had a exhilarating week. The highlight today was watching a blind-folded John swing wildly with a be-ribboned baton at a pinata as a couple hundred children cheered and taunted him. Every day has had scores of such memorable tableaus.

Today I spoke to a reporter from El Neuvo Diaro (one of two national papers) about our mission. He participated in one of our Bible studies and wanted to do a story about the mission. We chatted about how the mission has been a tremendous success because of the incredible support and enthusiasm of the San Juan parish community. They have supported every aspect of the mission and have been there in large numbers.

The hospitality, generosity, and graciousness of the people of San Juan de Oriente has been beyond measure. Our time here has been a hugely challenging experience, which has caused significant discomfort to the way we live, the way we worship, the way we work, the way we relate to one another, the way we try to be good guests. I've found our mission group's evening discussions of the daily (some times hourly!) challenges helpful in appreciating the work of the Spirit in our lives here.

One of the points I made to the reporter was my hope that we are able to communicate adequately what we've experienced, learned, and felt. Right now, it's all too fresh to articulate, but it has been an extraordinarily gratifying, humbling, moving, demanding week. It's not been at all easy, but I've been enriched by it.

I am excited to see everyone on Sunday. I've missed being there with you. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel home.

Lane+

Monday

We thought we'd share with you what our schedule looks like for Monday - Wednesday.

6 a.m. -- rise and shine and showers, if available
7 a.m. -- mass at the church
8 a.m. -- back to our respective houses for breakfast
9 a.m. -- off to our respective jobs (Vacation Bible School or painting of Community Center)
11 a.m. -- Lunch Food Program for the children (Tuesday)
12 p.m. -- lunch at Bill's and John's
1:00 p.m. -- continuation of work on the Community Center
6:00 p.m. -- dinner with our respective host families
7:00 p.m. -- Adult Bible Study lead by Fr. Lane with the community
8:00 p.m. -- Daily Review with our group

So this is what was planned -- reality of getting this group to move anywhere on time makes the starting times a little flexible.

We were all very nervous about what Monday was going to be. How many children would show up? Would we be able to communicate with them? Would they like the material? Would it make any sense to them? What would the community leaders be like? Would we be able to work with them? Could we finish the painting project at the community center?

We are all used to our own routines and having some level of control and knowing where to turn when we need to correct something. We are out of our element here. This is where we have to have faith -- we are after all celebrating the faith.

The children gathered in what they call the auditorium -- a covered open air concrete area. Father Rodriguez got the children whipped up and making some noise. The children were all lined up by age group -- a line of girls and a line of boys in each group. 240 children roaring is quite a sound. At this time we were introduced to the children, we sang songs and tried to bond with them and make them feel comfortable.

Our day with them includes stories/teaching time, games, crafts, and music. The three hours went by quickly. We all breathed a sigh of relief.

While some of us were working with the children, others were starting the painting of the community center. We were surprised at how much help we had from the community -- around 15 men came. Today we got one coat of paint on the outside and inside of the building. Fumes from oil based paint in warm weather makes an interesting work environment.

Adult Bible Study took place in the church with about 100 from the church community attending. Father Lane conducted the study on the story of Gideon. He explained what the structure of the evening was going to be -- he'd read the passage in English, then it would be read in Spanish and then we'd reflect and pray on it. He did that cycle again with the same verses with different people reading the passages. He then asked questions and asked for peoples responses. Our group spoke up first. Although unspoken we all wanted to put this community at ease and give them some idea of what we were used to doing. They responded. The evening ended with singing and prayer. A huge success!

We've had to learn to work outside of our comfort level/zone. We've had to learn to measure success in different ways. We've had to learn to communicate with others when we didn't know the words. We've certainly learned the power of a smile!

At the end of the day, we spend some time reflecting on the day using these five questions:

• What was your strongest unpleasant experience today?


• What was your strongest pleasant experience today?


• What did you find confusing today?


• What new awareness did you have that you didn't have before today?


• What did I learn today?

More about this later...

Sunday

What a day and what a way to Celebrate the Faith. The theme of our program is "Celebra le Fe" which means Celebrate the Faith. We were up early and off to mass - which started at 8:20. The church was standing room only with people standing outside the doors and into the street. We were seated in the two front rows. The procession started form the rear with Fathers Rodriguez and Lane entering in a cloud of incense. As they entered they were both greated by the people in the pews - they were truly among the people. Father Lane assisted with Father Rodriguez - to very uplifting music. Fr. Rodgiuez gave a sermon on Christian Unity - which included themes of patience and humility. He stated that it was a great sign that the members of ASA were here during the week that the Pope is celebrating Christian Unity. After mass the people of Church made a line and they greated us one by one with hugs - well wishes for a great mission trip. The welcoming lasted about 30 mins and at the end we were all overwhelmed with emotion.

After the mass the childern arrived to receive their lunch. About 250 kids filled the pews - each with their own plate, cup and silverware. The members of the church had prepared the food which arrived in the largest pans we had ever seen - the meal consisted of pasta w/ chicken, rice and orange juice - very heavy on the carbs! Each member of ASA took turns serving the children - they made a line in the church and filed by one by one with plate and cup in hand. The smiles on their faces as we gave them their food was priceless. We were moved by how the older children helped their siblings or other younger children. As the line grew and more and more children arrived - we were worried we would not have enough - but we were quickly reminded of the theme of our program Celebra la Fe - and put our trust in God and had faith that it would all work out - after all were feed w/ had just enough food - w/ none to spare - the children were very grateful and each child made of point of saying thank you.

After feeding the children it was off to Narome a volcanic crator lake - we piled into the microbus - our team with Fr. Rodriguez and Jairo - after about an 1 hour we finally arrived at the lake. We went swimming in the volcanic lake - had a great lunch and a chance to unwind. After lunch is was straight back to the church to register the children for the program. We arrived at the church at 4:00 p.m. to find 200 children waiting for us so they could sign up. A count was taken by age and each child was assigned to a group. We have four groups to work with all the children. It is amazing how many adults from the Parish volunteered to help us. Each team consists of two members of ASA and four member from San Juan. Back at Bill and John's we worked on putting the materials together, buttons for each child that says Celebre le Fe, education materials for each age group as well as art projects. We had a quick dinner and then back to the church to explain the program to the parish. The program is a three day program w/ each day having a different theme around how we Celebrate the Faith - the first day is how we are called to Faith, day two - is how we listen to God's call, and the final day is how faith changes us. Each day will consist of lessons, games, music and crafts. - In additon we have a group who will paint and refurbish their Parish building that serves as the education center - we have our work cut out for us - Off to debrief about the day - and to bed - at 11:00 - early day tomorrow - we start the day with mass at 7:00 w/ Fr. Lane celebrataing! Off to bed............

Welcome pictures

Bells ring out in welcome!

Congregation

Choir singing

John talks about our mission, the dedication of it to Jim's memory and thanks everyone for their warm welcome with Fathers Rodriguez and Lane looking on.

Saturday

We arrived at Regan National Airport before 5 a.m. on Saturday for our 6 a.m. flight. We were very sad to find out Heather would be unable to join us on our journey. A work crisis has her flying off to Khazakstan this Thursday. We were very touched by her bon vonyage. Heather we miss you!! Safe travels!

Sign-in at the airport took a bit longer than expected and take off a bit late but other than that our flights were on time, our connection in Atlanta made easily and touch the down in Managua smooth.
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Our group is composed Ascension & St. Agnes members Father Lane, Amy, Tyler, Chuck, Stephanie, Jennifer, Susan and our hosts Bill and John. We are joined by Tim, Elyse and Alexandra from Charlotte, NC and Aura from Raleigh, N.C. Tim is the son of Jim Barnett. Jim and Camille were supposed to join us on our trip but on a very sad note, Jim died in an auto accident last week. Tim, Elyse, and Alexandra decided to keep to their plans to come in honor of Jim who so wanted to join us.
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We were warmly greeted by Father Rodriguez, Jairo, and lay leaders from the church. There were a total of eight people in our welcoming party from San Juan! After filling a pick-up truck to capacity with our luggage, we boarded a microbus and drove in a three vehicle procession (pickup with our luggage in front, microbus in the middle and Fr. Rodriguez's truck bringing up the rear). The trip took about 1 1/2 hrs to our destination.

We will never forget our welcoming reception at the church! Church members were lined up the steps to shake our hands and the church bells were ringing as we entered. Upon entering the church a choir began to sing "Working for the Father - Working for the Faith". They were accompanied by congo drums, electric guitar, electric piano, drums, tambourines etc. As we walked down the isle the entire congretation began to applaud.

Father Rodriguez introduced us to his congregation and introduced the families we would be staying with. Additional musical tributes were provided and the entire process took about 1 1/2 hrs. John introduced each member of our team - and gave a brief tribute to Jim Barnett.

Afterwards there was a welcoming dinner at John's and Bill's home for our team and the members of the church council. We dined on a traditional Nicaraguan meal of Nacatamal.

Exhausted we all drift off to sleep to the sound of roosters, dogs barking, and fire crackers.

Travel Dates: January 19-26