Peanut Butter and Jelly Time

So, from the last two days of being at la chureca this is what I have learned.

People dont want to be there.

Because of the harhness of living there the people lose hope of getting out, even for their kids.

Jonathan

Who you are and where you stand in the struggle

my biggest frustration is how much people ignore their own surroundings. its always frustrated me... while in LA, people who live in lofts on 5th and broadway live two blocks from skid row but will probably never know what its like to be their neighbors. just as it is here in nicaragua, specifically in managua and in la chureca. what must it be like for the casa pellas car dealership owner to know that the rims on a car in his lot are worth more than 10 houses a block away from his business. what must it be like to not realize whats in front of you eventhough you smell it, you step on it, you see it right in front of you... what must it be like to blame the world and the government for what youve failed to do to help your neighbor. its easier to blame something bigger than you, something you would consider inevitable in order to ease the pain of knowing youre only as strong as your weakest link in society.

to see yourself in the mirror and see the face of the broken and their despair instead of seeing how lucky you are for not being born in a dump.

for those who know me, im the first one to criticize the goverment, society, the church, etc. i can criticize just as everyone else does but if i have not love and i have not passion to change the things that are before me or to never be satisfied with the way this world is going, than i have no right to criticize. unless i live and breathe my neighbors struggle, i am at fault for his pain and for his situation.

i know this seems a bit sad but God never called us to make each other feel good about our inactivity. He´s called us to call each other out when we remain silent while our brothers and sisters are screaming for help.

thats it for me. oh, and we´re at la chureca now. the managua trash dump where over 800 people live, eat, and work off of the trash. google it.

.dory.

Guanacaste

This past week was very interesting. From my observation, if you the reader were able to sit down with each member of the team individually and ask ´what made guanacaste for you´I would not be surprised to hear that you would get a different response from each member.

Our goal was to bind with the community, and we did just that.

I am writing this next section purely from my standpoint, please keep that in mind.

The people of Guanacaste, Santa Lucia, haev made it through some tough times, and they deserve my upmost respect for that point. They live life daily without many of the things that I would just consider to be givens mirrors, running water, etc... They are a strong people emotionally, and much can and should be learned from the people.

What I observed and what I ask for you to pray for is unity in Christ for the people of Guanacaste. They have toughed it out through a rough hardship, what they need is our prayers of encouragement that they will keep going and never feel any less than anyone else. I could keep going forever on this topic, but I will recess myself at that.

Keep the prayers for us and the other teams this summer going. Especially for those who lost family members recently, and also for the APU community because of the loss of a fellow student recently.

Godspeed,

Jonathan E. Reyes

Esteli

Our two week stent here in Esteli is essentially over. The smiling kids and the fun times in the stinky room (imagine 10 smelly people in a small room watching independence day) become part of a memory. What I can take back from this experience is nothing truly new. What I can take back is knowing that in my short stent here in Esteli is this.

1. I helped lighten the load for a organization that, despite some of the downfalls, takes care of the special needs kids in Nicaragua.

2. I learned that our ´essentials´in the West may never really be an essential when you compare it to the people here and across the globe. They survive without many things here, and life still goes on without the laptop, the ipod, the annual dose of pizza and burgers.

3. What we take for granted in the West, maybe be an essential here.

Also, what must not be looked at is if we fixed a problem. What must be looked at, for me, is an alleviation of worries, an alleviation of worries that someone´s child wont be educated, no food available and so on.

Im not trying to be pessimistic, Im not trying to doubt the will of God or the will of the people. But we must focus on Christ, His will and His way.

We must be the Radical, the Crazy, the Ghandi, the Mother Theresa, the Scipio Africanus, the Giver and the Taker, all for Christ.

We leave for Guanacaste Santa Lucia tomorrow...
Pray for this next challenge of home stays...

GodSpeed,

Jonathan

deja que el mundo te cambie...

so were here. rainboots, raincoats, and umbrellas yet were still soaked. tropical storms just sound exotic but they actually really suck. other than that. were good. today is mothers day in nicaragua and i miss my mom sooooooo much. for those of you that dont know im nicaraguan so i celebrate mothers day on this day too so not being with my mom is pretty hard. but its ok. i talked to her and all is well.

so were in esteli and we just have a few more days here. weve loved it soo far and have had some pretty great experiences. riding in the backs of trucks and watching some of our team members courageously butcher the spanish language. weve been with the most amazing children ever. i specifically fell in love with an 8 month old baby named josue that suffers from cerebral palsy and has two hernias. he cries a lot but i cant even imagine the pain he must be in. he has the sweetest face ive ever seen. his moms faith and the hope she has for her child are something i cant even fathom. a couple of the team girls were talking about which kids we want to take home with us (for such selfish reasons hehe) and so far we have a couple of aerobus planes packed with kids. :) i took steph and janette with me to limay last weekend and they got to see a whole new side of nicaragua. i went to limay to visit my aunts family. theyre a really poor family and the whole town is actually really poor but their faith and their love are like nothing ive ever experienced.

on a personal note... ive finally put a face to all of the things ive been learning about in my global studies classes. i see the poverty and analize it, the natural disasters, the dirty politics, and the cultural norms amongst many other things both sad and also good. to sum it up... i feel like God is awaking me from my slumber and showing me the world as it is and giving me a dream of the world as it should be. shalom. (thank you prof. slimbach) :)

some things that bring me joy: amanda rapinchuks facial expressions and imitations... card games at night and the fax machine game... also murals around the city. little fact: esteli is the mural capital of nicaragua. (allie zee, you would love it)

ok this is quite a ramble but i promise my blogs will get better. :)

random story: we were at the bus station in esteli and a drunk guy with a calculator in his hand told some of the girls in broken english: oh my God, you are so beautiful. i guess its not that funny if you read it... you have to hear the impression amanda makes of it. we have it on video. stay tuned.

:) anyway. i love you all and i wish i could write soo much more about this trip right now but i will soon.

everyone is well. everyone is trying to poop normally. everyone is taking their pills if they have to. and we do a team countdown before we go anywhere... you know, no man left behind. haha.

love to you all.

please pray for us. but most importantly pray for nicaragua. this country has our heart and its had God´s heart forever... so you know, stay in tune with God´s heart...

love&grace.

.dory.

Update

We skipped out on the hurricane, which is nice. But keep praying for the people.
Jonathan

HELLO FRIENDS AND FAMILY - HAPPY DAY TO EVERY ONE!

Have you seen the news about Nicaragua? Do not worry it is just a Hurricane Alba entering Leon-Nicaragua tonight. I spoke with Dorenyse today, all our kids are safe, Esteli is not that close to Leon, Esteli is not near the Pacific Coast. Just keep Nicaragua in your prayers.
My name is Dorys Castellon, I'm Dorenyse' mom, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at (562) 400-2460 or via e-mail a tiapopy@aol.com
May God bless you,

Painting in the Rain, sorta

Hey everyone.

The day today was some what of a bummer,
We were painting and had to cancel because of the beautiful rainfalls that we got today.

But, we did indeed achieve great leaps in becoming closer as a team. The realization of our strengths and weaknesses have been able to allow for all of us to gel and see how eachother work as an integral part of the team.

Back to the painting...
The steps that we painted had been placed in front of the room that we perform physical therapy for kids with phyisical disabilities. It had differing shades of red to yellow that was tedious to paint due to the fact that the stairs themselves had ¨Los Pipitos¨ written across all the steps, we were able to almost finish it without a problem though...

The rest of the day was just a time for bonding as a team and amogest individuals as well...

Each day I am having an ever growing fondness for my land of my father...

Keep praying for increases in team bonding, and spreading of God´s love to the people in Nicaragua in different ways than what may be seen as normal. We pray that God´s word and truth will be seen through our hands, our smiles, our brush strokes, and the common Hola that may be given to stranger...

Godspeed to all

Team Nicaragua, 2008

Hola, ¿Como Estas?

Nostros estamos bien aqui en Esteli.

We are doing well here in Esteli. The language barrier is slowly coming down, relationships are being built within the team and with the rest of the people here at Los Pipitos. There have been some downers on the team, yet, all we end up doing is looking up to God and asking for his help.

The people who we can be most greatful for is the host families. They feed us well, and they definatly work at helping us out with our spanish.

One touching story is of a young boy named Jose. He received Cerebral palsy by taking the polio vaccine at the age of one. Yet, he never has a sad look on his face when he comes to Los Pipitos and receives physical therapy (by the awesome Dani S.). Yet, the best part is working with Jose´s father. He has so much dedication and love for his child. It´s really a touching experience.

One ¨culture¨shock is some of the people´s perception on how some of the physical disabilities occur. One ejemplo was when a parent was telling some of the people that it was their past sin that caused their child to have these disabilities. It is really hurtful to hear that, especially when you realize that the people being told that may believe that their child is the birth of their past sins. Let´s keep praying for the people of Nicaragua...

Yet the overall touching part (at least for me) is just how happy the kids are...The always want to say hello, always have a smile, always happy of the work they do no matter how simple that work maybe...Makes a person think about themselves, and how being ´normal´could be a disability that prevents us from appreciating God´s gifts he gives us every day...

On a fun note...
As a team we went to this called La Casita that serves different yogurts and other foods that was really good. Also, they had a little garden and some ducks too...It was pretty awesome...

The pray requests that we have is that we all remain healthy. Also, that we never lose track of why we are here, that the people are our mission. Also, for travel safeties and just normal travel as we go around Esteli and to our other sites that we will visit in the next four weeks...

Love from Nicaragua!

Team Nicaragua'2008
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First Saturday

So the past few days have been fun, but tiring at the same time.

I met this girl (codename Rachel) who is really sweet. All the kids there at Los Pipitos are really sweet.

Also, the host families have been great, the food and such is great and they are really kind.

The work so far has been more of a supporting role, just floating between the groups and seeing all that they do.

I´ll be painting next week which should be fun!

I have to go...time on here is almost out.

I love you all!

Jonathan

Keep praying for our hearts and the hearts of the people in Esteli, and soon Guanacaste and Managua!

Kierkegaard and Nicaragua

Entry By: Jonathan E Reyes

I am the type to have a, "the usual" spot when it comes to reading, and I am at one of them right now and I was/am thinking of the Nicaragua trip tomorrow. Personally, it's been an interesting ride from the start (I won't go into that...because frankly I don't want to :) ). But, what I can tell you is that faith has been a huge part of it.

We are (as you may know) still short 4,000 dollars. That is a lot of money, yet, by faith it is nothing. Faith is what I have and will hold onto while I am over in Nicaragua with my team.

"He believed on the strength of the absurd," Kierkegaard writes concerning the faith of Abraham when asked by God to go and sacrifice Isaac. Abraham believed in the impossible, that despite killing his son, in the end he would receive Isaac, not loss him.

The faith and belief in the absurd, the impossible is what I pray for my team. That by faith we go and give humanitarian aide to the people of Nicaragua. That by faith we survive the mosquitoes and avoid disease.

For what we align ourselves is what we get, at least that is what I believe anyway. I ask that those who pray for us will have faith in God to bring the impossible. For by having faith in the impossible; the impossible is what we get.

We leave tomorrow!

Hey everyone. This is Dory, one of Team Nicaragua's leaders. We're almost ready to head out to Nicaragua tomorrow night. I'm packing 9 luggages full of materials for our sites and its getting a little crazy. Over all the team is doing great! Everyone is just packing their bags and getting ready to go. We're doing pretty good on finances but still need another 4,000 dollars!

OWM now has an online form for donations, here is the link if you would like to donate to our team or to any other Focus International Team. :)

http://www.apualumni.com/s/43/index.aspx?sid=43&pgid=522&cid=1094&gid=1&ecid=1094

We will be blogging on a weekly basis hopefully. :) Thank you so much for all your support.

Continue praying for our team!

love&grace.

dory