At any rate, to help me celebrate the Fourth of July, my friend Kathy Apotheker (just learned how to spell her lastname correctly and we have been friends for over 3 years), decided to brush up on her Spanish and come to the beautiful country of Nicaragua. BUT, before we went exploring I had one more thing to do..... teach Yoga at Acción Médica Cristiana. So, Kathy joined in as we all did "Warrior 1" pose.
Photo 1:Doing Yoga at AMC.
Haciendo Yoga en AMC.
Photo 2:Looking down into the crater at Laguna de Apoyo.
Mirando abajo al crater en Laguna de Apoyo.
Photo 3:
Here I am swimming and diving in a volcano! :)
¡Aquí estoy nadando y zambulliendo en un volcan! :)
Photo 4:
This is where we sat to look out over the lagoon.
Este es dónde sentamos para mirar sobre la laguna.
Photo 5:
We met some people from New York at the Lagoon.
Conocimos unas personas de Nueva York en la laguna.
Photo 6:
Kathy and I.
Kathy y yo.
Photo 7:
At House of Hope Kathy gave tattoo´s and I played crazy Eights with the kids.
En Casa de Espereanza a Kathy dió tatuajes y yo jugué un juego de carta se llama los ochos locos.
Photo 8:
A picture of Kathy, my friend Matt and his parents at Tiscapa.
Kathy, mi amigo Mateo y los padres de Mateo en Tiscapa.
Photo 9:
Here is a picture of me in my new running shoes.
Una foto de mi en mis nuevos zapatos de correr.
Photo 10:
My new cloths purchased with Birthday money. Thank you!
Mi ropa nueva comprada con dinero de mi cumpleaños. ¡Gracias!
Photo 11:
My friends at AMC singing some beautiful Birthday songs.
Mis amigos en AMC cantando unas canciones bonitas del cumpleaños.
Photo 12:
My office mates got me flowers, took me out to lunch and got me a nicaraguan shirt and earings.
Mis compañeros de trabajo me daron las flores, me llevaron almorzar y me relegaron una blusa nicaragüense y chapas.
Photo 13:
Mir and some of her church peeps.
Dra. Mirtila y unos de los miebreos de su iglesia.
Photo 14:
My friend Greta and I at the MCC party.
Mi amiga Greta y yo a la fiesta en CCM.
Photo 15:
Miriam, Aracelly and I.
Photo 16:
My future roommate, Alicia, whom I will be moving in with in December. I always accidentally say she is from the US, but she is Canadian. (Sorry Alicia).
Mi futura compañera de casa, Alicia, con quien yo viviré en diciembre. Siempre digo que ella es de los EEUU, pero ella es de Canada. (Disculpe Alicia).
Photo 18:
Some cloudy day waves.
Unas olas en un día nublado.
Photo 19:
Seth and I viewing the pizza´s that we were told were small and that "if two people weren´t all that hungry they could maybe eat one pizza". So we each ordered one for ourselves. Oops!
Seth y yo mirando las pizzas que el camarero nos dijo que "son pequeñas" y que "si dos personas no tienen mucho hambre, una pizza debería suficiente." Entonces, al camarero le pidimos por una pizza por cada una de nos mismos. ¡Caramba!
Photo 20:
Me at Las Piñitas.
Yo en las Piñitas.
Mirando abajo al crater en Laguna de Apoyo.
Photo 3:Here I am swimming and diving in a volcano! :)
¡Aquí estoy nadando y zambulliendo en un volcan! :)
Photo 4:This is where we sat to look out over the lagoon.
Este es dónde sentamos para mirar sobre la laguna.
Photo 5:We met some people from New York at the Lagoon.
Conocimos unas personas de Nueva York en la laguna.
Photo 6:Kathy and I.
Kathy y yo.
So, yes, Kathy and I did have a good time, BUT we did also do some volunteering while she was down here. We volunteered at House of Hope here in Managua, which is a safe haven for women and children whom have been prostituted.
Photo 7:At House of Hope Kathy gave tattoo´s and I played crazy Eights with the kids.
En Casa de Espereanza a Kathy dió tatuajes y yo jugué un juego de carta se llama los ochos locos.
Photo 8:A picture of Kathy, my friend Matt and his parents at Tiscapa.
Kathy, mi amigo Mateo y los padres de Mateo en Tiscapa.
Kathy also came to Nicaragua bearing Birthday gifts and cards from my amazing family and friends back in the states. That is right... I turned 31 this last month!!! I know... I´m in my prime! ;) I received running shoes, sandals and some dinero to go shopping. All of it was very much needed. I called my parents on skype the day of my Birthday and they were having a party in my honor with cake and everything! My grandma and 16 month old niece even blew out the candles for me! I was so amazing.
At AMC they have a tradition of bombarding the birthday person with songs for about 20 minutes, then there is typically cake. They surprised me in my office by all coming, singing and bringing flowers. As I said, normally there is cake, but they took me out to lunch instead, which is a HUGE treat! Then my fitness students gave me a Nicaraguan shirt and coconut shell earings. I felt very loved and blessed to be working at such a place that would be my "family" for me when mine is so far away.
At AMC they have a tradition of bombarding the birthday person with songs for about 20 minutes, then there is typically cake. They surprised me in my office by all coming, singing and bringing flowers. As I said, normally there is cake, but they took me out to lunch instead, which is a HUGE treat! Then my fitness students gave me a Nicaraguan shirt and coconut shell earings. I felt very loved and blessed to be working at such a place that would be my "family" for me when mine is so far away.
Photo 9:Here is a picture of me in my new running shoes.
Una foto de mi en mis nuevos zapatos de correr.
Photo 10:My new cloths purchased with Birthday money. Thank you!
Mi ropa nueva comprada con dinero de mi cumpleaños. ¡Gracias!
Photo 11:My friends at AMC singing some beautiful Birthday songs.
Mis amigos en AMC cantando unas canciones bonitas del cumpleaños.
Photo 12:My office mates got me flowers, took me out to lunch and got me a nicaraguan shirt and earings.
Mis compañeros de trabajo me daron las flores, me llevaron almorzar y me relegaron una blusa nicaragüense y chapas.
THEN, I had a Birthday party at the MCC office. It also happened to be the last night that a group of MCC volunteers were in town, so it was their going away party, but it worked out really nice because everyone was there for my birthday. I had a ton of friends that stopped by: Mir and a TON of people from her church and then Miriam, my host mom, and Aracelly, my host sister. Seriously, like 20 other people showed up with Mir that I was not expecting. Typical tradition at the end of the Birthday song they end singing the phrase "Ya queremos pastel" and repeat it over and over, which basically means, "now we want cake". Praise God I had made just about enough! (Only one person had chocolate chip cookies because I ran out of pieces of cake).
Also, thank you for all the birthday wished on facbook, through e-mail, phone calls, etc. Even though I am hudreds of miles away, I felt SO LOVED!
Also, thank you for all the birthday wished on facbook, through e-mail, phone calls, etc. Even though I am hudreds of miles away, I felt SO LOVED!
Photo 13:Mir and some of her church peeps.
Dra. Mirtila y unos de los miebreos de su iglesia.
Photo 14:My friend Greta and I at the MCC party.
Mi amiga Greta y yo a la fiesta en CCM.
Photo 15:Miriam, Aracelly and I.
Photo 16:My future roommate, Alicia, whom I will be moving in with in December. I always accidentally say she is from the US, but she is Canadian. (Sorry Alicia).
Mi futura compañera de casa, Alicia, con quien yo viviré en diciembre. Siempre digo que ella es de los EEUU, pero ella es de Canada. (Disculpe Alicia).
So then, the weekend after the brithday celebration, I went to Las Piñitas, which is a beach near León, which is on the Pacific side of Nicaragua. I went with my MCC friends Seth and Sarah. It was cloudy the first day, but it warmed up on day two enough to finally give me a little more color. :)
Photo 17:
Sara and I eating lunch when we first arrived.
Sarah y yo almorzando cuándo acabamos del llegar.
Sara and I eating lunch when we first arrived.
Sarah y yo almorzando cuándo acabamos del llegar.
Photo 18:Some cloudy day waves.
Unas olas en un día nublado.
Photo 19:Seth and I viewing the pizza´s that we were told were small and that "if two people weren´t all that hungry they could maybe eat one pizza". So we each ordered one for ourselves. Oops!
Seth y yo mirando las pizzas que el camarero nos dijo que "son pequeñas" y que "si dos personas no tienen mucho hambre, una pizza debería suficiente." Entonces, al camarero le pidimos por una pizza por cada una de nos mismos. ¡Caramba!
Photo 20:Me at Las Piñitas.
Yo en las Piñitas.
Ok, WOW! I guess I was really busy during the month of July! Crazy!
Daily I am reminded of how blessed I am: Blessed to have people who love me and care about me, Blessed to have adjusted to the culture here, Blessed to have al the opportunities that I do. Lately I have been feeling very blessed because daily my faith is challenged. Every challenge affords a new opprotunity to grow and change and strengthen my faith. Even in my doubts and especially in my questioning of what God is doing here in Nicaragua through my work, I daily see God reminding me of the reasons I am here. (Gracias a Dios!)
Lately I feel encouraged to be more childlike... unabashed in all that I do. It is so freeing to not worry about how you will be percieved. Not that I am able to do it all of the time, because the judgements of others or even the judgements of society can just creep into the mind so easily.
I am reminded of an interaction I had with my young cousin Alex. Who, a few years back the first time he saw my car right after I had just gotten it, told me "I don´t like your car. It´s not very nice and it doesn´t have a big enough engine!" What honesty! What purity in his thoughts! He wasn´t worried about offending me. He just wanted to share what was on his mind.
I want to be like that! So, one example of this that I have was this last weekend when I was at the beach with Seth and Sara. I had such a great time. One of my favorite moments was sitting in the water making a dribble castle at the age of 31! I felt joy and not one worry in my mind about how odd people might think it to be that I was doing that.
Maybe this sounds weird to say, but even posting the picture Sarah took of me in my bathing suit is a testament to this childlike freedom. Normally I would feel a little weird about that, thinking that people will look at it and would think to themselves where I need to loose weight or judge me in some way... but seriously I don´t care! Maybe it´s the culture here and the fact that women who "have a little meat on their bones" are viewed as more beautiful. But, I don´t think that´s it! I had such a good time! To me, it was freedom in so many different ways. I pray that you experience childlike freedom in Christ, too. It is beautiful!
Daily I am reminded of how blessed I am: Blessed to have people who love me and care about me, Blessed to have adjusted to the culture here, Blessed to have al the opportunities that I do. Lately I have been feeling very blessed because daily my faith is challenged. Every challenge affords a new opprotunity to grow and change and strengthen my faith. Even in my doubts and especially in my questioning of what God is doing here in Nicaragua through my work, I daily see God reminding me of the reasons I am here. (Gracias a Dios!)
Lately I feel encouraged to be more childlike... unabashed in all that I do. It is so freeing to not worry about how you will be percieved. Not that I am able to do it all of the time, because the judgements of others or even the judgements of society can just creep into the mind so easily.
I am reminded of an interaction I had with my young cousin Alex. Who, a few years back the first time he saw my car right after I had just gotten it, told me "I don´t like your car. It´s not very nice and it doesn´t have a big enough engine!" What honesty! What purity in his thoughts! He wasn´t worried about offending me. He just wanted to share what was on his mind.
I want to be like that! So, one example of this that I have was this last weekend when I was at the beach with Seth and Sara. I had such a great time. One of my favorite moments was sitting in the water making a dribble castle at the age of 31! I felt joy and not one worry in my mind about how odd people might think it to be that I was doing that.
Maybe this sounds weird to say, but even posting the picture Sarah took of me in my bathing suit is a testament to this childlike freedom. Normally I would feel a little weird about that, thinking that people will look at it and would think to themselves where I need to loose weight or judge me in some way... but seriously I don´t care! Maybe it´s the culture here and the fact that women who "have a little meat on their bones" are viewed as more beautiful. But, I don´t think that´s it! I had such a good time! To me, it was freedom in so many different ways. I pray that you experience childlike freedom in Christ, too. It is beautiful!
Photo 21:
Yes, I am 31 and YES, I was building a dribble castle (in my new bathing suit).
Si, tengo 31 años y SI, yo fui construiendo una castillo "dribble" (en el nuevo traje de baño).
Yes, I am 31 and YES, I was building a dribble castle (in my new bathing suit).
Si, tengo 31 años y SI, yo fui construiendo una castillo "dribble" (en el nuevo traje de baño).
Prayer Requests/Praises:
Beth Ann
(Disculpe, todavia no hay una versión en español. Voy a hacerlo pronto. Besos y abrasos a mis amigos latinos. A ustedes les extraño muchisima.)
- Praise: I moved into the MCC housefor the next 4 months to save money before I move in with Alicia in December.
- Praise: I had a wonderful Birthday!
- Praise: First United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids, as the church who introduced me to Nicaragua, has offered to be my "support" church. (Thanks Bob for you leadership on that). -- I have more to say about this topic, but I will save that for another time.
- Praise: My family in the states is doing much better. Praise God for good surgeries and good results!!! Amen!
- Pray for continued learning of the Spanish language.
- Continued digestive health.
- Continued development of great friendships and support system.
Beth Ann
(Disculpe, todavia no hay una versión en español. Voy a hacerlo pronto. Besos y abrasos a mis amigos latinos. A ustedes les extraño muchisima.)
Posts
Looks like you are having one amazing experience!
ReplyDeleteVery small world...Kathy Apotheker is from my hometown of Kalamazoo and went to my high school! She was in my sister's grade and her younger sister was just above me!!! She would have known me as Betsy Huizinga.
BTW, I saw the picture of the place where women give birth. It makes me realize how thankful I am to be giving birth at Spectrum, but also how whimpy I am compared to other women around the world!
Looks like all is going well!