So I am home for the Holidays!
It's is wonderful to be here. I am also excited to go to Murray soon. I have a lot of work to do though. I have tax receipts to print off for my organization, I have a newsletter to make, and I have fund to raise for next year!
But for now I am enjoying golfing, tennis, and family time here in Savannah. But I find I am thinking about Nicaragua a lot.
It's the end of the year. So like all of the 2011 year end show's that summarize the best and worst of 2011, I decided I will follow suite!
So here is my top 10 best memories of Nica 2011 and My Least Favorite memories of 2011:
Top ten favorite Nica memories of 2011:
10. Worship service in Leon
9. Birthday Parties at Casa Havliah
8. Buying car
7. Buying shoes for Casa Robles and Havilah
6. Having my first mission group in nicaragua
5. Eidder's Quinceñera
4. Providing scholarships for the boys school
3. Buying Land in Los Brasiles
2. Passing out Rice and Beans in Los Brasiles
1. Going on nursing rounds with Elizabeth and Ruth Daughaday in the dump!
And you know every list also needs a "worst" list... So here are my top 10 worst things about Nicaragua so far!
Top 10 worst things:
10. Nicaraguan Cheese
9. Sunburns
8. Traffic in Nica
7. having my Camera/ipod stolen
6. Pre-paid phones
5. Cold showers
4. Police that pull you over for no reason!
3. Washing Clothes by hand.
2. Sweating!
1. rain washing away wall in Los Brasiles
Well... that's my list!
It's been a great 2011 so far..... I hope 2012 has a lot to offer too! Time to go play Tennis with Dad. So I'll catch you all soon. Merry Christmas all!!!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
So I have had a packed last couple of days......
Yesterday I started off by going out to Los Brasiles. Mr. B called me and asked if I could host a group at the school. They wanted to hang out with children. So I said of course! It was also nice that it was the last day for the Pre-schoolers! I was going to by a pinata for the kids, but this group really came through. They brought 2 pinatas, tons of candy, a ton of coloring books, and 2 cakes.
So they gave the kids coloring books and crayons and they colored and had recess for a while! Then we destroyed the pinata. Well, actually the pre-schoolers were not strong enough. They hit it though. Some were more scared at the pinata. It was sooo cute. But finally we asked Anthony.... the nephew of Lisseth to hit it, he is in the afternoon classes but was there. He destroyed the sucker!
The kids dove on the ground to grab candy. A couple like Dyana are too shy and didn't get any. So I dove on the ground and got a handful and gave to them!
Then we had cake......
After the cake I gave my first tour of Los Brasiles. I think I did pretty good. I showed them the new barrio (community) and they handed out candy to all the children, some coloring books, and one of the ladies even bought like 40 ice cream bars and handed out to some kids. It was a blast. When we were walking back, one of the ladies mentioned "we were going to give out rice and beans to another community, but this one looks like they could use the help even more!"
They asked if they could hand out bags of food, I said of course! They left to go get food and I went back to the school.
What happened next was pretty cool for me. I paid the final deposit and signed papers with a lawyer to buy the land next to the school. Imagine ministries and Xalted Ministries are partnering up. More on this later, but I think Xalted Ministries is being assimilated by Imagine Ministries! I still need to raise all of my own money, it's just going to be easier to have an organization with my own accountant to take care of all of my money! So anyway.... We are now partners and I have new land in Los Brasiles thanks to a special Sponsor that will be named later and some faithful donors!
So the group came back to Los Brasiles..... They brought 75 gallon bags full of Rice and Beans!!!!!
It was amazing watching them hand out food to the community. The people were soooo grateful! I loved seeing their faces light up!
I am so in love with this community and the people there! I have been to a handful of communities around Managua.I have NEVER seen people as nice as the ones in Los Brasiles. They are truly amazing. I see myself there for a long time!
So after all of that.... I had to pick up the girls and take them to the Buzbees for the Christmas party. We had a party with the two houses. It was a blast. It started off with swimming. Brinson and I jumped in the pool with jeans and all of our clothes on. It was fun. They opened presents, we had an amazing Lasagna dinner, and the I took them home. I am REALLY going to miss those kids while I am home for Christmas break.
Then today....
Today was the 15th birthday party for Lisseth's daughter. She is an amazing young girl. Super nice and very caring. Lisseth worked really hard to make the day perfect. And it was. First, I had no idea how big a 15th birthday is down here for girls. I guess it's the day a girl becomes a women in nicaragua. It looked like a pink wedding! There were a lot of matching little flower girls, matching brides maids, and the families were dressed to impressed. They had a 5 layer cake!
It was amazing. I loved it. I helped a lot since luis and Coburn couldn't make it. So I even felt like a proud papa.
It was a great day. I had a blast. I love working here! Thank you Lord for using me. Now I get to go back home and convince people to let you use them too!
Praise Jesus!
Yesterday I started off by going out to Los Brasiles. Mr. B called me and asked if I could host a group at the school. They wanted to hang out with children. So I said of course! It was also nice that it was the last day for the Pre-schoolers! I was going to by a pinata for the kids, but this group really came through. They brought 2 pinatas, tons of candy, a ton of coloring books, and 2 cakes.
So they gave the kids coloring books and crayons and they colored and had recess for a while! Then we destroyed the pinata. Well, actually the pre-schoolers were not strong enough. They hit it though. Some were more scared at the pinata. It was sooo cute. But finally we asked Anthony.... the nephew of Lisseth to hit it, he is in the afternoon classes but was there. He destroyed the sucker!
The kids dove on the ground to grab candy. A couple like Dyana are too shy and didn't get any. So I dove on the ground and got a handful and gave to them!
Then we had cake......
After the cake I gave my first tour of Los Brasiles. I think I did pretty good. I showed them the new barrio (community) and they handed out candy to all the children, some coloring books, and one of the ladies even bought like 40 ice cream bars and handed out to some kids. It was a blast. When we were walking back, one of the ladies mentioned "we were going to give out rice and beans to another community, but this one looks like they could use the help even more!"
They asked if they could hand out bags of food, I said of course! They left to go get food and I went back to the school.
What happened next was pretty cool for me. I paid the final deposit and signed papers with a lawyer to buy the land next to the school. Imagine ministries and Xalted Ministries are partnering up. More on this later, but I think Xalted Ministries is being assimilated by Imagine Ministries! I still need to raise all of my own money, it's just going to be easier to have an organization with my own accountant to take care of all of my money! So anyway.... We are now partners and I have new land in Los Brasiles thanks to a special Sponsor that will be named later and some faithful donors!
So the group came back to Los Brasiles..... They brought 75 gallon bags full of Rice and Beans!!!!!
It was amazing watching them hand out food to the community. The people were soooo grateful! I loved seeing their faces light up!
I am so in love with this community and the people there! I have been to a handful of communities around Managua.I have NEVER seen people as nice as the ones in Los Brasiles. They are truly amazing. I see myself there for a long time!
So after all of that.... I had to pick up the girls and take them to the Buzbees for the Christmas party. We had a party with the two houses. It was a blast. It started off with swimming. Brinson and I jumped in the pool with jeans and all of our clothes on. It was fun. They opened presents, we had an amazing Lasagna dinner, and the I took them home. I am REALLY going to miss those kids while I am home for Christmas break.
Then today....
Today was the 15th birthday party for Lisseth's daughter. She is an amazing young girl. Super nice and very caring. Lisseth worked really hard to make the day perfect. And it was. First, I had no idea how big a 15th birthday is down here for girls. I guess it's the day a girl becomes a women in nicaragua. It looked like a pink wedding! There were a lot of matching little flower girls, matching brides maids, and the families were dressed to impressed. They had a 5 layer cake!
It was amazing. I loved it. I helped a lot since luis and Coburn couldn't make it. So I even felt like a proud papa.
It was a great day. I had a blast. I love working here! Thank you Lord for using me. Now I get to go back home and convince people to let you use them too!
Praise Jesus!
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Time for a little change...
I just moved....
Nothing big. But I moved a couple blocks down the road into a house with another Missionary friend of mine. His name is Michael, and he's pretty cool. He does some amazing things with his Ministry "Project Isaiah". We have fun debating about stuff and he is definitely passionate. (Don't talk to him about Tebow) But I respect the guy a lot.
I moved in for many reasons. First and foremost, Michael's roommate and my good friend left and Michael was stuck paying rent. So he needed another roommate. It's the same cost of what I pay at the boys home, so of course I would help him out. Also, I am looking forward to having him around to be an accountability partner. We will keep each other in check and challenge each other spiritually. I can have deep conversations again in English, when all i said at the boys home was in Spanish. And last but not least, it will be nice to have privacy when I want it. To have friends come over. I am 30 yrs old and it is nice to have a place to myself again.
I will miss being in the boys home. I already do. There is an energy there that I won't have anymore here. It's fun to walk out of your room and hug a ton of precious kids. But my relationship with them won't change. I still plan on going over there almost every day and seeing them. I will stop by for Angelica's cooking :) It will almost be the same, but I will be sleeping somewhere else. That's all.
I also think this next year is going to be very big for me. I am working more and more with Imagine Ministries and the school in Los Brasiles. It's wonderful. I will soon have groups here from Coburn's church in February. I can't wait. We will also be hosting people here over the next year. Since this house is so big, we have 10 extra beds right now to hole people. It's a little bit like a missionary complex.
Other news.... Today is the promotion day for Luisa and Angel. They go from Kindergarten to 1st grade I believe. They have their little caps and gowns. It will be cute. I am looking forward to it. I have had a lot of parties and graduations this last week. and I have more next week. It's crazy in December.
I am also busy trying to get things ready to leave. I leave on the 19th for Savannah to see my parents. I'm looking forward to hanging with them and playing really bad Golf. I've played like 3 times in the last 2+ years.
Then I go to Murray at the end of December and hang out for 3 weeks. I get to cheer on Big Country and the Arnett girls in Basketball and get fattened up by Diana and her cooking. I can't wait.
A big part of all of this is also fund raising. I am about to send out letters and tax receipts. But now is the time to collect all of the money for next year. So I need to ask people to pledge again. I hope God can bless me with as much as I had this year, if not more! Now that I have a year under my belt, I have so many projects to finish. I have playgrounds to build, Ranchos to build, children to sponsor, and so much more. I am soooo excited about what's going on down here. I couldn't do it without any of you though! If you are interested in donating to my area's of ministry.....The Boys Home, The Girls Home, or to the school I run in Los Brasiles.... You can email me at tom@fccmurray.com to get more info or you can donate with a credit card through paypal on my website at www.xalted.org.
I can't wait to see what God is up to. I hope you can enjoy this trip with me!
God Bless, and see you soon!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Christmas is coming....
And the geese and Tom are going to be getting fat. I have lost about 35 lbs since coming to Nica. But I have a feeling being at home for Christmas and then living with the Arnetts and eating Diana's and Jean Carol Ridley's food is going to put it all right back on!
Well it's been a crazy last couple of weeks. I have been putting a lot of stuff on Facebook including pictures. The kids are graduation and moving to the next grade. I have gone to 2 different dance programs in the last week. Took the girls swimming, the boys to the volcano, and have been keeping busy in Los Brasiles. I am excited about the end of this year and how much I've done. But it really feels like it's just starting. It really is. We have to start building on the land I bought. That's going to be crazy. I need to raise funds for next year when I'm home in January.
I will be leading maybe 9 groups this year. I am going to be in charge of Coburns groups from his church, and I hope to have 1 maybe 2 of my own.
That is going to be very busy! But I am excited. I also can't wait for Luis to get back from the US. He has had a blast there. But I miss my little buddy. I can't wait to see how his English has improved!
So FYI..... I am not buying Christmas presents for anyone this year. All the money is going to Children in Nicaragua. For Instance I am going to buy a Christmas tree for the girls house this week. If anyone wants to join me on this endeavor, let me know and I can tell you EXACTLY what your Christmas Money is going for!
Anyway, time for dinner with the boys. Love you all. God Bless!
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